Historical ballads of A. K. Tolstoy are written in a lively and vivid language, easy and enjoyable to read. But they are underestimated by most readers who do not take seriously the information contained in these poems and tend to view them only as funny literary tales. However, even among ballads with a fantastic plot and fictional characters, there are works that contain hints and references to real events. As an example, we can cite the ballads "Serpent Tugarin", "Stream-Bogatyr", "Someone's Grief".
And there are ballads that have a real historical basis. The sources for them were the stories of Russian chronicles, "The Lay of Igor's Campaign", as well as the works of contemporary Russian and foreign historians to the author. It is to them that the main attention will be paid in these articles.
A. K. Tolstoy was simply in love with the history of pre-Mongol Russia, he wrote in 1869:
"When I think about the beauty of our history before the damned Mongols, … I feel like throwing myself on the ground and rolling in despair of what we have done with the talents given to us by God!"
And, as always in such cases, sometimes he gets a little carried away and turns out to be biased.
The X – XI centuries are indeed a very interesting period in the history of our country. The young Russian state was rapidly gaining strength and increasing in size. The division of the churches into Catholic and Orthodox took place only in 1054, and for many decades after it, people in the East and West considered themselves co-religionists. Familiar names are found in Western European and Byzantine sources of that time, and some Russian princes are heroes of the Scandinavian sagas. According to A. K. Tolstoy, this period of our history contrasts sharply even with the beginning of the reign of the Romanovs. Everything foreign was then treated with suspicion and the Russian tsars washed their hands after talking with foreign ambassadors.
In the ballad Alien Grief, A. K. Tolstoy names three events that, in his opinion, drastically changed the natural course of the history of our country: the division of Russian lands between his sons by Yaroslav the Wise, the Mongol invasion and the despotic rule of Ivan the Terrible.
So let's talk in more detail about some of Alexei Tolstoy's ballads.
Ballad "Serpent Tugarin"
This ballad tells about the prophetic song of the Tatar singer, which he sang at the feast at Prince Vladimir:
“They will embrace your Kiev and flame and smoke, And your grandchildren will be my grandchildren
Hold the gilded stirrup!"
It is interesting that in this ballad, as in Russian epics, the image of Vladimir is synthetic. In Prince Vladimir-Krasno Solnyshko, as you know, the images of Vladimir Svyatoslavich and his great-grandson Vladimir Monomakh merged.
In the passage quoted above, it is said about the grandchildren of the prince, who will have to submit to the Tatars. And this is a clear reference to Vladimir Monomakh - the last strong Grand Duke of the united Russian state. But in the finale of this ballad, Vladimir recalls the Varangians - "dashing grandfathers." And this is no longer Monomakh, but Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who in the "Lay of Igor's Host" and in the Scandinavian sagas is called "Old". This epithet, by the way, is always used in relation to the founder of the dynasty.
Recently, this Vladimir again often began to be called the Saint. Attentive readers have probably noticed A. Tolstoy's mistake. The fact is that Rurik was the great-grandfather of Vladimir Svyatoslavich. And the Mongols were met not by the grandchildren, but by the great-grandchildren of Vladimir Monomakh. It seems that the author made this mistake deliberately - in order to preserve the poetic meter. Agree, the words grandchildren and grandfathers are much more suitable for poetry than great-grandchildren and great-grandfathers.
Let's go back to A. Tolstoy's ballad.
“The singer continues:
“And the time will come, Our Khan will yield to Christians, And the Russian people will rise again, And one of you will gather the earth, But he himself will become a khan over her!"
Here we see the opposition of pre-Mongol ("Kievan") Rus and Novgorod Rus to "Moscow" (the unfortunate names "Kievan" and "Moscow" Rus appeared only in the works of historians of the 19th century). The idealized prince Vladimir is compared to Ivan the Terrible.
And at the end of the ballad, A. Tolstoy, through the lips of his hero, utters a wonderful phrase that should have been printed as an epigraph on every history textbook.
Responding to Tugarin's gloomy prophecy, Vladimir says:
“It happens, - said the light-sun-prince, -
Bondage will make you go through the mud -
Pigs can only swim in it!"
Ballad "Stream-Bogatyr"
In this ballad, A. K. Tolstoy shows Ivan IV through the eyes of a Kiev hero who has slept for half a thousand years:
“The king rides on horseback in a brocade zipun, And the executioners are walking around with axes, -
His mercy is going to amuse, There is someone to cut or hang.
And in anger the Stream grabbed the sword:
"What kind of khan is willful in Russia?"
But suddenly he hears the words:
“Then the earthly god is riding, Our father will deign to execute us!"
Note that any historian familiar with the deeds of European monarchs - contemporaries of Ivan IV, inevitable doubts about the outstanding "horror" and incredible "menacing" of this tsar.
After all, his contemporaries were Henry VIII of England, under whom about 72 thousand people were killed (as well as "the sheep ate people"), and the great English Queen Elizabeth, who executed up to 89 thousand subjects. At the same time, King Charles IX ruled in France. Under him, only during the "St. Bartholomew's Night" (which actually took place throughout France and lasted two weeks) more people were killed than were executed during the entire reign of Ivan IV. The Spanish king Philip II and the Duke of Alba were noted for 18 thousand killed in the Netherlands alone. And in Sweden at that time, the mad and bloody King Eric XIV was in power. But A. Tolstoy was guided by the works of Karamzin, who was extremely biased towards Ivan IV and played a big role in demonizing his image.
Vasily Shibanov
In this ballad A. Tolstoy once again turns to the image of Ivan IV.
Here we see a variation of the Nekrasov story of "an exemplary serf, Yakov the faithful." Prince Andrei Kurbsky, a traitor raised by the 19th century liberals to the rank of "fighter against totalitarianism", the forerunner of General Vlasov, fled from his army to the Lithuanians in Volmar in the spring of 1564. Both he and his descendants actively fought against their homeland, killing not Ivan IV or close relatives of the tsar, but ordinary Russian people.
Kurbsky in his flight was accompanied by 12 people, including the hero of the ballad:
“The prince was handsome. The exhausted horse fell.
How to be foggy in the middle of the night?
But keeping the Shibans' slavish loyalty, He gives his horse to the governor:
"Ride, prince, to the enemy's camp, Perhaps I will not lag behind on foot."
And how did the traitor thank the man who probably saved his life?
Kurbsky sends Shivanov to Ivan IV with an insulting letter, knowing full well that he is sending him to his death. Shivanov's unquestioning loyalty surprises even the tsar:
Messenger, you are not a slave, but a comrade and friend, And there are many, to know, the faithful of the Kurbsky servants, What gave you away for nothing!
Go with Malyuta to the dungeon!"
The ballad ends with a monologue by Shivanov, who "praises his master" and asks God to forgive both the tsar and Kurbsky:
“Hear me, God, in my dying hour, Forgive my lord!
My tongue grows dumb, and my gaze faded, But my word is all one:
For the formidable, God, king, I pray, For our holy, great Russia …"
As they say, A. Tolstoy "for health", but ended up with some unbearably cloying loyal oil.
In some of the ballads A. Tolstoy tells about the history of the Western Slavs.
Ballad "Borvoy" (Pomor legend)
To the cause of the church with a zealous heart, Dad sends word to Roskilde
And a hike to bodrichany
The cross preaches."
This is one of the episodes of the so-called Vendian Crusade of 1147 (committed as part of the Second Crusade). Pope Eugene III and Bernard of Clairvaux blessed the war against the Slavs along with the expedition to Palestine. The armies of Saxon, Danish and Polish knights moved to the lands of the Polabian Slavs - encouraged and lutich. They were joined by detachments of German bishops and Moravian princes.
One of the crusader armies acted against the Lutichi and Pomorians. The fact that the prince of the lutichi Ratibor, his entourage and some of his subjects had already managed to convert to Christianity, did not bother anyone. The leaders of this part of the crusaders were the Margrave of Brandenburg Albrecht Medved and the Archbishop of Magdeburg Konrad I.
Another army was to crush the forces of the tribal alliance of cheer. Its leaders were the Duke of Saxony Heinrich Leo, Duke Konrad of Burgundy and Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen. The Danes were in a hurry to join this army, led by Sven III, the ruler of Zealand, and Knut V, who owned Jutland - second cousins and irreconcilable rivals.
It's time to return to A. Tolstoy's ballad:
“Bishop Eric was the first to rise, With him are the monks, having lifted their armor, Going to the shore.
Dale Sven came, son of Niels, In his winged shishak;
Together with him he took up arms
Viking Knut, shining with gold.
Both are of a royal family, Both vied for the throne, But for a glorious march
Anger is interrupted between them.
And, like a flock of seaside birds, Many armored people
And rumbling and shining, I joined them from everywhere."
The bishop of Ruskild was actually called Asker. And the ruler of Jutland, Knut, is still difficult to call a Viking.
Resistance to the crusaders was led by the encouraging prince Niclot, who struck a preemptive strike at the harbor of Lübeck, destroying many ships there.
After that Niclotte retreated to the Dobin fortress, where the crusaders besieged him. At this time, the Danes also approached.
A. K. Tolstoy - on the arrival of Sven, Knut and Asker:
“And all three are in joy, A formidable squad with them, All are sailing in a mighty formation
To the towers of the city of Volyn.
(to the besieged city of Dobin by the crusaders).
And the warlike Slavs of the island of Ruyan (Rügen), who defeated the Danish fleet in a naval battle, came to the rescue to encourage them:
From the blows of heavy steel
Gilded Wings
Sven's helmet has already fallen;
Impaled in a fierce argument
Knut's strong chain mail, And he throws himself into the sea
From an overturned plow.
And Bishop Eric, in battle
Sense of death above myself, Jumped over in a fever
From your boat to someone else's."
The commander of Sven's squadron, the Röskild bishop Asker (A. Tolstoy stubbornly calls him Eric) at the very beginning of the battle left his warship and took refuge on a merchant ship. Saxon Grammaticus states that the bishop
"With the spectacle of a shameful flight, he confused those whom he should have roused by his example to courage in battle."
Another mistake of Tolstoy is the participation of Knut's ships in this battle.
In fact, only the Zeelands fought with the Ruyans: Knut did not send his ships to the aid of his rival brother. One way or another, the Ruyans then captured many ships. After that, the Danes left Dobin.
Heinrich Leo, walking boldly
To Volyn for the fun of the war, Hearing about this case, I went back to Brunzovik."
In fact, it was 18-year-old Heinrich Leo who led the siege of Dobin.
The crusaders could not take this fortress. They left him, having secured the promise of Niklot to baptize his people. The actions of another army, which failed to capture Demmin and Stettin, were also unsuccessful.
In the finale of Tolstoy's ballad, the leader of the Ruyan Boriva (apparently Boril-voy) promises to take revenge on the crusaders:
To you in the middle of the sea or in the middle of the land
I'll make my way
And beforehand your souls
I doom Chernobog."
In 1152, Slavic squads attacked Denmark and destroyed it.
Chronicler Helmold of Bosau testifies:
“This long campaign was resolved with little benefit. For immediately afterwards (the Slavs) began to act worse than before: they neither recognized baptism, nor refrained from robbing the Danes."
In the following articles, we will conduct a historical analysis of the text of some ballads by A. K. Tolstoy, which tells about real events that took place on the territory of the Russian principalities.
