Prince Alexander Nevsky was a grandson. Alexander Nevsky - short biography

About Alexander Nevsky it’s either good or nothing. But behind the glorification of the exploits of the Russian prince, a real historical figure is lost. An analysis of historical sources shows that the figure of Alexander Nevsky is not without intrigue.

Loyal to the Horde

Historians still argue about the relationship between Alexander Nevsky and the Horde. Eurasian scholar Lev Gumilev wrote that in 1251 Alexander Nevsky fraternized with Batu’s son Sartak, “as a result of which he became the son of the khan and in 1252 brought the Tatar corps to Rus' with the experienced noyon Nevryuy.” According to Gumilyov, Alexander confidently created an alliance with the Golden Horde, and this alliance is viewed not as a yoke, but as a benefit.

The scientist states that during the time of Alexander Nevsky there was a political and military alliance between Rus' and the Horde.
According to another version, more widespread, Alexander Nevsky had no other choice, and he chose the lesser of two evils. Pressure from the West and the desire of Rome to spread Catholicism in Rus' forced Alexander to make concessions to the East, because it was tolerant of Orthodoxy. Thus, Alexander Nevsky preserved Orthodox Rus'.

But the historian Igor Danilevsky focuses on the fact that sometimes in chronicle sources Alexander Nevsky appears as a power-hungry and cruel person who entered into an alliance with the Tatars to strengthen his personal power.

But the harshest assessment of Nevsky’s “Tatarophilia” belongs to academician Valentin Yanin: “Alexander Nevsky, having concluded an alliance with the Horde, subjugated Novgorod to Horde influence. He extended Tatar power to Novgorod, which was never conquered by the Tatars. Moreover, he gouged out the eyes of dissenting Novgorodians, and there were many sins of all sorts behind him.”

In 1257, news came to Novgorod that the Horde wanted to take tamga and tithes from the Novgorodians. At that time, Alexander’s son, Vasily, ruled in Veliky Novgorod, and Nevsky himself reigned in Vladimir. The Novgorodians refuse to pay tribute to the Horde, and Alexander prepares a punitive campaign against the rebellious city. Vasily Alexandrovich flees to neighboring Pskov. But soon his father catches up with him and sends him “to Niz”, to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, and executed those “who led Vasily to evil”: “I cut off one’s nose, and took out another’s eyes.” For this, the Novgorodians killed Aleksandrov’s protégé of the mayor Mikhalko Stepanich.

Commander

Recently, there has been a strong opinion that Western Europe did not seriously threaten Rus', and therefore the value of the battles won by Alexander Nevsky was not great. We are talking, in particular, about downplaying the significance of the victory in the Battle of the Neva.

For example, historian Igor Danilevsky notes that “the Swedes, judging by the Chronicle of Eric, which tells in detail about the events in this region in the 13th century, managed not to notice this battle at all.”

However, the largest Russian specialist in the history of the Baltic region, Igor Shaskolsky, objects to such an assessment, noting that “in medieval Sweden, until the beginning of the 14th century, no major narrative works were created on the history of the country, such as Russian chronicles and large Western European chronicles.”

The Battle of the Ice is also subject to depreciation. The battle appears to be a battle in which numerous troops were killed. Based on information from the “Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle,” which indicates only 20 knights who died during the battle, some experts talk about the insignificant scale of the battle. However, according to historian Dmitry Volodikhin, the Chronicle did not take into account the losses among the Danish mercenaries, Baltic tribes, and militias who formed the backbone of the army who took part in the battle.

Some historians estimate the army of Alexander Nevsky at 15-17 thousand people, and the German soldiers who opposed him at 10-12 thousand. It happens even more - 18 thousand to 15.

However, on the 78th page of the first Novgorod chronicle of the older edition it is written: “... and the fall of Chudi became merciless, and the German was 400, and with 50 hands he brought him to Novgorod.” The figure grows in the following chronicle, the younger version: “... and when Chudi fell, he became devoid of power, and Nemets was 500, and the other 50 were brought by hand to Novgorod.”

The Laurentian Chronicle puts the entire story about the battle in three lines and does not even indicate the number of soldiers and those killed. Apparently this is unimportant and not significant?
“The Life of Alexander Nevsky” is a more artistic source than a documentary one. It has a completely different angle of view: spiritual. And from the spiritual side, sometimes one person is stronger than a thousand.

One cannot ignore the successful campaigns of Alexander Nevsky against the German, Swedish and Lithuanian feudal lords. In particular, in 1245, with the Novgorod army, Alexander defeated the Lithuanian prince Mindovg, who attacked Torzhok and Bezhetsk. Moreover, having released the Novgorodians, Alexander, with the help of his squad, pursued the remnants of the Lithuanian army, during which he defeated another Lithuanian detachment near Usvyat. In total, judging by the sources that have reached us, Alexander Nevsky conducted 12 military operations and did not lose in any of them.

How many wives?

In the life of Alexander Nevsky it is reported that in 1239 Saint Alexander entered into marriage, taking as his wife the daughter of the Polotsk prince Bryachislav. Some historians say that the princess in Holy Baptism was the namesake of her holy husband and bore the name Alexandra. At the same time, you can find reports that there was another wife: “Alexandra, the prince’s first wife, Vassa, his second wife, and daughter Evdokia were buried in the cathedral of the Princess Monastery.” This is what is written in the “History of the Russian State” by N.M. Karamzin: "

After the death of his first wife, named Alexandra, daughter of the Polotsk Prince Bryachislav, Nevsky had a second marriage with an unknown Princess Vassa, whose body lies in the Dormition Monastery of Vladimir, in the Church of the Nativity of Christ, where his daughter, Evdokia, was buried."

And yet, the existence of Alexander’s second wife raises doubts among both historians and ordinary people who honor the holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky. There is even an opinion that Vassa is the monastic name of Alexandra Bryachislavovna.

Overthrow of Brother

It is known that in 1252, Alexander Nevsky’s brother Andrei Yaroslavich was expelled from the reign of Vladimir by the “Nevryuev Army” sent to him by Batu. According to popular belief, the prince was deprived of his label for failure to appear in the Horde, but the sources do not contain any information about Andrei Yaroslavich being summoned to Sarai.
The chronicles say that Alexander went to the Don to visit Batu’s son Sartak and complained that Andrei did not receive the grand-ducal table according to seniority and did not pay tribute to the Mongols in full.

The historian Dmitry Zenin is inclined to see his brother Alexander as the initiator of the overthrow of Andrei, since, in his opinion, Batu did not particularly understand all the intricacies of Russian inter-princely accounts and could not accept such responsibility.

Moreover, some researchers under the name “Nevryu” mean Alexander Nevsky himself. The basis for this is the fact that the Neva in the common Mongolian language sounded like “Nevra”. In addition, it is quite strange that the name of the commander Nevruy, who was a rank higher than Temnik, is not mentioned anywhere else.

Saint

Prince Alexander Nevsky was canonized as a saint. Because of Soviet propaganda, this ruler is most often presented as a successful warrior (he really did not lose a single battle in his entire life!), and it seems that he became famous only for his military merits, and holiness became something of a “reward” from Churches.

Why was he canonized? Not only because the prince did not agree to an alliance with the Latins. Surprisingly, through his efforts an Orthodox diocese was created in the Golden Horde. And the preaching of Christianity spread to the north - to the lands of the Pomors.
This rank of saints - the faithful - includes the laity who are famous for their sincere deep faith and good deeds, as well as Orthodox rulers who managed to remain faithful to Christ in their public service and in various political conflicts. “Like any Orthodox saint, the noble prince is not at all an ideal sinless person, however, he is, first of all, a ruler, guided in his life primarily by the highest Christian virtues, including mercy and philanthropy, and not by the thirst for power and not by self-interest.”

Nickname

Biography

Reflecting aggression from the West

Great Reign

Canonical score

Eurasian assessment

Critical Assessment

Canonization

Relics of St. Alexander Nevsky

In ancient Russian literature

Fiction

art

Cinema

Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky(Old Russian) Oleksandr Yaroslavich, May 1221, Pereslavl-Zalessky - November 14 (November 21) 1263, Gorodets) - Prince of Novgorod (1236-1240, 1241-1252 and 1257-1259), Grand Duke of Kiev (1249-1263), Grand Duke of Vladimir (1252- 1263).

Nickname

The traditional version says that Alexander received his nickname “Nevsky” after a battle with the Swedes on the Neva River. It is believed that it was for this victory that the prince began to be called that, but for the first time this nickname appears in sources only from the 15th century. Since it is known that some of the prince’s descendants also bore the nickname Nevsky, it is possible that in this way possessions in this area were assigned to them. In particular, Alexander's family had their own house near Novgorod.

Biography

The second son of the Pereyaslavl prince (later the Grand Duke of Kyiv and Vladimir) Yaroslav Vsevolodovich from his second marriage with Rostislava-Feodosia Mstislavovna, daughter of the Prince of Novgorod and Galicia Mstislav Udatny. Born in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky in May 1221.

In 1225 Yaroslav “he gave his sons princely tonsure”- the rite of initiation into warriors, which was performed in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky by Bishop of Suzdal Saint Simon.

In 1228, Alexander, together with his elder brother Fyodor, were left by their father in Novgorod under the supervision of Fyodor Danilovich and tiun Yakim, together with the Pereyaslavl army, who were preparing to march on Riga in the summer, but during the famine that came in the winter of this year, Fyodor Danilovich and tiun Yakim, did not Having waited for Yaroslav's answer to the request of the Novgorodians to abolish the religious order, in February 1229 they fled from the city with the young princes, fearing reprisals from the rebel Novgorodians. In 1230, when the Novgorod Republic summoned Prince Yaroslav, he spent two weeks in Novgorod and installed Fedor and Alexander as reigners, but three years later, at the age of thirteen, Fedor died. In 1234, Alexander's first campaign (under his father's banner) against the Livonian Germans took place.

In 1236, Yaroslav left Pereyaslavl-Zalessky to reign in Kyiv (from there in 1238 - to Vladimir). From this time on, Alexander’s independent activity began. Back in 1236-1237, the neighbors of the Novgorod land were at enmity with each other (200 Pskov soldiers took part in the unsuccessful campaign of the Order of the Swordsmen against Lithuania, which ended with the Battle of Saul and the entry of the remnants of the Order of the Swordsmen into the Teutonic Order). But after the devastation of North-Eastern Rus' by the Mongols in the winter of 1237/1238 (the Mongols took Torzhok after a two-week siege and did not reach Novgorod), the western neighbors of the Novgorod land almost simultaneously launched offensive operations.

Reflecting aggression from the West

In 1239, Yaroslav repelled the Lithuanians from Smolensk, and Alexander married Alexandra, daughter of Bryachislav of Polotsk. The wedding took place in Toropets in the Church of St. George. Already in 1240, the prince’s first-born son, named Vasily, was born in Novgorod.

Alexander built a series of fortifications on the southwestern border of the Novgorod Republic along the Sheloni River. In 1240, the Germans approached Pskov, and the Swedes moved to Novgorod, according to Russian sources, under the leadership of the ruler of the country himself, the royal son-in-law of Jarl Birger (there is no mention of this battle in Swedish sources; the jarl at that moment was Ulf Fasi, not Birger) . According to Russian sources, Birger sent Alexander a declaration of war, proud and arrogant: “If you can, resist, know that I am already here and will take your land captive”. With a relatively small squad of Novgorodians and Ladoga residents, Alexander, on the night of July 15, 1240, surprised the Swedes of Birger when they stopped at a rest camp at the mouth of Izhora, on the Neva, and inflicted a complete defeat on them - the Battle of the Neva. Fighting himself in the front ranks, Alexander “The infidel who stole them (Birger) put a seal on his forehead with the edge of a sword”. Victory in this battle demonstrated Alexander's talent and strength.

However, the Novgorodians, always jealous of their liberties, managed to quarrel with Alexander that same year, and he retired to his father, who gave him the principality of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. Meanwhile, the Livonian Germans were approaching Novgorod. The knights besieged Pskov and soon took it, taking advantage of the betrayal among the besieged. Two German Vogts were planted in the city, which became an unprecedented case in the history of the Livonian-Novgorod conflicts. Then the Livonians fought and imposed tribute on the leaders, built a fortress in Koporye, took the city of Tesov, plundered the lands along the Luga River and began to rob Novgorod merchants 30 versts from Novgorod. The Novgorodians turned to Yaroslav for a prince; he gave them his second son, Andrei. This did not satisfy them. They sent a second embassy to ask Alexander. In 1241, Alexander came to Novgorod and cleared his region of enemies, and the next year, together with Andrei, he moved to the aid of Pskov. Having liberated the city, Alexander headed to the Peipus land, to the domain of the order.

On April 5, 1242, a battle took place on the border with the Livonian Order, on Lake Peipus. This battle is known as Battle on the Ice. The exact course of the battle is unknown, but according to the Livonian chronicles, the order knights were surrounded during the battle. According to the Novgorod chronicle, the Russians chased the Germans across the ice for 7 versts. According to the Livonian chronicle, the losses of the order amounted to 20 killed and 6 captured knights, which may be consistent with the Novgorod Chronicle, which reports that the Livonian order lost 400-500 “Germans” killed and 50 prisoners - “and Chudi fell into disgrace, and the German 400, and with 50 hands he brought him to Novgorod”. Considering that for every full-fledged knight there were 10-15 servants and warriors of lower rank, we can assume that the data of the Livonian Chronicle and the data of the Novgorod Chronicle well confirm each other.

With a series of victories in 1245, Alexander repelled the attacks of Lithuania, led by Prince Mindaugas. According to the chronicler, the Lithuanians fell into such fear that they began "Take care of his name".

Alexander's six-year victorious defense of northern Rus' led to the fact that the Germans, according to a peace treaty, abandoned all recent conquests and ceded part of Latgale to the Novgorodians. Nevsky's father Yaroslav was summoned to Karakorum and poisoned there on September 30, 1246. Almost simultaneously with this, on September 20, Mikhail Chernigovsky was killed in the Golden Horde, who refused to undergo a pagan rite.

Great Reign

After the death of his father, in 1247, Alexander went to the Horde to see Batu. From there, together with his brother Andrei, who had arrived earlier, he was sent to the Great Khan in Mongolia. It took them two years to complete this journey. In their absence, their brother, Mikhail Khorobrit of Moscow (the fourth son of Grand Duke Yaroslav), took the great reign of Vladimir from his uncle Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich in 1248, but in the same year he died in battle with the Lithuanians in the Battle of the Protva River. Svyatoslav managed to defeat the Lithuanians at Zubtsov. Batu planned to give the great reign of Vladimir to Alexander, but according to Yaroslav’s will, Andrei was to become the prince of Vladimir, and Alexander of Novgorod and Kyiv. And the chronicler notes that they had “true greatness about the great reign”. As a result, the rulers of the Mongol Empire, despite the death of Guyuk during the campaign against Batu in 1248, implemented the second option. Alexander received Kyiv and “All Russian Land.” Modern historians differ in their assessment of which of the brothers held formal seniority. After the Tatar devastation, Kyiv lost any real significance; therefore, Alexander did not go to him, but settled in Novgorod (According to V.N. Tatishchev, the prince was still going to leave for Kyiv, but the Novgorodians “kept him for the sake of the Tatars,” but the reliability of this information is in question).

There is information about two messages from Pope Innocent IV to Alexander Nevsky. In the first, the pope invites Alexander to follow the example of his father, who agreed (the pope referred to Plano Carpini, in whose works this news is absent) to submit to the Roman throne before his death, and also proposes coordination of actions with the Teutons in the event of an attack by the Tatars on Rus'. In the second message, the pope mentions Alexander’s consent to be baptized into the Catholic faith and build a Catholic church in Pskov, and also asks his ambassador, the Archbishop of Prussia, to receive him. In 1251, two cardinals came to Alexander Nevsky in Novgorod with a bull. Almost simultaneously in Vladimir, Andrei Yaroslavich and Ustinya Danilovna were married by Metropolitan Kirill, an associate of Daniil of Galitsky, to whom the pope offered the royal crown back in 1246-1247. In the same year, the Lithuanian prince Mindovg converted to the Catholic faith, thereby securing his lands from the Teutons. According to the chronicler's story, Nevsky, after consulting with wise people, outlined the entire history of Rus' and in conclusion said: “We will know all that is good, but we will not accept teaching from you”.

In 1251, with the participation of the troops of the Golden Horde, Batu's ally Munke won the victory in the struggle for supreme power in the Mongol Empire, and the following year Alexander came to the Horde again. At the same time, Tatar hordes led by Nevruy were moved against Andrei. Andrei, in alliance with his brother Yaroslav Tverskoy, opposed the Tatars, but was defeated and fled to Sweden through Novgorod, Yaroslav gained a foothold in Pskov. This was the first attempt to openly oppose the Mongol-Tatars in North-Eastern Rus', and it ended in failure. After Andrei's flight, the great reign of Vladimir passed to Alexander. Perhaps, as a number of researchers believe, this indicates that Alexander, during his trip to the Horde, contributed to organizing a punitive campaign against his brother, but there is no direct evidence in favor of this conclusion. In the same year, Prince Oleg Ingvarevich the Red, captured in 1237 wounded, was released from Mongol captivity to Ryazan. Alexander's reign in Vladimir was followed by a new war with its western neighbors.

In 1253, shortly after the start of Alexander's great reign, his eldest son Vasily and the Novgorodians were forced to repel the Lithuanians from Toropets, in the same year the Pskovians repulsed the Teutonic invasion, then, together with the Novgorodians and Karelians, invaded the Baltic states and defeated the Teutons on their land, after whereby peace was concluded on the entire will of Novgorod and Pskov. In 1256, the Swedes came to Narova and began to build a city (probably we are talking about the Narva fortress that was already founded in 1223). The Novgorodians asked for help from Alexander, who led a successful campaign against him with the Suzdal and Novgorod regiments. In 1258, the Lithuanians invaded the Smolensk principality and approached Torzhok.

In 1255, the Novgorodians expelled Alexander's eldest son Vasily and summoned Yaroslav Yaroslavich from Pskov. Nevsky forced them to accept Vasily again, and replaced the displeased mayor Anania, a champion of Novgorod freedom, with the obliging Mikhalka Stepanovich. In 1257, the Mongol census took place in the Vladimir, Murom and Ryazan lands, but was disrupted in Novgorod, which was not captured during the invasion. The big people, with the mayor Mikhalka, persuaded the Novgorodians to submit to the will of the khan, but the smaller ones did not want to hear about it. Mikhalko was killed. Prince Vasily, sharing the feelings of the younger ones, but not wanting to quarrel with his father, went to Pskov. Alexander Nevsky himself came to Novgorod with Tatar ambassadors and exiled his son to "Bottom", that is, the Suzdal land, his advisers were captured and punished ( “You cut one’s nose, and one’s eyes are taken out”) and placed his second son, seven-year-old Dmitry, as prince with them. In 1258, Alexander went to the Horde to “honor” the Khan’s governor Ulavchiy, and in 1259, threatening a Tatar pogrom, he obtained consent from the Novgorodians for a census and tribute ( "tamgas and tithes").

Daniil Galitsky, who accepted the royal crown in 1253 with his own forces (without allies from North-Eastern Rus', without Catholicization of the subject lands and without the forces of the crusaders) was able to inflict a serious defeat on the Horde, which led to a break with Rome and Lithuania. Daniel was going to organize a campaign against Kyiv, but was unable to do so due to a clash with the Lithuanians. The Lithuanians were repulsed from Lutsk, after which followed the Galician-Horde campaigns against Lithuania and Poland, the break of Mindaugas with Poland, the Order and the alliance with Novgorod. In 1262, the Novgorod, Tver and allied Lithuanian regiments, under the nominal command of 12-year-old Dmitry Alexandrovich, undertook a campaign in Livonia and besieged the city of Yuryev, burned the settlement, but did not take the city.

Death

In 1262, Tatar tribute farmers were killed in Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov, Pereyaslavl, Yaroslavl and other cities, and the Sarai khan Berke demanded military recruitment among the inhabitants of Rus', since a threat arose to his possessions from the Iranian ruler Hulagu. Alexander Nevsky went to the Horde to try to dissuade the khan from this demand. There Alexander fell ill. Already sick, he left for Rus'.

Having adopted the schema under the name Alexy, he died on November 14 (November 21), 1263 in Gorodets (there are 2 versions - in Gorodets Volzhsky or in Gorodets Meshchersky). Metropolitan Kirill announced his death to the people in Vladimir with the words: “My dear children, understand that the sun of the Russian land has set”, and everyone exclaimed with tears: “We’re already dying”. "Respect for the Russian land,- says the famous historian Sergei Solovyov, - from trouble in the east, famous exploits for faith and land in the west gave Alexander a glorious memory in Rus' and made him the most prominent historical figure in ancient history from Monomakh to Donskoy". Alexander became the favorite prince of the clergy. The chronicle tale that has reached us about his exploits says that he "Born of God". Victorious everywhere, he was not defeated by anyone. A knight who came from the west to see Nevsky said that he had passed through many countries and peoples, but had never seen anything like this "neither in kings is there a king, nor in princes is there a prince". The Tatar Khan himself allegedly gave the same review about him, and Tatar women frightened children with his name.

Alexander Nevsky was initially buried in the Nativity Monastery in Vladimir. In 1724, by order of Peter I, the relics of Alexander Nevsky were solemnly transferred to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Family

Spouse:

• Alexandra, daughter of Bryachislav of Polotsk (died on May 5, 1244 and was buried in the Yuryev Monastery next to her son, Prince Fedor).

sons:

• Vasily (before 1245-1271) - Novgorod prince;
• Dmitry (1250-1294) - Prince of Novgorod (1260-1263), Prince of Pereyaslavl, Grand Duke of Vladimir in 1276-1281 and 1283-1293;
• Andrey (c. 1255-1304) - Prince of Kostroma in (1276-1293), (1296-1304), Grand Duke of Vladimir (1281-1284, 1292-1304), Prince of Novgorod in (1281-1285, 1292-1304), Prince of Gorodets (1264-1304);
• Daniel (1261-1303) - first prince of Moscow (1263-1303).

• Evdokia, who became the wife of Konstantin Rostislavich Smolensky.

The wife and daughter were buried in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of the Dormition Princess Monastery in Vladimir.

Assessments of board personality and performance

According to the results of a large-scale survey of Russians, on December 28, 2008, Alexander Nevsky was chosen “in the name of Russia.” However, in historical science there is no single assessment of the activities of Alexander Nevsky; the views of historians on his personality are different, sometimes directly opposite. For centuries it was believed that Alexander Nevsky played an exceptional role in Russian history during that dramatic period when Rus' was attacked from three sides; he was seen as the founder of the line of Moscow sovereigns and the great patron of the Orthodox Church. Over time, such canonization of Alexander Yaroslavich began to provoke resistance. As the head of the Department of Russian History of Moscow State University N.S. Borisov states, “those who like to destroy myths are constantly “undermining” Alexander Nevsky, and are trying to prove that he betrayed his brother, and he brought the Tatars to Russian soil, and in general it is not clear why he considered a great commander. Such discrediting of Alexander Nevsky is constantly found in the literature. What was he really like? Sources do not allow us to say 100%.”

Canonical score

According to the canonical version, Alexander Nevsky is regarded as a saint, as a kind of golden legend of medieval Rus'. In the 13th century, Rus' was attacked from three sides - the Catholic West, the Mongol-Tatars and Lithuania. Alexander Nevsky, who never lost a single battle in his entire life, showed his talent as a commander and diplomat, making peace with the most powerful (but at the same time more tolerant) enemy - the Golden Horde - and repelling the attack of the Germans, while simultaneously protecting Orthodoxy from Catholic expansion. This interpretation was officially supported by the authorities both in pre-revolutionary and Soviet times, as well as by the Russian Orthodox Church. The idealization of Alexander reached its zenith before the Great Patriotic War, during and in the first decades after it. In popular culture, this image was captured in the film “Alexander Nevsky” by Sergei Eisenstein.

Eurasian assessment

Lev Gumilyov, as a representative of Eurasianism, saw in Alexander Nevsky the architect of a hypothetical Russian-Horde alliance. He categorically states that in 1251 “Alexander came to Batu’s horde, became friends, and then fraternized with his son Sartak, as a result of which he became the son of the khan and in 1252 brought the Tatar corps to Rus' with the experienced noyon Nevryuy.” From the point of view of Gumilyov and his followers, Alexander’s friendly relations with Batu, whose respect he enjoyed, his son Sartak and his successor, Khan Berke, made it possible to establish the most peaceful relations with the Horde, which contributed to the synthesis of East Slavic and Mongol-Tatar cultures.

Critical Assessment

The third group of historians, generally agreeing with the pragmatic nature of Alexander Nevsky’s actions, believes that objectively he played a negative role in the history of Russia. Skeptical historians (in particular Fennell, and after him Igor Danilevsky, Sergei Smirnov) believe that the traditional image of Alexander Nevsky as a brilliant commander and patriot is exaggerated. They focus on evidence in which Alexander Nevsky appears as a power-hungry and cruel person. They also express doubts about the scale of the Livonian threat to Rus' and the real military significance of the clashes on the Neva and Lake Peipus. According to their interpretation, there was no serious threat from the German knights (and the Battle of the Ice was not a major battle), and the example of Lithuania (to which a number of Russian princes moved with their lands), according to Danilevsky, showed that a successful fight against the Tatars was quite possible. Alexander Nevsky deliberately entered into an alliance with the Tatars in order to use them to strengthen his personal power. In the long term, his choice predetermined the formation of despotic power in Rus'.
Alexander Nevsky, having concluded an alliance with the Horde, subjugated Novgorod to Horde influence. He extended Tatar power to Novgorod, which was never conquered by the Tatars. Moreover, he gouged out the eyes of dissenting Novgorodians, and he committed many different sins.
- Valentin Yanin, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Canonization

Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in the ranks of the faithful under Metropolitan Macarius at the Moscow Council in 1547. Memory (according to the Julian calendar): November 23 and August 30 (transfer of relics from Vladimir-on-Klyazma to St. Petersburg, to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery (from 1797 - Lavra) on August 30, 1724). Days of celebration of St. Alexander Nevsky:

• May 23 (June 5, new art.) - Cathedral of Rostov-Yaroslavl Saints
• August 30 (September 12 according to the new art.) - the day of transfer of the relics to St. Petersburg (1724) - the main one
• November 14 (November 27 according to the new art.) - day of death in Gorodets (1263) - canceled
• November 23 (December 6, New Art.) - day of burial in Vladimir, in the schema of Alexy (1263)

Relics of St. Alexander Nevsky

• Nevsky was buried in the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin in Vladimir, and until the mid-16th century the Nativity Monastery was considered the first monastery in Rus', the “great archimandrite.” In 1380, in Vladimir, his incorruptible relics were discovered and placed in a shrine on top of the ground. According to the lists of the Nikon and Resurrection Chronicles of the 16th century, during a fire in Vladimir on May 23, 1491, “the body of the great Prince Alexander Nevsky burned.” In the same chronicles of the 17th century, the story about the fire is completely rewritten and it is mentioned that the relics were miraculously preserved from the fire. In 1547, the prince was canonized, and in 1697, Metropolitan Hilarion of Suzdal placed the relics in a new shrine, decorated with carvings and covered with a precious shroud.
• Exported from Vladimir on August 11, 1723, the holy relics were brought to Shlisselburg on September 20 and remained there until 1724, when on August 30 they were installed in the Alexander Nevsky Church of the Alexander Nevsky Holy Trinity Monastery by order of Peter the Great. During the consecration of the Trinity Cathedral in the monastery in 1790, the relics were placed there, in a silver shrine donated by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

In 1753, by order of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the relics were transferred to a magnificent silver tomb, for the production of which the craftsmen of the Sestroretsk arms factory used about 90 pounds of silver. In 1790, after the completion of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the tomb was moved to this cathedral and placed behind the right choir.

• In May 1922, the relics were opened and soon confiscated. The seized cancer was transferred to the Hermitage, where it remains to this day.
• The relics of the saint were returned to the Lavra Trinity Cathedral from the storerooms of the Museum of Religion and Atheism, located in the Kazan Cathedral, in 1989.
• In 2007, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', the saint’s relics were transported throughout the cities of Russia and Latvia for a month. On September 20, the holy relics were brought to the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior; on September 27, the reliquary was transported to Kaliningrad (September 27-29) and then to Riga (September 29 - October 3), Pskov (October 3-5), Novgorod (October 5-7 October), Yaroslavl (October 7 - 10), Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg. On October 20, the relics returned to the Lavra.

A piece of the relics of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky is located in the Temple of Alexander Nevsky in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria. Also, part of the relics (little finger) of Alexander Nevsky is located in the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Vladimir. The relics were transferred by decree of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' in October 1998 on the eve of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the metochion of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Moscow.

Alexander Nevsky in culture and art

Streets, alleys, squares, etc. are named after Alexander Nevsky. Orthodox churches are dedicated to him, he is the patron saint of St. Petersburg. Not a single lifetime image of Alexander Nevsky has survived to this day. Therefore, to depict the prince on the order, in 1942, its author, architect I. S. Telyatnikov, used a portrait of actor Nikolai Cherkasov, who played the role of the prince in the film “Alexander Nevsky”.

In ancient Russian literature

A literary work written in the 13th century and known in many editions.

Fiction

• Segen A. Yu. Alexander Nevskiy. The Sun of the Russian Land. - M.: ITRK, 2003. - 448 p. - (Library of historical novel). - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-88010-158-4
• Yugov A.K. Warriors. - L.: Lenizdat, 1983. - 478 p.
• Subbotin A. A. For the Russian land. - M.: Military Publishing House of the USSR Ministry of Defense, 1957. - 696 p.
• Mosiyash S. Alexander Nevskiy. - L.: Children's literature, 1982. - 272 p.
• Yukhnov S. M. Scout of Alexander Nevsky. - M.: Eksmo, 2008. - 544 p. - (In the service of the sovereign. Russian frontier). - 4000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-26178-9
• Yan V. G. The youth of a commander // To the “last sea”. The youth of a commander. - M.: Pravda, 1981.
• Boris Vasiliev. Alexander Nevskiy.

art

• Portrait of Alexander Nevsky (central part of the triptych, 1942) by Pavel Korin.
• Monument to Alexander Nevsky (equestrian sculpture) in St. Petersburg, opened on May 9, 2002 on Alexander Nevsky Square in front of the entrance to the territory of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Authors - sculptors: V. G. Kozenyuk, A. A. Palmin, A. S. Charkin; architects: G. S. Peychev, V. V. Popov.

Cinema

• Alexander Nevsky, Nevsky - Nikolai Cherkasov, director - Sergei Eisenstein, 1938.
• Life of Alexander Nevsky, Nevsky - Anatoly Gorgul, director - Georgy Kuznetsov, 1991.
• Alexander. Battle of Neva, Nevsky - Anton Pampushny, director - Igor Kalenov, - Russia, 2008.

Alexander Nevsky was born on May 30 (June 6), 1220. The second son of the Pereyaslavl prince (later the Grand Duke of Kiev and Vladimir) Yaroslav Vsevolodovich from his second marriage to Rostislava-Feodosia Mstislavovna, daughter of the Prince of Novgorod and Galicia Mstislav Udatny. Born in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky in May 1220.

In 1225, Yaroslav “conducted princely tonsure on his sons” - a rite of initiation into warriors, which was performed by Bishop of Suzdal Saint Simon in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky.

In 1228, Alexander, together with his elder brother Fyodor, were left by their father in Novgorod under the supervision of Fyodor Danilovich and tiun Yakim, together with the Pereyaslavl army, who were preparing to march on Riga in the summer, but during the famine that came in the winter of this year, Fyodor Danilovich and tiun Yakim, did not Having waited for Yaroslav's answer to the request of the Novgorodians to abolish the religious order, in February 1229 they fled from the city with the young princes, fearing reprisals from the rebel Novgorodians. In 1230, when the Novgorodians called Prince Yaroslav, he spent two weeks in Novgorod and installed Fyodor and Alexander to reign in the Novgorod land, but three years later, at the age of thirteen, Fyodor died. In 1234, Alexander's first campaign (under his father's banner) against the Livonian Germans took place.

In 1236, Yaroslav left Pereyaslavl-Zalessky to reign in Kyiv (from there in 1238 - to Vladimir). From this time on, Alexander’s independent activity began. Back in 1236-1237, the neighbors of the Novgorod land were at enmity with each other (200 Pskov soldiers took part in the unsuccessful campaign of the Order of the Swordsmen against Lithuania, which ended with the Battle of Saul and the entry of the remnants of the Order of the Swordsmen into the Teutonic Order). But after the devastation of North-Eastern Rus' by the Mongols in the winter of 1237/1238 (the Mongols took Torzhok after a two-week siege and did not reach Novgorod), the western neighbors of the Novgorod land almost simultaneously launched offensive operations.

Nickname of Alexander Nevsky

The official version says that Alexander received his nickname - Nevsky - after the battle with the Swedes on the Neva River. It is believed that it was for this victory that the prince began to be called that, but for the first time this nickname appears in sources only from the 14th century. Since it is known that some of the prince’s descendants also bore the nickname Nevsky, it is possible that in this way possessions in this area were assigned to them. In particular, Alexander’s family had their own house near Novgorod, with the residents of which he had strained relations.

Reflecting aggression from the West

In 1239, Yaroslav repelled the Lithuanians from Smolensk, and Alexander married Alexandra, daughter of Bryachislav of Polotsk, and built a series of fortifications on the southwestern border of Novgorod land along the Sheloni River.

In 1240, the Germans approached Pskov, and the Swedes moved to Novgorod, according to Russian sources, under the leadership of the ruler of the country himself, the royal son-in-law of Jarl Birger (there is no mention of this battle in Swedish sources; the jarl at that moment was Ulf Fasi, not Birger) . According to Russian sources, Birger sent Alexander a declaration of war, proud and arrogant: “If you can, resist, know that I am already here and will take your land captive.” With a relatively small squad of Novgorodians and Ladoga residents, Alexander, on the night of July 15, 1240, surprised the Swedes of Birger when they stopped at a rest camp at the mouth of Izhora, on the Neva, and inflicted a complete defeat on them - the Battle of the Neva. Fighting himself in the front ranks, Alexander “put a seal on the forehead of the infidel who stole them (Birger) with the tip of a sword.” Victory in this battle demonstrated Alexander's talent and strength.

However, the Novgorodians, always jealous of their liberties, managed to quarrel with Alexander that same year, and he retired to his father, who gave him the principality of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. Meanwhile, the Livonian Germans were approaching Novgorod. The knights besieged Pskov and soon took it, taking advantage of the betrayal among the besieged. Two German Vogts were planted in the city, which became an unprecedented case in the history of the Livonian-Novgorod conflicts. Then the Livonians fought and imposed tribute on the leaders, built a fortress in Koporye, took the city of Tesov, plundered the lands along the Luga River and began to rob Novgorod merchants 30 versts from Novgorod. The Novgorodians turned to Yaroslav for a prince; he gave them his second son, Andrei. This did not satisfy them. They sent a second embassy to ask Alexander. In 1241, Alexander came to Novgorod and cleared his region of enemies, and the next year, together with Andrei, he moved to the aid of Pskov. Having liberated the city, Alexander headed to the Peipus land, to the domain of the order.

On April 5, 1242, the Battle of Lake Peipsi took place. This battle is known as the Battle of the Ice. The exact course of the battle is unknown, but according to the Livonian chronicles, the order knights were surrounded during the battle. According to the Novgorod chronicle, the Russians drove the Germans across the ice for 7 versts. According to the Livonian chronicle, the losses of the order amounted to 20 killed and 6 captured knights, which is consistent with the Novgorod Chronicle, which reports that the Livonian order lost 400-500 “Germans” killed and 50 prisoners - “and the fall of Chudi was beschisla, and the Germans were 400, and 50 with my hands I brought you to Novgorod.” Considering that for every full-fledged knight there were 10-15 warriors of lower rank, we can assume that the data from the Livonian Chronicle and the data from the Novgorod Chronicle well confirm each other.

With a series of victories in 1245, Alexander repelled the attacks of Lithuania, led by Prince Mindaugas. According to the chronicler, the Lithuanians fell into such fear that they began to “observe his name.”

Alexander's six-year victorious defense of northern Rus' led to the fact that the Germans, according to a peace treaty, abandoned all recent conquests and ceded part of Latgale to the Novgorodians. Nevsky's father Yaroslav was summoned to Karakorum and poisoned there on September 30, 1246. Almost simultaneously with this, on September 20, Mikhail Chernigovsky was killed in the Golden Horde, who refused to undergo a pagan rite.

The Great Reign of A. Nevsky

After the death of his father, in 1247, Alexander went to the Horde to see Batu. From there, together with his brother Andrei, who had arrived earlier, he was sent to the Great Khan in Mongolia. It took them two years to complete this journey. In their absence, their brother, Mikhail Khorobrit of Moscow (the fourth son of Grand Duke Yaroslav), took the great reign of Vladimir from his uncle Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich in 1248, but in the same year he died in battle with the Lithuanians in the Battle of the Protva River. Svyatoslav managed to defeat the Lithuanians at Zubtsov. Batu planned to give the reign of Vladimir to Alexander, but according to Yaroslav’s will, Andrei was to become the prince of Vladimir, and Alexander of Novgorod and Kyiv. And the chronicler notes that they had “a direct message about the great reign.” As a result, the rulers of the Mongol Empire, despite the death of Guyuk during the campaign against Batu in 1248, implemented the second option. Modern historians differ in their assessment of which of the brothers held formal seniority. After the Tatar devastation, Kyiv lost its dominant significance; therefore, Alexander did not go to him, but settled in Novgorod (According to V.N. Tatishchev, the prince was still going to leave for Kyiv, but the Novgorodians “kept him for the sake of the Tatars,” but the reliability of this information is in question).

There is information about two messages from Pope Innocent IV to Alexander Nevsky. In the first, the pope invites Alexander to follow the example of his father, who agreed (the pope referred to Plano Carpini, in whose works this news is absent) to submit to the Roman throne before his death, and also proposes coordination of actions with the Teutons in the event of an attack by the Tatars on Rus'. In the second message, the pope mentions Alexander’s agreement to be baptized into the Catholic faith and build a Catholic church in Pskov, and also asks to receive his ambassador, the Archbishop of Prussia. In 1251, two cardinals came to Alexander Nevsky in Novgorod with a bull. Almost simultaneously in Vladimir, Andrei Yaroslavich and Ustinya Danilovna were married by Metropolitan Kirill, an associate of Daniil of Galitsky, to whom the pope offered the royal crown back in 1246-1247. In the same year, the Lithuanian prince Mindovg converted to the Catholic faith, thereby securing his lands from the Teutons. According to the chronicler's story, Nevsky, after consulting with wise people, outlined the entire history of Rus' and in conclusion said: “We know everything good, but we do not accept teachings from you.”

In 1251, with the participation of the troops of the Golden Horde, Batu's ally Munke won the victory in the struggle for supreme power in the Mongol Empire, and already in 1252, Tatar hordes led by Nevruy were moved against Andrei. Andrei, in alliance with his brother Yaroslav Tverskoy, opposed the Tatars, but was defeated and fled to Sweden through Novgorod, Yaroslav gained a foothold in Pskov. This was the first attempt to openly oppose the Mongol-Tatars in North-Eastern Rus', and it ended in failure. After Andrei's flight, the great reign of Vladimir passed to Alexander. In the same year, Prince Oleg Ingvarevich the Red, captured in 1237 wounded, was released from Mongol captivity to Ryazan. Alexander's reign in Vladimir was followed by many years of internecine war in Rus' and a new war with its western neighbors.

Already in 1253, soon after the start of Alexander’s great reign, his eldest son Vasily and the Novgorodians were forced to repel the Lithuanians from Toropets, in the same year the Pskovians repulsed the Teutonic invasion, then, together with the Novgorodians and Karelians, invaded the Baltic states and defeated the Teutons on their land, after which peace was concluded on the entire will of Novgorod and Pskov. In 1256, the Swedes came to Narova and began to build a city (probably we are talking about the Narva fortress that was already founded in 1223). The Novgorodians asked for help from Alexander, who led a successful campaign against him with the Suzdal and Novgorod regiments. In 1258, the Lithuanians invaded the Smolensk principality and approached Torzhok.

In 1255, the Novgorodians expelled Alexander's eldest son Vasily and summoned Yaroslav Yaroslavich from Pskov. Nevsky forced them to accept Vasily again, and replaced the displeased mayor Anania, a champion of Novgorod freedom, with the obliging Mikhalka Stepanovich. In 1257, the Mongol census took place in the Vladimir, Murom and Ryazan lands, but was disrupted in Novgorod, which was not devastated during the invasion. The big people, with the mayor Mikhalka, persuaded the Novgorodians to submit to the will of the khan, but the smaller ones did not want to hear about it. Mikhalko was killed. Prince Vasily, sharing the feelings of the younger ones, but not wanting to quarrel with his father, went to Pskov. Alexander Nevsky himself came to Novgorod with Tatar ambassadors, exiled his son to “Niz,” that is, the Suzdal land, seized and punished his advisers (“cut off one’s nose, and plucked out the eyes of another”) and placed his second son, Dmitry, as prince with them. In 1258, Nevsky went to the Horde to “honor” the Khan’s governor Ulavchiy, and in 1259, threatening a Tatar pogrom, he obtained consent from the Novgorodians to a census and tribute (“tamgas and tithes”).

Daniil Galitsky, who accepted the royal crown in 1253 with his own forces (without allies from North-Eastern Rus', without Catholicization of the subject lands and without the forces of the crusaders) was able to inflict a serious defeat on the Horde, which led to a break with Rome and Lithuania. Daniel undertook a campaign against the Kyiv land - the possession of Alexander - and the great Russian historian Karamzin N.M. calls the plan to establish control over Kiev “liberation.” The Lithuanians were repulsed from Lutsk, after which followed the Galician-Horde campaigns against Lithuania and Poland, the break of Mindaugas with Poland, the Order and the alliance with Novgorod. In 1262, Dmitry Alexandrovich with the Novgorod, Tver and allied Lithuanian regiments undertook a campaign in Livonia and took the city of Yuryev, captured in 1224 by the crusaders.

Death of Alexander Nevsky

In 1262, in Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov, Pereyaslavl, Yaroslavl and other cities, Tatar tribute farmers were killed, and the Sarai Khan Berke demanded military recruitment among the inhabitants of Rus' [source not specified 167 days], since there was a threat to his possessions from the Iranian ruler Hulagu. Alexander Nevsky went to the Horde to try to dissuade the khan from this demand. There Alexander fell ill. Already sick, he left for Rus'.

Having adopted the schema under the name Alexy, he died on November 14 (November 21), 1263 in Gorodets (there are 2 versions - in Gorodets Volzhsky or in Gorodets Meshchersky). Metropolitan Kirill announced to the people in Vladimir about his death with the words: “My dear children, understand that the sun of the Russian land has set,” and everyone cried out with tears: “We are already perishing.” “The preservation of the Russian land,” says the famous historian Sergei Solovyov, “from trouble in the east, famous exploits for faith and land in the west brought Alexander a glorious memory in Rus' and made him the most prominent historical figure in ancient history from Monomakh to Donskoy.” Alexander became the favorite prince of the clergy. In the chronicle tale that has reached us about his exploits it is said that he was “born of God.” Victorious everywhere, he was not defeated by anyone. A knight who came from the west to see Nevsky said that he had passed through many countries and peoples, but nowhere had he seen anything like this “neither in the kings of the king, nor in the princes of the prince.” The Tatar Khan himself allegedly gave the same review about him, and Tatar women frightened children with his name.

Family of Alexander Nevsky

Alexandra, daughter of Bryachislav of Polotsk,

Vasily (before 1245-1271) - Novgorod prince;

Dmitry (1250-1294) - Prince of Novgorod (1260-1263), Prince of Pereyaslavl, Grand Duke of Vladimir in 1276-1281 and 1283-1293;

Andrey (c. 1255-1304) - Prince of Kostroma in (1276-1293), (1296-1304), Grand Duke of Vladimir (1281-1284, 1292-1304), Prince of Novgorod in (1281-1285, 1292-1304), Prince of Gorodets (1264-1304);

Daniel (1261-1303) - first prince of Moscow (1263-1303).

Evdokia, who became the wife of Konstantin Rostislavich Smolensky.

The wife and daughter were buried in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of the Dormition Princess Monastery in Vladimir

Alexander Nevsky was initially buried in the Nativity Monastery in Vladimir. In 1724, by order of Peter I, the relics of Alexander Nevsky were solemnly transferred to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Canonization

Icon of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky.

Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in the ranks of the faithful under Metropolitan Macarius at the Moscow Council in 1547. Memory (according to the Julian calendar): November 23 and August 30 (transfer of relics from Vladimir-on-Klyazma to St. Petersburg, to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery (from 1797 - Lavra) on August 30, 1724). Days of celebration of St. Alexander Nevsky:

August 30 (September 12 according to the new art.) - the day of transfer of the relics to St. Petersburg (1724) - the main one

Relics of St. Alexander Nevsky

Nevsky was buried in the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin in Vladimir, and until the mid-16th century the Nativity Monastery was considered the first monastery in Rus', the “great archimandrite.” In 1380, his relics were discovered in Vladimir. According to the lists of the Nikon and Resurrection Chronicles of the 16th century, during the fire in Vladimir on May 23, 1491, “the body of the great Prince Alexander Nevsky burned.” In the same chronicles of the 17th century, the story about the fire is completely rewritten and it is mentioned that the relics were miraculously preserved from the fire.

Exported from Vladimir on August 11, 1723, the holy relics were brought to Shlisselburg on September 20 and remained there until 1724, when on August 30 they were installed in the Alexander Nevsky Church of the Alexander Nevsky Holy Trinity Monastery by order of Peter the Great. During the consecration of the Trinity Cathedral in the monastery in 1790, the relics were placed there, in a silver shrine donated by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. In May 1922, the relics were opened and soon removed. The seized cancer was transferred to the Hermitage, where it remains to this day. The relics of the saint were returned to the Lavra Trinity Cathedral from the storerooms of the Museum of Religion and Atheism, located in the Kazan Cathedral, in 1989.

In 2007, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', the saint’s relics were transported throughout the cities of Russia and Latvia for a month. On September 20, the holy relics were brought to the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior; on September 27, the reliquary was transported to Kaliningrad (September 27 - 29) and then to Riga (September 29 - October 3), Pskov (October 3 - 5), Novgorod (October 5 - 7). October), Yaroslavl (October 7 - 10), Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg. On October 20, the relics returned to the Lavra.

A piece of the relics of the holy blessed prince Alexander Nevsky is located in the Temple of Alexander Nevsky in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria. Also, part of the relics (little finger) of Alexander Nevsky is located in the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Vladimir. The relics were transferred by decree of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' in October 1998 on the eve of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the metochion of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Moscow.

Display of Alexander Nevsky in cinema

Nikolai Cherkasov as Alexander Nevsky

• Alexander Nevsky, Nevsky - Nikolai Cherkasov, director - Sergei Eisenstein, 1938.
• Mister Veliky Novgorod, Nevsky - Alexander Franskevich-Laie, director - Alexey Saltykov, 1984.
• Life of Alexander Nevsky, Nevsky - Anatoly Gorgul, director - Georgy Kuznetsov, 1991.
• Alexander. Battle of Neva, Nevsky - Anton Pampushny, director - Igor Kalenov, - Russia, 2008.

On May 30, 1220, in the family of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and Princess Theodosia, daughter of Prince Mstislav Udatny, a son, Alexander, Grand Duke of Novgorod (1236-1251) and Vladimir (from 1252) was born. On his father's side, he was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest.

In 1228, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who reigned in Novgorod, came into conflict with the townspeople and was forced to leave for his ancestral estate of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. Despite this, he left two young sons, Fyodor and Alexander, in Novgorod in the care of trusted boyars. After the death of Fedor in 1236, Alexander, as the eldest heir of Yaroslav, was placed in the reign of Novgorod. In 1239 he married the Polotsk princess Alexandra Bryachislavna.

In the first years of his reign, the Russian prince was engaged in strengthening Novgorod. On the river Sheloni he built several fortresses. The victory won in July 1240 at the mouth of the river brought glory to the young prince. Izhora over the Swedish detachment, after which Swedish aggression on the Novgorod-Pskov lands was stopped. It is traditionally believed that for this victory the prince began to be called Nevsky. However, according to Russian sources of the 14th century, some of the prince's descendants also bore the nickname Nevsky.

The victory on the Neva strengthened Alexander's political influence, but at the same time contributed to the aggravation of his relations with the boyars. As a result of clashes with disgruntled boyars, the prince was forced to leave Novgorod and go to Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. The Livonian Order, having gathered German crusaders from the Baltic region and Danish knights from Revel, invaded the Novgorod lands. In the spring of 1241, Alexander, having gathered a powerful army, recaptured Koporye and Vodskaya land occupied by the knights, and then expelled the Livonian detachment from Pskov. The Novgorodians invaded the territory of the Livonian Order and began to destroy their settlements. Soon a large cavalry army led by the master of the order came out against the Russian prince and forced him to withdraw his troops to the border of the Livonian Order, which ran along Lake Peipsi. On April 5, 1242, a decisive battle took place on the ice of Lake Peipsi at the Crow Stone, which went down in history as the “Battle of the Ice.” German troops suffered a crushing defeat. The Livonian Order was forced to make peace, according to which the crusaders renounced their claims to Russian lands, and also transferred part of Latgale to the Russians. In the history of military art, this victory was of exceptional importance: the Russian foot army surrounded and defeated the knightly cavalry and detachments of foot bollards long before infantry in Western Europe learned to defeat mounted knights. The victory in this battle placed Alexander Nevsky among the best commanders of that time.

Subsequently, Alexander Nevsky continued to strengthen the northwestern borders of Rus'. In 1251, he sent an embassy to Norway, which resulted in the first agreement between Russia and Norway, and also made a successful campaign in Finland against the Swedes, who had made a new attempt to close the Russians' access to the Baltic Sea.

Alexander made a lot of efforts to strengthen the grand ducal power in the country. His political line helped prevent the devastating Tatar invasions of Rus'. He himself traveled to the Golden Horde several times, achieving the release of Russians from the obligation to act as troops on the side of the Tatar khans in their wars with other peoples. In 1262, unrest broke out in the Suzdal cities, where the Khan's Baskaks were killed and Tatar merchants were expelled. To appease the Tatar Khan, the prince personally went with gifts to the Horde. The Khan kept him close to him all winter and summer, and only in the fall did the Russian prince get the opportunity to return to Vladimir, but on the way he fell ill and died on November 14, 1263 in Gorodets. His body was buried in the Vladimir Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin.

In the 1280s. In Vladimir, the veneration of Alexander Nevsky as a saint began, and later he was officially canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1724, in St. Petersburg, in honor of the blessed prince, Peter I founded a monastery (Alexander Nevsky Lavra), where the Russian autocrat ordered the remains of the holy prince Alexander to be transported. On May 21 (June 1), 1725, Empress Catherine I established the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky - one of the highest awards of the Russian Empire.

Lit.: Alexander Nevsky and the history of Russia: Materials of a scientific and practical conference. Novgorod, 1996; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://bibliotekar. ru/rusNevskiy/; Vernadsky G. V. Two labors of St.Alexander Nevsky // Eurasian temporary book. Book IV . Prague, 1925. P. 318-337; Voskresensky N. A. Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky; In memory of the peacemaker king: A brief biography. M., 1898; Danilevsky AND. N. Alexander Nevsky: Paradoxes of historical memory// “Chain of Times”: Problems of historical consciousness. M., 2005. P. 119-132; Life of Alexander Nevsky// Library of literature of Ancient Rus'. T. 5. St. Petersburg, 1997; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http:// lib. pushkinskijdom. ru/Default. aspx? tabid=4962; Konyavskaya E. L. The image of Alexander Nevsky in early chronicles 2 (36); The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www. ancient ru/vyp/2009_2/part6. pdf; Kuchkin V. A. About the date of birth of Alexander Nevsky// Questions of history. 1986. No. 2; Pashuto V. T. Alexander Nevsky. M., 1974; The Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky and the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra: in memory of the bicentenary of the monastery, 1713-1913. St. Petersburg, 1913; Seleznev YU. V. Reign of Alexander Nevsky in 1252g.: political realities and their reflection in the Russian written tradition// Ancient Rus'. Questions of medieval studies. 2009. No. 1 (35); The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www. ancient ru/vyp/2009_1/hist-3. pdf; Fennel J. The crisis of medieval Rus': 1200-1304: Trans. from English M., 1989; Khmyrov M. D. Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, Grand Duke of Vladimir and all Rus': historical and biographical sketch. St. Petersburg, 1871; Cold G. M. The life and work of Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky in connection with events in Rus' in XIII century. Tambov, 1883; Tsamutali A. N. Prince Alexander Nevsky (according to Russian and foreign sources)// Star. 2007. No. 10. ;

Tikhonravov K. N. Vladimir Rozhdestven Monastery of the 12th century, where the holy relics of Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky rested, before being moved to St. Petersburg. Vladimir, 1869 .

Alexander was born in November 1220 (according to another version, May 30, 1220) in the family of Prince Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich and the Ryazan princess Feodosia Igorevna. Grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest. The first information about Alexander dates back to 1228, when Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who reigned in Novgorod, came into conflict with the townspeople and was forced to leave for Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, his ancestral inheritance.

In 1240, the Swedes, prompted by papal messages, undertook a crusade against Rus'. Novgorod was left to its own devices. Rus', defeated by the Tatars, could not provide him with any support. Confident of his victory, the leader of the Swedes, Earl Birger, entered the Neva on ships and sent from here to tell Alexander: “If you can, resist, but know that I am already here and will capture your land.” Along the Neva, Birger wanted to sail to Lake Ladoga, occupy Ladoga and from here along the Volkhov to Novgorod. But Alexander, without hesitating a day, set out to meet the Swedes with the Novgorodians and Ladoga residents. Russian troops secretly approached the mouth of Izhora, where the enemies stopped to rest, and on July 15 they suddenly attacked them. Birger did not expect the enemy and positioned his squad calmly: the boats stood near the shore, tents were pitched next to them.

Novgorod was left without a prince. Meanwhile, the German knights took Izborsk and a threat from the west loomed over Novgorod. The Pskov troops came out to meet them and were defeated, they lost their governor Gavrila Gorislavich, and the Germans, following in the footsteps of those fleeing, approached Pskov, burned the surrounding towns and villages and stood near the city for a whole week. The Pskovites were forced to fulfill their demands and gave their children hostages. According to the chronicler, a certain Tverdilo Ivanovich began to rule in Pskov together with the Germans, and he brought enemies. The Germans did not stop there. The Livonian Order, having gathered the German crusaders of the Baltic states, the Danish knights from Revel, enlisting the support of the papal curia and some long-time rivals of the Novgorodians, the Pskovs, invaded the Novgorod lands. Together with the miracle, they attacked the Votskaya land and conquered it, imposed tribute on the inhabitants and, intending to stay in the Novgorod lands for a long time, built a fortress in Koporye and took the city of Tesov. They collected all the horses and cattle from the residents, as a result of which the villagers had nothing to plow with, plundered the lands along the Luga River and began to rob Novgorod merchants 30 versts from Novgorod.
An embassy was sent from Novgorod to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich asking for help. He sent an armed detachment to Novgorod led by his son Andrei Yaroslavich, who was soon replaced by Alexander. Arriving in Novgorod in 1241, Alexander immediately moved against the enemy to Koporye and took the fortress. He brought the captured German garrison to Novgorod, released some of it, and hanged the traitorous leaders and Chud. But it was impossible to liberate Pskov so quickly. Alexander took it only in 1242. About 70 Novgorod knights and many ordinary soldiers died during the assault. According to the German chronicler, six thousand Livonian knights were captured and tortured.
Inspired by their successes, the Novgorodians invaded the territory of the Livonian Order and began to destroy the settlements of the Estonians, tributaries of the crusaders. The knights who left Riga destroyed the advanced Russian regiment of Domash Tverdislavich, forcing Alexander to withdraw his troops to the border of the Livonian Order, which ran along Lake Peipsi. Both sides began to prepare for the decisive battle.
It happened on the ice of Lake Peipsi, near the Crow Stone on April 5, 1242. At sunrise, the famous battle began, known in our chronicles as the Battle of the Ice. The German knights lined up in a wedge, or rather, in a narrow and very deep column, the task of which was to launch a massive attack on the center of the Novgorod army.

The successful military actions of Alexander Nevsky ensured the security of the western borders of Rus' for a long time, but in the east the Russian princes had to bow their heads before a much stronger enemy - the Mongol-Tatars. Given the then small number and fragmentation of the Russian population in the eastern lands, it was impossible to even think about liberation from under them authorities.
In 1243, Batu Khan, the ruler of the western part of the Mongolian state - the Golden Horde, presented the label of the Grand Duke of Vladimir to manage the conquered Russian lands to Alexander's father, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. The Great Khan of the Mongols, Guyuk, summoned the Grand Duke to his capital, Karakorum, where on September 30, 1246, Yaroslav unexpectedly died (according to the generally accepted version, he was poisoned). After Yaroslav, seniority and the Vladimir throne were inherited by his brother, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, who established his nephews, the sons of Yaroslav, on the lands given to them by the late Grand Duke. Until this time, Alexander managed to avoid contact with the Mongols. But in 1247, the sons of Yaroslav, Alexander and Andrey, were summoned to Karakorum. While the Yaroslavichs were getting to Mongolia, Khan Guyuk himself died, and the new mistress of Karakorum, Khansha Ogul-Gamish, decided to appoint Andrei as Grand Duke, while Alexander received control of the devastated southern Rus' and Kyiv.