Monument to Evpaty Kolovrat

With the beginning of democratic reforms in Russia, such concepts as patriotic education, national pride, historical memory, and many other "useless" views somehow quietly faded into the background. Provincial museums are slowly dying out from chronic lack of money, deliberately and maliciously distorted, removed from school textbooks, many of its heroic pages are hushed up. The memory of the glorious past of one's country, the feeling of belonging to a great nation are gradually being replaced by abstract "universal values" incomprehensible to most people. Tell me honestly, do you remember one of the brightest pages of our history: the 778th anniversary of the feat of the regiment of the Ryazan governor Yevpaty Kolovrat, who laid down his head in battle with the invaders in January 1238? I'm sure the vast majority will say no. A survey conducted on the Internet showed that nine out of ten respondents do not even know what they are talking about, although even 25-30 years ago any fourth-grade high school student knew about this hero. To this day, the heroic fate of the Kolovrat detachment is fraught with many unresolved questions and mysteries. Without in any way claiming to be "scientific" in this article and discarding the newfangled theories that "there was no Mongol invasion", we will try to restore the events of those distant days using some versions and assumptions.

In the winter of 1237, signal fires from the Ryazan border sent a message: a disaster unprecedented in its history was coming to Russia. The first victim of the Mongol conquerors was the Muromo-Ryazan principality. To the obviously unacceptable offers of Khan Batu about obedience, the payment of a huge tribute, the humiliating demand to provide wives for the comfort of the soldiers, the proud Ryazan people refused: "when we are gone, everything will be yours." The military art of Russia of those years involved a battle with enemies "in the field." The then ruler of Ryazan, Prince Yuri Ingvarevich, could count on his army, hardened in constant skirmishes with the steppe dwellers, and therefore, having gathered a squad and a militia, moved towards the invading enemy, stepped out to prove in practice the words: “it is better to be dead than to walk chained.” In early December, in a bloody battle on the Ranov River, the small Ryazan army was defeated. On December 16, 1237, after a five-day siege, stepping over the bodies of the militia, townspeople and peasants from the surrounding villages, the Mongols broke into Ryazan, on the walls of which there were so few professional fighters who left with Prince Yuri. The invaders almost without exception exterminated all the inhabitants, as the chronicler reports: “And not a single living thing remained in the city: they died anyway and drank a single mortal cup. There was no moaning, no crying - no father and mother for children, no children for father and mother, no brother for brother, no relatives for relatives, but all lay dead together. Having devastated the Ryazan land, the Mongol army moved further inland. The bulk of the troops, including the clumsy convoy (well, the Mongols did not build siege weapons under each city or churchyard anew!), Moved along the main transport arteries of that time - the ice of frozen rivers. The cavalry formations scattered in a wide round-up, ruining the oncoming settlements. The path to the invaders was blocked by the army of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Georgy (Yuri) Vsevolodovich, led by his son Vsevolod, and the allied Novgorodians under the command of the governor Jeremiah Glebovich.

It was decided to give a general battle on the borders of the Vladimir-Suzdal land, near Kolomna, on the ice of the Moscow River. The Vladimir army, with the remnants of the Pronsk and Ryazan regiments that joined them under the command of Prince Roman Ingvarevich, courageously withstood the furious attacks of the Mongol cavalry, inflicting strong counterattacks with the best troops of Russia of that time - heavily armed cavalry. In the writings of modern historians, the seriousness of the battle of Kolomna is emphasized. This is evidenced by the fact that one of the Genghisides, Khan Kulkan, was killed there, and this could only happen in the event of a major battle that went on with varying success and was accompanied by deep breakthroughs in the battle order of the Mongols (after all, the Genghisid princes during the battle were behind the battle lines ). But even here, during a three-day battle, due to the advantage of the Mongol army in numbers and organization, Batu Khan managed to win. Almost all Russian warriors (including Prince Roman and governor Jeremiah Glebovich) fell in battle.

Leaving a small detachment for the siege of Kolomna, and sending an expeditionary force to Moscow, the main part of the Mongol army moved north in order to reach another convenient path to capital Vladimir - the Klyazma River. It is unlikely that all available forces, as is commonly believed in academic historiography, Batu sent to storm a provincial town, which was Moscow in the 13th century. Could the youngest son of George Vladimir and the voevoda Philip Nyanka, who defended the future capital of Russia, successfully resist the entire Mongol army and hold out for almost as long as the fortified and crowded Ryazan?

It seemed that nothing prevented them from calmly reaching Vladimir and besieging the capital of North-Eastern Russia without interference. Unexpectedly stretched out on the march, the Mongol troops were subjected to a powerful blow, which was inflicted by an army that appeared out of nowhere. The Ryazan boyar Yevpaty Kolovrat was at the head of the attacking Russian army. According to folk legends, Evpaty Lvovich Kolovrat was born around 1200, near the village of Frolovo (Shilovsky district of the Ryazan region). He had a fiefdom in the Ursovsky town near the village of Zapolye. During the invasion of Batu, Evpatiy Kolovrat with a small detachment of princely warriors was in Chernigov, other sources report that Kolovrat was collecting tribute on the river Pra. Having learned the terrible news about the defeat of the Ryazan army and the death of the city, the boyar immediately set off for Ryazan. Here is what the chronicler says about this: “And one of the nobles of Ryazan named Evpaty Kolovrat heard about the invasion of the evil king Batu, and set out with a small squad, and rushed off quickly. And he came to the land of Ryazan, and saw it deserted, cities devastated, churches burned, people killed. And he rushed off to the city of Ryazan, and saw the city devastated, the sovereigns killed and a lot of people who died: some were killed and whipped, others were burned, and others were drowned in the river. And Yevpaty cried out in the sorrow of his soul, burning in his heart. And he gathered a small squad - one thousand seven hundred people, whom God kept outside the city. And they chased after the godless king, and barely overtook him in the land of Suzdal, and suddenly attacked the camps of Batyev.

The unexpected appearance of an unknown army and the defeat of several detachments by the Russians alarmed the Mongol command. “And the Tatars from Evpatiev’s regiment barely caught five military men who were exhausted from great wounds. And they brought them to King Batu. Tsar Batu began to ask them: “What kind of land are you, and why do you do so much evil to me?” They answered: “We are from the regiment of Yevpaty Kolovrat. We were sent from Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich of Ryazan to honor you, a strong king, and with honor to see off, and honor you to pay. A select detachment of Keshikten men-at-arms under the command of brother-in-law Batu Khostovrul was sent against the Russian regiment. The Mongol commander boasted that he would bring Kolovrat on a lasso and throw him at the feet of the great khan.

On January 15, 1238, five thousand heavily armed Mongol warriors of Khostovrul met with the warriors of Kolovrat in open battle. “And Khostovrul came together with Evpatiy. Evpaty was a giant in strength and cut Khostovrul to the floor to the saddle. And he began to flog the Tatar force, and beat many of the famous heroes of the Batyevs here, cut some in half, and chopped others to the saddle. In a short-lived battle, the Mongol detachment was practically destroyed, but the Russian army also suffered heavy losses, as the legend says, only 300-400 people remained in the ranks. Fresh troops were sent against a handful of Russians. However, all the attacks were repulsed, the retreating temniki and noyons said with horror that: “We have been with many kings, in many lands, in many battles, but we have not seen such daring and frisky, and our fathers did not tell us: These are winged people, not they know death, and so firmly and courageously, riding horses, they fight - one with a thousand, and two - with ten thousand. Not one of them will leave the battlefield alive.

Subedey-bagatur. modern monument

Puzzled by such violent resistance, the Mongols tried to enter into negotiations, according to legend, the great Subedei-Bagatur himself drove up to the battle formations of the Kolovrat army and asked: “What do you want, warriors?” and heard an answer that confused him: “We came to die!”. The main forces of the Mongol army, which advanced to the battlefield, began shelling a handful of defenders with the “heavy artillery” of those years: ballistae and catapults. Only when almost all Russian soldiers, including their commander, were killed or wounded under a hail of stones and heavy "bolts", the invaders were able to celebrate the victory. The story told in "The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu" with the shelling of a small detachment with bulky and clumsy "vices" only at first glance looks implausible. Of course, firing stone throwers at a small, fast-moving target is ineffective, but if the enemy is standing still or holding some important strategic point, stones and heavy arrow-bolts can cause him sensitive damage. For example, in the Battle of Rakovor in 1268, Russian troops successfully shot an army of Danish-German knights stuck in deep snow from stone-throwing machines. Thus, in this case, the Ryazan chronicler conveyed a completely reliable fact.

By order of Batu, the body of Yevpaty Kolovrat was brought to him. “And Tsar Batu said, looking at the body of Evpatyevo: “O Kolovrat Evpaty! Well, you treated me with your small retinue and beat many heroes of my strong horde and defeated many regiments. If such a one served me, I would keep him close to my heart. And he gave the body of Evpatiy to the remaining people from his squad, who were captured in the massacre. And King Batu ordered to let them go and not harm them in any way. - the chronicler testifies. According to legend, the surviving Russian soldiers took the body of their valiant commander and buried him with honors in the Ryazan land. It seems that the chronicle "On the ruin of Ryazan by Batu", folk traditions, legends and legends quite fully told us about this, of course, a great feat. However, the skeptic will object, nowhere is the exact place of the battle of Evpaty Kolovrat’s detachment nor the place of his last battle indicated, and it is doubtful that such a detachment could successfully resist the entire powerful Mongol army.

In Russian literature, cinematography, and partly in official history, there is an opinion that the Mongol army that invaded Russia was an irregular cavalry armed with bows and crooked sabers, dressed in greasy wadded robes and awkward fur malachai. In fact, our ancestors had to face the best military machine of the 13th century: organized, disciplined, well-trained and armed, having a division into various branches of the army, and possessing a whole engineering corps of Temuter's temnik. Indeed, the main shock mass of the Mongolian army was lightly armed horse archers. But there was another important and significant group in terms of numbers - heavy cavalry, keshiktens, armed with swords and pikes. The interaction between these branches of the military was brought to perfection. The battle, as a rule, was started by mounted archers. They attacked the enemy in several open parallel waves, continuously firing their bows; at the same time, the horsemen of the first ranks, who were out of order or had used up their supply of arrows, were instantly replaced by soldiers from the back ranks. The rate of fire was incredible: 6 - 8 arrows per minute without sacrificing accuracy. According to the testimony of medieval chroniclers, the Mongol arrows in battle really "covered the sun." If the enemy could not withstand this massive shelling and began to retreat, then the light cavalry with sabers themselves completed the rout. If the enemy counterattacked, then the Mongols did not accept close combat. A favorite tactic was to retreat in order to lure the enemy into an unexpected ambush. This blow was delivered by heavy cavalry and almost always led to success. The heavily armed Mongolian cavalry was similar to the chivalry of Europe or the Russian “forged rati”, however, the Mongolian “bagaturs” were more mobile in battle and could not only deliver frontal strikes, but also, having rebuilt, quickly go to the flank and rear of the enemy formation. Both riders and horses were protected by armor - at first leather, from specially dressed buffalo leather, which was varnished for greater strength (this provided good protective properties - the arrows did not get stuck, they glided over the surface). By the beginning of the invasion of Russia, almost all Keshikten warriors had reliable chain mail or metal shells. It was precisely due to tactics and well-established interaction that the twenty-thousandth corps of Subedei and Jebe in 1223 defeated the eighty-thousandth Russian-Polovtsian army, in 1229 the Mongols destroyed the army of the Volga Bulgars many times greater in number, in the winter of 1237-38 the strong Ryazan and Vladimir shelves. And suddenly some 1,700 warriors successfully oppose almost the entire Mongol army, inflicting monstrous losses on them. In addition, the stubborn fruitless attacks of the Batu warriors against a handful of Russian warriors, which end only with the complete destruction of a detachment of brave men with the help of long-range throwing systems, are surprising.

It is known that a short wide Mongolian bow was guaranteed to pierce the most durable armor of warriors of those times from a distance of 60-70 meters. Knowing who our ancestors had to face, it is safe to assume that several thousand horse archers could, in a couple of tens of minutes, turn a small detachment of Ryazan knights who went out to “fight in the field” into a kind of porcupine, completely poking them with arrows, however, with a regiment of Kolovrat such not happening. The blow of a detachment of heavily armed keshiktens of Khostovrul also ends in the defeat and death of the Mongol commander. What happened or could happen on the ancient Vladimir land in January 1238? Why could the Mongols not calm down until they destroyed the insignificant regiment of the Ryazan boyar? The assumption that the success of Yevpaty's warriors consisted in their use of guerrilla tactics does not deserve attention. In winter, you won’t last long in the forest without warm housing, and you won’t run fast without roads in deep snow. In addition, the conventional wisdom that the steppes - the Mongols felt uncomfortable in the snows and forests of North-Eastern Russia is untenable. Do not forget that the climate in the Mongolian steppes is no less severe, and there were many dense snow-covered forests at that time in northern China, and in the Caucasus mountains and on the Volga. And nowhere did the forests interfere with the steppe conquerors and did not protect all those countries and peoples through which the avalanche of the Mongol invasion swept like an iron roller.

One of the supposed versions is a very strong position taken by Kolovrat on the way of the main part of the Mongol army. Such could be a fortified churchyard on the border of the Ryazan and Vladimir principalities. Graveyards in Russia in those days were called places for collecting tribute, customs payments (myta), parking of merchants, etc., in some areas at the same time performing the functions of a border outpost. There were dozens of similar fortified towns in the Russian principalities of the 13th century, but only one, located on the trade route - the ancient Kolomna road, fits the site of the last battle of the Ryazan knights. In order to avoid invasion and devastation of the surroundings by a new horde with metal detectors, I will not name the exact coordinates of this place, but I want to note that this road was marked on a copy of an old map-drawing given in the book of the Vladimir local historian S.I. Rodionov.

The ancient Kolomna road, accessible for movement only in winter, went almost under the very walls of this fortress, towering on the river bank. Our ancestors chose the place for the construction of the fortification ideally. The height dominating the neighborhood, from which the area is viewed for tens of kilometers, the possibility of blocking traffic along the Klyazma and the Kolomna winter road. On both sides, the settlement was reliably protected by a steep cliff, descending to the very edge of the waters. From all four sides, a defensive rampart has still been preserved, of course, not as powerful as in Dmitrov or capital Vladimir, but still quite impressive. To the left and to the right of the former gates there are vast flat areas of terrain that have very interesting names: Killed field and Batyevo field. Having passed the shortest route along the winter road and having occupied this strategically important fortification, the Kolovrat detachment could greatly complicate the life of the invaders. It is likely that blockages of tree trunks and snow were built opposite the fortress on the ice of the river, abundantly watered and covered with ice crust in the cold. Such structures were often used by Russian troops as field fortifications. Warriors armed with bows and crossbows, placed on the fortress wall from the "river" side, could shoot with impunity everyone who tried to destroy or cross an obstacle. Thus, the most convenient way to one of the main goals of the campaign of Batyev's troops - the city of Vladimir was blocked. Of course, the Mongols, having covered themselves from a handful of madmen settled in the fortress, with a barrier, could pave the way with forests and bypass the recalcitrant fortification, but they clearly did not intend to leave a detachment of desperate grunts in the rear. In addition, the arrangement of the road took away the most important resource from the warriors of Batu - time. At the khan's headquarters, it was well known about the new army hastily assembled by the Grand Duke Yuri in the northern regions of the principality.

Almost everywhere, the population and garrisons of such towns preferred either to leave the fortification and sit out in the forests, or retreat to a large and better defended city. When offering resistance, the Mongols did not spend much time storming such settlements. Mercilessly sweeping away everything that appeared on the walls with arrows, the Mongols in the forefront sent the so-called “khashar” to assault, consisting of prisoners, guilty or auxiliary detachments with fascines to fill the moat and assault ladders. When the ditch was filled up, ladders were installed, well-armed and armored infantrymen stepped in. The stated assertion that the Mongols did not know how to fight on foot raises a logical question: how did they manage to fight in the narrow streets of Chinese, Khorezm, Iranian and other cities while riding horses? There could not be a large army in churchyards and border outposts, so in a few hours everything ended with a complete victory for the Mongols. But near this small fortress, the conquerors stumbled: neither the incomparable accuracy of the archers, nor the unbridled courage and strong armor of the keshikten helped them.

Perhaps it was the presence of a well-fortified point at the Kolovrat regiment that led to the use of throwing machines: the Mongols knew how to shoot wooden walls perfectly. However, the "artillery" was brought into battle at the final stage of the battle, before that the previously invincible Mongols were beaten several times in open battle, and by an army many times inferior to them in numbers.

And here another version of the unexpectedly successful confrontation with the Mongols horde by a small unit of the Russians arises - the presence of Evpaty Kolovrat of some powerful uncharacteristic for the 13th century. At first glance, this assumption looks like pure fantasy, but ...! The folklore sources of Russia provide rich material on unusual weapons, which serve as a constant assistant to the hero in the battle against evil forces. The possession of unusual weapons by Russian knights and bogatyrs is repeatedly mentioned in fairy tales, epics, chronicles and even the lives of saints. It should be noted that, despite the existence of other symbols of military prowess in the system of ancient Russian literature and East Slavic folklore (spears and sabers are no less often mentioned in this context), the trail of clearly preserved ideas about supernatural properties most often stretches behind the sword.

The defenders of the Muromo-Ryazan land could well have one of these artifacts, the reality of the existence of which is now not questioned even by official historical science - Agrikov's sword. The origin of the Agric sword is lost in the mists of time, according to some sources it was forged by Agrik, a descendant of the Jewish king Herod the Great, according to others, the authors of the product were the masters of the ancient pre-Slavic population of the Klyazma-Oka interfluve. A description of this weapon has come down to us: a straight double-edged sword, the blade of which emitted a faint bluish glow, visible in the dark.

The owners of the Agrikov sword in Russia at different times turned out to be both semi-mythical heroes of folk legends like Svyatogor the hero and Storm the hero - the cow's son, as well as quite real personalities, such as Pyotr Muromsky, his fellow countryman the well-known hero Ilya Muromets, governor Vladimir Monomakh, again a native of the Ryazan land, Dobrynya Nikitich. Most often, in ancient Russian legends, a wonderful sword is used in the fight against a snake, the then personification of evil. Anyone could turn out to be a snake: a mythical dragon, priests of an ancient pagan faith, a marching column of the eternal enemies of Russia - nomads, from a distance in motion resembling a huge snake.

For example, according to legend, the epic hero Dobrynya Nikitich was able to defeat the Tugarin Serpent only with the help of a charmed sword. This happened on July 19, 1096 near Pereyaslavl, where the united squads of the Russian principalities inflicted a serious defeat on the strong Polovtsian army, and its leader Khan Tugorkan (Tugarin Zmievich) was killed.
Another equally well-known fact of possession of rare weapons is presented in the Tale of the Lives of Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom. According to legend, a certain Serpent began to come to the wife of the then ruler of Murom, Prince Pavel, under the guise of a lawful spouse, “to incline her into fornication. And the serpents have power over her. However, the wife, whom the Serpent took by force, told everything to her husband and found out that the death of the Serpent was destined "from Peter's shoulder, from Agrikov's sword." Peter was quickly found, he was the sixteen-year-old brother of the ruling prince. Of course, Peter immediately decided to help his relative, but he did not know what kind of Agrikov's sword it was and where he could get it. Once, as the legend says, Peter came to the Exaltation Church, in which a young man appeared to him and pointed out the place where the sword lay. When the moment of the battle came, from a blow with a magic blade, the Serpent lost its false appearance, took on its real form, "and began to tremble, and was dead." The "Life" says nothing about Peter's fighting skills. The sword, without effort on the part of Peter, turns out to be with him, and he, in fact, smashes the Serpent with one blow.

Peter and Fevronia

Do not forget that the positions of Christianity in northeastern Russia in the 12th century were very shaky, so most likely here under the Serpent they meant the priests of the old, pagan faith, who tried to introduce "into fornication", that is, return to paganism, the ruling Murom house, but were defeated by the weapons that once belonged to them. However, the possession of the Agric sword did not bring happiness to the prince of Murom. Peter became seriously ill, his whole body was covered with ulcers and scabs, and he reached such a state that he could not move independently. About further events in the lives it is said as follows: “One of the young men sent in search of a doctor accidentally went into the house, where he found a lonely girl named Fevronia at work, who had the gift of clairvoyance and healing. After all the questions, Fevronia punished the servant: “Bring your prince here. If he is sincere and humble in his words, he will be healthy!” The prince, who himself could no longer walk, was brought to the house, and he sent to ask who wants to cure him. And he promised that, if he cured him, a great reward. “I want to cure him,” Fevronia answered bluntly, “but I don’t demand any reward from him. Here is my word to him: if I do not become his wife, then it is not fitting for me to treat him.

What happened next is well known: after some difficulties, Peter and Fevronia became husband and wife. The day of memory of the faithful, celebrated on July 8, has become a holiday in modern Russia - the Day of family, love and fidelity. Nothing is said about the fate of Agrikov's sword in the Tale, but it is unlikely that Peter could part with the miracle weapon. He had no sons, so he could inherit the artifact to his daughter, who married the ruler of the current city of Yuryev-Polsky. The prince could also simply hide the weapon or, more likely, give it to the heirs of the pagan past of the principality - the Magi, the rightful owners of the sword. Do not forget that Fevronia, who possessed abilities inaccessible to a simple person, could well come from their environment and push her husband to such an action.

In the hard times that came, the sorcerers gave Agric's sword to the one who was worthy to own it and voluntarily sacrifice his life to protect his native land. And there was no better candidate for a feat than Evpaty, the son of Leo, a Ryazan boyar nicknamed Kolovrat.

“And they began to flog without mercy, and all the Tatar regiments mixed up. And the Tatars became as if drunk or insane. Yevpaty, driving through the strong Tatar regiments, beat them mercilessly. It seemed to the Tatars that the dead had risen….». Neither the maneuverability of their light cavalry, nor the monstrous accuracy and rate of fire of their bows, nor the attack power of the selected khan bagaturs helped the invaders, who came into contact with the power of Agrik's sword and became "drunk or insane". Only by throwing a handful of heroes with heavy stones from a safe distance, the enemies were able to defeat the Kolovrat regiment. Apparently, the persistence with which the Mongols tried to exterminate the small Russian detachment can be explained by Batu's desire to get an ancient artifact. The further fate of Agric's sword is unknown. I hope that in the future historians and local historians will find traces of a unique blade, because such a weapon will never disappear forever.

Nowadays, many express doubt: “Was there really such a person, Evpaty Lvovich Kolovrat?” In my opinion, only people for whom patriotism is just an empty phrase can ask such questions, since courage and love for the Motherland have long immortalized the Ryazan hero. In addition, the name of Evpaty Kolovrat was reflected not only in epics and oral traditions, but also in chronicles. Doubts in the heroic epic and the names associated with it, this is a doubt in history itself, not a bookish history, but a genuine one, written with the blood and courage of the Russian people.

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The Tale of Evpatiy Kolovrat.

And one of the nobles of Ryazan named Evpaty Kolovrat was at that time in Chernigov with Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich, and heard about the invasion of the evil king Batu, and set out from Chernigov with a small squad, and rushed off quickly. And he came to the land of Ryazan and saw it deserted, the cities were devastated, churches were burned, people were killed.

And he rushed off to the city of Ryazan and saw the city devastated, the sovereigns killed and a lot of people who had fallen: some were killed and whipped, others were burned, and others were drowned in the river. And Evpaty cried out in the sorrow of his soul, he was inflamed in his heart. And he gathered a small squad - one thousand seven hundred people whom God kept outside the city. And they chased after the godless king, and barely overtook him in the land of Suzdal, and suddenly attacked the camps of Batyev. And they began to flog without mercy, and all the Tatar regiments mixed up.

And the Tatars became as if drunk or insane. And Yevpaty beat them so mercilessly that the swords were blunted, and he took the Tatar swords and whipped them. It seemed to the Tatars that the dead had risen. Yevpaty, driving through the strong Tatar regiments, beat them mercilessly. And he rode among the Tatar regiments so bravely and courageously that the tsar himself was frightened.

And the Tatars from Evpatiev's regiment barely caught five military men who were exhausted from great wounds. And they brought them to King Batu, and King Batu began to ask them: “What faith are you, and what land, and why do you do so much evil to me?” They answered: “We are of the Christian faith, the slaves of the Grand Duke Yuri Ingvarevich of Ryazan, and from the regiment of myf Yevpaty Kolovrat. We were sent from Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich of Ryazan to honor you, a strong king, and to see you off with honor, and to honor you. Do not marvel, tsar, that we do not have time to pour bowls on the great power - the Tatar army.

The king marveled at their wise answer. And he sent his Shurich Khostovrul to Yevpatiy, and with him strong Tatar regiments. Khostovrul boasted before the king, promised to bring Evpaty alive to the king. And Evpaty was surrounded by strong Tatar regiments, trying to take him alive. And Khostovrul came together with Evpatiy. Evpaty was a giant in strength and cut Khostovrul in half to the saddle. And he began to flog the Tatar force, and beat many of the famous heroes of the Batyevs here, cut some in half, and cut others to the saddle.

And the Tatars were afraid, seeing what a strong giant Evpaty was. And they pointed at him many tools for throwing stones, and began to hit him with countless stone-throwers, and barely killed him. And they brought his body to King Batu.

Tsar Batu sent for murzas, and princes, and sanchakbeys, and everyone began to marvel at the courage, and fortress, and courage of the Ryazan army. And the close ones said to the king: “We have been with many kings, in many lands, in many battles, but we have not seen such daring and frisky people, and our fathers did not tell us. These are winged people, they do not know death, and they fight so hard and courageously on horseback - one with a thousand, and two with ten thousand.

Not one of them will leave the battlefield alive.

And Batu said, looking at the body of Evpatyevo: “O Kolovrat Evpaty! Well, you treated me well with your small retinue, and beat many heroes of my strong horde, and defeated many regiments. If such a one served me, I would keep him close to my heart. And he gave the body of Evpatiy to the remaining people from his squad, who were captured in the massacre. And King Batu ordered to let them go and not harm them in any way.

The text is reproduced according to the edition: Military stories of Ancient Russia. L. Lenizdat. 1985

In the year 6745 (1237). In the twelfth year after the transfer of the miraculous image of Nikolin from Korsun. The godless Tsar Batu came to the Russian land with many Tatar soldiers and stood on the river in Voronezh near the land of Ryazan. And he sent unlucky ambassadors to Ryazan 1 to the Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan 2, demanding from him a tenth share in everything: in princes, and in all sorts of people, and in the rest. And the Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan heard about the invasion of the godless Tsar Batu, and immediately sent to the city of Vladimir to the noble Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky 3, asking him for help against the godless Tsar Batu or to go to him himself. The Great Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich of Vladimir did not go himself, and did not send help, planning to fight Batu alone. And the Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich Ryazansky heard that there was no help for him from the Grand Duke George Vsevolodovich of Vladimir, and immediately sent for his brothers: for Prince Davyd Ingorevich of Murom, and for Prince Gleb Ingorevich of Kolomensky, and for Prince Oleg Krasny, and for Vsevolod Pronsky 4 , and for other princes. And they began to hold advice - how to satisfy the wicked with gifts. And he sent his son Prince Fyodor Yuryevich of Ryazan 5 to the godless Tsar Batu with gifts and great prayers so that he would not go to war on the Ryazan land, And Prince Fyodor Yuryevich came to the river to Voronezh to Tsar Batu, and brought him gifts, and prayed to the king that did not fight the Ryazan land. The godless, deceitful and merciless Tsar Batu accepted the gifts and, in his lie, feignedly promised not to go to war on the Ryazan land. But he boasted, threatened to make war on the entire Russian land. And he began to ask the princes of Ryazan daughters and sisters to his bed. And one of the nobles of Ryazan, out of envy, informed the godless Tsar Batu that Prince Fyodor Yuryevich of Ryazan had a princess from the royal family and that she was the most beautiful of all in bodily beauty. Tsar Batu was cunning and unmerciful in his disbelief, inflamed in his lust and said to Prince Fedor Yuryevich: “Give me, prince, to taste the beauty of your wife.” The noble prince Fyodor Yuryevich Ryazansky laughed and answered the tsar: “It is not good for us Christians to lead our wives to you, the impious tsar, for fornication. When you overcome us, then you will rule over our wives.” The godless Tsar Batu was furious and offended, and immediately ordered to kill the noble prince Fedor Yuryevich, and ordered his body to be torn to pieces by animals and birds, and killed other princes and best warriors.

But one of Prince Fyodor Yurievich's tutors, named Aponitsa, survived and wept bitterly, looking at the glorious body of his honest master; and seeing that no one was guarding him, he took the beloved of his sovereign and secretly buried him. And he hurried to the Blessed Princess Evpraksia, and told her how the wicked Tsar Batu killed the Blessed Prince Fyodor Yuryevich.

The blessed Princess Evpraksia was standing at that time in her lofty chamber and holding her beloved child, Prince Ivan Fedorovich, and as she heard these deadly words filled with sorrow, she rushed from her lofty chamber with her son Prince Ivan straight to the ground and broke to the ground. of death. And the Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich heard about the murder of his beloved son, the blessed Prince Fedor, and other princes by the godless tsar, and that many of the best people were killed, and began to cry about them with the Grand Duchess 6 and with other princesses and with his brethren. And the whole city cried for a long time. And as soon as the prince had a rest from that great weeping and sobbing, he began to gather his army and arrange regiments. And the great prince Yuri Ingorevich saw his brethren, and his boyars, and the governor galloping bravely and courageously, raised his hands to heaven and said with tears: “Deliver us, God, from our enemies. And deliver us from those who rise up against us, and hide us from the assembly of the wicked and from the multitude of those who do iniquity. May their path be dark and slippery." And he said to his brethren: “O sovereigns, mbi and brethren, if we have received good from the hands of the Lord, then shall we not tolerate evil ?! It is better for us to obtain eternal life by death than to be in the power of the filthy. Here I am, your brother, before you drink the cup of death for the saints of God's churches, and for the Christian faith, and for the fatherland of our father, Grand Duke Ingvar Svyatoslavich. And he went to the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And he cried a lot before the image of the Most Pure Mother of God, and prayed to the great miracle worker Nicholas and his relatives Boris and Gleb. And he gave the last kiss to the Grand Duchess Agrippina Rostislavovna, and received a blessing from the bishop and all the clergy. And they went against the wicked king Batu, and met him near the borders of Ryazan. And they attacked him, and began to fight him hard and courageously, and the slash was evil and terrible. Many strong regiments of the Batuyevs fell. And Tsar Batu saw that the Ryazan force was beating hard and courageously, and he was frightened. But who can stand against the wrath of God! Batu's forces were great and irresistible; one Ryazan fought with a thousand, and two - with ten thousand. And the great prince saw that his brother, Prince Davyd Ingorevich, had been killed, and exclaimed: “Oh, my dear brothers! Prince Davyd, our brother, drank a cup before us, but won’t we drink this cup!” And they moved from horse to horse and began to fight stubbornly. The Batyevs passed through many strong regiments, fighting bravely and courageously, so that all the Tatar regiments marveled at the fortress and courage of the Ryazan army. And the strong Tatar regiments barely defeated them. Here the faithful Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich was killed, his brother Prince Davyd Ingorevich of Murom, his brother Prince Gleb Ingorevich Kolomensky, their brother Vsevolod Pronsky, and many local princes, and strong governors, and the army: daring and frisky Ryazan. All the same, they died and drank the single cup of death. None of them turned back, but they all fell dead together. All this was brought about by the god of sins for our sake.

And Prince Oleg Ingorevich was captured barely alive. The tsar, seeing many of his regiments beaten, began to grieve and be horrified, seeing many Tatars killed from his troops. And he began to fight the Ryazan land, ordering to kill, chop and burn without mercy. And the city of Pronsk, and the city of Bel 8, and Izheslavets 9 ruined to the ground and beat all the people without mercy. And Christian blood flowed like a plentiful river, for the sake of our sins.

And Tsar Batu saw Oleg Ingorevich, so handsome and brave, exhausted from grave wounds, and wanted to heal him from grave wounds, and to persuade him to his faith. But Prince Oleg Ingorevich reproached Tsar Batu and called him godless and an enemy of Christianity. The accursed Batu breathed fire from his vile heart and immediately ordered Oleg to be cut into pieces with knives. And he was the second passion-bearer Stefan, accepted the crown of suffering from the all-merciful God and drank the cup of death together with all his brothers.

And Tsar Batu the accursed Ryazan land began to fight, and went to the city of Ryazan. And he laid siege to the city, and fought for five days relentlessly. Batu's army changed, and the townspeople fought incessantly. And many citizens were killed, and others were wounded, and others were exhausted from great labors. And on the sixth day, early in the morning, the filthy went to the city - some with lights, others with vices, and still others with countless stairs - and took the city of Ryazan in the month of December on the twenty-first day. And they came to the cathedral church of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the Grand Duchess Agrippina, the mother of the Grand Duke, with her daughters-in-law and other princesses, they cut with swords, and they betrayed the bishop and priests to fire - they burned them in the holy church, and many others fell from weapons. And in the city many people, both wives and children, were flogged with swords. And others were drowned in the river, and priests and monks were flogged without a trace, and they burned the whole city, and all the glorified beauty, and the wealth of Ryazan, and their relatives - the princes of Kyiv and Chernigov - were captured. And they destroyed the temples of God and shed much blood in the holy altars. And not a single living person remained in the city: they still died and drank a single mortal cup. There was no moaning, no crying - no father and mother for children, no children for father and mother, no brother for brother, no relatives for relatives, but all lay dead together. And it was all for our sins.

And the godless Tsar Batu saw the terrible shedding of Christian blood, and became even more furious and hardened, and went to the city of Suzdal and Vladimir, intending to captivate the Russian land, and uproot the Christian faith, and ruin the churches of God to the ground.

And one of the nobles of Ryazan named Evpatiy Kolovrat was at that time in Chernigov with Prince Ingvar Ingorevich 11, and heard about the invasion of the evil king Batu, and set out from Chernigov with a small squad, and rushed off quickly. And he came to the land of Ryazan, and saw it deserted, cities devastated, churches burned, people killed. And he rushed off to the city of Ryazan, and saw the city devastated, the sovereigns killed and a lot of people who died: some were killed and whipped, others were burned, and others were drowned in the river. And Yevpaty cried out in the sorrow of his soul, inflamed in his heart. And he gathered a small squad - one thousand seven hundred people, whom God kept outside the city. And they chased after the godless king, and barely overtook him in the land of Suzdal, and suddenly attacked the camps of Batyev. And they began to flog without mercy, and all the Tatar regiments mixed up. And the Tatars became as if drunk or insane. And Yevpaty beat them so mercilessly that the swords were blunted, and he took the Tatar swords and whipped them. It seemed to the Tatars that the dead had risen. Yevpaty, driving through the strong Tatar regiments, beat them mercilessly. And he rode among the Tatar regiments so bravely and courageously that the tsar himself was frightened.

And the Tatars from Evpatiev's regiment barely caught five military men who were exhausted from great wounds. And they brought them to King Batu. Tsar Batu began to ask them: “What faith are you, and what land, and why do you do so much evil to me?” They answered: “We are of the Christian faith, servants of the Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan, and from the regiment we are Yevpaty Kolovrat. We were sent from Prince Ingvar Ingorevich of Ryazan to honor you, a strong king, and to see you off with honor, and to honor you. Do not marvel, tsar, that we do not have time to pour bowls on the great power - the Tatar army. The king marveled at their wise answer. And he sent his Shurich Khostovrul to Yevpatiy, and with him strong Tatar regiments. Khostovrul boasted before the king, promised to bring Evpaty alive to the king. And Evpaty was surrounded by strong Tatar regiments, trying to take him alive. And Khostovrul came together with Evpatiy. Evpaty was a giant in strength and cut Khostovrul to the floor to the saddle. And he began to flog the Tatar force, and beat many of the famous heroes of the Batyevs here, cut some in half, and cut others to the saddle. And the Tatars were afraid, seeing what a strong giant Evpaty was. And they brought on him many vices, and began to beat him from countless vices, and barely killed him. And they brought his body to King Batu. Tsar Batu sent for murzas, and princes, and sanchakbeys, and everyone began to marvel at the courage, and fortress, and courage of the Ryazan army. And they said to the king: “We have been with many kings, in many lands, in many battles, but we have not seen such daring and frisky people, and our fathers did not tell us. These are winged people, they do not know death, and so firmly and courageously, riding horses, they fight - one with a thousand, and two - with darkness. Not one of them will leave the battlefield alive. And Tsar Batu said, looking at the body of Evpatyevo: “O Kolovrat Evpaty! Well, you treated me well with your small retinue, and beat many heroes of my strong horde, and defeated many regiments. If such a one served me, I would keep him close to my heart. And he gave the body of Evpatiy to the remaining people from his squad, who were captured in the battle. And King Batu ordered to let them go and not harm them in any way. Prince Ingvar Ingorevich was at that time in Chernigov, with his brother Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, saved by God from that evil apostate and Christian enemy. And he came from Chernigov to the land of Ryazan, to his fatherland, and saw it empty, and heard that his brothers were all killed by the impious law-criminal king Batu, and he came to the city of Ryazan, and saw the city ruined, and his mother, and his daughters-in-law, and his relatives, and many many people lying dead, the city was ruined and the churches were burned, and all the ornaments from the treasury of Chernigov and Ryazan were taken. Prince Ingvar Ingorevich saw the great last death for our sins and cried out pitifully, like a trumpet calling to the army, like a sweet organ sounding. And from that great cry and terrible cry, he fell to the ground like a dead man. And they barely cast it and departed in the wind. And with difficulty his soul came to life in him.

Who will not mourn over such a death, who will not mourn for so many people of the Orthodox people, who will not pity so many great sovereigns killed, who will not groan from such captivity?

Dismantling the corpses of the dead, Prince Ingvar Ingorevich found the body of his mother, Grand Duchess Agrippina Rostislavovna, and recognized his daughters-in-law, and called priests from the villages whom God had preserved, and buried his mother and his daughters-in-law with a great cry instead of psalms and church hymns: he shouted loudly and sobbed. And he buried the rest of the bodies of the dead, and cleansed the city, and sanctified it. And a small number of people gathered, and comforted them a little. And he wept incessantly, remembering his mother, and his brethren, and his kind, and all the patterned Ryazan, without time perished. All this happened because of our sins. There was the city of Ryazan, and the land was Ryazan, and its wealth disappeared, and its glory departed, and it was impossible to see any of its blessings in it - only smoke and ashes; and the churches were all burned, and the great church within was burned and turned black. And not only this city was captivated, but many others. There was neither singing nor ringing in the city; instead of joy - incessant crying.

And Prince Ingvar Ingorevich went to the place where his brothers were beaten by the wicked Tsar Batu: Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan, his brother Prince Davyd Ingorevich, his brother Vsevolod Ingorevich, and many local princes, and boyars, and governors, and all the army, and daring men , and frisky, patterned Ryazan. They all lay on the devastated ground, on feather grass, frozen with snow and ice, not being served by anyone. The beasts ate their bodies, and many birds devoured them. All lay, all died together, they drank a single cup of death. And Prince Ingvar Ingorevich saw a great many dead bodies lying, and cried out in a bitterly loud voice, like a sounding trumpet, and beat his chest with his hands, and fell to the ground. Tears from his eyes flowed like a stream, and he said pitifully: “Oh, my dear brethren and army! How did you sleep, my precious lives? I was left alone in such a perdition! Why didn't I die before you? And where did you hide from my eyes, and where did you go, the treasures of my life? Why don't you say anything to me, your brother, the flowers are beautiful, my gardens are unripe? Do not give sweetness to my soul! Why, my lords, don't you look at me, your brother, and talk to me? Have they really forgotten me, your brother, born from the same father and from the same womb of our mother - the Grand Duchess Agrippina Rostislavovna, and nourished by the single breast of a multi-fruited garden? To whom have you left me, your brother? My dear sun, setting early, my red month! soon you perished, eastern stars; why did you leave so early? You lie on the empty earth, not guarded by anyone; you do not receive honor-glory from anyone!

Your glory has faded. Where is your strength? Over many lands you were sovereigns, and now you lie on an empty land, your faces have darkened from decay. Oh, my dear brethren and affectionate squad, I will no longer have fun with you! My clear lights, why have you dimmed? Not much rejoiced with you! If God hears your prayer, then pray for me, your brother, that I die with you. After all, after joy, weeping and tears came to me, and after joy and joy, lamentation and sorrow came to me! Why did he not die before you, so as not to see your death, but his own destruction? Do you hear my sorrowful words, pitifully sounding? Oh earth, oh earth! oh oak trees! Cry with me! How will I describe and how will I call the day on which so many sovereigns died and many ornamental Ryazan - brave brave men? None of them returned, but they died anyway, they drank a single mortal cup. From the bitterness of my soul, my tongue does not obey, my lips close, my eyes darken, my strength is exhausted.

There was then a lot of anguish, and sorrow, and tears, and sighs, and fear, and trembling from all those misfortunes that came upon us. And the Grand Duke Ingvar Ingorevich raised his hands to heaven, and cried out with tears, saying: “My God, I trusted in you, save me and deliver me from all persecutors. Most pure mistress, mother of Christ our God, do not leave me in the hour of my sorrow. Great passion-bearers and our relatives Boris and Gleb, be my helpers in battles, a sinner. O my brethren and army, help me in your holy prayers against our enemies - against the Hagarites and the grandchildren of the Ishmael clan.

And Prince Ingvar Ingorevich began to disassemble the bodies of the dead, and took the bodies of his brothers - Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich, and Prince Davyd Ingorevich of Murom, and Prince Gleb Ingorevich of Kolomensky, and other local princes - his relatives, and many boyars, and governor, and neighbors, known to him, and brought them to the city of Ryazan, and buried them with honor, and collected the bodies of others right there on empty ground and performed a funeral service. And, having buried like this, Prince Ingvar Ingorevich went to the city of Pronsk, and collected the dissected parts of the body of his brother, the faithful and Christ-loving Prince Oleg Ingorevich, and ordered them to be carried to the city of Ryazan, and the great prince Ingvar Ingorevich himself carried his honest head to the city, and kissed her kindly, and put him with the Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich in the same coffin. And his brothers, Prince Davyd Ingorevich and Prince Gleb Ingorevich, he laid in one coffin near the grave of those. Then Prince Ingvar Ingorevich went to the river to Voronezh, where Prince Fyodor Yuryevich Ryazansky was killed, and took his honest body, and wept over him for a long time. And he brought him to the region to the icon of the great miracle worker Nikola Korsunsky, and buried him together with the Blessed Princess Evpraksia and their son Prince Ivan Fedorovich Postnik in a single place. And he placed stone crosses over them. And for this reason, the icon Zarazek is called the great miracle worker Nikola, because the blessed princess Evprakei with her son Prince Ivan “infected” (smashed) herself in that place.

Those sovereigns from the family of Vladimir Svyatoslavich - the father of Boris and Gleb, the grandchildren of Grand Duke Svyatoslav Olgovich of Chernigov. They were by birth Christ-loving, brotherly-loving, beautiful in face, bright in eyes, menacing in gaze, brave beyond measure, light in heart, affectionate to boyars, welcoming to visitors, diligent to churches, quick to feast, eager for sovereign fun, skillful in military affairs, and before their brethren and majestic before ambassadors. They had a courageous mind, abode in truth-truth, kept purity of soul and body without blemish. They branch from the holy root and the flowers planted by the god are beautiful! They were brought up in piety and in all kinds of spiritual instruction. They loved God from the very diapers. They diligently baked about the churches of God, did not create empty conversations, turned away malicious people, only talked with good people, and always listened to divine writings with tenderness. They were terrible enemies in battles, they defeated many adversaries who climbed them and glorified their names in all countries. They had great love for the Greek kings and many accepted gifts from them. And in marriage they lived chastely, thinking about their salvation. With a clear conscience, and strength, and reason, they kept their earthly kingdom, and approached the heavenly one. They did not please their flesh, keeping their body free from sin after marriage. They kept the rank of sovereign, but were diligent in fasting and prayers and wore crosses on their chests. And they received honor and glory from the whole world, and honestly kept the holy days of the holy fast, and during all the holy fasts they partook of the holy, most pure and immortal mysteries. And many works and victories according to the right faith showed. And with the filthy Polovtsians they often fought for the holy churches and the Orthodox faith. And they guarded their fatherland from enemies without laziness. And they gave inexhaustible alms and with their caresses many of the unfaithful kings, their children and brothers were attracted to themselves and converted to the true faith.

Blessed Prince Ingvar Ingorevich, named Kozma in holy baptism, sat on the table of his father, Grand Duke Ingor Svyatoslavich. And he renewed the land of Ryazan, and built churches, and built monasteries, and consoled the aliens, and gathered people. And there was joy for the Christians, whom God delivered with his strong hand from the godless and malevolent king Batu. And he placed Mr. Mikhail Vsevolodovich Pronsky in the hands of his father.

1. Underline the correct statements.

• In 1011, the Mongols attacked the northern Chinese Jin empire.
• In 1012, after the death of Genghis Khan, his sons and grandsons continued the conquest.
• In 1241 they reached the shores of the Black Sea.
• In 1221, the Mongols captured the capital of Khorezm, Urgench.

2. Explain the words.

Khan label - the charter of the Mongol khans to the secular and spiritual nobility, which allowed them to rule in the principality.

Tribute - natural or monetary requisition from conquered tribes, cities and peoples.

Baskaki - these are representatives of the khan sent to large Russian cities.

Kurultai - congress of the Mongolian nobility.

Stan - camp.

Forage - feed for horses, livestock.

3. Fill in the missing words.

Some of the nobles of Ryazan named Evpatiy Kolovrat gathered a small squad - one thousand seven hundred people whom God saved ... And they chased after the godless king...

4. Enter information (who is this).

Alexander Nevskiy - Prince of Novgorod, Grand Duke of Vladimir, commander, saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Saint Louis IX King of France from 1226-1270. Son of Louis VIII. Leader of the 7th and 8th Crusades.

Timur - Central Asian Turkic commander and conqueror, founder of the Timurid Empire with its capital in Samarkand. In Uzbekistan, he is revered as a national hero.

Gedemin - Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1316 to 1341, founder of the Gediminids dynasty.

Ivan Kalita - Prince of Moscow, Grand Duke of Vladimir (1331-1340). Son of the Moscow Prince Daniel Alexandrovich.

Dmitry Donskoy - Prince of Moscow and Grand Duke of Vladimir, nicknamed Donskoy for the victory in the Battle of Kulikovo. During the reign of Dmitry, the Moscow principality became one of the main centers for the unification of Russian lands.

Sergius of Radonezh - Hieromonk of the Russian Church, founder of a number of monasteries, including the Holy Trinity Monastery near Moscow (now the Trinity-Sergius Lavra). The spiritual collector of the Russian people, with whom the cultural ideal of Holy Russia and the emergence of Russian spiritual culture are associated.

5. Write the abstract of the report on the topic "Why Moscow became the center of the unification of Russian lands."

1. Moscow received the right to collect and pay tribute from all over Russia, which ensured the wealth of the principality.
2. Moscow managed to establish good relations with the Horde, which made it possible to stop the raids of the Horde troops.
3. The skillful actions of the Moscow princes made it possible to establish relations with the princes of other principalities.
4. Moscow has managed to attract active and efficient people with excellent personal qualities to the service.
5. Moscow received the support of the Orthodox Church - the residence of the metropolitan was moved to Moscow.
6. Thanks to the efforts of Metropolitan Alexei, a charter was received in the Horde that changed the order of the transfer of power - the great reign in Russia became the hereditary right of Moscow princes from the dynasty of Ivan Kalita.
7. With the rise of the Moscow principality, with its recognition as the center of the unification of Russian lands, the revival of Russia began.

6. Indicate the significance and the most important consequences of the Battle of Kulikovo.

The significance of the victory on the Kulikovo field turned out to be colossal. Suzdal, Vladimir, Rostov, Pskov went to fight on the Kulikovo field as representatives of their principalities, but returned from there as Russians, although living in different cities. And therefore, in the history of our country, the Battle of Kulikovo is considered the event after which the new ethnic community - Moscow Rus - became a reality, a fact of world historical significance.

The victory of the Russian squads on the Kulikovo field became possible primarily due to the fact that the Russians went to battle as a single force. This allowed Prince Dmitry Donskoy to show his military leadership talents.

As a result of the victory at the Kulikovo field:

1. The authority of Moscow has increased;
2. The process of unification of Russian lands accelerated;
3. The Golden Horde began to avoid open clashes with Russian troops;
4. In the minds of the people, faith in the inevitable fall of the Horde dominion grew stronger;
5. Russia was saved from defeat;
6. The Russian people were convinced that the enemy could be defeated only by joining forces.

Good Russian films are like the Ussuri tigers - they definitely exist, but they are very rare. Last year, "28 Panfilov's Men" came out, this year - "Arrhythmia", so the limit on good films was exhausted, and "The Legend of Kolovrat" did not get into it. It's a pity! After all, this hero has been inspiring many to wonderful works for more than a century.

As is already customary, before proceeding to the analysis of the film, we will understand what it is about. So, in "The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu" there is a fragment:

« And one of the nobles of Ryazan named Evpaty Kolovrat was at that time in Chernigov with Prince Ingvar Ingorevich, and heard about the invasion of the evil king Batu, and set out from Chernigov with a small squad, and rushed off quickly. And he came to the land of Ryazan, and saw it deserted, cities devastated, churches burned, people killed. And he rushed off to the city of Ryazan, and saw the city devastated, the sovereigns killed and a lot of people who died: some were killed and whipped, others were burned, and others were drowned in the river. And Yevpaty cried out in the sorrow of his soul, inflamed in his heart. And he gathered a small squad - one thousand seven hundred people, whom God kept outside the city. And they chased after the godless king, and barely overtook him in the land of Suzdal, and suddenly attacked the camps of Batyev. And they began to flog without mercy, and all the Tatar regiments mixed up. And the Tatars became as if drunk or insane. And Yevpaty beat them so mercilessly that the swords were blunted, and he took the Tatar swords and whipped them. It seemed to the Tatars that the dead had risen. Yevpaty, driving through the strong Tatar regiments, beat them mercilessly. And he rode among the Tatar regiments so bravely and courageously that the tsar himself was frightened.

And the Tatars from Evpatiev's regiment barely caught five military men who were exhausted from great wounds. And they brought them to King Batu. Tsar Batu began to ask them: “What faith are you, and what land, and why do you do so much evil to me?” They answered: “We are of the Christian faith, servants of the Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan, and from the regiment we are Yevpaty Kolovrat. We were sent from Prince Ingvar Ingorevich of Ryazan to honor you, a strong king, and to see you off with honor, and to honor you. Do not marvel, tsar, that we do not have time to pour bowls on the great power - the Tatar army. The king marveled at their wise answer. And he sent his Shurich Khostovrul to Yevpatiy, and with him strong Tatar regiments. Khostovrul boasted before the king, promised to bring Evpaty alive to the king. And Evpaty was surrounded by strong Tatar regiments, trying to take him alive. And Khostovrul came together with Evpatiy. Evpaty was a giant in strength and cut Khostovrul to the floor to the saddle. And he began to flog the Tatar force, and beat many of the famous heroes of the Batyevs here, cut some in half, and cut others to the saddle. And the Tatars were afraid, seeing what a strong giant Evpaty was. And they brought on him many vices, and began to beat him from countless vices, and barely killed him. And they brought his body to King Batu. Tsar Batu sent for murzas, and princes, and sanchakbeys, and everyone began to marvel at the courage, and fortress, and courage of the Ryazan army. And they said to the king: “We have been with many kings, in many lands, in many battles, but we have not seen such daring and frisky people, and our fathers did not tell us. These are winged people, they do not know death, and so firmly and courageously, riding horses, they fight - one with a thousand, and two - with darkness. Not one of them will leave the battlefield alive. And Tsar Batu said, looking at the body of Evpatyevo: “O Kolovrat Evpaty! Well, you treated me well with your small retinue, and beat many heroes of my strong horde, and defeated many regiments. If such a one served me, I would keep him close to my heart. And he gave the body of Evpatiy to the remaining people from his squad, who were captured in the battle. And King Batu ordered to let them go and not harm them in any way.»

These two paragraphs have inspired our writers and poets for many years. In 1859, the poet Lev Aleksandrovich Mei (based on his dramas in verse "The Tsar's Bride" and "The Pskovite Woman" the composer Rimsky-Korsakov wrote operas) published the poem "The Song of the Boyar Yevpaty Kolovrat" (you can read it here: http://militera. lib.ru/poetry/russian/mei/02.html), in 1912 the very young Sergei Yesenin wrote "The Song of Evpaty Kolovrat" (http://az.lib.ru/e/esenin_s_a/text_0410.shtml), during the war, in 1942, the still popular novel by Vasily Yan "Batu" was published, which describes an episode with Yevpaty Kolovrat and his detachment. In 1947, when the 800th anniversary of Moscow was celebrated, Natalya Konchalovskaya's poem "Our Ancient Capital" was published, one of the fragments of which was dedicated to Evpaty Kolovrat:

Those who survived fled.

And to them, like a warrior and like a brother,

Burning with a stubborn thirst for revenge,

Ryazan Kolovrat came

And he began to prepare a militia.

Their thousand seven hundred came.

They went to the Horde from the rear.

Batu, climbing on the saddle,

Numb: “What power!

Where? Where was she?

Have the dead risen?

Ryazan burned to the ground,

Crows flew over the ashes! .. "

For the first time the horde trembled,

Out of fear, losing my mind.

And Kolovrat moved then

All the power on the Horde at once.

Did not train this army,

People who accidentally survived

But everyone went to punish the enemy

For relatives, decayed in the fire,

And for those sunk in the Oka

Everyone was ready to take revenge on the Mongols,

And the avenger's sword is in his hand

Doesn't feel heavy in combat

In the December cold, the battle is harsh,

And the enemy's horn roars angrily,

And helmets fall off their heads

Hot horses under the hooves.

Let the Russians have less strength

But Kolovrat does not know fear,

He has already blunted his sword,

He raises the Mongolian sword.

Batu does not take his eyes off him, -

What Russian perseverance!

He orders his brother-in-law:

Engage in single combat with the enemy.

Look now, Batu, look,

As in snow and prickly dust

From two sides heroes

Before the troops entered the battle.

Horse tails fluttered

In the pupils of the horses the fire of fires,

And the shields break

from crushing blows.

And on both sides the troops stand, -

The frosty air is full of rumble,

And suddenly Evpaty Kolovrat

Raises the sword over Hostovrul.

Hit! A shield buried in a snowdrift:

Batyev brother-in-law fell - killed! ..

And the furious Batu cry

Frozen above the snowy veil,

And both troops at the same moment

They went to each other at the butt wall ...

And death took so many lives

That under the snows the firmament groaned,

Until the Ryazan Eagle

A flock of jackals surrounded.

And now at the feet of Batu he is -

Evpatiy Kolovrat killed.

And Batu Khan? He is surrounded

Gloomy generals retinue.

He, speaking to himself,

Stands and looks, shocked,

On the stern face of a hero,

Overshadowed by immortality in death.

Mongolian sword in hand is clamped -

The sword that famously fought

Ryazan warrior Kolovrat.

And Batu Khan mutters softly:

"When that warrior was mine,

Close to my heart I would keep this! .. "

And smoke swirled above the ground,

He drove homeless people

Into the forests, at the fear of the Horde khans,

To the glory of the first partisans.

In 1952, Vasily Ryakhovsky's story for children "Evpaty Kolovrat" was published. In 1969, a collection of stories by local writer Vladimir Erokhin was published in Ryazan, where there was also the story "Evpaty Kolovrat", which gave the name to the whole collection. In 1976, the author of numerous adventure and detective books, Stanislav Gagarin, published the story “Evpatiy Kolovrat” in the magazine “Ural Pathfinder”, and in the next decade Kolovrat was even more fortunate - in 1984, the children's publishing house “Malysh” published a book by a writer, engineer and memoirist Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn "The Tale of Evpaty Kolovrat" (it was republished in 1987 and the total circulation amounted to an unprecedented figure for our time - 300,000 copies), and in 1985 a 20-minute cartoon by Roman Davydov "The Tale of Evpaty Kolovrat" was released ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZUmCIvlHuo), which completed his trilogy of cartoons about Ancient Russia, begun with the paintings "Childhood of Ratibor" (about Ants) and "Swans of Nepryadva" (about the Battle of Kulikovo). Nowadays, alas, only Rodnovers and neo-Nazis write about Kolovrat, which gives these books, to put it mildly, a specific flavor.

Thus, the creators of the 2017 film got a rare chance of success - to make the first ever feature film about a hero, on the stories of which more than one generation was brought up. However, the director and screenwriter Dzhanik Fayziev decided not to look for easy ways (to take, and film everything that was in “The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu” and “Batu”), but rather diluted the plot with gag. However, this was quite expected for a person who, for some reason, added cave homosexuals and a flight of a barlog through the crystal lattice of a pencil lead in his film adaptation of the well-written spy detective “Turkish Gambit”, although neither the first, nor the second, nor many other dubious directorial “finds” "(like the fact that the spy turned out to be a completely different person than in the book, while maintaining the rest of the storylines) the plot of the film did not require.

Now, from Evpaty, he made not just a warrior of the Ryazan prince, but also a disabled person: a head injury received in childhood led to the fact that he suffers from memory lapses and painfully recalls every morning: “This is my house ... this is Ryazan ...”, do not remember no wife, no brother; every day he cuts a whistle for the prince's daughter and every day he confesses his love for her - a sort of Groundhog Day in old Ryazan. But at the same time, the prince entrusted him with the training of soldiers! The Mongols in the film were even less fortunate - Batu Khan and his close associates with their painted and inlaid faces resemble the extras of the Roman Viktyuk theater performance, and the director's aspirations to make the Mongols look like Persians in Zack Snyder's film "300 Spartans" simply splashes on the audience through the screen. Sending his warriors to the attack, the khan admires the spectacle and eats nuts - like our contemporary on the broadcast of a football match, it’s good that he doesn’t drink beer!

Under such conditions, it is simply not worth demanding any logical actions of the characters, so you are no longer surprised that it was the invalid with amnesia that the prince entrusted the protection of the embassy to Batu and his son, because when the negotiations failed, Kolovrat left the wounded prince to cover the retreat of the embassy. Batu's headquarters was right in front of the walls of Ryazan in the field, but the embassy had a long way back through the forest into a snow storm (which did not magically affect the Mongols), and while they were making their way, the Mongols burned Ryazan. The Horde rushes into the forest, they see a lone warrior standing with his back to them in a clearing - but instead of shooting him with bows or lassoing him, they start hand-to-hand combat: otherwise you won’t show how the “Main Road Post” can do slow-mo already, though, pretty much bored by everyone over the past decade! The hermit sets a bear the size of a rhinoceros on the Mongols - and then takes it, and sets it free, depriving Kolovrat and his squad of such a miracle weapon! Finally, both sides decided to show the audience that they can handle a new level of dementia: first, Batu throws his warriors into the attack on a high icy slope (instead of shooting either bows or siege engines - which was eventually done, but not immediately) , and the fighters of Kolovrat calmly look at the second attack of the Mongols and let them climb the slope, and do not push them down with their feet and horns ...

On the other hand, not everything in the film is bad. If you remove the directorial and script gag, then the bottom line is a pretty good film - and at least a big step forward compared to Viking (more precisely, a step back to normal Soviet historical films like Alexander Nevsky, Yaroslav the Wise, "Original Russia", etc.) - after all, here our ancestors are not covered with mud from head to toe and do not copulate in the mud in the middle of the crowd without taking off their pants.

In addition, sometimes the criticism of the film (which began long before its release) was not entirely justified. For example, they say that Kolovrat did not exist, so the film was not worth making. Yes, the creation of "The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu" dates back to the beginning of the 16th century, but for some reason the British are in no hurry to abandon the no less legendary King Arthur and Robin Hood on the same basis, and the Swiss - from William Tell. In addition, the title of the film in Russian said "Legend of ...". Another common reproach to the film is that it is not about winning. The pure truth, but not about the victory, were the medieval “Song of Roland” and “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”, and the films “Chapaev”, “Bridge Too Far”, “Brest Fortress” - they are also not all about victory. But readers and viewers see that even difficult conditions must be fought to the end - then you will be remembered.

In a word, the film "The Legend of Kolovrat" can hardly be called unequivocally bad or unambiguously good. Let everyone decide for himself whether it is worth watching or not.