Eastern literature - a library of medieval texts. “The Legend of Kolovrat” (review by Evgeny Kiseleva) Monuments to Evpatiy Kolovrat
At the end of the year 1237, in the winter, the godless Tsar Batu came from the eastern countries to the Russian land with many Tatar warriors. And the accursed Tsar Batu approached the city of Ryazan. The enemies laid siege and fought relentlessly for five days. And the Tatars took the city on the 21st day of December. And there was not a single resident left in the city.
“O bright and beautifully decorated Russian land! You are glorified by many beauties: you are glorified by many lakes, rivers and locally revered springs, steep mountains, high hills, clean oak groves, wondrous fields, various animals, countless birds, great cities, wondrous villages, grapes monasteries, church churches, and formidable princes, honest boyars, many nobles. You are filled with everything, O Russian land, O faithful Christian faith, from here to the Ugors and to the Poles, to the Czechs, from the Czechs to the Yatvingians, and from the Yatvingians to Lithuania, to the Germans! , from the Germans to Korela, from Korela to Ustyug, and beyond the Breathing Sea, from the sea to the Bulgarians, from the Bulgarians to the Burtas, from the Burtas to the Chermis, from the Chermis to the Mordvins - then everything was subjugated by God to the Christian people...
...And in those days trouble befell Christians... "
At the end of the year 1237, in the winter, the godless Tsar Batu came from the eastern countries to the Russian land with many Tatar warriors. And the accursed Tsar Batu approached the city of Ryazan. The enemies laid siege and fought relentlessly for five days. And the Tatars took the city on the 21st day of December. And there was not a single resident left in the city. All, as one, died and all drank the same cup of death.
At this time, one of the Ryazan nobles, named Evpatiy Kolovrat, was in Chernigov with Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich. And he heard about the arrival of the evil Tsar Batu, and hurried from Chernigov with a small squad, and drove with all his might.
He arrived in the land of Ryazan and saw it empty: cities were destroyed, churches were burned, people were beaten. And he arrived in the city of Ryazan, and saw: the city was devastated, the princes were killed and many people were lying everywhere - some were killed and hacked to pieces, others were burned, and others were drowned in the river. And Evpatiy cried out in the grief of his soul, and flared up with anger in his heart.
He gathered a small squad of one thousand seven hundred people from those whom God had preserved outside the city. And they chased after the godless king Batu, and barely overtook him in the land of Suzdal, and suddenly attacked Batu’s camps. And they began to flog without mercy, and threw the Tatar regiments into confusion, so that the Tatars became as if drunk or crazy. Evpatiy beat them so mercilessly that even their swords became dull. Then the Ryazan people took Tatar swords and began to strike the enemy with them. The Tatars decided that the dead had come to life. Evpatiy, driving from end to end of the great Tatar regiments, beat them mercilessly. And he galloped through the Tatar regiments so bravely and courageously that even the tsar himself was afraid.
And they were barely able to capture five soldiers from Evpatiev’s regiment, weakened from severe wounds. They were brought to King Batu, and their king began to ask:
What faith are you and what land are you from, and why have you done so much evil to me?
They answered:
We are of Christian faith, slaves of Grand Duke Yuri Ingvarevich of Ryazan, and from the regiment of Evpatiy Kolovrat. We were sent from Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich of Ryazan to honor you, the strong king, and send you away with honor. Only you, Tsar, don’t be offended: we don’t have time to pour cups on such a great force - the Tatar army.
The king marveled at their wise answer. And he sent his Shurich* Khostovrul with strong Tatar regiments against Evpatiy Kolovrat. Khostovrul boasted to the king that he would bring Evpatiy alive. And strong Tatar regiments surrounded Evpatiy in order to capture him alive, and Khostovrul moved in with Evpatiy. Evpatiy, the hero, cut Khostovrul in two to the saddle and began to whip the Tatar force without mercy. And here he beat many famous heroes of the Batyevs, cutting some in half, and cutting others in two to the saddle.
The Tatars were frightened, seeing how powerful the giant Evpatiy was. And they aimed many vices at him*, and barely killed him. They brought his body to King Batu. Tsar Batu sent for the Murzas and his princes, and everyone began to marvel at the bravery, and courage, and fortress of the Ryazan army. And the Murzas and princes said to the king:
We met with many kings and in many lands and battles, but we have never seen such brave men and daredevils, and our fathers did not talk about such people. After all, they are like winged and immortal people: they fight so hard and courageously on horses - one with a thousand, and two with ten thousand. And not one of them left the battlefield.
And Tsar Batu said, looking at Evpatiy’s body:
O Kolovrat Evpatiy! You generously treated me with your small retinue, and you beat many mighty heroes, and many of my regiments fell from you. If he served me, I would keep him close to my heart.
And he gave Evpatiy’s body to the surviving soldiers from his squad, and ordered them to be released without causing them any harm.
Notes
* Shurich is the son of brother-in-law (wife's brother).
* Vice - a battering weapon that threw stones (see picture from the Arabic manuscript).
The article used
On January 11, 1238, according to legend, the hero of the resistance to the Mongol-Tatar invasion, Evpatiy Kolovrat, was solemnly buried. We know about the fearless mighty warrior who died 780 years ago in a battle with the Horde who came to Rus' from “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu.” According to one hypothesis, the Ryazan hero is a collective image personifying the heroic struggle of the Russian people against the Golden Horde; according to another, the legend is based on the feat of a real person. RT looked into how myth and reality were intertwined in the story of Evpatiy Kolovrat.
About Evpatiy Kolovrat is known only from one source - “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu.” According to this work of ancient Russian literature, after the capture of Ryazan by the Mongols (December 1237), Kolovrat led the resistance to the invaders, rallying 1.7 thousand soldiers around himself.
If you believe the chronology of the events described in the Tale, Kolovrat died in battle in the first third of January 1238. According to one version of this literary work, the solemn funeral of Evpatiy took place on January 11.
According to another point of view, which is based on information about the participation of Ryazan residents in battles with the Mongols, Kolovrat (or the warrior who became his prototype) could fight the invaders until spring. It is assumed that Evpatiy died in the Battle of the City River on March 4, 1238, fighting as part of the army of the Vladimir Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, and was buried on the left bank of the Vozha River. However, his grave was never discovered subsequently.
Historians continue to debate about the origin of the name of the hero of the Tale. Evpatiy is a modified Greek name Hypatiy, quite common in ancient Rus'. With the nickname “Kolovrat” the story is somewhat more complicated. A nickname in Rus', as a rule, was given according to a person’s occupation. The most popular hypothesis among scientists says that the hero Evpatiy became known as “Kolovrat” for his dexterity in battle (“kolo” - circle, and “vrat” - rotation).
“And the slaughter was evil and terrible”
In 1237-1238, the Russian state was subjected to a large-scale invasion by the Golden Horde. Historians have different estimates of the size of the Mongol-Tatar army (from 60 thousand to 150 thousand), but it is reliably known that the invaders were much more powerful than the squads of the Russian princes.
Due to feudal fragmentation, Rus' could not act as a single army, which made it easier for the Horde to conquer the principalities. The invasion was led by the grandson of Genghis Khan, the ruler of the Juchi ulus (Golden Horde) Batu Khan. The first city to be devastated was Ryazan, the southern outskirts of North-Eastern Rus'.
“The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan” is one of the main sources of knowledge about the tragedy that occurred in December 1237 with a wealthy city on the right bank of the Oka. Anticipating imminent death, the Ryazan prince Yuri tried to pay off Batu. But the ruler of the Golden Horde declared his claims to “the entire Russian land” and demanded “from the princes of Ryazan daughters and sisters to his bed.” The Ryazan nobility gathered an army and took on an unequal battle not far from the city.
Diorama “The Capture of Old Ryazan by Batu”
© Fragment of the diorama “Defense of Old Ryazan in 1237”
“And they attacked him, and began to fight with him firmly and courageously, and the slaughter was evil and terrible. Many strong Batyev regiments fell. And King Batu saw that the Ryazan force was fighting hard and courageously, and he was afraid. But who can stand against the wrath of God! Batu’s forces were great and insurmountable; one Ryazan man fought with a thousand, and two with ten thousand,” says the Tale.
After the victory, Batu destroyed the villages surrounding Ryazan and captured the capital of the principality. The “Tale” and data from archaeological excavations indicate that the Mongols practically wiped Ryazan off the face of the Earth and then massacred the surviving townspeople. At the end of December 1237, Batu's hordes moved to conquer the Suzdal principality.
The news of the invasion of Ryazan reached one of the “Ryazan nobles named Evpatiy Kolovrat,” who was in Chernigov at that moment. “With a small retinue,” the boyar “rushed quickly” to the Ryazan principality.
“And he came to the land of Ryazan, and saw it empty, cities were destroyed, churches were burned, people were killed. And he rushed to the city of Ryazan, and saw the city devastated, the sovereigns killed and many people killed: some were killed and flogged, others were burned, and others were drowned in the river,” the Tale reports.
“All the Tatar regiments mixed up”
Evpatiy gathered a “small squad” of 1.7 thousand people and suddenly attacked “the Batu camps” already on the territory of the Suzdal principality located north of Ryazan.
“And they began to flog without mercy, and all the Tatar regiments were mixed up. And the Tatars became as if drunk or crazy. And Evpatiy beat them so mercilessly that their swords became dull, and he took Tatar swords and cut them with them. It seemed to the Tatars that the dead had risen. Evpatiy, driving right through the strong Tatar regiments, beat them mercilessly. And he rode among the Tatar regiments so bravely and courageously that the Tsar himself was afraid,” says the Tale.
Batu sent his “shurich” (son of brother-in-law) Khostovrul to exterminate the Russians, who promised to bring Kolovrat alive. Evpatiy's army was surrounded by the most combat-ready Mongol troops. Khostovrul challenged the Ryazan boyar to a duel and died in the battle with Kolovrat.
“And (Kolovrat) began to flog the Tatar force, and beat many of the famous heroes of the Batyevs, cut some in half, and chopped others to the saddle. And the Tatars became afraid, seeing what a strong giant Evpatiy was. And they brought many vices (siege weapons) on him, and began to hit him with countless vices, and barely killed him,” this is how “The Tale” tells about Kolovrat’s last battle.
Still from the film “The Legend of Kolovrat” (2017)
© Still from the film “The Legend of Kolovrat” (2017)
Batu was delighted with Kolovrat’s courage. Looking at the body of the dead boyar, he said: “You treated me well with your small retinue, and you beat many heroes of my strong horde, and defeated many regiments. If someone like that served me, I would keep him close to my heart.”
The Khan ordered the release of the surviving Russian soldiers and gave them Kolovrat’s body. If you believe the Tale, the hero of the resistance to the Mongol-Tatar invasion was buried in Ryazan along with the dead princes and boyars.
Mysterious Kolovrat
Historians have many doubts about the authenticity of the events described in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu,” which was created no earlier than the end of the 14th century. For example, the work claims that Kolovrat and other dead representatives of the nobility were buried in Ryazan, although it was completely destroyed after the capture.
Researchers noticed that “The Tale” talks about princes who were no longer alive in 1237. In particular, David of Murom (died in 1228) and Vsevolod Pronsky (died in 1208) are mentioned.
Also, Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich “participates” in the battles with the Mongols, the discussion about whose existence is still ongoing. There are suggestions that Ingvar Ingvarevich is the Ryazan prince Ingvar Igorevich, who ruled since 1217. However, he died in 1235 - two years before the Mongol invasion.
The fact of the existence of Kolovrat is also called into question, about which nothing is reported in other works and written documents of Ancient Rus'. In addition, the Tale does not specify the origin of Evpatiy and his place in the power hierarchy of the Ryazan principality.
Kolovrat is described as a gifted commander, a courageous and professional warrior with incredible physical strength. Evpatiy is usually represented as a stocky man with a strong build. By character, the Ryazan boyar is a courageous and patriotic Russian warrior.
This description makes Kolovrat similar to the heroes of the Russian epic - the heroes Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikitich.
Sculpture of Evpatiy Kolovrat (2009), created by Ivan Korzhev
© i-korzhev.ru Doctor of Philology, specialist in ancient Russian literature Anatoly Demin emphasized in a conversation with RT that the nickname “Kolovrat” is in no way connected with the symbol of the Sun, the Slavic swastika or other pagan symbols.
Demin noted that Kolovrat stands out for his “humanity” against the background of typical heroes from Russian epics. According to him, despite a certain hyperbolization, Evpatiy is generally shown as an ordinary person who sought to protect his land from invaders.
People's hero
The Ryazan boyar is a fairly popular character in Russian works of art.
The exploits of Kolovrat, in particular, were sung by a native of the Ryazan province Sergei Yesenin. In “The Tale of Evpatiy Kolovrat, of Khan Batu, Tsvet Three-Handed, of the Black Idol and Our Savior Jesus Christ” (1912), he described the hero as an unusually strong man who “pulled out” “pesh eels” (hot crowbars) with two fingers. At the same time, Kolovrat in Yesenin’s poem appears not as a “nobleman”, as in “The Tale,” but as a blacksmith - a man from the people.
Soviet writers turned to Kolovrat as a symbol of popular resistance to the invaders. A renaissance in the popularity of the Ryazan hero occurred during the Great Patriotic War. Evpatiy became the hero of the works of Sergei Markov (1941) and Vasily Yan (1942).
After the collapse of the USSR, Kolovrat was also mentioned in many works of fiction. In 2007, a monument to Kolovrat was erected in Ryazan.
Monument to Evpatiy Kolovrat on Poshtovaya Square in Ryazan
© Wikimedia Commons
Two more monuments to Evpatiy appeared in Shilovo and the village of Frolovo.
In 2009, Honored Artist of Russia Ivan Korzhev created a sculpture of Kolovrat from cast stone. Evpatiy sits in a thoughtful pose, easily holding a huge ax with his right hand. In the same year, an oil canvas by Maximilian Presnyakov appeared. In it, Kolovrat, wounded by arrows, holds two swords in his hands, trying to rise to continue the battle with the Mongols.
In November 2017, the film “The Legend of Kolovrat” directed by Dzhanik Fayziev was released on Russian cinema screens. According to the plot, in December 1237, Evpatiy was sent to negotiate with other princes in order to jointly resist the Mongol invasion. However, Ryazan was burned, and Kolovrat, having assembled a detachment of avengers, began a heroic struggle against the invaders.
Fact or legend
A significant part of historians believe that fiction and real events are intertwined in “The Tale,” and Kolovrat is a collective image of Russian soldiers who fought the Horde.
“What we see in this story characterizes the perception of ancient Russian people not of the 13th century. Evpatiy is described quite reliably, the motives of his warriors are completely justified. Everything else, in particular Batu’s praise of Russian warriors, resembles a constructed later legend, created in the 15th-16th centuries. Therefore, experts treat this monument more as a literary rather than a documentary,” explained Konstantin Yerusalimsky, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Department of History and Theory of Culture of the Russian State University for the Humanities, in an interview with RT.
Medieval historian Klim Zhukov shares the same position. He believes that most of the events in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu,” including the story about Kolovrat, are not true.
“Kolovrat should be treated like a legendary epic hero. There are several other characters whose destinies contain an almost similar plot of heroic struggle against invaders. One of them is Mercury of Smolensk, the description of whose feat belongs to the historical monuments of literature of the 15th century,” Zhukov noted in a conversation with RT.
However, there is an alternative point of view. Its essence lies in the fact that Kolovrat was a real warrior who rallied a small detachment around himself, but “The Tale” attributed to him some of the qualities of epic characters.
“Many researchers believe that the monument is based on real events, and a number of names in it are absolutely reliable,” Yerusalimsky emphasized.
According to the chronicles, Batu really ruined the Ryazan principality, but one of the surviving princes, Roman Ingvarevich, was able to gather warriors and took the fight to the invaders on the territory of the Suzdal principality.
It is also known that in the first half of January 1238 a major battle took place with the Mongols near Kolomna (north of Ryazan). Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich took part in the battle, fearing that the Vladimir principality would repeat the fate of the Ryazan land. Ryazan warriors joined his army.
It is assumed that Kolovrat was about 35 years old at the time of his death, although there is no reliable information about when and where he was born. There is a version that Evpatiy was born in the village of Frolovo (present-day Shilovsky district of the Ryazan region) around 1200.
Historian-folklorist, Doctor of Philology Boris Putilov (1919-1997) in his scientific works argued that “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan” should not be considered as an exclusively literary work with fictional characters. Thus, he refuted the approach taken during the Soviet period to the legend of Kolovrat as a “fiction” of the author of the “Tale”.
“The story about Evpatiy Kolovrat in terms of plot is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. For a folk song, this plot is very complex, it contains many episodes (or “motives”) that are easily developed within the framework of a military story, but which are much more difficult to develop within the framework of a folk song,” says Putilov’s article “Song about Evpatiy Kolovrat.”
According to the historian, the story about Kolovrat is characterized by sharp plot twists and rapid changes in the theater of action. The absence of pictorial sketches characteristic of the epic genre allows us to conclude that the “Tale” contains elements of documentary. Accordingly, the story about Kolovrat itself could have a real basis.
The text is reproduced from the publication: Military Tales of Ancient Rus'. L. Lenizdat. 1985
Per year 6745 (1237). In the twelfth year after the transfer of the miraculous image of Nikolin from Korsun. The godless Tsar Batu came to the Russian land with many Tatar warriors and stood on the river in Voronezh near the land of Ryazan. And he sent unlucky ambassadors to Ryazan 1 to Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan 2, demanding from him a tenth share in everything: in princes, and in all sorts of people, and in the rest. And Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan heard about the invasion of the godless Tsar Batu, and immediately sent to the city of Vladimir to the noble Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich of Vladimir 3, asking him for help against the godless Tsar Batu or to go against him himself. Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky himself did not go and did not send help, planning to fight Batu alone. And Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich Ryazansky heard that there was no help for him from Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky, and immediately sent for his brothers: for Prince Davyd Ingorevich of Murom, and for Prince Gleb Ingorevich Kolomensky, and for Prince Oleg the Red, and for Vsevolod Pronsky 4 , and for other princes. And they began to hold advice on how to satisfy the wicked with gifts. And he sent his son, Prince Fyodor Yuryevich of Ryazan 5, to the godless Tsar Batu with gifts and great prayers, so that he would not go to war on the Ryazan land. And Prince Fyodor Yuryevich came to the river in Voronezh to Tsar Batu, and brought him gifts, and prayed to the Tsar so that did not fight the Ryazan land. The godless, deceitful and merciless Tsar Batu accepted the gifts and in his lies feignedly promised not to go to war on the Ryazan land. But he boasted and threatened to fight the entire Russian land. And he began to ask the princes of Ryazan for daughters and sisters to come to his bed. And one of the Ryazan nobles, out of envy, reported to the godless Tsar Batu that Prince Fyodor Yuryevich of Ryazan had a princess from the royal family and that she was more beautiful than anyone else in her physical beauty. Tsar Batu was cunning and unmerciful in his unbelief, became inflamed in his lust and said to Prince Fyodor Yuryevich: “Let me, prince, taste the beauty of your wife.” The noble Prince Fyodor Yuryevich Ryazansky laughed and answered the Tsar: “It is not right for us Christians to bring our wives to you, the wicked Tsar, for fornication. When you defeat us, then you will own our wives.” The godless Tsar Batu was furious and offended and immediately ordered the death of the faithful Prince Fyodor Yuryevich, and ordered his body to be thrown to be torn to pieces by animals and birds, and he killed other princes and the best warriors.
But one of the mentors of Prince Fyodor Yuryevich, named Aponitsa, survived and wept bitterly, looking at the glorious body of his honest master; and seeing that no one was guarding him, he took his beloved sovereign and buried him secretly. And he hurried to the faithful princess Eupraxia, and told her how the wicked Tsar Batu killed the faithful prince Fyodor Yuryevich.
The blessed princess Eupraxia was standing at that time in her lofty mansion and was holding her beloved child, Prince Ivan Fedorovich, and when she heard these deadly words, filled with grief, she rushed from her lofty mansion with her son Prince Ivan straight to the ground and fell to her death. of death. And Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich heard about the murder of his beloved son, blessed Prince Fyodor, and other princes by the godless king, and that many of the best people had been killed, and began to cry about them with the Grand Duchess 6 and with other princesses and with his brethren. And the whole city cried for a long time. And as soon as the prince had rested from that great crying and sobbing, he began to gather his army and arrange his regiments. And the great prince Yuri Ingorevich saw his brethren, and his boyars, and the governor galloping bravely and courageously, raised his hands to the sky and said with tears: “Deliver us, God, from our enemies. And free us from those who rise up against us, and hide us from the congregation of the wicked and from the multitude of those who create iniquity. May their path be dark and slippery.” And he said to his brethren: “O lords and brethren, if we have accepted good from the hands of the Lord, will we not also tolerate evil?! It is better for us to gain eternal life by death than to be in the power of the filthy. Here I am, your brother, before you, I will drink the cup of death for the saints of God’s church, and for the Christian faith, and for the fatherland of our father, Grand Duke Ingvar Svyatoslavich.” And he went to the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And he cried a lot before the image of the Most Pure Mother of God, and prayed to the great wonderworker Nikola and his relatives Boris and Gleb. And he gave his last kiss to Grand Duchess Agrippina Rostislavovna, and received the blessing from the bishop and all the clergy. And they went against the wicked Tsar Batu, and met him near the borders of Ryazan. And they attacked him, and began to fight with him firmly and courageously, and the slaughter was evil and terrible. Many strong Batyev regiments fell. And Tsar Batu saw that the Ryazan force was fighting hard and courageously, and he was afraid. But who can stand against the wrath of God! Batu’s forces were great and insurmountable; one Ryazan man fought with a thousand, and two – with ten thousand. And the great prince saw that his brother, Prince Davyd Ingorevich, had been killed, and exclaimed: “Oh, my dear brothers! Prince Davyd, our brother, drank the cup before us, but won’t we drink this cup!” And they moved from horse to horse and began to fight stubbornly. The Batyevs passed through many strong regiments, fighting bravely and courageously, so that all the Tatar regiments marveled at the strength and courage of the Ryazan army. And they were barely defeated by the strong Tatar regiments. Here the noble Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich, his brother Prince Davyd Ingorevich of Murom, his brother Prince Gleb Ingorevich Kolomensky, their brother Vsevolod Pronsky, and many local princes, and strong governors, and the army: daredevils and frolics of Ryazan, were killed. They died anyway and drank the same cup of death. Not one of them turned back, but they all fell dead together. God brought all this on for our sins.
And Prince Oleg Ingorevich was captured barely alive. The king, seeing many of his regiments beaten, began to grieve greatly and be horrified, seeing many of his Tatar troops killed. And he began to fight the Ryazan land, ordering to kill, chop and burn without mercy. And the city of Pronsk, and the city of Bel 8, and Izheslavets 9 he destroyed to the ground and beat all the people without mercy. And Christian blood flowed like a plentiful river for our sins.
And Tsar Batu saw Oleg Ingorevich, so handsome and brave, exhausted from serious wounds, and wanted to heal him from serious wounds and persuade him to his faith. But Prince Oleg Ingorevich reproached Tsar Batu and called him godless and an enemy of Christianity. The accursed Batu breathed fire from his vile heart and immediately ordered Oleg to be cut into pieces with knives. And he was the second passion-bearer Stefan, accepted the crown of suffering from the all-merciful God and drank the cup of death together with all his brothers.
And Tsar Batu the accursed Ryazan land began to fight, and went to the city of Ryazan. And they laid siege to the city and fought relentlessly for five days. Batya’s army changed, and the townspeople constantly fought. And many townspeople were killed, and others were wounded, and others were exhausted from great labors. And on the sixth day, early in the morning, the wicked went to the city - some with lights, others with vices, and others with countless stairs - and took the city of Ryazan in the month of December on the twenty-first day. And they came to the cathedral church of the Most Holy Theotokos, and Grand Duchess Agrippina, the mother of the Grand Duke, with her daughters-in-law and other princesses, they flogged them with swords, and they betrayed the bishop and priests to fire - they burned them in the holy church, and many others fell from weapons. And in the city many people, both wives and children, were cut with swords. And others were drowned in the river, and the priests and monks were flogged without a trace, and the entire city was burned, and all the famous beauty, and the wealth of Ryazan, and their relatives - the princes of Kyiv and Chernigov - were captured. And they destroyed the temples of God and shed a lot of blood in the holy altars. And not a single living person remained in the city: they all died and drank the single cup of death. There was no one moaning or crying here - no father and mother about their children, no children about their father and mother, no brother about their brother, no relatives about their relatives, but they all lay dead together. And all this was for our sins.
And the godless Tsar Batu saw the terrible shedding of Christian blood, and became even more enraged and embittered, and went to the city of Suzdal and Vladimir, intending to captivate the Russian land, and to eradicate the Christian faith, and to destroy the churches of God to the ground.
And one of the Ryazan nobles named Evpatiy Kolovrat was at that time in Chernigov with Prince Ingvar Ingorevich 11, and heard about the invasion of the evil Tsar Batu, and set out from Chernigov with a small squad, and rushed quickly. And he came to the land of Ryazan and saw it deserted, cities destroyed, churches burned, people killed. And he rushed to the city of Ryazan, and saw the city devastated, the sovereigns killed and many people killed: some were killed and flogged, others were burned, and others were drowned in the river. And Evpatiy cried out in the grief of his soul, burning in his heart. And he gathered a small squad - one thousand seven hundred people, whom God preserved outside the city. And they chased after the godless king, and barely overtook him in the land of Suzdal, and suddenly attacked the Batu camps. And they began to flog without mercy, and all the Tatar regiments were mixed up. And the Tatars looked like they were drunk or crazy. And Evpatiy beat them so mercilessly that their swords became dull, and he took Tatar swords and cut them with them. It seemed to the Tatars that the dead had risen. Evpatiy, driving right through the strong Tatar regiments, beat them mercilessly. And he rode among the Tatar regiments so bravely and courageously that the tsar himself was afraid.
And the Tatars barely caught five military men from Evpatiev’s regiment, exhausted from great wounds. And they were brought to King Batu. Tsar Batu began to ask them: “What faith are you, and what land are you, and why are you doing so much evil to me?” They answered: “We are of Christian faith, servants of Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan, and from the regiment we are Evpatiy Kolovrat. We were sent from Prince Ingvar Ingorevich of Ryazan to honor you, the strong king, and to see you off with honor, and to give you honor. Don’t be surprised, Tsar, that we don’t have time to pour cups for the great power - the Tatar army.” The king marveled at their wise answer. And he sent his Shurich Khostovrul to Evpatiy, and with him strong Tatar regiments. Khostovrul boasted to the king and promised to bring Evpatiy alive to the king. And strong Tatar regiments surrounded Evpatiy, trying to take him alive. And Khostovrul moved in with Evpatiy. Evpatiy was a giant of force and cut Khostovrul in half to the saddle. And he began to flog the Tatar force, and beat many of the famous heroes of the Batyevs, cut some in half, and chopped others to the saddle. And the Tatars became afraid, seeing what a strong giant Evpatiy was. And they brought on him many vices, and began to beat him with countless vices, and barely killed him. And they brought his body to King Batu. Tsar Batu sent for the Murzas, and the princes, and the Sanchakbeys, and everyone began to marvel at the courage, and the strength, and the courage of the Ryazan army. And they said to the king: “We have been with many kings, in many lands, in many battles, but we have never seen such daredevils and spirited men, and our fathers did not tell us. These are winged people, they do not know death, and so strong and courageously, riding on horses, they fight - one with a thousand, and two with darkness. Not one of them will leave the massacre alive.” And Tsar Batu said, looking at Evpatievo’s body: “O Kolovrat Evpatie! You treated me well with your small retinue, and you beat many heroes of my strong horde, and defeated many regiments. If such a one served with me, I would keep him close to my heart.” And he gave Evpatiy’s body to the remaining people from his squad, who were captured in the battle. And King Batu ordered to let them go and not harm them in any way. Prince Ingvar Ingorevich was at that time in Chernigov, with his brother Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, saved by God from that evil apostate and Christian enemy. And he came from Chernigov to the land of Ryazan, to his homeland, and saw it empty, and heard that his brothers were all killed by the wicked, lawless Tsar Batu, and he came to the city of Ryazan, and saw the city devastated, and his mother, and his daughter-in-law, and their relatives, and many many people lying dead, the city was destroyed and the churches were burned, and all the ornaments from the treasury of Chernigov and Ryazan were taken. Prince Ingvar Ingorevich saw the great final destruction for our sins and cried out pitifully, like a trumpet calling to the army, like a sweet sounding organ. And from that great cry and terrible cry he fell to the ground as if dead. And they barely cast it and left in the wind. And with difficulty his soul revived within him.
Who will not weep over such a death, who will not weep for so many people of the Orthodox people, who will not regret so many murdered great sovereigns, who will not groan from such captivity?
While sorting out the corpses of the dead, Prince Ingvar Ingorevich found the body of his mother, Grand Duchess Agrippina Rostislavovna, and recognized his daughters-in-law, and called priests from the villages whom God had preserved, and buried his mother and daughters-in-law with great weeping instead of psalms and church hymns: he shouted loudly and cried. And he buried the rest of the bodies of the dead, and cleansed the city, and sanctified it. And a small number of people gathered, and he consoled them a little. And he cried incessantly, remembering his mother, and his brothers, and his family, and all the patterns of Ryazan, which perished without time. All this happened because of our sins. There was the city of Ryazan, and the land was Ryazan, and its wealth disappeared, and its glory departed, and it was impossible to see any of its blessings in it - only smoke and ashes; and the churches were all burned, and the great church inside was burnt out and blackened. And not only this city was captured, but many others as well. There was no singing or ringing in the city; instead of joy there is incessant crying.
And Prince Ingvar Ingorevich went to where his brothers were beaten by the wicked Tsar Batu: Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan, his brother Prince Davyd Ingorevich, his brother Vsevolod Ingorevich, and many local princes, and boyars, and governors, and all the army, and daredevils , and resvetsy, patterned Ryazan. They all lay on the devastated ground, on feather grass, frozen with snow and ice, uncared for by anyone. The beasts ate their bodies, and many birds tore them to pieces. They all lay there, they all died together, they drank the same cup of death. And Prince Ingvar Ingorevich saw a great many dead bodies lying, and cried out in a bitterly loud voice, like a trumpet sounding, and beat himself in the chest with his hands, and fell to the ground. Tears flowed from his eyes like a stream, and he said pitifully: “Oh, my dear brothers and army! How did you fall asleep, my precious lives? I was left alone in such destruction! Why didn't I die before you? And where have you disappeared from my eyes, and where have you gone, the treasures of my life? Why don’t you say anything to me, your brother, the flowers are beautiful, my gardens are unripe? Don't give sweetness to my soul anymore! Why, my lords, don’t you look at me, your brother, and talk to me? Have you really forgotten me, your brother, born from a single father and from a single womb of our mother - Grand Duchess Agrippina Rostislavovna, and fed by a single breast of a prolific garden? To whom did you leave me, your brother? My dear sun, setting early, my month is red! soon you, eastern stars, perished; why did you sunset so early? You lie on the empty earth, guarded by no one; You don’t get honor and glory from anyone!
Your glory has darkened. Where is your strength? You were rulers over many lands, and now you lie on the empty earth, your faces darkened from decay. Oh my dear brothers and affectionate squad, I won’t have fun with you anymore! My bright lights, why have you dimmed? I wasn't very happy with you! If God hears your prayer, then pray for me, your brother, so that I die with you. Already, after joy, crying and tears came to me, and after joy and joy, lamentation and sorrow appeared to me! Why did he not die before you, so as not to see your death, but his own destruction? Do you hear my sorrowful, pitiful-sounding words? O earth, oh earth! oh oak forests! Cry with me! How will I describe and what will I call the day on which so many sovereigns and many Ryazan ornaments died - brave daredevils? Not one of them returned, but they died anyway, drinking the same cup of death. Because of the grief of my soul, my tongue does not obey, my lips close, my gaze darkens, my strength fails.”
There was then a lot of melancholy, and sorrow, and tears, and sighs, and fear, and trembling from all those misfortunes that came upon us. And Grand Duke Ingvar Ingorevich raised his hands to the sky and cried out with tears, saying: “Lord my God, I have trusted in you, save me and deliver me from all those who persecute. Most pure Lady, Mother of Christ our God, do not leave me in my time of sorrow. Great passion-bearers and our relatives Boris and Gleb, be helpers to me, a sinner, in battles. O my brothers and army, help me in your holy prayers against our enemies - against the Hagarites and the grandchildren of the family of Ishmael.”
And Prince Ingvar Ingorevich began to dismantle the bodies of the dead, and took the bodies of his brothers - Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich, and Prince Davyd Ingorevich of Murom, and Prince Gleb Ingorevich Kolomensky, and other local princes - his relatives, and many boyars, and governors, and neighbors, known to him, and brought them to the city of Ryazan, and buried them with honor, and immediately collected the bodies of others on empty land and performed a funeral service. And, having buried in this way, Prince Ingvar Ingorevich went to the city of Pronsk, and collected the dissected parts of the body of his brother, the faithful and Christ-loving prince Oleg Ingorevich, and ordered them to be carried to the city of Ryazan, and the great Prince Ingvar Ingorevich himself carried his honorable head to the city, and kissed her kindly, and put him with Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich in the same coffin. And he put his brothers, Prince Davyd Ingorevich and Prince Gleb Ingorevich, in one coffin near their graves. Then Prince Ingvar Ingorevich went to the river in Voronezh, where Prince Fyodor Yuryevich Ryazansky was killed, and took his honest body, and cried over it for a long time. And he brought him to the region to the icon of the great wonderworker Nikolas of Korsun, and buried him together with the blessed princess Eupraxia and their son Prince Ivan Fedorovich Postnik in one place. And he placed stone crosses over them. And for the reason that the icon of the great miracle worker St. Nicholas is called Zarazeka, that the blessed princess Evprakeia with her son Prince Ivan “infected” (broke) themselves in that place.
Those sovereigns are from the family of Vladimir Svyatoslavich - the father of Boris and Gleb, the grandchildren of Grand Duke Svyatoslav Olgovich of Chernigov. They were Christ-loving, brotherly-loving, beautiful in face, bright in their eyes, menacing in their gaze, brave beyond measure, light in heart, kind to the boyars, friendly to visitors, diligent to the churches, quick to feast, eager for state amusements, skilled in military affairs, and before majestic to his brethren and before the ambassadors. They had a courageous mind, they lived in truth, they maintained spiritual and physical purity without blemish. They are a branch of the holy roots and a garden planted by God with beautiful flowers! They were brought up in piety and in all kinds of spiritual instruction. They loved God from the very cradle. They cared diligently about the churches of God, did not engage in empty conversations, turned away evil people, only conversed with good people, and always listened to the divine scriptures with tenderness. They were terrible enemies in battles, they defeated many adversaries who rose up against them and glorified their names in all countries. They had great love for the Greek kings and many accepted gifts from them. And in marriage they lived chastely, thinking about their salvation. With a clear conscience, and strength, and reason, they held their earthly kingdom, and approached the heavenly one. They did not please their flesh, keeping their body after marriage free from sin. They held the rank of sovereign, and were diligent in fasting and prayer and wore crosses on their chests. And they received honor and glory from the whole world, and they honestly kept the holy days of holy fasting and during all holy fasts they partook of the holy, most pure and immortal mysteries. And they showed many works and victories according to the right faith. And they often fought with the filthy Polovtsians for the holy churches and the Orthodox faith. And they tirelessly protected their fatherland from enemies. And they gave unlimited alms and with their affection they attracted many of the unfaithful kings, their children and brothers to themselves and converted them to the true faith.
The blessed Prince Ingvar Ingorevich, named Kozma in holy baptism, sat on the table of his father, Grand Duke Ingor Svyatoslavich. And he renovated the land of Ryazan, and erected churches, and built monasteries, and comforted the strangers, and gathered people. And there was joy for the Christians, whom God delivered with his strong hand from the godless and evil Tsar Batu. And he put Mr. Mikhail Vsevolodovich Pronsky in charge of his father.
Having captured the cities of Pronsk, Belgorod (the modern village of Gorodets) and Izheslavl, Mongol troops led by Batu approached the walls of Ryazan on December 16, 1237 (the capital of the Ryazan principality until the mid-14th century, now the village of Staraya Ryazan in the Spassky district of the Ryazan region). The capital of the Ryazan principality was well fortified - the height of the earthen ramparts reached ten meters. On the ramparts rose oak walls with loopholes and towers. With the onset of frost, the ramparts were watered, which made them impregnable.
But the Mongols had a numerical advantage, and moreover, they had much more experience than the Ryazan squad and the city militia. Taking advantage of their multiple numerical superiority, they carried out a continuous assault, changing attacking detachments, while the Ryazan residents remained on the city walls and, after two or three sleepless nights, lost combat readiness. “Batu’s army changed, and the townspeople fought constantly,” the author of “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” writes about this.
“Batu’s army changed, and the townspeople fought constantly. And many townspeople were killed, and others were wounded, and others were exhausted from great labors. And on the sixth day, early in the morning, the wicked went to the city - some with lights, others with vices, and others with countless stairs - and took the city of Ryazan in the month of December on the twenty-first day. And they came to the cathedral church of the Most Holy Theotokos, and Grand Duchess Agrippina, the mother of the Grand Duke, with her daughters-in-law and other princesses, they flogged them with swords, and they betrayed the bishop and priests to fire - they burned them in the holy church, and many others fell from weapons. And in the city many people, both wives and children, were cut with swords. And others were drowned in the river, and the priests and monks were flogged without a trace, and the entire city was burned, and all the famous beauty, and the wealth of Ryazan, and their relatives - the princes of Kyiv and Chernigov - were captured. And they destroyed the temples of God and shed a lot of blood in the holy altars. And not a single living person remained in the city: they all died and drank the single cup of death. There was no one moaning or crying here - no father and mother about their children, no children about their father and mother, no brother about their brother, no relatives about their relatives, but they all lay dead together. And all this was for our sins".
The capital of the Ryazan principality, numbering several tens of thousands of people, which received even more people who fled here when the Mongol-Tatar army approached, was completely destroyed, and the stone temples were destroyed. During the defense of Ryazan, Prince Yuri Igorevich and members of his family died.
Later, the capital of the Ryazan principality was partially restored, but it no longer reached its former greatness, and by the middle of the mid-14th century. the capital of the principality moves to Pereyaslavl Ryazan (now Ryazan).
In the comments to “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” D.S. Likhacheva, N.S. Demkova, I.A. Lobakova said that the most accurate history of the defeat of Ryazan is set out in the first Novgorod chronicle, where it came from the Ryazan chronicle that has not reached us. The story was created on the basis of the structure of a “chronicle story”, then it began to acquire legends: already in the 14th century it was supplemented with the words of Ingvar Ingorevich’s lament, and in the 15th century an episode about Evpatiy Kolovrat was included in the story. The “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” itself has come down to us in many copies, of which the oldest is not earlier than the end of the 15th century.
Evpatiy Kolovrat
In “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” there is an episode about the Ryazan nobleman Evpatiy Kolovrat, who, upon returning from Chernigov, where, as part of a delegation, sought help in protecting himself from the Mongol-Tatars, he saw ashes on the site of Ryazan. The name of Evpatiy Kolovrat is not mentioned in any chronicle. The episode about Evpatiy Kolovrat is based on folklore sources.
From “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”: “And one of the Ryazan nobles named Evpatiy Kolovrat was at that time in Chernigov together with Prince Ingvar Ingorevich. And he heard about the invasion of Tsar Batu, loyal to evil, and left Chernigov with a small squad, and rushed quickly. And he came to the land of Ryazan and saw it devastated: cities were destroyed, churches were burned, people were killed.
And he rushed to the city of Ryazan and saw that the city was devastated, the sovereigns were killed and many people were killed: some were killed with a sword, others were burned, others were drowned in the river. Evpatiy cried out in the sorrow of his soul and with his heart burning. And he gathered a small squad - one thousand seven hundred people who were preserved by God outside the city.
And they rushed after the godless king, and were barely able to catch up with him in the Suzdal land. And they suddenly attacked Batu’s resting army, and began to flog without mercy, and brought confusion to all the Tatar regiments. The Tatars looked like they were drunk or mad. Evpatiy fought so mercilessly that his swords became dull, and he snatched<он мечи>Tatar, and chopped with them. The Tatars thought that the dead had risen! Evpatiy, at full gallop, fought with strong regiments and beat them mercilessly. And he fought the Tatar troops so bravely and courageously that the king himself was afraid.
And the Tatars barely managed to capture five seriously wounded soldiers. And they were brought to King Batu. Tsar Batu began to ask: “What faith and what land are you? And why did they do so much harm to me?” They answered: “We are of Christian faith, servants of Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan, and warriors of Evpatiy Kolovrat. We were sent from Prince Ingvar Ingorevich of Ryazan to honor you, the mighty Tsar, and to see you off with honor, and to give you honor. Don’t be surprised, Tsar, that we don’t have time to pour cups for the great power - the Tatar army.” The king was surprised at their wise answer.
And he sent his brother-in-law’s son, Khostovrul, against Evpatiy, and with him many Tatar troops. Khostovrul boasted to the king that he would bring Evpatia to the king alive. And large Tatar forces surrounded everyone, wanting to capture Evpatiy alive. Khostovrul entered into single combat with Evpatiy. Evpatiy, the hero, by force, cut Khostovrul in two right up to the saddle. And he began to flog the Tatar army and beat many famous heroes of the Batyevs, cutting some in two, and cutting others to the saddle. The Tatars were frightened, seeing that Evpatiy was a giant hero. And they aimed countless battering guns at him, and began to hit him with them, and with difficulty killed him. And they brought his body before King Batu.
Tsar Batu sent for the Murzas, and for the princes, and for the Sanchakbeys, and everyone began to marvel at the courage, and strength, and courage of the Ryazan army. And they said to the king: “We have been with many kings, in many lands, in many battles, but we have never seen such daredevils and spirited men, nor have our fathers told us about such. For these are people with wings and without<страха>of death. So bravely and courageously they fought: one fought with a thousand, and two with darkness. No one could escape them from the battle alive!” Tsar Batu, looking at Evpatiy’s body, said: “Oh Evpatiy Kolovrat! You treated me well to your little retinue! He killed many heroes of the strong horde, and many troops fell. If someone like him served me, I would love him with all my heart.” And he gave Evpatievo’s body to the survivors of his squad who were captured in battle. And King Batu ordered them to be released and not to cause any harm.”
In an unequal battle, Evpatiy and his squad fell, remaining in the memory of the people as their intercessors and heroes.
Monuments to Evpatiy Kolovrat
In 2007, in Ryazan, at the intersection of Astrakhanskaya and Pochtovaya streets, opposite the Ryazan Post Office building, a monument to Evpatiy Kolovrat was erected.
On October 18, 2007, as part of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Ryazan region, the grand opening of the monument to the Russian hero Evpatiy Kolovrat took place on Lybidsky Boulevard. It has become one of the main attractions of the city. The monument project was recognized as the best among fourteen others submitted to the competition by famous sculptors from Ryazan and Moscow. The monumental work was created by the Ryazan amateur sculptor, decorator, designer Oleg Sedov and architect Vladislav Lavrentiev. The height of the sculpture is 4.6 m; the total height of the composition including the pedestal is 7 m.
Good Russian films are like Ussuri tigers - they definitely exist, but they are very rare. Last year “28 Panfilov’s Men” was released, this year “Arrhythmia” was released, so the limit on good films was exhausted, and “The Legend of Kolovrat” did not make it into it. It's a pity! After all, this hero has been inspiring many to create wonderful works for centuries.
As is already customary, before moving on to the analysis of the film, let’s figure out what it’s about. So, in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” there is a fragment:
« And one of the Ryazan nobles named Evpatiy Kolovrat was at that time in Chernigov with Prince Ingvar Ingorevich, and heard about the invasion of the evil Tsar Batu, and set out from Chernigov with a small squad, and rushed quickly. And he came to the land of Ryazan, and saw it empty, cities were destroyed, churches were burned, people were killed. And he rushed to the city of Ryazan, and saw the city devastated, the sovereigns killed and many people killed: some were killed and flogged, others were burned, and others were drowned in the river. And Evpatiy cried out in the grief of his soul, burning in his heart. And he gathered a small squad - one thousand seven hundred people, whom God preserved outside the city. And they chased after the godless king, and barely overtook him in the land of Suzdal, and suddenly attacked the Batu camps. And they began to flog without mercy, and all the Tatar regiments were mixed up. And the Tatars looked like they were drunk or crazy. And Evpatiy beat them so mercilessly that their swords became dull, and he took Tatar swords and cut them with them. It seemed to the Tatars that the dead had risen. Evpatiy, driving right through the strong Tatar regiments, beat them mercilessly. And he rode among the Tatar regiments so bravely and courageously that the tsar himself was afraid.
And the Tatars barely caught five military men from Evpatiev’s regiment, exhausted from great wounds. And they were brought to King Batu. Tsar Batu began to ask them: “What faith are you, and what land are you, and why are you doing so much evil to me?” They answered: “We are of Christian faith, servants of Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan, and from the regiment we are Evpatiy Kolovrat. We were sent from Prince Ingvar Ingorevich of Ryazan to honor you, the strong king, and to see you off with honor, and to give you honor. Don’t be surprised, Tsar, that we don’t have time to pour cups for the great power - the Tatar army.” The king marveled at their wise answer. And he sent his Shurich Khostovrul to Evpatiy, and with him strong Tatar regiments. Khostovrul boasted to the king and promised to bring Evpatiy alive to the king. And strong Tatar regiments surrounded Evpatiy, trying to take him alive. And Khostovrul moved in with Evpatiy. Evpatiy was a giant of force and cut Khostovrul in half to the saddle. And he began to flog the Tatar force, and beat many of the famous heroes of the Batyevs, cut some in half, and chopped others to the saddle. And the Tatars became afraid, seeing what a strong giant Evpatiy was. And they brought on him many vices, and began to beat him with countless vices, and barely killed him. And they brought his body to King Batu. Tsar Batu sent for the Murzas, and the princes, and the Sanchakbeys, and everyone began to marvel at the courage, and the strength, and the courage of the Ryazan army. And they said to the king: “We have been with many kings, in many lands, in many battles, but we have never seen such daredevils and spirited men, and our fathers did not tell us. These are winged people, they do not know death, and so strong and courageously, riding on horses, they fight - one with a thousand, and two with darkness. Not one of them will leave the massacre alive.” And Tsar Batu said, looking at Evpatievo’s body: “O Kolovrat Evpatie! You treated me well with your small retinue, and you beat many heroes of my strong horde, and defeated many regiments. If such a one served with me, I would keep him close to my heart.” And he gave Evpatiy’s body to the remaining people from his squad, who were captured in the battle. And King Batu ordered to let them go and not harm them in any way.»
These two paragraphs have been inspiring our writers and poets for many years. In 1859, the poet Lev Aleksandrovich May (composer Rimsky-Korsakov wrote operas based on his dramas in verse “The Tsar’s Bride” and “The Pskov Woman”) released the poem “Song about the boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat” (you can read it here: http://militera. lib.ru/poetry/russian/mei/02.html), in 1912 the very young Sergei Yesenin wrote “The Song of Evpatiy Kolovrat” (http://az.lib.ru/e/esenin_s_a/text_0410.shtml), During the war, in 1942, Vasily Yan’s still popular novel “Batu” was published, which describes an episode with Evpatiy Kolovrat and his detachment. In 1947, when the 800th anniversary of Moscow was celebrated, Natalya Konchalovskaya’s poem “Our Ancient Capital” was published, one of the fragments of which was dedicated to Evpatiy Kolovrat:
Those who survived fled.
And to them, like a warrior and like a brother,
Burning with a persistent thirst for vengeance,
Ryazan resident Kolovrat came
And he began to prepare the militia.
One thousand seven hundred of them came.
They approached the Horde from the rear.
Batu, having climbed onto the saddle,
Stunned: “What power!
Where? Where was she?
Have the dead risen?
Ryazan burned to the ground,
Crows flew over the ashes!..”
For the first time the horde wavered,
Losing my mind from horror.
And then Kolovrat moved
All the force on the Horde at once.
This army was not trained,
People who accidentally survived
But everyone went to punish the enemy
For relatives who were destroyed in the fire,
And for those drowned in the Oka
Everyone was ready to take revenge on the Mongols,
And the sword is in the avenger's hand
Doesn't seem hard in battle
In the December cold the battle is harsh,
And the enemy's horn roars angrily,
And helmets fall off their heads
Under the hooves of hot horses.
Even if the Russians have less strength,
But Kolovrat knows no fear,
He has already dulled his sword,
He raises a Mongolian sword.
Dad doesn’t take his eyes off him, -
What Russian tenacity!
He gives the order to his brother-in-law:
Engage with the enemy in single combat.
Look now, Batu, look,
Like snow and prickly dust
Heroes from both sides
Before the troops entered the battle.
The horse's tails fluttered
There is fire in the pupils of horses,
And the shields are splitting
From crushing blows.
And on both sides there are troops, -
The frosty air is full of noise,
And suddenly Evpatiy Kolovrat
Raises his sword over Khostovrul.
Hit! A shield was buried in a snowdrift:
Batyev's brother-in-law fell - killed!..
And Batu's furious cry
Frozen above the snow veil,
And both troops at the same moment
They walked towards each other like a wall...
And death took so many lives,
That the firmament groaned under the snow,
Until the Ryazan eagle
A flock of jackals surrounded them.
And here he is at Batu’s feet -
Evpatiy Kolovrat killed.
And Khan Batu? He's surrounded
Gloomy commanders retinue.
He, speaking to himself,
Stands and looks, shocked,
On the stern face of the hero,
Overshadowed by immortality in death.
Mongolian sword clutched in hand -
The sword with which he fought famously
Ryazan warrior Kolovrat.
And Batu Khan mutters quietly:
“If only that warrior were mine,
I would keep this close to my heart!..”
And smoke billowed above the ground,
He drove away homeless people
Into the forests, to the fear of the Horde khans,
To the glory of the first partisans.
In 1952, the story for children “Evpatiy Kolovrat” by Vasily Ryakhovsky was published. In 1969, a collection of stories by local writer Vladimir Erokhin was published in Ryazan, which included the story “Evpatiy Kolovrat,” which gave the title to the entire collection. In 1976, the author of numerous adventure and detective books, Stanislav Gagarin, published the story “Evpatiy Kolovrat” in the Ural Pathfinder magazine, and in the next decade Kolovrat was even more fortunate - in 1984, the children’s publishing house “Malysh” published a book by the writer, engineer and memoirist Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn “The Tale of Evpatiy Kolovrat” (it was republished in 1987 and the total circulation amounted to an unprecedented figure for our time - 300,000 copies), and in 1985 a 20-minute cartoon by Roman Davydov “The Tale of Evpatiy Kolovrat” was released ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZUmCIvlHuo), which completed his trilogy of cartoons about Ancient Rus', begun with the films “The Childhood of Ratibor” (about the antes) and “Swans of Nepryadva” (about the Battle of Kulikovo). Nowadays, alas, only Rodnovers and neo-Nazis write about Kolovrat, which gives these books, to put it mildly, a specific flavor.
Thus, the creators of the 2017 film had a rare chance for success - to make the first-ever feature-length film about a hero about whom more than one generation has been raised. However, director and screenwriter Dzhanik Fayziev decided not to look for easy ways (to take and film everything that was in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” and “Batu”), but rather diluted the plot with gags. However, this was quite expected for a man who, for some reason, added cave homosexuals and the flight of a barlog through the crystal lattice of a pencil lead into his film adaptation of the well-written spy detective “The Turkish Gambit”, although neither the first, nor the second, nor many other dubious director’s “finds” "(like the fact that the spy turned out to be a completely different person than in the book, while maintaining the other plot lines) was not required by the plot of the film.
Now he has made Evpatiy not just a warrior of the Ryazan prince, but also a disabled person: a head injury received in childhood led to the fact that he suffers from memory loss and every morning painfully remembers: “This is my home... this is Ryazan...”, not to remember no wife, no brother; every day he carves a whistle for the prince’s daughter and every day he confesses his love to her - a kind of Groundhog Day in old Ryazan. But at the same time, the prince entrusted him with training soldiers! The Mongols in the film were even less fortunate - Khan Batu and his entourage, with their painted and inlaid faces, resemble the crowd of a performance at Roman Viktyuk’s theater, and the director’s desire to make the Mongols look like the Persians in Zack Snyder’s film “300” simply splashes onto the audience through the screen. Sending his warriors to attack, the khan admires the spectacle and eats nuts - like our contemporary at a football match broadcast, at least he doesn’t wash it down with beer!
In such conditions, it is simply not worth demanding any logical actions from the characters, so you are no longer surprised that it was a disabled person with amnesia that the prince entrusted with the protection of the embassy to Batu and his son, because when the negotiations failed, Kolovrat left the wounded prince to cover the embassy’s withdrawal. Batu’s headquarters was located right in front of the walls of Ryazan in a field, but the embassy had a long way back through the forest in a snow storm (which had no magical effect on the Mongols), and while they were making their way, the Mongols burned Ryazan. The Horde rush into the forest, see a lone warrior standing with his back to them in a clearing - but instead of shooting him with arrows or lassoing him, they begin hand-to-hand combat: otherwise you won’t be able to show how “Main Road Post” can do slow-mo, albeit quite a bit boring everyone over the last decade! The hermit sets a bear the size of a rhinoceros on the Mongols - and then takes it and releases it, depriving Kolovrat and his squad of such a miracle weapon! Finally, both sides decided to show the audience that they could handle a new level of dementia: first, Batu throws his warriors into an attack on a high icy slope (instead of shooting either bows or siege engines - which was eventually done, but not immediately) , and Kolovrat’s fighters calmly look at the repeated attack of the Mongols and allow them to climb the slope, rather than push them down with their feet and spears...
On the other hand, not everything in the film is bad. If we take away the directorial and screenwriting gags, then the bottom line is a pretty good film - and at least a big step forward compared to “Viking” (more precisely, a step back to normal Soviet historical films like “Alexander Nevsky”, “Yaroslav the Wise”, “Primordial Rus'”, etc.) – after all, here our ancestors are not covered in mud from head to toe and do not copulate in the mud in the middle of the crowd without taking off their pants.
In addition, sometimes criticism of the film (which began long before its release) was not entirely justified. For example, they say that Kolovrat did not exist, so the film was not worth making. Yes, the creation of “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” dates back to the beginning of the 16th century, but for some reason the British are in no hurry to abandon the no less legendary King Arthur and Robin Hood on the same basis, and the Swiss are in no hurry to abandon William Tell. In addition, the title of the film in Russian said “The Legend of...”. Another common criticism of the film is that it is not about winning. It’s true, but the medieval “Song of Roland” and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, and the films “Chapaev”, “A Bridge Too Far”, “Brest Fortress” were not about victory - they were also not about victory. But readers and viewers see that even in difficult conditions you have to fight to the end - then you will be remembered.
In short, the film “The Legend of Kolovrat” can hardly be called unambiguously bad or unambiguously good. Let everyone decide for themselves whether it is worth watching or not.
