As an example of a Siberian conqueror in public service, it is probably worth choosing Pyotr Beketov. All his life, Beketov served the tsar and the administration, carried out orders, did not succumb to tempting adventures, and if he did something wrong from a state point of view, he himself was to blame for it and tried to whitewash himself before the authorities. In short - a “sovereign’s man” as he is.

Biographer of Pyotr Beketov E.B. Vershinin believes that the date of birth of Pyotr Ivanovich may date back to the end of the 16th century. In general, Beketov first appears in a petition written in 1627, where he asked for appointment as a rifle centurion in the Yenisei prison, “So that I, your servant, dragging myself between the courtyards, do not die of hunger.” Apparently, Beketov belonged to the stratum of provincial boyar children, who stood below the residents and nobles of Moscow, but above the city boyar children.

It is interesting that Pyotr Beketov was applying for the position of centurion for a reason, but having some information “from the field” - in the fall of 1625, the ataman Pozdey Firsov, who held this position, drowned in the Ob, and his competitor for the sought-after position was another significant Russian conquistador - Maxim Perfilyev . Be that as it may, in January 1627, the governors of Tobolsk were ordered to compensate Beketov with cash and grain salaries and send him to Yeniseisk.

Pyotr Beketov. Illustration by artist, hunter and local historian Nikolai Fomin

In 1628, the Yenisei garrison consisted of centurion Beketov, ataman Perfilyev and 105 archers. In the spring of this year, Beketov went on his first campaign at the head of a detachment of 30 servicemen and 60 “industrial” people. The goal was to pacify the Lower Angara Tungus, who a year ago attacked Perfilyev’s detachment returning from the mouth of the Ilim. Beketov was supposed to influence the Tungus with persuasion and “affection”. It’s hard to say how, but Peter Ivanovich coped with this task, and along the way built the Rybinsk fort in the lower reaches of the Angara.

In the autumn of the same 1628, Beketov was again sent up the Angara, having only 19 service people under his command. Beketov's main task was to get ahead of Khripunov's large detachment. He went to the Angara in order to search for ore silver. However, the Yenisei authorities quite reasonably assumed that Khripunov would bring foreigners under the sovereign’s hand with robbery and violence, and having robbed him, he would leave, leaving the consequences of his campaign to be dealt with by the Yenisei people. In general, this is how things turned out, only Khripunov did not leave, but died right there on the Angara. As a result, Beketov managed to collect yasak from the Angara Tungus, not much ahead of Khripunov, and also managed to somehow get a certain amount of sables from the Buryats and in the spring and summer of 1629 he returned to Yeniseisk, handing over 689 sable skins to the treasury.

On May 30, 1631, Beketov with a detachment of 30 people went to “long-distance service on the Lena River for one year.” This year lasted 2 years and 3 months.

On the Lena River, Beketov built the first sovereign fort in Yakutia (on the right bank, 70 km below Yakutsk). Beketov managed to convince (with a kind word and “fiery battle”) more than thirty toyons to recognize Russian power. In addition to collecting yasak, Beketov began collecting a tenth duty in Yakutia from the sable trades of private industrialists and Cossacks. He also sorted out the disputes that arose between them, and honestly handed over the duty “from court cases” (96 sables) to the Yenisei treasury. In June 1633, Beketov handed over the Lensky fort to his son, the boyar P. Khodyrev, who arrived to replace him, and returned to Yeniseisk, having 2,471 sables and 25 sable fur coats to hand over to the treasury.

In 1635-1636. Beketov sets up the Olekminsky fort, makes trips along the Vitim, Bolshoi Patom and “other side rivers” and returns with almost 20 forty sables. According to the established order, apparently, in the spring of 1638 he was sent to the Lensky prison for a year to replace I. Galkin. It is interesting to note that by this time Beketov had already lost the rank of centurion and was simply considered a Yenisei son of a boyar. Due to the lack of sources, it is difficult to assess this change in Beketov’s career. On the Middle Lena, Beketov found an alarming situation. Several local toyons broke away from the “sovereign hand” and attacked Russian people and yasak Yakuts. Moreover, shortly before Beketov’s arrival, the Yakuts “came in an attack” to the Lensky fortress. The initiator of the “shakyness” was the prince of the Nyuriktei volost Kirinya, who left with his family from the Lena to Aldan. That is why Galkin and Beketov, uniting their detachments, made a campaign against Kyrenia, capturing 500 cows and 300 mares.

At the beginning of 1641, Beketov submitted two petitions to the Siberian order. From the first it turns out that in Yeniseisk Beketov had a wife, children and “little people” (i.e. slaves). In the absence of the explorer, the governors took horses from his yard to perform underwater duty, which died on the Ilim portage. Peter Ivanovich asked to rid his court of the “drag cart”, as well as of the stationing of service people heading to Eastern Siberia. In another petition, Beketov concisely outlined all his Siberian campaigns and asked to be appointed as Cossack head in place of B. Bolkoshin, who “is old and crippled and cannot serve such a long-distance sovereign service.” The Siberian Prikaz compiled a detailed certificate confirming the veracity of the petitioner. The clerks estimated that Beketov’s campaigns brought the state a profit of 11,540 rubles. Beketov's request was granted, and on February 13 he received the memory of his appointment as head of the Yenisei foot Cossacks. Previously, his salary was 10 rubles, 6 pounds of rye and 4 pounds of oats. The new salary was 20 rubles, but instead of a grain salary, Beketov had to receive land for arable land.

In 1637, Beketov had 18 acres of arable land and 15 fallow lands. The arable land was most likely cultivated by hired peasants. Beketov sold some part of his lands (apparently received after 1641 as compensation for grain wages) to the peasants S. Kostylnikov and P. Burmakin. One interesting collective Petition to Moscow, signed by Beketov, has survived (among others). In it, the Yenisei Cossacks asked to lift the ban on the trade in yasir (i.e., slaves from aboriginal peoples captured or illegally purchased by service people).

In 1648, Pyotr Beketov again returned to the rank of son of a boyar with a reduction in his salary to 10 rubles. Apparently, as a result of this demotion, Beketov went to Moscow, where he arrived on January 1, 1651. The administration again drew up a certificate of Beketov’s services, recognized the validity of his claims, and issued “good English cloth” and assigned a salary of 20 rubles. and 5 poods. salt, “and for our bread wages he was ordered to serve from the arable land.” In addition to Beketov, the salary is 20 rubles. In the Yenisei garrison, only Ivan Galkin, who had reached the rank of son of a boyar, had.

Beketov's position as head, however, was not returned, and he went to Yeniseisk, where the new governor, Afanasy Filippovich Pashkov, was sitting.

In April 1652, Pashkov informed the Tomsk governor that he was going to send 100 people to Transbaikalia. Beketov was placed at the head of the expedition, whose tasks included exploration of silver deposits. Along with the Cossacks, the detachment included “eager industrial people.” Under the leadership of Beketov were Pentecostals Ivan Maksimov, Druzhina Popov, Ivan Kotelnikov and Maxim Urazov. Among the foremen, we specially note Ivan Gerasimov, son of Chebychakov. At the beginning of June 1652, Pyotr Beketov set out on his last campaign.

Meeting between Pyotr Beketov and Ivan Maksimov. Illustration by Nikolai Fomin.

Since the Cossacks reached the Bratsk fort only two months later, it became clear to Beketov that the detachment would not be able to reach its final goal over the summer, and he decided to winter on the southern shore of Lake Baikal. However, from the Bratsk fort he sent 12 Cossacks, led by I. Maximov, “lightly through the Barguzin fort to Irgen Lake and the great Shilka River.” Sofonov and Chebychakov, who had already been to Irgen, walked with Maximov. Pyotr Ivanovich’s calculation was quite understandable. Having Pashkov’s instructions to go to Selenge and Khiloka (in the sources of the 17th century - the Kilka River), Beketov did not have anyone in the detachment who knew this water route. Maksimov had to go through the Trans-Baikal steppes to Lake Irgen, where the upper reaches of Khilok were located, and descend along this river to meet Beketov.

It must be said that this step is very interesting precisely from the point of view of Beketov’s characterization as an organizer and traveler. He sends God knows how far part of his detachment, intending to meet them in a territory about which only fragmentary information and the names of rivers are known, inhabited by hostile tribes - to prepare the further part of his campaign. You have to have a lot of confidence in your people to do this. But in general the idea was very good, and, as practice has shown, it was successfully implemented.

Beketov’s main detachment, having passed the left tributary of the Angara Osu, was attacked at night by the Buryats who were wandering “to the edge of Lake Baikal.” The Cossacks fought back, while the Buryats “boasted” not to let the servicemen cross Baikal. Knowing the nomads well, Beketov understood that it was simply impossible for them to allow such impudence. In response, he dispatched Kotelnikov’s detachment, which attacked the “camps” of the Buryats, killed 12 people in battle, captured several prisoners, and the Cossacks themselves “all came from that parcel healthy.” Among the prisoners was the wife of the Verkholensky yasak prince Torom (who had arrived to visit at the wrong time), whom Beketov returned to the Verkholsky prison.

P. Beketov's fight with the Buryats in a yurt. Illustration by Nikolai Fomin.

Having united with Maksimov’s party, which prepared planks for the ascent of the entire detachment along Khilok, Beketov set up the Irgen fort by mid-October, and on October 19, the Cossacks on rafts began to descend along the Ingoda. Beketov obviously hoped to reach the mouth of the Nercha before winter. However, after sailing along the Ingoda for about 10 versts, the detachment was met by the early freezing of the river. A winter hut with fortifications was quickly erected here, where some of the supplies were stored. 20 people remained in the winter hut, another 10 Cossacks under the command of M. Urazov were sent to the mouth of the Nercha, and with the rest Beketov returned to the Irgen fort.

On Shilka, Beketov was going to build, in accordance with Pashkov’s order, a large fort. The Cossacks even sowed spring grain in the chosen place. However, the construction of Russian fortifications and the winter collection of yasak forced the Tungus tribes to take up the task. The Russian detachment came under siege (apparently in a prison built by Urazov). The Tungus drove away the horses and trampled down the grain. Famine began among the Cossacks, since the Tungus did not allow fishing. Beketov recognized his opponents as those who had recently brought him yasak. The Yeniseis had neither river boats nor horses. They had the only escape route - on rafts, down the Shilka to the Amur.

On the Amur at this time, the most serious Russian force was the “army” of the clerk Onufriy Stepanov, the official successor of E.P. Khabarova. The Amur current brought Beketov’s Cossacks to him. Beketov's Cossacks arrived at Stepanov in different groups. At the end of June 1654, 34 Yeniseis joined Stepanov, and a few days later Pyotr Beketov himself appeared, who “beat the whole Cossack army with his forehead so that they could live on the great Amur River until the sovereign’s decree.” The hereditary son of a boyar and the former head of the Yenisei garrison submitted to Stepanov, who until recently was only a gunner with the rank of captain. E. Vershinin believes that behind this and other meager evidence one can see the character of Beketov - a balanced and even gentle man. But the steel core of this character is beyond doubt.

Beketov's fate on the Amur is known only up to a certain point. In the fall of 1654, Stepanov’s army built the Kumarsky fort. On March 13, 1655, the fort was besieged by a 10,000-strong Manchu army. The Cossacks withstood a multi-day bombardment of the fort, repelled all attacks and made a sortie themselves. At the end of the siege, Stepanov compiled a service record of the Cossacks who “fought clearly.” Beketova’s petition was also added to Stepanov’s replies. It was also signed by the foreman Ivan Gerasimov Chebychakov and 14 ordinary Cossacks. In this document, Beketov briefly outlined the reasons for leaving Shilka and asked to be rewarded for the service shown in defending the Kumar prison. This document, dating from April 1655, is so far the last reliable news about Beketov.

It seems to me,” Vershinin concludes Beketov’s biographical sketch, “that Beketov never returned from the Amur. In 1655-1658. O. Stepanov and his army literally wandered around the Amur. The Cossacks spent the winter in hastily erected forts and collected yasak from different ethnic tribes that suffered greatly from hostilities between the Russians and the Manchus. The threat of famine and the Manchu danger constantly hung over Stepanov’s army. The Amur peoples, angry at the cruelty of E.P. Khabarov, mercilessly exterminated small detachments of Cossacks who risked acting at their own peril and risk. Perhaps luck changed the old explorer on that memorable day of June 30, 1658. How the Yenisei son of the boyar P.I. met his death hour. We will most likely never recognize the Beckets...

In the census book of the Yenisei district of 1669, the widow of the son of the boyar Peter Beketov is named among the land sellers. Perhaps, after the death of her husband, she went back beyond the Urals, which is why we do not find the descendants of Pyotr Ivanovich in the service environment of Yeniseisk.
Analyzing Beketov’s activities, you notice how much this man always tried to act in accordance with the legislation of that time and in accordance with the rules. He considered himself worthy of the rank - he wrote papers, went to Moscow; considered himself unfairly offended - he did the same. Beketov (for me personally) is almost impossible to imagine torturing amanats for his own pleasure (as the Yakut governor Golovnin did with them); or “at the saber pogrom” of the already exterminated Tungus (which was Galkin’s sin). Yes, he could boast - but what soldier doesn’t?

Soldier - I didn’t use this word in vain - by character, Pyotr Beketov was the direct predecessor of the regular army military. Disciplined, neat and not devoid of signs of humanity. Yes, he advocated the capture of slaves and their trade in Siberia - well, that’s an everyday matter.

Author of the article: Vershinin E.V.

The name of Peter Beketov stands among those explorers of the 17th century to whom Russia owes the annexation of vast territories of Eastern Siberia. In the scientific literature about the Russian colonization of Siberia P.I. Beketov is mentioned often, and this creates the impression that his fate and activities are well studied. Meanwhile, the only special work about this pioneer contains erroneous interpretations and at the present stage of development of science seems outdated

Against the backdrop of increased interest among Siberian scholars in the genre of biographical research, the personality of P.I. Beketova certainly deserves close attention. But the point is not only in systematizing and supplementing the facts accumulated by historians. The stormy fate of the conqueror "unpeaceful earthlings" is fraught with mysteries to which researchers still do not have definite answers.

Breaking the generally accepted pattern of presenting biographies, let’s start with the circumstances of P.I.’s death. Beketov, who seem to be textbook-known thanks to the remarkable “Life” of Archpriest Avvakum. Avvakum’s version, often repeated by historians, boils down to the fact that at the beginning of March 1655, Pyotr Beketov, "son of the boyar lutch", lived in Tobolsk in his courtyard and was appointed bailiff to the clerk of the Tobolsk archbishop's house, Ivan Struna. The latter, having been put on a chain for “humility” by Archbishop Simeon, fled to the civil voivodeship authorities and declared the “sovereign’s word” both against Avvakum and against the archbishop himself. That is why the governors did not hand him back to Simeon, but appointed a bailiff to him. If you believe Habakkuk, then on March 4, 1655, the archbishop anathematized String “in the great church.” This procedure caused a protest from Beketov, who scolded Simeon and Avvakum in the church, after which "I went mad as I went to my court and died a bitter and evil death". Beketov’s body allegedly lay on the street for 3 days and only then was buried by the compassionate bishop and archpriest. Meanwhile, the famous Yenisei explorer son of the boyar Pyotr Beketov was at that time on the Amur in the “army” of Onufriy Stepanov. From March 13 to April 4, 1655, he “fought clearly” in defense of the Kumarsky fort besieged by the Manchus, as evidenced by surviving and trustworthy documents4. Avvakum's story about the death of the explorer Beketov in Tobolsk should be considered unreliable. However, any other Peter Beketov, who served in the 1650s. in Siberia, is currently unknown to historical science.

Doubts about the truth of Avvakum’s story about Beketov’s death were expressed by A.K. Borozdin, who noted that in 1655 "we find some boyar son of Pyotr Beketov operating on the Amur under the command of". VC. Nikolsky, objecting to Borozdin, tried to understand the circumstances of this case. He correctly pointed out that in 1652 Beketov was sent from Yeniseisk to Transbaikalia and in 1654 left the Shilka River and that the governor in 1655 was still in Yeniseisk. But since Nikolsky did not know that Beketov did not go to Yeniseisk, but further to the Amur, his next constructions about the fate of the explorer (in accordance with the “Life” of Avvakum) turn out to be incorrect. V.G. Izgachev, the author of an article about Beketov (very confusing in places), did not pay attention to Avvakum’s information. Modern researcher D.Ya. Rezun, in one of his works, following conflicting sources, claims that Beketov was present in March 1655 simultaneously on both the Amur and Tobolsk. In the encyclopedic article about Beketov, its authors (D.Ya. Rezun and V.I. Magidovich) apparently noticed contradictions in the sources and tried to destroy them by moving the time of Beketov’s death in Tobolsk to March 1656. However, it is known that the exiled archpriest was sent from Tobolsk further to Eastern Siberia on June 29, 1655. The Tobolsk authorities received a letter from Moscow about the transfer of Avvakum and his family to the Yakut prison on June 27, 1655. If you believe the governor, Prince. IN AND. Khilkov, he carried out the decree on the same day. Avvakum, accompanied by the Krasnoyarsk son of the boyar Miloslav Koltsov, went to Yeniseisk by the usual water route along the Irtysh, Ob and through the Makovsky portage on the Ket River. Avvakum spent the winter of 1655/56 in Yeniseisk, where another decree came from Moscow - to place the archpriest under the command of the former Yenisei governor, who at that time was forming a regiment for a campaign in Transbaikalia. Avvakum, by the way, remembered well that he went from Tobolsk to Yakut exile on Peter’s Day (June 29), and with the governor from Yeniseisk - "for another summer". set out from Yeniseisk on July 18, 1656. It is unlikely that Avvakum and his family covered the distance from Tobolsk to Yeniseisk (in the presence of a heavy portage route) in 3 weeks. Finally, it was completely uncharacteristic of the practice of the voivodeship administration to delay the implementation of such decrees for a whole year. Thus, this fragment of the Life, even if it were reliable, cannot refer to 1656. The stubborn trust of historians in Avvakum’s story is obviously explained by the absence of any other evidence about the circumstances of the explorer’s death.

About the beginning of P.I.’s life journey Beketov, as well as about its completion, little is known. In the genealogical charts of the noble Beketov family, apparently compiled on the basis of family traditions under Catherine II and Paul I, Pyotr Ivanovich is not mentioned. It must be said that the Beketovs in the 18th-19th centuries. generally had a vague idea of ​​their origin, especially since in the famous Velvet Book of the late 17th century. for some reason they were not recorded. The contours of the Beketovs’ genealogy can be outlined based primarily on documents from the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1641, Pyotr Beketov himself stated in his petition: “And my parents, sir, serve you... in Tver and Arzamas by courtyard and by choice.”. Thus, the older relatives of Pyotr Ivanovich were on the lists "domestic and elected" children of boyars from their districts. In the then hierarchy of ranks and ranks of service people “in the fatherland”, below them were the city boyars’ children, above them were the tenants and Moscow nobles. The reliability of Pyotr Ivanovich’s testimony about family ties is confirmed by the surviving letter of grant (dated August 30, 1669) to “Tveritin” Bogdan Beketov: for military merits during the war with Poland, part of Bogdan’s local lands was granted to him as an patrimony. In several acts for 1510-1541. Dmitrov landowner Konstantin Vasilyevich Beketov and his son Andrey are noted. It seems that the Beketovs in the 16th century. and should be sought among the Tver and Dmitrov boyar children. One of the representatives of this family could have been transferred to Arzamas after the founding of this city in 1578.

So, there is reason to believe that the closest ancestors of P.I. Beketov belonged to the layer of provincial boyar children. We do not know when and where the future explorer began his career as a service man. In the already mentioned petition of 1641, he calculated his service life in Siberia at 17 years. This figure is perhaps the fruit of someone’s mistake, since in two very important petitions for him in 1651, Beketov confidently speaks about his service only in Yeniseisk and only from 7135 (1626/27). What prompted the hereditary son of a boyar to connect his fate with Siberia is still unknown to us, but in January 1627, Beketov personally submitted a petition to the order of the Kazan Palace with a request to appoint him as a rifle centurion in the distant Yenisei fort: “So that I, your servant, dragging myself between the yard, do not die of hunger.”. Beketov applied for the position of centurion not at random, but knowing about the vacancy that had arisen. In the fall of 1625, the ataman Pozdey Firsov, who held this position, drowned in the Ob. The Yenisei garrison submitted a petition to the governor, in which he asked to appoint as a centurion the local clerk Maxim Perfilyev, who had already proven himself in campaigns against "unpeaceful earthlings". Voevoda A.L. Oshanin agreed with the choice of the Yenisei archers and sent their petition to Moscow for consideration. In the capital, however, preference was given to Peter Beketov. A favorable decision for him was facilitated, presumably, by the rank of the son of a boyar, more honorable than the position of clerk (Perfilyev, however, received the position of Yenisei ataman). In connection with Beketov’s appointment as a centurion in the Siberian garrison, which largely consisted of willful and exiled people, the approximate date of his birth indicated in the literature - 1610 - seems incredible. It should be attributed at least to the end of the 16th century. In January 1627, the governors of Tobolsk (then the only discharge center in “Siberian Ukraine”) were ordered to compensate Beketov with cash and grain salaries and send him to Yeniseisk.

Founded in 1619, the Yenisei fort was at that time an outpost of Russian colonization, from where small detachments of service people persistently advanced along the Angara, bringing numerous but scattered clans of Evenks and Buryats into Russian citizenship. In 1628, the Yenisei garrison consisted of centurion Beketov, ataman Perfilyev and 105 archers, but already in 1631 it increased 3 times. By the end of the 1630s. the number of Yeniseisk servicemen reached 370 people, but due to the establishment of the Lena (Yakut) voivodeship, the emergence of Ilimsk and the fraternal forts, their number decreased by the 1650s. up to 250 people. In the spring of 1628, Beketov set out on his first campaign at the head of a detachment of 30 servicemen and 60 “industrial” people. The purpose of the campaign was to pacify the Lower Angara Tungus (Evenks), who in 1627 attacked M. Perfilyev’s detachment returning from the mouth of the Ilim; The ataman fought back, but the detachment suffered losses. Beketov had instructions from the governor not to start military operations, but to influence the Tungus with persuasion and "caress". Pyotr Ivanovich successfully completed this task, and his detachment built the Rybinsk fort in the lower reaches of the Angara. Beketov returned to Yeniseisk with Tunguska amanats and collected yasak.

The rest in Yeniseisk turned out to be short, since in the fall of 1628 Beketov was again sent up the Angara, having only 19 service people under his command. Setting out on a campaign in the fall (usually this was done in the spring) indicates the hasty and extraordinary nature of the expedition. The fact is that in the summer of 1628, a detachment of Ya.I. was approaching Yeniseisk along the Ob. Khripunov, who, after wintering in Yeniseisk, was supposed to go to the Angara to search for silver deposits. Khripunov's large detachment (150 people) could turn out to be a serious competitor in the matter of reconnaissance and explanation of new "zemlits". V.A. Argamakov suspected (later his suspicions were justified) that Khripunov’s “regiment”, which was not subordinate to him, could disorganize the system of collecting yasak from the peoples of the Angara region, which was being established with great difficulty. In the summer of 1628, M. Voeikov with 12 Cossacks, a reconnaissance detachment sent by Khripunov, proceeded through Yeniseisk to the Bratsk threshold. Following him, Beketov hurriedly set out to the large Angarsk rapids.

During this campaign, it was Beketov who had the opportunity to represent Russian power for the first time before the ancestors of modern Buryats. Collecting yasak from the Tungus along the way, Beketov’s detachment overcame the Angara rapids and reached the mouth of the Oka River. Here, for the first time, yasak (albeit modest in size) was collected from several “brotherly” princes. Later Pyotr Ivanovich recalled that he “I walked from the Brattsky threshold along the Tunguska up and along the Oka River and along the Angara River and to the mouth of the Uda River... and brought the Brattsky people under your sovereign high hand”, while 7 weeks, "Walking in the Bratsky land, we suffered hunger - we ate grass and roots". In the Baikal region and Transbaikalia there are several rivers with the same name Uda. In this case, we are talking about the Uda, which flows from the right into the Angara in the area of ​​the modern villages of Ust-Uda and Balagansk. Subsequently, Beketov emphasized, not without pride: “And before, sir, no Russian person had ever visited me in those places.”. It is not known exactly where Beketov and his Cossacks spent the winter; apparently, somewhere near the Bratsk threshold or at the mouth of the Ilim. In January 1629, Argamakov sent Beketov small reinforcements led by V. Sumarokov. The latter was bringing the centurion an order for the urgent construction of a new fort, “so that Yakov Khripunov doesn’t take away the Ilima river and send yasak along Ilim to collect it”. But Beketov did not force the tired Cossacks to build a fort, and in the spring and summer of 1629 he returned to Yeniseisk, handing over 689 sable skins to the treasury.

Russian pioneers discovered endless lands in Eastern Siberia, inhabited by unknown peoples. Foreman Vasily Bugor and ataman Ivan Galkin, with the help of the Tungus, find portage routes from Ilim to the upper reaches of the Lena. In 1630, Beketov “rested” in Yeniseisk, and the detachments of I. Galkin and M. Perfilyev went to the Lena and along the Angara to the mouth of the Oka. In Yeniseisk itself during these years there were often no more than 10 Cossacks left. A petition from the Yenisei archers dated July 26, 1630 (the first on the list is Pyotr Beketov) has reached us, in which they, not without reason, indicated that “there are no such necessary (heavy) and cruel services that in the Yenisei prison, or in all of Siberia”, and asked to increase their cash and grain salaries, equating them to the salaries of Siberian mounted Cossacks.

Through the efforts of mainly Yenisei service people in the 1630s. the annexation of the lands of central Yakutia takes place. Having reached the Middle Lena basin in 1631, Ivan Galkin could not contain his surprise: "Places are crowded and the lands are wide and there is no end to them..." To replace Galkin on May 30, 1631, Beketov set out from Yeniseisk with a detachment of 30 people. He was sent to "long-distance service on the Lena River for one year", however, the campaign lasted 2 years and 3 months. During this time, Beketov’s military and diplomatic talents, combined with his personal ability to wield a saber, fully emerged. Pyotr Ivanovich did not want to concede in anything to his fellow soldier and rival Ataman Galkin, known for his desperate bravery. In September 1631, Beketov, taking 20 Cossacks with him, set off from the Ilimsk portage up the Lena. The detachment dared to move away from the river and headed towards the uluses of the Buryat-Ekherites. However, the Buryat princes refused to pay yasak to the distant king, declaring through the four Tungus who were with Beketov that they themselves were collecting yasak "from many lands". The small detachment managed to build some "fortress" and was under siege for 3 days. 60 people arrived at the fortification, led by princes Bokoy and Borochey, who resorted to military stratagem. They became "proshatsa in the support", supposedly for the delivery of yasak. However, having penetrated the fortification and secretly carried sabers with them, the Buryat leaders threw only 5 "underdog" and arrogantly declared: “We will take you into our serfs, and we will not let you out of our land.”. Since the Yeniseis stood "ready with a gun", then the battle apparently began with the only possible volley and continued with hand-to-hand combat. The onslaught of the Cossacks, who found themselves in a desperate situation, was swift. Subsequently, from various replies, Beketov reported that the Buryats lost from 40 to 56 people (this is probably an exaggeration). In the battle, 2 Tungus were killed and one Cossack was wounded. Taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, the servicemen captured the Buryat horses and spent 24 hours reaching the mouth of the Tutura River. Here Beketov set up a small fort, awaiting further actions on the part of the Ekherites. The latter, having heard about the prison, preferred to migrate to Baikal, but the Tungus-Nalagirs who had previously paid them tribute "the sovereign's high hands were afraid" and they brought Beketov yasak.

In April 1632, Beketov received from the new Yenisei governor Zh.V. Kondyrev reinforcements of 14 Cossacks and an order to go down the Lena. The Yakut epic of Beketov’s detachment deserves separate consideration. A detailed description of this campaign, coming from Pyotr Ivanovich himself, has been preserved. I will point out the main results of Beketov’s stay in Yakutia. The summer of 1632 passed in active explanation of the Yakut toins of the Middle Lena. Some of them accepted citizenship without risking fighting; others resisted. Luck was with Beketov's Cossacks - "God's grace and the state's happiness" They emerged victorious from military clashes with the Yakuts. In September 1632, Beketov built the first sovereign fort in Yakutia (on the right bank of the Lena, 70 km below Yakutsk), moved in 1634 by I. Galkin to a new location. A total of 31 toyon princes recognized Russian power as a result of the actions of Beketov’s detachment. In addition to collecting yasak, Beketov began collecting a tenth duty in Yakutia from the sable trades of private industrialists and Cossacks. He also sorted out the disputes that arose between them, and the fee "from court cases"(96 sables) honestly handed over to the Yenisei treasury. In June 1633, Beketov handed over the Lensky fort to his son, the boyar P. Khodyrev, who arrived to replace him, left 23 Cossacks in Yakutia in various services, and with the rest on September 6 he was already in Yeniseisk. One of the results of the long campaign of the Streltsy centurion through the lands of the Tungus and Yakuts was the delivery of 2,471 sables and 25 sable fur coats to the treasury.

By 1635-1636 refers to Beketov's new service. During these years, he built the Olekminsky fort, made trips to Vitim, Bolshoi Patom and "other side rivers" and returns with almost 20 magpie sables. The stay in Yeniseisk, where Pyotr Ivanovich’s family lived, again turns out to be short-lived. According to the established order, apparently, in the spring of 1638 he was sent to the Lensky prison for a year to replace I. Galkin. It is interesting to note that by this time Beketov had already lost the rank of centurion and was simply considered a Yenisei son of a boyar. Due to the lack of sources, it is difficult to assess this change in Beketov’s career. On the Middle Lena, Beketov found an alarming situation. Several local toyons from "the sovereign's hand" laid aside, attacked Russian people and tribute-paying Yakuts. Moreover, shortly before Beketov’s arrival, the Yakuts "they came in an attack" near Lensky fort. Initiator "wobbliness" the prince of the Nyuriktei volost Kirinya appeared, who left with his family from the Lena to Aldan. That is why Galkin and Beketov, having united their detachments, made a campaign against Kyrenia. View this event as a willful Cossack "hike for zipuns" wrong. Prince Kyrinei was brought into Russian citizenship by Beketov back in 1632. His “pogrom” in 1638 with the seizure of 500 cows and 300 mares was, of course, in the nature of an unseemly punitive action, but from the point of view of the central government it was completely legal. Beketov spent a year as a clerk in the Lensky fortress, during which time he collected a tribute of 2,250 sables and 456 foxes. In addition, he bought 794 sables and 135 foxes for the treasury, spending only 111 rubles. (in Yeniseisk this fur was valued at 1,247 rubles). The most expensive sable skins brought by Beketov cost 8 rubles each. a piece.

In 1640, Beketov was sent with the Yenisei sable treasury to Moscow. Siberian service people, as a rule, did not miss the opportunity, while in the capital, to personally take care of their needs and careers. At the beginning of 1641, Beketov submitted 2 petitions to the Siberian order. From the first it turns out that in Yeniseisk Beketov had a wife, children and "little people"(i.e. slaves). In the absence of the explorer, the governors took horses from his yard to perform underwater duty, which died on the Ilim portage. Pyotr Ivanovich asked to rid his yard of "drag cart", as well as from the station of service people traveling to Eastern Siberia. In another petition, Beketov concisely outlined all his Siberian campaigns and asked to be appointed as Cossack head in place of B. Bolkoshin, who “old and crippled, he cannot serve in such long-distance sovereign service as yours.”. The position of head in Yeniseisk appeared, obviously, in connection with the increase in the number of service people in the 1630s. The Siberian Prikaz compiled a detailed certificate confirming the veracity of the petitioner. Official businessmen scrupulously calculated that Beketov’s campaigns brought the state a profit of 11,540 rubles. Beketov's request was granted, and on February 13 he received the memory of his appointment as head of the Yenisei foot Cossacks. Previously, the explorer's salary was 10 rubles, 6 pounds of rye and 4 pounds of oats. The new salary was 20 rubles, but instead of a grain salary, Beketov had to receive land for arable land.

The 1640s were probably the calmest in Beketov’s life. Since Yakutia had its own voivodeship with a large garrison, the attention of the Yeniseis turned to Baikal. Ataman Vasily Kolesnikov, who was an ordinary Cossack in Beketov’s detachment in 1632, went to the northern shores of Lake Baikal and founded the Verkhneangarsky fort in 1647. The lands of Transbaikalia are actively "checked on" Ivan Galkin and Ivan Pokhabov. Judging by known sources, Beketov did not take part in these expeditions. However, the position of Cossack head was by no means a sinecure. Beketov had to monitor the staffing of the garrison and the state of weapons, establish the order of service parcels, sort out fights and small claims between the Cossacks, and suppress the illegal trade in wine and gambling among the servicemen. In other words, the Cossack head in the Yenisei was the first assistant to the governor in military affairs.

Pyotr Ivanovich was also involved in his own farming. It is known that in 1637 he had 18 acres of arable land and 15 fallow lands. The arable land was most likely cultivated by hired peasants. Beketov sold some part of his lands (apparently received after 1641 as compensation for grain wages) to the peasants S. Kostylnikov and P. Burmakin. 2 collective petitions of Yeniseis from 1646, signed by Pyotr Beketov, have survived. The first dealt with the Spassky Monastery, created on secular initiative, which served as an almshouse for some of the aged servicemen. The petitioners asked to provide the monastery with funds to purchase "all kinds of church buildings". In the second case, the Yenisei Cossacks asked to lift the ban on the trade in yasir (i.e. slaves from the indigenous peoples captured or illegally bought by servicemen). Moscow did not respond to both requests. In July 1647, Beketov received a letter sent to him from Moscow with an unusual order. He was ordered to imprison voivode Fyodor Uvarov for 3 days, who was guilty of writing his formal replies to the discharge voivodes of Tomsk "obscene speech". If you believe Beketov’s report, then he conscientiously carried out this decree, which put him in an ambiguous position.

Soon, however, unpleasant changes occurred in Beketov’s career. In 1648 he was "the head was dismissed without guilt for unknown reasons", and, according to Pyotr Ivanovich, "changed without petition". It is not entirely clear which petition is meant here: Beketov himself or a contender for his place. In addition, the former head could mean a petition from the Yenisei Cossacks with possible complaints against him. The latter seems unlikely. During Beketov’s long service in Siberia, we do not know of a single complaint or report against him (unlike, for example, Erofei Khabarov, Ivan Pokhabov and many others). Perhaps the former governor Uvarov, who was replaced by the end of 1647 by F.I., had a hand in Beketov’s resignation. Polibin. The latter cannot be suspected of intrigue against Beketov, since in 1650 he calmly sent Pyotr Ivanovich with formal replies to Moscow. Be that as it may, Beketov again returned to the rank of son of a boyar with a reduction in his salary to 10 rubles. This fact, undoubtedly, was the reason for his trip to the capital, where he arrived on January 1, 1651. The aging explorer submitted two petitions, slightly different in content, to the Siberian Prikaz. In one, he asked to be reinstated as head, and in the other, to be given his previous salary. In 1649-1650 He managed to attend an annual service in the Bratsk prison, so he attached a letter to his petitions about the prospects for the development of agriculture in the Baikal region. Times have changed - instead of feverishly collecting yasak from "newly found lands" The time has come to think about the sustainable economic development of the region. Moscow bureaucrats once again drew up a certificate of Beketov’s services and apparently felt some discomfort from the injustice committed against him. Pyotr Ivanovich was given "good English cloth", assigned a salary of 20 rubles. and 5 poods. salt, "and for our bread wages he was ordered to serve from the arable land". In addition to Beketov, the salary is 20 rubles. In the Yenisei garrison, only Ivan Galkin, who had reached the rank of son of a boyar, had. Beketov’s position as head, however, was not returned, and he went to Yeniseisk, where the new governor was already sitting.

Winter 1651-1652 Beketov spent time at home, and in the spring he began to prepare for a long campaign. The voivode, like many of his Siberian colleagues, wanted to distinguish himself before the central government by adding to his track record the annexation and settlement of new territories. The clerk of the Barguzin fort, V. Kolesnikov, suggested the idea of ​​​​founding a new fort near Lake Irgen. The Cossacks who arrived from Kolesnikov - Yakov Sofonov, Ivan Chebychakov, Maxim Urazov, Kirill Emelyanov, Matvey Saurov - were carefully questioned about the routes to Irgen and the Shilka River, since they had already been there. According to the Cossacks, it turned out that Lake Irgen and the Nercha River, which flows into Shilka, could be reached from Yeniseisk in one summer. The idea of ​​organizing an expedition, which was to establish 2 forts in the indicated places, finally matured. In April 1652, he informed the Tomsk governor that he was going to send 100 people to Transbaikalia. Beketov was placed at the head of the expedition, whose tasks included exploration of silver deposits. Along with the Cossacks, the detachment included "eager industrial people". Under the leadership of Beketov were Pentecostals Ivan Maksimov, Druzhina Popov, Ivan Kotelnikov and Maxim Urazov. Among the foremen, we specially note Ivan Gerasimov, son of Chebychakov. At the beginning of June 1652, the Yenisei son of the boyar Pyotr Beketov set out on his last campaign.

Beketov's detachment consisted of about 130-140 people; This means that the expedition set off up the Angara on 7-8 planks. Despite the fact that the Cossacks were walking "hurry good" They reached the Bratsk prison only 2 months later. It became clear to Beketov that the detachment would not be able to reach its final goal over the summer, and he decided to spend the winter on the southern shore of Lake Baikal. However, from the Bratsk prison he sent 12 Cossacks led by I. Maksimov "lightly through the Barguzinsky fort to Irgen Lake and the great Shilka River". Sofonov and Chebychakov, who had already been to Irgen, walked with Maximov. Pyotr Ivanovich’s calculation was quite understandable. Having instructions to go to Selenge and Khiloka (in the sources of the 17th century - the Kilka River), Beketov did not have anyone in the detachment who knew this water route. Maksimov had to go through the Trans-Baikal steppes to Lake Irgen, where the upper reaches of Khilok were located, and descend along this river to meet Beketov.

Beketov's main detachment, having passed the left tributary of the Angara Osu, was attacked at night "brotherly thieving ignorant men", nomadic "on the edge of Lake Baikal". The Cossacks retreated fighting, while the Buryats "boasted" Don’t miss the servicemen beyond Baikal. Following those who survived in Siberia in the 17th century. traditions of Cossack self-government, Beketov “talked” with service people, "so that they can search for him on those shady guys". The retaliatory action carried out by I. Kotelnikov turned out to be successful. The Cossacks attacked the Buryat “camps”, killed 12 people in battle, captured several prisoners, and themselves "Everyone came from that package healthy". Among the prisoners was the wife of the Verkholensk yasak prince Torom (who had arrived at the wrong time to visit), about whom a correspondence arose between the Ilimsk governor Oladin. justified Beketov’s actions, especially since he returned the woman to the Verkholensky prison.

Beketov crossed Baikal and stopped for the winter at the mouth of the Prorva. To identify this river with modern geographical names, one should turn to folklore sources. Among the old-timers of Transbaikalia, a historical legend has been preserved about a certain royal after Erofei, who was killed near Prorva. Tradition says that it was here that a village later arose, which is now the village of Posolsky. This legend is based on a completely reliable historical event. In 1650, near Lake Baikal, the Buryats killed the embassy of the Tobolsk son of the boyar Erofey Zabolotsky, who was heading to one of the rulers of Northern Mongolia. Thus, Beketov spent the winter in the area of ​​the current village of Posolsky, located on Bolshaya Rechka (the historical Prorva River).

In April 1653, he sent three Cossacks who knew the Tungus, Buryat and Mongolian languages ​​to the Transbaikal steppes. The Cossacks were supposed to call all the surrounding clans and tribes into Russian citizenship, and also announce that Beketov was coming "not with war and not with battle", but performs an ambassadorial mission. Beketov ordered the Cossacks to spread false information that his detachment consisted of 300 people. The Cossacks, without hesitation, had to motivate the large number of “embassies” by the fact that “foreigners Brattsky and Tungus people are weak-minded, stupid, as they see little of the sovereign’s people, and they beat the sovereign’s service people...” Ultimately, Beketov's scouts went to the yurts of the Mongol prince Kuntutsin and were well received by him. With the prince was Lama Tarkhan, who traveled in 1619-1620. to Moscow and knew about the scale of the state that was represented by the three Cossacks who came on foot. Of course, Kuntutsin refused to transfer his Buryat and Tungus Kishtyms to Russian citizenship, but he released the service people in peace.

After the return of the reconnaissance, Beketov set out from his winter quarters on Prorva on June 11, 1653. In half a day, the detachment along Lake Baikal reached the mouth of the Selenga and climbed along it for 8 days. Near the mouth of Khilok, Beketov stopped, hoping for the arrival of Maksimov, who actually sailed from above Khilok on July 2 with people weakened from hunger. Nevertheless, Maksimov brought 6 forty sables and a drawing of new lands. From the mouth of Khilok, Beketov sent 35 servicemen, led by Maksimov, to Yeniseisk. On the Angara they were again attacked by the Buryats. Maksimov fought back and retained the sable treasury, although during the battle 2 Cossacks were killed and 7 were wounded. The Cossacks made their way along the rivers quickly and appeared before them on August 22. The latter sent Maximov to Moscow, where the Yenisei Pentecostal arrived on January 10, 1654. The incredible mobility of the Siberian Cossacks of the 17th century. can only cause surprise.

Meanwhile, the epic of Beketov’s detachment continued. For the shallow waters of Khilok, the planks had too deep a draft, so it took 3 weeks to convert them into flat-bottomed vessels. Navigating against the current along the Khilok turned out to be difficult, and the expedition arrived at its destination only at the end of September 1653. By mid-October, the Irgen fort was established, and on October 19, the Cossacks began to descend on rafts along the Ingoda. Beketov obviously hoped to reach the mouth of the Nercha before winter. However, after sailing along the Ingoda for about 10 versts, the detachment was met by the early freezing of the river. A winter hut with fortifications was quickly erected here, where some of the supplies were stored. 20 people remained in the winter hut, another 10 Cossacks under the command of M. Urazov were sent to the mouth of the Nercha, and with the rest Beketov returned to the Irgen fort. At the end of 1653, Urazov built not far from the mouth of the Nerch, on the right bank of the Shilka, "small prison", which he reported to Beketov. The latter outlined this in a letter, assuring the governor that in the spring of 1654 he would build a large fort at the place chosen by Urazov.

During the winter, Beketov did not waste time - he collected yasak from the local Tungus and the tenth duty from the crafts of the people who were with him. He was apparently also searching for silver. It is curious that the folklore legend, recorded in the middle of the 20th century, attributed the discovery of the Nerchinsk deposits to Beketov ( “now no one here remembers how he reached the Amur, but everyone knows about how he discovered silver on the Nercha”). The sable treasury and replies On May 9, 1654, Peter Ivanovich sent to Yeniseisk with a detachment of 31 Cossacks. Among them were Pentecostals D. Popov, M. Urazov and all the foremen, with the exception of Ivan Chebychakov. This fact requires explanation. In total, Beketov sent 65 Cossacks to Yeniseisk, and among them the most experienced. I think there were several reasons for this decision. The sable treasury - an important criterion for the explorer's service - had to reach Yeniseisk intact. Before the campaign, he gave the Cossacks a salary for 2 years; one must think that many of them were already talking about returning to Yeniseisk. Obviously, Pyotr Ivanovich was not one of those commanders for whom the opinions of his subordinates meant nothing. We stayed mostly with Beketov "Cossack mercenaries" And "willing service people", i.e. persons who were not part of the Yenisei garrison. The forethought of the experienced explorer paid off. While sailing along Khilok, Urazov and his comrades were attacked "brotherly non-peaceful men of the ulus people of Turukai Tabun". The battle lasted all day, but in the end the detachment saved themselves and the sable treasury. The Yeniseis arrived home on June 12 and handed over furs worth 3,728 rubles to the governor.

And Beketov was already on Shilka, where he was going to build, in accordance with the order, a large fort. The intentions of Pyotr Ivanovich are evidenced by the fact that the Cossacks even sowed spring grain in the chosen place. However, the construction of Russian fortifications and the winter collection of yasak forced the Tungus tribes to take up arms. The Cossacks never managed to build a fort when "many Tungus people came after being driven out by the war". The Russian detachment came under siege (apparently in a prison built by Urazov). The Tungus drove away the horses and trampled down the grain. Famine began among the Cossacks, since the Tungus did not allow fishing. Beketov recognized his opponents as those who had recently brought him yasak. The Yeniseis had neither river boats nor horses. They had the only escape route - on rafts, down the Shilka to the Amur. Did Beketov leave some part of the detachment in the Irgen prison before leaving for Shilka? I do not have such information, but A.P. Vasiliev indicates (without citing a source) that Beketov left 18 Cossacks there.

On the Amur at this time, the most serious Russian force was the “army” of the clerk, the official successor. The Amur current brought Beketov’s Cossacks to him. It is possible that a split occurred in the detachment of the Yenisei explorer already on Nerch, and some of the servicemen broke away from him. At least Beketov’s Cossacks arrived to Stepanov in different groups. In the 1650s. the Russian population of Eastern Siberia was covered; Not only parties of free industrialists, but also detachments of servicemen who had escaped from their garrisons marched to the Amur. It can be assumed that Beketov, in the current circumstances and in connection with the threat of starvation, could no longer restrain people who had heard about the fertile “land.” At the end of June 1654, 34 Yeniseis joined, and a few days later Pyotr Beketov himself appeared, who told the entire Cossack army "beat with his forehead so that he could live on the great Amur River until the sovereign's decree". All “Beketites” (63 people) were accepted into the combined Amur army. The hereditary son of a boyar and the former head of the Yenisei garrison obeyed without ambition, who until recently was only a gunner with the rank of captain. Behind this and other meager evidence one can see the character of Beketov - a balanced and even gentle man. But the steel core of this character is beyond doubt.

Why did Beketov himself remain in the army on the Amur? Only relatively reliable assumptions can be made about this. Circumstances did not allow the explorer to complete the task completely and build a fort at the mouth of the Nerch. The garrison of the Irgen fort was left to its own devices. Under such circumstances, Beketov apparently did not want to return to, which could put an end to his further service. On the Amur, a war with the Manchus flared up, during which it was possible to distinguish oneself and make amends for an involuntary offense. A characteristic detail is that having joined, Beketov handed over to him 10 sables, which he had already collected during his voyage along the Amur. However, not everything in life is measured by selfish and career interests. Who knows, whether the aging pioneer was not lured by new unknown lands, where there were neither arrogant governors nor Moscow clerk businessmen looking at Siberia as a big chest with "soft junk"?

Beketov's fate on the Amur can only be traced to a certain point. In the fall of 1654, the army, which numbered just over 500 people, built the Kumarsky fort (at the confluence of the Khumarhe River with the Amur). On March 13, 1655, the fort was besieged by a 10,000-strong Manchu army. The Cossacks withstood a multi-day bombardment of the fort, repelled all attacks and made a sortie themselves. Having failed, the Manchu army left the fort on April 3. Immediately after this, he compiled a track record of the Cossacks who "they fought clearly". This list confirms my assumption about the split of Beketov’s detachment, since the 30 Cossacks who were subordinate to him on Shilka are recorded here separately. 27 people remained loyal to Beketov, of which 12 were "willing service people". Therefore, apparently, the latter are absent from the petition, which Beketov compiled on behalf of the Yenisei service people and added to the formal replies. In addition to Pyotr Ivanovich himself, the petition was signed by the foreman Ivan Gerasimov Chebychakov and 14 ordinary Cossacks. In this document, Beketov briefly outlined the reasons for leaving Shilka and asked to be rewarded for the service shown in defending the Kumar prison. The meaning of the petition is clear - to bring to the attention of the official authorities the fact that he and his people continue to be in the government service. This document, dating from April 1655, is so far the last reliable news about Beketov. Nevertheless, it is clear that Pyotr Ivanovich could not end his life’s journey in March of this year in Tobolsk.

Having received Beketov’s unsubscribe in June 1654, he had every reason to believe that he had successfully completed his task. In accordance with usual practice, the governor sent new yearlings to replace him, led by the boyar’s son Nikifor Koltsov. The detachment consisted of about 40 servicemen and 2 exiled peasants, who should have been “planted” on arable land. Following Beketov’s example, Koltsov spent the winter on Prorva and a certain fort arrived in Irga in the fall of 1655. Apparently, Koltsov erected a new fort on Shilka, which was located above the mouth of the Nercha. For unknown reasons, Koltsov did not wait for the next shift. In the early spring of 1656, he released 20 people to Yeniseisk (these were, most likely, those “Beketites” who remained in the Irgen prison). Then, on March 30, Koltsov himself set off on the return journey with 10 Cossacks, leaving only 26 people on Irgen and Shilka. In the winter hut on Prorva, Koltsov met V. Kolesnikov, who was sent in 1655 to replace him and to build a fort at the mouth of Khilok. Here, the clerks witnessed a riot, which was started by 53 Cossacks led by Filka Letay. The latter took away Kolesnikov’s weapons and all supplies, "and they talked among themselves as if they wanted to run to". In the summer the rebels went up the Selenga. Kolesnikov's expedition carried with it "arable plant"(seed bread, sickles, scythes, openers), which had to be left on Prorva under small guard. Koltsov and Kolesnikov with 18 servicemen headed to Yeniseisk. The revolt and flight from service of Kolesnikov's Cossacks thus thwarted plans for a strong military foothold in Transbaikalia and the establishment of agriculture there.

Abandoned to the mercy of fate, Koltsov’s Cossacks did not leave the Irgen and Shilka prisons. In the first there were 9 servicemen, in the second - 14, led by foreman Kalina Poltinin. In mid-September 1656, the “thieves’” Cossacks of F. Poletaya passed by the Shilka prison and wanted to annex a small garrison. Poltinin with comrades "They, the thieves, cried with tears". Letai limited himself to confiscating the drum and a new plow; In addition, 4 Poltinin Cossacks voluntarily joined the rebels. Fugitive Cossacks sailing along Shilka "pogroed" people of the Evenki prince. Gantimur, capturing prisoners and cattle. The service people in prison had to pay for this. On October 10, the Tungus, led by the shaman Zyagara, captured and burned the Irgen fort. Only Peter Novgorod and Nikita Sitnik managed to escape, who, being wounded, reached Ingoda and went down to the Shilka prison on a raft. On the night of December 18, 7 Cossacks, sent by Poltinin with an unsubscribe, left the prison. The reply said that there were 6 people left on Shilka - Kalina Poltinin, Grishka Antonov, Grishka Fedorov, Petrushka and Oska Kharitonov, Mikitka Trofimov - who were under siege and feeding "pine, grass and roots". Nevertheless, the servicemen hoped to hold out until spring and only then, in the absence of help, leave the fortification. But even before the onset of spring, the fort was taken by the Tungus, and all its defenders died. The Cossacks sent by Poltinin safely avoided danger and on May 10, 1657, handed over a letter of resignation, who, now as the future Daurian governor, spent the winter with his “regiment” in the Bratsk fort (Yeniseisk surrendered to the new governor on August 18, 1655, and went on campaign on the 18th July 1656).

In May 1657, the boarders moved to Baikal. In the letter sent from the road, the governor spoke with an unkind word about those Cossacks who fled to the Amur without permission. Beketov was among them: “In the past, in the year 162, from the great Shilka River, from Lake Irgen, leaving your sovereign forts, the Yenisei son of the boyar Petrushka Beketov with ... service people with 70 people, fled to the land ...". The governor proposed that the families of such "traitors" be imprisoned, and that the "thieves" themselves, if they show up in Siberian cities, be sentenced to death. So Beketov, with a light hand, found himself on a par with M. Sorokin and F. Poletai, leaders of the Cossack freemen. Obviously, this assessment is incorrect.

The expedition reached Lake Irgen only in the fall of 1657. Here "in the most desirable place near large fishing grounds" erected a new Irgensky fort - with residential huts and gouges around it. Leaving 20 servicemen in the prison, the governor at the end of winter crossed the portage to Ingoda. In the spring of 1658, the banks of the Ingoda River resounded with the sound of axes. By order, the Cossacks cut down the forest into 2 forts at once, which were to be placed near the mouth of the Nerch and in. For the last one, 8 towers and 200 fathoms of city forest were cut down for the walls. For the Verkhneshilsky fort (as the future Nerchinsky fort was initially called), 4 towers and walls were completely prepared. The entire prison forest was tied into 170 rafts. The journey along Ingoda to Nerch took 3 weeks; There were only 2-3 people on each raft, so the rafts were often broken. At the beginning of summer, the Verkhneshilsky fort was erected. Only now have I become convinced from my own experience that it is impossible to keep the Transbaikal Tungus under Russian citizenship with small forces. In his next letter to Moscow, he put forward the idea of ​​​​settling 300 servicemen in the Irgen and Verkhneshilsky forts. According to him, to "unpeaceful foreigners" he treated "kindness and hello". On the other hand, he carried out a punitive action against those who burned the first Russian prisons in these parts. Several Tungus, in the presence of their fellow tribesmen, were hanged in the Verkhneshilsky prison.

However, the “Daurian” governor never got to the Amur. On June 18, 1658, he sent 30 Cossacks led by his son Eremey to find out where a fort could be set up on the Amur. Returning on July 13, the younger reported that, in his opinion, the fort could be built on. At the same time as Eremey, Pentecostal A. Potapov with a small detachment set off in search of the Amur army on light plows. It was he who brought the sad news of defeat on August 18 ( "Bogdoy pogrom"), which the Amur Cossacks suffered from the Manchus. he expected in vain that the remnants of the army would come to join him. His tyranny and harsh treatment of the Cossacks (which was colorfully described by Archpriest Avvakum) served as a sufficient obstacle to joining under his command. When he crossed Baikal, about 500 service people (and 70 of his servants) went with him. In May 1662, the new clerk in the Transbaikal forts, L. Tolbuzin, received 75 people. Hunger, disease, death from Tunguska arrows - all this led to the death of most of the detachment. The sovereign voivode left Transbaikalia, leaving behind 3 forts (Irgensky, Nerchinsky, Telembinsky) and several hundred dead and unknown servicemen who disappeared to where. An interesting assessment of the results of the expedition was given by the Cossacks of the Yenisei garrison, who submitted a collective petition in July 1665. In it they recalled that it was the Yeniseis who explored the routes to Transbaikalia, and Pyotr Beketov and Nikifor Koltsov set up the Irgen and Shilka forts; They also began to bring the local Tungus into a state of tribute. According to the Yeniseis, “before reaching the Daurian land, I stopped at the great river Shilka and on Lake Irgen and set up new forts in the same places in which we, your servants, previously, Ofonasya, set up forts”. Thus, "took away that service from the Yenisei prison" and deceived Moscow, calling the area of ​​​​his operations "new Daurian land and Chinese border".

All known materials about the Transbaikal campaign suggest that Beketov did not join this expedition. Thus, those who were with Avvakum did not personally meet Beketov in Siberia, but they probably heard his name more than once. It remains a mystery why, many years later, the memory of the long-suffering archpriest included Beketov in the ranks of his opponents. Where did the explorer’s life end? As already mentioned, the last reliable information about Beketov dates back to April 1655. I.E. Fischer, whose work is an abbreviation and adaptation of the still unpublished “History of Siberia” by G.F. Miller, stated: “In 1660, when he (Beketov) returned through Yakutsk and Ilimsk back to Yeniseisk, he brought with him quite a few sables, which served as protection for him to avert the punishment that he feared for leaving the prison.”. This opinion has not yet been confirmed by any sources. L.A. Goldenberg noted in passing that on the famous Tyrsky cliff in the lower reaches of the Amur in the winter of 1655-1656. Cossacks visited Beketov and discovered the ruins of an ancient temple there. Unfortunately, the researcher did not indicate the source of his information.

It seems to me that Beketov never returned from the Amur River. In 1655-1658. with his army he literally wandered around the Amur. The Cossacks spent the winter in hastily erected forts and collected yasak from different ethnic tribes that suffered greatly from hostilities between the Russians and the Manchus. The threat of famine and the Manchu danger constantly hung over the army. The Amur peoples, angry at the cruelty, mercilessly exterminated small detachments of Cossacks who risked acting on their own. In July 1656 he reported to Yakutsk: “And not everyone in the army is hungry and impoverished, we eat grass and roots... And we don’t dare to leave the great Amur River without the sovereign’s decree anywhere, and the Bogdoy military people are standing close to us, and we have to stand against them... and began to fight nothing, no gunpowder or lead at all". The tragic end of the epic of the Amur Cossacks was approaching, among whom Beketov probably continued to remain.

Historians present somewhat differently the details of the defeat of the army and the immediate events that followed, which is due to discrepancies in the testimony with comrades given in October 1659 in Yeniseisk and September 1660 in Moscow. Taking into account the full text of the survey in the Siberian Order that I restored, this event can be reconstructed as follows. In June 1658, the Cossacks climbed up the Amur from the mouth of the Sungari. Having received information that a flotilla of Manchus was approaching him, he sent a reconnaissance detachment (180 people) led by Klim Ivanov on light plows. The latter parted ways with enemy ships in the islands. The attack of 47 Manchu ships on the clumsy planks, which did not expect an attack, was crushing. It did not come to a boarding battle, in which the Cossacks could still have a chance of victory. Shot from cannons, the servicemen tried to get to the shore, but drowned along with the boarders. Together with 270 Cossacks died. (nephew) and 45 other people, many of whom were wounded, went to the Amur hills. The plank on which the Savior's marching church and 40 Cossacks were located managed to escape persecution. The returning detachment of K. Ivanov came across the ships of the winners, blocking the entire river. Having deployed their plows, the Cossacks went up the Amur and after 3 days they met a messenger from Pashkov again moved up the Amur, supposedly to connect with. On the way I met those 40 Cossacks who escaped from the “pogrom” on Spassky Doshanik. The detachment happily missed the ships of the Manchus, who were trying to completely defeat the Russians on the Amur. In the Kumarsky fort, the detachment split up: 120 Cossacks went to the Zeya River to “feed”, and 107 people led by Petrilovsky swam towards, but then changed their minds and went through the Tugirsky portage to Olekma and further to Ilimsk. The local governor sent the elected ataman Petrilovsky and 5 ordinary Cossacks with the Amur yasak treasury to Moscow. Already on October 3, 1659, the village arrived in Yeniseisk, where the servicemen were carefully questioned by governor I.I. Rzhevsky.

Attention should be paid to the fact that among the 5 Cossacks accompanying was Ivan Gerasimov Chebychakov. Let us recall that the foreman Chebychakov from 1652 to 1655 was invariably under the command of Pyotr Ivanovich. His return to Yeniseisk without Beketov apparently meant that the commander was no longer alive. Perhaps luck changed the old explorer on that memorable day of June 30, 1658. How the Yenisei son of the boyar P.I. met his death hour. We will most likely never recognize the Beckets...

It is true that in the 1660s. Beketov, contrary to the opinion of I.E. Fischer, was no longer listed among the Yenisei servicemen. For example, the aforementioned petition of 1665 was signed by the boyar children I. Galkin, I. Maksimov, Y. Pokhabov, N. Koltsov and others; Beketov is not among them. In the census book of the Yenisei district of 1669, the widow of the son of the boyar Peter Beketov is named among the land sellers. Perhaps, after the death of her husband, she went back beyond the Urals, which is why we do not find the descendants of Pyotr Ivanovich in the service environment of Yeniseisk. Folklore image of Beketov - a pioneer, "a man with a good soul" and an unprecedentedly successful hunter - has been preserved for centuries in the historical traditions of Russian old-timers of Transbaikalia. Storyteller F.E. Gorbunov (1875-1948) conveyed the following belief: “It used to be a custom in hunting families: the first son will be born, which means he will definitely be named Peter. Let him, they say, be as lucky as that Cossack Beketov.”.

Pyotr Ivanovich Beketov

Beketov, Pyotr Ivanovich (? - 1658?) - Russian explorer, son of a boyar (nobleman), from the Tver and Dmitrov boyar children. He served in Yeniseisk from 1626. In 1627 he was appointed rifle centurion in the Yenisei fort. In the spring of 1628 he went on a campaign to pacify the Lower Angara Tungus (Evenks). In the lower reaches of the Angara, Beketov’s detachment built the Rybinsk fort. In the fall of 1628, B. organized the collection of yasak from the peoples of the Angara region. In 1630 he “rested” in Yeniseisk. In May 1631 he was sent to the Lena River, to the uluses of the Buryat-Ekherites, where he built a “fortress”. Having lost the fortress, Beketov retreated to the mouth of the Tutura River, where he set up a small fort and received yasak from the Tungus-Nalagirs. In the summer of 1632 he explained the Yakut toyons of the middle Lena.

In September 1632, Beketov’s detachment built the first sovereign fort in Yakutia on the right bank of the Lena. As a result, 31 Toyon princes recognized Russian power. In June 1633, Beketov handed over the Lensky fort to the boyar's son P. Khodyrev and went to Yeniseisk. In 1635-1636 he set up the Olekminsky fort and made trips along the Vitim, Bolshoy Patom and “other third-party rivers”. In the spring of 1638, having lost the rank of centurion, he was sent to serve in the Lensky prison as a clerk. He made a campaign against the prince of the Nyuriktei volost of Kyrenia. In 1640 he was sent to Moscow, where he was appointed Cossack head (first assistant to the governor) in Yeniseisk. In 1648 he was dismissed from office.

In June 1652, Beketov set out on a campaign to Lake Irgen and the Nerch River to explore silver deposits. In the winter of the same year, his detachment passed the left tributary of the Angara Osu. After several skirmishes with the Buryats, he crossed Baikal and stopped for the winter at the mouth of the Prorva River. In June 1653 the detachment reached the mouth of the Selenga. On the Angara the Buryats were again attacked. The expedition arrived at its destination only at the end of September 1653. By mid-October, the Irgen fort was established, and the Cossacks began to descend on rafts along the Ingoda. Due to early freeze-up, Beketov returned to the Irgen prison.

Beketov was going to build a large fort on the Shilka River, but did not have time due to an attack by Tungus troops. He retreated down the Shilka to the Amur, where in the “army” of Onufriy Stepanov from March 13 to April 4, 1655 he “fought clearly” in defense of the Kumarsky fort besieged by the Manchus. This refutes the testimony of the archpriest Habakkuk, as if Beketov “died a bitter and evil death” in his courtyard in Tobolsk in early March 1655. Most likely, Beketov died on the Amur in a battle with the Manchus on June 30, 1658. However, the latest unverified information about Beketov ( G. F. Miller, I.E. Fisher) date back to 1660, when he allegedly returned to Yeniseisk through Yakutsk and Ilimsk. Tradition credits Beketov with the discovery of Nerchinsk silver deposits.

T. A. Bakhareva.

Russian historical encyclopedia. T. 2. M., 2015, p. 423.

Streletsky centurion and ancestor of the poet A. A. Blok

Beketov Pyotr Ivanovich (1610-1656), explorer, one of the service people. Born approx. 1610. His father and some relatives served “by choice” from Tver and Arzamas. Appeared in Siberia in 1620/21. He began his service in Tobolsk (c. 1624). In 1627, following Beketov’s personal petition, an order came from Moscow for his appointment as a Streltsy centurion, whose salary was 12 rubles. 25 altyn, 78 rye, 4 oats per year. The Yenisei Cossacks opposed this appointment and put forward their candidacy - clerk M. Perfilyev. However, Beketov won, who was not inferior to the clerk in literacy, courage, energy and independence in judgment and action. Later, in his campaigns in Siberia, he learned to speak local languages.

In 1627-1629 he took part in the campaigns of Yenisei servicemen up the Angara to the mouth of the river. Oops. Founded the Rybinsk (1627) and Bratsk (1628) forts. In the fall of 1630 he came to the Lena through the Ust-Kut winter quarters; with 20 Cossacks, he climbed the Lena to the mouth of the “Ona River” (Apai?) and discovered more than 500 km of its upper course, a little short of reaching its sources. It was not immediately possible to bring the local Buryats “under the sovereign’s hand”; The Cossacks, having hastily built a fortress, withstood a three-day siege. In this “land” to collect yasak, Beketov left 9 Cossacks led by foreman A. Dubina, and with the rest he went down to the mouth of the Kulenga. From there, Beketov made a foray to the west, into the steppes of the Leno-Angara plateau. On the 5th day, he met Buryat camps and demanded yasak in the name of the “white king,” but the Buryats did not obey. Beketov quickly made a hole out of the forest and sat down in it. But every hour new help arrived for the Buryats. Finally, they surrounded the abattoir on all sides, waiting for night to set it on fire. Beketov drew attention to the Buryat horses grazing near the yurts, made an unexpected sortie, captured the horses and rode them back to the upper Lena for a whole day with his detachment; They stopped only at the mouth of the Tutura, which flows into the Lena below Kulenga, where the Evenki, who were friendly towards the Russians, lived. There Beketov founded the Tutursky fortress. From this area the Cossacks returned to the mouth of the Kuta, where they spent the winter. In the spring of 1631, Beketov with 30 Cossacks began rafting along the Lena, and up the river. He sent Kirenga “to find new lands” with 7 Cossacks.

In con. June 1632 Beketov sent “to search for profits... to the mouth of the Lensky and to the [Laptev] Sea... to new lands” 9 Cossacks led by I. Paderin. In August 1632, Beketov sent a detachment of Yenisei Cossacks led by A. Arkhipov down the Lena. Beyond the Arctic Circle, in the area "Zhigan Tungus" , they set up the Zhigansk winter hut on the left bank of the Lena to collect yasak. Beketov himself went to the middle Lena and explored the south. part of a giant river bend. At the top of the arc in the fall of 1632, in a very inconvenient area, he set up the Yakut fort, which constantly suffered from floods during high water, and after 10 years it had to be moved 15 km lower, to where the city of Yakutsk now stands. But this area, most advanced to the east, was chosen exceptionally well by Beketov, and the Yakut fort immediately became the starting base for the Russians. search expeditions not only to the north, to the Icy Sea, but also to the east, and later to the south - to the river. Shilkar (Amur) and to the Warm Sea (Pacific Ocean). In the spring of 1633, other Cossacks sent by Beketov tried, together with industrialists, to sail a ship along the Vilyuy in order to impose tribute on the Evenks on the river. Markha, its sowing. large tributary. The Yeniseis wanted to penetrate in this way into those “Lena lands”, which were claimed by the Mangazeans by right of discoverers, but at the mouth of the Vilyuy they met with the Mangazeya detachment of S. Korytov, who captured the ship of the Yeniseis, and attracted them to their side, promising a share of the spoils. In Jan. 1634 up to 3 thousand Yakuts besieged the Yakut fort, where at that time approx. 200 Cossacks, industrial and bargaining. people attracted by hopes of rich spoils. The Yakuts, unaccustomed to military action, quickly abandoned the siege. Some of them went to remote areas, the rest continued to resist. In pursuit of some, in the fight against others, the Russians walked around the middle Lena basin in different directions and got acquainted with it. At the confluence of the Olekma with the Lena, B. built the Ust-Olyokminsky fort in 1635 and from it he went “for yasak collection” around the Olekma and its chapter. tributary - Chara, as well as along Bolshoy Patom and Vitim, and was the first to visit the north. and zap. outskirts of the Patom Highlands. In 1638 he was appointed Cossack and Streltsy head with a salary of 20 rubles. in year. Beketov's personal holdings were quite modest: in 1637 he owned 18 dessiatines. arable land and 15 des. fallow, that there were much fewer possessions of some boyar children in the same Tobolsk.

In 1641 he came to Moscow with yasak. Beketov enjoyed great authority not only among his service circles, but also among the government. So, in 1647, being the head of the Cossacks, by the “sovereign” decree, he arrested and imprisoned the Yenisei governor F. Uvarov for 3 days because he said some “indecent words” in his replies to Tomsk. In 1650 he again went to Moscow with tribute. To establish the power of the Russian Tsar in Transbaikalia in June 1652, by order of the Yenisei governor A.F. Pashkov, Beketov led a detachment of 300 people. climbed the Yenisei and Angara to the Bratsk fortress. From there to the sources of the river. Milok, a tributary of the Selenga, Beketov sent an advanced group of Pentecostal I. Maksimov with a guide - the Cossack Ya. Sofonov, who had already visited Transbaikalia in the summer of 1651. Beketov, having stayed in the Bratsk fort, was forced to winter south of the mouth of the Selenga, where he founded the Ust-Prorvinsky fort. There the Cossacks prepared a huge amount of fish.

In 1653 B. went to the lake. Irgen, where the Irgen prison was built. June 1653 was spent figuring out the route to the river. Khilok. On July 2, 1653, he sent Cossacks from the new “sovereign’s” winter hut to the ulus of Tsarevich Lubsan to say: “... I am going with the service people, according to the sovereign’s decree, to Lake Irgen and to the great river Vilka with good, and not with war and not in battle. ..”, after which he began to climb the Khilka and, together with Maksimov’s detachment, whom he met on the road, arrived at the source of the river in early October. Here the Cossacks cut down the fort, and Maksimov handed over the collected yasak and the drawing of the pp. to Beketov. Khilok, Selenga, Ingoda and Shilka, compiled by him during the winter - in fact, the 1st hydrographic map. map of Transbaikalia. Beketov was in a hurry to penetrate as far as possible to the east. Despite the late season, he crossed the Yablonovy Ridge and built rafts on Ingoda, but the early winter, common in this region, forced him to postpone everything until next year and return to Khilok.

In May 1654, when Ingoda was freed from ice, he went down it, went to Shilka and against the mouth of the river. Nercha set up a prison. But the Cossacks failed to settle here: the Evenks burned the sown grain, and the detachment had to leave due to lack of food. Beketov descended the Shilka to the confluence with the Onon and was the first Russian to leave Transbaikalia for the Amur. Tracing the top. the course of the great river to the confluence of the Zeya (900 km), he united with the Cossacks of the foreman O. Stepanov, who was appointed instead of Khabarov as “a man of command ... of the new Daurian land.” A man of independent character, Beketov knew how to calm down his pride for the sake of business. When he and the remnants of his detachment in the summer of 1654, due to “scarcity of bread and need... descended” to the Amur, he stood under the command of Stepanov, although his rank was much higher than his new commander. The combined detachment (no more than 500 people) wintered in the Kumarsky fort, placed by Khabarov about 250 km above the mouth of the Zeya, at the mouth of the river. tributary of the Amur river Kumara (Khumarhe). In March-April 1655 A 10,000-strong detachment of Manchus surrounded the fort. The siege lasted until April 15: after a bold Russian foray, the enemy left. In June, the united forces of the Russians descended to the mouth of the Amur, into the land of the Gilyaks, and cut down another fort here, where they remained for the 2nd winter. B., with his Cossacks and the collected yasak, moved up the Amur in August and arrived in Yeniseisk through Nerchinsk. He was the first to trace the entire Amur, from the confluence of the Shilka and Arguni to the mouth (2824 km) and back. Upon returning to Tobolsk (beginning 1656), he was appointed as a “bailiff” to the clerk of the St. Sophia Cathedral, I. Struna. “Beketov’s life ended rather tragically.

In the winter of 1656, having caught a cold on the way and being sick, he returned from Yeniseisk to Tobolsk. Trouble awaited here. His friend, former comrade on campaigns, and now clerk of the Court Order of the Sofia House of the Siberian Archbishop Simeon, Ivan Struna, on the denunciation of the well-known archpriest who was then serving exile in Tobolsk Habakkuk was arrested. Of course, neither the archpriest nor Struna were holy people. For a long time they lived in harmony, not without benefit for each other. But a month before the arrival of Archbishop Simeon from Moscow, enmity began between them because of undivided hidden money. The archpriest managed to gain Simeon's trust and accused the far from disinterested, but simple-minded Ivan Struna of various “frantic” sins. Struna was arrested and handed over “to the bailiffs” to Beketov, who was supposed to guard him. On March 4, 1656, in the main cathedral of Tobolsk, Ivan Struna was anathematized - a terrible punishment at that time. Pyotr Beketov, who was present right there in the cathedral, could not stand it and began to openly scold the archpriest and the archbishop himself, “barking obscenely like a dog.” A man who was not afraid of bullets or arrows from “foreigners”, or the wrath of the governor... could afford this. There was a noise. The frightened archpriest hid, and the enraged Beketov left the cathedral. And, as the same Habakkuk writes, on the way Peter “... became enraged as he went to his court, and died a bitter, evil death.” Apparently, from a strong shock (and besides, he was already sick), he suffered a heart attack. The delighted archpriest hurried to the scene. Simeon ordered Beketov’s corpse, as a “great sinner,” to be given to the dogs on the street, and forbade all Tobolsk residents to mourn Peter. For three days the dogs gnawed at the corpse, and Simeon and Habakkuk “prayed diligently,” and then “honestly” buried his remains.” According to F. Pavlenkov, Beketov is the maternal ancestor of the poet A. A. Blok.

Vladimir Boguslavsky

Material from the book: "Slavic Encyclopedia. XVII century". M., OLMA-PRESS. 2004.

Founder of Siberian cities

Beketov Pyotr Ivanovich (born ca. 1600–1610, died ca. 1656-1661) explorer, one of the service people. The exact date of birth has not been established. The closest ancestors of P.I. Beketov belonged to the stratum of provincial boyar children. In 1641, Pyotr Beketov himself indicated in a petition: “And my parents, sir, serve you... in Tver and Arzamas by courtyard and by choice.”

Pyotr Beketov entered the service of the Sovereign in 1624 in the Streltsy regiment. In January 1627, Beketov personally submitted a petition to the order of the Kazan Palace with a request to appoint him as a Streltsy centurion in the Yenisei fort. In the same year, he was converted into a Streltsy centurion with a cash and grain salary and sent to Yeniseisk.

In 1628–1629 he took part in the campaigns of Yenisei servicemen up the Angara. Beketov coped with the task more successfully than his predecessor Maxim Perfilyev, becoming the first person to overcome the Angarsk rapids. Here, on Buryat land, Beketov built the Rybinsk fort (1628). Here, for the first time, yasak was collected from several “brotherly” princes. Later, Pyotr Ivanovich recalled that he “walked from the Bratsky threshold along the Tunguska up and along the Oka River and along the Angara River and to the mouth of the Uda River... and brought the Bratsky people under your sovereign high hand.”

On May 30, 1631, Beketov, at the head of thirty Cossacks, went to the great Lena River with the task of gaining a foothold on its banks. The famous historian of Siberia of the eighteenth century, I. Fisher, regarded this “business trip” as recognition of the merits and abilities of a person who had done quite a lot for the state. The Lena campaign lasted 2 years and 3 months. It was not possible to bring the local Buryats “under the sovereign’s hand” right away. In September 1631, Beketov, with a detachment of 20 Cossacks, moved from the Ilimsk portage up the Lena. The detachment headed to the uluses of the Buryat-Ekhirites. However, the Buryat princes refused to pay yasak to the king. Having met resistance, the detachment managed to build a “fortress” and was under siege for 3 days. A detachment of Buryats led by princes Bokoy and Borochey, using military cunning, penetrated the fortress. The battle continued with hand-to-hand combat. The onslaught of the Cossacks was swift. In the battle, 2 Tungus were killed and one Cossack was wounded. Taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, the servicemen, capturing Buryat horses, reached the mouth of the Tutura River. Here Beketov built the Tutursky fortress. The aborigines, having heard about the prison, preferred to migrate to Baikal, but the Tungus-Nalagirs, who had previously paid them tribute, “were afraid of the sovereign’s high hands” and brought Beketov yasak. From this area the Cossacks returned to the mouth of the Kuta, where they spent the winter.

In April 1632, Beketov received reinforcements from 14 Cossacks from the new Yenisei governor Zh.V. Kondyrev and an order to go down the Lena. In September 1632, Beketov built the first sovereign fort in Yakutia near the confluence of the Aldan River with the Lena. This fortress played an enduring role in all further discoveries; it became for Russia a window to the Far East and Alaska, Japan and China (it is located on the right bank of the Lena, 70 km below modern Yakutsk). The activities of Pyotr Beketov in Yakutia do not end there. Being a “clerk” in the Yakut fort, he sent expeditions to Vilyui and Aldan, and founded Zhigansk in 1632. In total, as a result of the actions of Beketov’s detachment, 31 toyon princes recognized Russian power. In June 1633, Beketov handed over the Lensky fortress to his son, the boyar P. Khodyrev, who arrived to replace him, and on September 6 he was already in Yeniseisk.

By 1635-1636 refers to Beketov's new service. During these years, he built the Olekminsky fort, made trips along the Vitim, Bolshoi Patom and “other third-party rivers”

In the spring of 1638, he went to the Lensky prison for a year to replace I. Galkin. Beketov spent a year as a clerk in the Lensky prison.

In 1640, Beketov was sent with the Yenisei sable treasury worth 11 thousand rubles to Moscow. Beketov enjoyed great authority not only among his service community, but also among the government. On February 13, 1641, taking into account all his previous merits, the Siberian Order “bestowed the headship” - appointed him as the head of the Yenisei foot Cossacks.

In July 1647, Beketov received a letter sent to him from Moscow with an unusual order. He was ordered to put governor Fyodor Uvarov in prison for 3 days, who was guilty of writing his replies to the discharge governors of Tomsk in “indecent speech.” If you believe Beketov’s report, then he conscientiously carried out this decree.

In 1649-1650 Beketov served for a year in the Bratsk prison.

In 1650, Pyotr Beketov again traveled to Moscow with tribute.

In 1652, again from Yeniseisk, P.I. Beketov, “whose art and diligence were already known,” again set out on a campaign to the Transbaikal Buryats. To establish the power of the Russian Tsar in Transbaikalia, in June, by order of the Yenisei governor A.F. Pashkov, Beketov and his detachment went to “Irgen Lake and the great Shilka River.” Beketov's detachment consisted of about 130-140 people. Despite the fact that the Cossacks walked “in a hurry,” they reached the Bratsk fort only after 2 months. It became clear to Beketov that the detachment would not be able to reach its final goal over the summer, and he decided to spend the winter on the southern shore of Lake Baikal at the mouth of the Selenga, where he founded the Ust-Prorvinsky fort. However, from the Bratsk fort he sent 12 Cossacks, led by I. Maksimov, lightly through the Barguzin fort to Irgen Lake and Shilka. Maksimov had to go through the Trans-Baikal steppes to Lake Irgen, where the upper reaches of Khilok were located, and descend along this river to meet Beketov.

On June 11, 1653, Beketov set out from his winter quarters on Prorva. The expedition arrived at its destination only at the end of September 1653. The detachment founded the Irgensky fort near the lake. In late autumn, having crossed the Yablonovy ridge, his detachment of 53 people descended into the valley of the river. Ingoda. The path from Irgen to Ingoda traversed by Beketov later became part of the Siberian Highway. By mid-October, the Irgen fort was erected, and on October 19, Cossacks on rafts began to descend along Ingoda. Beketov obviously hoped to reach the mouth of the Nercha before winter. However, after sailing along the Ingoda for about 10 versts, the detachment was met by the early freezing of the river. Here, at the mouth of Rushmaley, the Ingoda winter quarters with fortifications were hastily erected, where part of the supplies were stored. 20 people remained in the winter hut, another 10 Cossacks in November 1654, led by Makim Urazov, reached the mouth of the Nerch River, where they founded the Nelyudsky fort on the right bank of the Shilka. With the rest of the Cossacks, Beketov returned to the Irgen prison. Urazov reported to Beketov about the construction of the “small prison.” The latter outlined this in a letter to Pashkov, assuring the governor that in the spring of 1654 he would build a large fort at the place chosen by Urazov.

This winter, a “painting” and “drawing of the Irgen Lake and other lakes on the Kilka River (Khilok River), which fell from the Irgen Lake, and the Selenga River, and other rivers that fell into the Vitim River from the Irgen - lakes and from other lakes.” In May, Beketov was already in Shilka, where he was going to build, in accordance with Pashkov’s order, a large fort. The Cossacks even sowed spring grain in the chosen place. However, the construction of Russian fortifications and the winter collection of yasak forced the Tungus tribes to take up arms. The Cossacks did not have time to build a fort when “many Tungus people arrived, driven out by war.” The Russian detachment came under siege (apparently in a prison built by Urazov). The Tungus drove away the horses and trampled down the grain. Famine began among the Cossacks, since the Tungus did not allow fishing. The Yeniseis had neither river boats nor horses. They had the only way to retreat - on rafts, down the Shilka to the Amur.

On the Amur at this time, the most serious Russian force was the “army” of the clerk Onufriy Stepanov, the official successor of E.P. Khabarova

At the end of June 1654, 34 Yeniseis joined Stepanov, and a few days later Pyotr Beketov himself appeared, who “beat the whole Cossack army with his forehead so that they could live on the great Amur River until the sovereign’s decree.” All “Beketites” (63 people) were accepted into the combined Amur army.

A man of independent character, Beketov knew how to calm down his pride for the sake of business. When he and the remnants of his detachment in the summer of 1654, due to “scarcity of bread and need... descended” to the Amur, he stood under the command of Stepanov, although his rank was much higher than his new commander. In the fall of 1654, Stepanov’s army, which numbered just over 500 people, built the Kumarsky fort (at the confluence of the Khumarkhe River with the Amur). On March 13, 1655, the fort was besieged by a 10,000-strong Manchu army. The Cossacks withstood a multi-day bombardment of the fort, repelled all attacks and made a sortie themselves. Having failed, the Manchu army left the fort on April 3. Immediately after this, Stepanov compiled a track record of the Cossacks who “fought clearly.” Beketov, on behalf of the Yenisei servicemen, compiled a petition and added it to Stepanov’s replies. In this document, Beketov briefly outlined the reasons for leaving Shilka and asked to be rewarded for the service shown in defending the Kumar prison. The meaning of the petition is clear - to bring to the attention of the official authorities the fact that he and his people continue to be in the government service. This document, dating from April 1655, is so far the last reliable news about Beketov.

From this moment on, data from different authors about the life of the ataman diverge. In the capital of Siberia - Tobolsk, the exiled archpriest Avvakum, sent there in 1656, met with Beketov. In his book “The Life of Archpriest Avvakum...” he writes that, while in Yeniseisk, P. Beketov came into conflict with the “fiery” archpriest in order to protect his ward from anathema, after which “... he left the church to die a bitter death death is evil..."

I.E. Fisher names a much later date, when P.I. Beketov was still alive. According to him, after wandering along the Amur, in 1660 Beketov returned to Yeniseisk through Yakutsk and “brought with him a lot of sables, which served as protection for him to avert the punishment that he feared for leaving the prison.”

There, in Tobolsk, Yuri Kryzhanich, a Serb, Catholic priest exiled to Siberia in 1661, also met with Beketov. “I personally saw the one who first erected a fortress on the banks of the Lena,” he wrote. 1661 is the latest mention of Beketov’s name in historical literature.

If we allow ourselves to assume that none of our “informants” is mistaken or lying, then it turns out that Beketov’s conflict with Avvakum, who was returned from exile to Moscow in 1661, occurred at the very end of the latter’s “Siberian epic,” and Yuri Kryzhanich saw Beketov shortly before his death. All the data agree, and it turns out that in 1660 Beketov from Yeniseisk went to serve in Tobolsk, where in 1661 he met both Avvakum and Kryzhanich. Thus, the date of death of the man who did so much to consolidate the Russian state on its eastern borders can be considered at least approximately established.

Unfortunately, the date of birth of the founder of many Siberian cities is unknown. But if we assume that in 1628 he was at least thirty years old (no one would put an inexperienced youth at the head of a serious expedition), then in 1661 he was already an old man, so that death from shock caused by a serious conflict does not seem surprising.

However, it is possible that Beketov never returned from the Amur. Avvakum's story about the death of the explorer Beketov in Tobolsk can be considered unreliable.

In the census book of the Yenisei district of 1669, the widow of the son of the boyar Peter Beketov is named among the land sellers. Perhaps, after the death of her husband, she went back beyond the Urals, which is why we do not find the descendants of Pyotr Ivanovich in the service environment of Yeniseisk.

As you know, at the end of the 16th century, a regular offensive movement of Russians into Siberia began. Industrialists and all sorts of “willing people” went there along with the Cossack detachments. All these people moved in separate and small parties and detachments.

Rivers served as routes of communication for him. The seekers of “new lands” “dragged” across watersheds and thus ended up from one river system to another.

At more convenient and central points they erected fortifications: forts and winter huts, from which forts and then cities subsequently grew. Everyone was drawn to Siberia by an uncontrollable desire - to use the country's wealth. Often the initiative to find new lands and peoples belonged not to the military, but to industrialists and other “willing people.”

Industrial and willing people were chasing valuable furs, land traders were chasing spacious and fertile lands... Cossack military detachments made their way along with them, looking for new peoples and taxing them with yasak - a tribute to the Moscow government. All these Russian explorers were distinguished by strong will, perseverance, great endurance, and, on the other hand, by greed, greed for spoils and complete indiscriminateness in the means of achieving it.

Such, undoubtedly, were those Russian people who ended up on Lena. Having strengthened themselves in Western Siberia, the Russians moved further to the east. From Mangazeya (founded in 1600-1601), the Russians made their way to the North in the 20s. The 17th century was already in Khatanga.

Scheme of land, river and sea routes of Western Siberia in the 17th century.

1 - river sea route from Tobolsk to Mangazeya, 2 - Mangazeya sea route, 3 - “Through the Stone Path”, 4 - river routes.

In general, with the development of the river basin. The period of Russian penetration towards the river begins on the Yenisei. Lena. From Novaya Mangazeya (Turukhansk), having climbed up the Yenisei, the Russians move to its large eastern tributaries - the river. Lower and Podkamennaya Tunguska; from here, having crossed the watershed between the Yenisei and Lena, they enter through the river. Jeongwoo on the river Vilyui, tributary of the river. Lena. This was in 1620 on the initiative of the Mangazeya Cossacks. It was then that the Russians definitely learned about the river. Lena and Yakuts. By the way, the Russians had vague information about Lena, more of a fantastic nature, back in 1619 in Yeniseisk. The Russians got to Lena in other ways as well. So, for example, before 1630 he was on the river. Lena, in the area of ​​​​the present city of Yakutsk, Turukhansk industrialist Panteley Pyanda with 40 people, who got here through the Chechuysky portage.

At the end, the third path, southern, across the river. Ilim on the river Lena, from the side of present-day Ust-Kut, was discovered by the Yenisei people in the late 20s. XVII century. Of these two, across the river. Vilyui and R. Ilim, became the main routes for the advancement of Russian people to Lena. Later, the Ilimsky portage acquired exceptional importance and became a well-trodden road to the Lena River, to the Yakuts.

Thus, from 1620, and especially from the end of the 20s, they began to carry out trips to the river. Lena, both military and industrial people, heading here from the river basin. Yenisei.

Rumors about the fabulous riches of the “great Lena River,” which abounded in the best sables in Siberia, attracted separate parties of Russian “hunters” here. This movement intensified even more because at that time in Western Siberia sable had already become “harvested” and it was necessary to look for new rich hunting grounds. These ended up on the river. Lena.

Petr Ivanovich Beketov

Among the pioneers of Eastern Siberia, according to his merits, talent, and results, Pyotr Ivanovich Beketov should be put in first place. Quite deservedly, monuments were erected to him in Chita, Nerchinsk, and Yakutsk.

The stormy fate of the conqueror of the “unpeaceful lands” is fraught with mysteries that still have no answer. He was probably born in Tver into a family of hereditary nobles in 1609 (possibly several years earlier). From the age of 14 he was a Sagittarius. What prompted him to decide to apply for the vacant position of Streltsy centurion in distant Yeniseisk is unknown. In 1627, he submitted a petition (petition) to Moscow to the Order of the Kazan Palace for his appointment as a centurion in Yeniseisk. His rival was a clerk from Yeniseisk Maxim Perfilyev, having already proven himself in campaigns against “unpeaceful lands”.

Pyotr Beketov received the position of centurion, Maxim Perfilyev received the position of ataman. The voivode of Tobolsk was ordered to compensate P. Beketov with monetary (10 rubles) and grain allowances and send him to Yeniseisk.

In 1628, the Yeniseisk garrison consisted of centurion P. Beketov, ataman M. Perfilyev and 105 archers, but already in 1631 it increased 3 times and by the end of the 1630s it reached 370 people. In 1690, 3,000 people already lived in Yeniseisk.

In the spring of 1628, P. Beketov went on a punitive mission on his first campaign. M. Perfilyev’s detachment returning from Ilim in 1627 was attacked by the Tungus, the ataman fought back, but the detachment suffered losses.

Beketov was ordered by the governor not to start military operations, but to influence the Tungus with persuasion and “affection.”

P. Beketov successfully completed this task and returned with amanats (hostages) and collected yasak. Yasak at that time and subsequently was equivalent to approximately one full sable per year per person.

In the autumn of 1628 until 1630, P. Beketov undertook a campaign to collect yasak from the local population along the Angara. The reason for the hasty campaign was the desire to get ahead of competitors. From Moscow under the leadership of the former governor of Yeniseisk, ore explorer Yakova Khripunova A large detachment of Cossacks was sent to these places to explore deposits of gold and silver ores and collect yasak. They acted mercilessly - with fire and sword. It was assumed that this detachment would cross Baikal and go to the Daurian lands, where, according to rumors, there were silver ores. The extension of the campaign did not take place due to the unexpected death of Ya. Khripunov.

Having overcome the rapids, P. Beketov went out to the Oka River (a tributary of the Angara), along it to the mouth of the Uda River. Winter huts were set up in places that were later built in Nizhneudinsk and Bratsk forts. Along the route, P. Beketov brought native tribes into Russian citizenship and collected yasak from them. He was the first Russian to come into contact with the Buryats.

Here he collected yasak for the first time from several “brotherly” princes. Later, in a letter to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, P. Beketov writes that during this campaign they were left without means of subsistence and military supplies, perhaps crashed on the Angarsk rapids, ate grass and roots for 7 weeks, wandering through the taiga.

In 1630, Beketov “rested” in Yeniseisk, a detachment I. Galkina goes to the Lena, and M. Perfilyev’s detachment to the Angara and Oka.
In May 1631, P. Beketov came out with a detachment of thirty people to replace I. Galkin on Lena. He was sent to “long-distance service on Lena for one year.” The campaign lasted 2 years and 3 months. During this time, Beketov’s military and diplomatic talents, combined with his personal ability to wield a saber, fully emerged. Pyotr Ivanovich did not want to concede in anything to his colleague and rival Ataman I. Galkin, known for his desperate courage.

In the spring of 1632, on the Lena River near the mouth of the Aldan River, 70 km from the location of modern Yakutsk, he built the Lensky (Yakut) fort.

Being a clerk in the Yakutsk fort, he sent expeditions to Vilyui and Aldan. In 1632 he founded the settlement of Zhigansk on the Lena River beyond the Arctic Circle. During this time, he collected a large yasak of furs, purchased with money and purchased a lot of sables with trinkets, and also carried out tithe collections from many industrial people.

In June 1633, Beketov transferred the Lensky fort to replace the boyar's son P. Khodyrev and at the beginning of September he was in Yeniseisk.
In 1635-1636 he built the Olekmensky fort, made trips along the Vitim, Bolshoi Patom and other rivers. In the spring of 1638, he went to serve for a year as a clerk in the Lensky prison to replace Galkin. The clerk had to regulate, in addition to organizing economic life and collecting taxes, the social and personal life of the population of the forts.

In 1640, Beketov was sent to Moscow with the Yenisei sable treasury. The Siberian Order, taking into account all his merits, appointed him the head of the Yenisei foot Cossacks, and awarded him the title of son of a boyar. The monetary allowance allotted to him was 20 rubles (I. Galkin began to receive the same amount); instead of grain allowance, an allotment of land was allocated for feeding “from the arable land.” Work was added to provide the service troops with everything they needed, and to organize campaigns to acquire new lands. Pyotr Ivanovich coped with all this properly. There were no complaints against him from anyone. P. Beketov had a family in Yeniseisk, a large farm where hired people and slaves worked.

In 1649-1650, Beketov served for a year in the Bratsk fort, which he moved closer to the Oka River.

In 1650 Beketov again traveled to Moscow with tribute.
To establish the power of the Russian Tsar in Transbaikalia, in June 1652, P. Beketov with a large detachment (more than 140 people) was sent on his last campaign to Irgen - lake and the great river Shilka.
Despite the fact that the detachment marched hastily, they reached the Bratsk prison only two months later. We decided to spend the winter on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, in Prorva Bay. A winter hut was built in the area of ​​the Manturikha River. At the site of the death of the embassy, ​​the Beketovs erected a chapel and built the Ust-Prorvinsky fort. There was an idea to build a fort at the mouth of the Selenga, but there was no timber there.
In June 1653, a detachment along Lake Baikal entered the Selenga delta and began to rise against the current to the mouth of the Khilok River. Further along Khilka they reached Lake Irgen at the end of September 1653. A winter hut was built here and they began to build the Irgen fort, which was burned by the aborigines in 1656.

During this period, at the confluence of the Chitinka River with the Ingoda, P. Beketov founded the village of Plotbishche, which over time became the site of the Chita fort.

Part of the detachment worked on the construction of the small Nelyudinsky fort on Shilka at the mouth of the Nerch River.
P. Beketov is credited with the discovery of silver ores in the Nerchinsk region.

In May 1654, Beketov, already on Shilka in the small Nelyudinsky fort, was going to build a large Nerchinsky fort. But his detachment was besieged by Tungus tribes, who burned and trampled the sown grain, drove away the horses, and did not allow him to fish. Famine began among the Cossacks. The only way to retreat was to go down the Shilka to the Amur on rafts.

The Shilkinsky fort was built at the mouth of the Shilka. With the participation of Beketov's detachment, together with the detachment of the Amur ataman Onufriy Stepanov, the Kumarsky fortress was built on the Amur in 1654. This fort withstood a long siege in 1655 by ten thousand Manchu troops.

It is known that Beketov participated in 1655 together with Stepanov in the war with the Manchus.

Further, the fate of Pyotr Beketov is based on some contradictory facts. According to some information, he died in battle along with Stepanov and other dead Cossacks, among 270 people who were ambushed by the Manchus at the mouth of the river in 1658 on the Amur. Sungari.

According to other information recorded in the book “Siberian History” by G. Miller, P. Beketov did not die in that vindictive battle, but through Yakutsk with the collected tribute he reached Yeniseisk in 1660 and moved to serve in Tobolsk.

Beketov descended the Shilka to the confluence with the Onon and was the first Russian to leave Transbaikalia for the Amur.

Tracing the top. the course of the great river to the confluence of the Zeya (900 km), he united with the Cossacks of the foreman O. Stepanov, who was appointed instead of Khabarov as “a man of command ... of the new Daurian land.” A man of independent character, Beketov knew how to calm down his pride for the sake of business. When he and the remnants of his detachment in the summer of 1654, due to “scarcity of bread and need... descended” to the Amur, he stood under the command of Stepanov, although his rank was much higher than his new commander. The combined detachment (no more than 500 people) wintered in the Kumarsky fort, placed by Khabarov about 250 km above the mouth of the Zeya, at the mouth of the river. tributary of the Amur river Kumara (Khumarhe).

In March - April 1655 A 10,000-strong detachment of Manchus surrounded the fort. The siege lasted until April 15: after a bold Russian foray, the enemy left. In June, the united forces of the Russians descended to the mouth of the Amur, into the land of the Gilyaks, and cut down another fort here, where they remained for the 2nd winter. Beketov, with his Cossacks and the collected yasak, moved up the Amur in August and arrived in Yeniseisk through Nerchinsk. He was the first to trace the entire Amur, from the confluence of the Shilka and Arguni to the mouth (2824 km) and back. Upon returning to Tobolsk (beginning 1656), he was appointed as a “bailiff” to the clerk of the St. Sophia Cathedral, I. Struna.

“Beketov’s life ended rather tragically.

In the winter of 1656, having caught a cold on the way and being sick, he returned from Yeniseisk to Tobolsk. Trouble awaited here. His friend, former comrade on campaigns, and now clerk of the Court Order of the Sofia House of the Siberian Archbishop Simeon, Ivan Struna, on the denunciation of the well-known archpriest who was then serving exile in Tobolsk Habakkuk was arrested.

Of course, neither the archpriest nor Struna were holy people. For a long time they lived in harmony, not without benefit for each other. But a month before the arrival of Archbishop Simeon from Moscow, enmity began between them because of undivided hidden money. The archpriest managed to gain Simeon's trust and accused the far from disinterested, but simple-minded Ivan Struna of various “frantic” sins. Struna was arrested and handed over “to the bailiffs” to Beketov, who was supposed to guard him. On March 4, 1656, in the main cathedral of Tobolsk, Ivan Struna was anathematized - a terrible punishment at that time. Pyotr Beketov, who was present right there in the cathedral, could not stand it and began to openly scold the archpriest and the archbishop himself, “barking obscenely like a dog.” A man who was not afraid of bullets or arrows from “foreigners”, or the wrath of the governor... could afford this. There was a noise. The frightened archpriest hid, and the enraged Beketov left the cathedral. And, as the same Habakkuk writes, on the way Peter “... became enraged as he went to his court, and died a bitter, evil death.” Apparently, from a strong shock (and besides, he was already sick), he suffered a heart attack. The delighted archpriest hurried to the scene. Simeon ordered Beketov’s corpse, as a “great sinner,” to be given to the dogs on the street, and forbade all Tobolsk residents to mourn Peter. For three days the dogs gnawed at the corpse, and Simeon and Habakkuk “prayed diligently,” and then “honestly” buried his remains.” According to F. Pavlenkov, Beketov is the maternal ancestor of the poet A. A. Blok.

The Serbian Catholic priest Yuri Kryzich testifies that in Tobolsk in 1661: “I personally saw the one who first erected a fortress on the banks of the Lena.” The exiled archpriest Avvakum spoke in his book about the last days of Pyotr Ivanovich in Tobolsk.
In Transbaikalia, the memory of the “lucky man Pyotr Beketov” lived for hundreds of years. The elders told how “Nerchinsk silver was revealed to him,” how lucky and skillful P. Beketov was in hunting. A tradition was born in families of fishermen to name their first son Peter, so that he too would get a piece of the “fortune”.

The name of Peter Beketov stands among those explorers of the 17th century to whom Russia owes the annexation of vast territories of Eastern Siberia. In the scientific literature about the Russian colonization of Siberia P.I. Beketov is mentioned often, and this creates the impression that his fate and activities are well studied. Meanwhile, the only special work about this pioneer contains erroneous interpretations and at the present stage of development of science seems outdated.

Monument to Pyotr Beketov in Yakutsk

Against the backdrop of increased interest among Siberian scholars in the genre of biographical research, the personality of P.I. Beketova certainly deserves close attention. But the point is not only in systematizing and supplementing the facts accumulated by historians. The stormy fate of the conqueror of the “unpeaceful lands” is fraught with mysteries to which researchers still do not have definite answers.

Breaking the generally accepted pattern of presenting biographies, let’s start with the circumstances of P.I.’s death. Beketov, who seem to be textbook-known thanks to the remarkable “Life” of Archpriest Avvakum. Avvakum’s version, often repeated by historians, boils down to the fact that at the beginning of March 1655, Pyotr Beketov, “the son of the boyar lutch,” lived in Tobolsk in his courtyard and was appointed bailiff to the clerk of the Tobolsk archbishop’s house, Ivan Struna. The latter, having been put on a chain for “humility” by Archbishop Simeon, fled to the civil voivodeship authorities and declared the “sovereign’s word” both against Avvakum and against the archbishop himself. That is why the governors did not hand him back to Simeon, but appointed a bailiff to him.

If you believe Habakkuk, then on March 4, 1655, the archbishop anathematized String “in the great church.” This procedure caused a protest from Beketov, who scolded Simeon and Avvakum in the church, after which he “went into a rage, went to his court, and died a bitter and evil death.” Beketov’s body allegedly lay on the street for 3 days and only then was buried by the compassionate bishop and archpriest. Meanwhile, the famous Yenisei explorer son of the boyar Pyotr Beketov was at that time on the Amur in the “army” of Onufriy Stepanov. From March 13 to April 4, 1655, he “fought openly” in defense of the Kumar fortress besieged by the Manchus, as evidenced by surviving and trustworthy documents. Avvakum's story about the death of the explorer Beketov in Tobolsk should be considered unreliable. However, any other Peter Beketov, who served in the 1650s. in Siberia, is currently unknown to historical science.

Doubts about the truth of Avvakum’s story about Beketov’s death were expressed by A.K. Borozdin, who noted that in 1655 “we find some boyar’s son Pyotr Beketov operating on the Amur under the command of Afanasy Pashkov.” VC. Nikolsky, objecting to Borozdin, tried to understand the circumstances of this case. He correctly pointed out that in 1652 Beketov was sent from Yeniseisk to Transbaikalia and in 1654 left the Shilka River and that the governor Pashkov was still in Yeniseisk in 1655. But since Nikolsky did not know that Beketov did not go to Yeniseisk, but further to the Amur, his next constructions about the fate of the explorer (in accordance with the “Life” of Avvakum) turn out to be incorrect. V.G. Izgachev, the author of an article about Beketov (very confusing in places), did not pay attention to Avvakum’s information.

Modern researcher D.Ya. Rezun, in one of his works, following conflicting sources, claims that Beketov was present in March 1655 simultaneously on both the Amur and Tobolsk. In the encyclopedic article about Beketov, its authors (D.Ya. Rezun and V.I. Magidovich) apparently noticed contradictions in the sources and tried to destroy them by moving the time of Beketov’s death in Tobolsk to March 1656. However, it is known that the exiled archpriest was sent from Tobolsk further to Eastern Siberia on June 29, 1655. The Tobolsk authorities received a letter from Moscow about the transfer of Avvakum and his family to the Yakut prison on June 27, 1655. If you believe the governor, Prince. IN AND. Khilkov, he carried out the decree on the same day. Avvakum, accompanied by the Krasnoyarsk son of the boyar Miloslav Koltsov, went to Yeniseisk by the usual water route along the Irtysh, Ob and through the Makovsky portage on the Ket River.

Avvakum spent the winter of 1655/56 in Yeniseisk, where another decree came from Moscow - to place the archpriest under the command of the former Yenisei governor A.F. Pashkov, who at that time was forming a regiment for a campaign in Transbaikalia. Avvakum, by the way, remembered well that he left Tobolsk for Yakut exile on Peter’s Day (June 29), and with Voivode Pashkov from Yeniseisk - “for another summer.” Pashkov set out from Yeniseisk on July 18, 1656. It is unlikely that Avvakum and his family covered the distance from Tobolsk to Yeniseisk (given the presence of a heavy portage route) in 3 weeks. Finally, it was completely uncharacteristic of the practice of the voivodeship administration to delay the implementation of such decrees for a whole year. Thus, this fragment of the Life, even if it were reliable, cannot refer to 1656. The stubborn trust of historians in Avvakum’s story is obviously explained by the absence of any other evidence about the circumstances of the explorer’s death.

About the beginning of P.I.’s life journey Beketov, as well as about its completion, little is known. In the genealogical charts of the noble Beketov family, apparently compiled on the basis of family traditions under Catherine II and Paul I, Pyotr Ivanovich is not mentioned. It must be said that the Beketovs in the 18th-19th centuries. generally had a vague idea of ​​their origin, especially since in the famous Velvet Book of the late 17th century. for some reason they were not recorded. The contours of the Beketovs’ genealogy can be outlined based primarily on documents from the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1641, Pyotr Beketov himself indicated in a petition: “And my parents, sir, serve you... in Tver and Arzamas according to the courtyard and by choice.”

Thus, the older relatives of Pyotr Ivanovich were included in the lists of “domestic” and “elected” children of their boyar districts. In the then hierarchy of ranks and ranks of service people “in the fatherland”, below them were the city boyars’ children, above them were the tenants and Moscow nobles. The reliability of Pyotr Ivanovich’s testimony about family ties is confirmed by the surviving letter of grant (dated August 30, 1669) to “Tveritin” Bogdan Beketov: for military merits during the war with Poland, part of Bogdan’s local lands was granted to him as an patrimony. In several acts for 1510-1541. Dmitrov landowner Konstantin Vasilyevich Beketov and his son Andrey are noted. It seems that the Beketovs in the 16th century. and should be sought among the Tver and Dmitrov boyar children. One of the representatives of this family could have been transferred to Arzamas after the founding of this city in 1578.

So, there is reason to believe that the closest ancestors of P.I. Beketov belonged to the layer of provincial boyar children. We do not know when and where the future explorer began his career as a service man. In the already mentioned petition of 1641, he calculated his service life in Siberia at 17 years. This figure is, perhaps, the fruit of someone’s mistake, since in two very important petitions for him in 1651, Beketov confidently speaks about his service only in Yeniseisk and only from 7135 (1626/27)16. What prompted the hereditary son of a boyar to connect his fate with Siberia is still unknown to us, but in January 1627 Beketov personally submitted a petition to the order of the Kazan Palace with a request to appoint him as a rifle centurion in the distant Yenisei fort: “So that I, your servant, drag myself between yard, did not die of hunger."

Beketov applied for the position of centurion not at random, but knowing about the vacancy that had arisen. In the fall of 1625, the ataman Pozdey Firsov, who held this position, drowned in the Ob. The Yenisei garrison submitted a petition to the governor, in which he asked to appoint the local clerk Maxim Perfilyev, who had already proven himself in campaigns against the “unpeaceful lands,” as a centurion. Voevoda A.L. Oshanin agreed with the choice of the Yenisei archers and sent their petition to Moscow for consideration. In the capital, however, preference was given to Peter Beketov. A favorable decision for him was facilitated, presumably, by the rank of the son of a boyar, more honorable than the position of clerk (Perfilyev, however, received the position of Yenisei ataman). In connection with Beketov’s appointment as a centurion in the Siberian garrison, which largely consisted of willful and exiled people, the approximate date of his birth indicated in the literature - 1610 - seems incredible. It should be attributed at least to the end of the 16th century. In January 1627, the governors of Tobolsk (then the only discharge center in “Siberian Ukraine”) were ordered to compensate Beketov with cash and grain salaries and send him to Yeniseisk.

Founded in 1619, the Yenisei fort was at that time an outpost of Russian colonization, from where small detachments of service people persistently advanced along the Angara, bringing numerous but scattered clans of Evenks and Buryats into Russian citizenship. In 1628, the Yenisei garrison consisted of centurion Beketov, ataman Perfilyev and 105 archers, but already in 1631 it increased 3 times. By the end of the 1630s. the number of Yeniseisk servicemen reached 370 people, but due to the establishment of the Lena (Yakut) voivodeship, the emergence of Ilimsk and the fraternal forts, their number decreased by the 1650s. up to 250 people. In the spring of 1628, Beketov set out on his first campaign at the head of a detachment of 30 servicemen and 60 “industrial” people. The purpose of the campaign was to pacify the Lower Angara Tungus (Evenks), who in 1627 attacked M. Perfilyev’s detachment returning from the mouth of the Ilim; The ataman fought back, but the detachment suffered losses. Beketov had instructions from the governor not to start military operations, but to influence the Tungus with persuasion and “affection.” Pyotr Ivanovich successfully completed this task, and his detachment built the Rybinsk fort in the lower reaches of the Angara. Beketov returned to Yeniseisk with Tunguska amanats and collected yasak.

The rest in Yeniseisk turned out to be short, since in the fall of 1628 Beketov was again sent up the Angara, having only 19 service people under his command. Setting out on a campaign in the fall (usually this was done in the spring) indicates the hasty and extraordinary nature of the expedition. The fact is that in the summer of 1628, a detachment of Ya.I. was approaching Yeniseisk along the Ob. Khripunov, who, after wintering in Yeniseisk, was supposed to go to the Angara to search for silver deposits.

Khripunov's large detachment (150 people) could turn out to be a serious competitor in the matter of reconnaissance and explanation of new "zemlits". V.A. Argamakov suspected (later his suspicions were justified) that Khripunov’s “regiment”, which was not subordinate to him, could disorganize the system of collecting yasak from the peoples of the Angara region, which was being established with great difficulty. In the summer of 1628, M. Voeikov with 12 Cossacks, a reconnaissance detachment sent by Khripunov, proceeded through Yeniseisk to the Bratsk threshold. Following him, Beketov hurriedly set out to the large Angarsk rapids.

During this campaign, it was Beketov who had the opportunity to represent Russian power for the first time before the ancestors of modern Buryats. Collecting yasak from the Tungus along the way, Beketov’s detachment overcame the Angara rapids and reached the mouth of the Oka River. Here, for the first time, yasak (albeit modest in size) was collected from several “brotherly” princes. Later, Pyotr Ivanovich recalled that he “walked from the Brattsky threshold along the Tunguska up and along the Oka River and along the Angara River and to the mouth of the Uda River ... and brought the Brattsky people under your sovereign high hand,” while 7 weeks, “walking in Brotherly land, they suffered hunger - they ate grass and roots." In the Baikal region and Transbaikalia there are several rivers with the same name Uda.

In this case, we are talking about the Uda, which flows from the right into the Angara in the area of ​​the modern villages of Ust-Uda and Balagansk. Subsequently, Beketov, not without pride, emphasized: “And before, sir, I was never a Russian in those places.” It is not known exactly where Beketov and his Cossacks spent the winter; apparently, somewhere near the Bratsk threshold or at the mouth of the Ilim. In January 1629, Argamakov sent Beketov small reinforcements led by V. Sumarokov. The latter brought the centurion an order for the urgent construction of a new fort, “so that Yakov Khripunov does not take away the Ilima river and send yasak along Ilim to collect it.” But Beketov did not force the tired Cossacks to build a fort, and in the spring and summer of 1629 he returned to Yeniseisk, handing over 689 sable skins to the treasury.

Russian pioneers discovered endless lands in Eastern Siberia, inhabited by unknown peoples. Foreman Vasily Bugor and ataman Ivan Galkin, with the help of the Tungus, find portage routes from Ilim to the upper reaches of the Lena. In 1630, Beketov “rested” in Yeniseisk, and the detachments of I. Galkin and M. Perfilyev went to the Lena and along the Angara to the mouth of the Oka. In Yeniseisk itself during these years there were often no more than 10 Cossacks left. A petition from the Yenisei archers dated July 26, 1630 has reached us (the first on the list is Pyotr Beketov), ​​in which they, not without reason, pointed out that “such necessary (heavy - E.V.) and cruel services that in the Yenisei prison , and not in all of Siberia,” and asked to increase their cash and grain salaries, equating them to the salaries of Siberian mounted Cossacks.

Through the efforts of mainly Yenisei service people in the 1630s. the annexation of the lands of central Yakutia takes place. Having reached the Middle Lena basin in 1631, Ivan Galkin could not contain his surprise: “The places are crowded and the lands are wide and they know no end...” Galkin was replaced on May 30, 1631 by Beketov with a detachment of 30 people from Yeniseisk. He was sent to “long-distance service on the Lena River for one year,” but the campaign lasted 2 years and 3 months. During this time, Beketov’s military and diplomatic talents, combined with his personal ability to wield a saber, fully emerged. Pyotr Ivanovich did not want to concede in anything to his fellow soldier and rival Ataman Galkin, known for his desperate bravery.

In September 1631, Beketov, taking 20 Cossacks with him, set off from the Ilimsk portage up the Lena. The detachment dared to move away from the river and headed towards the uluses of the Buryat-Ekherites. However, the Buryat princes refused to pay yasak to the distant king, declaring through the four Tungus who were with Beketov that they themselves collected yasak “from many lands.” The small detachment managed to build some kind of “fortress” and was under siege for 3 days. 60 people arrived at the fortification, led by princes Bokoy and Borochey, who resorted to military stratagem. They became a “proshattsa in the support”, supposedly for the delivery of yasak. However, having penetrated the fortification and secretly carried sabers with them, the Buryat leaders threw only 5 “underdogs” to the Cossacks and arrogantly declared: “We will accept you as our slaves, we will not let you out of our land.” Since the Yeniseis stood “ready with a gun,” the battle apparently began with the only possible volley and continued with hand-to-hand combat.

The onslaught of the Cossacks, who found themselves in a desperate situation, was swift. Subsequently, from various replies, Beketov reported that the Buryats lost from 40 to 56 people (this is probably an exaggeration). In the battle, 2 Tungus were killed and one Cossack was wounded. Taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, the servicemen captured the Buryat horses and spent 24 hours reaching the mouth of the Tutura River. Here Beketov set up a small fort, awaiting further actions on the part of the Ekherites. The latter, having heard about the prison, preferred to migrate to Baikal, but the Tungus-Nalagirs, who had previously paid them tribute, “were afraid of the sovereign’s high hands” and brought Beketov yasak.

In April 1632, Beketov received from the new Yenisei governor Zh.V. Kondyrev reinforcements of 14 Cossacks and an order to go down the Lena. The Yakut epic of Beketov’s detachment deserves separate consideration. A detailed description of this campaign, coming from Pyotr Ivanovich himself, has been preserved. I will point out the main results of Beketov’s stay in Yakutia. The summer of 1632 passed in active explanation of the Yakut toins of the Middle Lena. Some of them accepted citizenship without risking fighting; others resisted. Luck accompanied Beketov’s Cossacks - “by God’s grace and the sovereign’s happiness” they emerged victorious from military clashes with the Yakuts.

In September 1632, Beketov built the first sovereign fort in Yakutia (on the right bank of the Lena, 70 km below Yakutsk), moved in 1634 by I. Galkin to a new location. A total of 31 toyon princes recognized Russian power as a result of the actions of Beketov’s detachment. In addition to collecting yasak, Beketov began collecting a tenth duty in Yakutia from the sable trades of private industrialists and Cossacks. He also sorted out the disputes that arose between them, and honestly handed over the duty “from court cases” (96 sables) to the Yenisei treasury. In June 1633, Beketov handed over the Lensky fort to his son, the boyar P. Khodyrev, who arrived to replace him, left 23 Cossacks in Yakutia in various services, and with the rest on September 6 he was already in Yeniseisk. One of the results of the long campaign of the Streltsy centurion through the lands of the Tungus and Yakuts was the delivery of 2,471 sables and 25 sable fur coats to the treasury.

By 1635-1636 refers to Beketov's new service. During these years, he established the Olekminsky fort, made trips along the Vitim, Bolshoy Patom and “other side rivers” and returned with almost 20 forty sables. The stay in Yeniseisk, where Pyotr Ivanovich’s family lived, again turns out to be short-lived. According to the established order, apparently, in the spring of 1638 he was sent to the Lensky prison for a year to replace I. Galkin. It is interesting to note that by this time Beketov had already lost the rank of centurion and was simply considered a Yenisei son of a boyar. Due to the lack of sources, it is difficult to assess this change in Beketov’s career. On the Middle Lena, Beketov found an alarming situation.

Several local toyons broke away from the “sovereign hand” and attacked Russian people and yasak Yakuts. Moreover, shortly before Beketov’s arrival, the Yakuts “attacked” the Lensky fortress. The initiator of the “shakyness” was the prince of the Nyuriktei volost Kirinya, who left with his family from the Lena to Aldan. That is why Galkin and Beketov, having united their detachments, made a campaign against Kyrenia. It is incorrect to consider this event as a willful Cossack “campaign for zipuns.”

Prince Kyrinei was brought into Russian citizenship by Beketov back in 1632. His “pogrom” in 1638 with the seizure of 500 cows and 300 mares was, of course, in the nature of an unseemly punitive action, but from the point of view of the central government it was completely legal. Beketov spent a year as a clerk in the Lensky fortress, during which time he collected a tribute of 2,250 sables and 456 foxes. In addition, he bought 794 sables and 135 foxes for the treasury, spending only 111 rubles. (in Yeniseisk this fur was valued at 1,247 rubles). The most expensive sable skins brought by Beketov cost 8 rubles each. a piece.

In 1640, Beketov was sent with the Yenisei sable treasury to Moscow. Siberian service people, as a rule, did not miss the opportunity, while in the capital, to personally take care of their needs and careers. At the beginning of 1641, Beketov submitted 2 petitions to the Siberian order. From the first it turns out that in Yeniseisk Beketov had a wife, children and “little people” (i.e. slaves). In the absence of the explorer, the governors took horses from his yard to perform underwater duty, which died on the Ilim portage. Pyotr Ivanovich asked to rid his court of the “drag cart”, as well as of the stationing of service people heading to Eastern Siberia.

In another petition, Beketov concisely outlined all his Siberian campaigns and asked to be appointed as Cossack head in place of B. Bolkoshin, who “is old and crippled and cannot serve such a long-distance sovereign service.” The position of head in Yeniseisk appeared, obviously, in connection with the increase in the number of service people in the 1630s. The Siberian Prikaz compiled a detailed certificate confirming the veracity of the petitioner. Official businessmen scrupulously calculated that Beketov’s campaigns brought the state a profit of 11,540 rubles. Beketov's request was granted, and on February 13 he received the memory of his appointment as head of the Yenisei foot Cossacks. Previously, the explorer's salary was 10 rubles, 6 pounds of rye and 4 pounds of oats. The new salary was 20 rubles, but instead of a grain salary, Beketov had to receive land for arable land.

The 1640s were probably the calmest in Beketov’s life. Since Yakutia had its own voivodeship with a large garrison, the attention of the Yeniseis turned to Baikal. Ataman Vasily Kolesnikov, who was an ordinary Cossack in Beketov’s detachment in 1632, went to the northern shores of Lake Baikal and founded the Verkhneangarsky fort in 1647. The lands of Transbaikalia were actively “explored” by Ivan Galkin and Ivan Pokhabov. Judging by known sources, Beketov did not take part in these expeditions. However, the position of Cossack head was by no means a sinecure. Beketov had to monitor the staffing of the garrison and the state of weapons, establish the order of service parcels, sort out fights and small claims between the Cossacks, and suppress the illegal trade in wine and gambling among the servicemen. In other words, the Cossack head in the Yenisei was the first assistant to the governor in military affairs.

Pyotr Ivanovich was also involved in his own farming. It is known that in 1637 he had 18 acres of arable land and 15 fallow lands. The arable land was most likely cultivated by hired peasants. Beketov sold some part of his lands (apparently received after 1641 as compensation for grain wages) to the peasants S. Kostylnikov and P. Burmakin. 2 collective petitions of Yeniseis from 1646, signed by Pyotr Beketov, have survived.

The first dealt with the Spassky Monastery, created on secular initiative, which served as an almshouse for some of the aged servicemen. The petitioners asked to provide the monastery with funds for the acquisition of “all kinds of church buildings.” In the second case, the Yenisei Cossacks asked to lift the ban on the trade in yasir (i.e. slaves from the indigenous peoples captured or illegally bought by servicemen).

Moscow did not respond to both requests. In July 1647, Beketov received a letter sent to him from Moscow with an unusual order. He was ordered to imprison governor Fyodor Uvarov for 3 days, who was guilty of writing his replies to the discharge governors of Tomsk in “indecent speech.” If you believe Beketov’s report, then he conscientiously carried out this decree, which put him in an ambiguous position.

Soon, however, unpleasant changes occurred in Beketov’s career. In 1648, he was “removed from the leadership without guilt, no one knows why,” and, according to Pyotr Ivanovich, “replaced without petition.” It is not entirely clear which petition is meant here: Beketov himself or a contender for his place. In addition, the former head could mean a petition from the Yenisei Cossacks with possible complaints against him. The latter seems unlikely. During Beketov’s long service in Siberia, we do not know of a single complaint or report against him (unlike, for example, Erofei Khabarov, Ivan Pokhabov and many others). Perhaps the former governor Uvarov, who was replaced by the end of 1647 by F.I., had a hand in Beketov’s resignation. Polibin.

The latter cannot be suspected of intrigue against Beketov, since in 1650 he calmly sent Pyotr Ivanovich with formal replies to Moscow. Be that as it may, Beketov again returned to the rank of son of a boyar with a reduction in his salary to 10 rubles. This fact, undoubtedly, was the reason for his trip to the capital, where he arrived on January 1, 1651. The aging explorer submitted two petitions, slightly different in content, to the Siberian Prikaz. In one, he asked to be reinstated as head, and in the other, to be given his previous salary. In 1649-1650 He managed to attend an annual service in the Bratsk prison, so he attached a letter to his petitions about the prospects for the development of agriculture in the Baikal region.

Times have changed - instead of the feverish collection of yasak from the “newly found lands,” the time has come to think about the sustainable economic development of the region. Moscow bureaucrats once again drew up a certificate of Beketov’s services and apparently felt some discomfort from the injustice committed against him. Pyotr Ivanovich was given “good English cloth” and was given a salary of 20 rubles. and 5 poods. salt, “and for our bread wages he was ordered to serve from the arable land.” In addition to Beketov, the salary is 20 rubles. In the Yenisei garrison, only Ivan Galkin, who had reached the rank of son of a boyar, had. Beketov's position as head, however, was not returned, and he went to Yeniseisk, where the new governor, Afanasy Filippovich Pashkov, was sitting.

Winter 1651-1652 Beketov spent time at home, and in the spring he began to prepare for a long campaign. Voivode Pashkov, like many of his Siberian colleagues, wanted to distinguish himself before the central government by adding the annexation and settlement of new territories to his track record. The clerk of the Barguzin fort, V. Kolesnikov, suggested to Pashkov the idea of ​​​​founding a new fort near Lake Irgen. The Cossacks who arrived from Kolesnikov - Yakov Sofonov, Ivan Chebychakov, Maxim Urazov, Kirill Emelyanov, Matvey Saurov - were carefully questioned by Pashkov about the routes to Irgen and the Shilka River, since they had already been there. According to the Cossacks, it turned out that Lake Irgen and the Nercha River, which flows into Shilka, could be reached from Yeniseisk in one summer.

Pashkov finally came up with the idea of ​​organizing an expedition, which was to establish 2 forts in the indicated places. In April 1652, Pashkov informed the Tomsk governor that he was going to send 100 people to Transbaikalia. Beketov was placed at the head of the expedition, whose tasks included exploration of silver deposits. Along with the Cossacks, the detachment included “eager industrial people.” Under the leadership of Beketov were Pentecostals Ivan Maksimov, Druzhina Popov, Ivan Kotelnikov and Maxim Urazov. Among the foremen, we specially note Ivan Gerasimov, son of Chebychakov. At the beginning of June 1652, the Yenisei son of the boyar Pyotr Beketov set out on his last campaign.

Beketov's detachment consisted of about 130-140 people; This means that the expedition set off up the Angara on 7-8 planks. Despite the fact that the Cossacks walked “in a hurry,” they reached the Bratsk fort only after 2 months. It became clear to Beketov that the detachment would not be able to reach its final goal over the summer, and he decided to spend the winter on the southern shore of Lake Baikal. However, from the Bratsk fort he sent 12 Cossacks, led by I. Maximov, “lightly through the Barguzin fort to Irgen Lake and the great Shilka River.”

Sofonov and Chebychakov, who had already been to Irgen, walked with Maximov. Pyotr Ivanovich’s calculation was quite understandable. Having Pashkov’s instructions to go to Selenge and Khiloka (in the sources of the 17th century - the Kilka River), Beketov did not have anyone in the detachment who knew this water route. Maksimov had to go through the Trans-Baikal steppes to Lake Irgen, where the upper reaches of Khilok were located, and descend along this river to meet Beketov.

Beketov's main detachment, having passed the left tributary of the Angara Osu, was attacked at night by "brotherly thieves, scurrying men" who were wandering "to the edge of Lake Baikal." The Cossacks fought back, while the Buryats “boasted” not to let the servicemen cross Baikal. Following those who survived in Siberia in the 17th century. traditions of Cossack self-government, Beketov “talked” with the service people, “so that he could search for those brotherly ignorant men.” The retaliatory action carried out by I. Kotelnikov turned out to be successful. The Cossacks attacked the “camps” of the Buryats, killed 12 people in battle, captured several prisoners, and “all came from that parcel healthy.” Among the prisoners was the wife of the Verkholensk yasak prince Torom (who had arrived at the wrong time to visit), about whom a correspondence arose between Pashkov and the Ilimsk governor Oladin. Pashkov justified Beketov’s actions, especially since he returned the woman to the Verkholensky prison.

Beketov crossed Baikal and stopped for the winter at the mouth of the Prorva. To identify this river with modern geographical names, one should turn to folklore sources. Among the old-timers of Transbaikalia, a historical legend has been preserved about a certain royal after Erofei, who was killed near Prorva. Tradition says that it was here that a village later arose, which is now the village of Posolsky. This legend is based on a completely reliable historical event. In 1650, near Lake Baikal, the Buryats killed the embassy of the Tobolsk son of the boyar Erofey Zabolotsky, who was heading to one of the rulers of Northern Mongolia. Thus, Beketov spent the winter in the area of ​​the current village of Posolsky, located on Bolshaya Rechka (the historical Prorva River).

In April 1653, he sent three Cossacks who knew the Tungus, Buryat and Mongolian languages ​​to the Transbaikal steppes. The Cossacks were supposed to call all the surrounding clans and tribes into Russian citizenship, and also declare that Beketov was coming “not with war and not with battle,” but was carrying out an ambassadorial mission. Beketov ordered the Cossacks to spread false information that his detachment consisted of 300 people. The Cossacks, without hesitation, had to motivate the large number of the “embassy” by the fact that “the foreigners, the Bratts and the Tungus people, are weak-minded, stupid, as they see few of the sovereign’s people, and they beat the sovereign’s service people...”

Ultimately, Beketov's scouts went to the yurts of the Mongol prince Kuntutsin and were well received by him. With the prince was Lama Tarkhan, who traveled in 1619-1620. to Moscow and knew about the scale of the state that was represented by the three Cossacks who came on foot. Of course, Kuntutsin refused to transfer his Buryat and Tungus Kishtyms to Russian citizenship, but he released the service people in peace.

After the return of the reconnaissance, Beketov set out from his winter quarters on Prorva on June 11, 1653. In half a day, the detachment along Lake Baikal reached the mouth of the Selenga and climbed along it for 8 days. Near the mouth of Khilok, Beketov stopped, hoping for the arrival of Maksimov, who actually sailed from above Khilok on July 2 with people weakened from hunger. Nevertheless, Maksimov brought 6 forty sables and a drawing of new lands. From the mouth of Khilok, Beketov sent 35 servicemen, led by Maksimov, to Yeniseisk. On the Angara they were again attacked by the Buryats. Maksimov fought back and retained the sable treasury, although during the battle 2 Cossacks were killed and 7 were wounded. The Cossacks made their way along the rivers quickly and on August 22 they appeared before Pashkov. The latter sent Maximov to Moscow, where the Yenisei Pentecostal arrived on January 10, 1654. The incredible mobility of the Siberian Cossacks of the 17th century. can only cause surprise.

Meanwhile, the epic of Beketov’s detachment continued. For the shallow waters of Khilok, the planks had too deep a draft, so it took 3 weeks to convert them into flat-bottomed vessels. Navigating against the current along the Khilok turned out to be difficult, and the expedition arrived at its destination only at the end of September 1653. By mid-October, the Irgen fort was established, and on October 19, the Cossacks began to descend on rafts along the Ingoda. Beketov obviously hoped to reach the mouth of the Nercha before winter. However, after sailing along the Ingoda for about 10 versts, the detachment was met by the early freezing of the river. A winter hut with fortifications was quickly erected here, where some of the supplies were stored. 20 people remained in the winter hut, another 10 Cossacks under the command of M. Urazov were sent to the mouth of the Nercha, and with the rest Beketov returned to the Irgen fort. At the end of 1653, Urazov built a “small fort” not far from the mouth of the Nerch, on the right bank of the Shilka, which he reported to Beketov. The latter outlined this in a letter to Pashkov, assuring the governor that in the spring of 1654 he would build a large fort at the place chosen by Urazov.

During the winter, Beketov did not waste time - he collected yasak from the local Tungus and the tenth duty from the crafts of the people who were with him. He was apparently also searching for silver. It is curious that the folklore legend, recorded in the middle of the 20th century, attributed the discovery of the Nerchinsk deposits to Beketov (“nobody here remembers how he went to the Amur, but everyone knows about how he discovered silver on the Nerch.” ). The sable treasury and replies On May 9, 1654, Peter Ivanovich sent to Yeniseisk with a detachment of 31 Cossacks. Among them were Pentecostals D. Popov, M. Urazov and all the foremen, with the exception of Ivan Chebychakov.

This fact requires explanation. In total, Beketov sent 65 Cossacks to Yeniseisk, and among them the most experienced. I think there were several reasons for this decision. The sable treasury - an important criterion for the explorer's service - had to reach Yeniseisk intact. Before the campaign, Pashkov gave the Cossacks a salary for 2 years; one must think that many of them were already talking about returning to Yeniseisk. Obviously, Pyotr Ivanovich was not one of those commanders for whom the opinions of his subordinates meant nothing. Mainly “Cossack mercenaries” and “willing service people” remained with Beketov, i.e. persons who were not part of the Yenisei garrison. The forethought of the experienced explorer paid off. While sailing along Khilok, Urazov and his comrades were attacked by “brotherly unpeaceful men from the ulus people of Turukai Tabun.” The battle lasted all day, but in the end the detachment saved themselves and the sable treasury. The Yeniseis arrived home on June 12 and handed over furs worth 3,728 rubles to the governor.

And Beketov was already on Shilka, where he was going to build, in accordance with Pashkov’s order, a large fort. The intentions of Pyotr Ivanovich are evidenced by the fact that the Cossacks even sowed spring grain in the chosen place. However, the construction of Russian fortifications and the winter collection of yasak forced the Tungus tribes to take up arms. The Cossacks did not have time to build a fort when “many Tungus people arrived, driven out by war.” The Russian detachment came under siege (apparently in a prison built by Urazov). The Tungus drove away the horses and trampled down the grain. Famine began among the Cossacks, since the Tungus did not allow fishing. Beketov recognized his opponents as those who had recently brought him yasak. The Yeniseis had neither river boats nor horses. They had the only escape route - on rafts, down the Shilka to the Amur. Did Beketov leave some part of the detachment in the Irgen prison before leaving for Shilka? I do not have such information, but A.P. Vasiliev points out that Beketov left 18 Cossacks there.

On the Amur at this time, the most serious Russian force was the “army” of the clerk Onufriy Stepanov, the official successor of E.P. Khabarova. The Amur current brought Beketov’s Cossacks to him. It is possible that a split occurred in the detachment of the Yenisei explorer already on Nerch, and some of the servicemen broke away from him. At least Beketov’s Cossacks arrived to Stepanov in different groups. In the 1650s. the Russian population of Eastern Siberia was gripped by “Daurian fever”; Not only parties of free industrialists, but also detachments of servicemen who had escaped from their garrisons marched to the Amur.

It can be assumed that Beketov, in the current circumstances and due to the threat of starvation, could no longer restrain people who had heard about the fertile Daurian “land.” At the end of June 1654, 34 Yeniseis joined Stepanov, and a few days later Pyotr Beketov himself appeared, who “beat the entire Cossack army with his forehead so that they could live on the great Amur River until the sovereign’s decree.” All “Beketites” (63 people) were accepted into the combined Amur army. The hereditary son of a boyar and the former head of the Yenisei garrison, without ambition, submitted to Stepanov, who until recently was only a gunner with the rank of captain. Behind this and other meager evidence one can see the character of Beketov - a balanced and even gentle man. But the steel core of this character is beyond doubt.

Why did Beketov himself remain on the Amur in Stepanov’s army? Only relatively reliable assumptions can be made about this. Circumstances did not allow the explorer to complete Pashkov’s task in full and build a fort at the mouth of the Nerch. The garrison of the Irgen fort was left to its own devices. Under such circumstances, Beketov apparently did not want to return to Pashkov, who could put an end to his further service. On the Amur, a war with the Manchus flared up, during which it was possible to distinguish oneself and make amends for an involuntary offense. A characteristic detail is that having joined Stepanov, Beketov gave him 10 sables, which he had already collected during his voyage along the Amur. However, not everything in life is measured by selfish and career interests. Who knows, whether the aging pioneer was not lured by new unknown lands, where there were neither arrogant governors nor Moscow clerk businessmen looking at Siberia as a large chest with “soft junk”?

Beketov's fate on the Amur can only be traced to a certain point. In the fall of 1654, Stepanov’s army, which numbered just over 500 people, built the Kumarsky fort (at the confluence of the Khumarkhe River with the Amur). On March 13, 1655, the fort was besieged by a 10,000-strong Manchu army. The Cossacks withstood a multi-day bombardment of the fort, repelled all attacks and made a sortie themselves. Having failed, the Manchu army left the fort on April 3. Immediately after this, Stepanov compiled a track record of the Cossacks who “fought clearly.” This list confirms my assumption about the split of Beketov’s detachment, since the 30 Cossacks who were subordinate to him on Shilka are recorded here separately.

27 people remained loyal to Beketov, 12 of them were “willing service people.” Therefore, apparently, the latter are absent from the petition, which Beketov compiled on behalf of the Yenisei servicemen and added to Stepanov’s replies. In addition to Pyotr Ivanovich himself, the petition was signed by the foreman Ivan Gerasimov Chebychakov and 14 ordinary Cossacks. In this document, Beketov briefly outlined the reasons for leaving Shilka and asked to be rewarded for the service shown in defending the Kumar prison. The meaning of the petition is clear - to bring to the attention of the official authorities the fact that he and his people continue to be in the government service. This document, dating from April 1655, is so far the last reliable news about Beketov. Nevertheless, it is clear that Pyotr Ivanovich could not end his life’s journey in March of this year in Tobolsk.

Having received Beketov’s unsubscribe in June 1654, Pashkov had every reason to believe that he had successfully completed his task. In accordance with usual practice, the governor sent new yearlings to replace him, led by the boyar’s son Nikifor Koltsov. The detachment consisted of about 40 servicemen and 2 exiled peasants, who should have been “planted” on arable land. Following Beketov’s example, Koltsov spent the winter on Prorva and a certain fort arrived in Irga in the fall of 1655. Apparently, Koltsov erected a new fort on Shilka, which was located above the mouth of the Nercha. For unknown reasons, Koltsov did not wait for the next shift. In the early spring of 1656, he released 20 people to Yeniseisk (these were, most likely, those “Beketites” who remained in the Irgen prison).

Then, on March 30, Koltsov himself set off on the return journey with 10 Cossacks, leaving only 26 people on Irgen and Shilka. In the winter hut on Prorva, Koltsov met V. Kolesnikov, who was sent in 1655 to replace him and to build a fort at the mouth of Khilok. Here, the clerks witnessed a riot, which was started by 53 Cossacks led by Filka Letay. The latter took Kolesnikov’s weapons and all supplies, “and they said among themselves that they wanted to flee to Daury.” In the summer the rebels went up the Selenga. Kolesnikov’s expedition brought with it a “tillage plant” (seed grain, sickles, scythes, openers), which had to be left on Prorva under small guard. Koltsov and Kolesnikov with 18 servicemen headed to Yeniseisk. The revolt and flight from service of Kolesnikov's Cossacks thus thwarted Pashkov's plans for a strong military foothold in Transbaikalia and the establishment of agriculture there.

Abandoned to the mercy of fate, Koltsov’s Cossacks did not leave the Irgen and Shilka prisons. In the first there were 9 servicemen, in the second - 14, led by foreman Kalina Poltinin. In mid-September 1656, the “thieves’” Cossacks of F. Poletaya passed by the Shilka prison and wanted to annex a small garrison. Poltinin and his comrades “they, the thieves, burst into tears.” Letai limited himself to confiscating the drum and a new plow; In addition, 4 Poltinin Cossacks voluntarily joined the rebels. Sailing along the Shilka, the fugitive Cossacks “rubbed” the people of the Evenki prince. Gantimur, capturing prisoners and cattle. The service people in prison had to pay for this.

On October 10, the Tungus, led by the shaman Zyagara, captured and burned the Irgen fort. Only Peter Novgorod and Nikita Sitnik managed to escape, who, being wounded, reached Ingoda and went down to the Shilka prison on a raft. On the night of December 18, 7 Cossacks, sent by Poltinin to Pashkov with an unsubscribe, left the prison. The reply said that there were 6 people left on Shilka - Kalina Poltinin, Grishka Antonov, Grishka Fedorov, Petrushka and Oska Kharitonov, Mikitka Trofimov - who were under siege and eating "pine, grass and roots." Nevertheless, the servicemen hoped to hold out until spring and only then, in the absence of help, leave the fortification. But even before the onset of spring, the fort was taken by the Tungus, and all its defenders died. The Cossacks sent by Poltinin safely avoided danger and on May 10, 1657 handed over a formal letter to Pashkov, who, now as the future Daurian governor, wintered with his “regiment” in the Bratsk fort (Pashkov handed over Yeniseisk to the new governor on August 18, 1655, and went on a campaign published July 18, 1656).

In May 1657, Pashkov's warriors moved to Baikal. In the letter sent from the road, the governor spoke with an unkind word about those Cossacks who fled to the Amur without permission. Among them was Beketov: “In the past, in 162, from the great Shilka River, from Lake Irgen, leaving your sovereign forts, the Yenisei son of the boyar Petrushka Beketov with ... service people with 70 people, fled to the Daurian land...” . The governor proposed imprisoning the families of such “traitors” and putting the “thieves” themselves, if they showed up in Siberian cities, to death. So Beketov, with the light hand of Pashkov, found himself on a par with M. Sorokin and F. Letay, the leaders of the Cossack freemen. Obviously, this assessment is incorrect.

Pashkov’s expedition reached Lake Irgen only in the fall of 1657. Here Pashkov, “in the most favorable place near large fishing grounds,” erected a new Irgen fort - with residential huts and gouges around it. Leaving 20 servicemen in the prison, the governor at the end of winter crossed the portage to Ingoda. In the spring of 1658, the banks of the Ingoda River resounded with the sound of axes. By order of Pashkov, the Cossacks cut down the forest into 2 forts at once, which were to be erected near the mouth of the Nerch and in Dauria. For the last one, 8 towers and 200 fathoms of city forest were cut down for the walls. For the Verkhneshilsky fort (as the future Nerchinsky fort was initially called), 4 towers and walls were completely prepared. The entire prison forest was tied into 170 rafts.

The journey along Ingoda to Nerch took 3 weeks; There were only 2-3 people on each raft, so the rafts were often broken. At the beginning of summer, the Verkhneshilsky fort was erected. Only now did Pashkov become convinced from his own experience that it was impossible to keep the Transbaikal Tungus under Russian citizenship with small forces. In his next letter to Moscow, he put forward the idea of ​​​​settling 300 servicemen in the Irgen and Verkhneshilsky forts. According to him, he addressed “non-peaceful foreigners” with “affection and greetings.” On the other hand, Pashkov carried out a punitive action against those who burned the first Russian prisons in these parts. Several Tungus, in the presence of their fellow tribesmen, were hanged in the Verkhneshilsky prison.

However, the “Daurian” governor never got to the Amur. On June 18, 1658, he sent 30 Cossacks led by his son Eremey to find out where a fort could be set up on the Amur. Returning on July 13, the younger Pashkov reported that, in his opinion, a fort could be built on the Albazinsky settlement. At the same time as Eremey, Pentecostal A. Potapov with a small detachment set off in search of Stepanov’s Amur army on light plows. It was he who brought on August 18 the sad news of the defeat (“Bogdoy pogrom”) that the Amur Cossacks suffered from the Manchus. Pashkov expected in vain that the remnants of Stepanov’s troops would come to join him.

His tyranny and harsh treatment of the Cossacks (which was colorfully described by Archpriest Avvakum) served as a sufficient obstacle to joining under his command. When Pashkov crossed Baikal, about 500 service people (and 70 of his servants) went with him. The new clerk in the Transbaikal forts, L. Tolbuzin, received 75 people from Pashkov in May 1662. Hunger, disease, death from Tunguska arrows - all this led to the death of most of Pashkov’s detachment. The sovereign voivode left Transbaikalia, leaving behind 3 forts (Irgensky, Nerchinsky, Telembinsky) and several hundred dead and unknown servicemen who disappeared to where.

An interesting assessment of the results of Pashkov’s expedition was given by the Cossacks of the Yenisei garrison, who submitted a collective petition in July 1665. In it they recalled that it was the Yeniseis who explored the routes to Transbaikalia, and Pyotr Beketov and Nikifor Koltsov set up the Irgen and Shilka forts; They also began to bring the local Tungus into a state of tribute. According to the Yeniseis, Pashkov, “before reaching the Daurian land, stopped on the great Shilka River and on Lake Irgen and set up new forts in the same places in which we, your servants, previously, Ofonasya, set up forts.” Thus, Pashkov “took away that service from the Yenisei prison” and deceived Moscow, calling the area of ​​his operations “the new Daurian land and the Chinese border.”

All known materials about Pashkov’s Transbaikal campaign allow us to assert that Beketov did not join this expedition. Thus, Avvakum, who was with Pashkov, did not personally meet Beketov in Siberia, but he probably heard his name more than once. It remains a mystery why, many years later, the memory of the long-suffering archpriest included Beketov in the ranks of his opponents. Where did the explorer’s life end? As already mentioned, the last reliable information about Beketov dates back to April 1655.

I.E. Fischer, whose work is an abbreviation and adaptation of the still unpublished “History of Siberia” by G.F. Miller, stated: “In 1660, when he (Beketov - E.V.) returned through Yakutsk and Ilimsk back to Yeniseisk, he brought with him quite a few sables, which served as protection for him to avert the punishment that he feared for leaving the prison.” This opinion has not yet been confirmed by any sources. L.A. Goldenberg noted in passing that on the famous Tyrsky cliff in the lower reaches of the Amur in the winter of 1655-1656. The Cossacks Beketova and Stepanova visited and discovered the ruins of an ancient temple there. Unfortunately, the researcher did not indicate the source of his information.

It seems to me that Beketov never returned from the Amur River. In 1655-1658. O. Stepanov and his army literally wandered around the Amur. The Cossacks spent the winter in hastily erected forts and collected yasak from different ethnic tribes that suffered greatly from hostilities between the Russians and the Manchus. The threat of famine and the Manchu danger constantly hung over Stepanov’s army. The Amur peoples, angry at the cruelty of E.P. Khabarov, mercilessly exterminated small detachments of Cossacks who risked acting on their own. In July 1656, Stepanov reported to Yakutsk: “And not everyone in the army is hungry and poor, we eat grass and roots... But we don’t dare to leave the great Amur River without the sovereign’s decree, and the Bogdoy military people are standing close to us, and we have nothing to stand against them... there is nothing left to fight for, there is no gunpowder or lead at all.” The tragic end of the epic of the Amur Cossacks was approaching, among whom Beketov probably continued to remain.

Historians present somewhat differently the details of the defeat of Stepanov’s army and the immediate events that followed, which is due to discrepancies in the testimony of A.F. Petrilovsky and his comrades, given in October 1659 in Yeniseisk and September 1660 in Moscow. Taking into account the full text of Petrilovsky’s survey in the Siberian Prikaz, which I restored, this event can be reconstructed as follows. In June 1658, Stepanov's Cossacks climbed up the Amur from the mouth of the Sungari. Having received information from the duchers that a flotilla of Manchus was approaching him, Stepanov sent a reconnaissance detachment (180 people) led by Klim Ivanov on light plows.

The latter parted ways with enemy ships in the islands. The attack of 47 Manchu ships on the clumsy planks of Stepanov, who did not expect an attack, was crushing. It did not come to a boarding battle, in which the Cossacks could still have a chance of victory. Shot from cannons, the servicemen tried to get to the shore, but drowned along with the boarders. Together with Onufriy Stepanov, 270 Cossacks died. Artemy Petrilovsky (nephew of Erofey Khabarov) and 45 other people, many of whom were wounded, went to the Amur hills. The plank on which the Savior's marching church and 40 Cossacks were located managed to escape persecution.

The returning detachment of K. Ivanov came across the ships of the winners, blocking the entire river. Having deployed their plows, the Cossacks went up the Amur and after 3 days they met A. Potapov, sent by Pashkov. Obviously, the Amur servicemen were not at all eager to be in Pashkov’s “regiment,” as they had been ordered through Potapov. The detachment split up: 37 people went to Pashkov, and the rest again sailed to the lower reaches of the Amur. During the campaign, Ivanov died in a collision with the Duchers, but Petrilovsky and his Cossacks joined the detachment. After spending the winter in a fort built in the lands of the Gilyaks and Zhuchars, the rest of Stepanov’s army again moved up the Amur, supposedly to unite with Pashkov.

On the way, Petrilovsky met those 40 Cossacks who escaped from the “pogrom” on Spassky Doshanik. The detachment happily missed the ships of the Manchus, who were trying to completely defeat the Russians on the Amur. In the Kumarsky fort, the detachment split up: 120 Cossacks went to the Zeya River to “feed”, and 107 people, led by Petrilovsky, swam to meet Pashkov, but then changed their minds and went through the Tugirsky portage to Olekma and further to Ilimsk. The local governor sent the elected ataman Petrilovsky and 5 ordinary Cossacks with the Amur yasak treasury to Moscow. Already on October 3, 1659, the village arrived in Yeniseisk, where the servicemen were carefully questioned by governor I.I. Rzhevsky.

Attention should be paid to the fact that among the 5 Cossacks accompanying Petrilovsky was Ivan Gerasimov Chebychakov. Let us recall that the foreman Chebychakov from 1652 to 1655 was invariably under the command of Pyotr Ivanovich. His return to Yeniseisk without Beketov apparently meant that the commander was no longer alive. Perhaps luck changed the old explorer on that memorable day of June 30, 1658. How the Yenisei son of the boyar P.I. met his death hour. We will most likely never recognize the Beckets...

It is true that in the 1660s. Beketov, contrary to the opinion of I.E. Fischer, was no longer listed among the Yenisei servicemen. For example, the aforementioned petition of 1665 was signed by the boyar children I. Galkin, I. Maksimov, Y. Pokhabov, N. Koltsov and others; Beketov is not among them. In the census book of the Yenisei district of 1669, the widow of the son of the boyar Peter Beketov is named among the land sellers. Perhaps, after the death of her husband, she went back beyond the Urals, which is why we do not find the descendants of Pyotr Ivanovich in the service environment of Yeniseisk.

The folklore image of Beketov - a pioneer, “a man with a kind soul” and an incredibly successful hunter - has been preserved for centuries in the historical traditions of Russian old-timers of Transbaikalia. Storyteller F.E. Gorbunov (1875-1948) conveyed the following belief: “Previously, it was somehow established in hunting families: the first son will be born, which means he will definitely be named Peter. Let him, they say, be as lucky as that Cossack Beketov.”