“The Legend of Mamaev’s Massacre. Description and analysis of the "tale of Mamaev's massacre" Read the original story of Mamaev's massacre

THE TALE OF MAMAYEV'S MASSACRE

The beginning of the story about how God granted victory to the sovereign Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich across the Don over the filthy Mamai and how, through the prayers of the Most Pure Mother of God and Russian miracle workers, Orthodox Christianity - God exalted the Russian land, and put the godless Hagarians to shame.

I want to tell you, brothers, about the battle of the recent war, how the battle on the Don happened between Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich and all Orthodox Christians with the filthy Mamai and the godless Hagaryans. And God exalted the Christian race, but humiliated the filthy and put to shame their savagery, just as in the old days he helped Gideon over Midian and the glorious Moses over Pharaoh. We must tell about the greatness and mercy of God, how God fulfilled the wishes of those faithful to him, how he helped Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich and his brother Prince Vladimir Andreevich over the godless Polovtsians and Hagarians.

By God's permission, for our sins, through the delusion of the devil, a prince of an eastern country named Mamai arose, a pagan by faith, an idolater and an iconoclast, an evil persecutor of Christians. And the devil began to incite him, and the temptation against the Christian world entered his heart, and his enemy taught him how to ruin the Christian faith and desecrate the holy churches, because he wanted to subjugate all Christians to himself, so that the name of the Lord would not be glorified among the faithful. Our Lord, God, king and creator of all things, will do whatever he wants.

The same godless Mamai began to boast and, envying the second Julian the apostate, Tsar Batu, began asking the old Tatars how Tsar Batu conquered the Russian land. And the old Tatars began to tell him how Tsar Batu conquered the Russian land, how he took Kyiv and Vladimir, and all of Rus', the Slavic land, and killed the Grand Duke Yuri Dmitrievich, and killed many Orthodox princes, and desecrated holy churches and burned many monasteries and villages , and in Vladimir he plundered the golden-domed cathedral church. And since he was blinded by his mind, he did not comprehend that, as the Lord pleased, it would be so: in the same way, in ancient days, Jerusalem was captured by Titus the Roman and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, for the sins and lack of faith of the Jews - but not God is endlessly angry and He does not punish forever.

Having learned everything from his old Tatars, Mamai began to hurry, constantly inflamed by the devil, taking up arms against Christians. And, having forgotten himself, he began to speak to his Alpauts, and Yesauls, and princes, and governors, and all the Tatars like this: “I don’t want to act like Batu, but when I come to Rus' and kill their prince, then which cities are the best sufficient will be for us - we’ll settle here, and we’ll take over Russia, we’ll live quietly and carefree,” but the damned one didn’t know that the Lord’s hand was high.

And a few days later he crossed the great Volga River with all his might, and joined many other hordes to his great army and said to them: “Let’s go to the Russian land and get rich from Russian gold!” The godless one went to Rus' like a lion, roaring in rage, like an insatiable viper breathing anger. And he had already reached the mouth of the river. Voronezh, and disbanded all his strength, and punished all his Tatars like this: “Let not one of you plow bread, be prepared for Russian bread!”

Prince Oleg Ryazansky found out that Mamai was wandering around Voronezh and wanted to go to Rus', to the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich of Moscow. The poverty of his mind was in his head, he sent his son to the godless Mamai with great honor and with many gifts and wrote his letters to him like this: “To the Eastern great and free king, Tsar Mamai, rejoice! Your protege, Oleg, Prince of Ryazan, who swore allegiance to you, begs you a lot. I heard, sir, that you want to go to the Russian land, against your servant, Prince Dimitri Ivanovich of Moscow, to frighten him. Now, lord and bright king, your time has come: the land of Moscow is overflowing with gold, and silver, and many riches, and all kinds of valuables are needed for your possession. And Prince Dimitri of Moscow - a Christian man - as soon as he hears the word of your rage, “he will flee to his distant borders: either to Novgorod the Great, or to Beloozero, or to the Dvina, and the great wealth of Moscow and gold - everything will be in your hands and for your army as needed. But your power will spare me, your servant, Oleg of Ryazan, O Tsar: for for your sake I strongly intimidate Rus' and Prince Demetrius. And we also ask you, O Tsar, both your servants, Oleg of Ryazan and Olgerd of Lithuania: we received a great insult from this Grand Duke Dimitri Ivanovich, and no matter how we, in our insult, threaten him with your royal name, he is not worried about it. And also, our lord king, he captured my city of Kolomna for himself - and about all this, oh king, we send you a complaint.”

And Prince Oleg Ryazansky soon sent another messenger with his letter, but the letter was written like this: “To the Grand Duke Olgerd of Lithuania - rejoice with great joy! It is known that for a long time you have been plotting against the Grand Duke Dimitri Ivanovich of Moscow in order to expel him from Moscow and take possession of Moscow yourself. Now, prince, our time has come, for the great Tsar Mamai is coming against him and his land. And now, prince, we will both join Tsar Mamai, for I know that the Tsar will give you the city of Moscow, and other cities that are closer to your principality, and he will give me the city of Kolomna, and Vladimir, and Murom, which are to my they are closer to the principality. I sent my messenger to Tsar Mamai with great honor and with many gifts, and you also sent your messenger, and what gifts you have, you sent to him, writing your letters, but you yourself know how, for more you understand me about that.”

Prince Olgerd of Lithuania, having learned about all this, was very happy at the great praise of his friend Prince Oleg of Ryazan and quickly sent an ambassador to Tsar Mamai with great gifts and gifts for the royal amusements. And he writes his letters like this: “To the great Eastern King Mamai! Prince Olgerd of Lithuania, who swore allegiance to you, begs you a lot. I heard, sir, that you want to punish your inheritance, your servant, the Moscow prince Dimitri, therefore I pray to you, free king, your servant: Prince Dimitri of Moscow inflicts a great insult on your ulus prince Oleg Ryazansky, and he also does great harm to me. Mister Tsar, free Mamai! May the power of your rule now come to our places, may your attention, O Tsar, turn to our suffering from the Moscow prince Dimitri Ivanovich.”

Oleg Ryazansky and Olgerd Lithuanian thought to themselves, saying this: “When Prince Dimitri hears about the arrival of the Tsar, and about his rage, and about our alliance with him, he will flee from Moscow to Veliky Novgorod, or to Beloozero, or to the Dvina, and we will land in Moscow and Kolomna. When the Tsar comes, we will meet him with great gifts and with great honor, and we will beg him, the Tsar will return to his possessions, and we, by the Tsar’s order, will divide the Principality of Moscow among ourselves - either to Vilna, or to Ryazan, and the Tsar will give us Mamai will give her labels to our descendants after us.” They didn’t know what they were planning and what they were saying, like foolish little children, ignorant of God’s power and God’s destiny. For it is truly said: “If someone has faith in God with good deeds and holds the truth in his heart and trusts in God, then the Lord will not betray such a person to his enemies for humiliation and ridicule.”

The Sovereign, Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich - a kind man - was a model of humility, he desired a heavenly life, expecting future eternal blessings from God, not knowing that his close friends were plotting an evil plot against him. The prophet said about such people: “Do not do evil to your neighbor and do not swarm, do not dig holes for your enemy, but trust in the Creator God, the Lord God can revive and kill.”

Ambassadors came to Tsar Mamai from Olgerd of Lithuania and Oleg of Ryazan and brought him great gifts and letters. The tsar accepted the gifts and letters favorably and, having heard the letters and ambassadors with respect, released him and wrote the following answer: “To Olgerd of Lithuania and Oleg of Ryazan. For your gifts and for your praise addressed to me, whatever Russian possessions you want from me, I will give you those. And you swear allegiance to me and quickly come to me and defeat your enemy. I don’t really need your help: if I wanted to now, then with my great strength I would conquer ancient Jerusalem, as the Chaldeans did before. Now I want to support you with my royal name and strength, and with your oath and your power, Prince Dmitry of Moscow will be defeated, and your name will become formidable in your countries through my threat. After all, if I, the king, have to defeat a king similar to myself, then it is right and proper for me to receive the royal honor. Now go away from me and convey my words to your princes.”

I would like to begin with the words of the outstanding Russian historian Georgy Vladimirovich Vernadsky:

“The Mongol period is one of the most significant eras in all of Russian history. The Mongols ruled over all of Rus' for about a century, and even after their power in Western Rus' was limited in the mid-fourteenth century, they continued to exercise control over Eastern Russia, albeit in a milder form, for another century. This was a period of profound changes in the entire political and social structure of the country, especially in Eastern Rus'. Directly or indirectly, the Mongol invasion contributed to the fall of the political institutions of the Kyiv period and the growth of absolutism and serfdom."

The vile Mongols brought serfdom to our native Rus'. True, for some reason serfdom with German roots was introduced, but that’s not about that now. We are talking about the Mongols themselves.

Vernadsky in this case personifies Russia’s global emergence into its current state with the depths of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. He emphasizes that all the institutions we have - social, legal, governmental and even religious - arose during the three-hundred-year stay of Rus' under the Mongols. In fact, everything we have, both good and bad, bears the imprint of the Mongolian heritage.

Serious statement! Really, how much more serious? Do Russians have the right to verify the veracity of such a statement? Of course they do. All and sundry. This is perhaps not even a right, but rather a duty. In front of our children, at least.

Are we all heirs to the Mongol order? After all, even in the very name “Mongol-Tatar yoke” there is some duality. So, after all, Mongolian or Tatar? If mostly Mongolian, then how much Tatar? And if exclusively Mongolian, then what does the Tatar have to do with it?

The issue of nationality, as we see, is primary. What kind of nationality underlies our current statehood? After all, if Genghis Khan, by general opinion, belongs more to the Mongols than to the Tatars, then, for example, with Mamai there is no such clarity. And with the troops commanded by Mamai, there is no longer any question of clarity. Is everything so transparent with our heredity?

Let's try to delve a little into this issue and, for simplicity, let's formulate it this way: what nationality did Mamai's troops belong to?

A. N. Sakharov: “In the center of the Mamai tumens there were hired armored soldiers. Percussion Mongolian the cavalry was located on the flanks." True, Sakharov no longer calls the “shock Mongol horseman” Chelubey, who rode out to fight Peresvet, not a Mongol, but more modestly, a Tatar.

L.V. Zhukova: “According to legend, the battle began with a duel between Alexander Peresvet and Temir-murkha, then Mongolian The cavalry attacked the Russian troops, and Mamai managed to achieve an advantage.”

N.M. Karamzin: “The blood of Christians and infidels was shed over a space of ten miles. The ranks were mixed: in some places the Russians were pressing Mughals, inde mughals Russians..."

It is noteworthy that a few lines earlier, Karamzin, in his fifth volume, clearly lists the nationalities that were part of the Mughal army. According to him, it consisted of Tatars, Polovtsians, Khazar Turks, Circassians, Yasses, Armenians, Crimean Genoese and Caucasian Jews.

Let them reproach us for anything, but in this place we laughed until we dropped. After all, it’s not every day that you come across the statement that the Mongol army consisted of Jews.

Having described in detail the nationalities of Mamaev's army, Karamzin obviously tried to imagine the big eyes of the Armenians, the Greek profiles of the Crimean Genoese and the curly sidelocks of the Caucasian Jews. Having lined up the imaginary warriors in one row, Karamzin cast aside doubts: “There can be no mistake, these are the real Mughals!” And he immediately wrote down, as we have already read: “Indeed the Russians, indeed mughals».

N.I. Kostomarov: “For ten miles the huge Kulikovo field was covered with soldiers. Blood flowed like torrents of rain; everything was mixed up, corpse fell on corpse, Russian body on Tatar, Tatar into Russian; there Tatar chased the Russian, there the Russian chased Tatar».

Kostomarov, carefully copying Karamzin, apparently also wrote “Mughals” at first, but after re-reading the detailed list of nationalities (also neatly torn), he began to get nervous. The honest guts of the historian could not unconditionally recognize the Turks and Armenians as “Mughals”.

What should I do? Leave everything as Karamzin did or enter into an argument with him? Is it a joke? I don’t agree with Karamzin himself!

During the day he walked more and more thoughtfully. At night he sobbed and woke up often. He walked for a long time from corner to corner, and only in the morning, after sipping cold cabbage soup, did he briefly fall into a restless sleep. Jumping up one day in the middle of the night, he couldn’t stand it and, shouting to his household: “What the hell are the Mughals of the Jews?!”, he began to cross out, cross out... and write “Tatars”, “Tatars” on top, and for the first time fell asleep peacefully.

Having read the corrected version in the morning, Kostomarov again winced, now at the poverty of Karamzin’s description of the great massacre. “Blood was shed” and then they were “pressed” - not much and not picturesque. Therefore, he decided to enhance the effect of the battle, as it seemed to him, and added: “the Russian body fell on the Tatar, the Tatar on the Russian.”

The picture of the carnage became noticeably livelier, but I wanted more. Without imagining exactly how battles actually take place, Kostomarov strained all his imagination. Perhaps the scene when “everyone is falling together” seemed erotic to him, so after imagining it, he thought: “Oh, it would be nice if they chased each other a little before they fell?” In the final version he wrote: “there a Tatar was chasing a Russian, there a Russian was chasing a Tatar.”

T. V. Chernikova: “...the battle was opened by a duel Tatar Chelubey and Russian Alexander Peresvet. Both heroes fell in the duel. Horde rushed forward...” Isn’t that more modest? Chelubey was a Tatar, and the rest were Horde. The Horde people - on the one hand, they seem to be Mongols, but on the other, they seem to be not Mongols. The Horde people are already closer to the Tatars, although not quite Tatars. They may not be Tatars at all. They can be anyone and nothing at the same time.

E. V. Pchelov: “Towards Horde The Russian monk Peresvet went to the warrior Chelubey. The horsemen rushed towards each other, collided and fell dead... Horde the Russian ranks were being pressed and pressed." Bees even dubbed Chelubey “a member of the Horde.” It's calmer this way.

V.I. Buganov: “Around noon the duel between Peresvet and Chelubey, Russian and Horde heroes who died in the battle gave the signal for battle. Horde forces dealt a terrible blow to the advanced regiment...” What a wonderful word “Horde”. How clearly it demonstrates the structure of the mind of professional historians.

P. G. Deinichenko: “Mamai recruited into his army Genoese And North Caucasian mercenaries." Deinichenko is undoubtedly a professional historian, but he stands out from the general environment: Mamai has only incomprehensible mercenaries. Where are the Mongols? Or, at worst, where are the Tatars?

A. O. Ishimova: “Meanwhile Pecheneg The giant Temir-Murza from Mamai’s army challenged one of the Russians to fight him one on one. Monk Peresvet rode out, they grabbed each other and both fell dead.” An unexpected turn in history. Chelubey turned out to be not only not a Mongol, but not even a Tatar. Chelubey turned out to be a Pecheneg and not Chelubey at all. He turned out to be Temir-Murza.

It seems that we have already killed you with the game of Mamaev’s nationalities. Although you can continue for quite a long time. The series of similar versions is very long.

Where does the diversity of opinions on seemingly simple issues come from? After all, all historians use practically the same sources. Copy to each other one after another - what could be easier? But this is the secret of the spread. The secret is (no matter how strange it may sound from our lips) that the historians who write, unfortunately, understand what they write. At first, taking the census “automatically” from each other offends them. Then they get used to it. Endures, falls in love. But during the trial, everyone involuntarily develops their own version of events, but how they act in this case is no longer a question of history, but of completely modern life.

Historians, including those whose opinions we have presented to you, draw their knowledge, or at least should do so, from primary sources, and in primary sources there is technically no diversity of opinions.

For example, while studying at the institute, all historians read “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamaev.” They received C's, B's, and some even A's. This, by the way, is the most authoritative evidence about the Battle of Kulikovo. In the 1987 edition it is presented as follows:

“The time of creation was mid-1381 - early 1382, it was revised at the beginning of the 15th century, during the compilation of the so-called Cyprian chronicle; came to us in several editions and numerous (about one hundred and fifty) lists. “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” most significant a work of the Kulikovo cycle of monuments of ancient Russian culture. This is not only the most thorough, unhurried, sedate narrative, filled with enormous inner strength and dignity, but also the most detailed description of the Battle of Kulikovo and preparations for it. A number of details in the description of the battle and facts related to the gathering and march of Russian troops, not found in other monuments of this cycle, indicate that author"Tales" was not only eyewitness-a participant in the battle itself, but was directly among those who were part of the grand ducal entourage and had wide access to information received at the princely headquarters.“This poem,” wrote V. T. Plaksin in 1883, “is not only not inferior to The Tale of Igor’s Campaign, but even surpasses it in some artistic merits.”

How does the most detailed, authoritative, significant and thorough narrative present us with the national composition of Mamai’s troops? Does it correspond to what historians wrote in their textbooks? Let's all read together:

“The great prince soon got up from the meal, and the Monk Sergius (of Radonezh) sprinkled him with sacred water and all his Christ-loving army... And he said: “Go, lord, to filthy Polovtsians…”».

Not only you and I noticed that St. Sergius sends Donskoy to filthy Polovtsians, historians have also read this many times.

“When Thursday, August 27th, came, the Grand Duke decided... And then he began to look at the miraculous image of the Lady Theotokos and said: “Don’t give up, Madam, our cities for destruction.” filthy Polovtsians, may they not desecrate the saints of your churches and the Christian faith... I know, madam, if you want, you will help us against our evil enemies, these filthy Polovtsians who do not call on your name."

“And he ordered the ambassador: “Tell my brother Prince Andrey: I am ready right now on your order, brother and master. How many of my troops there are are with me, because by God's providence we have gathered for the upcoming war with Danube Tatars. And also tell my brother: they say that Grand Duke Dmitry is already on the Don, because the evil ones want to wait there raw foodists”».

“Having finished the prayer and mounted his horse, he (Prince Dmitry) began to ride around the regiments with princes and governors and said to each regiment: “...Now, brothers, trust in the living God, since in the morning the filthy ones will not hesitate to come at us.” raw foodists”».

“The same wicked king (Mamai) ... and commanded to their filthy Polovtsians prepare for battle."

“Strong regiments were already approaching close to each other, and then the evil one rode out Pecheneg… Alexander Peresvet, a monk who was in Vladimir Vsevolodovich’s regiment, saw him and stepped out of the ranks...”

“...for the third hour, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth, Christians fight firmly and relentlessly with filthy Polovtsians».

« The filthy Polovtsians They saw their destruction, shouted in their own language, saying: “Alas for us, Rus' has outwitted us again...”

As is easy to see, there is not a single mention of the Mongols in the “Tale”, but from the point of view of “official” history, IT is a fundamental document. Significant and thorough. Naturally, each of the historians, like us, drew attention to “some discrepancies.” We thought, and they thought. From this moment the difference between US and THEM begins.

We present our version as we see it. And they are forced to adjust the version to “the vision of leading academicians.” With your own hands, “turn” your child’s head in the “positioned” direction (without paying attention to the neck). With a crunch, twist the joints in accordance with the wishes of the authorities. Twist your heels so that they “look” in the generally accepted direction. But what about it? This is the first sign of “professionalism” in history.

For us, history is insight into mystery. Painful searches and joys of finds. When we get closer to some solution, the hair on the back of our necks stands up, our senses become more acute, as if before a throw, and a pulse appears at our fingertips. We are grasping at the tail of this solution. It is thinner than a silk thread. Holding tightly, we begin to carefully pull him towards us. If it fails, this is the greatest disappointment. But you can't relax. You need to try to find this tail again and again. And again bring the solution to the surface. It happens, of course, that the tail turns out to be a mine fuse.

For THEM, history is, first of all, earnings, a career ladder, social status, and the admiring glances of female students. THIS IS THEIR goal. THIS IS THEIR life. Where professionalism begins in history, science ends. Therefore, rummaging through primary sources, archaeological reports and unearthing something new, they do not dare to give it a go. “Giving it a go” is fraught with danger. It is more profitable to “step on the throat of your own song” than to displease higher-ranking historians.

It looks something like this. The applicant comes running to his project manager, his hands are sweaty, his forehead is sweaty, his eyes are shining. The manager asks him:

- Well, how is your dissertation, Petya?

“So, Andrei Nikolaevich,” he says worriedly, “Mamai could not have had Mongol cavalry.” I've looked through everything. It doesn't work out at all. Nonsense.

- What, Petya, have you decided that you are smarter than everyone else? – the manager furrows his eyebrows.

- No, no, Andrei Nikolaevich. But it’s just... I... it doesn’t work out... it’s like... - Petya begins to realize that he went too far somewhere.

“What is more important to you, Petya, is an academic degree or some kind of cavalry?” - as the luminary of science asks before execution.

– Of course, an academic degree!

- Then look at me! Otherwise you’ll spend the rest of your life as a history teacher at school.

– What are you saying, Andrei Nikolaevich? You're not joking like that. I just took a pill. To hell with the cavalry. That's just me asking out of boredom.

– It’s good that you consult with your elders. But remember, all the paths in history have already been trodden before you. So get your bearings. And don't worry about the Mongol cavalry. If you don’t like Mongolian, write Horde. And there is nothing to complain about, and my conscience is clear.

– Thank you, Andrey Nikolaevich. I will definitely do so. I will not forget your age of kindness. I won’t feel sorry for your brother.

- Well, that's it. Learn while I'm alive.

Future candidate of science Petya is sadly leaving. Of course, an academic degree is the most important thing, but if you copy all your scientific works from your predecessors, and swallow your own thoughts along with tears of resentment, then how can you then consider yourself a real scientist? Somehow it turns out that he’s not real anymore. It's like it's make-believe. This was not what he dreamed of. This is not how I wanted to see myself in the future.

He has to get out of it: how not to stray too far from the truth, but at the same time not anger his superiors? How to become a big person and remain a person inside? How to combine a brave explorer and an obedient backbreaker? As a result of long painful thoughts and struggles with conscience, all kinds of “Horde members” are born. The Horde is an ordinary deal with conscience. Horde people seem to be about nothing, but at the same time NOT WRONG. After all, it’s CORRECT – it doesn’t necessarily suit everyone. CORRECT – he will definitely cross someone’s path. And when it’s NOT WRONG, it’s much more convenient. “The Horde” does not contradict anything, although it does not confirm anything. Over the years, one becomes less and less interested in where is RIGHT. Somehow the words TASTER, FATTERING become closer and more attractive.

Abundantly sated with degrees, titles, prizes, any individual wants a quiet, “well-deserved” rest. CORRECTLY and becomes completely dangerous. It can strike a blow to authority and make you look stupid and ridiculous. There's no time for jokes anymore. RIGHT turns into a mortal enemy. We have to enter into a decisive battle with HIM. So the former romantic and maximalist Petya is reborn into Andrei Nikolaevich. And the science of history, accordingly, is degenerating into a trash heap.

This is roughly how we found ourselves on opposite sides of the barricades with “professional” historians. They pleased the authorities, but they got the story wrong. Let's continue though.

If you don't suck it out of your finger, then further than Tatar-Polovtsy, Tatar-Pechenegs And Danube Tatars, it’s impossible to move forward. We don't reach Tatar-Mongols. There is not a word or a hint in the “Tale” about the Mongols.

We suggest not fooling yourselves into symptoms of persistent pathology. Everything is simple to the point of banality - there were no Mongols. If the troops and Mamai himself belonged to the Mongols, the author of the “Tale” would have written so – TO THE MONGOLS. Such a name must come up at least once during the story. And if it didn’t float up, it means there was nothing to float up. As Winnie the Pooh says, “Why would you buzz if you’re not a bee?”

Minimal descriptions of these troops could provide invaluable assistance in “discovering” the national composition of Mamaev’s troops. If the “Tale” had at least somehow noted the features of their clothing, weapons, customs, habits, etc., there would have been ground for some specific conclusions. But “The Tale” with its text does not give us a single clue, even the smallest one.

For what reasons are there no descriptions of Mamaev’s warriors? There can be only two reasons: either such descriptions were never there (although this seems unlikely to us), or they were subsequently removed by Christian chroniclers for reasons that obviously did not suit them. Maybe the “filthy Cumans” were too different from the Mongols in their appearance?

The absence of such descriptions does not allow us to draw conclusions about nationality with a sufficient degree of probability, so the religious affiliation of the characters remains the only indicator by which this can be determined. And the religious affiliation of the Mamaevites, presented in the “Tale,” indicates the national one very eloquently.

The name “filthy raw-eaters”, used in the “Tale” to designate Mamai’s troops, has no relation to the definition of nationalities, so we suggest returning to it a little later.

* * *

A. N. Sakharov: “For Mamai, the restoration of power and economic oppression over the Russian lands was of great importance... He wanted to approximately punish Rus' and return it under the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars.”

P. G. Deinichenko: “Mamai could not leave rebellious Rus' in the rear and decided to first oppose the Moscow prince.”

V.I. Buganov: “The Horde is preparing a new campaign. His goal is to bleed Rus' dry, make it an obedient vassal of the khans again, and undermine the growing power of Moscow.”

L.V. Zhukova: “The Horde seeks to prevent the strengthening of the power and authority of the Moscow prince.”

E.V. Pchelov: “Mamai began to prepare a new campaign against Rus'. He wanted to completely restore the power of the Golden Horde over the Russian land.”

T.V. Chernikova: “Mamai announced that he was heading in the footsteps of Batu to execute the obstinate slaves.”

N.I. Kostomarov: “Dmitry did not obey him; the Russians showed clear disdain for the Tatar power; This irritated Mamai to the extreme. He planned to teach the rebellious slaves a lesson, to remind them of the Batyevism, to put Rus' in such a position that for a long time it would not dare to think about liberation from the power of the khans.”

Regarding the reasons for Mamai’s campaign, the opinions of modern (and almost modern) historians agree. The main thing is to restore Rus'’s economic dependence on the Mongols and prevent the strengthening of the influence of the Moscow prince. The reasons are specific, understandable, and have economic and political properties. Well, great! It will be all the easier to compare with the reasons given by the author in “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamaev”:

“...by the delusion of the devil, a prince of an eastern country named Mamai arose, a pagan by faith, an idolater and an iconoclast, an evil persecutor of Christians. And the devil began to incite him against the Christian world, and his enemy taught him, how to ruin the Christian faith and desecrate holy churches…»

As we can see, there is no trace of economic or political motives in this passage. But maybe this is just the beginning? So to speak, a lyrical digression for the introduction.

“And the great prince Dmitry Ivanovich heard that the godless Tsar Mamai was approaching him with many hordes, tirelessly angry at Christians and the faith of Christ…»

“... the Grand Duke began to take comfort in God and called for firmness on his brother Prince Vladimir and all the Russian princes, saying: “Brothers, Russian princes, we are all from the family of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich of Kiev, to whom the Lord opened to know the Orthodox faith, like Eustathia Placis; He enlightened the entire Russian land with holy baptism, delivered us from the torment of paganism and commanded us to firmly hold and preserve that holy faith and fight for it. But I, brothers, for the faith of Christ want to suffer even to death." They answered him: “And we, sir, today are ready to die with you and lay down our heads for the holy Christian faith.”

St. Sergius, instructing Peresvet and Oslyaba: “Peace be with you, my brothers, fight firmly, like glorious warriors, for the faith of Christ and for all Orthodox Christianity with the filthy Polovtsians.

Perhaps we should give some explanations to the passages we quote from the “Tale,” since many words and names contain meaning that has been forgotten to modern man. So, “filthy” does not mean “bad” or “mushroom” at all. “Filthy” refers to religion. By “filthy” we are supposed to understand “pagans”.

At the very beginning, the author tells us in plain text that Mamai is precisely the “king of the pagans.” He also reports that Mamai is an idolater. And what is most unpleasant, one might even say terrible for a “history professor,” the author lists the gods whose idols Mamai worshiped. Here we discover not only a discrepancy between the chronicler’s data and modern historians. Here would-be historians will receive a blow below the belt, below the back, in the ears and in the tongue.

The author calls Mamaia the first of the gods Perun. Perun is a Slavic-Aryan god, whose idol Vladimir I (the baptist of Rus') threw down in Kyiv during the massacre of idols. Perun is the patron saint of the military squads of Rurik, Oleg, Igor, and Svyatoslav. They swore in his name when concluding state contracts. Also (from history) they were all opponents of Christianity (especially Svyatoslav).

However, according to official science, Mamai is a high-ranking official of the Golden Horde. Therefore, he could only be Muslim. According to the same science, in 1312 the Khan of the Horde with the wonderful Mongolian name Uzbek declared Islam the official religion.

Could Mamai, 68 years from the beginning of the official Islam of the Horde, profess a different religion? Excluded. For such things, not only would he not have been able to rise to the rank of temnik, he would not even have been allowed to be among devout Muslims.

Nevertheless, the author of the “Tale”, who for obvious reasons is not familiar with the research of modern historians, confidently calls Mamai a pagan, an idolater and accurately defines his commitment to the Slavic-Aryan gods. The second, by the way, the author calls the Aryan god Khorsa.

Who do you want to believe, Mamai’s contemporary or the monkey worshipers living 600 years after him? The answer is obvious.

The time has come to figure out who was called the “raw food eaters.” Nothing complicated. According to V. I. Dahl’s explanatory dictionary, raw food week is Maslenitsa, an ancient Slavic-Aryan holiday. That is, raw foodists are people who celebrate Maslenitsa, in other words, they recognize the Vedas. Again, you will agree, a strange name for the Mongol Horde and especially for Muslims.

Therefore, troops professing the Slavic-Aryan faith are advancing on Rus', or rather not on Rus', but on Moscow (modern people understand the differences between Moscow and Russia). And the motivation for the campaign started by Mamai does not contain economic or political norms. Even from the little that we have managed to cite, it is already clear that the motive is religious. “The Legend” cries out about the threat to the Christian faith. It is quite logical to assume that Mamai’s army consists of the descendants of the Slavs (Russians) who refused to be baptized in 988.

Previously, we spoke out that under the guise of the Mongol invasion lies the bloody history of the baptism of Rus'. Only truly professional historians, brave, independent researchers, who, we hope, will appear in our fatherland, will be able to establish this for certain. For now, unfortunately, the population of Russia is forced to be content with low-grade chewing gum supplied by monkey worshipers.

But let’s continue our acquaintance with the reasons for Mamaev’s campaign, described in the “Legend”. Will our assumptions be confirmed?

Grand Duchess Evdokia: “Don’t forbid, Lord, the destruction of surviving Christianity, and may Your holy name be glorified in the Russian land!”

It is impossible not to notice that the Grand Duchess admits the possibility of the death of Christianity in connection with the arrival of Mamai. And the expression “preserved Christianity” clearly indicates the real possibility of its destruction in the past. It is unlikely that such phrases were inserted into the “Tale” accidentally, thoughtlessly.

“Having heard this, Prince Oleg Ryazansky was frightened... “If I join the wicked king, then truly I will become like the former persecutor of the Christian faith, and then the earth will swallow me alive, like Svyatopolk.”

Oleg Ryazansky remembers Svyatopolk, at whose hands the champions of the faith, Saints Boris and Gleb, died (later we will dwell on this in detail), who was a persecutor of the Christian faith. And if he joins the troops of Mamai, he will also become a persecutor of the faith. Is it necessary to further comment on who Mamai is in the eyes of his ally Oleg Ryazansky? He does not call him either an enslaver or an invader, only persecutor of faith.

Andrey to his brother Dmitry: “...and even our father and Oleg Ryazansky joined the godless and persecute the Orthodox faith Christian... Let us get out, brother, from this oppressive weed and graft ourselves into the true fruitful grapes of Christ. cultivated by the hand of Christ."

Princes Andrei and Dmitry confirm that their father, having joined Mamai, pursues the goal of destroying the Christian faith. Not a word about anything else.

Further, how to understand their words: “Let us, brother, get out of this oppressive weed and graft ourselves into the true fruitful grapes of Christ”? “Let us be grafted into the true grapes of Christ” is clear here. This means: let us accept the Christian faith. But “we’ll get out” – where does that come from?

Undoubtedly, subsequent church chroniclers corrected the “Tale” to the best of their ability, but it is impossible to completely change the text. Then it will simply turn out to be a completely new story, a different “legend”, and no one will trust it. Therefore, there are uncorrected sections in the “Tale”, from which it is quite possible to restore the meaning of the original version.

The words “let’s get out, brother, from this crushing weed” contain a direct indication. The young princes Andrei and Dmitry belong to a religious movement that is different from the Christian one (since they are going to “get grafted” into the Christian one). We remind you that the year is 1380, that is, almost four hundred years have passed since the official baptism of Rus'.

Nevertheless, the chronicler openly reports that the princes do not belong to the Christian faith. Princes are not some kind of hermits in the forest who, hiding from people, protect some sacred covenant. Princes are the most public people. Princes live in plain sight. They communicate with the very top. Therefore, for some reason it was permissible for them and their father to belong to a non-Christian faith.

What faith can princes belong to? Undoubtedly, only to that which existed in Rus' before the adoption of Christianity. To the one for whom their father and Mamai are going to shed blood. To the one with which Christianity has been at war for four hundred years. In this case, we can only talk about the Slavic Vedas, designated by the ideologists of the Christian Church as paganism.

“When the great prince mounted the best horse, rode through the regiments and spoke in the great sadness of his heart, tears flowed from his eyes in streams: “My fathers and brothers, Fight for the sake of the Lord and the saints for the sake of the churches and the Christian faith, for this death is not death to us now, but eternal life; and, brothers, do not think about anything earthly, for we will not retreat, and then Christ the God and Savior of our souls will crown us with victorious crowns.”

When addressing the soldiers just before the start of the battle, the commanders usually inspired them by reminding them of the goal of the battle. If the war was aggressive, the commanders called for honor for themselves and glory for the prince. If defensive, then they called to fight for the land, for their wives, for their children. For example, the crusaders in Palestine died “for the glory of God,” and Soviet soldiers in the Great Patriotic War “for the Motherland.” Donskoy calls for fighting “for the sake of the churches” and the “Christian faith.” These words can only be understood as the need to defend the Christian religion, which is in mortal danger.

Probably, with these words of Dmitry Donskoy we can complete the study of the reasons for the Battle of Kulikovo, listed in “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamaev.”

We presented a small part of them. The rest of the statements and calls are fully consistent with these. All of them, and especially the appeal to the army, indicate a desire to defend only the Christian religion. No other appeals, like “For the Russian land. For the happiness of the Russian people. Let us not allow ourselves to be enslaved. Death to the aggressor”, not in “The Legend”. The Legend does not confirm the existence of economic or political reasons for Mamaia’s campaign. All this constitutes the immutable, precise facts that scientists love to rely on.

Naturally, any war has political and economic consequences. We strongly emphasize - consequences. As a result of military actions, power, territories, and material wealth change. Naturally, the above applies to the categories of politics and economics. But these are consequences. Causes and consequences are different things. Simply, they can be called desires and reality. Desires are what people want to fulfill. For the sake of their desires, they are ready to work, go into battle and make sacrifices. Moreover, they are ready to sacrifice not only others, but also themselves. But reality is what actually happened after people worked, went into battle and made sacrifices. And this reality sometimes turns out to be completely opposite to the desires for which everything was started.

A simple example: the knights captured Jerusalem and established themselves politically in the East - this is a consequence. They were actually going to “liberate” the Holy Sepulcher.

It happened, of course, the other way around. Nefertiti and her husband Akhenaten managed to push aside the traditional god Amun and replace his cult with the cult of the god Aten. As a result, Akhenaten became the Egyptian pharaoh, and Nefertiti the most influential woman of the Ancient World.

Note that in both cases the driving force was the religious feelings of the vast masses of people, and not politics or economics.

The National Socialist Party of Germany under the leadership of Hitler, as we remember, did not begin its rise with improving the living conditions of the working people. She began with the fact that in one night in 1938, 267 synagogues were destroyed in Germany. Synagogues, as we understand it, do not resemble warehouses and factories.

The number of victims of St. Bartholomew's Night of 1572 ultimately exceeded 30,000 Huguenots. As a result of the death of thousands of opponents of Catholicism, Catherine de Medici managed to prevent a war between France and Spain, and her sworn enemies Henry of Navarre and Henry of Condé, having forcibly converted to Catholicism, forever lost their influence among the Huguenots. There have been enormous political achievements. But the Parisian Catholics, maddened by blood, slaughtering the Huguenots without exception, were completely unaware of such consequences. Catholics were driven solely by religious feelings. They slaughtered the Huguenots for their own benefit in the afterlife. The religious feelings of thousands of people were the driving force behind this historical process. The power of religious feelings is a power that historians try not to notice or even reject.

Professional historians with enviable stubbornness ignore one more point - the order that Mamai gives to the Horde: “Let not one of you plows bread, get ready for Russian bread!”

Oops! Mamai's warriors plow the land and grow grain crops. Could this apply to nomads? No, he can not. Moreover, such treatment is not suitable not only for the Mongols, but also for any nomads in general. Nomads are nomads for that reason, so as not to cultivate the land. It is quite understandable why historians try with all their might not to notice this order. It directly indicates that there were no nomads in Mamai’s army.

Maybe it was Mamai who asked the Genoese mercenaries not to sow grain? Who then are these Genoese mercenaries? Judging by the fact that the mercenaries were not going to work at home at their place of registration, this is, by all indications, a student detachment who came to earn extra money during the holidays. Although again there is a problem. At that time, students were not yet involved in work practice.

If these are not nomads or university interns, then to whom does Mamai turn with such an order? Who are these mysterious people who are engaged in growing bread on the Don? It seems to us that these are ordinary Rus, but historians say that these are Genoese and Mongols. Let the reader decide for himself who is right here.

Two simple things - the fact that Mamai’s army grows bread and prays to the Slavic-Aryan gods, completely crosses out the piles of historical dissertations and other academic nonsense that appear under the guise of scientific perfection.

Naturally, these same simple things completely reject the version of the “Tale” itself that Dmitry Donskoy is fighting with the “filthy Polovtsy”, because according to the “Tale” he is fighting precisely with them. Yes, they reject it. It is not only the Cumans who are rejected. They reject the Pechenegs, the Danube Tatars, the Mongols and in general everyone like them. They reject it for one simple reason:

THERE WERE NO CUMANS AND THEM SIMILAR IN THE “LEGAL” ORIGINALLY!

Initially, in the “Tale” there were only “filthy” (without the Polovtsians), which means “pagans,” and there were “raw food eaters,” which again means “pagans.”

By the way, we came across an indirect refutation on this issue out of nowhere... Alexander Bushkov insists that the “filthy” are not necessarily pagans. In his book “The Russia That Wasn’t” he writes about it like this:

“...I quote the entire phrase: “...and the Pechersk Monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos was set on fire filthy…»

Looting and setting fire to Kyiv, including monasteries and churches, filthy The Pechersky Monastery was also set on fire. But excuse me, in the army of Andrei Bogolyubsky, ravaging Kyiv, there is not a single “non-Christ” (nomad. - Note Bushkova) or other “steppe man”. Only Russian warriors of the eleven princes!

The conclusion is clear: in a word filthy in Rus' they sometimes called not only nomads of other faiths, but also simply “the enemy.” Which was very often the same Russians, a fellow Christian. Therefore, other messages like “the filthy swooped in and burned the city” should certainly be interpreted as attacks neighbors, « out-of-towners", the same Slavs».

No, dear Alexander! You were confused by the fact that the Slavs and Russians were called filthy. But this is where the whole trick lies. This is the stove from which you should dance. A huge number of Slavs of Rus' (most likely a larger number at first) who did not accept baptism were, in the words of the churchmen, real pagans, that is nasty.

Yes, they were Russians, Slavs, neighbors, non-residents, opponents, but they were not Christians. Therefore, you correctly noted: “We have been taught to believe that the mention of the word “filthy” in the chronicles certainly means a message about nomadic “infidels.”

It is in this, and only in this sense, that historians force us to accept this name. Therefore, the non-Christian Slavs automatically fall out of the concept of “filthy”. But this is huge key misconception.

The filthy ones are the Slavs of Rus' with weapons in their hands who opposed Christianization. When, in later centuries, ancient legends began to be “sharpened” to fit the “necessary versions” and “Poganye”, “Tatars”, etc. were added to the word “filthy”, “filthy” acquired a semantic designation of the enemy. And since all the ancient texts (with the exception of one) underwent ideological processing in the “church workshop”, the purpose of the “enemy” was fixed as the main one. But the original meaning of the word “filthy” is still “pagans”.

This cup did not pass our “Tale” either, since the Polovtsians were the first to “cast” for the role of the enemy. The mention of the Polovtsians is an initial sluggish attempt to blame someone for the introduction of Christianity in Rus' through “fire and sword.” Churchmen did not yet know about the existence of the Mongols in the 14th–15th centuries. The Mongols, it seems, at that time also did not suspect anything like this about themselves. Therefore, the Polovtsians were the first to turn up as “brutalized non-Christian nomads.”

In these same centuries, the myth of the “atrocities” of the Polovtsians was created and persistently maintained. Real atrocities carried out by the baptists of Rus' (by the way, not only Russians by nationality) are disguised as Polovtsians. To be convinced of this, it is enough to take the primary sources of the so-called ancient Russian literature and read them. Although this is actually what we are doing.

The primary sources are replete with Polovtsy, and mind you - filthy Polovtsy. There are no filthy Polovtsians in ancient stories.

But over time, the Polovtsy become ordinary residents of Rus'. The name of the nationality changes a little, the geographical habitats change a little, but everything is easily recognizable and computable. And if you question these people carefully, it could well turn out that these people did not do anything like that. And someone else did the work, quite famous and painfully familiar.

It would be possible, of course, to destroy all these Polovtsians as a people, such a practice took place in history, but the trouble is! The top of Rus' - the princely families - turned out to be simply tied with Polovtsian blood. Blood in the good sense of the word. No matter what Russian prince you spit on, he’s half Polovtsian. Anyone who leafed through history even a little should have constantly come across messages like: Svyatopolk II Izyaslavich was married to the daughter of the Polovtsian khan Tugorkan; Princess of Polotsk, not Polovtsian! Mstislav Udaloy, son-in-law of the Polovtsian Khan Kotyan, etc.

Former Polovtsian princesses (daughters of Polovtsian khans), marrying Russian princes, become “Russian princesses”, and their children are Russian by blood. Who should destroy whom now?

It became completely impossible to further blame “atrocities” on the Polovtsians, since this directly affected the royal families. The Polovtsians urgently needed to be transformed into someone. The Polovtsians were transformed into Tatars during the play. By the way, the Tatars, with their cruel actions, contributed greatly to the emergence of the “Tatar” version. Nevertheless, the Tatars, having become ordinary residents of Rus' over time, ceased to suit the “leadership”. Then the need arose for “a people about which no one knows exactly who they are and where they came from, and what their language is, and what tribe they are, and what faith they are.”

At the beginning of the second half of the millennium, many tribes could fit such parameters, but it was necessary to stop at some. In principle, having worked out the “legend” well, they fit the Mongols under the “unknown” people. For several centuries, the Mongolian “version” coped admirably with the task assigned to it, but at the end of the twentieth century it began to fail.

The basis for the existence of this version was the closedness of sources, lack of information about Mongolia, and complete language barriers. The information explosion of the end of the twentieth century knocked out the foundation from under the Mongolian “version”, like a stool from under a hangman, and the Internet will fulfill the duties of the “gravedigger of the Mongolian farce.”

When every person had the opportunity to receive almost any information without getting up from the ottoman, “inaccessibility and closedness” ceased their earthly existence. It is now impossible for historians to pose as keepers of knowledge and holders of secrets, as they did twenty years ago.

It must be added that any version of prohistorics has one weak point. As convinced monkey worshipers, they are very limited in their ability to understand the inner world of man and cannot (and do not try) to comprehend the extent of the influence of religion on people. When they encounter descriptions of religious cults, they try to quickly “skip through” these incomprehensible places.

Even pretending to be sentimental and respectful, they are still unable to hide their true attitude towards people professing any religion. All the same, between the lines they burst out: “Well, what can we take from these? Just stupid, retarded people. They believe in fairy tales, you fools! There really is no God!”

Their own perception of the world does not allow them to assume that entire peoples and ethnic groups deliberately went to their deaths in defense of their religious beliefs. In fact, they are not given this. Therefore, they are categorically against the assertion that religion is as significant a factor in history as politics and economics.

And when it comes to the pre-Christian religious cult of the Rus, it is generally impossible to make out who they are describing: our ancestors or an ancient mental hospital?

This applies not only to modern “professionals”. This disease has been around for many years. Here are excerpts from Kostomarov:

“Their religion (Slavic-Russian tribes) consisted of adoration of nature, recognition of the thinking human power behind objects and phenomena of external nature, worship of the sun, sky, water, earth, wind, trees, birds, stones, etc. and in various fables, beliefs, festivals and rituals created on the basis and established on the basis of this adoration of nature (you must agree, Kostomarov is describing ordinary sentimental idiots). Their religious ideas were partly expressed in the form of idols; but they had neither temples nor priests, and therefore their religion could not have signs of ubiquity and immutability.”

Everyone needs to be extremely aware of: this mandrake is the basis and support of Russian history.

Kostomarov’s contemporary A. O. Ishimova also once took the trouble to describe the religion of our “stupid” ancestors. I dedicated a few lines to this:

“...All nations before Christianity had special people who did nothing but serve idols and make sacrifices to them. They were called priests. Everything that was brought to the idols went to them: it was more profitable for them that idolatry would remain.

But the Slavs, fortunately, did not have priests; but they had sorcerers. The Finns had especially many such sorcerers. The sorcerers went against the faith of Christ, of course, also because paganism was more profitable for them. The pagans believed that the gods loved sorcerers and revealed to them the future and other hidden affairs and things. Well, a Christian knows that a sorcerer is either an enemy of God or a simple deceiver.”

Have you noticed that the Christian here is much smarter than the ordinary Slav. Obviously, such an unexpected effect “according to Ishimova” happens to a person during baptism. I went into church as a moron, a victim of scammers, and an hour later I came out absolutely smart and educated. Isn't it convenient?

But it is not entirely clear with the expression “a sorcerer is either an opponent of God or a simple deceiver.” So is he an opponent of God or a deceiver? These are completely different things. And then for some reason Ishimova lumped everything into one pile. And at the same time she did not bother herself with any evidence or examples.

We can imagine what kind of confusion pagans, sorcerers, deceivers, swindlers, worshiping bushes and swamp hummocks can create in their heads. Perhaps the reader gets the impression that we are engaged in “grinding” some kind of nonsense? No, dear reader. We are discussing the most scientific foundations of the science of history. And the fact that they are too reminiscent of “not fully digested food” is not our fault.

Moreover. This section of history has been deliberately turned into a “mash” by historians, since such an attribute as religious cults makes it possible to penetrate into the deep essence of history itself. Knowing the motives that move people at one stage or another, we will be able to comprehend the meaning of historical processes. And this just cannot be allowed. This is dangerous for them!

The views, beliefs, thoughts, desires of our ancestors were distorted from century to century. At the moment, most of the Slavs see their ancestors as truly underdeveloped, feeble-minded half-humans. Perhaps it would be quite appropriate to give a description of the ritual of the pagans, narrated by the official for special assignments under the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Bubentsov, from the work of art by B. Akunin “Pelagia and the White Bulldog”. The work, of course, has no historical value, but it fully conveys the perception of Slavic paganism by modern people.

“Recently, a rumor has spread among the forest dwellers that soon the god Shishiga, who has slept on a cloud for many centuries, will sail along the Heavenly River on a sacred boat, and it will be necessary to treat him with his favorite food so that Shishiga does not become angry. And this same Shishiga’s favorite food, as is clear from the chronicle, is human heads. Hence my assumption that Shishiga has already arrived and is damn hungry.

We already know from reliable people how the murder ritual is arranged. At night, Shishigi’s servants sneak up behind a lonely traveler, throw a bag over his head, tighten a rope around his neck and drag him into the bushes or other secluded place, so that the unfortunate person cannot even scream. There they cut off his head, throw his body into a swamp or water, and take the bag of loot to the temple.”

How much closer and clearer to us after such descriptions is Friday from Robinson Crusoe with his relatives. No fancy talk or ranting. People were killed exclusively for dinner and lunch. Purely for gourmet reasons. Everything is simple and clear: “They wanted to eat and ate Cook.” Decorously and nobly. No tricks with idols, sorcerers, worship. In our own way, in a simple way. Unlike the example: both more honest and cordial.

One thing calms me down. With the rate of birth rate as it is now, in the foreseeable future, Friday’s descendants will “dissolve” the Slavic ethnicity within themselves, and then our “already common” grandchildren will have the opportunity not to be proud.” their"ancestors, but, in any case, do not be embarrassed by them.

Reads in 8 minutes

The beginning of the story about how God granted victory to the sovereign Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich across the Don over the filthy Mamai and how, through the prayers of the Most Pure Mother of God and Russian miracle workers, Orthodox Christianity - God exalted the Russian land, and put the godless Hagarians to shame.

The prince of the eastern country Mamai, a pagan and an evil persecutor of Christians, decides, at the instigation of the devil, to go to the Russian land. Prince Oleg Ryazansky, Mamai’s protege, and Prince Olgerd of Lithuania, who also swore allegiance to Mamai, having learned about this, send ambassadors to Mamai with rich gifts and declare their readiness to join his army, for they hope that Mamai will give Olgerd Moscow and nearby cities, and Oleg Ryazansky Kolomna, Vladimir and Murom. Oleg and Olgerd are confident that Prince Dmitry Ivanovich of Moscow will not dare to oppose Mamai and will run away from Moscow, leaving his lands to the enemy. Having heard that Mamai with a countless army is approaching Rus', Prince Dmitry sends to Borovsk for his brother, Prince Vladimir Andreevich, as well as for all the Russian princes, governors and servicemen. Prince Dmitry tells Metropolitan Cyprian that he had not done anything wrong to Mamai and paid him tribute, as agreed and even beyond that. Cyprian advises the prince to humble himself and send Mamai as much gold as he has, and if Mamai goes to war against Rus' after that, he will be struck down by the Lord himself, who opposes the daring and helps the humble.

Prince Dmitry listens to the advice and sends Zakhary Tyutchev to meet Mamai, giving him a lot of gold. However, Zakhary, having reached Ryazan, learns that princes Oleg Ryazansky and Olgerd of Lithuania have joined Mamai, and secretly sends a messenger to Dmitry with this news. The prince informs Metropolitan Cyprian about everything and calls upon soldiers from all over the Russian land to come to Kolomna for the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God. Prince Dmitry himself, together with his brother and all the Russian princes, goes to the life-giving Trinity, to his spiritual father, the Venerable Elder Sergius. He sprinkles him with water, consecrated from the relics of the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus, and tells him so that no one can hear that the prince will defeat the enemy. At the request of the prince, Abbot Sergius gives him two warriors from the monastic brethren - Alexander Peresvet and Andrei Oslyabyu.

The prince returns to Moscow and, appearing before Metropolitan Cyprian, secretly informs him that Elder Sergius predicted victory over the enemy for him and blessed the entire Orthodox army. Having blessed the prince for the campaign against the Tatars, the Metropolitan sends a holy cathedral with crosses, holy icons and blessed water to the Frolovsky, Nikolsky and Konstantin-Eleninsky gates, so that every warrior comes out of them blessed and sprinkled with holy water.

Having reached Kolomna, the prince distributes the regiments, appoints a governor for them and, having received a blessing from the Archbishop of Kolomna Gerontius, crosses the Oka River with the entire army, in prayer calling for help to his relatives, the holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb. Princes Oleg Ryazansky and Olgerd Lithuanian, having learned that Prince Dmitry with a large army is going to the Don against Mamai, begin to doubt the success of Mamai’s campaign: they are in no hurry to join his army and are waiting for the outcome of the battle. At the same time, princes Andrei Polotsky and Dmitry Bryansky, Olgerdovichs, unloved by their father because of their stepmother and who received holy baptism, learn that the Tatars are going to Rus' and decide to join the Orthodox army of Prince Dmitry.

The prince, rejoicing, sent news to Metropolitan Cyprian in Moscow that the Olgerdovichs had come to him with their troops, but had left their father. Prince Dmitry consults with his brother Vladimir and the Olgerdovichs whether he should cross the Don or not. They convince him that if he wants a solid army, then he must cross the Don, because then no one will have the thought of retreating. The Russian army is crossing the Don, and scouts report that the Tatars are already close and know that Prince Dmitry has gathered large forces against them. The prince travels through the regiments with the governors and calls on the soldiers to stand up for Rus' and the Orthodox faith, not sparing their lives.

On the night of the luminous feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Thomas Katsibey, the robber whom Prince Dmitry distinguished for his courage and placed on the Churov River to protect him from the Tatars, is awarded a wondrous vision. God, wanting to correct Thomas, shows him how a large cloud is moving from the east, as if some troops were going to the west, and from the south two young men come in light purple robes, with shining faces and holding sharp swords in their hands. The young men menacingly demand an answer from the leaders of the army, asking them who allowed them to attack their fatherland, and they are all cut down with swords, so that not a single enemy is saved. The next morning, Thomas tells the prince about his vision and from then on becomes prudent and believes in God.

Prince Dmitry sends his brother Prince Vladimir along with Dmitry Volynets up the Don to the oak grove so that they hide there with their regiments. And on the eighth day of September, on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at dawn, both armies, Russian and Tatar, face each other on the Kulikovo field. The earth groans terribly, predicting a thunderstorm, and the Kulikovo field sags, and the rivers overflow their banks, for there has never been such a countless number of people in that place. A messenger from the Venerable Elder Sergius gives the prince letters of blessing and a loaf of bread from the Most Pure Mother of God, and the prince loudly offers a prayer to the Holy Trinity and the Mother of God and asks for their help and intercession. Then the prince, contrary to all persuasion, mounts his horse and stands in front of his warriors to fight in the front ranks. It's three o'clock in the afternoon.

An evil Pecheneg five fathoms tall emerges from the Tatar army, and from the Russian side, at the behest of Abbot Sergius, the monk Alexander Peresvet, armed with a schema, emerges. They rush at each other, hit with spears and both fall from their horses dead. Prince Dmitry calls on his warriors to show their courage, and both troops converge and the battle begins.

At seven o'clock the Tatars begin to prevail. Prince Vladimir, hiding with his soldiers in the oak grove, tries to come out to help his brother, but Dmitry Volynets holds him back, saying that it is not time yet. When the eighth hour comes, their fresh forces attack the Tatars, and they cannot withstand the onslaught and flee from the battlefield. Mamai calls on his gods: Perun, Salavat, Rakliya, Khors and his accomplice Mohammed, but he receives no help from them. He runs away and manages to escape pursuit.

Thus, Prince Dmitry defeated the Tatars by the grace of God and the Most Pure Mother of God and the help of Saints Boris and Gleb, whom Thomas Katsibey saw. Prince Dmitry is found in an oak grove, beaten and wounded, and he orders the soldiers to bury their comrades so that Christian bodies do not become the prey of wild animals.

The Russian army stands on the battlefield for eight days while the soldiers bury their loved ones. And Mamai returns to his land, gathers his remaining forces and wants to go to war against Rus' again, but finds out that Tsar Tokhtamysh is coming against him from the east. Tokhtamysh defeats Mamai's army on Kalka, Mamai escapes to Kafa, hiding his name, but he is identified and killed. Olgerd, having heard about the glorious victory of Prince Dmitry, returns to his possessions in shame. Oleg Ryazansky, fearing that Prince Dmitry will send his army against him, runs away from his estate, and when the Ryazan people beat the Grand Duke with his forehead, he imprisons his governors in Ryazan.

Retold

“The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” is the most extensive monument of the Kulikovo cycle. It contains the most detailed account of the battle. The "Legend" describes the preparations for the campaign, the route of the Russian army through Kolomna to the Kulikovo field. The names of the princes who took part in the battle are listed, and the Russians crossed the Don. Only from the “Tale” do we learn that the outcome of the battle was decided by the regiment of Prince Vladimir Serpukhovsky: he was in ambush and, with an unexpected attack from the flanks and rear, inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy. From the monument we also learn that Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich was wounded and found unconscious after the battle.

The main character of "The Legend" is Dmitry Donskoy, because this is not only a military story telling about campaigns and battles, but also a work praising the Grand Duke of Moscow. The author portrays the prince as a wise and courageous commander, emphasizing his military valor and courage.

The chronicler uses the technique of opposition. If Prince Dmitry is the embodiment of the bright principle, his actions are guided by God, then Mamai personifies darkness and evil, behind him stands the devil. “Russian daredevils set out with their sovereign, with Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich,” “like falcons fell from golden stocks from the stone city of Moscow and flew up into the blue skies,” the author writes about the Russians. He calls Mamai “filthy.” He “gnashes” his teeth, cries bitterly, runs from the battlefield, trying to “carry away his head.” And “he could not bear that he was defeated, disgraced and desecrated.” “And he began to get angry again, flying into a terrible rage and plotting new evil on the Russian land, like a roaring roar and like an insatiable viper” 1 .

The role of visions in the Tale is significant. So, on the night before the battle, on the eve of the bright holiday of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich and Dmitry Volynets go to the battle site and listen to the Tatar and Russian camps. “The autumn then dragged on and still brought joy with bright days, and that night it was very warm and very quiet, and fogs rose from the dew. For truly the prophet said: “The night is not bright for the unbelievers, but for the faithful it is enlightened.” Russian warriors from the Tatar side hear a loud knock, and “blades, and a cry” as if “great thunder is roaring”, “wolves are howling menacingly”, “crows are cawing and the hubbub of birds”, “swans are splashing their wings, foreshadowing an unprecedented thunderstorm”. These signs foreshadow a “terrible thunderstorm.” And on the Russian side there is “great silence,” and only many fiery dawns rise. The prince and his warrior see this as a good omen. They trust in the mercy of God, in the prayer of the holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb for a favorable outcome of the battle: “With the Lord God everything is possible: the breath of all of us is in his hands!”

The heroic nature of the events depicted in the "Tale" is associated with the author's appeal to oral traditions about the Massacre of Mamaev. These include the episode of single combat between the monk of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery of Peresvet and the Tatar hero Temirmurza before the start of the battle.

The Tatar boasted of his valor in front of everyone; he looked like the “ancient Goliath”: “his height is five fathoms and his width is three fathoms.” “And Alexander Peresvet, a monk who was in the regiment of Vladimir Vsevolodovich, saw him, and, stepping out from the ranks, said: “This man is looking for someone like himself, I want to talk to him!” And he had a helmet on his head, like an archangel’s, he was armed with a schema at the behest of Abbot Sergius... and rushed at the Pecheneg and exclaimed: “Hegumen Sergius, help me with prayer!..” And they hit hard with spears, almost the ground broke under them, and both fell from their horses to the ground and died "2.

The author also describes the battle with emotional expressiveness: “And both great forces came together menacingly, fighting hard, brutally destroying each other, not only from weapons, but also from the terrible crowding under the horse’s hooves, they gave up the ghost, for it was impossible to fit everyone on that Kulikovo field.” 3.

The “Tale” depicts “bloody dawns”, “flashing lightning” from the brilliance of swords, “crackling and great thunder” from broken spears.

Prince Dmitry Ivanovich, seeing “traces of the great massacre,” cried for his army, “exclaiming from the pain of his heart, and shedding tears: “Brothers, Russian sons, princes and boyars, and governors, and boyar servants! The Lord God has judged you with such a death.” die. You laid down your heads for the holy churches and for Orthodox Christianity"" 3.

The influence of oral folk art is manifested in the author’s use of certain visual means, which go back to the techniques of folk poetry. Russian warriors are compared to falcons and gyrfalcons. The cry of Grand Duchess Evdokia at the moment of farewell to the prince, leaving Moscow for battle, can be regarded as a reflection of folklore. “The Great Princess, Evdokia,” writes the author, “... went up to her golden-domed mansion on the embankment and sat down on the locker under the glass windows. For this is the last time she sees the Grand Duke, shedding tears like a river flow. With great sadness, pressing his hands to his chest, he says: “Lord my God, the Almighty Creator, look at my humility, deign me, Lord, to see again my sovereign, the most glorious among people, Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich. Help him, Lord, with your firm hand to defeat those who have come out.” the filthy Polovtsians are attacking him” 4.

"The Legend" is imbued with patriotic pathos and glorifies the victory of the Grand Duke and Russian soldiers.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1. Name the historical events that contributed to the emergence of the theme of the Battle of Kulikovo in ancient literature.
2. Read an excerpt from "The Tale".
3. Briefly summarize the content.
4. How is Prince Dmitry Donskoy depicted? What qualities does he represent? What feelings does the prince show towards his soldiers? Give examples of his experiences after the great massacre.
5. How and for what purpose does the author use the technique of contrast in the depiction of Dmitry and Mamai?
6. What is the influence of oral folk art on the story?
7. What is the artistic function of visions? What role does the author assign to them?

The Battle of the Ice and other “myths” of Russian history Bychkov Alexey Alexandrovich

"The Tale of Mamaev's Massacre"

"The Tale of Mamaev's Massacre"

The main monument of the Kulikovo cycle - “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” - was first published in 1829. This was a version of the Main Edition of “The Tale ...”, conventionally called “Printed” (since this version was printed for the first time), which is distinguished by an abundance of borrowings from "Zadonshchina." This publication first of all attracted attention because in the printed monument not only individual words, but also entire phrases and phrases coincided with “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”

What is “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamaev” about?

The pagan prince Mamai, with the permission of the Lord, decided to conquer Christians.

“By God’s permission, for our sins, through the delusion of the devil, a prince of an eastern country named Mamai, a pagan by faith, an idolater and iconoclast, an evil persecutor of Christians, arose. And the devil began to incite him, and the temptation against the Christian world entered his heart, and his enemy taught him how to ruin the Christian faith and desecrate the holy churches, because he wanted to subjugate all Christians to himself, so that the name of the Lord would not be glorified among the faithful to the Lord. The Lord is our God, king and creator of all things, whatever He wishes, He will do.”

And that godless one Mamai envied King Batu, but decided not to plunder Rus', but to seize and settle in Russian cities on a par with Russian nobles. “We will live quietly and serenely.”

And he crossed from the left bank of the Volga to the right bank.

And he came to the mouth of the Voronezh River, where he decided to stay until the fall.

The poverty of mind was in the head of Prince Oleg Ryazansky, he sent his son to the godless Mamai with great honor and with many gifts and wrote his letters to him like this:

“To the Eastern great and free king, Tsar Mamai, rejoice! Your protege, Oleg, Prince of Ryazan, who swore allegiance to you, begs you a lot. I heard, sir, that you want to go to the Russian land, against your servant, Prince Dimitri Ivanovich of Moscow, to frighten him. Now, lord and bright king, your time has come: the land of Moscow is overflowing with gold, and silver, and many riches, and with all sorts of valuables, your possession is needed. And Prince Dmitry of Moscow is a Christian man, as soon as he hears the word of your rage, he will flee to his distant borders: either to Novgorod the Great, or to Beloozero, or to the Dvina, and the great wealth of Moscow and gold - everything will be in your hands and your army will I will require it. But your power will spare me, your servant, Oleg Ryazansky, O Tsar: for you, I greatly intimidate Rus' and Prince Dmitry. And we also ask you, O Tsar, both of your servants, Oleg of Ryazan and Olgerd of Lithuania: we received a great insult from this Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, and no matter how we, in our insult, threaten him with your royal name, he is not worried about it . And also, our lord king, he captured my city of Kolomna for himself - and about all this, oh king, we send you a complaint.”

Kolomna. Drawing of Olearius

And Prince Oleg Ryazansky soon sent another messenger with his letter, and it is written in the letter like this: “To the Grand Duke Olgerd of Lithuania - rejoice with great joy! It is known that for a long time you have been plotting against Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich of Moscow in order to expel him from Moscow and take possession of Moscow yourself. Now, prince, our time has come, for the great Tsar Mamai is coming against him and his land. Now, prince, we will both join Tsar Mamai, for I know that the Tsar will give you the city of Moscow, and other cities that are closer to your principality, and he will give me the city of Kolomna, and Vladimir, and Murom, which are to my principality stand closer. I sent my messenger to Tsar Mamai with great honor and with many gifts, and you also sent your messenger, and what gifts you have, you sent to him, writing your letters, but you yourself know how, for more you understand me about that.”

Prince Olgerd of Lithuania, having learned all this, was very pleased with the high praise of his friend Prince Oleg of Ryazan, and he quickly sent an ambassador to Tsar Mamai with great gifts and gifts for the royal amusements. And he writes his letters like this:

“To the Eastern great king Mamai! Prince Olgerd of Lithuania, who swore allegiance to you, asks you very much. I heard, sir, that you want to punish your inheritance, your servant, Prince Dmitry of Moscow, therefore I pray to you, free king, your servant, that Prince Dmitry of Moscow inflicts a great insult on your ulus prince Oleg Ryazansky, and also causes me a lot of harm. Mister Tsar free Mamai! May the power of your rule now come to our places, may your attention, O Tsar, turn to our suffering from the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich.”

Oleg Ryazansky and Olgerd Lithuanian thought to themselves, saying this: “When Prince Dmitry hears about the arrival of the Tsar, and his rage, and about our alliance with him, he will flee from Moscow to Veliky Novgorod, or to Beloozero, or to the Dvina, and we will land in Moscow and Kolomna. When the Tsar comes, we will meet him with great gifts and with great honor and beg him, and the Tsar will return to his possessions, and we will divide the Principality of Moscow, at the Tsar’s command, among ourselves - either to Vilna, or to Ryazan, and the Tsar will give us Mamai will give her labels to our descendants after us.” They didn’t know what they were planning and what they were saying, like foolish little children, ignorant of God’s power and God’s destiny. For it is truly said: “If someone has faith in God with good deeds and holds the truth in his heart and trusts in God, then the Lord will not betray such a person to his enemies for humiliation and ridicule.”

Ambassadors came to Tsar Mamai from Olgerd of Lithuania and Oleg of Ryazan and brought him great gifts and messages. The king accepted the gifts and letters with love and, having heard the letters and ambassadors with respect, released him and wrote the following answer:

“Olgerd of Lithuania and Oleg of Ryazan. For your gifts and for your praise addressed to me, whatever Russian possessions you want from me, I will give you those. And you give me an oath and meet me where you have time, and defeat your enemy. I don’t really need your help: if I wanted to now, then with my great strength I would conquer ancient Jerusalem, as the Chaldeans did before. Now I want glorification from you, in my royal name and threat, and by your oath and your power, Prince Dmitry of Moscow will be defeated, and your name will become formidable in your countries through my threat. After all, if I, the king, have to defeat a king similar to myself, then it is right and proper for me to receive the royal honor. Now go away from me and convey my words to your princes.”

Prince Oleg Ryazansky sends ambassadors to Mamai, saying: “Go forth, Tsar, quickly to Rus'!”

And the great prince Dmitry Ivanovich heard that the godless Tsar Mamai was approaching him with many hordes and with all his might, tirelessly raging against Christians and the faith of Christ and envying the headless Batu, the great prince Dmitry Ivanovich was greatly saddened by the invasion of the godless.

He hired Besermen, Armenians, Fryags, Circassians, Yasses and Burtases.

Grand Duke Dmitry learns that Oleg Ryazansky and the Prince of Lithuania are in alliance with Mamai.

Dmitry “falls into sadness,” prays fervently and sends “for his brother” Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, “Russian princes and governors throughout.”

Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, taking his brother Prince Vladimir Andreevich, went to Kiev and came to the Right Reverend Metropolitan Cyprian, who was expelled from Moscow by the Grand Duke three years before these events and lived in Kiev, and said to him: “Do you know, our father, the upcoming This is a great test for us - after all, the godless Tsar Mamai is moving towards us, inflaming his rage with unchanging determination?” The Metropolitan said to the Grand Duke: “Tell me, my lord, what have you done wrong to him?” The great prince said: “I checked, father, everything was accurate, that everything was tribute according to the behests of our fathers, and even more, I paid tribute to him.” The Metropolitan said: “You see, my lord, with God’s permission for the sake of our sins, he goes to fill our land, but you should, Orthodox princes, those wicked gifts to satisfy at least four times. If even after that he does not humble himself, then the Lord will pacify him, because the Lord resists the daring, but gives grace to the humble.”

The Great Prince Dmitry Ivanovich, taking with him his brother Prince Vladimir Andreevich and all the Russian princes, went to the Life-Giving Trinity to bow to his spiritual father, the Venerable Elder Sergius, to receive a blessing from that holy monastery.

And Sergius said: “Go, sir, against the pagan Polovtsians, calling on God, and the Lord God will be your helper and intercessor,” and added to him quietly: “You will defeat, sir, your adversaries, as befits you, our sovereign.” The great prince said: “Give me, father, two warriors from your brethren - Peresvet Alexander and his brother Andrei Oslyabya, then you yourself will help us.” The venerable elder ordered both of them to quickly prepare and go with the Grand Duke, for they were famous warriors in battles and had met more than one attack.

They immediately obeyed the venerable elder and did not refuse his command. And he gave them, instead of perishable weapons, an incorruptible one - the cross of Christ, sewn on the schemas, and we commanded them to place them on themselves instead of gilded helmets. And he handed them over to the hands of the Grand Duke and said: “Here are my warriors for you, and your chosen ones,” and said to them: “Peace be with you, my brothers, fight firmly, like glorious warriors, for the faith of Christ and for all Orthodox Christianity with the filthy Polovtsy! » And the sign of Christ overshadowed the entire army of the Grand Duke - peace and blessing.

“Grand Duchess Evdokeya and Princess Volodimerova look at the Grand Dukes from the Golden-Domed Tower”

The great prince rejoiced in his heart, but did not tell anyone what the Monk Sergius had told him. And he went to his glorious city of Moscow, rejoicing, as if he had received an unstolen treasure - the blessing of the holy elder. And returning to Moscow, he went with his brother, with Prince Vladimir Andreevich, to the Right Reverend Metropolitan Cyprian, and told one metropolitan everything that the elder Saint Sergius told him in secret and what blessing he gave to him and his entire Orthodox army. The archbishop ordered to keep these words secret and not tell anyone.

The great prince sent his brother, Prince Vladimir, to the Brashevo road, and the Belozersk princes to the Bolvanovskaya road, and the great prince himself went to the Kotel road. Ahead of him the sun sparkles brightly, and behind him a quiet breeze blows. That is why the great prince was separated from his brother, because they could not travel the same road.

I. Bolotnikov on the near Kulikovo field

When Thursday August 27th arrived, the day of remembrance of the holy father Pimen the Hermit, on that day the great prince decided to go out to meet the godless Tatars.

Dmitry gathers an army, at the head of which he sets out from Moscow, heading for Kolomna. Many governors and warriors met him on the river in Severka. Archbishop Geronty of Kolomna met the Grand Duke at the city gates with life-giving crosses and holy icons with all his clergy and overshadowed him with the life-giving cross and made a prayer: “God save your people.”

The next morning, the Grand Duke ordered all the soldiers to go to the field to the Maiden Monastery.

On Holy Sunday, after Matins, many trumpets began to sound the sounds of battle, and many kettledrums began to beat, and the embroidered banners rustled near Panfilov’s garden.

The Russian sons entered the vast fields of Kolomna, so that it was impossible to step outside the huge army, and it was impossible for anyone to look around the army of the Grand Duke. The great prince, having gone to an elevated place with his brother, with Prince Vladimir Andreevich, seeing a great multitude of people equipped, rejoiced and appointed a governor for each regiment.

The princes ascended to a high place to review the troops

At the Oka River, the prince “takes over” “news from the filthy”, “sends the third watchman into the field.” In the Chronicle Tale, the Grand Duke is going to give Mamai a “way out” “according to peasant strength and his completion”; tries to appease Mamai with gifts. Dmitry is joined by the Olgerdovich princes (according to the Chronicle Tale - still in Kolomna, according to the Tale ... - near the Don. According to both stories, Dmitry leaves his sons and wife Evdokia in Moscow. The description of Evdokia’s grief in the Tale ... finds an echo in "Chronicle Tale" in the wives' lament for the soldiers who left Moscow).

Crossing the Oka, Dimitri ordered, passing through the Ryazan land, “not to touch a hair,” that is, he forbade his army from robberies.

Oleg Ryazansky was very afraid of the Moscow detachments and “moved from place to place.”

Crossing the Oka

Olgerd of Lithuania led his army, consisting of Swedes, Lithuanians and Lotvaks, and came to Odoev, located 140 km from the Kulikovo field, but, having learned that Demetrius was coming with a large army, he did not rush to Mamai.

Don is having a discussion about the crossing. Mamai, having learned about the crossing of the Don by Russian troops, “was enraged in his eyes and confused in his mind and burst into fierce rage,” “he was inflamed by the devil.”

Abbot Sergius sent a blessing before the battle even before crossing the Don.

Tatar patrol on the Kulikovo field. One of them has a firearm - a arquebus

There was a wondrous vision on the river on Chura for the robber Thomas Kotsibey; God deigned him to see a wondrous sight on that night. Standing on a high place, he saw a cloud coming from the east, very large, as if some troops were marching to the west. From the southern side, two young men came, dressed in light scarlet, their faces shone like the sun, they had sharp swords in both hands, and said to the Tatar leaders: “Who ordered you to destroy our fatherland, which the Lord has given us?” And they began to cut them down and cut them all down, not one of them escaped.

Dmitry is persuaded to refuse to participate in the battle “in advance.”

The Grand Duke, having confirmed the regiments, returns under his red banner, hands over his horse and his clothes to Mikhail Brenk and ordered “that banner to be carried over him.”

Forced march of Russian troops

Two troops met on the huge Kulikovo field. And the Pecheneg came forward from the Tatar detachment, boasting of his valor, looking like the ancient Goliath: his height was five fathoms and his width was three fathoms.

Battle of Peresvet with the Polovtsian hero

On September 8, both great forces came together menacingly, firmly fighting, cruelly destroying each other, not only from weapons, but also from the terrible crowding under the horse’s hooves, they gave up their spirits, for it was impossible to fit everyone on that field of Kulikovo: that field was cramped between the Don and the Mecheya . On that field, strong troops converged, bloody dawns emerged from them, and sparkling lightning fluttered in them from the shine of swords. And there was a great crash and thunder from the broken spears and from the blows of swords, so that in this sad hour it was impossible to see this ferocious carnage in any way.

The Tatars, mistaking Brenk for their leader, attack him with all their might. Brenk dies in battle.

And the great prince himself was severely wounded and thrown from his horse; he barely got out of the field, for he could no longer fight, and hid in a thicket and was preserved by the power of God. Many times the banners of the Grand Duke were cut down, but they were not destroyed by God's grace, they strengthened even more.

The filthy ones began to prevail, and the Christian regiments thinned out - there were already few Christians, and all were filthy. Seeing such a death of Russian sons, Prince Vladimir Andreevich could not restrain himself and said to Dmitry Volynets: “So what is the use of our standing? What kind of success will we have? Who should we help? Already our princes and boyars, all Russian sons, are cruelly dying from the filthy, as if the grass is bending!” And Dmitry answered: “The trouble, prince, is great, but our hour has not yet come.”

In battle, even “many dead people helped us and meted out without mercy.”

And then the eighth hour of the day came, when the south wind pulled from behind us, and Volynets exclaimed in a loud voice: “Prince Vladimir, our time has come and the opportune hour has come!”

Companions and friends jumped out of the green oak grove, as if tried falcons had fallen from golden stocks, rushed towards the endless herds, fattened, towards that great Tatar power; and their banners were directed by the firm commander Dmitry Volynets: and they were like David’s youths, whose hearts were like lions, like fierce wolves attacked the sheep flock, and began to flog the filthy Tatars mercilessly.

The filthy Polovtsians saw their destruction, shouted in their own language, saying: “Alas for us, Rus' has outwitted us again: the younger ones fought with us, but the best all survived!” And the filthy ones turned, showed their backs, and ran. The Russian sons, with the power of the Holy Spirit and the help of the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb, dispersed them, cut them down, as if they were cutting down a forest, as if the grass under the scythe was laid under the Russian sons under horse hooves. The filthy ones shouted as they ran, saying: “Woe to us, Tsar Mamai, whom we honor! You ascended high - and you descended to hell!” And many of our wounded helped, flogging the filthy without mercy: one Russian drives out a hundred filthy ones.

The godless Tsar Mamai, seeing his death, began to call on his gods: Perun, and Salavat, and Rakli, and Khors, and his great accomplice Mohammed. And he had no help from them, for the power of the holy spirit, like fire, burns them.

And Mamai, seeing the new warriors, who were galloping like fierce beasts and tearing apart a flock of sheep, said to his friends: “Let’s run, because we can’t expect anything good, so at least we’ll carry off our own heads!” And immediately the filthy Mamai ran with four men into the bend of the sea, gnashing his teeth, crying bitterly, saying: “We, brothers, will no longer be in our own land, and we will not caress our wives, and we will not see our children, we will no longer caress the damp land, we will kiss the green ant, and we will no longer see our retinue, neither the princes nor the boyars!”

And many chased after them and did not catch up with them, because the horses were tired, and Mamai had fresh horses, and he left the pursuit.

And Vladimir Andreevich stood on the Kulikovo field as a winner under his black banner.

Prince Vladimir Andreevich stood on the battlefield under the black banner. It’s scary, brothers, to see it then, and it’s pitiful to see and look bitterly at the human bloodshed - like the expanse of the sea, and human corpses - like haystacks: a fast horse cannot gallop, and they wandered knee-deep in blood, and the rivers flowed with blood for three days.

Prince Vladimir Andreevich did not find his brother, the Grand Duke, on the field and ordered the collecting pipes to be blown. He waited an hour and did not find the Grand Duke, he began to cry and scream, and began to ride around the regiments himself, but could not find him, and said to everyone: “My brothers, Russian sons, who saw or who heard our shepherd and commander?”

And the Lithuanian princes said: “We think that he is alive, but seriously wounded; what if it lies among the dead corpses? Another warrior said: “I saw him at the seventh hour firmly fighting with the filthy club with his club.” Another one said: “I saw him later: four Tatars attacked him, but he fought them firmly.” A certain prince named Stefan Novosilsky said: “I saw him just before your arrival, he was walking on foot from the battle, all wounded. That’s why I couldn’t help him - three Tatars pursued me, and by the grace of God I barely escaped from them, but I accepted a lot of evil from them and was very tormented.”

Prince Vladimir said: “Brothers and friends, Russian sons, if anyone finds my brother alive, he will truly be the first among us!” And they all scattered across the great, mighty and formidable battlefield, seeking the victory of the winner. And some came across the murdered Mikhail Andreevich Brenk: lying in clothes and in the helmet that the prince gave him.

Finally, the two warriors saw the Grand Duke lying under a felled tree. Stunned in battle by a strong blow, he fell from his horse, became unconscious, and seemed dead; but soon he opened his eyes. Then Vladimir, the princes, and the officials, kneeling down, exclaimed unanimously: “Sovereign! you have defeated your enemies!” Demetrius stood up: seeing his brother, seeing the joyful faces of those around him and the Christian banners over the corpses of the Mughals, in the delight of his heart he expressed gratitude to heaven; hugged Vladimir and officials; kissed the simplest warriors and mounted his horse, healthy with joy of spirit, and not feeling exhausted.

After the battle, the entire Kulikovo field was littered with the bodies of the dead and wounded. The sight of the massacre struck the Grand Duke, who had found it with difficulty and had barely come to his senses. While driving around the field, he saw, as sources report, a dramatic picture of the death of many of his most prominent associates. Their remains were sent in logs for burial in their native places. As for the ordinary soldiers, it was even impossible to accurately count them, “besides the body of Christianity and insanity, I lay in heaps... no one can recognize them all, and so the cellars together.” The funeral took 6 days.

The pagan Mamai fled from the massacre, incognito reached the Crimean city of Kafa and from there returned to his land. After this, Mamai went with his army against Khan Tokhtamysh. Tokhtamysh won, and Mamai was betrayed by his governors. Mamai fled again to Cafu, where he was recognized by a certain merchant and killed by the Genoese.

Then they told the great prince that Prince Oleg of Ryazan sent his strength to Mamaia and destroyed bridges on the rivers. For this, the great prince wanted to send his army against Oleg. And then suddenly, at this very time, the Ryazan boyars came to him and told him that Prince Oleg had left his land and had fled with the princess, and with the children, and with the boyars, and with his advisers. The Ryazan people beat Dimitri with their brows, and the prince put his governors in Ryazan instead of the fleeing Oleg.

In 1386, Fyodor Olegovich (son of Oleg Ryazansky) married the daughter of Dmitry Donskoy, Sofya Dmitrievna.

Prince Vladimir Andreevich stood on bones under the black banner. He stood on the bones for 8 days until the Christians were separated from the wicked. The Christians were buried, and the wicked were thrown to the beasts to be torn to pieces.”

Comments and amendments.

German scientist of the late 15th century. A. Krantz has already called this battle “the greatest battle in people’s memory.” Therefore, it (the battle) took place. We do not dispute this.

Vladimir Andrevich, Kalita’s grandson, owned a third of Moscow. It bears the names Donskoy and Brave. Prince Serpukhovsky and Borovsky. The true winner of the Battle of Kulikovo, but since he was not a Moscow, but a Serpukhov prince, the victory was later attributed not to him, but to Dmitry, who, moreover, according to our chronicles, was no longer glorified by any exploits.