There were 83 major campaigns. Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh. This is how an epic is born

Russian crusade to the steppe. Troubles in Rus' increased the activity of the Polovtsian hordes. They launched raids on Russian lands every year. The princes tried to rally their forces to fight the nomads. In 1100, at a congress in the city of Vitichev, the princes decided to undertake a joint campaign against the steppe inhabitants. But another three years passed before they finally agreed among themselves. In 1103, the princes and their squads met on Lake Dolobsky to organize a campaign.

Spring has arrived, the most convenient time for a hike, since by this time the Polovtsian horses, after winter, had not yet gained strength and endurance on the newly green pastures. But Svyatopolk proposed postponing the campaign, saying that it was unprofitable to separate the smerds from spring field work and destroy the horses on the campaign. He was supported by some princes and boyars. And then Vladimir Monomakh took the floor. “I’m amazed, squad,” he said, “that you feel sorry for the horses you use to plow! Why don’t you think that the smerd will start plowing and, having arrived, the Polovtsian will shoot him with a bow, and take his horse, and when he arrives in his village, he will take his wife and his children and all his property. So you feel sorry for the horse, but you don’t feel sorry for the stinker himself.”

Map. Campaign of Vladimir Monomakh.

Monomakh's speech put an end to disputes and hesitations. The united army set off. Only Oleg, an old friend of the Polovtsians, did not take part in the campaign, citing illness. The Russian squads completely defeated the enemy and went through the Polovtsian camps, freeing prisoners and capturing rich booty. For three years after this, the Polovtsians fell silent, but in 1106 their army again moved to Rus', seeking revenge for their previous defeats. The Russian army met the Polovtsian forces and defeated them in a fierce battle.

The princes did not wait for the Polovtsians to gain strength again, and in 1111 they undertook a new grandiose campaign in the steppe. The goal of this campaign was to reach the heart of the Polovtsian possessions and capture their main city of Sharukan. In order to secure the support of their close Polovtsian hordes, Vladimir Monomakh and Oleg visited their camps, presented the khans with expensive gifts and married their sons - Yuri Vladimirovich (the future Yuri Dolgoruky) and Svyatoslav Olgovich to the daughters of the allied Polovtsian khans.

He gave this campaign the meaning of a crusade. By this time, the First Crusade had already taken place (1096-1099), which ended with the capture of Jerusalem and the creation of a Christian state in the Middle East. The cousin of Vladimir, Svyatopolk and Oleg, the son of Anna Yaroslavna, the brother of the French king Philip I, Count Hugo of Vermandois, took part in this campaign. Information about this crusade was already widely known in Rus'.

The Russian army defeated the advanced detachments of the Polovtsians and reached their capital - the steppe city of Sharukan. The city surrendered to the mercy of the winner. Another city, Sugrov, refused to surrender and was stormed and burned. The Russian princes won another battle on the banks of the Don. Before the battle the princes said: “Death is here for us, let us stand firm”, and then they attacked the enemy, and the Polovtsians fled.

The main forces of the parties met three days later - March 27, 1111 on the Solnitsa River, a tributary of the Don. According to the chronicler, the Polovtsians “came out like a great forest.” But Monomakh did not wait for encirclement, but himself led the army towards the enemy. The warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat, and “regiment collided with regiment, and like thunder, the crackling of the colliding ranks was heard”- this is what the chronicle says. In this crush, the Polovtsian cavalry lost the ability to maneuver, and in hand-to-hand combat there were no equals to Russian soldiers. But the Polovtsians also fought courageously, defending the land they had developed for decades, their pastures and hearths. "Brow" Russian army - the people of Kiev trembled and began to bend under the fierce pressure of the enemy, who outnumbered them. And then Vladimir Monomakh and his retinue came to the aid of the people of Kiev, leaving his “right-hand regiment” to his son Yaropolk. The appearance of Monomakh's banner in the center of the battle encouraged the people of Kiev and plunged the enemy into fear. The Polovtsians could not stand the stubborn battle and rushed to the ford. They were chased and cut down. No prisoners were taken in this battle. About 10 thousand Polovtsy died on the battlefield. Only a small part of them went to the steppe.

The news of the Russian crusade in the steppe was delivered by Russian messengers to Byzantium, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Rome.

The arrival of Vladimir Monomakh in Kyiv in 1113
Uprising of 1113 in Kyiv. At the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th century. The role of princes, boyars, and squads became even more significant in Russian society. It was they who were at the center of all events, fought with each other and with nomads, defended cities, captured booty during victories, and lost property during defeats. To maintain their strength and power, their weapons and supplies, increasingly greater funds were required. They were taken in the form of increased taxes from the common population. The princes transferred more and more free lands to their vassals. Inter-princely battles were accompanied by the devastation of the urban and rural population and additional extortions. For the common man, all this turned into a real tragedy. Polovtsian robberies and the removal of prisoners added to the hardships. In addition, smerds and townspeople were increasingly attracted to countless battles with the steppe inhabitants. Their arable lands lay desolate, the fire in the forges went out, the potter's wheel stopped its endless run in craft workshops, and trade suffered.

More and more people did not have the opportunity to independently run their own farms in rural areas and cities, to feed their families and children. They went into bondage to the rich, sold themselves as slaves, borrowed money, seeds for sowing, and tools. For this they had to either work on their farm "benefactor", or for the money taken, in addition to repaying the amount of debt, you also have to pay interest, which increased every year. Moneylenders were especially evil. Their main business was to lend money to needy people at high interest rates.

Big "lover of money" and the Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich himself was reputed to be a cruel usurer. And when he suddenly died in 1113, this further aggravated the situation in Kyiv. Various boyar groups began to struggle for power, trying to place one of the princes on the throne. At this time, the trade and craft Podol, the lower part of the city, where small traders, artisans, and the urban poor lived, began to buzz alarmingly.

Hundreds of people with axes, scythes, pitchforks, and sticks in their hands moved to the center of Kyiv. There were threats against the boyars and moneylenders. The crowd destroyed the courtyard of one of the boyars and moneylenders, and the Jewish merchants and moneylenders were also hit. In the St. Sophia Cathedral, at the call of the Metropolitan, boyars and senior warriors, bishops, and abbots of monasteries came together. Their decision was unequivocal: to immediately call Vladimir Monomakh to Kyiv; only he could calm the people's uprising. But at first the Pereyaslavl prince did not heed this call. He was afraid of plunging the country into chaos again if the Svyatoslavich brothers, who were older than him in the family, protested this decision. He was also afraid of the Kyiv elite, which for many years served his hidden enemy Svyatopolk. He also had no desire to oppose himself to the rebels of Kiev.

The next morning, people poured out into the streets of Kyiv again. The princely palace was under siege. A large crowd rushed towards the monasteries. The rebellion grew, drawing more and more hundreds of people into its whirlpool. The surrounding smerds, purchasers, and rank-and-file members rose up against their masters. Debtors refused to pay interest and dealt with moneylenders; slaves disobeyed their masters.

And again the Metropolitan gathered the top of the city. It was again decided to invite Monomakh to Kyiv. On April 20, 1113, Vladimir Monomakh, at the head of the Pereyaslav squad, entered Kyiv. The desire to protect order in the city and country, to calm the rampant "black" The prince turned out to be stronger than other calculations. The unrest quickly ceased. The reign of the new great Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh began. At this time he was already 60 years old.

Vladimir Monomakh - Grand Duke. The time of Vladimir Monomakh in Rus' turned out to be the most fruitful in recent decades. He calmed Russian society, that is, he stopped its internal struggle. Moreover, he did this not only through force, but also through reasonable concessions to the lower classes of society.

Immediately after the beginning of his reign, he gave Rus' a new Russian Truth, which was called "Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich". In this charter, many articles of the former Russian Pravda were preserved, which protected order, property and the personality of a person. But at the same time, he greatly eased the situation of poor people. Interest on debt was significantly reduced, and many unsustainable debts were eliminated. The arbitrariness of moneylenders was limited. The charter also included new articles that eased the lot of scumbags, purchasers, rank-and-file workers, and even slaves.

Vladimir Monomakh was able to eliminate the deepest and most painful ulcers of society and relieved social tension in cities and villages. He showed the top of Russian society that governing the country and increasing its strength and well-being should not be done by violence of some against others, but, first of all, by strict, but reasonable rules in those conditions. Its charter was aimed at protecting the boyars, warriors, clergy, and merchants from violence from the lower classes of society, but at the same time protecting the entire society from unrest, supporting the economy of smerds and artisans, who formed the basis of the well-being of society.

In the history of Rus', he acted as the first serious reformer, that is, as a person who carried out a number of serious transformations in the life of society, which pacified, at least for some time, disagreements, discord, and violence.

Vladimir Monomakh recreated the unity of Rus'. Without violating the commandments of Yaroslav the Wise and the decisions of the Lyubech Congress that each prince owns his own "fatherland", he forced all the princes to obey the Grand Duke of Kyiv. At the same time, he acted quickly and cruelly. Thus, he suppressed the rebellion of his nephew Yaroslav Svyatopolchich, who ruled in Volyn. When Vladimir learned that a conspiracy had matured among the Novgorod boyars in favor of the separation of Novgorod from Kyiv, he summoned the boyars to Kyiv and threw them into prison.

The Grand Duke seated his sons, like his ancestors, in large cities - in Novgorod, Smolensk, Suzdal. He also suppressed separatism, that is, the desire for independent politics and independence, of the Chernigov princes. Even Oleg Svyatoslavich obeyed his cousin unquestioningly. He also struck at the Principality of Polotsk, where separatist sentiments constantly manifested themselves.

One of the main merits Vladimir Monomakh began the organization of a further attack on the Polovtsians and preventing their raids on Rus'. It was no longer a defense. Rus' itself sought to strike a blow at its enemies.
In 1116, the Grand Duke himself led a campaign into the steppe, although he was no longer young. Then he sent his sons against the Polovtsians, and first of all the talented commander and brave warrior Yaropolk.

Vladimir continued the Balkan policy of his ancestors. He, like Svyatoslav once, tried to establish himself on the Danube. A Russian army was sent to the south, and Monomakh even installed his posadniks - governors in the Danube cities. But Byzantium hastened to settle relations peacefully. An embassy was sent to Rus' with rich gifts and a request not to disrupt peaceful relations with the empire. Among the gifts were items of imperial ceremonial clothing, signs of imperial power, in particular the imperial crown. Since then, the legend about the so-called "Monomakh's hat". In reality "Monomakh's hat", which is now located in the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin, was made much later.

At the end of his life, Vladimir Monomakh wrote his famous "Teaching", in which he not only talked about his difficult life full of dangers, but also shared his thoughts about the meaning of life, about relationships between people. He wrote that any evil will sooner or later be punished, and good will triumph. “He was young and old,” he wrote, “and did not see the righteous abandoned, nor his descendants asking for bread.”

Vladimir Monomakh died on May 19, 1125, at the age of 73, on the Alta River, in a small house that he built for himself next to the chapel at the site of the murder of St. Boris. He had Russian and European fame. Under him, Rus' was strong, united and powerful as never before. One ancient source preserved a description of Vladimir Monomakh: “He was red in face (i.e., handsome), his eyes were large, he was not very tall in stature, but strong in body and strong.”.

Mstislav the Great. The beginning of a new strife. In the last years of his life, Vladimir was personally less and less involved in state affairs and military campaigns. He trusted his eldest son Mstislav a lot. He transferred him from Novgorod, where he reigned for many years, to himself in Kyiv and constantly kept him with him.

When the old prince died, Mstislav took power into his own hands. Thus, the covenant of Yaroslav the Wise was broken, and the head of Rus' was not the eldest in the family, but the eldest son of the ruling prince. Monomakh's authority and experience, the will of Mstislav, as well as the support of the Kyiv elite were so strong that the other princes remained silent, although they were unhappy with this turn of events.

The reign of Mstislav (1125-1132), who was nicknamed the Great in Rus', was short-lived, but fruitful. He continued his father's policies. They tried to organize an invasion, but were faced with the full power of the Russian troops led by Yaropolk Vladimirovich.

Later, Mstislav and Yaropolk, during large-scale campaigns in the steppe, managed to push the Polovtsians beyond the Don and Volga. Some of the Polovtsian hordes migrated away from the Russian borders - to the Yaik River (Ural) and into Transcaucasia.
Mstislav also secured the northwestern borders of Rus'. He undertook campaigns against the Chuds (Estonians) and Lithuanians, who from the 12th century. began to disturb the Russian lands with their raids.

The death of Mstislav the Great became the threshold beyond which a completely different Rus' began. Two powerful rulers have left - Vladimir Monomakh and his son, who cemented Rus' with their will and talent, and after them it turned out to be the way it was by the 30s. XII century, but without strong political figures. And the very first turmoil showed this well.

It broke out between the sons and grandsons of Vladimir Monomakh. Then the sons of Oleg Svyatoslavich joined it. Kyiv passed from hand to hand. First, one of Monomakh’s sons established himself there, but a few days later he was expelled by the Chernigov prince. The struggle for the title of Grand Duke of Kyiv continued for 10 years. The rival parties mainly relied on their native principalities and their powerful cities. From there they ruled Russia.

All this was a sure sign that since the 30s. XII century Rus' entered a period of political, i.e. state, fragmentation.

From “Vladimir Monomakh’s Teachings to His Children”

...All my large campaigns were 83, and I don’t even remember the rest of the small ones. I made peace with the Polovtsian princes 19 times under my father and after my father, giving away a lot of property and many of my clothes. I released from captivity [“from the shackles”] the noble Polovtsian princes: two brothers Sharukan, three Bagubarsovs and four Ovchinas, and all the noble princes up to 100... But this is how I worked on the hunts... I did this in Chernigov : with my own hands I knitted wild horses alive in forests, 10 and 20 at a time, and in addition, when I traveled around Russia, I caught the same wild horses with my own hands. Two aurochs tossed me around on the horns and with the horse, one deer gored me, and two elk - one trampled me with their feet, and the other gored me with their antlers. The boar tore off the sword on my hip. The bear bit off the lining near my knee. The fierce beast jumped on my hips and knocked down the horse along with me. And God kept me safe. And I fell from my horse many times, broke my head twice, injured my arms and legs, in my youth I did harm, not preserving my life and not sparing my head.

Tyn is a small fence.

Gorodnik - builder of the city wall, gorodni.

Lukno is a small measure of loose solids, compare with a basket.

Nagaev A.S., Ognev V.N. Workshop on the history of the USSR from ancient times to the beginning of the 17th century. M., 1991. P.34-54.

Lyubech Congress of 1097

(According to "The Tale of Bygone Years")

In 1097, Svyatopolk, Vladimir, Davyd Svyatoslavovich and his brother Oleg came and went to Lyubich to establish peace, saying among themselves: “Why are we destroying the Russian land, causing strife among ourselves? But the Polovtsians are destroying our lands and are glad that there is civil strife between us. From now on, we will all be unanimous and preserve the Russian land, let everyone keep his fatherland: Svyatopolk - Kiev... Vladimir - Vsevolozhov [patrimony], Davyd, Oleg and Yaroslav - Svyatoslavl... And on that they kissed the cross: “If from now on anyone will be against anyone, against him we will all bear an honorable cross.”...

Reader on the history of the USSR. Ed. IN AND. Lebedeva. T.1. M., 1949. P.76.

Princely villages

(According to the Ipatiev Chronicle)

They fought until evening; going from there, they stopped at the village of Meltekhova and from there they sent and robbed the herds of Igor and Svyatoslav, in the forest along the (river) Rakhna: there were 3,000 herd mares, and 1,000 horses; Having dispersed to the villages, they burned the granaries and courtyards...

We went to Igor’s village, where he built a nice yard; there were a lot of supplies in the barns, in the cellars - wine and honey, and a lot of heavy goods of all kinds - iron and copper; They couldn’t take it out from the multitude of it all. The Davydovichs ordered to lay carts for themselves and the soldiers, and then to set fire to the courtyard, the church of the crumpled George and his threshing floor, and there were nine hundred haystacks in it...

And then Svyatoslav’s court divided the treasury, barns, and property that could not be moved into 4 parts, and in the cellars there were 500 berks (1) honey, and 80 wine pots; The entire church of the Holy Ascension was robbed: silver vessels, church clothes, service vestments, everything embroidered in gold, two censers, a bound gospel, books and bells; they left nothing of the prince’s property, but divided everything, as well as seven hundred servants (people).

Reader on the history of the USSR. Ed. IN AND. Lebedeva. T.1. M., 1949. P.83.

Note

1. Berkovets - a measure of mass or weight equal to 10 poods (more than 160 kg).

Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh

(According to the Laurentian Chronicle)

“Instruction to Children” or “Testament” of Prince Vladimir Monomakh was written by him in 1117. “Instruction” combines various genres - autobiography, confession, moral teaching, testament - and is an example of medieval princely ethics. An incomplete text of the “Teaching” was preserved only in the Laurentian Chronicle, compiled at the end of the 14th century. Monk Lavrenty as the next edition of The Tale of Bygone Years.

About the behavior of the prince

In your house, do not be lazy, but watch over everything: do not rely on either the tiun or the youth, so that those who come to you do not ridicule your house or your dinner. When you go to war, do not be lazy, do not rely on the commander, do not indulge in food, drink, or sleep; and equip the guards yourself and at night, having dressed up soldiers everywhere, also go to bed and get up early. Do not immediately take off your weapons: through negligence, a person suddenly dies. Beware of lies, drunkenness and fornication, for in this the soul and body perish. When you travel through your lands, do not allow the youths to do evil either to your own or to others, neither in the fields nor in the villages, so that they do not begin to curse you. Wherever you go, wherever you stop, give drink, feed the poor; honor the guest, no matter where he comes to you, whether simple, noble, or an ambassador, if you can’t, with a gift, then with food, drink: as they pass, they will glorify the person either good or evil throughout the whole earth.

What good you can do, do not forget, and what you cannot do, learn; This is how my father... mastered five languages; This is something that commands respect from other countries. For laziness is the mother of everything (evil). What a person knows how to do, he forgets, and what he does not know how to do, he does not learn.

About princely campaigns

There were 83 large campaigns, but I don’t remember the rest of the smaller ones. I made peace with the Polovtsian princes without one 20 both with my father and without my father. He gave a lot of cattle and a lot of his clothes and released from prison the Polovtsian noble princes Sharukan 2 brothers... and all the other noble princes - 100. And the princes whom God gave alive into his hands... and other glorious young warriors - 15, then they He was taken into captivity alive, beaten and thrown into the Slavliy River; Gradually, about 200 nobles were beaten at that time.

Princely hunt

And here are my works during the hunt... And here’s what I did in Chernigov: I tied up wild horses with my own hands, in the forests there were 10 and 20 alive, and besides that, while traveling around Rus', I also caught wild horses with my own hands. For two rounds they threw me on the horns, along with the horse; one deer gored me, and two elk - one trampled with its feet, and the other gored with its horns, a boar tore off the sword on my thigh, a bear bit my sweatshirt (1) at my knee, a fierce beast jumped on my hips and knocked down the horse along with me . But God kept me safe. He fell from his horse many times, broke his head twice, caused harm to his arms and legs in his youth, damaging them, not sparing his head... In war and on the hunt, night and day, in the heat and frost, he did not give himself rest; not relying on either the mayor or the birichi (2), he himself did what was necessary: ​​he established all order in his house; I myself kept the hunting outfit, took care of the grooms, falcons and hawks (I took care of it myself).

Reader on the history of the USSR. Ed. IN AND. Lebedeva. T.1. M., 1949. P.81.

Like his father, Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, the entire life of the great commander of Ancient Rus', Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh, was spent in constant wars with the Wild Steppe, with the dashing and elusive Polovtsian nomads who ruled the southern steppes in that century. The whole life of Vladimir Monomakh consisted of difficult to count “paths” across the expanses of the Russian land. It was on these paths that his great fame grew.

During his surprisingly long life, Vladimir Monomakh, a tireless and indefatigable prince-warrior, completed twenty “great paths”, personally participated, just imagine, in 83 (!) military campaigns, changed five specific capitals before finally establishing himself on the Kiev throne. For the first time, the thirteen-year-old prince, fully armed, set off on a “journey” at the head of a squad from his native Pereyaslavl to the city of Rostov, far from the banks of the Dnieper, “through the Vyatichi” - that is, through the lands of the Slavic tribe of the Vyatichi - at the behest of his father.

Academician B. A. Rybakov made interesting calculations: the great warrior of the distant past, a fearless man, rode at least sixteen thousand kilometers on horseback during his “paths” and military campaigns! And the roads in the steppes and through forest thickets have never been comfortable.

It would not be superfluous to note that the most famous military campaign from the borderland of the Russian land to the Wild Steppe, to the Polovtsian vezhi, Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich made at the age of 58 years. He himself is on horseback and in front of the faithful Pereyaslavl squad. In ancient times, this age was considered very advanced.

Vladimir Monomakh began to reign independently at the age of sixteen in his adolescence in the capital city of Chernigov, one of the largest cities of Ancient Rus'. And then he replaced his father on the Pereyaslavl “table”. And it was then that the main burden of the defense of the southern borders of Rus' fell on his shoulders, for which he became famous as a great commander.

The prince-warrior Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh managed not only to defend the borders of Ancient Rus', but also to force the once formidable hordes of Polovtsians to flee from the endless Wild Steppe by force of Russian weapons, so as never to appear before Russia again in history.

Vladimir Monomakh became the Grand Duke of Kyiv, the first among the Russian princes in seniority, already on the slope of a truly stormy life path, at almost sixty years old. It happened like this. On April 17, 1113, a strong popular uprising broke out in Kyiv. Armed townspeople destroyed the farmstead of the oppressor of the “black” people, boyar Putyata, and the courtyards of Jewish moneylenders. Determined Kyivians openly threatened to “destroy” the rich courts and other eminent people of the capital city.

Then the proud Kiev boyars, in order to ward off mortal misfortune, invited the winner of the Polovtsian Steppe, popular throughout Rus', to the grand-ducal throne - the “table”. The townspeople only welcomed such a boyar decision.

The new Grand Duke of Kiev, without unnecessary bloodshed, calmed the common people, who were so frightened by the capital's boyars. Knowing very well the roots of popular indignation, the new ruler made the necessary additions to the laws of “Russian Truth”, which made it easier to pay interest and repay debt. His “Charter of Monomakh” was written in favor of the small urban people, who often fell into debt dependence on foreign moneylenders who mercilessly ruined the people of Kiev.

Like his father, Prince Vladimir Monomakh married an overseas princess, only an English one - Gita, the daughter of the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold II, who fell in 1066 on the shores of the Pas-de-Calais Strait in a battle against the conquerors who came to Britain from neighboring Normandy. One of their sons, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, will become the founder of the dynasty of Vladimir-Suzdal princes, the founder of Moscow.

Peter the Great's associate V.I. Tatishchev, a remarkable historian of the Russian state, will lovingly describe in his writings the appearance of Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh. Describes him as a man with a beautiful face, large eyes, reddish and curly hair, a high forehead, and a wide beard. He was not particularly tall, but he had a well-trained warrior's body and was very strong. That is, according to the historian, Vladimir Monomakh was distinguished by the majesty of his appearance not only in the eyes of his contemporaries, but also of subsequent generations.

The great commander left behind an amazing literary document of Ancient Rus', which went down in world history as the “Teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh. In essence, this is an autobiographical sketch, a father’s instruction to his numerous sons, successors of the grand ducal family and the cause of protecting their native land. This is what the great warrior writes about himself in the talented hand of a chronicler unknown to us:

“...Do not be lazy in your house, but look after everything yourself; Do not rely on either the tiun or the youth, lest those who come to you laugh at your house or at your dinner. When you go to war, do not be lazy, do not rely on the commander, do not cater to drink, food, or sleep; set up guards yourself, and at night, having placed guards everywhere, lie down near the soldiers, and get up early; Yes, do not take off your weapon in a hurry, without looking around because of laziness - from this a person suddenly dies. Beware of lies and drunkenness - soul and body perish from this. Wherever you go in your lands, do not allow your own or other people’s youths to do dirty tricks, either in the villages or in the fields, so that they don’t start cursing you. And wherever you go, wherever you stop, give drink and food to those who ask. Honor guests most of all, no matter where they come to you from - whether a simple person, or a noble, or an ambassador...

...All my large campaigns were 83, and I don’t even remember the rest of the small ones. I made peace with the Polovtsian princes 19 times under my father and after my father, giving away a lot of property and many of my clothes. I released from captivity (“from the shackles”) the noble Polovtsian princes: two brothers Sharukan, three Bagubarsovs and four Ovchinas, and all the noble princes up to 100...

And this is how I worked on the hunts... In Chernigov I did this: I tied wild horses with my own hands in forests, 10 and 20 each, and in addition, when I traveled around Russia, I caught the same wild horses with my own hands. Two aurochs tossed me around on the horns and with the horse, one deer gored me, and two elk - one trampled me with their feet, and the other butted me with their antlers. The boar tore off the sword on my hip. The bear bit off the lining near my knee. A fierce beast jumped on my hip and knocked down the horse along with me...

What my boy had to do, I did myself in war and on hunts, night and day, in the summer heat and winter cold, without giving myself rest, without relying on my mayors or on privet, I did everything that was necessary. : he himself established all the order in his house, and in the hunts he himself maintained the hunting order: in horses, and in falcons, and in hawks also ... "

It can be argued that the grand-princely, paternal “Instruction” shows Vladimir Monomakh as a great patriot and defender of Ancient Rus', as a wise ruler, an experienced commander and an attractive person of that distant time.

... None of the nomadic peoples of the Wild Steppe caused as many troubles to the Russian land in ancient times as the Polovtsians. Under this name, as well as under the name of Komans (among the Byzantines), Kuns (among the Hungarians), Kipchaks (among the Georgians), they are found in Old Russian chronicles, in Polish, Czech, Hungarian, German, Byzantine, Georgian, Armenian, Arabic and Persian written sources.

The numerous, terrible and warlike enemy of Ancient Rus' in the person of a numerous nomadic people established its power in the vast southern Russian steppes for a whole century and a half. On their northern borders was the Principality of Pereyaslavl. During the time of Vladimir Monomakh and a whole century before him, the Wild Steppe was called Polovtsian.

Steppe immigrants from the East were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding and especially horse breeding. Their army consisted of horsemen armed with bows and arrows, sabers and spears. The horsemen also had lassos, which natural horsemen used with great skill.

Byzantine writers and Russian chroniclers unanimously note the speed of action of the Polovtsian cavalry, especially the surprise of its attack. And it couldn’t have been any other way. For centuries, the steppe nomad honed the tactics of conducting military techniques in order to achieve maximum benefit for himself, his clan-tribe, and the ruling khan in large battles and simple family skirmishes.

Soon after Easter 1113, nine centuries ago, Vladimir II (baptized Vasily) Vsevolodovich Monomakh became the Grand Duke of Kyiv. The time of Monomakh's life was cruel - two misfortunes constantly and bloodily tormented Rus', one strengthening the other: hordes of foreigners and internal internecine unrest.

Monomakh coped with both troubles - as a result, he drove the Polovtsians beyond the distant mountains and brought Rus' together.

The Holy Blessed Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh (1053-1125) is invaluable to us as the first collector of Russian lands, as a profound Orthodox writer, peacemaker and reformer, but mainly as an Orthodox ruler who led the Russian people to understand their fatherland as Holy Rus'...

Combatant

He received the honorary family nickname “Monomakh” (combatant) from his grandfather - his mother’s father, Emperor of Byzantium Constantine IX Monomakh. In the male line, he is the great-grandson of Vladimir the Baptist, the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, the son of Vsevolod Yaroslavich, who was the first of the great princes to be called “Prince of All Rus'.”

Someone will be surprised, but, despite the distance in time, we can see Monomakh as a living person, clear to us. Messages about him are contained in many chronicles; Three of his literary works have reached us: the marvelous “Teaching to Children”, “Letter” to his son’s murderer, cousin Oleg Svyatoslavich, and “Prayer”. Historian V.N. Tatishchev gives us his portrait: “He had a handsome face, large eyes, reddish and curly hair, a high forehead, a wide beard, not very tall in stature, but strong in body and strong.” Monomakh’s courage was supported by wisdom: “It’s a good thing,” he said, “to be careful yourself, but God’s savings are better than man’s.” In his old age, he told us about his daring youth, when “driving around the plain, he caught wild horses with his own hands,” about princely hunts, about the vicissitudes of this deadly fun: “Two tours threw me with their horns along with the horse, a deer gored me, and One trampled two moose with his feet, the other gored with his antlers. The boar tore off the sword on my thigh, the bear bit me on the knee, a fierce beast (they think it was a leopard) jumped on my hips and overturned the horse with me, and God kept me unharmed. And he fell from his horse a lot, broke his head twice, and damaged his arms and legs - in his youth he damaged them, not valuing his life, not sparing his head...”

Chronicler St. Nestor speaks about the cause of troubles, revealing the algorithm of disasters in Rus': “God, in his anger, brings foreigners to the earth, and then in grief people remember God; internecine war happens because of the devil's temptation... We see how the playgrounds are trampled down, and there are a lot of people on them, how they push each other, staging spectacles designed by the devil, - and the churches stand empty... That's why we accept all kinds of executions from God and enemy raids; by God’s command we accept punishment for our sins...”

Chosen by Russia

The Polovtsians made their first raid on Rus' when Monomakh was 15 years old, in 1068. The furious blow of the horde fell on Pereyaslavl, a city bordering the Steppe, where his father reigned at that time. Russian cities flared up, caravans of Russian slaves reached foreign lands. These ruins will become a system. Monomakh in his “Instructions” recalls: “And he made peace with the Polovtsian princes, minus one twenty, both with his father and without his father.” The world was bought literally - with money, precious fabrics, livestock. That is why Vladimir completes his phrase “and gave away a lot of cattle and a lot of his clothes.” This is how the issue of survival was resolved at that time. At the same time, the Polovtsians could not be trusted; they easily broke their word. Having bought off one, another came.

The problem had to be solved radically.

Monomakh climbed into the combat saddle at the age of 13, by today's standards an unintelligent teenager, and spent six decades on campaigns. He says: “And in total there were 83 great campaigns, and the rest I don’t even remember the smaller ones.” One or two a year, not counting minor skirmishes - an endless string of battles. It was as if Rus' itself had chosen Monomakh as its prince; she slowly selected leaders from many other princes to accomplish the great Russian cause.

He lived for more than thirty years in Pereyaslavl Russky (now a city deservedly with the prefix “Khmelnitsky”), ruled a principality on the border with the Steppe. Pereyaslavl was the first to take the blow of the nomads during the raid.

The Instruction concentrates the military experience of his life. “When you go to war, do not be lazy, do not rely on the commander; indulge neither in drinking, nor in food, nor in sleeping...”

Golden belt

Monomakh is a younger contemporary of Saints Anthony and Theodosius. In 1073, he was 20 years old when the Great Assumption Church was founded, to which the Russian people would flow for centuries. The Kiev-Pechersk Patericon reports: “The blessed Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh, then still young, witnessed that wondrous miracle when fire fell from the sky and the hole burned out, where the foundation of the church was then laid according to the size of the belt.”

“According to the size of the belt” - we are talking about a golden belt, which, as the author of the Patericon reports, was miraculously sent by command of the Mother of God Herself to Rus' as a measure of length for the construction of Her temple. Vladimir was ill at that time “and they girded him with that golden belt, and he immediately recovered through the prayers of our holy fathers Anthony and Theodosius.” This had significance for all subsequent Russian history. Monomakh reigned in Rostov at that time. The Patericon conveys: “And during his reign, the lover of Christ Vladimir, taking the dimensions of that divine church of Pechersk, created a similar church in everything in the city of Rostov of the same height, width and length... and all this was repeated according to the model of that Great Church, marked by God " Immediately after Rostov, Monomakh reigned in Smolensk, where he also built a church modeled on the Great Church; the proportions were typical: “20 in width, 30 in length, and 30 in wall height, with a top of 50,” with a belt length of 108 cm.

It began with Monomakh and was continued by descendants that the main princely churches of Rus' were consecrated in honor of the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The son of Monomakh, Yuri Dolgoruky, as Paterik says, “during his reign, he built a church in the city of Suzdal to the same extent.” The grandson of Monomakh, Andrei Bogolyubsky erected the Assumption Cathedral in his new capital - in Vladimir. Under the great-grandson, through the eldest son, Mstislav, the Assumption Cathedral appeared in Vladimir Volynsky... And 390 years after the consecration of the Great Church, in 1479 in the Moscow Kremlin, the Assumption Cathedral became the main temple of the state, around which all Russian lands gathered, as in his time under Monomakh.

D.S. Likhachev noted: “Temples dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God occupy a special place in the culture of Ancient Rus'. Three points here attract our attention: their prevalence; location in the center of defensive structures (kremlins, monasteries); unity of the traditional architectural image."

This is how an epic is born

The external enemy, which is not surprising to us, naturally in due course united with the internal enemy and became an active force in internecine wars. The tip of the blow was again aimed at Monomakh personally, fate pointed a finger at him, concentrating forces in him.

For decades, Monomakh’s rival was Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, a cousin and peer who more than once brought hordes of Polovtsians to Rus', who plundered and burned Russian cities, monasteries and villages. The struggle with Monomakh for Chernigov, the city that Oleg considered his own (his father owned), lasted many years. And one day Oleg Svyatoslavich achieved his goal. Vladimir's squad was weakened after another battle with the Polovtsians. In 1094, Oleg took advantage of the situation, recruited a horde of Polovtsians and brought them to Chernigov, promising rich booty.

“I took pity on Christian souls,” says Monomakh, “and on burning villages and monasteries... And I gave my father’s brother his table, and he himself went to his father’s table in Pereyaslavl...”

Epic picture!

Monomakh's squad was already quite small in number; together with women and children, no more than a hundred people came out of the gates of Chernigov. They moved through the Polovtsian army. Monomakh says: “And the Polovtsians licked their lips at us like wolves, standing at the carriage and on the mountains. God and St. Boris (it happened on June 24, on St. Boris) did not hand me over to them for profit, we reached Pereyaslavl unharmed.” And he concludes sadly: “And I sat in Pereyaslavl for three summers and three winters with my squad, and we suffered many troubles from war and hunger...”

But he also accumulated strength. Then the victories began.

In the epic image of Tugarin Zmeevich, a generalized image of the sworn enemy of Holy Rus', we can easily guess the formidable figure of the Polovtsian Khan Tugorkan, beaten by Monomakh at the walls of Pereyaslavl in 1096...

Peacemaker

Monomakh came into power and, as an influential person, wanting to stop internecine wars, even without being a Grand Duke, he several times initiated princely congresses to reconcile everyone with everyone. The first such congress took place in 1097 in Lyubech, in his castle on the Dnieper. For the Russians of that time, Lyubech meant a lot. Malusha, the mother of Vladimir the Baptist, was from Lyubech; near Lyubech, their grandfather Yaroslav the Wise in 1015 defeated the army of Svyatopolk the Accursed, the murderer of Boris and Gleb. The Monk Anthony, the founder of the Pechersk Monastery, was born in Lyubech...

The Tale of Bygone Years speaks about the congress: “Svyatopolk, and Vladimir, and Davyd Igorevich, and Vasilko Rostislavich, and Davyd Svyatoslavich, and his brother Oleg came, and gathered for a council in Lyubech to establish peace, and said to each other: “Why are we destroying the Russian land, arranging strife among themselves? But the Polovtsians are fighting our land separately and are glad that wars are going on between us. Let us unite with one heart from now on and guard the Russian land...” It seemed that they had eliminated the root cause of the strife there, and decided that from now on everyone will own what their father owned. Each of the grandsons of Yaroslav the Wise becomes the heir of his father. And on that they kissed the cross: “If from now on anyone goes against anyone, we will all be against him...”

What a glorious decision!

It's a pity, it was immediately violated.

But Monomakh continued to stick to his line. He organized two more congresses - in Gorodets near Kiev in the spring of 1098 and in Uvetichi on the right bank of the Dnieper in August 1100.

And peace was established within the Russian land.

Foreign policy

After the internal passions had subsided, the time had come to take the Polovtsians seriously. It was possible to radically solve the problem not at their borders, but in the distant steppes, in their settlements on the Don, in their lair.

Monomakh knew how to convince princes. In the spring of 1103, he undertook to persuade the Grand Duke of Kyiv Svyatopolk Izyaslavich to go on a campaign “against the filthy”. Negotiations took place near Kyiv on the shores of Lake Dolobsky. Here we see Monomakh’s virtuosity in negotiations. A spring mood reigned in Svyatopolk’s squad: “Now is not the time to take the villagers away from the field.” Monomakh did not retreat. As described by the historian Sergei Solovyov, the situation was like this: “They came together and sat in one tent - Svyatopolk with his squad, and Vladimir with his; They sat in silence for a long time, finally, Vladimir began: “Brother! You are the eldest, start talking about how we can provide for the Russian land?” Svyatopolk answered: “You better, brother, speak first!” Vladimir said to this: “How should I speak? Both your and my squad will be against me, they will say: he wants to destroy the villagers and the arable land; but I am amazed at how you feel sorry for the villagers and their horses, but you won’t think that a villager will plow in the spring on a horse, and a polovtsian will come, hit him with an arrow, take the horse, and his wife, and children, and set the threshing floor on fire; you won’t think about it!” The squad answered: “Indeed it is so” ... "

A long campaign is an expensive undertaking, but interested parties, who depended on war and the slave trade for their daily bread, opened their treasuries.

For the Polovtsians, the free life was over.

The Polovtsy were defeated, 20 khans lay dead, one tried to pay off - he gave gold and silver, horses and cattle. Monomakh judged this way: “How many times did you vow not to fight, and then kept fighting the Russian land?..” The Khan found no mercy. And Vladimir said to the brother princes, paraphrasing the Psalmist: “This is the day that the Lord has given, let us rejoice and be glad on this day, for God has delivered us from our enemies...”

But complete deliverance was far from complete.

The most famous campaign on the Steppe was the campaign of 1111; it was essentially a penitential procession of the Cross, where the priesthood marched in battle formations under banners with prayerful singing.

The enemy had to be struck at the very heart, otherwise the problem of external influence would remain, in principle, unresolved. Seven centuries later, the Russian army delivered such blows to Paris, and 834 years later to Berlin.

S.M. Solovyov reports: “Svyatopolk, Vladimir and Davyd went with their sons, they went on the second Sunday of Lent...” They walked through the snow on a sleigh, then abandoned the sleigh.

The first battle took place on Friday 24 March; The Polovtsians were defeated. “The next day the Russians cheerfully celebrated the resurrection of Lazarus and the Annunciation, and on Sunday they went further.”

On Holy Monday there is a general battle. The Polovtsians gathered a huge army from all over the Steppe, outnumbering the Russian regiments. Chopping was in progress. But two Russian squads stood prayerfully in ambush. And a miracle happened: “Finally, Vladimir and Davyd set out with their regiments; Seeing them, the Polovtsians rushed to run and fell in front of Vladimirov’s regiment, invisibly struck by an angel; many people saw their heads fly, cut off by an invisible hand. Svyatopolk, Vladimir and Davyd glorified God, who gave them such a victory against the filthy... The winners asked the prisoners: “How did you have such strength, and you could not fight with us, but immediately ran away?” They answered: “How can we fight with you? Others ride above you in light and terrible armor and help you.” The chronicler explains: these are angels sent from God.

Guderian was a down-to-earth person, so he answered a similar question: “T-34.” We will hear what their successors will answer in the new century.

“And Monomakh remained in the people’s memory for a long time as the main and only hero of the Don campaign...”

This is how Russian victories are achieved - in repentance, in fraternal unity, where the leader and the priesthood are in front under the holy banners.

Didn't crave power

In 1113, on Bright Week, Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich suddenly died. He was highly regarded by the ruling elite. But the people did not like him: Svyatopolk was pious, but selfish. He could, for example, engage in speculation in a salt-free year, taking salt from the monks, who specially brought it for the poor. Out of greed, he allowed incredible benefits to Jewish moneylenders. Rezniks (usurers-interest-bearers) prospered, and artisans and merchants, having taken out a loan and finding themselves for some reason in difficult circumstances, as in our days, fell into bondage and went bankrupt. They lost not only property, but families and their very freedom. The rebellion flared up with particular force when Monomakh refused to take the place of the Grand Duke, since the eldest in the family were the Svyatoslavichs - Davyd (an insignificant person) and Oleg - Monomakh's long-term rival.

N.M. Karamzin writes about Monomakh’s refusal to come to Kyiv: “This refusal had unfortunate consequences: the people of Kiev did not want to hear about another sovereign; and the rebels, taking advantage of the lack of leadership, robbed the house of a thousand, named Putyata, and all the Jews who were in the capital under the special protection of the selfish Svyatopolk.”

When the pogrom happened, which is usually called the first Jewish pogrom in Rus', the “Monomakh party” again sent ambassadors to Monomakh: “Come, prince, to Kyiv; if you don’t come, then know...” The situation threatened to develop into a senseless and merciless riot, with the looting of the prince’s palace and even monasteries.

Charter and Teachings

Monomakh has arrived.

The riot has subsided. But with a condition. Tatishchev says: “However, they publicly asked him for justice for the Jews, who took away all trades from Christians and under Svyatopolk had great freedom and power, because of which many merchants and artisans went bankrupt.” The reason for anger at the Gentiles was not only economic, but also religious: “They seduced many into their faith and settled in houses among Christians, which had never happened before, for which they wanted to beat them all and plunder their houses.”

Monomakh, having assembled a Council of thousand and other boyars, carried out reforms. The “Economic Package” formed the basis of the Monomakh Charter and became an integral part of the “Long-Russian Pravda”. IN. Klyuchevsky shows that in that era “capital was extremely expensive: with a short-term loan, the amount of monthly growth was not limited by law... Vladimir Monomakh, having become the Grand Duke, limited the duration of charging annual growth to half the capital: such growth could only be taken for two years and after that, the creditor could seek only capital from the debtor, i.e. the debt further became interest-free; whoever took such an increase in the third year lost the right to seek capital itself...” The “Charter” strictly stipulated the conditions under which a free person could become a slave. A person who received a loan of bread or other “dacha” could not be turned into a slave.

On the Jewish question, Tatishchev conveys the decision: “Now, from the entire Russian land, all Jews with all their property should be expelled and will not be allowed in in the future...” The decision was of a situational nature and was not implemented. Jews lived in Kyiv until the Mongol invasion, until 1240.

The deep basis of Monomakh’s “Charter” are moral principles, later formulated by him in the famous “Instruction for Children.” His instructions sound like the teachings of a spiritual elder whom you want to listen to:

Do not miss a single night - if you can, bow to the ground; if you get sick, then three times...

In general, do not forget the more wretched, but, as much as you can, feed and serve the orphan and the widow yourself, and do not let the strong destroy a person.

Kill neither the right nor the guilty, and do not command him to be killed; even if you are guilty of death, then do not destroy any Christian soul.

Vladimir-Vasily Monomakh passed away into eternity on May 19, 1125 “on Alta, near his beloved church” Borisoglebskaya, “which he built and richly decorated with great dedication and labor.” This happened in the 73rd year of his unforgettable life. Monomakh was buried in Sophia of Kyiv, next to his grandfather, Yaroslav the Wise.

He remained in the memory of the people as “a brotherly lover, a beggar-lover and a kind sufferer for the Russian land”, as the most glorious ruler in the history of pre-Mongol Rus', when “Lithuania did not emerge from the swamp, and the Germans rejoiced that they were far beyond the blue sea... »

PRINCE HUNT

And behold, the dey was working hard; He first sat down in Chernigov, but came out of Chernigov, and until the summer he hunted for nothing with all his strength except for any other catch, except for Turov, like his father, who caught every animal. And here in Chernigov I acted: a wild horse tied my hands with my hands; I tied 10 and 20 live horses in the forests, and besides, while riding in Russia I had the same wild horses with my hands. Tura threw me 2 at the roses and with the horse, the deer threw me one big, and 2 moose trampled me with his feet, and the other horned; The boar pulled away the sword on my hip; The bear bit me at the knee of the lining, the fierce beast jumped onto my hips and the horse fell with me; and God has kept me safe. And I fell from my horse many times, I broke my head twice, and I strained my hand and nose in my weariness, not eating my belly, nor sparing my head. As soon as my youth had to do something, I myself did it, deeds in war and fishing, night and day, in the heat and in winter, not giving myself peace: it was not in vain for the posadniks, nor for the birichi, I myself did what was necessary, the whole outfit and in my house I did this; and in the hunters I myself kept the hunting outfit, and in the stables, and about the falcons and about the hawks.

TEACHINGS OF VLADIMIR MONOMACH (Translation)

ABOUT THE CONDUCT OF THE PRINCE.

In your house, do not be lazy, but watch over everything: do not rely on either the tiun or the youth, so that those who come to you do not ridicule your house or your dinner. When you go to war, do not be lazy, do not rely on the commander, do not indulge in food, drink, or sleep; and dress up the guards yourself and at night, having dressed up soldiers everywhere, also go to bed and get up early. Do not immediately take off your weapons: through negligence, a person suddenly dies. Beware of lies, drunkenness and fornication, for in this the soul and body perish. When you travel through your lands, do not allow the youths to do evil either to your own or to others, neither in villages nor in fields, so that they do not begin to curse you. Wherever you go, wherever you stop, give drink, feed the poor; honor the guest, no matter where he comes to you, whether simple, noble, or an ambassador; if you cannot give a gift, then write or drink: as they pass, they will glorify the person either good or evil throughout all lands.

If you forget this, then read it more often - and I will have no shame, and you will feel good. What good you can do, do not forget, and what you cannot do, learn; This is how my father, while at home, mastered five languages; This is something that commands respect from other countries. For laziness is the mother of everything (evil). What a person knows how to do, he forgets, and what he does not know how to do, he does not learn.

Princely strife and campaigns

And now I will tell you, my children, about my labors, how I worked, hiking and hunting from the age of 13. First of all, I went to Rostov, through the Vyatichi (land) - my father sent me, and he himself went to Kursk; then - to Smolensk with Headquarters Skordyatich; he again went to Berest with Izyaslav, and sent me to Smolensk; from Smolensk I went to Vladimir (Volynsky). That same winter, my brothers sent me to Berestia in a fire, where they burned it, their city was guarding there... Then Svyatoslav sent me against the Poles, I followed Glogova, to the Czech forest, walked on their land for 4 months... from there - to Turov, in the spring - to Pereyaslavl and also to Turov, Svyatoslav died, and I again went to Smolensk, and from Smolensk that same winter to Novgorod: in the spring to help Gleb, and in the summer with my father - near Polotsk, and in the next winter - with Svyatopolk near Polotsk, Polotsk was burned; he (Svyatopodk) went to Novgorod, and I fought with the Polovtsians on Odrsk, and from there to Chernigov... And again I came from Smolensk and fought through the Polovtsian troops to Pereyaslavl and found my father, who had come from the campaign. That same year, my father and Izyaslav and I went to Chernigov to fight Boris (Vyacheslavich) and defeated Boris and Oleg. Again we went to Pereyaslavl and stopped in Obrovo, and Vseslav burned Smolensk; and I, together with the Chernigovites, followed him, replacing one horse with another, but they did not capture (Vseslav) in Smolensk; on this path, pursuing Vseslav, I devastated the land and ravaged from Lukoml to Logozhsk; from there he went to fight against Drutsk, and from there (returned) to Chernigov. That winter, the Polovtsians ravaged all of Starodub, and I went with the Chernigov and Polovtsians, and on the Desna we captured the princes Asaduk and Sauk and killed their squad, and the next day, outside the New City, we dispersed the strong army of Belkatgin: we took away the swords and prisoners. I went to the Vyatichi for two winters - to Khodota and to his son... In the same year we chased the Polovtsy beyond Khorol, who took Goroshin. That same autumn we went with the Chernigov people and the Polovtsians, the Chiteevichs, to Minsk: we captured the city and left neither servants nor cattle in it.

There were 83 large campaigns, but I don’t remember the rest of the smaller ones. I made peace with the Polovtsian princes without one 20 both with my father and without my father; gave a lot of cattle and a lot of his clothes and released from prison the Polovtsian noble princes Sharukan 2 brothers, the Bagubarsovs - 3, the Ovchins - 4 brothers, and all other noble princes - 100. And the princes whom God gave alive into his hands: Koksus with his son, Aklan Burchevich, Tarevsky prince Azguluy and other glorious young warriors - 15, then he took them into captivity alive, beat them and threw them into the Slavliy river; Gradually, about 200 nobles were beaten at that time.

PRINCE HUNT

And here are my labors during the hunt... And here’s what I did in Chernigov: I tied wild horses with my own hands, in the forests there were 10 and 20 alive, and besides, while driving around Russia, I also caught wild horses with my own hands. For two rounds they threw me on the horns, along with the horse; One deer gored me, and 2 moose - one trampled with its feet, and the other gored with its horns, the boar tore off the sword on my thigh, the bear bit my sweatshirt at my knee, the fierce beast jumped on my hips and knocked down the horse along with me. But God kept me safe. He fell from his horse many times, broke his head twice, caused harm to his hands and feet in his youth, damaging them, not protecting his life, not sparing his head. What my boy needed to do, I did it myself; in war and on the hunt, night and day, in heat and frost, I did not give myself rest; not relying on either the mayor or the birichi, he himself did what was necessary: ​​he established all order in his house; I myself kept the hunting outfit, took care of the grooms, falcons and hawks (I took care of it myself).

36. PRINCE VILLAGES

According to the Ipatiev Chronicle.

They fought until the evening, and from there they marched to the village of Meltekov, and from there they sent and plundered the herds of Igor and Svyatoslavl, in the forest, according to Rakhni 2, there were 3000 herd mares, and 1000 horses; Having sent around the village, he burned the village and the courtyards... But he went to the village of Igorevo 3, where he built a good courtyard; There was a lot of preparation in the Bretyanitsa 4 and in the cellars of wine and demovo, that there was no burden to take out any heavy goods, including iron and copper, 5 from the multitude of all that. Davydovich 6 commanded to take him on the carts and howl, and then commanded to set fire to the courtyard and the church of St. George, and his threshing floor, there are 9 hundred stacks in it...

And Svyatoslavl 7 divided that courtyard into 4 parts, and the cowwoman 8, and the Bretyanitsa, and the goods that could not be moved, and in the cellars there were 500 berks of honey, and 80 korchaks of wine; and the Church of the Holy Ascension was all peeled off, with silver vessels, and 9 and service plates, and everything was embroidered in gold, and two censers, and katsya 10, and a forged angel, and books and bells; and did not leave anything behind the prince, but divided everything and 7 hundred servants...

PRINCE VILLAGES (Translation)

...They fought until the evening; going from there, they stopped at the village of Meltekhova, and from there they sent and robbed the herds of Igor and Svyatoslav, in the forest along the (river) Rakhna: there were 3000 herd mares, and 1000 horses; Having dispersed to the villages, they burned the granaries and courtyards...

We went to Igor’s village, where he built a nice yard; there were a lot of supplies in the barns, in the cellars - wine and honey, and a lot of heavy goods of all kinds - iron and copper; They couldn’t take it out from the multitude of it all. The Davydovichs ordered to put it on the carts for themselves and the soldiers, and then to set fire to the courtyard, the church of St. George and his threshing floor, and there were nine hundred haystacks in it...

And then Svyatoslav’s court divided the treasury, barns, and property that could not be moved into 4 parts, and in the cellars there were 500 berks of honey, and 80 taverns of wine; The entire church of the Holy Ascension was robbed: silver vessels, church clothes, service vestments, everything embroidered in gold, two censers, a bound gospel, books and bells; they left nothing of the prince’s property, but divided everything, as well as seven hundred servants (people).