Mongol Tatar yoke Alexander Nevsky. Why Alexander Nevsky became a friend of the Tatar Khan and entered into an alliance with the horde. Was there a yoke?
Political fragmentation and constant princely strife facilitated the implementation of large-scale plans of the Mongol-Tatars, begun by the leader of the Mongol tribes, Prince Temuchin(c. 1155-1227), who received the name Genghis Khan(Great Khan) - rulers of the world. The Mongols attacked Northern China, conquered Siberia, invaded Khorezm, Northern Iran and other lands. At the beginning of 1223, the Mongols invaded Crimea, took the city of Surozh (now Sudak) and moved to the Polovtsian steppes. The Polovtsians fled to Rus'. A large princely congress was convened in Kyiv, where an agreement was reached that the troops of the Russian principalities, united, should support the Polovtsians.
The Mongols led a nomadic lifestyle, had a cavalry army unprecedented at that time with excellent organization and iron discipline, with a unified command. Well armed with bows and sharp sabers, wearing helmets and armor made of sealskin, easily moving on fast horses, they were almost invulnerable to arrows. They even used the highest Chinese for that time military equipment, battering machines, stone throwers, gunpowder, vessels with boiling liquid, etc. Each ten was bound by mutual responsibility, and for the guilt of one all were punished.
Already in the first major clash in the Azov steppes on Kalka River(May 1223) the combined forces of the Russians and Cumans were unable to resist the clearly organized and united Mongols. In addition, serious disagreements emerged between the Russian princes during the battle; there was no support from the powerful princes of Kyiv and Vladimir, who did not take part in the battle. At the beginning, the battle developed successfully for the Russians, the Mongol vanguard retreated, the Russians gave chase, but lost formation and fell into the pincers of the Mongols. For the first time, Rus' suffered such heavy damage - nine-tenths of the combined forces were killed. But the Mongol-Tatars also weakened significantly and, abandoning the campaign against Kyiv, turned back.
For three days the Mongols besieged the camp of the Kyiv prince Mstislav Romanovich, who did not take part in the battle. But after they promised him that if the Russian soldiers laid down their arms, none of them would be killed, the prince surrendered. The Mongols did not keep their promise. All Russian princes and military leaders were put under the boards and crushed by the Mongols feasting on them.
Only in 1237, returning from the steppes, a huge army led by the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu(c. 1208-1259), ascending the Volga, defeated Volga Bulgaria and invaded the Russian lands. The bloody Mongol-Tatar invasion began.
Rus' met the formidable enemy with scattered forces, the absence of a unified command, and insufficient fortification of cities. The bulk of the Russian army consisted of
militias - urban and rural workers who were inferior to the Mongols in numbers, weapons and combat skills.
The first to take the hit Ryazan Principality(December 1237). Back in the fall of 1237, the Khan's ambassadors arrived to the Ryazan prince Yuri and demanded tribute and the immediate surrender of the city. “When we are gone, everything will be yours,” the prince answered them. The disobedience of the defenders caused unprecedented cruelty of the interventionists. After a fierce battle and a six-day siege, local residents, including the princely family, were killed.
In February 1238, despite stubborn resistance along the way, an avalanche of Mongol-Tatars completely destroyed the military army Vladimir in the battle of Kolomna and broke into the city through gaps in the fortress wall of Vladimir. The princely family and residents took refuge in the Assumption Cathedral, but the Mongols set fire to the cathedral, and all those who took refuge in it were burned.
Having taken Vladimir, Batu divided his troops into separate detachments and sent them to other cities of northeastern Rus'.
Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir, even before the Mongol campaign, went to the north of the principality to gather a military army. The regiments he assembled were defeated by the Mongols on the river. Sit, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich himself died in the battle. And Batu set off to conquer northwestern Rus', everywhere the invaders met strong resistance - the residents of Torzhok defended their city for two weeks.
The dedication and unbending resilience of the defenders of Russian cities, as well as the onset of the spring thaw, saved Novgorod. The Mongols, not reaching 100 km from it, formed separate detachments to gather strength and rest, and headed south. On their way they ravaged Chernigov, Pereyaslavl South and other cities.
For seven weeks the small town held the defense against vastly superior aggressor forces. Kozelsk, nicknamed the “evil city” by the Mongols.
After a long siege in 1240 fell Kyiv, in a year - Galicia-Volyn principality. True, Mongol-Tatar rule here was less strong and not so long-lasting.
And although the expression of submission and recognition of dependence on the Horde preserved the integrity of the southwestern lands, it was extremely humiliating. Prince Daniil of Galicia, supported by Pope Innocent IV, managed to maintain greater independence for some time than his relatives in the northeast of Rus'. However, already in the second half of the 13th century. Southwestern Rus' not only paid tribute to the Horde, but even participated on its side as a forced ally in the Mongol campaigns.
In 1241, the Mongols invaded Europe, devastating Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Balkan cities and countries. They reached the borders of Italy, reaching the Adriatic Sea and Germany. However, in 1242 the Mongols suffered defeats in the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Having lost significant forces on Russian soil, having invaded Europe, but not daring to leave the Russians in the rear, Batu, having received news of the death of the Great Khan, returned to the Volga region, where he formed a powerful Golden Horde (1242) with the capital Sarai-Batu (near Astrakhan), covering almost half of Asia and Europe. The Golden Horde was a multinational and multi-structured state. Rus' was not part of the Golden Horde, but was in vassal dependence on it.
As A. S. Pushkin rightly noted, Rus', “torn to pieces and drained of blood, stopped the Mongol-Tatar invasion on the edge of Europe” and saved European civilization.
And yet the unprecedented, heroic, stubborn resistance of the defenders of the Russian Fatherland was broken. The time has come for a terrible disaster for Rus'.
The name “Golden Horde” was first introduced into circulation in 1565 in the historical and journalistic work “Kazan History”. Until this time, in all Russian chronicles the word “horde” was used without the adjective “golden”.
The term "Mongolian" Tatar yoke", meaning the power of the Golden Horde over Russia, is not found in Russian chronicles. The term “Tatar yoke” itself appeared in the XIV-XV centuries. in Poland in historical literature. The word formation “Mongol-Tatar yoke” was used for the first time in 1817 by H. Kruse, whose book in the middle of the 19th century. was translated into Russian.
- From the middle of the 13th century. the capital of the Ryazan principality was Pereyaslavl, founded in 1095 by Prince Yaroslav Svyatoslavich. In 1778 it was renamed Ryazan.
In the critical voices about Alexander Nevsky, most of the space is occupied by accusations that he contributed to the establishment of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'. They say that after Batu’s invasion, Rus' could still perk up and, with united efforts, overthrow the newly established oppression. We, of course, are not given to know whether such attempts would be crowned with success or, on the contrary, would only lead to new victims and devastation. But we know, firstly, that there were such attempts, and secondly, that Alexander Nevsky opposed them and stopped them.
Historians usually justify this by saying that Alexander Nevsky thereby saved Rus' from new Tatar raids and devastation. However, the way he carried it out was just a series of such pogroms and invasions. Only the squad of the Nevsky Hero took part in them together with the Tatars.
Let's look at the events in order. In 1243, Batu, khan of the Juchi ulus (Golden Horde), called Nevsky’s father, Yaroslav Vsevolodich, to his capital Sarai to take the vassal oath from him. Alexander at this time reigned in Novgorod as a hired prince with limited power. Yaroslav gave the required oath, for which Batu gave him a label - investiture for the great reign of Vladimir and Kiev. In fact, Batu made Yaroslav senior over all the Russian princes, although this appointment was not recognized by all Russian princes and not immediately. There are hints in the chronicles that Alexander himself was in no hurry to obey his father.
But the decision of the Khan of the Golden Horde at that time still required ratification by the Great Khan in Karakorum. And so, after a short stay at home, Yaroslav Vsevolodich set off on a long journey to Central Asia, from which he never returned. No one doubted that he was confirmed in the great reign, but now his two sons, Alexander and Andrei, laid claim to the throne. Tradition considers Alexander to be the eldest of the brothers, but this is not known for sure, and Andrei’s date of birth has not been preserved.
Andrei was the first to go to Karakorum and brought a label to the Vladimir throne from the Great Khan Guyuk. But soon Guyuk suddenly died, and with the support of Batu, Munke became the Great Khan. Andrei, meanwhile, entered into an alliance with Prince Daniil of Galitsky with the goal of overthrowing the khan's yoke from Rus'.
As for further events, the versions of both chroniclers and historians differ greatly. The canonical version says that Batu’s son Sartak, who ruled in Sarai at that time, sent the temnik Nevryuy against Andrei. Andrei fled, and Alexander, meanwhile, went to Sarai, and then to Karakorum, to appease the khans, and brought himself a label for the great reign. Meanwhile, the Tatars had already managed to ravage Vladimir, Suzdal and other centers of North-Eastern Rus' again (“Nevryuev’s army”, 1252).
According to the apocryphal version, based on Vasily Tatishchev, Alexander Nevsky himself begged an army from the khan, with his help he overthrew his brother and reigned in Rus', thereby finally establishing the Horde yoke in it and burying hopes of liberation. Some historians hypothesize that Nevryu, mentioned in the chronicle, is none other than the Nevsky hero himself. Regardless of which version is correct, it is obvious that Alexander Nevsky took advantage of the power of the Horde to assert his autocracy in Rus', but as an obedient tributary of the khans.
Nevsky Ice Battle Horde
Having reliably protected the borders of Rus' from Western invasion, Alexander Yaroslavich faced an equally dangerous enemy - the Horde. In 1242, Alexander, together with his father, Yaroslav, left for the Horde. The princes tried to consolidate the alliance with the Tatars and protect Rus' from the raids of nomads. This was achieved at the cost of enormous time, effort and even life. Prince Yaroslav gave his life for this. After the death of his father in 1247, Alexander, thanks to his political talent, “pitted” Batu against Mongolia, diverting a possible punitive campaign from Rus'. Arriving at the headquarters of Batu, Alexander and Andrey, the pagan shamans tried to force them to undergo rituals, but the princes refused, not being afraid of death. They wanted to kill the brothers for such unheard-of insolence, but Batu said: “They told me the truth: there is no prince equal to this.” Batu planned to give the great reign of Vladimir to Alexander, but according to Yaroslav’s will, Andrei was to become the prince of Vladimir, and Alexander was to become the prince of Novgorod and Kyiv. And so, in the end, that’s what happened. In 1252, many cities rebelled against the Mongol-Tatar yoke; the uprising was led by brother Andrei and Prince Daniel of Galicia-Volyn. The threat of a punitive campaign arose again. Alexander Nevsky had to go to the Horde again to ward off a new misfortune. There he became the Grand Duke of All Rus' and received the label for the great reign of Vladimir.
There is also information that the Pope wrote to Alexander Nevsky and even sent his ambassadors to the Russian prince, offering help if the Tatars attacked Rus' again. However, the Grand Duke refused, saying: “We will learn everything that is good, but we will not accept teachings from you.”
In 1253, Novgorod was again attacked by the Lithuanians. The eldest son Vasily called his father for help and by 1256, with the joint efforts of the Novgorod and Vladimir regiments, they repelled the attacks and drove back the enemy.
Batu died in 1256. The prince went to Sarai for the third time to negotiate with the new khan, Khanke’s successor. In 1261, through the efforts of Alexander Nevsky, Metropolitan Kirill, a Russian Orthodox Church was established in Sarai for captured Russians.
In 1262, in many cities, Tatar tax farmers were killed, who were recruiting among the inhabitants of Rus' in military service to the Horde. Prince Alexander went to Sarai again. We were waiting for the Tatar place. However, the cunning politician Alexander directed events in a different direction: he contributed to the separation of the Horde from Mongolia, that is, he did everything to obtain a barrier in the form of an independent state from the brutal Tatar raids.
This trip turned out to be the last for the prince. Returning to Rus', Alexander became seriously ill. There is a version that he was poisoned in Sarai in the same way as his father. Exhausted from fatigue, the prince arrived in Nizhny Novgorod. After lying there for several days, he ordered to move on. However, in the Fedorovsky monastery of Volzhsky Gorodets, the prince finally fell ill. Realizing that he was dying, Alexander Nevsky asked the monks to tonsure him into the schema. He adopted the schema with the name Alexia. And he departed to another world on November 14, 1263. At the time when the prince was dying in the monastery, Metropolitan Kirill was serving in Vladimir-on-Klyazma. Suddenly he saw that a living prince was standing before him. The Metropolitan realized that Alexander Nevsky had died. He then said: “The sun of the Russian Land has set!”
Thus ended the earthly journey of Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, a talented commander and far-sighted politician. The Church canonized the Grand Duke and canonized him. The relics of the saint rest in the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.
A correctly formulated question already contains half the answer. The authors of the concept of a single textbook on the history of Russia neglected this principle, and therefore reached a dead end with the next “difficult” topic, which reads as follows: “The historical choice of Alexander Nevsky in favor of subjugating the Russian lands to the Golden Horde.”
The question is not only absurd, but also cynical. The authors of the concept hold Alexander Yaroslavich responsible for what he did not do and could not do. The Mongol invasion, the cruel devastation of Rus' and its subjugation to its conquerors is a historical reality without any choice.
Fate did not give the people of that era any alternative. The one who survived had to restore the cities burned to the ground and revive Rus' as part of the Golden Horde. Alexander Nevsky, who accepted the schema and was canonized Orthodox Church, was among them. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves not so much about the prince’s personal biography, but about the nature of relations between Rus' and the Mongols in general.
Resistance to invasion
At the beginning of the Mongol invasion, the Novgorod prince Alexander Yaroslavich was 16 years old. Thanks to popular historical literature, in our time there is a certain spread of the myth that previously, they say, children grew up faster and a boy at that age is a full-fledged warrior, prince and judge of his subjects. This is not entirely true.
It was age that most likely saved Alexander. The Novgorod regiments hesitated to help the Vladimir-Suzdal people, since they were to be led not by the young prince, but by his father Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who was hurrying from Kyiv. He did not have time; North-Eastern Russia was finished in a matter of weeks. The Mongols also canceled their campaign against Novgorod because the spring thaw had begun.
This episode, however, should not be considered in support of the opinion that the fragmentation of Rus' and the inconsistency of its defenders became the main reason for the conquest. Not without exceptions, but in the face of danger the Rurikovichs still forgot about their quarrels and met the enemy shield to shield. Quite clear and organized.
The chronology of the reaction to the invasion speaks for itself. At the beginning of December 1237, when the Mongols had just entered the Ryazan lands, the Murom residents came to the aid of the defenders and took part in the first border battle. Three weeks later, the army of the Vladimir prince, led by his son Vsevolod, entered the territory of the Ryazan principality. Already on January 1, near Kolomna, they gave battle to the Mongols. In a fierce three-day battle, the Mongols lost one of Genghis Khan’s sons, but still won and moved on. A week later, already on the territory of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, the Chernigovites with the Ryazan governor Evpatiy Kolovrat caught up with them - they hurried to the besieged Ryazan, but in the place of the city they found only ashes...
Therefore, the frequent complaints that the princes could not unite in the face of a common enemy have little justification. The forces were simply not objectively equal. A few years later, Batu Khan easily led successful fighting simultaneously against four European states - Poland, Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire and Bulgaria. Rus' held out for a long time and even beat the Mongols in some battles. However, by the time Kyiv was captured in the fall of 1240, the will of the defenders had been broken: about half of the lands remained untouched by the invasion, but the demoralized princes had already realized that they would have to negotiate with the Horde.
From robbery to cooperation
About ten years after the conquest, the idea arose among the Russian princes that the right moment had come to abandon Mongol dependence. By that time, Batu was firmly stuck in the empire's capital politics. Military glory and success brought him to the number of real contenders for the throne of the Great Khan. However, Batu cunningly abandoned his personal claims and decided to support another prince from the Genghisid family - Khan Mongke, with whom he went to Rus' and Europe. His protege achieved the throne, and Batu received the title of “father of the Great Khan” (despite the fact that he himself was younger than Mongke in age). During the protracted civil war Batu's troops were busy crushing other contenders across the vast expanses of the Mongol Empire. Meanwhile, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Andrei Yuryevich (the brother of Alexander Nevsky) with his father-in-law Danila Galitsky, as well as some Rurikovichs who supported them, agreed to simultaneously stop paying tribute.
Alexander Nevsky was in the Horde at that time to confirm the labels for the Kiev and Novgorod reigns. He could only watch as Batu's son Sartak gathered an army that defeated his brothers. Andrei Yuryevich fled to Sweden. Danila Galitsky managed to fight off the first Mongol expedition, but six years later he was again forced to pay tribute.
As a result of this speech, the two most powerful rulers of Rus' were discredited in the eyes of the Mongols. The path to the great reign was opened for Alexander Nevsky. Yes, he was loyal to the Horde. Probably, it was precisely this circumstance that served as a pretext for the authors of the concept of a single textbook, a sufficient reason to reproach the prince for collaboration. But everyone else was forced to do the same. The next serious attempt to oppose the Horde took place only thirty years after the death of Alexander Nevsky - turmoil began again in the Mongol camp and the Russian princes again suggested that the right moment had come to abandon vassal dependence. And again they miscalculated.
The conscious choice in favor of the Golden Horde took place much later - approximately a century after Alexander Nevsky. By that time, Rus' had already become imbued with the state ideology of its neighbors. The rather complex Horde (and Chinese in origin) taxation system was adopted, which at first caused the greatest rejection. Khan's Baskaks were often killed in the line of duty, and soon the function of collecting tribute returned to the Russian princes. They collected, but did not send everything to the Horde.
Over time, the difference between the actual and sent “output” of tribute grew. In the 15th century, tribute was no longer so much a collection of taxes in favor of the Horde, but a symbolic gift demonstrating recognition of the seniority of the khans over the Russian princes. The princes themselves, thus, turned out to be direct beneficiaries of the “Mongol-Tatar yoke.” By collecting taxes, they appealed to the authority of the khans - and to the immediate threat they posed to those who refused to pay tribute.
In fact, the Russian princes, who lived in Sarai for years, turned into one of the parties at the khan's court. And they began to take an active part in his internal conflicts. Thus, the famous campaign of Dmitry Donskoy and the Battle of Kulikovo should hardly be interpreted as a clear desire for independence. The prince opposed the usurper Mamai, who had no rights either to the throne or to collect tribute from the Russian principalities. It is characteristic that two years later, Dmitry Donskoy, in a similar situation, did not dare to draw arms against the legitimate Khan Tokhtamysh.
The natural way out of vassalage occurred when the Tatars still posed a threat, but no longer had authority. By the end of the 15th century, the Horde had almost nothing in common with the empire that had once conquered Rus'. The Ulus of Jochi split into a number of khanates, warring among themselves and terrorizing their neighbors. Ultimately, the legacy of the Golden Horde was united within Russia.
At the origins of Russian spirituality
But you still have to do something with the term “Mongol-Tatar yoke” in the school textbook. It must be admitted that the metaphor popularized by the great Russian historian Nikolai Karamzin (“jugum” in Latin means a yoke or collar that was applied to cattle) is unsuccessful both for scientific and for general circulation. The nature of the relationship between Rus' and the Horde is called not a yoke, but vassal dependence. At the same time, it is worth avoiding the enthusiastic idealization of Mongolian influence.
Thanks, of course, to Eurasian historians - and especially to Lev Gumilyov, whose literary talent partly “rehabilitated” the Golden Horde, and also drew attention to such an important issue as the interaction of Rus' and the nomads. However, Gumilyov’s idyll of the Russian-Horde alliance does not, to put it mildly, correspond to historical reality in everything. Where, for example, did Lev Nikolaevich get the idea that Batu’s son Sartak fraternized with Alexander Nevsky? Yes, the Russian prince called the ruler of the Golden Horde his father (which is natural for a vassal), but this does not imply particularly friendly relations with his relatives.
On the contrary, we can well appreciate the depth of the spiritual catastrophe that Rus' experienced when meeting the Mongols. In the second half of the 13th century, a sharp jump in religiosity was recorded. The adoption of the schema by Alexander Nevsky was, in general, an ordinary event for his generation. People perceived the Mongol invasion as God's punishment for their sins. They tried to redeem them. Accordingly, the lifestyle of the ruling class also changed.
Earlier, having taken control of the caravan routes along the Volga and Dnieper, the Rurikovichs were stunned by the wealth coming into their hands. Arab travelers described with amazement how the Russes hung the fortress walls with precious silks - this was probably perceived as wild as the style of the “new Russians” in the 90s of the 20th century. After Batu's pogrom, the elite greatly revised their views on life. Expensive imported wine has almost disappeared from use. Christian asceticism has greatly supplanted previous ideas about leisure, which Prince Vladimir described with the characteristic phrase: “The joy of Rus' is to drink.” Moreover, he said this in the context of choosing a religion, which seems to hint at which priority was more important for him.
If in the first half of the 13th century there were at most seven dozen monasteries in Rus', then a hundred years later there were already more than two hundred of them. Moreover, in the past, practical monasteries were always located in the city and nearby, that is, next to worldly temptations. Now they are specially built in the wilderness. The history of Russian spirituality begins from this era, but this is a completely different topic.
Raid or yoke. Alexander Nevsky, Daniil Galitsky and Mindovg. Unworthy sons of Nevsky. Temnik Nogai n Volga Horde. Participation of Russian princes in Tatar campaigns and Tatar princes - in Russian
So, let us agree with the obvious fact that after the first predatory raid, the Tatar-Mongol hordes, burdened with booty, left the Russian borders, and also with the fact that in this first raid they spared neither the laity nor the clergy; and this circumstance indicated that we were talking specifically about a raid, and not about a conquest, for the conqueror, that is, the new owner of the hen Ryaba, which lays golden eggs, would not have killed her. Some of the nomads went to the Volga, the other went on a new raid, this time to Western Europe. There was no occupation administration or military garrisons left in Rus'. The princes, guided by the ancient rules of succession to the throne, continued to own their depopulated inheritances; the place of the Grand Duke of Vladimir after the death of George Vsevolodovich (March 1238) was taken by right of seniority by his brother Yaroslav, who came with his retinue from Kyiv. It is believed that before Batu’s return from the Western Campaign, none of the Russian princes entered into negotiations with him or paid him tribute. And this is still neither more nor less, but four years after the fall of Vladimir. It is considered to be considered, but how do you want to treat the mentions in Western chronicles of the participation of Russian soldiers in Batu’s campaign to the west, during which they allegedly proved themselves to be the worst? What was the position in Batu’s retinue of the thousand-year-old Dimitar, the last commandant of Kyiv, whose advice the khan listened to? How to evaluate the statement of S.M. Solovyov that Alexander Nevsky visited the Horde on the eve (?!) of the Battle on the Ice? By the way, this statement was also duplicated by the Soviet historian I.B. Grekov, although it does not fit into the general chronology of events - for some reason this visit precedes the voyage of Father Alexander, the Horde pioneer, who in 1243 bought the label for the great reign of Vladimir. As we see, everything is far from simple... Judging by literary sources, North-Eastern Rus' until 1252 was left to its own devices. And then a dispute arose between Alexander and his brother Andrei about the great reign, and it was resolved only with the help of the Nevryu army, which came to Rus' either at the request of Alexander Nevsky, or solely by the will of the Great Khan. Note that this was the first army after Batu’s invasion. True, there is a fairly authoritative opinion regarding the reason for the appearance of this army: there was supposedly a threat of creating an anti-Mongol coalition in the person of the then Grand Duke of Vladimir Andrei and Daniil of Galitsky, sealed by a family union, that is, the marriage of Andrei and Daniil’s daughter. One way or another, Andrei’s squad was defeated, Pereyaslavl and Suzdal were destroyed, and the prince himself fled to Novgorod, and then even further... to Sweden. Alexander Nevsky becomes Grand Duke.
But all this is only part of the truth. Many historians bashfully keep silent about the very fact of the arrival of Russian princes in the Horde, claiming ownership of the appanage or grand-ducal table. We need to face the truth. The prince's arrival in the Horde meant his unconditional recognition of the fact that the principality to which he lays claim no longer belongs to him, but to the khan - by right of military spoils. Therefore, the applicant for a label on the princely table had to prove his former rights to his own family nest and negotiate the conditions under which he could remain in it, but not as an owner, but as a prince in the service of the khan. Most often, the prince in such a situation gave obligations to pay tribute, participate in the khan’s wars and unquestioningly obey the khan’s will. So what kind of relationship are these partners or allies, what do pro-Tatar-minded authors want to convince us of? Rather, it was the kind of relationship that develops between the winner and the vanquished.
Nevertheless, there was still one positive aspect for the Russians in this alliance. Receiving the khan's label for reign meant for other princes and foreign sovereigns that this principality was the property of the khan and that the khan would defend his possessions by all means available to him. It seems that in those days such a “roof” was worth a lot, since there were no people willing to cross their weapons with the Tatars even in aggressive Europe, and therefore tributary relations were fully justified. Almost all Russian princes went through this humiliation, and those who did not, ultimately found themselves under the heel of the Catholic states of Europe or pagan Lithuania.
As for the tribute, it was not established immediately and not for everyone. If almost beginningless Kiev, Chernigov and Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny immediately after 1240 turned into a passage yard even for small Tatar detachments, who took from the residents everything they wanted, and in the Galicia-Volyn principality, which retained centralized power, the Basques appeared after 1249 , then the first Tatar census takers, “chislenniki”, visited North-Eastern Rus' only in 1257, or almost 20 (!) years after the fall of Vladimir.
The reaction of the seemingly conquered population to the poll tax in favor of the Horde was nevertheless inadequate. This is evidenced by the rebellion that Alexander Nevsky had to pacify with an armed hand. The Tatars did not send a punitive expedition to Rus' not only thanks to the diplomatic talent of the Grand Duke and his preventive measures, but, apparently, also because that year they were more interested in Galicia-Volyn Principality, from where Daniel, in the hope of help from the Pope and Catholic Majesties, expelled the Baskaks and Tatar garrisons. Then twice more, in 1259 and 1262, North-Eastern Rus' rose up against the “numbered”, which ultimately cost the life of Alexander Nevsky (1263), who rushed to the Horde to appease the Tatars.
How I want to believe in the assumption that this was Christ’s sacrifice on his part to save the Russian land. Although why not? After all, for another ten years after his death, until 1273, God had mercy on Rus' from the destructive Horde raids. This thirty-five-year respite after Batu’s invasion and twenty years after the Nevryuev army allowed our distant ancestors to raise abandoned farms, rebuild cities, partially restore the population, and increase defense capability. Doesn't this mean that in the circumstances that had developed by that time, the choice of Alexander Nevsky was the only correct one? And the circumstances were as follows: the Russian appanage princes, who were related to each other in varying degrees (from a “seventh cousin” nephew to a full brother), were so disunited that there could be no talk of uniting efforts to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke.
However, in fairness, it should be noted that this disunity cannot be attributed exclusively to Rus', because it was characteristic of almost all early feudal states only with a difference in time: some earlier, some later.
And what was there to overthrow? The Tatars came and went. They did not seize the country, they did not stay in it, they did not begin to rule it independently and directly. They did it differently. With their cruelty, their ability to create an overwhelming advantage in military strength at the time and place they needed, they for some time suppressed the will of the princes to resist and made it objectively impossible, in the conditions of the fragmentation of Rus' and the small population, to resist a professional army coming from the endless steppe expanses and going to God knows where. In this situation, it was more profitable for the “owner of the Russian land,” according to the custom of those times, to buy off the seasonal raids of nomads with seasonal “exit” packages. This reminded them of the old times, when their fathers “bought peace” from the Polovtsians. And sometimes they bought it not out of weakness, but because they didn’t want extra blood. In the situation with the Tatars, the Russians were weaker, so their forced non-resistance behavior turned out to be the best solution in the current situation. And the future confirmed this. Of course, they hoped that this concession was temporary, that they only needed to accumulate strength - and the Tatars, like the Polovtsians, would be thrown back into the Wild Steppe.
Such a policy was historically justified also because other applicants also looked at the Russian lands, who went much further than simple robbery and receiving tribute. They came to expand their living space. Unlike the tolerant Tatars, they dreamed of destroying Orthodoxy and instilling in the Russian people Catholic orders that were alien to them. From their side there was a real threat to Russian statehood, Russian identity, and the Russian future on Russian soil. Understanding this, Alexander Yaroslavich waged a life-and-death struggle with them. In the period between the fall of Vladimir (February 1238) and the destruction of Kyiv (December 1240), Alexander successfully repelled the Swedish offensive (July 15, 1240), for which he received the honorary prefix “Nevsky” to his name. After the Tatars returned from the Western Campaign, he inflicted a crushing defeat on the German order on the ice of Lake Peipus (April 5, 1242) and covered himself with unfading glory.
Alexander’s father, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, as we have already said, was the first of the Russian princes to recognize Batu’s power over himself and went to bow to him (1243) in order to retain the Vladimir table. But in those days, Khan of the Great Horde Guyuk was still strong, who wanted to personally resolve issues of succession to the throne in the conquered countries. The journey of the Vladimir prince to Karakorum (1245–1246), although accompanied by visible signs of attention and the khan's favor, ended with the death of Yaroslav from poison given to him.
And at this time, Alexander Nevsky, who had previously pacified the Swedes and Germans, was forced to deal with the affairs of the Lithuanian tribes, whose princes, inspired by the weakening of Rus' as a result of Batu’s invasion, wanted to tear off part of the Russian lands for themselves. In 1245, he inflicted three defeats on them in a row: near the city of Toropets, on the shores of Lake Zhizzo and near the city of Usvyat. However, the death of his father and the order of Batu led him, together with his younger brother Andrei, first to the Volga, and then (in 1246) to the Great Horde, from where Andrei returned as the Grand Duke of Vladimir, and Alexander as the Prince of Kyiv and Novgorod. It is difficult to answer unequivocally what was dictated by this “appointment”: either the desire to pit his brothers against each other, or the fact that in previous years Alexander reliably resisted the Swedish-German-Lithuanian expansion, and therefore, he had to continue his military career.
What followed, on the one hand, was the rapprochement between Andrei Yaroslavich and Daniil Galitsky (1250), indicating the creation of an anti-Tatar coalition, and on the other, the fraternization of Alexander Nevsky with Batu’s son Sartak (1251). Then there was the infamous Nevryuev’s army, the defeat of Andrei and his flight to Sweden. And although Alexander Nevsky did not take part in this campaign, the fruits of the “victory” went to him and he took the throne of the Grand Duke (1252).
In subsequent years, all his attention was focused on the problems of the northwestern outskirts. Nevsky achieved a number of victories over the Lithuanian princes and Livonian knights (1253), as well as the Swedish feudal lords in Finland (1256). However, the death of Batu and the murder of his son and heir Sartak, who were relatively favorably disposed towards North-Eastern Rus', radically change the content of Tatar-Russian relations. These half-vassal-half-allied relations no longer suit the new Khan Berke. He demands the complete submission of the Russian princes and full tribute from them. And for this purpose, he sends his officials to conduct a census not only in Vladimir and Suzdal, but also in Novgorod, which until that time was considered independent. Realizing the impossibility of military opposition to the superior forces of the Horde and not wanting a new Tatar invasion, Alexander Nevsky takes on a thankless mission: he had to arrest his son, Vasily, who was reluctant, and execute his advisers in order to achieve his goal - to avoid widespread ruin and mass bloodshed. Russian cities are filled with self-interested tax farmers - tax collectors who have established such high penalties for arrears that in 1262 the residents of Vladimir, Suzdal, and Rostov unanimously rebelled against the covetous people, “they killed some and expelled others.” The Grand Duke again has to pacify his subjects and beg forgiveness in the Horde with gifts. This was his diplomatic victory.
He pursued an equally successful policy in the north-west. In 1252, he established friendly relations with the Norwegian king, planning a dynastic marriage, and in 1262 - with Mindaugas, who united the scattered Lithuanian principalities, and agreed with him on a joint campaign against the German crusaders. But fate decreed otherwise. In 1263, both of them end their earthly journey: Nevsky - from Tatar poison (?), and his failed ally - from the hand of Dovmont, the future Pskov prince and the future locally revered Orthodox saint, from whom Mindovg treacherously took his wife.
The activities of Alexander Nevsky are just one of the options for the development of Russian history in the middle of the 13th century. There was another, elected by Prince Daniil of Galicia, who took part in the Battle of Kalka (in 1223). From a young age, his life passed in the conditions of an incessant struggle for his father's legacy.
Like Alexander Nevsky, Daniil Romanovich did not personally engage in open battle with the troops of Batu and his Horde successors. But if Alexander, during the time of Batu’s invasion, protected other borders of the Russian land, and with the threat of another Tatar raid, he hurried to the Horde in order to appease the khan and his entourage, in order to ward off the impending disaster, then for some reason the European-bred Daniel preferred to leave when the Tatar hordes approached his principality in the care of the governor and brother and, under the pretext of searching for allies, to hide in Hungary or Poland. In calmer times, he willingly took part in the “infighting” of European monarchs.
After the winter devastation (1240/41), the Tatars did not particularly bother him, they did not demand tribute, they only watched how the struggle of the princes with Rostislav Mikhailovich of Chernigov, who relied on Hungarian and Polish allies in the war for the Galician-Volyn principality, would end. The victory of Daniil and Vasilko Romanovich over Rostislav in August 1249 promoted them to the ranks of strong and authoritative European sovereigns, and Batu, for whom the strengthening of any neighbor was dangerous and undesirable, decided to stop them. A menacing shout came from the Horde: “Give Galich!” Not ready for a new war, Daniel, with the words: “I won’t give up my semi-patrimony, I’ll go to the khan myself,” - at the end of 1250 he went to the Horde, where he was received quite friendly. But behind this friendliness, essentially, stood the loss of independence, agreement to accept the Baskaks and a humiliating tribute. Therefore, contemporary chroniclers assessed the khan’s friendliness this way: “Oh, the Tatar honor is more evil than evil! Danilo Romanovich, the Great Prince, who owned the Russian land, Kiev, Volyn, Galich and other countries, is now on his knees, called a serf, subject to tribute, trembles for his life and fears threats! It was the worst thing for proud Daniel to endure.
Here, presumably, he realized that the Tatars had come for a long time, that he could not sit behind the fortress walls and that he needed to seriously engage in creating an anti-Horde coalition. At first he turned his gaze to the northeast, but, as we have already said, Nevryuev’s army thwarted his plans for an alliance with Andrei Yaroslavich Vladimirsky, and Alexander Nevsky, who replaced him, could not count on understanding from the outside for the simple reason that he , having fraternized with Sartak in 1251, was already officially considered the adopted son (?) of Batu. In this regard, Daniel had no choice but to restore the once interrupted relations with the Roman Church in the hope that he would still be able to organize a crusade against the Golden Horde. However, the Pope was no longer the same as a hundred years ago, and Christian monarchs thought more about their own benefits than about the troubles of their eastern co-religionists. In a word, the campaign did not take place, but the “vicar of God on earth” still wanted to gain a foothold in Eastern Europe, to bind Daniel to himself, for which he elevated Daniel to royal dignity (1255). Daniel, although he did not receive real help from the Pope, did not give up the royal crown, but did not agree to unite the churches. Nevertheless, he did not lose hope for military assistance from his relative, the Hungarian king, and the Polish princes.
In the year of his coronation, Daniel, as a result of very successful military operations, forces the Lithuanian prince Mindaugas to peace and an alliance treaty. It should be said that the relationship between these two great men in previous years moved from one extreme to the other. They either fought among themselves, with victory, as a rule, going to Daniel, or they became friends and became related. Daniel himself was married for his second marriage to the niece of Mindovg, and his son Shvarn was married to the daughter of a Lithuanian prince. Another son of Daniel, Roman, owned the inheritance received from Mindovg with the cities of Novogrudok, Slonim, Volkovysk.
Having such impressive support (the Pope, the Hungarian king, Poles, Cumans, Lithuanians) and using the internal strife that arose in the Golden Horde after the death of Batu (1256), Daniel makes an attempt to free himself from Tatar dependence. He enters the southern Russian regions, where the Baskaks dominated, as in their uluses, captures Baskak Khan, expels the Tatars from the cities between the Bug and Teterev rivers and intends to go to the liberation of Kiev, but circumstances force him to rush to the defense of the Lutsk region, which was being ravaged treacherous Lithuanian allies. True, they did not pose a great danger; one of Daniel’s commanders dealt with them quite easily, and yet the attack on the Tatars had to be curtailed.
And then “personnel changes” arrived in the Golden Horde: in 1260, instead of the weak-willed Kuremsa, the active Burandai was appointed “overseeing” this region. He approached the borders of the Galician principality with large forces and, without reproaching the prince for his recent arbitrariness, demanded troops from him to participate in the war against Lithuania. As usual, Daniel goes to Hungary, and to help Burandai he sends his brother Vasilko, who, together with the Tatars, invades Lithuania and betrays it to fire and sword. The following year, 1261, having returned from Lithuania, the temnik, under the threat of ruining the region, demands from the Romanovichs new evidence of their submission: “If you want to live with us in peace, mark out all your cities.” To avoid the worst, Daniil and Vasilko destroy the city fortifications of Lviv, Stozhk, Kremenets, Lutsk, Vladimir-Volynsky, which marked the unconditional victory of the Tatars over the Russians. To top it all off, Burandai ordered Vasilko (Daniil was again hiding in Hungary at that time) to go with him to Poland, and he involuntarily became not just a witness, but a direct participant in the devastation of the Sandomierz region and the destruction of its inhabitants. The cunning and active Burandai, as a result, quarreled the Galician-Volyn princes with their former allies and, without shedding a drop of Tatar blood, finally conquered South-Western Rus'.
It just so happened, but with the death of Alexander Nevsky (1263) and Daniil Galitsky (1264), the first period in Rus'’s relations with the unexpected and uninvited Golden Horde ended. The princes who still remembered the former greatness of their Fatherland, who respected the prince-father, the steward of the Russian land, disappeared into oblivion. After them, the Rurikovichs came to power, no longer professing the idea of a single state and not imagining how it was possible to resolve issues of princely power and appanage ownership without the “authoritative” intervention of the Horde king. Receiving the right to reign even in their family inheritance from the Horde khan, the local princes took less and less into account the opinion of the Grand Duke, who could no longer control the princely family. Moreover, not wanting to have intermediaries in relations with the Horde king, they tried in every possible way to get rid of the very institution of the great reign, considering themselves great and independent. Apparently, this explains the fact that they directed all the energy they had to increasing and strengthening their inheritance. And due to what? Again, at the expense of their less enterprising distant and close relatives. True, the great reign attracted the opportunity to sit at the same time on the Novgorod table, which made it possible to increase income. But, it must be said, the Tatars played an important role here too.
After the death of Alexander Nevsky, Alexander's brothers were established one after another on the Vladimir table by the right of the ladder and by the will of the Golden Horde Khan: Yaroslav Yaroslavich Tverskoy (1264–1272) and Vasily Yaroslavich Kostroma (1272–1276). The first threatened the rebellious Novgorodians with the Tatar army, and the second did not hesitate to directly turn to the Horde and, with their help, become the prince of Novgorod “with all his will.” This, of course, did not pass painlessly for the residents of those places through which the “allies” passed.
The sons of Alexander Nevsky brought even more troubles to the Russian land. At the instigation of the boyars, Andrei Alexandrovich, the appanage prince of Gorodets, plotted against his elder brother, Grand Duke Dmitry Alexandrovich, who was guided by foreign policy to the West, having put together a coalition of appanage princes. However, fearing that the planned purely Russian confrontation could end with just a simple demonstration of force, as happened more than once after Batu’s invasion, and he would remain in his own interests, Andrei cajoled Khan Mengu-Timur with flattery and gifts and received from him a large Tatar detachment . With such power, none of the princes dared to disobey him when he called them under his banners. Murom and Pereslavl, the environs of Vladimir, Suzdal, Yuryev, Rostov, Tver and Torzhok, “by the mercy” of Andrei, were subjected to severe devastation (1282). Dmitry flees to Sweden (like his uncle thirty years ago), where he thought he had allies. But his hopes were not destined to come true: he received no help. When the Tatars left, Dmitry returned to Pereslavl-Zalessky and began to gather troops to fight to regain the grand-ducal throne. Andrei did not have the ability to independently resist his brother, both from a moral and military point of view, so he again went to the Horde and again begged, this time from the new khan (Tudai-Mengu), for an army with which he began to ravage the Suzdal land (1283). ).
This time Dmitry found a defender in the person of Nogai, the prince of the Dzhuchi family, rivaling the Golden Horde. According to N.M. Karamzin, “Nogai returned the throne and power to him (Dmitry) not by sword or bloodshed, but by one commanding letter. Andrei did not dare to be disobedient, for the new khan himself... was afraid of Nogai.”
For some time, Dmitry’s opponents did not dare to leave his will. In order to retain their ancestral inheritance, they were forced to take part in his campaigns against his former allies, including Veliky Novgorod, with which they had letters of the cross. Prince Andrei did not calm down. After some time (1285), he brought another Horde prince to Rus', but he, in the face of superior forces assembled by the Russian princes, was forced to retreat. Dmitry and his allies got away with this insolence, just as the actions of the residents of Rostov, who plundered Tatar estates in 1289, went unpunished.
However, everything changed with the return of the treacherous Tokhta to the Golden Horde throne, who decided “to spite” Nogai (by the way, it was with his help that he regained the khan’s throne) to restore his influence on North-Eastern Rus'. Andrei and other Russian princes, dissatisfied with the Grand Duke, took advantage of this. They went as a whole delegation to the Horde (1292). The result of their agreement with Tokhta was Dedyunev’s terrible army. The pogrom, according to the chroniclers, turned out to be no less than that caused by Batu’s invasion. All were plundered and devastated big cities North-Eastern Rus' up to Volok-Lamsky. The churches did not escape a similar fate. Only the Novgorod volost survived, having managed to pay off the Tatars with “great gifts” and recognizing Andrei as their prince.
HORDE. It is necessary to say more about internal Tatar affairs. The 60s of the 13th century were marked by an intensive process of disintegration of the empire of Genghis Khan, which began with a fierce struggle between the ulus of Jochi (Volga Horde) and the ulus of Hulagu (territory of Iran) and continued in the further “splitting” of the state structure.
First of all, we are interested, of course, in the Volga Horde. Why? More on this as the story progresses. So, in the mid-60s, the temnik Nogai arrived in the Northern Black Sea region from Sarai, who, having established himself at the mouth of the Danube and having significant military forces, decided to pursue an independent policy there, relying on his neighbors - the princes of Southwestern Rus' and the Byzantine emperor. He became related to the latter, taking his bastard daughter as his wife. By the 70s, Nogai had developed his own sphere of influence, covering Galich, Vladimir-Volynsky, Pereyaslavl, Chernigov, Kyiv, which he jealously guarded from the interference of the khans of the Golden Horde, by that time torn apart by endless palace conspiracies and coups. Gradually, Nogai’s influence spread to North-Eastern Rus'. (We have already talked about Alexander Nevsky’s son Dmitry.)
Thus, history seemed to repeat itself. At first, the Great Khan and the Khan of the Volga Horde competed for Rus', but now the rulers of the Volga and Danube Hordes fought for it. Unfortunately, the behavior of the Russian princes was repeated. As before, they were unable to benefit from the internecine struggle of their oppressors, and therefore pleased first one or the other opposing sides, respectively experiencing the displeasure of either Nogai or Tokhta.
It is characteristic that it was at this time that Russian troops were more often attracted by the khans to participate not only in intra-Tatar civil strife, but also in punitive campaigns against previously conquered and now rebellious peoples. History does not tell us about the participation of Russians in the military enterprises of the Tatars during the times of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and Alexander Nevsky. It is only known that Nevsky, on his last visit to the Horde, achieved the liberation of Russian lands from such duties. The very mention of this as an outstanding achievement of the prince indicates that such a practice existed and that it weighed on North-Eastern Rus'. The same goes for the rumor glorifying Gleb of Belozersky, who died in 1277, who “enjoyed the excellent mercy of the Khans and served them diligently in wars, in order to better serve the fatherland, for the Russians oppressed by the Mongols always found an intercessor and savior in the magnanimous Gleb.” It turns out that we fought, apparently, “for the glory of the Tatar weapons” in abundance. But the chronicles are silent on this matter, apparently for the simple reason that there is nothing to brag about here, unless we consider this a historical disgrace.
Although not all chroniclers managed to keep silent. In any case, it is from written sources that we learn that the troops of Daniil of Galicia and Vasilko of Volyn were forced in 1260–1261 to take part in Tatar raids on Lithuania and Poland. Lev Danilovich, who replaced his father, like his parent, was more concerned with the problems of Europe than with all-Russian issues, so he did not enter into confrontation or even argument with the Horde, probably not wanting to arouse the wrath of the khan. For the same reason, he did not abandon campaigns against Lithuania: in 1274 - under the leadership of Mengu-Timur, and the following year - with his opponent Nogai. Moreover, the first campaign turned out to be so unsuccessful that on the way back the Horde “thanked” the inhabitants of the southern regions of Rus' with pogroms and robberies. By the way, some historians are inclined to attribute this failure to Nogai’s machinations. An even more interesting incident, confirming Nogai’s far from friendly relations with the Volga Horde, occurred in 1287 during a joint campaign he organized against Poland and Hungary. The campaign was attended by the troops of Nogai and the princes of Southwestern Rus', as well as a large detachment of the Volga Horde. The campaign was purely predatory in nature, and each military leader acted independently. As a result, Nogai and the Russian princes returned with booty, and the Horde army, getting lost in the snowy Carpathians, completely died. What happened was interpreted as the insidious machinations of Nogai, which further strained his relations with the Volga Horde.
Usually, information about the participation of the princes of North-Eastern Rus' in the Tatar wars is given in chronicles as if in passing, in passing. Thus, in historical sources relating to the year of death of Gleb Belozersky, we read that he, together with Andrei Gorodetsky, Fyodor Yaroslavsky and Boris Rostovsky, Gleb’s brother, under the leadership of Mengu-Timur, “tortured” the Caucasian jars, for which they “deserved excellent the favor of the khan, who expressed it to them not only with great praise, but also with rich gifts.” (After four years, this khan will give Prince Andrey an army against Grand Duke Dmitry Alexandrovich.) The next year (1278), Fyodor of Yaroslavl and Gleb’s son Mikhail fight on the side of the Tatars already in Bulgaria against the “swineherd king.”
In 1299, Russian troops under the banner of Khan Tokhta opposed the Temnik Nogai, who intended to subjugate the entire Volga Horde to his influence. In the decisive battle somewhere between the Dnieper and the Dniester, it was the Russian warriors who were “fortunate” to deal the final blow to the rebellious Temnik. One of the Russian warriors, having captured Nogai, cut off his head and presented it to the khan, for which, by the way, he himself lost his head, because “out of rank” he arrogated to himself the right to decide the fate of a man so significant for the destinies of both the Horde and Rus'. In fact, judging by literary sources, Nogai did more good for Rus' than evil. Being married to a Byzantine princess, Nogai, who was partial to Orthodoxy, had a positive impact on the internal church life of the Kiev diocese and on the activities of the metropolitans of All Rus', whose residence until the end of his days was located on the territory under his control (Kiev). Moreover, by his very existence he drew back the forces of the Volga Horde and tamed its insatiable appetite, thereby easing the fate of our ancestors.
There were other joint campaigns, but the most sensitive, the most tragic for the Russians were the Tatar armies, led by the Russian princes against their own fellow tribesmen for the sake of personal self-affirmation. And their count, sadly enough, begins with Alexander Nevsky and ends with the times of the new dynasty of Russian tsars.
It seems that for pseudo-patriotic reasons a number of authoritative historians are trying to introduce public consciousness the opinion that the princes led the Tatars to Rus' not at all because of ambition and greed - this is, they say, a well-planned implementation of the “Divide and Conquer” strategy characteristic of all conquerors. This strategy had many tactical techniques, but, as a rule, it was based on real military strength. The conquerors used it to intimidate according to the principle: “He who is not with us is against us.” The Tatar khans were not primitive, as they are sometimes portrayed in fiction and cinema. They themselves and their courtiers were quite sophisticated politicians, otherwise they would hardly have remained in the historical arena for so long. The Horde khans were distinguished by their ability to realistically evaluate not only own strength, but also the forces of already conquered peoples. Moreover, evaluate it in dynamics. If one of the Horde’s tributaries grew stronger to threatening limits, the khan, knowing the weaknesses of other subjects, could always find an antipodal volunteer among them and set him against the “arrogant prince.” And for control, under the guise of an auxiliary army, he dispatched one of his military leaders, whose reward was his own military spoils. As a result, the man in the street and the chronicler witnessed that Prince X led the Tatar army against Prince Igrek in order to seize his volost or for the sake of some other selfish interests. But it also happened that the Horde did not always have a “duty” complainant at hand, but everything seemed to be ready for the raid. Then the khan acted, frankly, in a Jesuitical way: he sent his army to some prince with the words: “You have been complaining about the Igrek for a long time. Here are my warriors, go and punish your offender.” Agree, it was, of course, impossible to get away from such an offer: if you refuse, you yourself will be attacked. That is why the princes, “blessed with the highest attention,” were forced to choose the share of fratricides.
At the same time, one can hardly agree with the statement that the reason for the internecine wars between the Russian princes lay in one thing. Probably, in each specific case, civil strife was caused by a complex of circumstances, including the objective laws of the development of early feudal society, the treachery of the Horde, and, of course, the personal characteristics of the Russian princes and their entourage. In different situations, different circumstances dominated, and in the end - war, blood, grief, tears. And you shouldn’t blame everything on the objective laws of history and the treachery of the Tatars. It is enough to remember with what fierceness the same princes fought among themselves back in pre-Horde times, and everything will fall into place - a significant share of the blame for the troubles of the Russian land lies with the Rurikovichs. All subsequent history tells us the same thing, when, through the fault of those in power, Rus' repeatedly found itself on the brink of the abyss.
If the death of Alexander Nevsky, Mindovg and Daniil Galitsky (1263–1264), who divided the lands among themselves ancient Rus', as if meant the end of the first, “grinding in” stage of Russian-Tatar relations, then the departure from the historical arena of the sons of Nevsky (Dmitry - 1294, Daniil - 1303, Andrey - 1304), Temnik Nogai (1299). ) and Lev Danilovich (1301), as well as the transfer of the metropolitan see from Kiev to Vladimir (1299) can be considered as the completion of the second stage, characterized by centrifugal tendencies, internecine wars both in Rus' and in the Horde, and the interpenetration of two peoples , two cultures, two worldviews.
Initially, a fairly large Russian colony formed in the Horde - made up of merchants and the most skilled artisans. There, in 1261, a courtyard of an Orthodox bishop was established, who was considered a representative of the interests of Rus' and all Russian people at the court of the khan. A large Russian settlement of both pagan volunteers and forcibly displaced Christians was established at the court of the Great Khan in the vicinity of Beijing. We must not forget the fact that several princes or their close relatives with their small but princely courts were constantly in the Golden Horde as hostage guests. Naturally, they all entered into relationships with the Tatars, and these relationships, in essence, had to be friendly and mutually beneficial. An example was the same Alexander Nevsky, who fraternized with Batu’s son Sartak in 1251.
Similar processes took place in Rus', where the Tatars settled in one form or another since Batu’s invasion. At first these were wild bands of leaderless nomads, following on the heels of the main forces of the conqueror and robbing the civilian population, then - outposts of the Tatar hordes roaming the newly developed territory, and Yam stations between the Horde and the khan’s field headquarters. For some reason, we really don’t want to remember that part of Southern Rus' (Kyiv, Pereyaslavl, Chernigov) was turned into a “passage yard” for a long time and there was no Russian administration there at all. Meanwhile, the fate of Mikhail of Chernigov, who considered himself a Kyiv prince, reminds us of this. He had to sit out after returning from Poland on some island on the Dnieper, since he did not even dare to enter the city. Valuable for us are the memories of Plano-Carpini, who found Kyiv in ruins (1242), and its few inhabitants in terrible slavery. This is also evidenced by the description of the journey of Daniil of Galitsky to Batu in 1250 and his successful military operations against the temnik of Kuremsy (1257), who ruled in some areas of Southern Rus' as in their uluses. And it turns out, whether we want it or not, we cannot help but admit that the assimilation of the Russian people, most often violent, has not only begun, but has already taken place in full swing. Not to mention what accompanied the campaigns against Rus' of numerous Tatar armies.
Certain relations developed between our two peoples during the Baska period and in the process of collecting tribute. And one should not be deluded by the fact that this very unpleasant phenomenon is rarely mentioned in the chronicles. We paid tribute. The first tribute collectors, according to I.B. Grekov, appeared in Rus' back in 1238 in Uglich, and the first Baskak, according to the testimony of Plano-Carpini, was under Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. It is possible that the activities of this Saracen Baskak were limited in place and time, but he took up the matter abruptly - right up to the capture of young unmarried men and women, every third son in the family, all the beggars and homeless people. He imposed an exorbitant tribute on the rest of the population, non-payment of which threatened with slavery. We find the following mentions of “numerals” and Baskaks in the chronicles of 1257 (the beginning of the reign of Khan Berke). Then in the lands of Suzdal, Ryazan, Murom, foremen, centurions, thousanders, temniks were appointed, it is not clear, however, what kind of tribe - the chronicles are silent about this. There is only a reservation that these were mostly Baskak tax-farmers, and these could also be Russians - the story of the apostate Izosim, who accepted Mohammedanism to please the Tatar Baskak and worse than foreigners, oppressed his former fellow citizens - the inhabitants of Yaroslavl, has been preserved. Elsewhere we read about the Baskak of the Ryazan principality, a certain tax farmer Akhmat Khivints - “scoundrels of all kinds” flocking from different sides helped him collect tribute, including Russians. The nameless Great Baskak is also mentioned several times in sources, but his actions are not assessed.
Among any nation you can find both a notorious villain and a respectable person. There were also respectable people in the retinue of the Baskak or Tatar ambassador. Some of them, having become acquainted with Russian life, adopted our customs, started a household, were baptized, and entered into marriages. And there were many such cases. In the princely environment, it became fashionable to take Orthodox Tatar khans as wives; entire families of their close associates came to Rus' with them, who, in turn, became familiar with Russian everyday life. Ordinary warriors, merchants, and artisans did not lag behind the princes.
Another powerful stream of Tatar migrants to Rus' were pagans fleeing forced Islamization, as well as professional warriors who sought service for themselves and later became the striking force of the Russian cavalry.
This is how the relationship between Rus' and the Golden Horde developed by the end of the 13th century; the relationship was difficult, often tragic. However, a Russian proverb says: “There would be no happiness, but misfortune would help.” We have already said that many Western European powers had their sights on Russian lands, and primarily the Vatican, who sought not only to seize the country, but also to destroy the already established worldview of the people, their traditions and the Orthodox faith. The Tatars helped us protect all this with their labels for reign, with their campaigns against Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, with their troops sent at the request of the Russian princes, in particular for the defense of Novgorod and Pskov from the German-Danish knights who came to avenge the defeat inflicted on them under Rakovar in 1268, to protect Smolensk from the Lithuanian prince Troyden (1274) and punish the same Troyden, who took several Galician cities from Lev Danilovich.
And in general, North-Eastern Rus', which was either in vassal or allied relations with the Golden Horde, was perceived by the West as the Horde itself, and therefore, remembering its recent campaign in the heart of Europe (1241–1242), no one took much risk did not want. For the same reason, for the time being, Galician-Volyn Rus was not touched, despite its noticeable weakening with the growing power of its western and northern neighbors.
This is how the stars were positioned for Rus' in the second half of the 13th century.