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How difficult is it to distinguish a real story from a skillfully told legend? Especially when they both touch absolutely real person. ABOUT Ermak Timofeevich, a Cossack chieftain who lived in the middle - late XVI centuries, legends were composed by both friends and enemies.

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

Famine and siege

Siberia, 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 few steps, let alone hunt. Both night and day, a dank icy wind blew incessantly.

Previously, due to the incessant autumn fighting, the Cossacks were unable to collect enough supplies. Ermak’s army was not used to grumbling, but there was a catastrophic shortage of food, and there were no more than two hundred people left...

Spring did not bring relief: the Tatars came again, encircling the city. The siege threatened to last for many months, dooming the Cossacks to starvation. But Ermak remained Ermak - as always, wise and cold-blooded.

Having waited until June and lulled the vigilance of the Tatars, he sent his closest associate, Matvey Meshcheryak, on a night sortie. Matvey, together with two dozen soldiers, made their way to the camp of Karachi, the Tatar commander, and carried out a massacre.

Karachi escaped with difficulty, but both of his sons died, and the Cossacks disappeared into the night as unexpectedly as they had come.

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

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

What's in a name?

It is not known for certain in what year Ermak was born. The dates are given differently: 1532, 1534, 1537 and even 1543. Rumors about the place of his birth also vary - either this is the village of Borok on the Northern Dvina, or an unknown village on the Chusovaya River, or the Kachalinskaya village on the Don. This is understandable, almost every Cossack clan wanted to boast that it was they who gave birth to the legendary chieftain!

Even Ermak’s name is in question. Some historians claim that Ermak is an abbreviation of the Russian name Ermolai, others call him Ermil, and others derive the name from Herman and Eremey. Or maybe Ermak is just a nickname? And in fact, the ataman’s name was Vasily Timofeevich Alenin. It is unknown 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” for them meant “big”, like a common cauldron for meals. Doesn't remind you of anything? And of course, we must not forget about Ermak’s enemies, who, despite all their hatred towards him, respected him immensely. Irmak in Mongolian means “rapidly gushing spring”, practically a geyser. In Tatar, yarmak means “to chop, to dissect.” In Iranian, ermek means “husband, warrior.”

And this is not the whole list! Imagine how many copies historians have broken, arguing among themselves and trying to unearth Ermak’s real name or at least his origin. Alas, the Cossacks rarely kept chronicles, and when information is disseminated orally, something is lost, something is invented, something changes beyond recognition. Like that real story and falls into dozens of myths. The only thing that cannot be denied is that Ermak’s name turned out to be very successful.

Free Cossack

In the first decades mature life, somewhere before 1570, Ermak Timofeevich was by no means an angel. He was a typical Cossack ataman, walking along the free Volga with his squad and attacking Russian merchant caravans and Tatar and Kazakh detachments. The most common opinion is that Ermak, 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 Ermak’s life lasted relatively short. Already in 1571 he helped the squad repel the attack Crimean Khan Devlet-Gireya under the walls of Moscow, in 1581 he fought valiantly in Livonian War under the command of governor Dmitry Khvorostinin, commanding a Cossack hundred. And already in 1582, the same Stroganovs remembered the brave chieftain.

Forgetting about all Ermak’s sins, they extremely respectfully asked him to protect the merchant interests of Rus' in Siberia. In those years, the Siberian Khanate was ruled by the cruel and dishonest Khan Kuchum, who overthrew Khan Ediger, who more or less supported good relations with the Russian kingdom. Kuchum spoke about peace, but in reality he constantly attacked merchant caravans and moved his army to the Perm region.

Ermak 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 it. For the Orthodox Cossack chieftain, it was a matter of honor to challenge Kuchum and win. Having gathered a relatively small squad - about 600 people - Ermak Timofeevich advanced to great march to Siberia.

Thunderstorm of the Siberian Khanate

To describe all the military exploits of Ermak, 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 downplayed or embellished, there are two or three versions for almost every event. In fact, the incredible happened - six hundred Cossack soldiers passed through a huge Khanate of Siberia, over and over again defeating the twenty-fold superior Tatar army.

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, which then also turned into cities.

In each battle, Ermak used new tactics, confidently beat the enemy, and the Cossacks were ready to follow him through thick and thin. The conquest of Siberia took four years. Ermak broke the resistance of the Tatars and negotiated peace with the local khans and kings, bringing them to the citizenship of the Russian kingdom. But luck could not accompany the ataman forever...

The rumor about a merchant caravan carrying supplies for the starving Cossack army turned out to be a trap. Ermak, together with the rest of his squad, moved out of Kashlyk up the Irtysh River and was ambushed by Kuchum. The Cossacks were 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 by 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 a fence, since he was not a Muslim. The Tatars respected the fallen enemy so much that his weapons and armor for a long time were considered magical. For one of the chain mails, for example, they gave seven families of slaves, 50 camels, 500 horses, 200 bulls and cows, 1000 sheep...

Ermak lost that fight, but his cause did not die with him. The Siberian Khanate did not recover from the blow inflicted on it by the Cossack army. Conquest Western Siberia continued, Khan Kuchum died ten years later, and his descendants were unable to provide worthy resistance. Towns and cities were founded throughout Siberia; previously warring local tribes were forced to accept citizenship of the Russian kingdom.

Tales about Ermak were written both during his life and after his death. No, no, and there was a descendant of a descendant of another descendant who knew for certain a certain Cossack from the squad of the great ataman and was ready to tell the whole truth. In my own way, of course. And there are dozens and hundreds of such examples. But is it so important in this case distinguish reality from fiction? Ermak Timofeevich himself would probably have had a lot of fun listening to stories about himself.

Sergey EVTUSHENKO

Ermak’s personality has long been overgrown with legends. Sometimes it is not clear whether this is a historical figure or a mythological one. We don’t know for sure where he came from, who was his origin and why he went to conquer Siberia?

Ataman of unknown blood

“Unknown by birth, famous in soul” Ermak still holds many mysteries for researchers, although there are more than enough versions of his origin. Only in Arkhangelsk region At least three villages call themselves Ermak’s homeland. According to one hypothesis, the conqueror of Siberia was a native Donskoy village Kachalinskaya, another finds his homeland in Perm, the third - in Birka, located on the Northern Dvina. The latter is confirmed by the lines of the Solvychegodsk chronicler: “On the Volga, the Cossacks, Ermak ataman, originally from the Dvina and Borka, smashed the sovereign’s treasury, weapons and gunpowder, and with that they climbed to Chusovaya.”

There is an opinion that Ermak came from the estates of the industrialists Stroganovs, who later went to “fly” (lead a free life) to the Volga and Don and joined the Cossacks. However Lately Versions about the noble Turkic origin of Ermak are increasingly being heard. If we turn to Dahl's dictionary, we will see that the word “ermak” has Turkic roots and means “small millstone for peasant hand mills.”

Some researchers suggest that Ermak is a colloquial version of the Russian name Ermolai or Ermila. But most are sure that this is not a name, but a nickname given to the hero Cossacks, and it comes from the word “armak” - a large cauldron used in Cossack life.

The word Ermak, used as a nickname, is often found in chronicles and documents. So, in Siberian chronicle code You can read that the foundation of the Krasnoyarsk fort in 1628 was attended by the Atamans of Tobolsk Ivan Fedorov son of Astrakhanev and Ermak Ostafiev. It is possible that many Cossack chieftains may be called Ermak.

It is not known for certain whether Ermak had a surname. However, there are such variants of his full name as Ermak Timofeev, or Ermolai Timofeevich. Irkutsk historian Andrei Sutormin claimed that in one of the chronicles he met the present full name conqueror of Siberia: Vasily Timofeevich Alenin. This version found a place in Pavel Bazhov’s fairy tale “Ermakov’s Swans”.

Robber from the Volga

In 1581 Polish king Stefan Batory besieged Pskov, in response, Russian troops headed to Shklov and Mogilev, preparing a counterattack. The commandant of Mogilev, Stravinsky, reported to the king about the approach of the Russian regiments and even listed the names of the governors, among whom was “Ermak Timofeevich - Cossack ataman.”

According to other sources, it is known that in the fall of the same year Ermak was among the participants in lifting the siege of Pskov; in February 1582, he took part in the battle of Lyalitsy, in which the army of Dmitry Khvorostin stopped the advance of the Swedes. Historians have also established that in 1572 Ermak was in the detachment of Ataman Mikhail Cherkashenin, who participated in famous battle under Molodi.

Thanks to cartographer Semyon Remezov, we have an idea of ​​Ermak’s appearance. As Remezov states, his father was familiar with some of the surviving participants in Ermak’s campaign, who described the ataman to him: “great, courageous, and humane, and bright-eyed, and pleased with all wisdom, flat-faced, black-haired, of average height, and flat, and broad-shouldered.” .

In the works of many researchers, Ermak is called the ataman of one of the squads of the Volga Cossacks, who traded in robbery and robbery on the caravan routes. Proof of this can be the petitions of the “old” Cossacks addressed to the Tsar. For example, Ermak’s comrade-in-arms Gavrila Ilyin wrote that he “fought” with Ermak in the Wild Field for twenty years.

Russian ethnographer Iosaf Zheleznov, referring to Ural legends, claims that Ataman Ermak Timofeevich was considered a “useful sorcerer” by the Cossacks and “had a small fraction of shishigs (devils) in his obedience.” Where there was a shortage of troops, he deployed them there.”

However, Zheleznov here rather uses a folklore cliche, according to which the exploits of heroic individuals were often explained by magic. For example, Ermak’s contemporary, Cossack ataman Misha Cherkashenin, according to legend, was charmed from bullets and himself knew how to charm guns.

AWOL in Siberia

Ermak Timofeevich most likely set off on his famous Siberian campaign after January 1582, when peace was concluded between the Moscow State and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, according to historian Ruslan Skrynnikov. It is more difficult to answer the question of what interests motivated the Cossack ataman who headed to the unexplored and dangerous regions of the Trans-Urals.

In numerous works about Ermak, three versions appear: the order of Ivan the Terrible, the initiative of the Stroganovs, or the willfulness of the Cossacks themselves. The first version should obviously disappear, since the Russian Tsar, having learned about Ermak’s campaign, sent the Stroganovs an order to immediately return the Cossacks to defend the border settlements, which have recently become more frequent in attacks by Khan Kuchum’s troops.

The Stroganov Chronicle, on which historians Nikolai Karamzin and Sergei Solovyov rely, suggests that the idea of ​​organizing an expedition beyond the Urals belonged directly to the Stroganovs. It was the merchants who called the Volga Cossacks to Chusovaya and equipped them for a campaign, adding another 300 military men to Ermak’s detachment, which consisted of 540 people.

According to the Esipov and Remizov chronicles, the initiative for the campaign came from Ermak himself, and the Stroganovs became only involuntary accomplices in this venture. The chronicler says that the Cossacks pretty much plundered the Stroganovs’ food and gun supplies, and when the owners tried to resist the outrage committed, they were threatened with “depriving them of their lives.”

Revenge

However, Ermak’s unauthorized trip to Siberia is also questioned by some researchers. If the Cossacks were motivated by the idea of ​​abundant profit, then, following the logic, they should have gone along the well-trodden road through the Urals to Ugra - northern lands The Ob region, which had been Moscow’s fiefdoms for quite a long time. There was a lot of fur here, and the local khans were more accommodating. Looking for new routes to Siberia means going to certain death.

Writer Vyacheslav Sofronov, author of a book about Ermak, notes that to help the Cossacks in Siberia, the authorities send help in the person of Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky, along with two military leaders - Khan Kireev and Ivan Glukhov. “All three are no match for the rootless Cossack chieftain!” writes Sofronov. At the same time, according to the writer, Bolkhovsky becomes subordinate to Ermak.

Sofronov draws the following conclusion: Ermak is a man of noble origin, he could well be a descendant of princes Siberian land, who were then exterminated by Khan Kuchum, who came from Bukhara. For Safronov, Ermak’s behavior becomes clear, not as a conqueror, but as the master of Siberia. It is the desire for revenge against Kuchum that he explains the meaning of this campaign.

Stories about the conqueror of Siberia are told not only in Russian chronicles, but also in Turkic legends. According to one of them, Ermak came from Nogai Horde and occupied there high position, but still not equal to the status of the princess with whom he was in love. The girl's relatives, having learned about their love affair, forced Ermak to flee to the Volga.

Another version, published in the journal “Science and Religion” in 1996 (though not confirmed by anything), reports that Ermak’s real name was Er-Mar Temuchin, like the Siberian Khan Kuchum, he belonged to the Genghisid family. The campaign in Siberia was nothing more than an attempt to win the throne.

Origin

The origin of Ermak is not exactly known; there are several versions.

“Unknown by birth, famous by soul”, he, according to one legend, was from the shores Chusovaya River. Thanks to my knowledge of local rivers, I walked along Kame , Chusovoy and even crossed to Asia, along the river Tagil, until they were taken to serve as a Cossack (Cherepanov Chronicle), in another way - a native of the Kachalinskaya village on Don(Bronevsky). Recently, the version about the Pomeranian origin of Ermak (originally from the Dvina and Borka) has been heard more and more often; it was probably meant Boretsk parish, with its center in the village of Borok (now in Vinogradovsky district Arkhangelsk region) .

There is a description of his appearance preserved Semyon Ulyanovich Remezov in his "Remezov Chronicler" of the end 17th century. According to S. U. Remezov, whose father is Cossack centurion Ulyan Moiseevich Remezov - personally knew the surviving participants in Ermak’s campaign, the famous ataman was

“Velmi is courageous, and humane, and visionary, and pleased with all wisdom, flat-faced, black-haired, of average age [that is, height], and flat, and broad-shouldered.”

Probably Ermak was at first ataman one of the numerous gangs of Volga Cossacks who defended the population on Volga from arbitrariness and robbery from outside Crimean and Astrakhan Tatars. This is evidenced by those that have reached us. petitions“old” Cossacks addressed to the tsar, namely: Ermak’s comrade-in-arms Gavrila Ilyin wrote that he “fought” for 20 years (carried military service) with Ermak in Wild field, another veteran Gavrila Ivanov wrote that he served the Tsar " on the field for twenty years with Ermak village "and in the villages of other atamans.

Ermak's Siberian campaign

The initiative of this campaign, according to the chronicles of Esipovskaya and Remizovskaya, belonged to Ermak himself, participation Stroganovs limited to the forced supply of Cossacks with supplies and weapons. According to the Stroganov Chronicle (accepted Karamzin , Solovyov and others), Stroganovs they themselves called the Cossacks from Volga on Chusovaya and sent them on a campaign, adding 300 military men from their possessions to Ermak’s detachment (540 people).

It is important to note that the future enemy of the Cossacks, the Khan, has at his disposal Kuchuma, there were forces several times larger than Ermak’s squad, but much worse armed. According to archival documents Ambassadorial order (RGADA), total khan Kuchum had an army of approximately 10 thousand, that is, one “tumen”, and total number The “yasak people” who obeyed him did not exceed 30 thousand adult men.

Ataman Ermak at the Monument “1000th Anniversary of Russia” in Veliky Novgorod

Death of Ermak

Performance evaluation

Some historians rate Ermak’s personality very highly, “his courage, leadership talent, iron strength will", but the facts conveyed by the chronicles do not give any indication of his personal qualities and on the degree of his personal influence. Be that as it may, Ermak is “one of the most remarkable figures in Russian history,” writes the historian Ruslan Skrynnikov.

Memory

The memory of Ermak lives among the Russian people in legends and songs (for example, “Song of Ermak” is included in the repertoire Omsk choir) and toponyms. Most often settlements and institutions named after him can be found in Western Siberia. Cities and villages, sports complexes and sports teams, streets and squares, rivers and marinas, steamships and icebreakers, hotels, etc. are named in honor of Ermak. For some of them, see. Ermak. Many Siberian commercial firms have in their proper name name "Ermak".

Notes

Literature

Sources

• Letter from Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich to the Yugra land to Prince Pevgey and all the princes of Sorykid about the collection of tribute and its delivery to Moscow // Tobolsk chronograph. Collection. Vol. 4. - Ekaterinburg, 2004. P. 6. - ISBN 5-85383-275-1
• Letter from Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich to Chusovaya Maxim and Nikita Stroganov about sending Volga Cossacks Ermak Timofeevich and his comrades to Cherdyn // Tobolsk Chronograph. Collection. Vol. 4. - Ekaterinburg, 2004. P.7-8. - ISBN 5-85383-275-1
• Letter from Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich to Semyon, Maxim and Nikita Stroganov on the preparation for spring of 15 plows for people and supplies sent to Siberia // Tobolsk Chronograph. Collection. Vol. 4. - Ekaterinburg, 2004. pp. 8-9. - ISBN 5-85383-275-1
• “Additions to historical acts”, vol. I, no. 117;
• Remizov (Kungur) Chronicle, ed. archaeological commission;
• Wed. Siberian Chronicles, ed. Spassky (St. Petersburg, 1821);
• Rychkov A.V. Rezhevsky treasures. - Ural University, 2004. - 40 p. - 1500 copies. - ISBN 5-7996-0213-7

Research

• Ataman Ermak Timofeevich, conqueror of the Siberian kingdom. - M., 1905. 116 p.
• Blazhes V.V. On the name of the conqueror of Siberia in historical literature and folklore // Our land. Materials of the 5th Sverdlovsk Regional Local History Conference. - Sverdlovsk, 1971. - P. 247-251. (historiography of the problem)
• Buzukashvili M. I. Ermak. - M., 1989. - 144 p.
• Gritsenko N. Erected in 1839 // Siberian Capital, 2000, No. 1. - P. 44-49. (monument to Ermak in Tobolsk)
• Dergacheva-Skop E. Brief stories about Ermak’s campaign in Siberia // Siberia in the past, present and future. Vol. III. History and culture of the peoples of Siberia: Abstracts of reports and messages of the All-Union scientific conference(October 13-15, 1981). - Novosibirsk, 1981. - P. 16-18.
• Zherebtsov I. L. Komi - associates of Ermak Timofeevich and Semyon Dezhnev // NeVton: Almanac. - 2001. - No. 1. - P. 5-60.
• Zakshauskienė E. Badge from Ermak’s chain mail // Monuments of the Fatherland. All Russia: Almanac. No. 56. Book. 1. The first capital of Siberia. - M., 2002. P. 87-88.
• Katanov N. F. The legend of the Tobolsk Tatars about Kuchum and Ermak // Tobolsk chronograph. Collection. Vol. 4. - Ekaterinburg, 2004. - P. 145-167. - ISBN 5-85383-275-1 (first published: same // Yearbook of the Tobolsk Provincial Museum. 1895-1896. - Issue V. - pp. 1-12)
• Katargina M. N. The plot of the death of Ermak: chronicle materials. Historical songs. Legends. Russian novel 20-50s of the XX century // Yearbook of the Tyumen regional local history museum: 1994. - Tyumen, 1997. - P. 232-239. - ISBN 5-87591-004-6
• Kozlova N.K. About “Chudi”, Tatars, Ermak and Siberian burial mounds // Kaplya [Omsk]. - 1995. - P. 119-133.
• Kolesnikov A. D. Ermak. - Omsk, 1983. - 140 p.
• Kopylov V. E. Countrymen in the names of minerals // Kopylov V. E. Shout of memory (History of the Tyumen region through the eyes of an engineer). Book one. - Tyumen, 2000. - P. 58-60. (including about the mineral ermakite)
• Kopylov D. I. Ermak. - Irkutsk, 1989. - 139 p.
• Kreknina L. I. Theme of Ermak in the works of P. P. Ershov // Yearbook of the Tyumen Regional Museum of Local Lore: 1994. - Tyumen, 1997. - pp. 240-245. - ISBN 5-87591-004-6
• Kuznetsov E. V. Bibliography of Ermak: Experience of citing little-known works in Russian and partly in foreign languages about the conqueror of Siberia // Calendar Tobolsk province for 1892. - Tobolsk, 1891. - P. 140-169.
• Kuznetsov E. V. Information about Ermak’s banners // Tobolsk Provincial Gazette. - 1892. - No. 43.
• Kuznetsov E. V. Finding a conqueror’s gun in Siberia // Kuznetsov E.V. Siberian chronicler. - Tyumen, 1999. - P. 302-306. - ISBN 5-93020-024-6
• Kuznetsov E. V. Initial literature about Ermak // Tobolsk Provincial Gazette. - 1890. - No. 33, 35.
• Kuznetsov E. V. About the essay by A.V. Oksenov “Ermak in the epics of the Russian people”: Bibliography of news // Tobolsk Provincial Gazette. - 1892. - No. 35.
• Kuznetsov E. V. Legends and guesses about the Christian name Ermak // Kuznetsov E.V. Siberian chronicler. - Tyumen, 1999. - P.9-48. - ISBN 5-93020-024-6 (see also: the same // Lukich. - 1998. - Part 2. - P. 92-127)
• Miller,"Siberian History";
• Nebolsin P.I. Conquest of Siberia // Tobolsk chronograph. Collection. Vol. 3. - Ekaterinburg, 1998. - P. 16-69. ISBN 5-85383-127-5
• Oksenov A.V. Ermak in the epics of the Russian people // Historical Bulletin, 1892. - T. 49. - No. 8. - P. 424-442.
• Panishev E. A. The death of Ermak in Tatar and Russian legends // Yearbook-2002 of the Tobolsk Museum-Reserve. - Tobolsk, 2003. - P. 228-230.
• Parkhimovich S. The riddle of the chieftain's name // Lukich. - 1998. - No. 2. - P. 128-130. (about the Christian name Ermak)
• Skrynnikov R. G. Ermak. - M., 2008. - 255 s (series ZhZL) - ISBN 978-5-235-03095-4
• Skrynnikov R. G. Siberian expedition of Ermak. - Novosibirsk, 1986. - 290 p.
• Solodkin Ya. Did Ermak Timofeevich have a double? // Yugra. - 2002. - No. 9. - P. 72-73.
• Solodkin Ya. G. To study chronicle sources about the Siberian expedition of Ermak // Abstracts of reports and messages of the scientific-practical conference “Slovtsov Readings-95”. - Tyumen, 1996. pp. 113-116.
• Solodkin Ya. G. On the debate about the origin of Ermak // Western Siberia: history and modernity: Notes on local history. Vol. II. - Ekaterinburg, 1999. - P. 128-131.
• Solodkin Ya. G. Were the “Ermakov Cossacks” remembered outside of Tobolsk? (How Semyon Remezov misled many historians) // Siberian Historical Journal. 2006/2007. - pp. 86-88. - ISBN 5-88081-586-2
• Solodkin Ya. G. Stories of the “Ermakov Cossacks” and the beginning of the Siberian chronicle // Russians. Materials of the VIIth Siberian Symposium " Cultural heritage peoples of Western Siberia" (December 9-11, 2004, Tobolsk). - Tobolsk, 2004. P. 54-58.
• Solodkin Ya. G. Editors of the synodik “Ermakov Cossacks” (on the history of early Siberian chronicles) // Slovtsov Readings-2006: Materials of the XVIII All-Russian Scientific Local History Conference. - Tyumen, 2006. - pp. 180-182. - ISBN 5-88081-558-7
• Solodkin Ya. G. Chronology of Ermakov's capture of Siberia in the first Russian chronicle half XVII V. //Tyumen Land: Yearbook of the Tyumen Regional Museum of Local Lore: 2005. Vol. 19. - Tyumen, 2006. - P. 9-15. - ISBN 5-88081-556-0
• Solodkin Ya. G.“...AND THESE WRITINGS FOR HIS CORRECTION” (SYNODIX OF “ERMAK’S COSSACKS” AND ESIPOV’S CHRONICLE) // Ancient Rus'. Questions of medieval studies. 2005. No. 2 (20). pp. 48-53.
• Sofronov V. Yu. Ermak’s campaign and the struggle for the Khan’s throne in Siberia // Scientific and practical conference“Slovtsov Readings” (Abstracts of reports). Sat. 1. - Tyumen, 1993. - pp. 56-59.
• Sofronova M. N. About the imaginary and the real in the portraits of the Siberian ataman Ermak // Traditions and modernity: Collection of articles. - Tyumen, 1998. - pp. 56-63. - ISBN 5-87591-006-2 (see also: the same // Tobolsk Chronograph. Collection. Issue 3. - Ekaterinburg, 1998. - P. 169-184. - ISBN 5-85383-127-5)
• Sutormin A. G. Ermak Timofeevich (Alenin Vasily Timofeevich). Irkutsk: East Siberian Book Publishing House, 1981.
• Fialkov D. N. About the place of death and burial of Ermak // Siberia of the period of feudalism: Vol. 2. Economy, management and culture of Siberia XVI-XIX centuries. - Novosibirsk, 1965. - P. 278-282.
• Shkerin V. A. Ermak’s Sylven campaign: a mistake or a search for a way to Siberia? //Ethnocultural history of the Urals, XVI-XX centuries: Materials of the international scientific conference, Ekaterinburg, November 29 - December 2, 1999 - Ekaterinburg, 1999. - pp. 104-107.
• Shcheglov I. V. In defense of October 26, 1581 // Siberia. 1881. (to the discussion about the date of Ermak’s campaign in Siberia).

Links

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 extras). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

Origin

Conquest of Siberia

Performance evaluation

Death of Ermak

Ermak Timofeevich(1532/1534/1542 - August 6, 1585) - Cossack chieftain, historical conqueror of Siberia for the Russian state.

Origin

Origin Ermak unknown exactly, there are several versions. According to one legend, he was from the banks of the Kama. Thanks to his knowledge of local rivers, he walked along the Kama, Chusovaya and even crossed into Asia, along the Tagil River, until he was taken to serve as a Cossack (Cherepanov Chronicle), in another way - a native of the Kachalinskaya village on the Don (Bronevsky). Recently, the version about the Pomeranian origin of Ermak (originally “from the Dvina from Borka”) has been heard more and more often; they probably meant the Boretsk volost, the center of which exists to this day - the village of Borok, Vinogradovsky district, Arkhangelsk region.

His name, according to Professor Nikitsky, is a change of name Ermolai, but Ermak sounded like an abbreviation. Other historians and chroniclers derive it from Herman And Eremeya. One chronicle, considering Ermak's name a nickname, gives him christian name Vasily. There is an opinion that “Ermak” is a nickname derived from the name of the cooking pot.

There is a hypothesis about the Turkic (Kerait or Siberian) origin of Ermak. This version is supported by arguments that the name Ermak is Turkic and still exists among the Tatars, Bashkirs and Kazakhs, but is pronounced as Ermek. This speaks in favor of the theory preserved by the Turks of Russia and Kazakhstan that Ermak was a traitor and was baptized, from which he became an outcast (Cossack), which is why he managed to lead Russian troops through the territories of the Turkic khanates. The theory is also supported by the fact that the name Ermak was not and is not used in Russia when naming babies.

Ermak was at first the ataman of one of the numerous Cossack squads, who on the Volga protected the population from tyranny and robbery from outside Crimean Tatars. In 1579, a squad of Cossacks (more than 500 people), under the command of atamans Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan and Matvey Meshcheryak was invited by the Ural merchants the Stroganovs to protect against regular attacks from the Siberian Khan Kuchum and went up the Kama and in June 1579 arrived on the Chusovaya River, in the Chusovoy towns of the Stroganov brothers. Here the Cossacks lived for two years and helped the Stroganovs defend their towns from predatory attacks by the Siberian Khan Kuchum.

By the beginning of 1580, the Stroganovs invited Ermak to serve, then he was at least 40 years old. Ermak took part in the Livonian War, commanded a Cossack hundred during the battle with the Lithuanians for Smolensk.

Conquest of Siberia

On September 1, 1581, by order of Ivan the Terrible, a squad of Cossacks under the main command of Ermak set out on a campaign for Stone Belt(Ural) from Orel-gorod. According to another version, proposed by the historian R. G. Skrynnikov, the campaign of Ermak, Ivan Koltso and Nikita Pan to Siberia dates back to 1582, since peace with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was concluded in January 1582, and at the end of 1581 Ermak was still fighting with the Lithuanians.

The initiative of this campaign, according to the Esipovskaya and Remizovskaya chronicles, belonged to Ermak himself; the Stroganovs’ participation was limited to the forced supply of supplies and weapons to the Cossacks. According to the Stroganov Chronicle (accepted by Karamzin, Solovyov and others), the Stroganovs themselves called the Cossacks from the Volga to Chusovaya and sent them on a campaign, adding 300 military men from their possessions to Ermak’s detachment (540 people).

The Cossacks rode plows up the Chusovaya River and along its tributary, the Serebryannaya River, to the Siberian portage separating the Kama and Ob basins, and along the portage they dragged the boats into the Zheravlya (Zharovlya) River. Here the Cossacks were supposed to spend the winter (Remizov Chronicle). During the winter, according to the book Rezhevsky Treasures, Ermak sent a detachment of associates to reconnoiter a more southern route along the Neiva River. But the Tatar Murza defeated Ermak’s reconnaissance detachment. In the place where that Murza lived there is now the village of Murzinka, famous for its gems.

Only in the spring, along the rivers Zheravle, Barancha and Tagil, did they sail to Tura. They broke it twice Siberian Tatars, on Tura and at the mouth of the Tavda. Kuchum sent Mametkul with a large army against the Cossacks, but this army was defeated by Ermak on the banks of the Tobol, at the Babasan tract. Finally, on the Irtysh, near Chuvashev, the Cossacks inflicted a final defeat on the Tatars in the Battle of Cape Chuvashev. Kuchum left a fence that protected main city his khanate, Siberia, and fled south to the Ishim steppes.

On October 26, 1582, Ermak entered Siberia, abandoned by the Tatars. In December, Kuchum’s commander, Mametkul, destroyed one Cossack detachment from an ambush on Lake Abalatskoye, but the following spring the Cossacks attacked new blow Kuchuma, having captured Mametkul on the Vagai River.

Ermak used the summer of 1583 to conquer Tatar towns and uluses along the Irtysh and Ob rivers, meeting stubborn resistance everywhere, and took the Ostyak city of Nazim. After the capture of the city of Siberia, Ermak sent messengers to the Stroganovs and an ambassador to the Tsar, Ataman Koltso.

Ivan the Terrible received him very kindly, richly presented the Cossacks and sent Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov, with 300 warriors, to reinforce them. The royal commanders arrived at Ermak in the fall of 1583, but their detachment could not provide significant assistance to the Cossack squad, which had diminished in battle. The atamans died one after another: during the capture of Nazim, Nikita Pan was killed; in the spring of 1584, the Tatars killed Ivan Koltso and Yakov Mikhailov. Ataman Meshcheryak was besieged in his camp by the Tatars and only with heavy losses forced their khan, Karacha, to retreat.

On August 6, 1585, Ermak Timofeevich also died. He walked with a small detachment of 50 people along the Irtysh. During an overnight stay at the mouth of the Vagai River, Kuchum attacked the sleeping Cossacks and destroyed the entire detachment.

There were so few Cossacks left that Ataman Meshcheryak had to march back to Rus'. After two years of possession, the Cossacks ceded Siberia to Kuchum, only to return there a year later with a new detachment of tsarist troops.

Performance evaluation

Some historians rate Ermak’s personality very highly, “his courage, leadership talent, iron willpower,” but the facts conveyed by the chronicles do not give any indication of his personal qualities and the degree of his personal influence. Be that as it may, Ermak is “one of the most remarkable figures in Russian history” (Skrynnikov).

Death of Ermak

According to the latest data, after Ermak drowned in the Irtysh, downstream (according to Siberian-Tatar legends) a Tatar fisherman caught him with a net not far from the site of the bloody battle where he fell. Many noble Murzas, as well as Kuchum himself, came to look at the ataman’s body. The Tatars shot at the body with bows and feasted for several days, but, according to eyewitnesses, his body lay in the air for a month and did not even begin to decompose. Later, having divided his property, in particular, taking two chain mail donated by the Tsar of Moscow, he was buried in the village, which is now called Baishevo. He was buried in a place of honor, but behind the cemetery, since he was not a Muslim. The authenticity of the burial is currently under consideration.

Memory

The memory of Ermak lives among the Russian people in legends, songs (for example, “Song of Ermak” is included in the repertoire of the Omsk choir) and place names. The most common settlements and institutions named after him can be found in Western Siberia. Cities and villages, sports complexes and sports teams, streets and squares, rivers and marinas, steamships and icebreakers, hotels, etc. are named in honor of Ermak. For some of them, see Ermak. Many Siberian commercial firms have the name “Ermak” in their name.

• Monuments in the cities: Novocherkassk, Tobolsk (in the form of a stele), in Altai in Zmeinogorsk (transferred from Kazakh city Aksu, which until 1993 was called Ermak), Surgut (opened on June 11, 2010; author - sculptor K.V. Kubyshkin).
• High relief on the frieze of the monument “Millennium of Russia”. In Veliky Novgorod on the Monument “1000th Anniversary of Russia” among 129 figures of the most outstanding personalities V Russian history(for 1862) there is a figure of Ermak.
• Streets in the cities: Omsk, Berezniki, Novocherkassk (square), Lipetsk and Rostov-on-Don (alleys).
• Feature Film“Ermak” (1996) (in the title role Viktor Stepanov).
• In 2001, the Bank of Russia in a series commemorative coins“Development and exploration of Siberia”, a coin “Ermak’s Campaign” with a face value of 25 rubles was issued.
• Among Russian surnames, the surname Ermak is found.