Russian chronicles in the collections of the department of manuscripts of the Russian national library. Chronicle sources about Yermak as cultural and historical memory Siberian chronicles about Yermak's campaign

History in a sense is holy book peoples: main, necessary; mirror of their being and activity; a tablet of revelations and rules; the testament of the ancestors to their offspring; addition, explanation of the present and an example of the future.

Y. M. KARAMZIN

Map of Siberia from the "Drawing Book" (south - above, north - below, west - right, east - left).

The Siberian chronicles contain eight chronicles about Yermak Timofeevich's campaign in Siberia, and even more, the chronicles tell about what happened after the death of the Cossack chieftain Ermak Timofeevich, this is a storehouse of unique historical essays, a particularly valuable detailed historical source.

Ermak Timofeevich, conqueror of Siberia. Lubok XIX century.

List of Siberian Chronicles.

1) RUMYANTSEVSKY CHRONICIAN
2) CHRONOGRAPHIC STORY
3) POGODINSKY CHRONICLE
4) STROGANOV'S CHRONICLE
5) BUZUNOVSKY CHRONICIAN
6) POSTOZERSKY CHRONICIAN
7) DESCRIPTION OF SIBERIA
8) KUNGUR CHILDREN

The lion and the unicorn on the banner of Ermak, who was with him during the conquest of Siberia (1581-1582)

This is how Ermak was depicted in many portraits of the same type of the 17-18 centuries.

Historical information about the modern word Siberia, rooted in the modern understanding of the Siberian land, as follows from the chronicles Siberia is primarily the city of the ruler Khan Kuchum, who was later killed by the Kalmyks for ruining and robbing his charges at the end of his inglorious life, Kuchum stole a herd of horses for this atrocity, the Kalmyk soldiers caught up with him and killed him.

“Tsar Kuchum tried many times to return Siberia and take revenge. They caught up with him on the border with the Steppe, and attacked, they killed him, and seized from him two queens and a son and huge wealth. Kuchum himself fled with a small detachment, and when he reached his ulus, he took the rest of the army and when he went through the Kalmyk uluses, then he drove the herds of horses. Kalmyk soldiers caught up with him, and the troops routed him, and won back their horses. Then the king Kuchum fled to Nogai and was killed there. "

Siberia (Kashlyk, Siberia, Siber, Iber, Isker) is a city, the capital of the Siberian Khanate. It was located on the right bank of the Irtysh at the confluence of the Sibirka River, 17 km above modern Tobolsk in the Tyumen region, now an archeological monument "Kuchumovo settlement".

At that time, raids of the Kuchumov tribes often happened to Perm and the Perm Russian lands, which, as a result, suffered constant ruin, suffered violence and human grief, this worried Ivan Vasilyevich, after some questions from the Stroganov brothers about the Siberian kingdom, and about the possibility of protection from the raids of the Bashkirs , Ostyaks, Vaguls, Tatars, Nagays, Siberian detachments, and other nomads, Ivan Vasilyevich gives the go-ahead with diplomas with the sovereign's gold seals on the land from the mouth of the Chusovaya River up both banks up to the source and along the tributaries to (their) sources, and in those places, from the Kama up the Chusovaya - at 80 versts on the right and left banks to build fortifications to protect and defend against raids by the Basurman, gives complete freedom of action and protection in all available ways, after which the construction of fortifications begins, the supply of the necessary resources, and recruitment is made detachments.

From that moment on the scene appears ataman Yermak with his comrades-in-arms, who often robbed, smashed and plundered on the Volga, Oka and the sea, ships, penal servitude, merchant trade caravans with a mob of 5000 people, thinking to go to Kyzylbashi together with the Don and Yaik Cossacks, in order to dominate the sea, but this did not happen, robbing merchants, including the state treasury and other Orthodox people, shedding Christian blood, these exploits become known to the Tsar and Grand Duke of All Russia Ivan Vasilyevich, the sovereign is enraged and angry.

In the future, these events determined the fate of Ermak Timofeevich and his comrades to go to the service of the Stroganovs, to protect the land from the raids of motley tribes, and in the future to carry out a military campaign against Siberia.

As a result, Ermak and his associates enter the service of the Stroganovs to make amends, perhaps out of fears that Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich was angry, in either case, Ermak defends the Russian land and Great Perm, breaks up nomadic detachments and conquers nearby nomadic tribes, after which an expedition to the Siberian Khanate of Kuchum is equipped, and then bloody and terrifying battles with Khan Kuchum and nomads, who many times outnumbered the forces of Ermak and his comrades-in-arms, often the Cossacks, before the battle with the enemy, knelt down with prayer on their lips, and then a desperate battle followed courage (there was no place to retreat), and so they took the opposing side, it is worth noting that Ermak was not expected to help in the Siberian land from anyone, after each fight, his comrades-in-arms died.

I will note that eight chronicles about Siberia provide various information, often complementing each other, as a result, a general picture of the chronology in events is formed, which was at such a distant time, who was Ermak, his origin, what he did, what happened after the death of Ataman Yermak with comrades-in-arms in the Siberian land, no Wikipedia, no movie will tell about this in the full picture.

What do living modern Siberians know about this? I doubt that most of my contemporaries have heard anything about the historical Siberian chronicles, especially what is described inside.

Postscript: After the conquest of the Siberian lands, expeditions are made to the edge and end of the Siberian land, the Russian Kingdom is actively developing Siberia (the development was carried out along the rivers - Tobol, Irtysh, Ob, Yenisei, Amur), new fortress cities Tyumen (1586), Tobolsk (1587 ), Berezov and Surgut (1593), Tara (1594), Mangazeya (1601), Tomsk (1604), Kuznetsk (now Novokuznetsk) (1618), Krasnoyarsk (1628), churches, monasteries, residential and industrial buildings are being rebuilt, Cossacks are settled , merchants, industrial and service people, Cossacks, merchants, farmers, migrant peasants, and other people.

A drawing of all Siberian towns and lands from the atlas of Semyon Remezov, compiled in 1701.

The name Ermak is translated from Tatar as "breakthrough". And it was given to the chieftain for the property of his character to always go for a breakthrough, to overcome difficulties. His trip to Siberia is a huge breakthrough into the future not only of Russia, but of all mankind. So the name Ermak turned out to be very symbolic.

Arguing about Yermak's campaign in Siberia, historians usually lose sight of the fact that during the preparation for the campaign and during it, the Cossacks had to solve complex, even by modern standards, engineering and transport problems. Meanwhile, their study and understanding from an engineering point of view is able to determine the time extent of the trip from its beginning to its completion. Let's omit the reasons that prompted the Cossacks and their sponsors to this campaign. Let's start with its beginning - at the end of August 1581, when Maxim Stroganov agreed to equip a squad. The Stroganov historian of the 18th century P.S. Ikosov calculated that all the supplies given to the Cossacks cost 20,000 rubles at the then prices. And although it is impossible to verify its complete reliability, it boggles the mind. The natural volume and weight of the equipment received should at least approximately correspond to this amount of value.

The atamans demanded that weapons and food for 5000 people be issued at the rate of 3 pounds of rye flour, a pound of rusks, 2 pounds of cereals and oatmeal, a pound of salt, a steelyard of butter, half a pork carcass, a certain amount of fish, 3 pounds of gunpowder and lead for a Cossack and banners regimental "with ykons, everyone according to the banner" (Siberian Chronicles, p. 315)
The ships were loaded day and night. The chieftain was in a hurry: it was necessary to cross the Stone before the freeze-up. However, there was more cargo than the light plows could take. To increase their carrying capacity, they made cords to the sides, but still some of the cargo had to be left.

The Cossacks took with them everything that could be needed on a long journey: axes, saws, nails, hemp, resin, shovels, all kinds of ship's tackle, sails, canopies (tents), etc. Fishing nets (festoon) were not forgotten either.

Comparing the Cossack regiment to the Streletsky Sergeev V.I. determined the size of the squad, together with the willing people attached to it, close to 1650 people. (VI Sergeev. On the issue of the campaign to Siberia Ermak's squad - Questions of history, 1959, No. 1, p. 123). The squad had trumpeters, marmots, timpani and drummers and, therefore, musical instruments of both size and weight.

The weight of food per each Cossack received from the Stroganovs was about 10 poods = 160 kg, the weight of a Cossack with military equipment and winter clothing was at least 100 kg, and other equipment and tools were at least 50 kg. per person. Each boat had its own large cauldron (yermak) for cooking food.

D.E. Kopylov cites the number of ships in Yermak's flotilla to be close to 80. This means that if about 20 Cossacks were simultaneously accommodated in one boat, plus cargo, then the useful displacement of the boat should have been at least 7 tons. To accommodate such a number of people and cargo, the length of a typical Volga boat design with a width of 2.5-3 meters should have been at least 12 meters, and the dead weight of the boat swollen in water was about one and a half tons.

The chronicles note that in order to ensure the advancement of such significant vessels along the shallow upper reaches of the Chusovaya and Serebryanka rivers, Ermak was forced to block the channel behind the flotilla with sails and, waiting for the water to rise, move forward. Then the sails were transferred after the flotilla, and the operation was repeated. Until the Cossacks reached the watershed between the Serebryanka rivers and the Barancha river flowing to the Siberian side, the nearest tributary of the Tagil. The Siberian portage began from here. The Cossacks could not drag their impressive and heavy ships to the Siberian side and took the entire load on their shoulders. The historian Ikosov wrote in 1761: "The Ermakovs' plows were left in some place - and to this day the essence of many foresters and trappers is known, because where they were left on the banks, not a small bush grew on them."

Food supplies were also significantly reduced, although the Cossacks replenished their supplies by plundering the local Mansi tribes. As a result of the clashes, the number of the Cossack troops was also reduced. This partially facilitated the task of moving to Siberia.

Having reached the Zharovlya River, which flows into Barancha from the south, Ermak ordered to build small rafts, on which, having overcome 66 km, they descended to Tagil. Perhaps this became only at the end of April, when the Barancha rises in the flood. Distance 66 km. to Tagil (translated from Mansi as "a lot of water"), the rafts could pass in two days due to the high speed of the spring current and the long daylight hours. The distance from the place of its confluence with Tagil to the confluence of Tagil with Tura is 288 km. On Tagil, at the mouth of the Medvedka River in a dense forest, the Cossacks camped to build new plows. Popular legend describes this period as follows: “they sailed along that Barancha-river, and soon they sailed to the Tagil-river. They stopped at that Bear of the Stone, at the Magnitskova mountains. And on the other side they had rafts: they made big kolomenki so that they could get away with everything. Onet lived here, the Cossacks, from spring to Trinity days, and they had fishing trades, so they fed. And as they should have gone, they went to the kolomenki with everything. And they swam along the Tagil River and swam out to the Tura River ... "Since almost all the chronicles speak about the construction of" kolomenok "here by Yermak, it is necessary to explain what it is.

"These were long and rather narrow vessels with a completely flat bottom, steep stems and sides, almost everywhere of even height and without any pick-up in connection with the bottom and with obtuse bow and stern formation. go completely parallel, in the other two-thirds, to both extremities, they turn into curves, intersecting at the pins at an acute angle. outward appearance very reminiscent of a simple birch bark snuffbox. "In sources of the 16th century, in terms of trade duties, a kolomenka is equated to a plow. clumsy kolomenki, and more familiar to them plows. In the fundamental work "Volga and Volga shipping" the famous Russian researcher I. A. Shubin defines this concept as follows: waves - plows, floating on small rivers - plows and easily passing shallows - sastrugs, naturally, by these features attracted the most attention, differed from other ships of their time and were called plows. ”The history of plows can be traced for many centuries. gives the right to speak about their high seaworthiness and operational qualities. reason to think that Yermak's Volga Cossacks built exactly the plows.

This vessel has the simplest, without any special tricks, construction and is a large boat. Yes, Yermakova's squad did not have the time and special need for the construction of more serious vessels. For a military campaign, ships were needed roomy and maneuverable. From the legend it follows that boats were built on a gentle bank, from which it is convenient to launch them into the water. In addition, a level platform is absolutely necessary for laying the slipway.

It is in the annals the construction of boats is described in one phrase. In fact, this is a complex and long process. First of all, a good forest suitable for shipbuilding was needed: spruce, cedar, worse if pine. Then the forest had to be cut down, cut into logs 12-15 meters long, cleaned of branches and bark. Then the logs had to be carried on themselves (Ermak had no horses) to be delivered to the place of construction. Then the logs were to be split into blocks. Plakhi had to be hewn in order to get tes. If you trim the boards, you get boards. From which you can build a plow.

One log, from which four full-fledged boards were obtained, could take a whole day. And one boat required at least twenty-five of them. At the same time, it was necessary to prepare pins, frames and kokorins (knits). The harvested material must have been thoroughly dried. Otherwise, the tightness of the new boat cannot be ensured and it will leak mercilessly. The dried boards had to be edged and planed to ensure that they fit snugly against each other. Then came the process of direct construction of the ship, which was built upside down with the bottom. First, the pins and frames were put on the slipway, then the bottom was laid on them, and then the sides were fastened "in close" the board to the board. If we assume that the boards were tied together not by nails, but by "sewing" with tree roots, then it becomes clear that this process is long, laborious and requires skill.

The process did not end there: at first the seams were carefully caulked, and then they were ground. The resin was allowed to dry and soak in, and then the boat was turned over. One boat required at least two buckets of resin, and for the entire flotilla - about two hundred. Ermak could not take such an amount of resin with him from the Stroganovs. It means that he organized a tar plant on the spot. But that's not all: the boat was caulked and tarred from the inside, three pairs of oarlocks were installed, three paired seats for the oarsmen, one more for the lookout, and one for the helmsman. To protect the cargo from water - fish grates were laid on the bottom. And for each boat, six rowing oars (rowing oar), a stern oar, a scoop for water and a water pole were needed. It is likely that the kolomenki were also equipped with a mast with a square sail. After all, it is mentioned that Ermak had sails in reserve. After the descent, the kolomenka was left in the water so that the seams swelled (that's what the boards were dried for), the leaks found were eliminated, and only then could it be considered ready for swimming.

The construction of one lightweight "kolomenka" for the Cossacks should have taken at least a month. Considering that the construction of all 80 boats was going on in parallel, then for the entire flotilla a month and a half or two. Consequently, at the end of June, Yermak "and his comrades" left Tagil, which was beginning to grow shallow, and set off down the Tura. 288 kilometers to the mouth of the Tagil, a flotilla of heavily laden boats on a slow current, even if three pairs of oarsmen sat “on the rowing”, who were replaced every two hours by the replacements, had to pass in ten days. A caravan of boats with a distance of 30-40 meters between them (and this is not enough on the water) was supposed to stretch for two or three kilometers. In order for everyone to dock at night, with an interval between boats in the parking lot of 5 meters (dictated by the length of the rowing), it was necessary to have about 600 meters of a gentle coast. The speed of the current on the Tour in summer does not exceed 4 kilometers per hour. The speed of a laden rowing vessel downstream can be about 8 kilometers per hour with enhanced rowing. Experience shows that during daylight hours, without stopping for lunch, a caravan of rowing ships is able to cover about 45 kilometers. A significant amount of time is spent on exploration, fishing for food, overcoming the opposition of the local population, cooking and eating, equipping a place to sleep, rest. But even with this in mind, Yermak's caravan of ships had to reach the ruins of the city of "Chimgi-tour" no later than the end of July.

We know from the chronicles that, with the exception of a small battle for Epanchin town, Ermak did not meet any resistance along the way. Coastal villages surrendered without a fight. Chimgi-Tura, the former capital of the “Tyumen the Great” kingdom, was no exception. By the time of Yermak's arrival, it had decayed and was of no interest either in trade or in strategic terms. And for the basing of the flotilla it was completely unsuitable. Only those who have never rafted down the river in a rowboat can assume that a flotilla of 80 ships have moored a steep boat that does not have a gentle slope to the water. The fast free-flowing current under this coast should have either carried the boats or, if they are firmly anchored by the bow, press the side of the boat against the bank and heel the boat. Both made the unloading of ships very inconvenient. Now imagine that the Cossacks had to lift their property on their shoulders to the steep and carry another kilometer to the present Tsarev settlement - and then the ruins of the town of Chimgi-tura. Leaving the property for the winter in boats meant giving it to the locals, who would not fail to take advantage of the carelessness of the newcomers. And the boats themselves, left under the steep boat, would have been turned into splinters by the spring ice drift.

Now about the Chimgi-tour itself. For the Cossacks, she represented not a refuge, but a trap. Even if we assume that there were enough rooms in it to ensure the wintering of one and a half thousand troops, then others necessary conditions it was not. These conditions are firewood for heating and cooking and water. The forest around the town was cut down long ago by local residents for buildings, tyn and firewood, and the territory was plowed up. The Cossacks did not have horses and sleds for carrying firewood from afar. A lot of firewood was required, not only for heating, but also for guard fires. If we assume that the Cossacks used the dwellings left by the Tatars for wintering, then one should remember what their winter yurts were like. Usually these were built of round wood, sometimes half buried in the ground, which were heated "in black" open foci, the smoke from them came out through a hole in the roof and narrow windows under the roof. In some dwellings, there could be clay chuvals, which differed little in energy efficiency from fires-hearths on the earthen floor. As soon as the fire died out, the heat evaporated.

The only way for the inhabitants of the yurt to survive the cold night was to snuggle closer to each other. From wall to wall, across the entire yurt, bunks covered with hay and animal skins were arranged. And on them, side by side, back to back, the inhabitants slept. Each of them accounted for about three meters of the total area of the yurt. And the yurt itself hardly exceeded 50 square meters in area. Roughly counting, heating one such house during the winter, capable of accommodating 15 Cossacks for the night, required ten cubic meters of firewood. To accommodate the entire army for the winter required one hundred houses and a thousand cubic meters of firewood. And they also needed a bakery for baking bread, a chapel for prayers, and, of course, a bathhouse. To serve the 1,500-strong army, the bathhouse had to smoke daily and non-stop. There was no firewood nearby. And only the Tyumenka River could serve as a source of water, to which in summer it was still possible to descend along an incredibly steep path, and in winter, and even with a bucket of water, it was almost impossible to climb the icy slope. The army needed at least a thousand buckets of water every day.

Chimgi-tur, modest in size, was not able to provide a full-fledged wintering for the Cossack army. In addition, if the enemy surrounded the Cossacks outside the walls of Chimgi-tours, then for them it would become a trap. It should also be taken into account that by the time they reached the walls of Chimgi-Tur, the Cossacks did not have sufficient food reserves for wintering. Those taken from Stroganov came to an end, there was no one to plunder on the deserted shores, and there was no time to hunt ourselves - all the time was spent on building plows. The tour off the coast of Chimga-tours did not indulge in an abundance of fish and is not convenient for fishing with a net.

Winter storage of boats was another problem. For the winter, they are supposed to be pulled out on land and turned upside down so that they do not rot, do not dry out and are ready for spring repair. This could be done only on the left, gentle bank of the Tura, opposite the town. If this was done, the issue of their permanent protection had to be resolved. For what it was necessary to build a dwelling for a reinforced guard. After all, if the aborigines attacked the place where the boats were stored and destroyed them, insurmountable difficulties would come for the Cossacks. New boats cannot be built here due to the lack of the necessary forest nearby on the banks.

Probably Yermak, being an experienced chieftain, appreciated all these circumstances and did not decide to stop for the winter. What kind of wintering can there be if the Cossacks sailed on plows only for no more than a month. Summer was in full swing, there are still three months ahead of freezing, and during this time you can find a better place, at the same time solve the food problem and achieve the main task: the return of the Siberian kingdom "under the arm of Moscow." And, apparently, the Stroganov and Esipov chronicles are right, they report that the squad did not stay in Chimgi-tour and immediately proceeded on. Inaction and slowness were not in the character of the Volga chieftain. And in early August 1582, the Cossack squad left the place where in 1586 the Russians would build the city of Tyumen.

And now let's return to the probable question of whether the chieftain Ermak was on the territory of present-day Tyumen, whether he stood on that high promontory where the Tyumen Cossacks put him a memorial cross. You can only answer in the affirmative. To make a decision, the chieftain had to assess all the circumstances and inspect the area. In memory of this event, a memorial sign in the form of a cross was installed. But this is by no means an Orthodox cross, as some Muslims try to interpret it. Ermak did not promote Orthodoxy to Siberia. He was generally alien to religious prejudice. His squad included representatives of a wide variety of faiths, from pagans to Catholics and Muslims. With Ermak, new social and economic relations came to Siberia, which became the basis of its current heyday. And for the Voguls, Khanty and Siberian Tatars, Ermak brought liberation from the dominance of an alien khan, a nomadic Uzbek Kuchum and his murz. Siberian Tatars honored the hero Ermak as a saint. After his campaign, they did not lose either their lands or lands, they retained their ancestral elders and their faith. But for that they acquired the status of Siberian Cossacks, with all their freedoms and liberties. And they faithfully served the Moscow state without a single indignation or speech.

And the cross at the landing site of Ermak is nothing more than a navigational mark, which the Russian explorers have always installed on the wild shores they discovered. Similar navigation signs still stand along Tura at every rift.

In this regard, I would like to add a few words about the recent competition for a monument to the founders of Tyumen. Of the options presented, not a single one was found that would reflect the true depth and significance of the development of Siberia. The sculptors tried to disguise the narrowness of their thinking under the shadow of a huge Orthodox cross, which is present in each version. And at its foot miserable figures of truly great people - the founders of Tyumen - swarm. And as a result of considering all this absurdity, the then head of the city administration V. Kuyvashev showed real wisdom by suspending the competition.

As for Ermak, a monument to him, as a carrier of new technologies and the ancestor of Siberian shipbuilding, should be erected in the city. But on it the chieftain should be depicted in ordinary Cossack clothes, with a carpenter's ax and a stern steering oar in his hands. And the most correct place for him is where his flotilla temporarily stood, on the opposite bank from the embankment, near the Ascension-George Church on Beregovaya Street 77. Thus, the memory of Ataman Yermak in Tyumen will be immortalized. After all, Ermak Street on the Cape is named not ataman, but an icebreaker.

I. G. Solodkin

CHRONICLES VERSION OF ERMAK'S PELYMSKY HIKE: ORIGIN AND DEGREE OF RELIABILITY *

One of the main events of the "Trans-Ural epic" 1582-1585. since the time of GF Miller, the campaign of the Cossacks, who seized the khan's capital, on Tavda is often considered. * 1 Researchers differ only in the dating of this campaign and the definition of its goals. Some historians like G.F. Miller thought that the Ermakovites visited Tavda in 1583, 2

* The research was carried out as part of the execution of state works in the field of scientific activity, task No. 2014/801.

1 See, for example: Shulgin I. The origin of the Cossacks on the southern border of Russia; the appearance of Ermak and his conquest of the Siberian kingdom // Proceedings of the Russian Academy. T. 5.SPb., 1842.S. 248; Dmitriev A. Perm antiquity. A collection of historical articles and materials mainly about the Perm Territory. Issue 5. Perm, 1894. S. 178, 183; Sergeev V.I. To the question of Ermak's squad march to Siberia // VI. 1959. No. 1. S. 126, 127; History of the Urals: In 2 volumes. T. 1. Perm, 1976. P. 51; Kruzhinov V.M. Ermak // Great Tyumen Encyclopedia. T. 1. Tyumen, 2004. S. 431; Kruzhinov V. M, Sokova Z. N. The last battle of Ermak: historical sources and research // Bulletin of Tyumen. state un-that. 2007. No. 1. P. 149; Siberia: Atlas of Asian Russia. Novosibirsk; M., 2007.S. 505; Koblova E. Yu Pelymskoe principality, Siberian yurt, Russian state: military-political contacts in the second half of the 15th - the end of the 16th century. // Nizhnetavdinsky region: history and development prospects. Regional scientific and practical conference. Tyumen, 2008.S. 79; Polishchuk V.V. In the wake of Ermak's expedition: Pachenka - Tyumen transit ... // Ibid. P. 101.

2 Shcheglov IV Chronological list of the most important data from the history of Siberia: 1032-1882. Surgut, 1993.S. 40; Yugorsk: from a legend to a point on the map. Ekaterinburg, 1997.S. 49; Berezikov N. A. Ermak's Siberian Expedition: Military Tactics of the Cossacks // First Ermakov Readings "Siberia: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow." Materials of the regional scientific conference December 21, 2008, Novosibirsk. Novosibirsk, 2009. S. 113, etc. According to N. A. Berezikov, at the same time the Yermakovs defeated the Tatar army at Abalak. But the battle took place there in early December 1582.

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others - in the next. 3 At the same time, as N.A. Lapin thought, the Cossacks wanted a respite on the eve of the decisive battles for Isker. According to chronicles, however, "Siberian capture" preceded the campaign against Tavda. From the point of view of RG Skrynnikov, the Cossacks moved there in order to return to Russia and establish a convenient route from Pelym to Kashlyk; Ermak, who already had a small detachment, did not dare to storm the fortified settlement of the Plymian prince Ablegirim and returned to Isker. Later, a prominent historian doubted that, according to Tavda, the Russians were going to leave for Russia, this could have been done in the usual way through the Pechora; in fact, the "commodity" intended to conquer the Pelym principality, but the Cossacks failed.4 As it seemed to D.I. I. Nikitin, “the Cossacks who were waiting for help were irresistibly drawn to Rus”, which is why they moved up the Tavda against the Pelym principality; but “from the Ural foothills” the Erma-Kovtsy had to turn “back to Siberia” .6 (The border of the Siberian Khanate in the northwest passed along the middle course of the Tavda7). From the point of view of A. T. Shashkov, who expounded the version of the Kungur Chronicle (hereinafter - KL), in the summer of 1583 (it turns out that after the "Siberian capture" and a successful campaign in the Ob-Irtysh region) "Ermak made an attempt to withdraw his thinned detachment" to Russia "through

3 History of the Cossacks of Asian Russia: In 3 volumes. T. 1. Yekaterinburg, 1995. P. 25; Fayzrakhmanov G. History of the Siberian Tatars (from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century). Kazan, 2002.S. 200-201; Zuev A.S. Ermakov's Cossacks // Historical Encyclopedia of Siberia. T. 1. Novosibirsk, 2009. S. 536; Solodkin Ya. G. 1) On two controversial problems of the "Siberian capture" // Actual problems of the history of Western Siberia. Surgut, 2010.S. 7; 2) "Ermakov's capture" of Siberia: riddles and solutions. Nizhnevartovsk, 2010. P. 97. In the spring - early summer of 1584, Kashlyk was besieged by Karachi, and then Ermak set out on a campaign, which became the last for the "warrior" chieftain. The previous year was marked by the capture of Tsarevich Mametkul by the Cossacks and their expedition to Belogorie. Therefore, if the campaign of the Yermakians to the Pelym land took place, then most likely in 1583.

4 Lapin N. The art of war in the Siberian campaigns of Ermak // VIZH. 1966. No. 1. S. 43; Skrynnikov R.G. 1) Ermak's Siberian expedition. Novosibirsk, 1986.S. 242-244, 246; 2) Ermak. M., 2008.S. 133-135, 176.

5 Kopylov D.I. Ermak. Irkutsk, 1989.S. 125, 156, 161.

6Nikitin N.I. 1) "For my friends" // VIZH. 1993. No. 6. P. 86; 2) Ermak // Historical lexicon: XIV - XVI centuries. Book. 1.M., 2001.S. 487.

7See: Matveev A.V., Tataurov S.F. Borders of the Siberian Khanate of Kuchum // History, economics and culture of the medieval Turkic-Tatar states of Western Siberia: Proceedings of the International Conference: Kurgan, April 22-23, 2011. Kurgan, 2011.S. 73-75. Wed: Bakhrushin S. V. Scientific works. T. 3. Ch. 2. M., 1955. S. 143; Miller G. F. History of Siberia. T. 1.M., 1999.S. 468-469.

possession of the Pelym prince Ablegirim and his allies, but having failed, he returned back in October. " A. T. Shashkov, however, found that after the death of their leader, some of the Yermakites decided to return, while others continued to remain in Isker, waiting for help from Moscow; unable to overcome the resistance of the Plymian Voguls in order to break into the Lozva and Vishera basins, the Cossacks of Ataman Matvey Meshcheryak returned to Tobol, where they split up: a part of the -Kovtsy "by the old," trans-stone "way went to Russia and by the spring of 1585 reached the Volga shores, joining here in the ranks of the local Cossack freemen. According to the conclusion of A. T. Shashkov, when Seydyak settled in Isker, defeating the heir to Kuchum, Ali (Alei), the "Orthodox warriors" who settled on the Karachin island also went to the Russian lands along Tobol. As the prominent Siberian scholar explained, “episodes about the departure of the Cossacks of Matvey Meshcheryak to Russia and the placement of some of them on the Karachin Island are reconstructed on the basis of data from the Stroganov and Kungur chronicles, dating back to eyewitness accounts.” 8 But the first of them only says that Meshcheryak, who went to Russia after the death of Yermak, soon returned to the city of Siberia. According to KL, the Russians drove Karach off the island on Lake Karachin on the eve of a new campaign, and after returning from Tavda, the "initial chieftain" winterized on this island.9

8 Essays on the history of Codes. Ekaterinburg, 1995.S. 91; Shashkov A. 1) Paths for the "Stone" and the Siberian campaign of Ermak // Yugra. 1997. No. 4. P. 26; 2) The death of Kuchumov's "kingdom". Once again about Yermak's campaign: a new version // Rodina. 2002. On the trail of midnight countries. P. 77; Essays on the history of Ugra (hereinafter - OYU). Ekaterinburg, 2000.S. 118-119, 133-134. Note. 36; The Russian old-time population of Ugra at the end of the 16th - the middle of the 19th centuries: Research materials and documents. M., 2007. S. 28, 37. Notes. 98. From the point of view of A. T. Shashkov, the Yermakovites were going on a campaign against the Pelym prince in late summer - early autumn 1582, but then decided to move into the possession of Kuchum.

It is sometimes believed that the detachment of Matvey Meshcheryak returned to Russia along the Irtysh and Sobi, or "to the Stroganov lands by the Pechora route." See: PLDR: XVII century. Book. 2. M., 1989. S. 703; Gasnikov A.G. Once again about the campaign of Ermak Timofeevich to Siberia // Cossacks: Problems of history and historiography. Materials of the 28th All-Russian Correspondence Scientific Conference. SPb., 2003.S. 23.

9 Siberian Chronicles: Brief Siberian Chronicle (Kungurskaya) (hereinafter - SL). Ryazan, 2008. P. 38, 39, 83-86, 102-103, 416, 417. As we read in the Remezov Chronicle (hereinafter - RL), Karachino winter quarters were located on the island. This "History" also tells about the town (city) of Karachi (Ibid. Pp. 327, 328, 418, 419).

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with the death of its leader, it is not said, 10 as well as the departure of Meshcheryak's detachment to Russia. It is possible, however, that, being left without their "mentor", some of the Yermakovites, led by Matvey Meshcheryak, really decided not to spend the third winter in a row in Kashlyk waiting for servicemen, the hope of whose appearance could be considered illusory, and retreat before the river covered with ice, in the Kama and Volga regions. But it is hardly worth assuming that the "Meshcheryakovites" moved back along the Tavda, and having failed, they returned to Tobol and from there headed "to Russia." The idea that some of the Yermakovites, who did not follow Meshcheryak, refused to join their comrades-in-arms who were in Isker, and spent the winter on Karachin Island, and then left Siberia on their own (almost simultaneously, did the warriors of the rifleman's head I.V. Glukhova).

It is possible that Meshcheryak left the city of Siberia even before the streltsy head I.S.Kireev and the ataman Ivan the Terrible took Tsarevich Mametkul to Moscow. (A. T. Shashkov believed that Meshcheryak left Siberia at the end of the summer of 1584 and fought on Tavda, when the archers of Prince S. D. Bolkhovsky sailed across Tobol, heading for Kashlyk11). In this case, Matvey Meshcheryak should not be passed off as the last ataman of the "army" Yermak12.

In the petition (1653) of the head of the Tobolsk equestrian Cossacks Gavrila Grozin, it is stated that his father Ivan "took Siberia" together with Ermak, "set" Tobolsk, Tara, Tomsk, "caught" and delivered

10 D. Ya. Rezun believed that the appearance of archers in Kashlyk led to a split in the Cossack environment: some agreed to enter the sovereign's service, while others wanted to keep their freedom; the latter could retreat to Berezov and Mangazeya, take the side of some Tatar Murza or Seydyak (Rezun D. Ya. Where and with whom did the Cossacks go after the death of Ermak? // Izvestia Siberian Branch Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Ser. societies. sciences. 1981. No. 11. Issue. 3.P. 19, 20). But Berezov and Mangazeya arose much later. Wasn't it easier for the Cossacks to return to the Volga, Yaik or Don?

11 OIE. S. 118-119; Shashkov A. Lodeyny city // Homeland. 2004. Special. issue: Tobolsk is a living epic. P. 10. About the invitation of the Stroganovs to their towns Meshcheryak, along with other Volga chieftains - Ermak, Nikita Pan, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov - the "syllabary" of the Stroganov Chronicle (hereinafter - StL), apparently, was known from the archives of the Kama salt producers. The Stroganov “historiographer”, who introduced him as one of the main heroes of the “conquest of the Siberian land,” most likely told about the subsequent fate of Meshcheryak by hearsay.

12 So, after N. M. Karamzin, N. A. Mininkov did, forgetting about Ivan Groza, who survived his "mentor". See: N.A. Mininkov. An unknown page in the historiography of Ermak's campaign: the Rostov manuscript // Social thought and traditions of Russian spiritual culture in historical and literary monuments of the 16th-20th centuries. Novosibirsk, 2005.S. 60.

Solodkin Ya.G. Chronicle version of Ermak's Pelym campaign -

to Moscow the sons of Kuchum.13 Apparently, the petition refers to Mametkul, who, together with the archers I. S. Kireev, was accompanied to the “reigning city” by Ivan the Groza (Ivan the Thunderstorm). The Cossacks, who found themselves under the command of Glukhov, apparently were soon left without the ataman. Perhaps Matvey Meshcheryak, not wanting to be subordinate to them with the arrival in Kash-lyk of the detachment of the governor Prince S.D.Bolkhovsky (quickly died) and the head of Glukhov, as A.T.Shashkov thought, left Siberia14 and soon ended up on Yaik and in the Volga region.

It is noteworthy that the synodikon "Yermak Cossacks" (hereinafter - C) of several editions and that appeared about a decade and a half later, in the mid-1630s, the Esipov and Stroganov chronicles, 15 as well as secondary varieties of the latter16 speak of the campaigns of the "brave Russian regiment" (after the fall of Kashlyk) along the Irtysh, Ob and Vagai, but the battles of the "unanimous squad" with the Plymtsy are not reported. The submarine, which preserved the original information about Ablegirim, is also silent about these battles.17 The "war" by the Yermakites of the Tavda basin is not mentioned in one petition, which mentions the prehistory of the "Pelym city" .18

The absence of even dull indications of the Tavdin expedition of the Cossacks in S, dating back to the "writing" of the fearless chieftain's comrades-in-arms, and the Tale of Siberia and the Siberian capture (released from

13 See: Aleksandrov V.A., Pokrovsky N.N. Power and Society: Siberia in the 17th century. Novosibirsk, 1991.S. 81.

14 It is not necessary to believe that later, in 1585, together with Glukhov, the ataman Savva Boldyr left Siberia. See: Ya. G. Solodkin. Was the ataman Savva Bol-dyrya a participant in the Siberian capture? // History and local history of Western Siberia: problems and perspectives of study. Collection of materials of the IV Regional Scientific and Practical Conference with International Participation at the I.G. P. P. Ershova November 7-8, 2012 Ishim, 2013.S. 28-30

15 See: SL. S. 28-29; PSRL. T. 36.Moscow, 1987.S. 60, 63, 71, 72, 380, 381. Cf .: S. 78.

16 See: SL. P. 74; PSRL. T. 36.S. 34, 39, 40, 86, 87, 94, 95, 112-114, 124, 125, 134, 138, 184, 185, 189, etc.

17 See: PSRL. T. 36. S. 130, 136. Contrary to the statement of RG Skrynnikov, ataman Nikita Pan did not die when the Yermakites tried to subjugate the Pelym principality (Skrynnikov R. Siberian Odyssey // On land and sea. Stories. Stories. Essays . Articles. Issue 20. M., 1980. S. 186), and in the campaign, the culmination of which was the capture of the Nazim town. By the way, in the early editions of S, the death of Ataman Yakov Mikhailov is silent (following the murder of Ivan Kolts in captivity with four dozen “people of commodity”), which is reported in the STL, unless it is Yakov, who was named the first among Ermak's associates who died together with him "near the Vagaysky mouth on the digging" (PSRL. T. 36. S. 78, 380, 381).

18 See: V. I. Koretsky. From the history of the settlement of Siberia on the eve and during the "Troubles" (late 16th - early 17th centuries) // Russian population of Pomorie and Siberia (period of feudalism). M., 1973.S. 39.

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pen by Savva Esipov) was previously explained by the fact that by the time these works were created, none of the participants in the campaign against the "people of Plym" had survived.19 It turns out that none of the veterans (together with their companions who "shot down" "From the kuren" of the Siberian "saltan"), who participated in the compilation of the "writing" or whose testimonies were used by the Tobolsk and Solvychegodsk chroniclers, although they knew about Tavda (at the mouth of this river, it turns out, the Yermakians captured the courtier Ku-chum, the Tatar Tauzak, who told them about the Siberian Khanate20).

The Esipov and Stroganov Chronicles captured such events at the beginning of the famous expedition, which we will not read about in C, such as the "abuse of Veliy" near the Bobasan tract, the capture of the Karachi ulus and the town of Murza Attika, the battle with the "nasty" on the banks of the Irtysh, the construction of the "Kuchumlyans" near the Chuvasheva mountain, on which the "lawless king" is located. The same chronicles reflected the minor circumstances of the "invasion" of the "crusader" ataman with "tovarism" into the possession of Kuchum (the Tatars unsuccessfully fired at the Cossacks from behind the mountain when they sailed across Tobol, capturing the ulus of Karachi, the Russian "tsar's honey in a plane demolished ", soon after the occupation of the city of Siberia by the Yermakovs, the Ostyak prince Boyar appeared there with gifts and supplies, during the expedition along the Irtysh and Ob, the Cossacks took the Nazymsky town, the" wicked ", having learned about the extermination of the Karachi by Ivan Kolts's detachment, began to kill the Yermakovites" in the volost and ulus "; the location of Karachi, who left the khan, is determined21), however, the campaign, which became in the eyes of many scientists a significant episode of the" conquest of Siberia ", was not reflected in the above works.

This campaign is mentioned only in the RL, which appeared at the turn of the 17th - 18th centuries, and was included in its composition of the KL, which sometimes dates back to the first years after the "Ermakov capture" of the "Kuchumov kingdom", but more often the next century, often its second half, and is considered22 to have emerged from the Cossack environment, reflecting the Cossack folklore or close to it.

19 Solodkin Ya. G. 1) On two controversial issues ... P. 6; 2) "Ermakov's capture" of Siberia ... p. 96.

20SL. S. 16, 64, 99; PSRL. T. 36.P. 51.Cf: S. 131.

21 See: SL. S. 19-21, 28, 34.66, 67, 73, 79, 99-100; PSRL. T. 36.S. 52, 53, 56, 60-62.

22 See: S. V. Bakhrushin Scientific works. T. 3. Part 1. M., 1955. S. 41; Likhachev D.S.Russian chronicles and their cultural and historical significance. M .; L., 1947.S. 414; History of Russian Literature. T. 2. Part 2. M .; L., 1948.S. 90, 92, 281; Dergacheva-Skop E. From the history of literature of the Urals and Siberia of the 17th century. Sverdlovsk, 1965.S. 98,

Solodkin Ya.G. Chronicle version of Ermak's Pelym campaign -

As narrated in the RL, in 7088 (1579/80), even before the invasion of Siberia, the Voguls “submitted (to the Russians - Ya. S.) to Tavda; and your war to the whole land of the Pelynsk districts until spring. ”* 23 Three years later, in 7091 (1582/83), Ermak, according to S.U. returning from the campaign on June 20, and already on July 1 "(the Cossacks. - Ya. S.) went to fight in Tavda, took (their leader. - Ya. S.) Labutin town, prince Labutu with wealth, and Pachenka", where “battle ve-liy be, like the Foul Lake filled (ataman - Ya. S.) with corpses; the same and Koshuki, Kondyrbai (by the assumption of GF Miller, Chandr. - Ya. S.) and Tabara. " In C from RL (based on the "commemoration" of the Tobolsk St. Sophia Cathedral24) in June - July 7089 (1581) we read

143. Cf .: S. 121; A. A. Preobrazhensky 1) Urals and Western Siberia at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 18th century. M., 1972.S. 48; 2) "Ages connecting thread": Continuity of the military-patriotic traditions of the Russian people (XIII - early XIX v.). M., 2002.S. 87; Skrynnikov R.G. Siberian expedition of Ermak. P. 65, etc. Sometimes, although, I think, without good reason, KL is taken for an essay formed in the circle of Yermakovites (Dergacheva-Skop E. 1) From the history of literature - P. 77, 96; 2) Notes on the genre "History of Siberian" by S. U. Remezov. Article 1 // Questions of Russian and Soviet literature in Siberia. Materials for the "History of Russian Literature in Siberia". Novosibirsk, 1971, p. 59; Mirzoev V.G. Historiography of Siberia (Pre-Marxist period). M., 1970.S. 17; Alekseev VN 1) The Kungur Chronicle as part of the "History of Siberian" by S. U. Remezov // Formation of the system of library services and book business in Siberia and the Far East. Novosibirsk, 1977.S. 80. Cf .: S. 83; 2) "Siberian History" by S. U. Remezov in the literary process of the second half of the 17th century: Author. dis. - Cand. philol. sciences. Sverdlovsk, 1988. S. 12. Compare: S. 4; Essays on Russian literature in Siberia: In 2 volumes. T. 1. Novosibirsk, 1982. P. 98. Cf .: P. 74, 75; Preobrazhensky A. A. Some results and controversial issues of studying the beginning of the annexation of Siberia to Russia (Concerning the book by R. G. Skrynnikov "Siberian expedition of Ermak") // ISSSSR. 1984. No. 1. P. 109; Dergacheva-Skop E., Alekseev V. "Using Philosophy of Different Sciences-": Semyon Remezov - Tobolsk Enlightener of the 17th century // Tobolsk and all Siberia. No. 1. Tobolsk, 2004. P. 168). It is also believed that KL is completely based on the "oral chronicle" (The peasantry of Siberia in the era of feudalism. Novosibirsk, 1982. S. 428, etc.).

For more details on the assessments of KL see: Source study and historiographic aspects of Siberian history. Part 2. Nizhnevartovsk, 2007.S. 88-95.

23 In the Likhachevsky form of the Esipov Chronicle, it is reported that the Yermakovites came to the "Pelynskaya land", heading for the "kingdom" of Kuchum, her prince and his people "began to reimagine the Cossacks in conspicuous places", and the chieftains "from commodities" and took a lot of sable treasury from the pelyntsi "; the aforementioned prince informed the khan of the appearance of the Cossacks. (Perhaps this legend originated in the Middle Volga region). Next, the "Pelyntsi" are named among the "languages" subject to Kuchum, which is not mentioned in Esipov's work See: PSRL. T. 36.S. 120, 121, 123.

The opinion that the second of the given testimonies about the Pelym prince was borrowed from StL (Pokrovsky NN, Romodanovskaya EK Foreword // Ibid. P. 18) is incorrect.

24 It is possible that S.U. Remezov was involved in the creation of this S.

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about the "war" of the Yermakites in the lower reaches of the Irtysh, along the Ob and Tavda, when Nazymsky, Kodsky and Labutinsky towns were occupied. " According to the KL, even before the "Siberian capture", on August 1, 7087 (1579), the Cossacks drove the Murza Karacha off the island on the Karachinskoye Lake "and delightedly returned back to Russia, and piled up the Tavda river, fighting from the mouth upwards. and the Kalym volost and La-Bhutan from the princes, and with all of them, relentlessly beating and irrevocably to Pachenka ", and" the Tatars came to the one, and killed the Pechenega prince, and filled the Ezero with a corpse, and that word is still going on with Bannoe Poganoe "; from there on August 6, 25 "pogrebosha up the Tavda ... to Koshuki." Soon, as we learn from the KL, the Yermakovites reached the possessions of the Pelym prince Patlik, 26 and having learned that there was no way “beyond the Stone to Rus”, they returned down the Tavda on October 4 (it turns out, 7088 or 1579), collecting “bread in yasak. ”27 On November 8, the chronicler continues,“ the Cossacks arrived at Lake Karachino, from where on March 5 Yermak sent the Pentecostal Bogdan Bryazga “to capture all the Nazym volosts and bring them to faith, and collect yasak in plenty of packaged goods” .28

25 This date already raised doubts among G.F. Miller, who believed that the story of the Cossack campaign against Tavda, read in the KL, was generally anachronistic, most likely due to its late origin.

26 In other sources, Pechenegs and Patlik do not appear among the Pelym princes. See: A. T. Shashkov. Yugorsk Princes in the XV-XVIII centuries. // Northern Region: Science. Education. Culture. 2001. No. 1 (3). P. 174.

27 S.V. Bakhrushin, the last remark seemed reliable, although sometimes he doubted that the Yermakovites had visited Tavda (Bakhrushin S.V. Scientific works. Vol. 3. Part 1. P. 94, 146; Part 2. S. 98.Cf .: P. 147; Miller G.F. History of Siberia.Vol. 2.M., 2000. P. 644). D. Ya. Rezun and RS Vasilievsky write with conviction about the collection of bread "in yasak" by the famous chieftain (Rezun D. Ya., Vasilievsky RS Chronicle of Siberian cities. Novosibirsk, 1989. S. 16).

28 SL. Pp. 317, 323, 325-327, 339, 353, 407, 416-418, 430, 444. Reference to the image in the KL of Bryazga's hike to the “Pelym Volosts” (PLDR: XVII century. Book 2. P. 698; Kiyanova O.N.Late chronicles in the history of Russian literary language: Late 16th - early 17th centuries. SPb., 2010, p. 246) is incorrect.

Let us note that the testimony of Remezov's S. about the death of one hundred and seven Yermakovites “near Chyuvashi from Kuchyum” clearly contradicts the news of the Tobolsk “scribe” about the “first murder by a Cossack in Siberia” on Lake Abalatskoye (Ibid. Pp. 559, 568, et al. Cf. : Skrynnikov R.G. Ermak's Siberian expedition. P. 241). By the way, according to S. U. Remezov, brought to Moscow by Seydyak, Saltan and Karach, "ordered ... the sovereign (Fedor Ivanovich. - Ya. S.) to baptize" (Ibid. P. 566, etc.). But they bore the same names after they found themselves in the "reigning city" (see, for example: Belyakov A. V. 1) Uraz-Muhammad ibn Ondan // Minin readings. Proceedings of the Scientific Conference. Nizhny Novgorod, 2007.S. 31-33, 60; 2) What was the name of the big Siberian Karachu? // History, economics and culture of the medieval Turkic-Tatar states of Western Siberia. Materials of the II All-Russian Scientific Conference: Kurgan, April 17-18, 2014. Kurgan, 2014. S. 63), so this message of the "History of Siberian" is erroneous.

Solodkin Ya.G. Chronicle version of Ermak's Pelym campaign ...

Despite the discrepancies in dating (in RL, the events in question are dated to 7091 and 7089, in KL - to 7087), the similarity of the above stories is obvious. They mention the capture of the Labutan town (Labutan towns) and the capture of Labuta (RL), the "war" with the latter (KL), the battle in Pachenka, where Ermak filled the lake, known as Pogany (Banny Poganym), 29 with corpses, battles in Koshuki. According to the "History of Siberian" by S. U. Remezov, battles with the Voguls also took place in Kondyrbay and Tabary; in KL other volosts are listed - Krasnoyarsk and Kalymskaya, in contrast to RL, the princes of Pecheneg and Patlik are named, it is said about the collection of bread "in yasak" on Tavda. In addition, according to S.U. Remezov, the Yermakovites set out on a hike along this river on July 1, according to the KL - exactly one month later. Apparently (he did the same in other cases), the creator of the "History of Siberian" borrowed from the obviously more meaningful CL and information about the "war" in Pachenka.30

As S.V. Bakhrushin once wrote, in 1582 “the Cossacks who were in the service of the Stroganovs fought the Pelym districts”, 31 but, following the example of G.F. partly punitive goals ", that is, it is associated with the 1581 raid of the Pelym Mansi on the lands of the Kama region.32

In the assessment of R.G. Skrynnikov in the Remezian narrative (including the KL) about the Tavdin campaign, it is difficult to separate reliable information from the legendary ones.33 Let us note that the expulsion of Karachi from the island on Lake Karachi by the Yermakovs was attributed to August 1 in KL. In RL, the capture of Tyumen by the Cossacks, their performance "on the city of Karachin", arrival to Ermak are timed to this date.

29 It seems to N. A. Berezikov that it was called that way already at the time of Ermak's expedition.

30 Skrynnikov R.G. Siberian expedition of Ermak. S. 60-61.

31 Bakhrushin S. V. Scientific works. Vol. 3, part 2, p. 143.

32 See: G.F. Miller, History of Siberia. T. 1.P. 484.

33Skrynnikov R.G. Siberian expedition of Ermak. S. 243. Cf .: S. 205. Still N. M. Karamzin found that "the news (KL. - Ya. S.) about this campaign is not very reliable" (Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. Book. 3.T. 9.M., 1989.S. 236).

RG Skrynnikov recognized clearly erroneous "exact dates", which are saturated with RL and KL (Skrynnikov RG Siberian expedition of Ermak. Pp. 71, 151, 241, etc.). For more details on anachronisms in the "History of Siberian" see: Solodkin Ya. G. Vosled Savva Esipov: Essays on the history of Siberian chronicle writing in the middle - second half of the 17th century. Nizhnevartovsk, 2011.S. 172-191.

By the way, it is inappropriate to take it as an official chronicle (Kiyanova ON Late Chronicles. P. 245).

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messengers "from the steppe", the battle on Lake Chilikule between the "Kuchum-lyans" and the servicemen of Prince V.V. ... in Koshuki ", - this is the day of death of the" brave smlad "ataman.

Thus, KL (as noted more than once in historiography, which captured the oral tradition that existed in the Cossack environment for many decades), probably, became one of the sources of S.U. a narrative that is anachronistic and does not find parallels in much earlier chronicle writings and from older editions. Therefore, I think, the Pelym campaign of the "Russian regiment" should be ranked, according to the classification of E. K. Romodanovskaya, as fictional events (one of them can be considered the trip of the Cossacks with the seunch to the court of Ivan IV, which Savva Esipov told about). Perhaps the chronicle version of this campaign was influenced by memories of the hostile actions of Ablegirim against the Russians on the eve of the "Siberian capture" (in the "disgraced" letter of the first Moscow tsar, the Stroganovs, it is even said about "sending" Volga chieftains and Cossacks to "fight ... ... places "," vogulichi "). 36

34See: Ya. G. Solodkin From observations of the chronology of the "History of Siberian" by S. U. Remezov // Semyon Remezov and Russian culture of the second half of the 17th-19th centuries. Tobolsk, 2005.S. 125, 126, etc.

35 The conclusion that S.U. Remezov had a protograph of the KL (Shashkov A. Driving through Samarovo: From the past of the capital of the Yugorsk Territory // Rodina. 2007. No. 10. P. 45), remained without substantiation.

36 Miller G. F. History of Siberia. T. 1.S. 335, 336, 475-476, 484. See also: PSRL. T. 36.S. 130.

How difficult is it to tell a real story from a skillfully told legend? Especially when both of them concern an absolutely real person. About Ermak Timofeevich, a Cossack chieftain who lived in the middle - end of the 16th century, both friends and enemies wrote legends.

The great warrior and conqueror of Siberia, who fought and died for the glory of his country. Disputes are about his name, the number of troops under command and the circumstances of death ... But his feat is beyond doubt.

Famine and siege

Siberia, the Tatar city of Kashlyk (Isker), 1585. The winter was long and monstrously cold, even by Siberian standards. There was so much snow that it was difficult to walk a couple of steps, let alone hunt. A chilly, icy wind blew incessantly night and day.

Earlier, due to the incessant autumn battles, the Cossacks were unable to collect enough supplies. Yermak's army was not used to grumble, but food was sorely lacking, and there were no more than two hundred people left ...

Spring did not bring relief: the Tatars came again, taking the city in a ring. The siege threatened to drag on for many months, dooming the Cossacks to death by starvation. But Yermak remained Yermak - as always, wise and cold-blooded.

After waiting until June and lulling the vigilance of the Tatars, he sent his closest associate - Matvey Meshcheryak - on a night sortie. Matvey, along with two dozen soldiers made their way to the camp of Karachi, the Tatar commander, and staged a massacre.

Karachi barely escaped, but both of his sons died, and the Cossacks disappeared into the night as unexpectedly as they came.

The siege was lifted, but the question of provisions remained as acute as in winter. How to feed the army when the Tatars can attack at any moment?

And in August the long-awaited good news came — a rich trade caravan with supplies for the Cossacks was approaching Kashlyk. You just need to protect him from the enemy ...

What's in a name?

It is not known for certain in what year Yermak was born. The dates are called different: 1532, 1534, 1537 and even 1543. Rumors about the place of his birth also vary - it is the village of Borok on the Northern Dvina, then an unknown village from the Chusovaya River, then the Kachalinskaya stanitsa on the Don. It is understandable, almost every Cossack family wanted to boast that it was with them that the legendary chieftain was born!

Even the name of Ermak is questionable. Some historians argue that Yermak is an abbreviation of the Russian name Yermolai, others call him Yermil, and still others derive the name from Herman and Eremey. Or maybe Ermak is just a nickname? And in fact, the name of the chieftain was Vasily Timofeevich Alenin. It is not known where the surname came from - in those days they were not in use among the Cossacks.

By the way, about the Cossacks: the word "armak" meant "big" for them, like a common cauldron for a meal. Doesn't it look like anything? And of course, we must not forget about the enemies of Yermak, who, for all their hatred of him, respected him immensely. Irmak in Mongolian means "rapidly gushing spring", practically a geyser. In Tatar, yarmak means "cut, cut". In Iranian, ermek means "husband, warrior."

And this is not the whole list! Imagine how many copies were broken by historians, arguing among themselves and trying to unearth the very same, the real name of Ermak, or at least its origin. Alas, the Cossacks rarely kept chronicles, and with the oral dissemination of information, something is lost, something is thought of, something changes beyond recognition. This is how the real story breaks down into dozens of myths. The only thing that cannot be denied is that Yermak's name turned out to be very successful.

Free Cossack

In the first decades of his mature life, somewhere before 1570, Ermak Timofeevich was by no means an angel. He was a typical Cossack chieftain who walked along the free Volga with his retinue and attacked Russian merchant caravans and Tatar and Kazakh detachments. The most widespread opinion is that Yermak, in his youth, entered the service of the then famous Ural merchants Stroganov, guarding goods on the Volga and Don. And then he "went from work to robbery", gathered himself a small army and went over to the freemen.

However, the controversial period in Yermak's life did not last long. Already in 1571 he helped the squad to repulse the attack of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey under the walls of Moscow, in 1581 he fought valiantly in the Livonian War under the command of the governor Dmitry Khvorostinin, commanding a Cossack hundred. And already in 1582, the same Stroganovs remembered about the gallant ataman.

Forgetting about all the sins of Ermak, they very respectfully asked him to protect the merchant interests of Russia in Siberia. In those years, the Siberian Khanate was ruled by the cruel and dishonorable Khan Kuchum, who overthrew Khan Ediger, who maintained more or less good relations with the Russian kingdom. Kuchum, on the other hand, spoke of peace, but in fact he constantly attacked merchant caravans and moved his army to the Perm region.

Yermak agreed with the merchants not only for the sake of a rich reward. The Tatar Khan was a devout Muslim and spread Islam throughout Siberia and wherever he could reach. For the Orthodox Cossack chieftain it was a matter of honor to challenge Kuchum and win. Gathering a relatively small squad - about 600 people - Ermak Timofeevich set out on a great campaign to Siberia.

Thunderstorm of the Siberian Khanate

To describe all the military exploits of Yermak, one article will not be enough. Moreover, as in the case of his place of birth or name, many of them are distorted by retelling, others are understated or embellished, for almost every event there are two or three versions. In fact, the incredible happened - six hundred Cossack warriors passed through the vast Siberian Khanate, over and over again defeating the Tatars' army twenty times superior to them.

Kuchum's warriors were fast, but the Cossacks learned to be faster. When they were surrounded, they left along the rivers in small mobile boats - plows. They took cities by storm and founded their own fortifications, then also turned into cities.

In each battle, Ermak used new tactics, confidently beat the enemy, and the Cossacks were ready to follow him into fire and water. The conquest of Siberia lasted four years. Ermak broke the resistance of the Tatars and negotiated peace with the local khans and kings, bringing them to the submission of the Russian kingdom. But luck could not accompany the chieftain forever ...

The rumor of a merchant caravan carrying supplies for a starving Cossack army turned out to be a trap. Ermak, together with the rest of the squad, moved from Kashlyk up the Irtysh River and was ambushed by Kuchum. The Cossacks attacked under cover of darkness, and although they fought back like mad, there were too many Tatars. Out of 200, no more than 20 people survived. Ermak was the last to retreat to the plows, covering his comrades - and died, falling into the river waves.

Legendary person

Legend has it that the body of the great chieftain, caught from the river by his enemies, lay in the air for a month without beginning to decompose. Ermak was buried with military honors in the cemetery of the village of Baishevo, but behind the fence, since he was not a Muslim. The Tatars respected the fallen enemy so much that his weapons and armor were considered magical for a long time. For one of the chain mail, for example, they gave seven families of slaves, 50 camels, 500 horses, 200 bulls and cows, 1000 sheep ...

Ermak lost that battle, but his cause did not die with him. The Siberian Khanate did not recover from the shock inflicted on it by the Cossack army. The conquest of Western Siberia continued, Khan Kuchum died ten years later, and his descendants could not offer worthy resistance. All over Siberia, settlements and cities were founded, previously hostile local tribes were forced to accept citizenship of the Russian kingdom.

Legends about Ermak were composed both during his lifetime and after his death. No, no, yes, and there was a descendant of a descendant of another descendant, who knew for certain a certain Cossack from the squad of the great chieftain and was ready to tell the whole truth. In my own way, of course. And there are tens and hundreds of such examples. But is it so important in this case to distinguish reality from fiction? Ermak Timofeevich himself would certainly have had fun with all his heart, listening to stories about himself.

Sergey EVTUSHENKO

In the Siberian chronicles of the 16-17 century, how the ataman Ermak Timofeevich conquered Siberia.

History in a sense is the sacred book of peoples: the main, necessary; mirror of their being and activity; a tablet of revelations and rules; the testament of the ancestors to their offspring; addition, explanation of the present and an example of the future.

Y. M. KARAMZIN

Map of Siberia from the "Drawing Book" (south - above, north - below, west - right, east - left).

Ermak Timofeevich, conqueror of Siberia. Lubok XIX century.

List of Siberian Chronicles.

1) RUMYANTSEVSKY CHRONICIAN
2) CHRONOGRAPHIC STORY
3) POGODINSKY CHRONICLE
4) STROGANOV'S CHRONICLE
5) BUZUNOVSKY CHRONICIAN
6) POSTOZERSKY CHRONICIAN
7) DESCRIPTION OF SIBERIA
8) KUNGUR CHILDREN

The lion and the unicorn on the banner of Ermak, who was with him during the conquest of Siberia (1581-1582)

This is how Ermak was depicted in many portraits of the same type of the 17-18 centuries.

What do living modern Siberians know about this? I doubt that most of my contemporaries have heard anything about the historical Siberian chronicles, especially what is described inside.

A drawing of all Siberian towns and lands from the atlas of Semyon Remezov, compiled in 1701.

After the conquest of the Siberian lands, expeditions were made to the edge and end of the Siberian land, the Russian Kingdom was actively developing Siberia (the development was carried out along the rivers - Tobol, Irtysh, Ob, Yenisei, Amur), new fortress cities Tyumen (1586), Tobolsk (1587) were founded, Berezov and Surgut (1593), Tara (1594), Mangazeya (1601), Tomsk (1604), Kuznetsk (now Novokuznetsk) (1618), Krasnoyarsk (1628), churches, monasteries, residential and industrial buildings are being rebuilt, Cossacks and merchants are settled , industrial and service people, farmers, migrant peasants, life is in full swing.

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