Alexander Nevsky is a very diverse character in Russian history. This is a real politician of the XIII century. - Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, a representative of the Vladimir-Suzdal branch of the Rurikovich-Monomakhovichi, who during his lifetime did not bear the nickname Nevsky. This is the epic Alexander Nevsky, who in the XIV-XVIII centuries. gradually turned into a symbol of Russian national and state identity. Moreover, the image of the last, epic Alexander Nevsky was interpreted in different eras in their own way, and even the 20th century managed to make a significant contribution to the mythologization of the legendary double of the prince.
Therefore, when it comes to Prince Alexander, it is very important to indicate which Alexander will be discussed. In our essay, we will talk about the “original Alexander”, a real politician and a talented commander of the 13th century, who had a lot to live in a difficult and tragic time for Russian history. This time determined the logic and boundaries of the activities of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich.
Before analyzing the policy of Alexander, as well as any of the significant contemporaries of this prince, for example, his father, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and then Vladimir-Suzdal, or Prince Daniil Romanovich Galitsky, it is necessary to at least briefly familiarize yourself with the fact that from appeared by the thirteenth century. Russian world, as well as in what relations with the countries of the East and West it was. 1230-1260s were an era of significant civilizational changes that changed in many ways not only Russian, but also world history.
The first thing that catches your eye when looking at Rus' XII-XIII centuries. - this is the fragmentation of the Russian world. Politically, he represented almost a dozen independent states. In sociocultural terms, they were combined into at least four alternative development models:
South Russian and Western Russian close to it (Kiev, Pereyaslav, Chernigov, Polotsk, Smolensk and other principalities);
southwestern Galicia-Volyn;
northeastern (Vladimir-Suzdal and Ryazan principalities);
northwestern (Novgorod Republic, and from the XIV century and the Pskov Republic).
And although all these models grew out of Kievan Rus in the 9th - mid-11th centuries, by the 30s. XIII century, they have departed far, both from a single ancient Russian root, and from each other's socio-political structure. These models represented various sociocultural alternatives and were not so much each other's allies as adversaries in the struggle for the future development of Rus'.
Kievan Rus was an important part of medieval Europe. In the IX - the middle of the XI centuries. the trade route "From the Varangians to the Greeks", which passed through Russian territory and connected the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea through a system of rivers and portages, acquired international significance. The old sea road from Western Europe to the Levant (the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea) turned out to be closed to Europeans due to Muslim expansion, and trade relations between European countries, Byzantium and the developed East began to serve the route “From the Varangians to the Greeks”. The space along this route has become a busy commercial, political and cultural crossroads. This had a favorable effect on the development of Kievan Rus, great benefits opened up both for the local population and for foreign merchant guests.
Scandinavians-Varangians predominated among the latter. They once opened the way "From the Varangians to the Greeks." However, the Varangians quickly lost their role as the main trade intermediaries between Western Europe and Byzantium. This role passed to the Grand Dukes of Kyiv, for whom the organization of trade expeditions to Tsargrad (Constantinople) and the protection of Russian trade interests became one of the most important tasks of state policy. The backbone of power in this matter was the East Slavic urban population and the Slavic-Varangian princely-druzhina environment. In the IX - the middle of the XI centuries. veche traditions continued to live in the urban environment. The Grand Dukes constantly held council with the senior and junior squads, and after 988 - with the clergy.
The role of a trade intermediary between the West and the East brought unprecedented material wealth to Ancient Rus' (it is worth remembering at least the fact that the country, then completely devoid of its own sources of silver, had a monetary system based not on coins, but hryvnia - silver bars weighing from 90 up to 200 grams). No less important role was played by the innovations of the civilizational choice. After the baptism of Rus' in 988, a Russian metropolis was formed as part of the Byzantine Patriarchate. Eastern Christian influence determined the further development of the spiritual culture of the country.
However, as noted by the Eurasian historian Nikolai Klepinin, “The quickly erected and richly decorated building of Kievan Rus stood on a weak foundation” (Klepinin N. Holy and Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. M., 1994). As soon as the Western European crusaders at the end of the XI century. conquered the Holy Land, they "discovered" the old 800-kilometer sea route from Europe to the East, and the route "From the Varangians to the Greeks", which was 3 times longer, began to quickly lose its international significance. Another circumstance contributed to this. From the middle of the XI century. merchant ships on the portage in the area of the Dnieper rapids were constantly attacked by nomadic Polovtsy. As a result, by the beginning of the XII century. international trade lost its former significance for Rus', and the very path “From the Varangians to the Greeks” ceased to be the geopolitical axis around which ancient Russian unity revolved. Only Novgorod inherited the role of a regional trade intermediary between the North of Europe, the Russian lands, the Greeks and the East.
At the turn of the XI and XII centuries. Rus' experienced a serious crisis. It turned from a busy inter-civilizational crossroads into the eastern outskirts of the European world and the northern periphery of the church-cultural Byzantine space. Moreover, Rus' from the south was cut off from the Roman Empire by the nomadic Great Steppe, which was absolutely alien and hostile to it. The split of the western and eastern Christian churches (the schism of 1054) became a serious reason for the increasing alienation of Orthodox Rus' from the Catholic countries of Western Europe from century to century.
The extinction of the commercial and urban way of life forced the ancient Russian princely retinue elite at the end of the 11th-12th centuries. show interest in land ownership. Princely and boyar estates began to appear everywhere (patrimony (allod) - unconditional private ownership of land), the income from which now became the main source of well-being for princes and their boyars. In a natural economy, when everything needed was produced and consumed staying on the spot, for the population scattered across the vast expanses of the East European Plain, the need to cling to Kyiv disappeared. The local prince with his retinue ensured local order and external defense. After the death of the great Kyiv prince Mstislav Vladimirovich the Great (reigned 1125-1132), the united ancient Russian state broke up into 12 independent lands.
Political fragmentation in Rus' in the XII - early XIII centuries, as well as feudal fragmentation in the West of Europe in the initial period, was a positive phenomenon. It contributed to socio-economic, political and cultural development (for example, if earlier Rus' knew 2 centers of chronicle writing, now there are 14 of them!). The process of leveling the developed volosts of the times of Kievan Rus and its former "bear corners" began. Moreover, some of them, in particular, the Vladimir-Suzdal land and Galicia with Volyn, in many respects bypassed the former leaders.
The Polovtsian raids, which devastated the southern Russian territories bordering the Great Steppe, sent flows of refugees from the Dnieper region to the Russian North, Northeast and Southwest. The socio-economically developed South Russian settlers brought with them new agricultural technologies (primitive slash-and-burn agriculture was everywhere replaced by fallow and double-field farming), developed crafts spread in new cities and villages, and local trade revived. At the same time, the Russian world, as before, looked like an iceberg, on top of which rather developed forms of the medieval economy and social structure flaunted, and the vast underwater part continued to be an archaic layer, little integrated into the economic, socio-political and cultural achievements of its time.
This layer was especially large in the North-East of Rus', native to the hero of our essay - Prince Alexander Yaroslavich. This was, first of all, a consequence of the harsh natural and climatic conditions and remoteness from the old Russian centers of civilization. However, the princely power in the person of the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh (his fourth son Yuri Dolgoruky, his grandsons Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod Yuryevich Big Nest) rather benefited from these circumstances. Princely power came to Rostov-Suzdal Rus' before Russian colonization made this region predominantly East Slavic. As a result, local princes immediately began to look at the Vladimir-Suzdal land as their personal fiefdom. A large percentage of Finno-Ugric tributaries among the population accustomed the local princes to authority, which stemmed from the right of the strong. On the other hand, the local princes turned out to be not so much political leaders here as zealous owners-owners, equipping their patrimony. They energetically built new cities and villages here, attracted and took care of the settlers who fled from the Polovtsian onslaught.
The paternalism of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes met with approval from the population of their principality, despite the fact that already during the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky (1154-1174), its reverse side also appeared - princely autocracy with a fall in the social status of the population. The settlers were perceived as smerds who received land and the right to live on it from princely hands. (According to Russkaya Pravda, the life of a “smerd” was protected by a vira of 5 hryvnias of silver, in contrast to the lives of “people”, free communal peasants, who, like ordinary princely warriors, were protected by old Russian law by a vira of 40 hryvnias of silver.) Naturally, in such conditions in the XII-XIII centuries. Old Russian veche traditions, which continued to exist in the South and West of Rus' and strengthened in the North in Novgorod and Pskov, did not develop in the Russian Northeast.
The Vladimir-Suzdal boyars, not rich and relatively numerous, could not compete with the princely power either economically, or socio-politically, or militarily. In this, it sharply differed from the southern and western Russian boyars, and especially from the Galician-Volyn aristocracy, which turned into a strong counterweight to princely power, as well as from the Novgorod boyars, who became the main socio-political force in Lord Veliky Novgorod after being established there in 1136 city of veche system. If Alexander's great-grandfather, the first sovereign ruler of Suzdal Rus' - Prince Yuri Dolgoruky (1132-1154), still somehow supported the old squad traditions, then both of his sons - the Grand Dukes of Vladimir-Suzdal Andrey Bogolyubsky (1154-1174) and Vsevolod the Big Nest ( 1176-1212), are already accustomed to seeing in the boyars and the retinue not vassal employees, but subjects and servants.
Control over resources and a powerful military potential, which included, in addition to large princely squads, also a large peasant militia, allowed the Vladimir-Suzdal princes to pursue an active policy, both within the Russian world and beyond.
By the middle of the XII century. the majority of the Finno-Ugric population of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' converted to Christianity and mixed with the East
Slavic settlers, the Suzdal region was finally glorified, but a special one developed here, very different from that characteristic of Kievan Rus in the 9th-11th centuries. mentality, which in the future will form the basis for the formation of the Great Russian people.
We stopped at the description of the features of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus, since it was the birthplace of Alexander. It was she who formed the stereotypes and system of thinking of this prince, his understanding of princely duty and law.
Meanwhile, in the East at the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. gigantic changes began. Again, as during the Great Migration of Nations, which destroyed the Ancient World, the Great Steppe rose. True, this time, before moving to Europe, the nomads conquered a significant part of the Asian sedentary highly developed population - from the provinces of Northern China to Central Asian Khorezm.
Genghis Khan managed to combine in his military empire the primitive life and simplicity of social relations of the steppes, their simple combat system with the highest achievements of the military art of China and other developed eastern countries, used their economic and administrative achievements. On this basis, during the war, and largely thanks to the war, a system of the strongest despotic state power was created, which was also distinguished by enviable flexibility, the ability to make certain compromises in relation to the conquered peoples. As a result, instead of weakening and losing people in the course of extensive conquests, the empire of Genghis Khan constantly received new fighters. They were reforged in the crucible of aggressive campaigns into true subjects of the "shaker of the universe."
The state ideology of the empire, which boiled down to the idea of conquering the “universe from sea to sea” (from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic), as well as the well-known religious tolerance of the Mongols, expressed the idea of the unity of the world and the peoples inhabiting it. In fact, in the expansion of Genghis Khan, and then his descendants, we are dealing with a medieval attempt at globalization - in its Asian-nomadic understanding. This was not the first attempt in the history of mankind to build a global, and more perfect according to the ideas of its creators, a world that unites East and West. The first such goal was set by Alexander the Great - the Great Iskander, as the East called him - whose exploits inspired Genghis Khan. The expansion of both Ancient Rome and the Chinese Empire was subordinated to the same goals. And although neither Alexander the Great, nor Rome, nor China were destined to carry out their global expansion, the very attempts at globalization gave rise to powers of colossal strength and size. These powers "turned" world history, dictating their will to their neighbors and forming a new geopolitical balance of power between East and West.
For the peripheral Russian world, the factor of the Mongol invasion of the European space brought decisive changes in the conditions of existence. Moreover, organic internal development, including the correlation of forces and the degree of effectiveness of various Russian socio-political models, could not, in our opinion, play a decisive role.
However, the latter is the subject of scientific discussions. For example, the classics of Russian historical thought S.M. Solovyov and V.O. Klyuchevsky was not inclined to see fatal significance in the establishment of the Horde dependence of the majority of Russian lands on the Mongol Empire and the Golden Horde. In their opinion, the Horde yoke was an external superficial factor that hindered the development of the country, but did not change the previously established trends, the main of which, according to Klyuchevsky, was the transformation of “trade city Rus” into “agricultural rural Rus”, which caused a shift in the center Russian world from the Dnieper to the Volga - from Kiev to Vladimir on the Klyazma. However, most historians, both domestic and foreign, regardless of the assessment of Russian dependence as a negative phenomenon (most researchers), ambiguous (N.M. Karamzin, Eurasians) or even positive (L.N. Gumilyov) assess the impact of the Mongol-Tatar conquest and establishment of dependence as one of the most important factors in the further development of Russian history.
If the first defeat from the Mongols in the Battle of Kalka (1223) can still be interpreted as a result of uncoordinated military operations and military-political mistakes of the princes of Southern and South-Western Russia, then the experience of Batu’s invasion of Russia (1237-1241) and anti-Horde speeches (1252, 1262, 1293) leads researchers to the idea that the Russian world alone, purely physically, was not able to successfully repel the Mongol-Tatar aggression. This disappointing truth should be the focus of the historian's attention when assessing the geopolitical situation in general, and the activities of certain historical figures in particular.
Asia's global expansion into Europe came at a time when the process of expansion was underway in the European world itself. It was expressed in the reconquista in Spain, in the crusades to the Middle East and the pagans of the Baltics.
Until the end of the XII century. The Baltic remained a region inhabited by various pagan Finno-Ugric and Letto-Lithuanian tribes who did not know statehood. This made it easier for more powerful and organized neighbors to invade their territory.
Rus', according to the figurative expression of V.O. Klyuchevsky, was a "colonizing country". East Slavic colonization of the East European Plain, begun in the 7th century, by the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries. continued with the expansion of the Polotsk and Novgorod-Pskov possessions in the Baltic Letto-Lithuanian and Finno-Ugric regions. Even Yaroslav the Wise, the great prince of Kiev (1019-1054), managed to annex the Yotvingians to Rus', and to establish the Russian fortress Yuryev (now Tartu) behind Lake Peipsi in the land of the Estonians. A little later, the Novgorodians and Pskovians took control of the entire course of the Neva and Izhora rivers, and the Polotsk princes controlled the trade route along the Western Dvina and took tribute from the surrounding indigenous population.
At the same time, the Vikings were moving from Scandinavia to the Baltic region. Since the birth of the Scandinavian kingdoms, this movement has taken the form of a Swedish, Norwegian and Danish expansion. At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. in the Baltics, another "new player" appeared - the crusaders. They were represented in the lands of the Prussians by the Teutonic Order, and in the lands of the Livs, Zemgalians and Estonians by the Order of the Swordbearers, which later (since 1237) became a branch of the Teutons and is further known as the Livonian Order. As competitors, the Scandinavian states and the crusaders were in a difficult relationship. The Papal Curia also had special interests in the Baltics. She tried to give a unifying element to the heterogeneous Western expansion: a religious and missionary meaning, and at the same time acted as an intermediary in disputes between the Archbishop of Riga and the crusaders, the crusaders with the Danish king, and so on.
And all these Western pretenders to dominion in the Baltics opposed the Russian presence. Moreover, if the long-standing competition of the Russians with the Scandinavians in the region was, first of all, the nature of the struggle for spheres of influence, the definition of state-territorial borders, then in the clashes with the crusaders there was also an acute religious issue. Both sides perceived each other as "schismatics" and "heretics", which, of course, aggravated the conflict.
The expansion of the "God's knights" was more dangerous for Novgorod, Pskov and Polotsk compared to the Scandinavian one, due to the fact that all the Orders developed the lands of the Estonians, Livs and other Baltic peoples, much more intensively than the Scandinavians. Those, like the great princes of Kyiv, and then the Novgorodians, Pskovians and Polochans, for a long time were content with collecting tribute from the conquered tribes. The Swedes are stuck in Finland for a long time. The crusaders immediately "rooted" in the conquered possessions. They built castles and cities, populated them with German settlers. German peasants, squires and knights flooded the countryside, turning the natives into dependent peasantry. This German "onslaught to the east" received the support of the German emperors, because it was a successful way to get rid of the excess population, which generates internal social tension in numerous German states. As a result, in the possessions of the Order there was a rapid formation of the Western European feudal system, which ensured the rapid socio-economic development of the conquered lands. The Order of the Sword-bearers was soon able to act, relying not on the help of a distant metropolis (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian version), but on their own material, human and military-political resources in the Baltics.
This affected the struggle of the crusaders with Russian influence in the Baltics. Relatively quickly, the Order of the Swords brought the Polotsk presence along the Western Dvina to naught. Despite fierce clashes with the Novgorodians, in 1224 the swordsmen managed to capture Yuryev and oust the Novgorodians from the Finno-Ugric territories west of Lake Peipus.
Further to the east and northeast of Yuryev, not just the lands of the tributaries of Novgorod were already stretching. The Novgorod pyatins, quite colonized by the Slavic population, were located here, where there were many Orthodox Christians among the indigenous population. The attempts of the crusaders to invade these lands should have been considered by Novgorod not just as a struggle for spheres of influence in the lands of scattered pagans, but as a direct invasion of the state territory of the Novgorod Republic. For their part, the crusaders viewed the invasion of Novgorod as a crusade against the "schismatics".
The aggression of the Order of the Swordsmen led to the enslavement of most of the tribes that lived on the territory of modern Estonia and Latvia. However, a number of Letto-Lithuanian tribes, who at that time occupied the territory of modern Lithuania and partly Eastern Belarus, managed to consolidate and create by the middle of the XIII century. own state of Lithuania. Moreover, the assistance of Novogrudok and other Western Russian appanages immediately became a significant factor in the organization of the Lithuanian principality, which gradually developed into a union, on the basis of which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia arose. This new binational state later became (from the end of the 13th century until the middle of the 15th century) the center of the unification of Russian lands along with Tver, and then Moscow. However, at the beginning of the XIII century. the Lithuanians, having won a number of significant victories over the knights, were only moving towards their state consolidation. In the recent past, they sometimes paid tribute to the Polochans and Novgorodians, and from the 1220s. they themselves began to undertake raids on the crusaders and on the Russians. Novgorodians and Pskovians, accustomed to consider "Lithuania" as their tributaries, responded with military campaigns, very successful.
Alexander lived in Novgorod from childhood. His father was a prince of Novgorod for a long time, and one who left Novgorod 4 times and was at enmity with him, but then the parties reconciled. A number of high-profile victories of Novgorod over the crusaders are associated with the name of Yaroslav. Growing up in such an atmosphere, Alexander, of course, was well versed in the political situation of the Russian North, which potentially made him a successful contender for the Novgorod table. Twice in adolescence, from 1228 to 1233, Alexander and his older brother Fedor were the symbolic deputies of their father on the Novgorod table. After the death of Fedor (1233), Alexander remained the sole governor.
The beginning of his independent reign in Novgorod, apparently, should be attributed to 1238. Then Batu's invasion was already falling on North-Eastern Rus', devastating the Ryazan and Vladimir-Suzdal principalities. Alexander's father, who had occupied the throne of Kiev since 1236, was forced to leave the South of Rus' and return to his homeland. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, like most of his sons, succeeded in 1237-1238. avoid a military clash with the Mongols. Without his participation, the capital of his inheritance, Pereyaslavl Zalessky, fell, Tver was taken, where his son, who was not named by the chronicle, died. There was no prince in the battle on the river. City, where on March 4, 1238, the remnants of the once mighty Vladimir-Suzdal regiments were killed. The death on the City of his elder brother Yuri Vsevolodovich made Yaroslav the Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal. In 1243, we find Yaroslav at the headquarters of Batu, who gave him the label of the "oldest prince" of the entire Russian land. It is clear that Yaroslav could no longer constantly personally participate in Novgorod affairs.
From 1238 to 1246, we see Alexander on the Novgorod table. During these years, the degree of Vladimir-Suzdal influence on Lord Veliky Novgorod was small. Batu took in 1238 the Novgorod suburb of Torzhak, but did not reach Novgorod itself for 90 versts. Frightened by the approach of the spring thaw, which would turn the northern swamps and forests into swamps impassable for the cavalry, the steppe conqueror went south. Military defeat in 1237-1241. most of the Russian lands forced their rulers to think about how to properly navigate the new realities. Novgorod was left to itself. Novgorod horizons then formed the line of behavior of the young prince Alexander.
Evidently, the young Alexander's marriage was also conditioned by Novgorodian interests (he was born at the earliest in 1220). Princely marriages have always acted as a way to conclude political alliances or compromises. In 1239, Alexander married Princess Alexandra, the daughter of the Polotsk prince Bryachislav, and the first wedding feast (“porridge”) was held in Toropets, the capital of one of the destinies of the Smolensk land. The princes of Polotsk, who lost their tributaries in the Western Dvina basin as a result of the crusading expansion, could become allies of Novgorod in repelling the offensive of the Order. The princes of Smolensk, including those of Toropetsk, in the past were often rivals of Vladimir-Suzdal in the struggle for the Novgorod table. The forces of the Smolensk land were not undermined by the Batu invasion (the conqueror in 1238 passed only along the outskirts of this principality). The establishment of friendly relations with the Smolensk princes guaranteed the rear and made it possible to hope for an alliance with Smolensk in the struggle of Novgorod both with the knights and Lithuania, and with a possible attack of the Mongol-Tatars on Novgorod possessions.
Many historians believe that Alexander's mother was the daughter of the famous Toropets prince Mstislav the Udaly - Theodosius. If this was true, and the “porridge” in Toropets confirms this hypothesis, then it was easier for Alexander to establish friendly relations with Smolensk.
Looking ahead, we note that it was not possible to create a strong Novgorod-Polotsk-Smolensk alliance, because this would not benefit the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. The union would have not only, and perhaps not so much anti-knightly coloring as anti-Horde. Polotsk land, untouched by Batu at the time of the invasion, remained White, i.e. independent of the Horde. In comparison with the Vladimir-Suzdal and Ryazan lands, the dependence of the Smolensk region was much less. After the unification of Western Rus' and Lithuania during the time of Gediminas and his sons Olgerd and Keistut, the Lithuanian-Russian state until 1380 pursued an offensive anti-Horde policy, culminating in the defeat of the Tatar troops in 1362 at Blue Waters and the transfer of the lands of Southern Rus' to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russian.
The Vladimir-Suzdal principality, which turned into the great principality of Vladimir, had no chance of joining the named union and avoiding the next Mongol-Tatar rati. A new pogrom and ruin were ensured, and Vladimir on Klyazma had no chance not only to lead a potential anti-Horde alliance, but even to play a significant role in it. All this would put an end to the long-standing ambitions of the great Vladimir-Suzdal princes to be one of the main leaders of the Russian geopolitical space. The forced compromise with the Golden Horde, which consisted in recognizing the dependence of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir on Saray, gave more chances for the restoration of economic and military-political resources, and, consequently, there was also a chance to regain hegemony in the world of Russian alternatives. This prospect should have meant more to Yaroslav and his sons than the interests of Novgorod, Polotsk and Smolensk combined.
Let us return, however, to the actions of Alexander in Novgorod. Having created a second wedding "porridge" in Novgorod, in the same 1239 he set off to build military fortifications along the river. Sheloni, i.e. in the Novgorod-Toropetsk border area, which was attacked by Lithuanian detachments.
And on July 15, 1240, we find the prince already in the battle on the Neva. In the summer of 1240, the Swedes invaded the Novgorod borders. Unfortunately, the Novgorod chronicle extremely poorly covered the Russian-Swedish clash of 1240, informing us that Prince Alexander with his retinue and the Novgorod detachment fought with the Swedes on the Neva and defeated them. Other details historians can draw only from the Life of Prince Alexander (“The Tale of the Life and Courage of the Blessed and Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky” - 13 editions of the work are known), which was written after the canonization of the prince as a local Vladimir saint at the end of the 13th century. That is, many years after his death in 1263. The reliability of many of the information from such a source may be in doubt. However, having no other sources, we will give the story of the Life.
We learn that the Swedes entered the Neva on 55 ships and landed at the place where the Izhora River flows into the Neva. The leader of the Swedes sent to Alexander to say: "If you can resist me ... then I'm already here and captivate your land." The life of Prince Alexander and Russian chronicles do not mention the name of the leader of the Swedes. There is only one source that reports that Jarl Birger led the Swedish knights [3]. This was compiled in Novgorod at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th centuries. publicistic essay "Manuscript of Magnush" [4]. However, according to Swedish and other foreign sources, it is known that at the time of the Battle of the Neva, Birger was in another place and could not take part in the battle with the Novgorodians led by Prince Alexander. In addition, Birger in 1240 was not yet a jarl.
From the elder of the Izhora land, Pelguya (Pelgusia), Alexander knew about the location of the Swedish camp. Knew prince and about the miraculous vision of Pelguy. The elder saw a wonderful boat, where the rowers were hidden by fog, and the holy princes Boris and Gleb standing in the boat promised to help their “relative” Alexander. Prince Alexander forbade the foreman to speak about the vision to anyone. He himself, taking his squad and the Novgorod detachment, quickly and secretly arrived at the mouth of the Izhora.
On the morning of July 15, the Russians unexpectedly attacked the enemy and put him to flight. During the battle, Prince Alexander fought with the leader of the Swedes (“Birger”) and put a “seal” on his face, i.e. wounded in the face. For the victory over the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva, Prince Alexander receives the nickname Nevsky.
The life of Alexander Nevsky tells about the exploits of 6 Russian soldiers. A combatant named Gavrilo Aleksich, chasing the Swedes, drove along the gangway to the ship. He was thrown into the water along with his horse, but he remained intact and "fought with the governor himself in the middle of their army." Novgorodian Sbyslav Yakunovich "fought with one ax, having no fear in his soul", and laid down many enemies. The hunter of the prince, Yakov the Polochan, earned the praise of the prince with his courage. The foot detachment of the Novgorodian Misha sank 3 enemy ships. The princely youth Savva made his way to the "golden-domed" tent of the Swedish leader and cut down the central pillar. And the servant of Alexander Ratmir alone fought with the enemies surrounding him and died from many wounds.
It is worth noting that in the Life, although the exploits of Alexander and his soldiers are listed, the main emphasis is on the miracle: this is evidenced by the vision of Pelgusius and the miraculous fact that the bulk of the dead Swedes were found on the other side of Izhora, where the Russians there were no warriors. This circumstance was easily interpreted by the medieval reader as "the help of Saints Boris and Gleb."
In the Life of Alexander Nevsky, the battle is given an epoch-making character, for it is a matter of defending the Orthodox faith from the "Romans," as the author of the Life of the Swedes calls it. It was in this epochal interpretation through the Life of the Holy Right-believing Prince Alexander Nevsky that the Battle of the Neva entered the historical memory of the population, first of Vladimir-Suzdal, and then of Moscow Rus' of the XIV-XVII centuries. This is not surprising, because Alexander was the Grand Duke of Vladimir in 1252-1263, and his youngest son Daniel became the ancestor of the Grand Dukes of Moscow.
For the clergyman, the author of the Life, the "Romans" seemed more dangerous than the Horde. The latter, although they robbed churches and killed Orthodox during the Batu invasion and punitive armies, did not oppress the Orthodox Church as a socio-cultural institution. Moreover, the clergy was the only social group of the Russian population that was exempted from tribute by the khans. Batu and his successors made it possible to establish a Russian Orthodox diocese within the Golden Horde itself. The views of the Russian clergy were also affected by the misfortunes of their Greek brothers in faith, and, as is known, most of the Russian metropolitans appointed to the Kiev, and then to the Vladimir cathedra, were of Greek, Bulgarian or Serb origin. The Fourth Crusade ended in 1204 with the capture of Constantinople by the Western Crusaders. The Byzantines fought back their capital and empire for half a century. This circumstance even more hardened the Orthodox in all parts of the world against the "Romans". The Mongols, meanwhile, turned out to be allies of the Byzantines in the fight against the Seljuk Turks.
But back to the events of the 1240s. Judging by the Novgorod chronicle, the Novgorodians, contemporaries of Alexander's battle with the Swedes, appreciated his talent as a military leader, but did not attach to the victory the universal scale that is given in the Life. Soon after the Neva victory, Prince Alexander quarreled with the Novgorodians, and he was "showed the way out of the city." The prince went to his father in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky.
The practical conclusion that the Novgorodians drew from the Neva victory was, in our opinion, as follows. Novgorod, despite the tough struggle with the Order and the Swedes, remained the most connected corner of Rus' with Western Europe. Novgorod trade with the West with its trade and eastern transit goods remained for Novgorod in the 1230s-1240s. the main source of its prosperity and originality. The intermediaries in this trade were the Gotlandic, and then the North German merchants, who arrived in Novgorod along the Nevsky Corridor, which was located in the Izhora Pyatina, where the Neva Battle was unfolding. The capture of the Nevsky Corridor by the Swedes deprived Novgorod of independent access to Western Europe, which created a mortal threat to the North Russian economy, and after it the political independence of Novgorod. The campaign of the Swedes in 1240 was the first attempt by anyone to encroach on the "Novgorod window to Europe."
Prince Alexander Yaroslavich was the first of the Novgorod princes to demonstrate what an adequate response to such aggression should be and thus determined the further policy of the Novgorodians in this region until the fall of Novgorod in 1478. By the way, Alexander showed that the forces that Novgorod and its invited princes had at their disposal, quite enough to adequately reflect the Swedish aggression from the Novgorod borders.
The sources do not allow us to know exactly what the quarrel between the victorious prince and the Novgorodians consisted of, which followed shortly after Alexander and his army returned to Novgorod to the sound of bells and the rejoicing of the people. One can only assume that the prince insisted on some new military enterprises, and the Novgorodians considered the war over and appreciated Alexander's persistence as an interference in their "liberties", in particular, the right to determine foreign policy themselves. Alexander with his family and retinue left Novgorod.
Meanwhile, in the same summer, the Crusaders became active and the Novgorod-Livonian War of 1240-1242 began. At this time, the Order of the Swordsmen had already sunk into oblivion. On February 9, 1236, Pope Gregory IX called on the sword-bearers for a crusade against pagan Lithuania. On September 22, 1236, the swordsmen were defeated by the Lithuanians in the battle of Siauliai. In this battle, Master Volguin von Namburg (Volkvin von Winterstatten) and most of the knight brothers fell.
However, in 1237 the Order was recreated under the name of Livonian on the orders of the Pope of Rome - as a branch of the Teutonic Order (but in fact the Livonians were absolutely independent). In 1240, the Livonian knights, at the head of military detachments from the cities of Yuryev and Bear Head subordinate to them, headed for Izborsk. The Russian prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich, once expelled from Pskov, acted as an ally of the crusaders. The Pskovians met the enemies at Izborsk, but lost the battle, their governor Gavrila Borislavich was killed, many Pskovians fell, others were taken prisoner, the third were chased all the way to Pskov, where they set fire to the settlement, and the Pskovites who locked themselves in Krom were besieged for a whole week. The Livonians could not take the city and left. But soon the posadnik Tverdilo Ivankovich convinced the Pskovites to let the Germans into the city. Part of the Pskov boyars, dissatisfied with this decision, fled with their families to Novgorod. The sword-bearers and Chud, together with the people of Tverdila Ivankovich, began to fight the Novgorod villages.
The position of the Pskovites is by no means as unexpected as it might seem to an observer ignorant of the Pskov-Novgorod contradictions. Pskov in the 13th century still a suburb of Novgorod, but there has long been its own princely table, on which most often sit either princes hostile to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, or princes independent of it. Pskov is clearly burdened by dependence on the "big brother" Novgorod and is striving for independence. The Pskovians often found a common language with the crusaders, acted as their allies in joint campaigns against the pagan Chud and Lithuania. For example, during the famous raid of the sword-bearers on Lithuania in 1236, which ended in a resounding victory for the Lithuanians and the death of Master Volkvin, the Pskov detachment of 200 fighters fought on the side of the knights and almost all of them died. Only two dozen Pskovites returned home then.
The possibility of not only war with the "schismatics", but also a compromise with them, was sometimes thought of by the Holy See. Even before the invasion of the Mongols, Popes Innocent III and Gregory IX addressed with bulls to Rus'. True, both the appeals of Innocent III to the Russian laity and the bull of Gregory IX to the Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir-Suzdal were left without reciprocity.
Having made Pskov and Izborsk their bases, the Livonian knights in the winter of 1240-1241. invaded the Novgorod possessions of Chud and Vod, devastated them, imposed tribute on the inhabitants. In Tesovo and Koporye, the knights began to build their own fortresses. In the north, they reached Luga and grew bolder to the point that they robbed on the roads 30 versts from Novgorod. Simultaneously with the knights, although completely independently of them, the Lithuanians began to raid the Novgorod volosts.
It was in the interests of Novgorod to prevent the alliance of the Pskovites with the Germans. Needless to say, the princes of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus fully shared the position of the Novgorodians on this issue. Therefore, despite the quarrel between his eldest son Alexander and Novgorod, Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich responded to the request of the Novgorodians for help. Together with the retinue, the second grand duke's son, Andrei, went to them. However, the Novgorodians have always been distinguished by pragmatism, so they sent a new embassy to Yaroslav, headed by Archbishop Spiridon, begging him to send Alexander to reign. Yaroslav sent his son and at the beginning of 1241 Prince Alexander was already in Novgorod.
In the spring of 1241, Alexander Yaroslavich, at the head of his squad and the Novgorod militia, took Koporye. The fortress was demolished, the captured knights were sent hostage to Novgorod, and the Chud and Vod warriors who served with them were hanged.
In the winter of 1242, Alexander, together with his brother Andrei, who brought the militia from the Vladimir-Suzdal land, captured Pskov. Then the Russian troops moved into the lands of the Order. The Livonians, having gathered all their forces, came out to meet them. The vanguard of the Russian troops was soon ambushed and destroyed. Alexander withdrew his regiments from the Livonian borders and stood on the Uzmeni, a narrow channel connecting Lake Peipsi and Pskov, at the Raven Stone (island-cliff, now hidden by the water of Lake Peipsi) [5].
The German crusaders usually lined up in a battle formation known as the "boar's head". It was a narrow but rather long column. Knightly heavily armed cavalry moved along its sides, and at the head was a wedge of several rows of the most experienced and battle-hardened knight brothers, narrowing towards the front. In the center of the column was the infantry of the Finno-Ugric bollards, who were assigned a secondary role in the battle. Few opponents managed to withstand the blow of the "boar's head".
Knowing this, Alexander Yaroslavich deployed his main forces on the flanks. There were heavily armed Novgorod regiments on foot. In the center stood the Vladimir-Suzdal militia. Behind the regiment of the left hand in ambush were the cavalry squads of Alexander and Andrei Yaroslavich. The archers stood in front of everyone, and behind the Russian army, near the steep bank, the sleds of the convoy were placed chained, so that it was impossible to run and the knights could not pass.
The battle took place on April 5, 1242 on the ice of the lake. The Livonians broke through the Russian center and "spun" in front of the sleigh. From the flanks they began to squeeze the regiments of the right and left hands. “And there was a fierce slaughter, and there was a crack from breaking spears and a ringing from the blows of swords,” and the entire frozen lake was covered with blood, the chronicler noted. In a number of places, the spring ice broke, and heavy knights, whose armor weighed up to 70 kg, sank to the bottom. The crusaders began a retreat, which turned into a flight when the princely squads entered the battle. The victory remained with the Russians. The captured knights, barefoot and with their heads uncovered, were led on foot beside their horses to Pskov, and the landsknechts captured were executed.
The Livonian "Rhymed Chronicle" claims that 20 knight brothers died in the Battle of the Ice and 6 were captured. The chronicle of the Teutonic Order "Die jungere Hochmeisterchronik" reports the death of 70 knight brothers. These losses do not take into account the fallen secular knights and other order warriors. In the First Novgorod Chronicle, the losses of the Russian opponents are presented as follows: “and ... fell the people beschisla, and Nemets 400, and 50 with the hands of a yash and brought to Novgorod.”
The defeat in the battle on Lake Peipsi forced the Livonian Order to ask for peace: “What we entered with a sword ... we retreat from that; how many of your people have been taken prisoner, we will exchange them: we will let yours go, and you will let ours go. For the city of Yuryev (Derpt), the Order was obliged to pay "tribute to Yuryev" to Novgorod. And although the war of 1240-1242. did not become the last between the Novgorodians and the crusaders, their spheres of influence in the Baltic did not undergo noticeable changes for three centuries - until the end of the 15th century.
Relations between Pskov and the Germans became aggravated over the course of these centuries. Pskov in the XIV century. gained independence, but remained in the context of the Novgorod-Vladimir ideas about relations with the Order.
As a result, the line of the Vladimir-Suzdal understanding of the position of Novgorod and Pskov in relations with their western neighbors, embodied in the actions of Prince Alexander, prevailed.
However, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich was not only a resolute and often ruthless governor. He was also characterized by the flexibility of a diplomat, arising from a correct understanding of the political realities of the Novgorod land and its foreign policy interests. We soon meet Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich, who participated in the war on the side of the Livonian Order, having made peace with Novgorod. He sits as a prince in the Novgorod suburb of Torzhok.
In Russian historiography, great importance is traditionally attached to the Battle of the Ice as a significant success of Novgorod and - in general - Russian foreign policy. A number of modern researchers tend to consider such an estimate to be overestimated. Russian historian I.N. Danilevsky and the English historian J. Fennel believe that the scale of the battle was small, and the activities of Prince Alexander in the war of 1240-1242. differed little from the actions of his predecessors and successors in relation to the expansion of the crusaders.
Finally, the Livonian Order will be defeated - up to the termination of its existence - only by Ivan the Terrible.
The trip of Alexander Yaroslavich to Berka in 1262-1263. turned out to be the last thing in his life. Detained in the Horde for the winter, the prince fell ill, and died on his return to Rus' in Gordets on the Volga on November 14, 1263. The prince was about 43 years old.