The "Battle on the Ice" by its very name alone - "Battle" has become one of the most important, and not just important, but very important facts of our national history. Undoubtedly, the popularity and pretentiousness of this event (this is undoubtedly!) Was added by the film by Sergei Eisenstein, filmed in 1938. But our citizens know about him mainly only from school textbooks. Well, those who received higher education - from university. Someone read the book by A. V. Mityaev "Winds of the Kulikov Field" and saw a color picture there. But … the real story is not here. It is hidden in the texts of PSRL - a multivolume chronicle history of Russia - a glorious history, eventful, but very difficult to study. Why? And here's why: at one time, the complete collection of the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin was in every library, but who of you, dear visitors of the VO site, saw ALL VOLUMES of this publication, held them in your hands and … read? Hence, by the way, all this nonsense that they are forged. With the volume that we have, it would be impossible even purely physically, and even about the fantastic cost of such work, we can not even speak. Moreover, the situation is changing. What to change in the annals, what will be more important tomorrow than what is important today? Don't guess! This is not Orwell "1984" …
In our country, books about the Battle of the Ice, including those with interesting illustrations, in particular, drawings by I. Dzysya, have been published many times. But in this case, it makes sense to show illustrations by the English artist Angus McBride for the book Medieval Russian Armies 1250 -1500 V. Shpakovsky & D. Nicolle / Oxford, Osprey, 2002. This is to the fact that we like to reproach Western authors in some belittles of our history. But look at these illustrations from which English students have been studying this period of our military history for 14 years. And where do you see Russians in dirty sheepskins and onuchs with stakes in their hands? Meanwhile, not a single drawing in Osprey's editions can be placed without a detailed proof of each given detail and reference to artifacts. It's easier to write the book itself than to find it all! Here, too, you see a heavily armed horseman of 1250 from Western Russia (left), a horseman of southeastern Russia (center) and a Pskov boyar (right). Of course, 1250 is not 1242, but the difference is small!
However, it is easier for us now. We take just one event and look at how it was reflected in the texts of our chronicles. Yes, there are many discrepancies in them, but they were written by living people. On the other hand, it is clear that the closer the text is to the time of the event, the more reliable it should be, for it may be based on "testimony from samovids." In any case, it will be interesting for everyone to get acquainted with these texts in full. At the very least, there is no need to crawl through the numerous volumes (and there are a lot of them!) And look out for scanty chronicle lines there. And at the same time, you can compare how, who and how they quote them!
Miniature from "The Life of Alexander Nevsky", included in the Obverse Chronicle Code (16th century). Battle of the Neva.
So, let's start by paying attention to the fact that, citing the description of the famous battle on Lake Peipsi, most historians preferred to refer to the 1st Novgorod Chronicle. This is the most detailed and compact work, but, in addition to this text, they also quote vivid excerpts from the 1st Sofia Chronicle, the Resurrection, Simeonovskaya and a number of other chronicle texts, as well as the Life of Alexander Nevsky, which complement the description of the battle with vivid details. And, of course, it should be noted that many historians used these sources uncritically, while others even speculated on the material.
For example, the historian A. I. Kozachenko wrote: “The legend“About the Great Duke Alexander”has come down to us. The author of this legend was a contemporary of Alexander, knew him and witnessed his exploits, was "a self-visionary of his age."And further … “The chronicler, from the words of an eyewitness, writes:“And there was that slash of evil and great N'mtsem and Chyudi, and cowardly from the mines of breaking and the sound of the sound of a sword, as if the sea would freeze to move. blood weight "".
But all these stories are just a literary speculation of a certain monk from the Rozhdestvensky monastery in Vladimir, and were written already in the 80s of the 13th century. Well, “The Life of Alexander Nevsky” (and by no means a legend!) Was written in the literary manner of the traditional description of the battles of that time, and by no means on the testimony of eyewitnesses. Because if we believe the author of the Life, it turns out that this "self-seeer" could not only hear the speeches of Alexander's soldiers and his prayer, ascended by him on the battlefield, but also … really see the "regiment of God on the vezdus" that came to the rescue prince, that is, we will then have to recognize the reliability of the "miracles".
Miniature from "The Life of Alexander Nevsky", included in the Obverse Chronicle Code (16th century). Battle of the Neva. The army of Alexander Nevsky is crushing the Swedes, and the angels are helping him!
A well-known historian, academician M. N. Tikhomirov, who studied this text, draws attention to the fact that its author compares Prince Alexander with historical characters known to him: that, they say, he was handsome, like Joseph the Beautiful, equal in strength to Samson, in courage he was comparable to the Emperor Vespasian, who ruined Jerusalem, and his voice was "like a trumpet among the people." Hence, some historians very naively portrayed Alexander as a man of enormous stature, with a voice like a trumpet. And humanly this is understandable, but only this is still literature, not history.
Russian "pests" 1250 - 1325 To the left is a crossbowman, in the center is a militia of the city "militia", to the right is an archer.
Soviet historian V. T. Pashuto wrote: “The crusader robbers did not succeed in“reproaching the Slovenian language below themselves,”and refers to the 1st Novgorod Chronicle of the younger version. But … does not indicate that these words were taken not from the text of the chronicle, but again from the text of the Life of Alexander Nevsky. Soviet military historian L. A. Strokov writes: "Our chronicler reports:" They are proud, copulate and decide: Let's go, we will defeat the Grand Duke Alexander and have him with our hands, "and he also refers to the texts of the 1st Sophia Chronicle, but does not indicate that these words taken, again, not from the summer text, but again from the Life of Alexander Nevsky, and does not notice that in the 1st Sophia Chronicle they are transmitted with distortion: instead of "the other city" - "they are proud." So, over the years, there were a lot of inaccuracies "a carriage and a small cart" and they grew like a snowball.
Miniature from "The Life of Alexander Nevsky", included in the Obverse Chronicle Code (16th century). Prince Alexander is opposing the Germans, but the battle has not begun yet!
The historian Ye. A. Razin. “Judging by the chronicle miniatures, the battle formation was turned by the rear towards the steep steep shore of the lake, and Alexander's best squad took refuge in ambush behind one of the flanks.” In doing so, he seems to have relied on the miniatures of the Laptev volume of the Obverse Chronicle Code, dating back to the third quarter of the 16th century. But these miniatures cannot be used to judge either the formation of troops or the presence of an ambush regiment, since the medieval miniatures themselves are very conventional, and they have their own "book life". So, the text of the Nikon Chronicle under a miniature, written in l. 937 about. sounds like this: “And, strengthened by the power of the cross, take up arms against them, stepping on the lake Chyudskoe. There are many greats of both. His father, the Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodich, sent him to help him, his brother, Prince Andrea, with many of his soldiers. Tako more byashe at the great … ".
And what do we see in the miniature? In the upper right corner of Prince Yaroslav, which sends Prince Andrew with an army to help Prince Alexander, in the upper left corner - Prince Andrew and his soldiers, and in the center is the battle itself. And there, on the miniature, there is no ambush regiment. Anyway, we do not see.
Here we see horsemen from 1375-1425. On the left is an equestrian drummer of the late 14th century, in the center is an equestrian spearman of the early 15th century. with a Lithuanian shield-paveza, prince of the end of the 15th century. As you can see, judging by the iconographic images and artifacts that have come down to us, our knights were in no way inferior to the chivalry of the West!
Many historians refer to the texts of the 1st Novgorod, 1st Pskov, Voskresensk, Lvov and Nikon annals, but do not find out how their texts relate to each other and the text of "Life …". Meanwhile, all written sources of the XIII century. about the Battle of the Ice should be divided into several source groups: I - written in Novgorod, which were reflected in the 1st Novgorod Chronicle of the older edition; II - Pskov, reflected in the Suzdal Chronicle; III - Rostov; IV - Suzdal, reflected in the Laurentian Chronicle; V - early Vladimir, - "Life of Alexander Nevsky" in the first edition. The sixth group is, accordingly, Vladimir's later news from the "Vladimir Chronicler" of the 16th century. All the first groups dating back to the XIII century arose from each other independently, but the event described one thing - the battle known to us at the beginning of April 1242.
And this is her description from the 1st Novgorod Chronicle of the older edition.
“In the summer of 6750. Prince Oleksandr will go with Novgorodtsi and with his brother Andrey and from Nizovtsi to the Chyud land on the Nemtsi and go all the way to Plskov. And expel Prince Plskov, confiscated by Nemtsi and Chyud, and, pinning down, streams to Novgorod, and you yourself will go to Chyud. And as if you were on the ground, let the regiment go all into prosperity, and Domash Tverdislavich and Kerbet were in the ravine, and I sat down with Nemtsn and Chyud at the bridge, and there was that one. And she killed that Domash, the brother of the posadnich, her husband was honest, and she beat him up with him, and I got him with his hands, and she came to the prince in the regiment. The prince climbed onto the lake, while Nemtsi and Chyud went along them. Prince Oleksandr and Novgorodtsp, however, set up a regiment on the Chyudskoye Lake, on Uzmen, at the Voronya Kamen. And he ran into the regiment of Germans and Chyud, and went through the regiment with a pig. And byst slash that great German and Chudi. God and Saint Sophia and the holy martyr Boris and Gleb, who shed his blood for the sake of Novgorodtsi, help those saints with great prayers to help Prince Alexander. And Nemtsi fell, and Chyud dasha splashed; and, rushing by, bish them 7 miles along the ice to the Subolichi coast. And pade Chyudi beseshnsla, and Nemets 400, and 50 with the hands of Yash and Nrnvedosh to Novgorod. And the month of April at 5, for the memory of the holy martyr Claudius, for the praise of the holy Mother of God, and Saturday. That is, the very first chronicle gives us the number of the fallen Germans at 400 people. There is no doubt that this is a Novgorod text. In it, a reference to the help of St. Sophia and St. Boris and Gleb. The Pskov chronicles refer to the help of St. Trinity.
From the Pskov chronicles, you can learn the following: in 1242, Prince Alexander first liberated the city of Pskov from the Germans, then fought with the German knights on the ice with an army consisting of Novgorodians and Pskovites; defeated them and led the captured knights to Pskov "barefoot"; in Pskov there was great joy on this occasion; and Prince Alexander reproached the people of Pskov, urged them not to forget what they had done for Pskov, and in the future, always with special attention to receive the princes of his family in their city!
It is possible that the Pskov chronicler knew some local legend about some speech with which Prince Alexander after the battle addressed the Pskovites. But we do not know its exact content. The chronicler did not know him either, and he had to resort to his own imagination. And he calls on the people of Pskov to be grateful to Prince Alexander and kindly accept princes from his family. But this, again, is the second half of the 13th century. and, therefore, the earliest texts that we have are of this particular time, and all the rest are later!
Rostov chronicle evidence of the battle on Lake Peipsi from the Academic List of the Suzdal Chronicle is very laconic: “In the summer of 6750. Walk Aleksandr Yaroslavich from Novgorodtsi to Nemtsi and fight with them on the Chyudskoye lake, near Voronn stone, and defeat Aleksaidr and drive 7 miles on the ice, cutting them."
An interesting story about the Battle of the Ice, which is in the Laurentian Chronicle, which was compiled by the monk Laurentius in 1377. “In the summer of 6750. Grand Duke Yaroslav, the ambassador of his son Andrea to Novgorod the Great, to help Oleksandrov on the Nemtsi, and I won over Pleskovo on the lake, and full of many captivity, and Andrew returned to his father with honor."
Historian M. N. Tikhomirov writes that this is the Suzdal version of the battle on Lake Peipsi. There is not a word about the Novgorodians, the main character is Alexander, but at the same time all the honor of the victory is attributed to Prince Andrey, although the Novgorod chronicles are silent about him.
The story of the Battle on the Ice is also reflected in the first edition of the Life of Alexander Nevsky, compiled at the Nativity Monastery in Vladimir in the 80s of the 13th century. a contemporary of the prince, a monk of the Nativity monastery in the city of Vladimir. The beginning of the text does not say anything new. This is interesting: “And Prince Olsandr will return with a glorious victory. And there are a lot of people in his regiment, and I am keeping my bare feet beside the spears, who I call myself God's rhetoric. That is, the captive knights walked barefoot, but the figures, how many there were, are not given.
Thus, if we subtract from the most ancient texts everything “divine” and “miraculous”, as well as edifying and “local”, we get the following amount of reliable information:
1. There was a campaign of Prince Alexander in the third year after the Battle of the Neva, namely in the winter - 1242; at the same time, Pskov was liberated from the Germans, and hostilities were transferred to enemy territory.
2. There was a military alliance against Russia, and that his troops marched against the Russians together;
3. The enemy was noticed by the Russian guards, and the reconnaissance of the troops of Prince Alexander was defeated by the Germans;
4. Prince Alexander retreated, as a result of which the Germans, one way or another, found themselves close to Lake Peipsi, and, given the text of the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, the dead fell into the grass (what kind of grass could there be in April?), That is, there was in view of the dry reeds preserved along the edge of the lake from the summer, the battle itself was both on the shore and on the ice. Or it began on the ice, continued on the shore and on the ice, and ended with the flight of the Germans.
5. Prince Yaroslav assisted Prince Alexander by sending him his son, Prince Andrey, together with his retinue;
6. The battle took place on Saturday morning, at sunrise;
7. The battle ended with the victory of Russian weapons, and the victors also pursued the fleeing enemy;
8. Many enemy soldiers were taken prisoner;
9. The victors led the captive knights barefoot beside their horses, that is, according to the canons of knightly honor, they were disgraced;
10. The Pskovites solemnly received Prince Alexander in Pskov.
Now let's turn to the chronicles of the Novgorod-Sofia vault of the 30s of the 15th century. and, in particular, the 1st Novgorod Chronicle of the younger edition (the second edition of the "Life of Alexander Nevsky"). The second edition of "The Life of Alexander Nevsky" exists in three documents: in the 1st Novgorod Chronicle of the younger version (first type), in the 1st Sophia Chronicle (second type) and the Likhachev collection of the late 15th century. (third view). Here is a text from the Novgorod 1st Chronicle of the younger edition according to the Commission List:
“In the summer of 6750. Go Prince Alexander with Novgorodtsi and with his brother Andrey and from Nizovtsi to Chyudskugo land on the Nemtsi, in winter, in the strength of the wellness, but they will not boast, rush:“Ukorim Slovenian language is lower than yourself”. Already more byasha Pskov was taken, and they were planted. And Prince Alexander zaya all the way to Pleskov. And drive out Prince Pskov, and take out Nemtsi and Chyud, and, having fettered, streams to Novgorod, and you yourself will go to Chyud. And, as if they were on the ground, let the regiment all heal, and Domash Tverdislavich and Kerbet were in the roster. And she killed that Domash, a brother posadnitsa, an honest husband, and beat some with him, and some with his hands izimash, and frost to the prince came to the regiment. The prince, on the other hand, rode up to the lake, while Nemtsi and Chyud went along them. Behold, Prince Alexander and Novgorodtsi, placing a regiment on the Chyudskoye Lake, on Uzmen, at the Crow Stone. And the lake Chyudskoe came, and there were many more of both. Byasha bo uv Oleksandr the prince is a lot of brave, as well as ancient Davyd the Caesar had silni, krepsi. Likewise, the men of Alexandrov were filled with the spirit of the battle, and byahu bo hearts with them aky lvom, and rkosha: "Oh, our honest and precious prince! Now it is time to put your own head for you." Prince Alexander, vzdev his hand to heaven, and the speech: "Judge, God, and judge me from my tongue great. Remember me, Lord, like the ancient Moisiev on Amalik and my great-grandfather Yaroslav on the side of Spyatopolk."
It’s a Saturday afternoon, with the rising sun, and the naihash regiment of Germany and Chyud, and the pig went through the regiment. And byst that slash is great by the Germans and Chyude, cowardly from the spears of breaking and the sound from the sword-slashing, as if the sea would freeze to move.
And you can’t see the ice: it covered all the blood. Behold, I heard from the samovid, and speeches, as if I saw the regiment of God and at the entrance, who came to the aid of Alexandrov. And I will conquer with the help of God and Saint Sophia and the holy martyr Boris and Gleb, who shed blood for the sake of the ancient blood. And the Germans fell that, and Chyud dasha splashed and, chasing, beat 7 versts along the ice to the Sobolichka coast. And Chyudi's pade was beschisla, and Nemets 500, and with the other 50 hands Yasha and brought him to Novgorod. And beating April 5, to nominate the holy Martyr Theodulus, to praise the Holy Mother of God, on Saturday. Here, glorify the god Alexander in front of all the regiments, like Isus Navgin at Erichon. They advertised: "We have Alexander with our hands," and God will give these to him in his hands. And he will never find an enemy in battle.
Having returned to Alexander with a glorious victory, there are many more in his regiment, and the horse is near them, who is also called the knight of God.
As if Prince Alexander was approaching the city of Pskov, and stratosha his many people, and the abbots and priests in vestments also cried with crosses and in front of the city, singing the glory of the Lord Prince Alexander: from foreign languages by the hand of Alexandrov."
About pskovitsi's non-publicity! If you forget to your great-grandchildren Aleksandrov, become like a Jew, the Lord has prepared them in the wilderness. And these are all the negligence of their God, known from the work of the Egyptians.
And the name of Alexandrov began to be known in all countries, and to the sea of Khupozhskiy, and to the mountains of Arabia, and I will miss the land of the Varazhskiy sea, and as far as Rome itself."
Here we see changes: the number of killed Germans is "500" instead of the early number "400", and "in memory of the Holy Martyr Claudius" - "in memory of the Holy Martyr Theodulus." Then in the XV century. in the Novgorod 4th and 5th Chronicles, in the Chronicle of Abraham, the Rogozh Chronicler and in full form in the Sofia Chronicle, a number of new details appeared: “50 deliberate governors were taken prisoner … and some water was flooded, and others were worse than the ulcer of a runaway”. Then, in the 1st Sophia Chronicle, instead of "in memory of the holy martyr Theodulus," they restored "in memory of the holy martyr Claudius" - sorted it out!
In the 1st Sophia it is also said that the German "messenger" (apparently, the grandmaster of the Livonian Order) "with all the bishops (bishops, of course) of their own and with all the multitude of their language" came out against Prince Alexander, "with the help of the queen", but what this was the king, as well as the source of this news are unknown.
And here are the warriors of Western Russia and Lithuania of the 15th century. Left - a Lithuanian infantryman of the late 15th century. On the right is a Novgorod boyar of the mid-15th century. In the center - a heavily armed ("knightly armed" - knightly armed - such is the English term for "non-knights" by social status) horseman of the early 15th century, that is, the era of the Battle of Grunwald in 1410!
Thus, the study of the fairly numerous chronicle sources that have come down to us allows us to draw a number of conclusions. First, in the earliest there is no mention of the drowning of the knights in the lake. Second: the number of those killed gradually increased from 400 to 500, but the figure for the number of prisoners remained unchanged. Third: initially it was not said about the meaning and glory of the battle and the prince, but then it appeared in the annals, which, by the way, is not surprising, since "the great is seen in the distance." Further, many historians still confuse the actual chronicle texts and the text of the "Life …" - that is, they refer to the literary source as the text of the chronicle. And although the texts of the published volumes of the Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles are available today, some authors continue to refer to the rewritten texts of school textbooks, in which "knights in armor" are still drowning in ice, although not a single chronicle text of the 13th century confirms this.
An appeal to the texts of the chronicles shows that in 1234, Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich undertook a campaign against the knights-sword-bearers. There was a battle on the Omovzha (or Embach) river. And here's what was there: "Ida prince Yaroslav on Nemtsi near Yuriev, and a hundred did not reach the city … prince Yaroslav bish them … on the river on Omovyzh Nemtsi broke off, there are a lot of them in the fountain" (PSRL, IV, 30, 178). That is, it was there, on the river Omovzha, the knights went out on the ice, fell through and drowned! Probably, it was an impressive sight, otherwise the message about it would not have got into the chronicle! The chronicler mentions that "the best Nѣmtsov nѣkoliko and lower men (that is, warriors from the Vladimir-Suzdal principality too) nѣkoliko" - that is, both of them drowned, including "the best Germans." According to the annals, "bowing to the prince Nѣmtsi, Yaroslav took peace with them in all his truth." In 1336 there was a battle of Saul, in which Semigallians and Samogitians fought against the sword-bearers, and together with them a detachment of two hundred Pskovites and Novgorod soldiers. In it, the crusaders also suffered a severe defeat, and not only the Grand Master of the Order Volkvin von Naumburg himself died in the battle, but also 48 knights of the Order of the Swordsmen, many of the Order's allies, but almost all (180 out of 200) warriors that came from Pskov. By the way, these data are very indicative precisely from the point of view of the number of those who fought. This order itself, after this defeat, was forced to merge with the Teutonic one the next year, that is, its forces were seriously undermined by this battle.
Miniature from "The Life of Alexander Nevsky", included in the Obverse Chronicle Code (16th century). Flight of the Germans. The vision of the heavenly host.
So there were many battles on the border of knightly orders and Russia. But, of course, the image of Prince Alexander, reflected both in many chronicles and in the artistic "Life …" has acquired an epic form and a corresponding reflection in history already today. And, of course, it should be noted that serious historiographic and historical issues should be discussed, first of all, by professional historians who know the subject of discussion not by cheap pictures from the "Book of Future Commanders" and school textbooks for the fourth grade, but by primary sources and serious scientific research by various authors over the years.
