Campaign of Yermak Timofeevich. Accession of Western Siberia to the Russian state Yermak map of the campaign on a modern map
Yermak's campaign in Siberia
Perhaps the most confusing from the point of view of sources was the question of the beginning of the Siberian expedition. Thus, the early texts of Siberian origin - Synodik to Ermakov Cossacks, the first edition of which was created on the initiative of the Tobolsk Archbishop Cyprian around 1622, and the Main Edition of the Esipovskaya Chronicle, which appeared from the pen of the Tobolsk Archbishop's clerk Savva Esipov in 1636 - refer to the beginning campaign by the autumn of 7089 (1580), and the capture of the capital of Kuchumov's "kingdom" of Siberia - by October 26 of the same year. This dating became decisive not only for the annalistic monuments of the Esipov tradition, but also for some works of Moscow origin, including for the chronological story "On the Victory of the Siberian Tsar Kuchum on Besermensky ..." (written in the late 1620s) , the New Chronicler (compiled around 1630) and the Code of 1652
The author of the Stroganov Chronicle adheres to a different chronology in this matter, the main edition of which appeared, apparently, in the 1630s. in Solvychegodsk: Yermak and his comrades appeared in the Urals at the invitation of the Stroganovs in the summer of 7087 (1579), lived "in their towns for two summers and two months", September 1, 7090 (1581) went on a campaign, and on October 26 of the same took possession of the "city of Siberia".
In the "History of Siberia" by the Tobolsk son of the boyar Semyon Ulyanovich Remezov, written at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, it is stated that after the "theft" in 7086-7087 (1578-1579). "at the mouth of the Volga River" Yermak's Cossack gang went to the Kama, where they took "many supplies from the Stroganovs" and moved beyond the Urals. Having reached the "Tagil River ... in the summer of 7088", the Cossacks stopped "in the tract of the Abugai River" for the winter. Thus, if we follow the Remezov chronology, it turns out that the campaign was supposed to begin at the end of summer - the beginning of autumn 7087-7088 (1579). August "taking the city of Tyumen ... and that winter." This, apparently, happened in 7088 (1580). In May 7089 (1581) they moved on with battles and only on October 26, 7090 "went into the city of Siberia." It is easy to see that, as in the Stroganov Chronicle, the initial stage of Ermak's Siberian expedition covers the period from the summer of 1579 to the autumn of 1581, but it is filled with completely different events.
The Short Siberian Kungur Chronicle included in Remezov's "History", which, according to many researchers, is based on the true memories of the participants in the events recorded in the Urals, also stretches the initial stage of the expedition for several years. After the robberies "on the Oka and Volga and at sea" in 7085-7086 (1577-1578), it is said here, Yermak "with the Don and Yeitsk" Cossacks at the end of August 7086 (1578) fled, fleeing from the royal pursuers, up the Volga and the Kama. Having passed further into the mouth of Chusovaya, on September 26 he turned to Sylva and wintered here. At the end of the spring of 7087 (1579), the Cossacks returned to Chusovaya, took the “reserve” and weapons from Maxim Stroganov, and on June 12 continued their journey up the Chusovaya. Having reached the Tagil portage, they "wintered on the Buya settlement", and on June 13 they went further. From this place in the Kungur chronicle, an obvious chronological failure begins, because wintering on the Tagil portage takes place here, as in the Remezov chronicle, all in the same 7087-7088 (1579), although, logically, we should be talking about 7088 -7089 (1580) It is further said that by August 1, 7087 (1579), the Yermakovites arrived at the mouth of the Tobol and defeated the Tatars "on Lake Karachin", after which they "wanted to return back to Russia" and went to Tavda, fought here until late autumn with the Voguls, and only by November 8 "arrived at Karachino", where they wintered. The next episode of the Kungur chronicle already refers to the events of the campaign against Belogorye, which is dated in it in the spring of 7090 (1582), from which it can be logically concluded that the "capture of Siberia" should have occurred a few months earlier, i.e., in the autumn of 7090 (1581) This dating coincides with the indications of both the Stroganov and Remezov chronicles. And this, in turn, allows us to suggest that information about wintering on the Tagil portage was included in the Kungur Chronicle by S.U. Remezov, who at the same time forgot to correct the dates.
In this review, not all are given, but only the chronicle versions about the beginning of Yermak's campaign in Siberia that are most often used by historians. Meanwhile, already at the beginning of the last century, from the moment the first (and, as it turned out, the earliest) list of the Main Edition of the Stroganov Chronicle was discovered, scientists became aware of the full text of the famous "disgraced" letter of Ivan the Terrible sent by Stroganov on November 16, 7091 (1582) to Stroganov. , from which, according to the words of the Cherdyn voivode Vasily Pelepelitsyn, it directly followed that the Stroganovs "sent ... from Ostroshki their Volsk atamans and Cossacks Yermak with comrades to fight Votyaks and Vogulichs and Tatars and Pelym and Siberian places 91 (1582. - A.Sh .) in the year of September on the 1st day (italics mine. - A.Sh.), and on the same day the Pelymsky prince gathered with Siberian people and with Vogulichi came to war on our Perm places and approached the city to Cherdyn and to the prison ... "Judging by the fact that this letter was addressed not only to Maxim Yakovlevich and Nikita Grigorievich Stroganov, who owned land in the Kama region, but also to their uncle Semyon Anikievich, she was sent to Solvychegodsk. It was here, in the family archives of salt producers, that the author of the Stroganov Chronicle found this document and included it in his work. The original of the Solvychegodsk charter itself has not been preserved, but its authenticity is easily verified, because another charter that has come down to us in the original and is similar in content to it, but addressed only to M. Ya. and N. G. Stroganov and therefore delivered, obviously, to their Perm estates, was discovered in the Stroganov archive by G.F. Miller and later published.
The question arises: why, having this document, the author of the Stroganov Chronicle moved the date of the start of Yermak's campaign to Siberia a year earlier? There can be only one explanation here: in the Solvychegodsk archive, he found several more royal letters (some of them survived and were later published), which contained information that on September 1 ("about Semenya days") 7090 (1581) the Pelymsky prince attacked the Stroganovs' possessions in Perm and ruined them. Having familiarized himself with these documents, the chronicler simply combined in his story two different raids, 1581 and 1582, considering them to be the same, and the answer to the question why during the attack of the Pelymians was the Kama region, where, according to his information, Yermak’s squad was , turned out to be without protection, he found in the royal "disgraced" letter. Not paying attention to the difference in the dates, which he nevertheless mechanically reproduced, the chronicler came to the conclusion that by the time the Pelym prince came in 1581, the Yermakovites were no longer “in the towns”, because on the eve of “the same year Semyon and Maxim and Mikita to the Siberian land on the Siberian Saltan.
Since the time of N. M. Karamzin, the version set forth in the Stroganov Chronicle has become almost generally accepted. True, at the same time the question remained unresolved: how to avoid a contradiction in the dates relating to the Pelym raid? It was proposed, in particular, to amend the dating and the text of the "disgraced" charter of Ivan the Terrible, i.e. read everywhere not 7091, but 7090. It was also suggested that this charter was a belated reaction to the reply to Moscow of the Cherdyn governor V. I. Pelepelitsyn, who, for some reason, reported on the events of the autumn of 1581 only in 1582. Later, the Pelym raids with the light hand of A. A. Vvedensky began to be represented as follows: in the summer of 1580, the Trans-Urals attacked the Stroganov possessions with their Voguls Murza Begbeliy Agtagov (he is also described in the Stroganov Chronicle, but his attack is dated here on July 22, 1581), and on September 1, 1581, that is, immediately after Yermak went to Siberia, he came to Great Perm Pelym prince Kihek with the army.
Relatively recently, R. G. Skrynnikov, relying on the royal letters of the Stroganovs and on the data of the Pogodin chronicler (more on this work will be discussed below), came to the conclusion that we should be talking about two different attacks on the Permian lands - 1581 and 1582. The first of them was headed by the Pelym prince Ablegirim, and the second by Aley, the eldest son of Kuchum. Yermak arrived at the Stroganovs shortly before the second raid. Among some historians, the version of R. G. Skrynnikov found support, while others reacted critically to it.
In connection with the foregoing, one more source deserves attention, which turned out to be practically out of sight of scientists in the context of these disputes. We are talking about the so-called. Vychegodsko-Vymskaya (Misailo-Evtikhievskaya) Chronicle.
The history of her text is very complicated. At the end of the 1580s. With the blessing of Archbishop Anthony of Vologda and Great Perm (who held the chair in 1582-1586), the black priest Misail, the builder of the Ust-Vymskaya Arkhangelsk desert, began work on this work. After his death, chronicle records continued to be kept at the beginning of the 17th century. the Ustvym Annunciation priest Evtikhy, who did this until 1619, until "Vladyka Macarius of Vologda [and] Great Perm ordered the small priests and clergy people to write for nothing." In the future, the chronicle was kept first in Ust-Vym, and then in Okvada. In 1813, by order of the Vologda bishop Yevgeny, she was sent to Vologda, where she disappeared without a trace. However, before that, a certain Vologda seminarian A. Shergin took a copy from the chronicle, which for many years was first in the Vvedenskaya Church in Okvada, then in private hands, and since 1915 - in the Ust-Vymskaya Annunciation Church. In 1927, this copy was discovered in Ust-Vymy by a novice writer and local historian P. G. Doronin and made a list from it. Subsequently, the Shergin copy was also lost somewhere, and P. G. Doronin, 30 years later, prepared the text of the chronicle according to his list for publication.
It should immediately be said that the Vychegda-Vymskaya chronicle contains a number of unique pieces of information. Some of them are verifiable, while others are questionable. A typical example is the message that is available here that in 1451 "the great prince Vasily Vasilyevich sent to the Perm land a governor from the family of Veri princes (italics mine. - A.Sh.) Yermolai and after him Yermolai and his son Vasily to rule the Perm land Vychegotskaya; and the eldest son of Tovo Yermolai, Mikhail Yermolich, he released to Great Perm to Cherdynia. Some researchers took this text uncritically, as a result of which in the literature, including in the educational one, the assertion appeared that in this case we are really talking about representatives of the specific Vereian princes. But, as A. A. Zimin rightly noted, “the Vereisk prince Mikhail Andreevich did not have any relatives of Yermolai and the Yermolichs.” This news is contradicted by the Vychegodsk-Vym Chronicle itself, where, under 1462, it is said that “Vladyka Jonah additionally (additionally. - A.Sh.) baptize Great Perm, put up churches and priests for them, and rule Mikhailov’s crosses (italics mine. - A .Sh.)". Moreover, in the Typographical Chronicle, which contains a similar episode, it is indicated that Jonah baptized "their prince", i.e. Mikhail of Velikopermsky himself. And in the Ustyug chronicles of the first quarter of the 16th century, in the story that Ivan III in 1504 (in the Vychegodsko-Vymsky chronicle - Vasily III in 1505) "brought Prince Matvey Mikhailovich's patrimony from Great Perm, and in his place sent Prince Andrey Vasilyevich Kovra", the latter is directly said: "So be the first from the Russian princes." Considering the complex history of the text of the Vychegodsko-Vym Chronicle, it can be assumed that either its protographer contained another word (for example, "Erensky"), which the black priest Misail read as "Vereisky", or later one of the scribes made a similar mistake in relation to its text. annals. In any case, the traditional version is more correct that the Vym and Great Perm princes came from the local tribal nobility and had no family relations with the house of Ivan Kalita.
One of the main sources of unique information of the analyzed monument can be established with a greater or lesser degree of probability. So, B. N. Florya, who devoted a special study to the early (until the beginning of the 16th century) news of the Vychegda-Vym chronicle (he calls it the Komi-Vym chronicle), came to the conclusion that, in addition to the sources pointed out by the first of its compilers, Misail (grand and royal charters kept in the "caskets" of the Ust-Vymskaya Arkhangelsk desert; letters that he "tried" in Vologda "by order" from the archbishop; "lives" of the Perm bishops Stephen, Gerasim, Pitirim and Jonah), to compose the work an early copy of the Ustyug chronicle was used, possibly the Nikon chronicle and the Perm sovereign chronicle that did not reach us, which was also reflected in the Vologda-Perm chronicle. At the same time, according to the observations of B. N. Flory, the data of the Perm sovereign chronicle in the process of working on the Vychegda-Vym chronicle, "probably were subjected to distortions and were greatly reduced, and local names were updated."
In this regard, it can be assumed that the Perm sovereign chronicle, which, according to M.N. Tikhomirov, was kept in Ust-Vym under Bishop Philotheus (he held the chair in 1472-1501), was continued in the subsequent time. And although in 1564 the residence of the Perm lord was transferred to Vologda, the chronicle tradition in Ust-Vymy, apparently, did not interrupt until 1586, that is, until the time when this baton was taken over by the black priest Misail, who began compiling his own chronicle. Working on it, he used as one of the sources not only the Perm imperial chronicle, covering the events of the 12th - early 16th centuries, but also its continuation. It was from here, obviously, that three articles came into the Vychegodsko-Vym chronicle, which should be specially mentioned.
The first of them says that in 1558 "Great Prince Grigory and Maxim granted the children of Anikiev Stroganov (hereinafter my italics. - A.Sh.) a fiefdom to the latrine lands of Great Perm for a hundred miles on both sides of the Kama River and ordered build hills for them, put varnitsa, cook salt, save settlements for the sovereign. Meanwhile, in the letter of commendation of Ivan the Terrible of April 4, 1558, it is not about 100, but about 88 versts, and it was given only to Grigory Anikievich. Where the mysterious Maxim Anikievich came from in the annals is unknown, because Grigory had only two brothers, Yakov and Semyon, and his nephew, Maxim Yakovlevich, was only two years old in 1558.
"Summer 7081 (1573. - A.Sh.)," the second article says, "when an army came to Perm, the Great Mametkul, the son of the Siberian king, plundered and burned cities and towns (italics mine. - A.Sh.)." The same event is described in another charter of Ivan the Terrible, given to Yakov and Grigory Stroganov on May 30, 1547, where, according to salt producers, a slightly different picture is drawn: "and in the 81st (1573. - A.Sh.) Ilyina days from Tobol, brother Mametkul came to the Siberian Saltan, gathered with the army, visited the roads, where the army should go to Perm, and many of our given Ostyaks were beaten, and their wives and children were led in full, and our envoy Tretyak Chebukov and serving Tatars, some went to the Cossack horde, he beat the Siberian one, and to their de (Stroganovs. - A.Sh.) prison, where our salary, their trades are behind them, the Siberian did not reach for 5 miles. Consequently, the Russian population of Perm the Great was not affected by Mametkul's raid.
Finally, the third article, which is directly related to our topic, looks like this in the Vychegodsk-Vym Chronicle as follows: Vogulichs and Yugorians to Perm the Great to the towns on Sylvensky and Chusovskie, plundered the estates of the Stroganovs. , and Cherdynia attacked, but did not take. That same summer, Maxim and Grigory Stroganovs shelled Cossack vatamans and with them hunting people to fight the Siberian land and the Cossacks who marched for one year fought the entire Siberian one, brought them for the great prince.
Establishing the reliability of this information, let us first turn to the details. Firstly, the Pelym prince is named here by the name of Kikek. A similar spelling of this name (in the form "Kikhek") was reflected in the late Solikamsk chronicle tradition. At the same time, it turned out to be included in the corresponding story, borrowed in an abbreviated form from the Stroganov Chronicle, where the name of the Pelym prince was absent from the very beginning. From the Solikamsk sources, this story migrated to the annalistic compilation of V. N. Berkh and to the "Perm Chronicle" by V. N. Shishonko. As a result, the name of Kihek has firmly entered the historiography, although from the documents of the end of the 16th century. It has long been known that in fact the Pelym prince was called Ablegirim. Sometimes Ablegirim is mistakenly confused with Ablegair (Abu-l-Khair), the son of Kuchum, who was captured by Russians in 1591. remains unknown."
Now, it seems, this source has been established, because for two centuries the Vychegda-Vym chronicle was probably read, as a result of which the name of the Pelym prince first fell into the oral and then into the written tradition. But how did "Kiqek" appear in the chronicle itself? If the Vologda seminarian A. Shergin and local history writer P. G. Doronin, who were related to the history of her text, were initially removed from suspicion, then the only “creator” of this name could only be the black priest Misail himself, who did this in the process of processing and abbreviations of the facts set forth in the continuation of the Perm sovereign chronicle. Here, apparently, there was a classic case of "lieutenant Kizhe": under the pen of Misail, an incorrectly interpreted relative pronoun with the meaning "which" of the type "like", "same", etc., was read, judging by phrase constructions, in protograph.
Another obvious mistake in the article of the Vychegda-Vym chronicle about the events of 1581 is the mention of the name of Grigory Stroganov, who, together with Maxim, allegedly "equipped" the Cossack expedition to Siberia. It is known that Grigory Anikievich Stroganov died on November 5, 1577. In addition to Maxim Yakovlevich and, according to the Stroganov Chronicle, Semyon Anikievich, Nikita, the son and heir of Grigory Anikievich, was involved in the Yermakov campaign. If, at the same time, we recall the article of 1558, we can conclude that only two representatives of the Stroganov family were known by name to the black priest Misail - Grigory and Maxim, whom he inserted into his chronicle in the right place and out of place.
At the same time, unlike the Stroganov Chronicle, the Vychegodsko-Vymskaya chronicle, not knowing about the performance of Begbeliya Agtagov, quite definitely names not one, but two raids in the Kama region, although it refers them, as well as the campaign beyond the Urals of the "Cossack vatamans", to to the same 7089 (1581). It is curious that one of the raids is led, according to the chronicle, by the “Siberian king”, and the other by the “Pelym prince”. Also noteworthy is the indication that the Cossacks conquered Siberia "for a single year".
It is easy to see that the author of this article (and he, obviously, is the same Misail, who "creatively" reworked some information contained in the continuation of the Perm sovereign chronicle) for unknown reasons rearranged the leaders of the campaigns, as a result of which the "Siberian king "there were no Tatars in the army, but the" Pelynsky prince "came" from the Totars, Bashkirs, Yugortsy "and only last of all from the" Vogulichi ". If we make a reverse permutation and separate during the raids ("Pelymsky" is attributed to 1581, and "Siberian" - to 1582), timed to coincide with the last campaign of Yermak, then we will get a version close to the one that is built on the basis of royal letters 1581-1582 addressed to the Stroganovs.
Regardless of these documents, another narrative source adheres to a similar chronology and sequence of events - the so-called. Pogodinsky chronicler, who has come down to us in a single list of the end of the 17th century. Since the first edition of his text in 1907, this monument of Siberian chronicle writing, containing unique information about Yermak's campaign, has been considered by researchers as a later revision of the Esipov Chronicle. R.G. also agreed with this opinion. Skrynnikov, who suggested that the text of the chronicler was compiled at the end of the 17th century. a Moscow scribe who had access to the archive of the Posolsky Prikaz, from where he borrowed a number of facts about the Siberian expedition. However, the textological study of the monument, conducted by E.K. Romodanovskaya, allowed her to conclude that the Pogodinsky chronicler goes back to an early protographer that preceded the Esipovskaya chronicle. They were the so-called. Cossack "Writing", handed over around 1622 to the first Tobolsk archbishop Cyprian by the surviving Yermakovites. The author of this protograph, according to E. K. Romodanovskaya, was Cherkas Alexandrov, a participant in the Siberian campaign (Ivan Alexandrov, son of Korsak, nicknamed Cherkas).
Additional research in this direction, carried out by the author of these lines, generally confirmed, and in some ways clarified the hypothesis of E. K. Romodanovskaya. As it was possible to establish, the text of the Pogodinsky chronicler, through the medium of his protographer, who appeared after 1636, goes back to the Chronicle Tale, created around 1601 by the head of the Tobolsk Yurt Tatars, Cherkas Aleksandrov, an eyewitness and participant in Yermak's campaign in Siberia. Not only Siberian and Uralian works (Synodikon to the Ermakov Cossacks, Esipovskaya and Stroganov Chronicles) turned out to be genetically connected with the same "Tale", but also the monuments of the all-Russian chronicle of the 17th century, including the chronographic story "On the Victory of the Siberian Tsar Kuchum on Besermensky.. .", New Chronicler and Code of 1652
Thus, with the exception of later editorial overlays, which are easily distinguished, the text of the Pogodin chronicler is by far the most reliable source on the topic under study. Based on it, it is possible to reconstruct the chronology and sequence of events contained in Cherkas Alexandrov's Chronicle Tale. This reconstruction, supplemented by data from other sources, allows us to build the next version of Yermak's Siberian campaign.
On the 20th of July, 1581, a Vogul rebellion began in the Stroganov possessions, led by Begbelius Agtagov. Its participants, "coming near the Chusovskie towns and near the Sylvensky prison, began to ruin their surroundings, but were soon defeated. This performance was only one of the links in the chain of events that unfolded on the eastern outskirts of the Muscovite state, in which, obviously, the Siberian Khan was involved Kuchum: "meadow" and "mountain" cheremis became agitated in the Middle Volga region, with which the Nogai prince Urus maintained contact, and at the end of the summer of the same 1581, having passed through the "Stone" by the old Siberian road along Lozva and Vishera, a vassal invaded the Urals Siberian "king" Pelym prince Ablegirim.His path, marked by pogroms, is accurately recorded by the petition of S.A. and M.Ya. Sh.) in the year about Semenya days (September 1. - A.Sh.) the Pelymsky prince came with an army, and with him seven hundred people, their de settlements on Koiva, and on Obva, and on Yaiva, and on Chusovaya, and on Sylva the villages were all burned out, and people and kr they beat the eaters, they captured the zhon and the children, and they drove away the horses and the animals. Judging by the royal letter sent on November 6, 1581 to N. G. Stroganov, in September "Prince Pelymsky with Vogulichi" was still standing "near the Chusovsky prison."
In the same year 7089 (1581), according to the Pogodinsky chronicler, God "sent" the Cossacks "to defeat Tsar Kuchum" (Pog. S. 130). The events that preceded this are well known. In mid-July 1581, the tsar's ambassador V. I. Pelepelitsyn, who was in the Nogai Horde with Prince Urus, set off for Moscow, accompanied by a Nogai embassy with a guard of 300 horsemen and a trade caravan of Bukhara merchants - "Ordo-Bazarites" to Moscow. In early August, while crossing the Volga near Sosnovy Ostrov (near the Samara River), they were all ambushed and defeated. "Cossacks Ivan Koltso, Bogdan Borbosha, Mikita Pan, Sava Boldyrya and his comrades" took part in the attack. The same pogrom is mentioned from the words of the Cherdyn voivode V.I. Siberian places "- A.Sh.) before that they quarreled with us with the Nagai horde, they beat the Nagai ambassadors on the Volga on the ferries, and robbed and beat the Ordo-Bazarites, and inflicted many robberies and losses on our people."
Attention is drawn to the fact that the list of "thieves" atamans who attacked the Nogai-Russian embassy does not contain the name of Yermak. R. G. Skrynnikov found the following explanation for this: from the summer of 1581 to the spring of 1582, he fought with his village on the fronts of the Livonian War, after which he joined up with the Volga Cossacks on Yaik, who had previously smashed the embassy. From here, having accepted the offer of M. Ya. Stroganov to serve in his estates, Yermak's squad went to the Urals.
If, in fact, the version is true that "Ermak Timofeevich, Cossack ataman", mentioned in the letter of the Polish commandant P. Stravinsky among those who were part of the Russian rati near Mogilev at the end of June 1581, and the conqueror of Siberia Ermak Timofeev nicknamed Tokmak (see: Pog. S. 130) is one and the same person, then, given the chronology of the Pogodinsky chronicler, the events on the eve of the Siberian expedition can be presented in a slightly different way.
In the summer of 1580, Yermak and his comrades "driven a thousand horses from the Volga" that belonged to the Nogai murza Urmagmet, while killing his "karachey Batugai-baatyr". In the spring of 1581, preparing for a campaign against the western theater of operations, Yermak's Cossacks stole another 60 horses from the same Murza. On June 25, 1581, the Russian corps under the command of the governor, Prince. M. P. Katyrev-Rostovsky, which included the Yermakov detachment, crossed the Dnieper to the area of Mogilev and Orsha. By August 1581, hostilities here had basically ended, and the regiments were "ordered to be in Rzhev."
Meanwhile, at the beginning of May of the same 1581, the Moscow authorities became aware of an attack on Russian possessions not only by the Crimean and Azov, but also by the Nogai Tatars. In response to these treacherous actions on the part of Prince Urus, "Urmagmetya-Murza and other Murzas", the government of Ivan the Terrible actually granted the Volga Cossacks freedom of action against the Nogais. As a result, the Cossack freemen, which included I. Koltso and his comrades, in late June - early July 1581, Saraichik, the capital of the Nogai Horde, located in the lower reaches of the Yaik, was burned and plundered. At the same time, military units were sent against the Tatars, who were plundering Russian lands. Obviously, one of them was the equestrian village of Yermak, transferred from the western borders to the Volga region. In mid-August 1581, pursuing a Nogai detachment of 600 people who were leaving with booty from Temnikov and Alatyr, the Yermakovites reached the Volga crossing near Sosnovy Ostrov, where there was still a gang of "free", Cossacks, who had defeated the Nogai-Russian embassy the day before. . Squeezed on both sides, the Nogais were defeated. Probably, some of them managed to break out of the encirclement and went to Yaik. A united detachment of Cossacks on horseback rushed after them in pursuit.
Having reached Yaik, the Cossacks began to decide the question: what to do next? It was clear that the Moscow government would not forgive them for having robbed the embassy on the Volga. After long disputes, part of the detachment, led by chieftain Bogdan Borbosha, remained in the Yaik region, and the remaining 540 people, including chieftains Ivan Koltso, Nikita Pan, Matvey Meshcheryak, Yakov Mikhailov and Savva Boldyrya, decided to leave for the Urals with Yermak. It was the end of August, ending 7089 (1581), and the Cossacks remembered it well.
According to the Pogodinsky chronicler, the Yermakovites moved from Yaik to the upper reaches of the Irgiz, and from there they went to the Volga (see Pog. S. 130). Apparently, they made this way on horseback. Already on the Volga, the Cossacks moved into boats hidden on one of the secret wharfs (perhaps in the area of the same Pine Island), and moved up the river, "and from the Volga to the Kama River and the Kama River up the same" (Ibid.). Reaching the mouth of the river Chusovoy, turned to Sylva (according to the Kungur chronicle, this happened, as mentioned above, on September 26), where, obviously, they encountered the rearguard of Ablegirim and defeated him. Echoes of these events were later reflected in the stories about the battles of the Yermakovites with the Voguls at the very beginning of their campaign in Siberia, which are read in the chronographic story "On the victory against the Besermen Siberian king Kuchum ...", in the Stroganov Chronicle, in the Likhachev edition of the Episovskaya Chronicle, in Buzunovsky chronicler, etc. The Cossacks met the onset of winter in a fortified camp on Sylva.
The only written source reporting the wintering of the Yermakovites in these places is the Kungur Chronicle, which says: "... and they buried up the Sylva and in the frost reached the tract, the Yermakov settlement is now dead; and going from the inhabitants they robbed bread and supplies and here they wintered, and for Kamenya they fought and became rich, and fed themselves with bread from Maxim Stroganov.
The plausibility of this story is confirmed by the following facts. In September 1581, when the soldiers of the Pelymsky prince were still standing "near the Chusovsky jail", S. A. and M. Ya. And a month or a month and a half later, they turned to him already for permission to recruit "eager people" into their patrimonial army. At the same time, from the context of their petition, even in the presentation of the royal letter, it becomes clear that they had in mind some real military contingent that they were going to use in the war against the Voguls: "Semyon dei da Maxim of the eager Cossacks and their people (italics mine. - A .Sh.) they do not dare to come to the Vogul uluses without our decree by war." This suggests that the Stroganovs needed only a formal sanction from above, which would allow them to semi-legally employ the wanted "thieves" who, by chance, ended up on Sylva. Knowing the tough temper of the king, the salt merchants were well aware of the riskiness of this enterprise and therefore slyly kept silent about who they decided to involve in the defense of their possessions. As a result, the Stroganovs achieved their goal: by a letter dated December 20, 1581, addressed to the Perm and Solikamsk elders and kissers, all Zemstvo "eager people" were allowed to go "to hire them." “And those vogulichs on their (Stroganovs. - A.Sh.) prisons come with war and repair enthusiasm,” it was said in the same letter, “they would have come on those vogulichs, and after them they were fished ... annoy them with war, and forward them (to Vogulich people - A.Sh.) it was disgraceful [it was] to steal." In allowing military actions against the Voguls, the Moscow government put forward only one condition - not to provoke a big war in the Urals as a result of such actions.
Meanwhile, in December 1581, a new governor, V.I. Pelepelitsyn, arrived in Cherdyn, who replaced Prince. I. M. Yeletsky. Soon news began to reach him about what was being done in the Stroganov estates, but for the time being the governor preferred to remain silent about this, not wanting to quarrel with powerful neighbors even because of the insults and insults inflicted on him by the Cossacks at the Volga crossing. However, when in the late summer - early autumn of 1582 the Perm Territory turned out to be engulfed in the flames of a great war, V.I. Pelepelitsyn, trying to shield himself, remembered everything. “And that (the raid of the Siberian-Pelym army. - A.Sh.) became your treason,” Stroganov said from the words of his formal reply in the “disgraced” letter, “you took the Vogulich and Votyak and Pelym people away from our salary, and they were bullied and war they came to them (hereinafter, my italics. - A.Sh.), and with that enthusiasm they quarreled with the Siberian saltan, and the Volga chieftains (who, as follows from the context of the letter, carried out these actions. - A.Sh.), having called to themselves, the thieves were hired into their prisons without our decree.
But all this will come later. In the meantime, the Yermakovites made winter raids on the "Vogul uluses" from their Sylven camp, not really caring about their consequences. At the same time, the Stroganovs, who received permission from the tsar in late January - early February 1582 to recruit “eager people” into their patrimonial army, were still postponing the final conclusion of an agreement with Yermak and his squad on service. They decided to take this step only in the spring.
“In the summer of 7087 (1579. - A.Sh.), the Stroganov Chronicle says, April on the 6th day (hereinafter my italics. - A.Sh.), I hear God Semyon and Maxim and Nikita Stroganovs from reliable people about the riot and courage of the Volga Cossacks and atamans Yermak Timofeev with comrades, how on the Volga on the transport Nagais are beaten and Ardobazartsev are robbed and beaten ", and sent to them" their people with writing and many gifts "inviting the Cossacks" to the Chusovskie towns and in prisons to help them." Apparently, the chronicler constructed this news from various sources. Thus, the indication of the arrival of the Yermakovites "from the great rivers of the Volga", read in the title of this article, obviously goes back to the chronicle protographer, and information about the Cossack "exploits" is clearly borrowed from the "disgraced" royal charter of 1582. Where did the first part of the date come from (7087), unknown. But its second part (April 6) most likely has some kind of documentary basis. Also noteworthy is the date of the arrival of "Ermak Timofeev with his comrades in the Chusovskie towns", placed in the following article: "June on the 28th day, in memory of the holy miracle worker and unmercenary Cyrus and John."
According to the Kungur Chronicle, the departure of Yermak’s squad from the camp on the Sylva occurred around the same time: “And on the 9th day of May, they promised a chapel on the ancient settlement in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. on the hill fort with wives and children, forever settling down. And before June 12 or 13, the Cossacks were already taking supplies and weapons from Maskim Stroganov in the Nizhnechusovsky town. Obviously, in the summer of 1582, Yermak also visited Orel-gorodok (Kergedan), the capital of N. G. Stroganov's Kama possessions. Evidence of this is copied in the XIX century. an inscription on the trunk of a later lost squeak: "In the city of Kergedan on the Kame River, I, Maxim Yakovlev, the son of Stroganov, give to Ataman Yermak in the summer of 7090 (1582. - A.Sh.)".
During the winter raids on the camps of the Voguls, the Yermakovites collected a lot of information about the lands behind the "Stone". The Stroganovs and their people also told them a lot. As a result, at the end of the summer, a campaign against the Pelym principality was planned, which promised rich booty. July 1582 was spent in preparations, and in August, on the very eve of the Cossack expedition, "Kuchyumov's son Alei came to fight at Chusovaya." The attack was carried out through the so-called. Tyumen portage near Sylva with access to the Stroganov towns. Together with Alei, the prince of Pelym Ablegirim, who longed for revenge, also participated in the raid. Since the Yermakovites "Chyusovaya did not allow the Siberian people to fight" (Pog. C 130), the Tatar-Pelym army moved on, ruining the Russian settlements along the Kama along the way, burned the Kama Salt, and on September 1, 1582, besieged Cherdyn. After an unsuccessful attempt to take the capital of Perm, the Great "repentance", according to the Stroganov Chronicle, "went near the Kai town, and that great dirty trick was done." The fact that the enemy "burned the Vymsky settlements of Kaygorod and Volosenets" is reported, as already mentioned above, by the Vychegodsko-Vymsky chronicle. At this time, Yermak's squad, which repelled the attack of Alei's army on the Nizhnechusovsky prison and thereby fulfilled its obligations to M. Ya. Stroganov, changed its plans for a campaign against Pelym. “And from those places,” Cherkas Alexandrov recalled, “they, Yermak and his comrades, taught how to think and climb, how would they get to the Siberian land to Tsar Kuchum” (Pog. S. 130). Not later than mid-August of the same 1582, they set off up the Chusovaya, making their own way beyond the Urals. As in the case of the defeat of Saraichik, the Volga Cossacks decided to retaliate with blow for blow. And therefore, Siberia, the capital of "Tsar Kuchum", has now become their main goal.
From Chusovaya, the Yermakovites turned to the mouth of the river. Serebryanka that "came from the Siberian countries to the Chusovaya river on the right side." Climbing up it, they dragged a 25-verst port through the pass "the courts dragged on themselves" to the river. Baranchi and already on it floated, not stopping, "down into the river in Tagil", which flowed into the Tura (Ibid.).
Thus began the swift and daring campaign of the Cossack detachment of Ermak Timofeevich to Siberia. The events that preceded it (the pogrom of the Nogai-Russian embassy on the Volga, the departure of Yermak’s squad from Yaik through the Irgiz, Volga and Kama in the Urals, wintering on the Sylva, the invitation of the Yermakovites by the Stroganovs to serve to defend their possessions from the Vogul raids, the preparation of the Pelym expedition and, finally, the rebuff given to the army of Alei and Ablegirim on Chusovaya) testify that the main initiators of this campaign were not the Stroganovs, and even more so not the state, but the Cossacks themselves, accustomed to acting according to circumstances. They had neither the time nor the opportunity to move slowly, "with skill", to spend the winter on the Tagil portage or on the Tura. From the very beginning, it was a typical robbery raid ("with a return they thought of fleeing to Siberia to smash"), which, unexpectedly for the Cossacks themselves, led to the collapse of the formidable Siberian "kingdom" and, due to various circumstances, subsequently dragged on for three whole years.
Adygea, Crimea. Mountains, waterfalls, herbs of alpine meadows, healing mountain air, absolute silence, snowfields in the middle of summer, the murmur of mountain streams and rivers, stunning landscapes, songs around the fires, the spirit of romance and adventure, the wind of freedom are waiting for you! And at the end of the route, the gentle waves of the Black Sea.
Through the mountains to the sea with a light backpack. Route 30 passes through the famous Fisht - this is one of the most grandiose and significant natural monuments in Russia, the highest mountains closest to Moscow. Tourists travel lightly through all the landscape and climatic zones of the country from the foothills to the subtropics, spending the night in shelters.
In 1581-1585, the Moscow kingdom, headed by Ivan the Terrible, significantly expanded the borders of the state to the East, as a result of the victory over the Mongol-Tatar khanates. It was during this period that Russia first included Western Siberia in its composition. This happened thanks to the successful campaign of the Cossacks, led by ataman Ermak Timofeevich against Khan Kuchum. This article offers a brief overview of such a historical event as the annexation of Western Siberia to Russia.
Preparation of Yermak's campaign
In 1579, a detachment of Cossacks consisting of 700-800 soldiers was formed on the territory of Orel-town (modern Perm Territory). They were headed by Yermak Timofeevich, who had previously been the chieftain of the Volga Cossacks. Orel-town was owned by the merchant family of the Stroganovs. It was they who allocated money for the creation of the army. The main goal is to protect the population from the raids of nomads from the territory of the Siberian Khanate. However, in 1581 it was decided to organize a retaliatory campaign in order to weaken the aggressive neighbor. The first few months of the campaign - it was a struggle with nature. Very often, the participants of the campaign had to wield an ax in order to cut a passage through impenetrable forests. As a result, the Cossacks suspended the campaign for the winter of 1581-1582, creating a fortified camp Kokuy-gorodok.
The course of the war with the Siberian Khanate
The first battles between the Khanate and the Cossacks took place in the spring of 1582: in March, a battle took place on the territory of the modern Sverdlovsk region. Near the city of Turinsk, the Cossacks completely defeated the local troops of Khan Kuchum, and in May they already occupied the large city of Chingi-tura. At the end of September, the battle for the capital of the Siberian Khanate, Kashlyk, began. A month later, the Cossacks won again. However, after a grueling campaign, Yermak decided to take a break and sent an embassy to Ivan the Terrible, thereby taking a break in joining Western Siberia to the Russian kingdom.
When Ivan the Terrible learned about the first skirmishes between the Cossacks and the Siberian Khanate, the tsar ordered the "thieves" to be recalled, referring to the Cossack detachments that "arbitrarily attacked the neighbors." However, at the end of 1582, Yermak's envoy, Ivan Koltso, arrived at the tsar, who informed Grozny about the successes, and also asked for reinforcements for the complete defeat of the Siberian Khanate. After that, the tsar approved Yermak's campaign and sent weapons, salaries and reinforcements to Siberia.
History reference
Map of Yermak's campaign in Siberia in 1582-1585
In 1583, Yermak's troops defeated Khan Kuchum on the Vagai River, and his nephew Mametkul was completely captured. The khan himself fled to the territory of the Ishim steppe, from where he periodically continued to attack the lands of Russia. In the period from 1583 to 1585, Yermak no longer made large-scale campaigns, but included the new lands of Western Siberia in Russia: the ataman promised protection and patronage to the conquered peoples, and they had to pay a special tax - yasak.
In 1585, during one of the skirmishes with local tribes (according to another version, the attack of the troops of Khan Kuchum), a small detachment of Yermak was defeated, and the ataman himself died. But the main goal and task in the life of this man was solved - Western Siberia joined Russia.
The results of Yermak's campaign
Historians identify the following key results of Yermak's campaign in Siberia:
- Expansion of the territory of Russia by annexing the lands of the Siberian Khanate.
- The emergence in Russia's foreign policy of a new direction for aggressive campaigns, a vector that will bring great success to the country.
- colonization of Siberia. As a result of these processes, a large number of cities are emerging. A year after Yermak's death, in 1586, the first Russian city in Siberia, Tyumen, was founded. It happened at the place of the Khan's headquarters, the city of Kashlyk, the former capital of the Siberian Khanate.
The annexation of Western Siberia, which happened thanks to the campaigns led by Ermak Timofeevich, is of great importance in the history of Russia. It was as a result of these campaigns that Russia first began to spread its influence in Siberia, and, thereby, to develop, becoming the largest state in the world.
The idea of Yermak's campaign in Siberia
Who owned the idea of a trip to Siberia: Tsar Ivan
IV , industrialists Stroganovs or personally ataman Ermak Timofeevich - historians do not give a clear answer. But since the truth is always in the middle, then, most likely, the interests of all three parties converged here. Tsar Ivan - new lands and vassals, the Stroganovs - security, Ermak and the Cossacks - the opportunity to live under the guise of state necessity.At this point, a parallel of Ermakov's troops with corsairs () simply suggests itself - private sea robbers who received letters of protection from their kings for the legalized robbery of enemy ships.
Goals of Yermak's campaign
Historians consider several versions. With a high degree of probability, this could be: preventive defense of the Stroganovs' possessions; the defeat of Khan Kuchum; bringing the Siberian peoples into vassalage and taxing them with tribute; establishing control over the main Siberian water artery Ob; creation of a springboard for the further conquest of Siberia.
There is another interesting version. Ermak de was not at all a rootless Cossack ataman, but a native of the Siberian princes, who were exterminated by the Bukhara protege Kuchum during the seizure of power over Siberia. Yermak had his legitimate views on the Siberian throne, he did not go on an ordinary predatory campaign, he went to win back from Kuchum my earth. That is why the Russians did not meet with serious resistance from the local population. It was better for him (the population) to be "under his own" Yermak than under the stranger Kuchum.
If Yermak's power was established over Siberia, his Cossacks would automatically turn from robbers into a "regular" army and become sovereign people. Their status would change dramatically. Therefore, the Cossacks so patiently endured all the difficulties of the campaign, which did not at all promise easy gain, but promised them much more ...
Campaign of Yermak's troops to Siberia through the Ural watershed
So, according to some sources, in September 1581 (according to other sources - in the summer of 1582) Yermak went on a military campaign. It was precisely a military campaign, and not a robbery raid. The composition of his armed formation included 540 of his own Cossack forces and 300 "militias" from the Stroganovs. The army rushed up the Chusovaya River on plows. According to some reports, there were only 80 plows, that is, about 10 people in each.
From the Lower Chusovskie towns along the riverbed of the Chusovaya Yermak's detachment reached:
According to one version, to the Silver River, he climbed along it. They dragged the plows on their hands to the Zhuravlik River, which flows into the river. Barancha - the left tributary of Tagil;
According to another version, Yermak and his comrades reached the Mezhevaya Duck River, climbed it and then crossed the plows into the Kamenka River, then into the Vyya, also a left tributary of the Tagil.
In principle, both options for overcoming the watershed are possible. No one knows exactly where the plows were dragged across the watershed. Yes, it's not that important.
How did Yermak's army move up the Chusovaya?
Much more interesting are the technical details of the Ural part of the campaign:
On what plows or boats did the Cossacks go? With or without sails?
How many versts per day did they cover up the Chusovaya?
How and for how many days did you climb Silver?
How did they carry it over the ridge.
Did the Cossacks winter on the pass?
How many days went down the rivers Tagil, Tura and Tobol to the capital of the Siberian Khanate?
What is the total length of the campaign of Yermak's rati?
Answers to these questions are given a separate page of this resource.
Strugs of Yermak's squad on Chusovaya
War activities
The movement of Yermak's squad to Siberia along the Tagil River remains the main working version. Along Tagil, the Cossacks descended to Tura, where they first fought with the Tatar detachments and defeated them. According to legend, Yermak planted stuffed animals in Cossack clothes on the plows, and he himself went ashore with the main forces and attacked the enemy from the rear. The very first serious clash between Yermak's detachment and the troops of Khan Kuchum took place in October 1582, when the flotilla had already entered Tobol, near the mouth of the Tavda River.
The subsequent military operations of the Yermak squad deserve a separate description. Books, monographs, and films have been written about Yermak's campaign. Enough information on the Internet. Here we will only say that the Cossacks really fought "not by numbers, but by skill." Fighting on foreign territory with a superior enemy, thanks to well-coordinated and skillful military operations, they managed to defeat and put to flight the Siberian ruler Khan.
Kuchum was temporarily expelled from his capital - the town of Kashlyk (according to other sources, it was called Isker or Siberia). Now there is no trace left of the town of Isker itself - it was located on the high sandy bank of the Irtysh and was washed away by its waves over the centuries. It was located about 17 miles up from the current Tobolsk.
Conquest of Siberia by Yermak
Having removed the main enemy from the road in 1583, Yermak set about conquering the Tatar and Vogul towns and uluses along the Irtysh and Ob rivers. Somewhere he met with stubborn resistance. Somewhere the local population itself preferred to go under patronage Moscow, in order to get rid of the newcomer Kuchum - a protege of the Bukhara Khanate and an Uzbek by birth.
After the capture of the city of the "capital" of Kuchum - (Siberia, Kashlyk, Isker), Yermak sent messengers to the Stroganovs and an ambassador to the king - ataman Ivan Koltso. Ivan the Terrible received the ataman very affectionately, generously endowed the Cossacks and sent the governor Semyon Bolkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with 300 warriors to reinforce them. Among the royal gifts sent to Yermak in Siberia were two chain mail, including chain mail, which once belonged to Prince Peter Ivanovich Shuisky.
Tsar Ivan the Terrible receives an envoy from Yermak
Ataman Ivan Ring with the news of the capture of Siberia
Royal reinforcements arrived from Siberia in the autumn of 1583, but could no longer remedy the situation. The outnumbered detachments of Kuchum defeated the Cossack hundreds individually, killed all the leading chieftains. With the death of Ivan the Terrible in March 1584, the Moscow government was "not up to Siberia." The unfinished Khan Kuchum grew bolder, and began to pursue and destroy the remnants of the Russian army with superior forces ..
On the quiet bank of the Irtysh
On August 6, 1585, Ermak Timofeevich himself died. With a detachment of only 50 people, Yermak stopped for the night at the mouth of the Vagai River, which flows into the Irtysh. Kuchum attacked the sleeping Cossacks and killed almost the entire detachment, only a few people escaped. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the ataman was wearing two chain mail, one of which was a gift from the king. They dragged the legendary ataman to the bottom of the Irtysh when he tried to swim to his plows.
The abyss of waters hid forever the Russian hero of the pioneer. The legend says that the Tatars fished out the body of the chieftain and mocked him for a long time, shooting at him with bows. And the famous royal chain mail and other armor of Yermak were dismantled for themselves as valuable amulets that bring good luck. The death of Ataman Yermak is very similar in this regard to the death at the hands of the natives of another famous adventurer -
The results of Yermak's campaign in Siberia
For two years, Yermak's expedition established Russian Muscovite power in the Ob's left bank of Siberia. The pioneers, as almost always happens in history, paid with their lives. But the claims of the Russians to Siberia were first indicated precisely by the warriors of Ataman Yermak. Behind them came other conquerors. Soon enough, the whole of Western Siberia “almost voluntarily” went into vassal, and then into administrative dependence on Moscow.
And the brave pioneer, the Cossack ataman Yermak, eventually became a mythical hero, a kind of Siberian Ilya-Muremets. He firmly entered the consciousness of his compatriots as a national hero. There are legends and songs about him. Historians write works. Writers are books. Artists are paintings. And despite many white spots in history, the fact remains that Yermak began the process of joining Siberia to the Russian state. And no one after that could take this place in the people's mind, and the adversaries - to lay claim to the Siberian expanses.
Russian travelers and pioneers
Again Travelers of the Age of Discovery
Ermak Timofeevich (Timofeev) (born c. 1532 - death August 6 (16), 1585) - Cossack chieftain in the service of the Perm merchants Stroganovs, who conquered the Siberian kingdom (khanate) for Russia, a fragment of the Golden Horde.
Origin
There are several versions of the origin of Yermak. According to one version, he came from the Don Cossack village of Kachalinskaya. According to another version, he was from the banks of the Chusovaya River. There is also a version about the Pomeranian origin of Yermak. It is believed that his surname is Timofeev, although as a rule the Cossack ataman is called Yermak Timofeevich, or simply Yermak.
1552 - Yermak commanded a separate Cossack detachment from the Don in the army of Tsar Ivan the Terrible during the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. He distinguished himself in the Livonian War of 1558-1583, being personally known.
Stanitsa ataman
When Ermak Timofeevich returned from Livonia to the village of Kachalinskaya, the Cossacks elected him stanitsa ataman. Soon after his election, he, with several hundred Cossacks, left to "free" on the Volga, that is, to rob on its banks. The capital of the Nogai Horde, the steppe town of Nagaychik, was defeated. It was around 1570.
The tsar instructed to clear the Volga from river robbers to the Kazan governor - head Ivan Murashkin with several archery regiments planted on river boats. 1577 - the tsarist governor Murashkin cleared the Middle and Lower Volga from the robber Cossack freemen. Many large and small Cossack detachments were defeated and scattered. Several chieftains taken prisoner were executed.
A royal decree was sent from Moscow to the Don, so that the Don army would stop the “robbery” of their Cossacks, and those responsible for this “theft” would be seized and sent under strong guard to the capital for trial. The messengers sent from the Don, who had with them the decision of the Military Circle, found Yermak's detachment and other surviving detachments of robber Cossacks in the Yaik (Urals). Most of the Don people obeyed the order of the circle and dispersed to their "yurts", that is, to the villages.
In the service of the Stroganovs
Those Don and Volga Cossacks who “fell into royal disgrace” remained in the detachment of Ataman Yermak. They gathered their "circle" to decide how they should continue to live. The decision was made as follows: to go from the Volga to the Kama and enter the "Cossack service" to the richest salt merchants, the Stroganovs. Those needed the protection of their vast possessions from the raids of Siberian foreigners.
Having wintered on the Sylva and built a sufficient number of light plows, the Cossacks (540 people) in the spring of 1759 arrived at the Stroganovs in the town of Orel. Merchants-salt industrialists "did their best", that is, they did everything for a successful campaign against the hostile Siberian kingdom and its ruler Kuchum. Ataman Ermak Timofeevich led not 540 Cossacks, but an army of 840 soldiers. The Stroganovs gave three hundred of their warriors. About a third of the Cossacks owned firearms.
Ermak - the conquest of Siberia
Having taken everything they needed, on June 13, 1579, the Cossacks advanced as a ship's army up the Chusovaya to the Tagil portage. Then the path lay to the Serebryanka River. The drag from the mouth of the Serebryanka River to the headwaters of the Tagil (Tagil) River - to the Narovlya River stretched for almost 25 miles of complete impassability. Cossacks dragged light ships "to the other side of the Stone", that is, the Ural Mountains.
By 1580, the squad of ataman Ermak Timofeevich went to Tagil. A winter camp was built in the forest tract. The Cossacks spent the whole winter fighting the possessions of the Pelym Khan. 1580, May - on old plows and newly built ships, the Cossacks left Tagil on the Tura River and began to "fight the surrounding uluses." Ulus Khan Epancha was defeated in the first battle. Ermak occupied the town of Tyumen (Chingi-Tura). There was another winter.
1581, spring - going further along the Tura River, in its very lower reaches, they were able to defeat in battle the militia of six local princes at once. When the Cossack flotilla along the Tura River entered the open spaces of the much more full-flowing Tobol, there they met the main forces of Khan Kuchum. The "Siberians" occupied the Babasan tract (or Karaulny Yar), where the river narrowed in high, steep banks. According to the chronicle, the river in this place was blocked by an iron chain.
The Khan's troops were commanded by the heir of Kuchum, Prince Mametkul. When the Cossack boats approached the narrowness of the river, arrows rained down on them from the shore. Ataman Yermak took the fight, landing part of his squad ashore. The other part remained on the plows, shelling the enemy with cannons. Mametkul, at the head of the Tatar cavalry, attacked the Cossacks who landed on the shore. But they met the Kuchumovites with a "fiery battle."
The ship's army of Yermak moved further down the Tobol. Soon there was a 5-day clash with the army of Prince Mametkul. And again the victory of the Cossacks was convincing. According to legend, they were inspired to fight by the vision of Saint Nicholas. The Khan's army in all its multitude occupied a high cliff on the right bank of the Tobol, which was called the Long Yar. The course of the river was blocked by fallen trees. When the Cossack flotilla approached the barrier, it was met with clouds of arrows from the shore.
Conquest of Siberia
Ermak Timofeevich took the planes back and for 3 days was preparing for the upcoming battle. He resorted to a military ruse: some of the warriors with effigies made of brushwood and dressed in a Cossack dress remained on plows, clearly visible from the river. Most of the detachment went ashore to attack the enemy, if possible, from the rear.
The ship caravan, on which only 200 people remained, moved again along the river, firing from the "fiery battle" of the enemy on the shore. And at this time, the main part of the Cossack squad went at night to the rear of the Khan's army, suddenly fell upon him and put him to flight. Soon, on August 1, the army of Khan Kharachi was defeated near Lake Tara.
Now Isker was in the way of the Cossacks. Khan Kuchum gathered all available military forces to defend his capital Isker. He skillfully chose the bend of the Irtysh, the so-called Chuvash cape, as a place for the battle. Approaches to it were covered with notches. The khan's army had two cannons brought from Bukhara.
The battle on October 23 began with the fact that the Tatar cavalry detachment approached the parking lot of the Cossack squad and fired at it with bows. The Cossacks defeated the enemy and, pursuing him, collided with the main forces of the Khan's army, commanded by Prince Mametkul. On the victorious battlefield, 107 Yermak's comrades-in-arms fell, noticeably belittling his already small Cossack army.
Khan Kuchum on the night of October 26, 1581 fled from Isker. On the day of October 26, the Cossacks occupied it, calling the town Siberia. He became the main headquarters of Ataman Yermak. Ostyak, Vogul and other princes voluntarily arrived in Siberia and there they were accepted into the citizenship of the Russian tsar.
From Siberia (Isker), Yermak informed the Stroganov merchants about his victories. At the same time, an embassy ("village") to Moscow, headed by ataman Ivan Koltso, began to prepare - "to beat the brow of the king with the kingdom of Siberia." 50 "best" Cossacks were sent with him. That is, it was about the accession to the Russian state of another (after Kazan and Astrakhan) "splinter" of the Golden Horde.
Yermak's campaign map
Siberian prince
He said to the conquerors of Siberia his word of thanks: “Ermak with his comrades and all the Cossacks” were forgiven all their former guilt. The chieftain was granted a fur coat from the royal shoulder, battle armor, including two shells, and a letter in which the autocrat granted Yermak the title of Siberian prince.
1852 - the Cossacks were able to establish the power of the Moscow sovereign "from Pelym to the Tobol River", that is, in all areas along the course of these two large rivers of Western Siberia (in the modern Tyumen region).
But soon the death of two Cossack detachments gave the fugitive Khan Kuchum new strength. Khan Karacha became the head of the rebellion. He and his detachments stepped under the wooden walls of Siberia. From March 12, 1854, the Cossacks were able to withstand a real enemy siege for a whole month. But the ataman found the right way out of a really dangerous situation.
On the night of May 9, on the eve of the patron saint of the Cossacks, Nicholas the Saint, Ataman Matvey Meshcheryak with a detachment of Cossacks was able to quietly get through the enemy guards and attacked the camp of Khan Karachi. The attack was both sudden and daring. The Khan's camp was destroyed.
Death of Yermak
Then Khan Kuchum went to the trick, which he was quite successful. He sent faithful people to Yermak, who informed the ataman that a merchant caravan from Bukhara was moving up the Vagai River, and Khan Kuchum was delaying them. Ermak Timofeevich, with a small detachment of only 50 Cossacks, sailed up the Vagai. On the night of August 6, 1585, the detachment stopped to rest at the confluence of the Vagai and the Irtysh. Tired of hard work on the oars, the Cossacks did not put up sentinels. Or, more likely, they simply fell asleep on a bad night.
In the dead of night, the khan's cavalry detachment crossed to the island. Kuchum's warriors crept up to them unnoticed. The attack on the sleepers was unexpected: few managed to grab their weapons and engage in an unequal fight. Of the entire Cossack detachment of 50 people, only two survived that massacre. The first was a Cossack, who managed to get to Siberia and tell the sad news about the death of his comrades and chieftain.
The second was Ermak Timofeevich himself.
Being wounded, dressed in heavy chain mail (or shell?), donated by the tsar, he covered the departure of a few Cossacks to the plows. Unable to climb onto the plow (apparently, he was already the only survivor), Ermak Timofeevich drowned in the Vagai River. According to another version, Yermak died at the very edge of the coast, when he fought off the attackers. But those did not get his body, carried away into the night by a strong river current.
The route starts at Tobolsk, passes through the settlement of Isker (Tobolsk region), the village of Abalak of the Tobolsk region, the village of Suzgun of the Tobolsk region, the village of Vagay. Then there is the possibility of going to the Tyumen-Omsk highway (Golyshmanovo settlement)
The campaign of Yermak's squad in Siberia is one of the most interesting pages in the history of Russia. The people created many legends, tales, songs, where the name of Yermak is placed next to the epic heroes - Dobrynya Nikitich and Ilya Muromets. Over time, historical songs about Yermak began to resemble a heroic epic. In Siberia and the Urals, many rivers, caves and settlements bear the name of the legendary ataman.
In 1582-1585, a detachment of Cossacks under the command of Yermak made a military campaign along the rivers of the Urals and Siberia. The Cossacks landed on the banks of the Irtysh and 15 km from Tobolsk. In a three-day battle (October 23-25, 1582) on the Irtysh near the Chuvash town of Potchevash, Yermak's squad utterly defeated the army of the Siberian Khan Kuchum, occupying his capital, the city of Kashlyk. Khan's troops migrated to the steppe. Some local tribes, as well as part of the Tatar feudal lords, went over to the side of Yermak. For another three years, Yermak's expedition established Russian Muscovite power in the Ob's left bank of Siberia. On a rainy night on August 6, 1585, Khan Kuchum unexpectedly attacked the camp of the Cossacks and killed about 20 people, Yermak also died. This was the only and last victory of the khan.
The legendary campaign of Yermak in Siberia was of great importance for the history of Russia: the defeat of the kingdom of Kuchum opened the way for the resettlement of Russian people beyond the Ural Mountains.
. Tyumen region, Tobolsk, pl. Red, 1
The Tobolsk Kremlin is the only stone Kremlin in Siberia, a unique example of Siberian architecture. It was founded over 300 years ago. In its ensemble one can see the features of ancient Russian, Byzantine and Western European architecture. Today it is part of the Tobolsk State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve.
Obelisk to Yermak. Tyumen region, Tobolsk, Ermak's garden
A 16-meter 187-ton obelisk in honor of the conqueror of Siberia was erected in 1839. It is made of light gray marble, the only decoration of the monument are embossed palm branches. The order to build the memorial was given personally by Emperor Nicholas I. It took several years to make the obelisk.
Suzgun-tura. Tyumen region, Tobolsk, Irtysh microdistrict
During the conquest of Siberia by the Cossacks of Yermak, a small prison was located on the mountain. According to legend, the beautiful princess Suzge lived in it - the beloved wife (or sister) of the last Siberian Khan Kuchum. When Yermak's Cossacks laid siege to the prison, Suzge gave her valuables to the servants for ransom, and committed suicide herself. Suzge Hill is a mound over her grave, which grateful maids applied in their hands with handfuls of earth.
Chuvash Cape (Potchevash). Tyumen region, Tobolsk, st. Lenin(end of the street, on the bank of the Irtysh river to the left).
It was here in October 1581 that the decisive battle took place between the troops of the Siberian Khanate and the Cossack squad of Yermak. The Tatars were waiting for the advance of the Russian detachment, hiding behind the trunks of fallen trees. But Yermak's army, armed with squeakers, was able to inflict significant damage on the enemy even before the start of hand-to-hand combat, and most importantly, injure the Tatar commander-in-chief Mametkul. This caused panic and chaos in the ranks of the Khan's soldiers.
"Kuchumovo settlement". Tyumen region, Tobolsk district, Siberian log, on the bank of the river Irtysh between the village of Sibiryak and with. Preobrazhenka (17 km from Tobolsk)
Isker Settlement (Sibir or Kashlyk) is the former capital of the Siberian Khanate. After the defeat of the Siberian troops, the city was occupied by Yermak. When the Cossack ataman was killed, the Taibugin dynasty in the person of Seyd Akhmed, who was captured in Tobolsk in 1588, tried to establish itself in the city again. Since then, Kashlyk has become deserted and began to fall apart, partly washed away by the river. According to historical sources, Isker was finally abandoned by the inhabitants in 1588.
Excavations at Isker were first carried out in the summer of 1881 by the artist M.S. Znamensky. They provided rich material for the Tatar way of life. After the opening of Tomsk University, Znamensky's materials were purchased for 300 rubles. However, in 1897, after the death of Mikhail Stepanovich, his relatives sold the remains of the collection for 3,000 rubles. to the Finnish National Museum. In 1915, excavations at the settlement were carried out by the secretary-manager of the Tobolsk Provincial Museum V.N. Pignatti.
Until now, the place where the town stood is covered with amateur excavations, pits and pits. And like their grandfathers - great-grandfathers, children from the surrounding villages come to Isker to look for the treasures of Khan Kuchum.
Holy Znamensky Abalak Monastery. Tyumen region, Tobolsk district, Abalak village
This is one of the oldest and revered monasteries in Siberia. Its origin is associated with the development of the region by Russian settlers in the 17th century. The first building of the monastery was the Church of the Sign, which was built in 1636 on the site of a dilapidated wooden church of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
Abalak village. Tyumen region, Tobolsk district (30 km from Tobolsk)
Abalak was a fortified Tatar town, where, having learned about Yermak's approach to the Siberian capital, Khan Kuchum hid his elder wife Sambula. On December 5, 1584, a decisive battle between the Cossacks and the horde of Prince Mametkul took place near the walls of Abalak, ending in the victory of Yermak's squad. Now a wooden fortress has been built here, which is a reconstruction of a Siberian prison from the time of the conquest of Siberia.
International Festival of Historical Reenactment "Abalak field". It takes place annually on the first Saturday of July on the territory of the Abalak tourist complex (Abalak village, Tobolsk district, Tyumen region).
Interregional festival of Cossack culture "Heirs of Yermak". It takes place annually in early August on the territory of the Abalak tourist complex (Abalak village, Tobolsk district, Tyumen region).
Vagay village. Tyumen region (80 km from Tobolsk, on the Irtysh River)
The village of Vagay is considered the place where Yermak died. On August 5-6, 1585, the Cossack ataman led a small detachment on plows along the Irtysh. At the mouth of the Vagai River, the squad stopped for the night. The Cossacks did not suspect that Kuchum was preparing an ambush and was watching their every move. Under the cover of night, the khan attacked the sleeping detachment and exterminated it. Ermak Timofeevich did not escape death either.
