The Tales from Russia - The formation of the modern Russian State through folktales

Introduction

The Tales from Russia

The formation of the modern Russian State through local folktales

Moscow, 31st of December 1819

1. Introduction

Dear Reader,

I have taken it upon me to write the long and rich history of our beloved Russia, though not through the conventional and traditional way. This will not be a book that tells us of how nobles, valiant knights and the ancestors of our beloved Czar Alexander forged this nation together through conquest and political intrigue. Many more worthy writers then myself have done so and I couldn’t possibly hope to equal their writing skills!

Therefore I have focused my book around the tales of the peasant population of the countryside. How did they experience these events? And how do these important events live on the rich oral tradition in our communities? That are the questions that I am looking answers for in this book. From the Medieval tale of Boris Chakov and the appearance of Saint Michael through the recent tales, I will look for these answers.

Dylukski

2. The Tale of Boris Chakov and Saint Michael

2. The Tale of Boris Chakov and Saint Michael

It is Christmas 1418, the arctic wind is plaguing Moscow as Boris Charkov, a blacksmith, makes his way back from church to his workshop. As he approaches his homestead, he sees a bright light originating from somewhere ahead street. He steps closer and sees that the light is coming form his workshop. A moment of panic. Is his workshop on fire? Boris begins to run towards the light but as he comes closer and closer, he notices that it isn’t a glow of red and orange eating away through the wood of his home, but a pure white light.

Boris is now at the door of his own shop. ‘Dare I enter?’ he thinks. Afraid of what he might find inside, he hesitates. But a calm and stern voice orders him to come inside. ‘Where did that voice come from?’ Boris’ hart is pounding in his chest because of the excitement. A little hesitant he pushes the door that immediately flanges open.

Boris has to close his eyes because of the bright light. When he opens them again, he is amazed and terrified at the same time. Before him a large figure is standing with a large sword in his one hand and a hammer in the other. A thundering voice then says to him ‘You know who I am Boris. I have come to give you a task. Forge this sword Boris and give it to your lord Ivan so that he may slay the Mongolian beasts of the East and restore peace and prosperity to all of the Russian people!’ Boris walks up to the figure and takes the sword and hammer from him. As if hypnotized, he walks to the anvil and begins to forge the sword that will bring victory of Russians over the Mongolian hordes!

According to the legend, after forging the sword, Boris takes it to Prince Ivan (II) of Moscow. At first, Ivan does not believe Boris, but as he takes a look at the sword he recognizes the symbols on the blade as the writing of Saint Michael and immediately declares that he’ll brake all bonds with the heathen Mongols and give them nothing but a blow of his new sword from that day on!

It is an odd story. Of course legends and myths likes this one have always been present throughout Europe’s history, then why is this one so special?

It depicts the Mongols as ‘heathen beasts’ and the greatest threat of the Russian people. At the start of the 15th century, Moscow (like most other Russian realms) was a vassal of the Mongolian Golden Horde. Though in decline, it still stretched from Kazan in the Northeast to the Sea of Azov in the South and from Lithuania in the West to Siberia in the East. Relations between the Russians and the Mongols had been relatively calm upon till then as the Russians mostly fought amongst themselves rather then against the (stronger) armies of the Kahn! Ivan’s policies were not different in this matter. During 1421-1424 Moscow fought alongside the princes of Tver and Ryazan against the merchant republic of Novgorod. It ended in a victory for the Muscovites expanding their realm into Kareila and to the shores of the Northern seas. In 1453 a new war between the Russian princes and Novgorod broke out. This time Moscow expanded again at their expanse taking Kexholm and Ingermanland near Finland from them. The final blow to Novgorod was given on June 24th 1474 when the city was taken by Ivan III. Moscow didn’t take up arms against the Mongols until 1433, and only so because the Prince of Ryazan had declared war upon them in the hope of gaining some territories in the valley of the Volga river. Ivan wanted to honor his alliance with a fellow Russian prince but showed little interest in conquest in the East! This war, more a raid on Russian cities under the control of Golden Horde, ended in 1438 with the Kahn paying 200 gold to end the continuous raids of Moscow on their lands. No Russian cities were ‘liberated’ from the Mongols by the Muscovites until 1466 when Bogutar and Ufa were taken by Ivan III after another conflict had erupted between Ryazan and the Golden Horde in 1464. So why then this myth about Sint Michael during a time that Ivan II had little interest in quarreling with his Mongolian neighbors?

The answer is simple. Though Ivan was not looking for territorial expansion at the expense of the Mongols, he was looking for a way to get ride of the annual tribute he had to pay to the Kahn. What better way to do this then a myth about an angel that tells him to do so? This way, his treachery of breaking an oath with a superior ruler was justified. We know that Ivan stopped paying this tribute in 1419, as the records show that up until 1418 Moscow paid a tribute of approximately 10 gold per year. Because Ivan was a frequent visitor of the court of the Kahn, he might very well have known that the Golden Horde was not so powerful anymore. It is clear that the Mongols did nothing to restore the annual tribute from Moscow because they were occupied by wars on other fronts and (later on) internal power struggles. Other Russian princes followed Ivan’s example. Ryazan stopped paying tribute to the Golden Horde in 1419, Suzdal did so in 1425.

It also worth telling, that the legend of Boris and Saint Michael was used only in late 1418 and early 1419 as a way to assure the people who feared repercussions form the Mongols, that it was the will of God. As far as we know, the legend was not used as justification again in later campaigns against the Mongols in the 15th century. It does appear in the 16th century, but only as a folktale from Moscow, not as propaganda for war. Clearely it was ment for a one time use only in which a common man (Boris) was used to assure the people and give the action of Ivan more credebility.

3. Collected tales from the Fifteenth Century: I the Tale of Sammuel

3. Collected tales from the Fifteenth Century

Not many tales from these times have survived, or I have not found them although my search for them have been thorough I can assure you! Here is collection of three tales that all originate from the mid to late fifteenth century and give us a glimpse of how life in Russia was at that time.

3.1 The Tale of Samuel, Jewish merchant in Novgorod (mid 15th century)

This tale was taken from a year book found in the library of Petrograd in 1756 by the lord chancellor of the great Czarina. In it, Samuel give a short description of the dealings he has with other merchants in the city. It is probably a short instruction manual for fellow merchants who wanted to do business in the city. Samuel informs them of who to trust and who not and in what type of goods he and the other traders deal.

I am Samuel, merchant of Novgorod. I live in the Jewish quarter of the city and I will tell you about the other merchant nations that you may encounter here.

First there are our fellow Jews. Most of us were in business by trading the furs that we bought from the Laps who brought them to our city from the rich forests of Kareila. Unfortunately, as the prince of Moscow took these lands from us in their treacherous war of 1420-1424, we are unable to buy them anymore. The treaty of Archangelsk (1424) gave the hunting rights to Prince Ivan II of Moscow and with it the lucrative fur trade. From that moment on, us Jews mostly began to trade in luxury items that were brought in by the Hanze traders from the Baltic lands and Germany. In exchange, we provided them with wood and naval supplies from the Finnish forests in the western part of Novgorod. Unfortunately, this trade fell away from us in 1455 as the foul Muscovite hordes took them after sacking Novgorod for a second time a year earlier. These days, us Jews are forced to make a living of the trade in grain and wheat. Though you can still make a living out of it, the Germans (having plenty of rich farmlands of their own) are unwilling to trade us luxury goods for it and mostly offer us fish, flax and wool for it in return.
Germans, united in their Hanze League, are on the whole, trustworthy people. They mostly trade in cloth, flax, wool, fish, grain, foodstuffs and luxury goods from Germany and beyond. They are the only traders in the region with knowledge of how life is in Western Europe and offer valuable information for us here in how to deal with the occasional travelers and traders from distant lands. Beware though, the Germans are keen in maintaining their monopoly in the Baltic region and they will not hesitate to interfere in your dealings with non-Hanze traders to avoid them from getting a better deal then themselves!

Other traders you’ll find frequently here, are the Swedish and Danish traders from Scandinavia. The Danes prefer to trade fish in exchange for furs so nowadays they mostly deal with the Muscovites instead of the native traders of our city. If by any change you want to go and do business beyond the Baltic Sea, you’ll have to pay them a fair amount of toll at the Sund in Copenhagen. It is rumored however that some Danish officials are willing to let you pass for free in exchange for a nice fur coat.

The Swedish traders, as the Lithuanian traders, are the few traders who travel to our markets by road instead of ships. Swedish traders mostly deal in wood and metal ores, the Lithuanians deal mostly in wool, cloth and flax. These days the Lithuanians are our prime customers for foodstuffs as their own crops tend to fail due to the harsh winter conditions of their lands and their lack of fertile farmlands.

Samuel may very well give us the reason why the independent state of Novgorod dwindled, as Moscow prospered by the mid 15th century. Ivan II and his successors (Vasily II and Ivan III) took the lucrative fur trade from the city. This drew foreign traders away from Novgorod and into the markets of Moscow. The annexation of Western Finland (Ingermanland and Kexholm) in the 1450s took away the remaining trades of wood and naval supplies from Novgorod and brought them into Moscow as well. Having little but some foodstuffs to offer, the economy of Novgorod was severely weakened by the late 1460s. Ivan III thus met very little opposition from Novgorod as he conquered it in 1474. Not much later, all the trade in Northern Russia was concentrated in Moscow.

Thank you all for the positive feedback. Stay tuned for some more tales later this week!

Dyluk

3.2 The Letters of Ivan Obolenski-Striga

3.2 The Letters of Ivan Obolenski-Striga (mid 15th century)

Ivan Obolenski-Striga (Obolenski) was the chief commander of the Muscovite armies in the North from 1447 to 1469. Though not a peasant of whom I want to focus my book, his descriptions of the Finland campaign in 1453 and 1454 give us a good view of how life was for the common soldiers in service of the Princes of Moscow. The following tale I have taken from the personal correspondence of Obolenski to his wife Alexia (letters 3.2.1 and 3.2.5), to Prince Ivan III of Suzdal (letter 3.2.2) and to Prince Vasily (II) of Muscow (letters 3.2.3 and 3.2.4). These letters can be found in the personal library of Count Peter (III) of Smolensk. They were originally written in Latin and Greek (his wife Alexia was the daughter of Prince Dimitros III of Trebizond who lived in exile in Moscow after Trebizond was annexed by the Turks in 1421). I have translated and edited them to accommodate my honored readers.

3.2.1 Letter of April 1st 1453

My dear Alexia.
After assembling my army in the Olonets we have set forth towards Finland. My army counts 10,000 troops, mostly peasant foot soldiers armed by their lords who accompany them on horses. Besides these soldiers of Moscow, Prince Ivan of Suzdal and his 5,000 horsemen from the North ride with me as well so I have a fellow nobleman to keep me company.

I am confident that our enemies our unaware of our coming to Finland. It has been 6 weeks since I have heard any news from Prince Vasily who marches with his army towards Novgorod. I am sure that the merchants will sent their mercenaries towards him and leave the Finnish forests unprotected. Our objective is to take the border city of Kexholm and then turn south into Ingermanland and lay siege to the coastal city Narva. If we are lucky, the campaign for us is over before the winter sets in!

Though he hasn’t heard any news from Prince Vasily, Obolenski writes with good hopes for this campaign. He does so with good reasons, the Muscovites know that Novgorod was unable to raise enough troops to defend all their territories as they simply offered twice as much to the (mostly German) mercenaries that the Novgorod traders wanted to use to fill their ranks! Deprived from their elite troops, the merchants are heading for some stormy weather…

Not all goes well for Obolenski though. His army starts to lay siege to Kexholm as early as April 10th 1453 and almost immediately the city council wants to negotiate a peaceful surrender of the city. Prince Ivan of Suzdal, not pleased with the prospect of an easy victory for Obolenski and his Muscovites, wants to move on to Narva to take it for his own. On April 30 1453 he marches of to the South, leaving Obolenski in the dark about his whereabouts. The Kexholm’s garrison witnesses the retreat of Ivan and promptly abort the ongoing talks of surrendering Kexholm. Obolenski now has the prospect of a lengthy siege with only 10,000 troops instead of the 15,000 he thought he had, and with the possible surrender of Narva to Ivan of Suzdal instead of him!

Understandably angry, he writes a letter to Ivan.

3.2.2 Letter of May 2nd 1454

To his Highness Ivan, Prince of Suzdal etc. etc.
Does your Highness have any sense of honor? Has the prospect of glory dulled your senses so much? Your decision to leave the field of Kexholm and head south to Narva, has forced me to further the construction of siege towers and two trebuchets as Commanders Mikael of Kexholm refuses to talk about surrendering the city to us. He even thinks that your withdrawal is a sign of God to fight us off! Your hastily retreat has turned a certain victory for us into a defeat.

I have already sent a messenger to Price Vasily to tell him about your great dishonor. I have also ordered 2,000 of my best men under the command of Count Igor to join with your troops in Ingermanland. The day will not be yours alone in Narva, I promise you that!

Needless to say that Obolenski and Ivan never became close friends after this incident. Prince Vasily even had to mediate between them not to upset the Finnish campaign while he was laying siege to Novgorod.

3. Collected tales from the Fifteenth Century (ctd)

3.2.3 Letter of June 6th 1453

To his Highness Vasily, Prince of Muscow etc. etc.

What hardship has struck my armies? After the traitor Ivan of Suzdal has left us we are being haunted by our bad luck. Kexholm has withstood two direct assaults by my men and I have been forced to send out more carpenters to the nearby forests in order to construct additional siege weapons. The only luck we have is that there is plenty of wood in the surroundings of our camp to construct more trebuchets and siege towers. Also our proximity to our homelands ensures us from a steady supply of foodstuffs to keep ourselves and our horses alive. Despite this, my army is down to only 6,000 men as I had to let the regiment from Olonets return to their homes. They needed to bring in the crops from their lands as otherwise famine may fall upon us. I dare not risk another assault on the city at the moment. We have to wait until our carpenters have constructed enough siege weapons and even then my Lord, I feel that we need more men if an assault is to be successful. I therefore beg you to call up more men. Perhaps the Kareilians are willing to fight for us? or try to call back the Olonets Regiment!

When Prince Vasily learned of Prince Ivan's departure from the field of Kexholm, he immediately sends reassurances to Obolenski that he will make up for the men of Suzdal. In fact, Vasily does little to help Obolenski as he has called up all able men at his disposal for this war against Novgorod as it is. Calling up more men in the army may very well damage the Muscovite (mostly agricultural) economy! The peasants that survive the Russian princes, counts and other nobles are not regular soldiers. They are serfs that normally tend the lands of their lords, but at times of war can be called upon to serve in the military. Obolenski learns for himself that he cannot keep the peasant soldiers away from their lands too long as otherwise the food supply of a province, or even an entire nation, can be put in jeopardy!

Why does Vasily (more or less) choose for Prince Ivan of Suzdal rather then his own commander in this matter? The answer probably lies in the fact that Ivan had sworn an oath of allegiance to Vasily in 1442 This oath, making Ivan more or less a vassal of Vasily, also meant that if Ivan dies, Vasily would inherit Suzdal. Logically Vasily is unwilling to jeopardize this arrangement over a quarrel between a soldier (Obolenski) and a noble. By the summer of 1453 Vasily also books much progress in the siege of Novgorod and he anticipates an easy victory. Vasily may very well have had the idea of saving resources rather then risking them on obtaining a victory on a far less important frontline. In any case, Obolenski doesn't get any more men in 1453 for his conquest of Finland.

3. Collected tales from the Fifteenth Century (ctd)

3.2.4 Letter of December 12th 1453

The summer and autumn saw little improvement for Obolenski around Kexholm. No reinforcements were sent from elsewhere in Russia or from the battlefield in Novgorod. Obolenski tried another direct assault on the city in late August but failed to take the city. Down to a mere 3,000 troops, Obolenski has little choice but to make camp and prepare for winter. The harsh winter conditions make it very difficult to get provisions into the camp and soon Obolenski has to send some of his men to go looking for foodstuffs in the surrounding area. In November and December he writes almost daily to Prince Vasily and begs him to send more troops. Here is the letter from December 12th 1453 as an example:

To his Highness Vasily, Prince of Muscow etc. etc.

My Liege, this is the tenth letter I am sending you this winter. Our position at Kexholm is looking very bleak. Due to the harsh winter, we are unable to get any supplies from Russia and there are very few villages in the area that have not been looted yet this past year. I have been forced to sent some men out in the surrounding forests to hunt and gather food, but I doubt that they will return with more then some Snow Hares.

If this situation continues for more then a month, then I doubt we will be able to capture the city this winter and we may have to wait for springtime to continue our campaign in Finland. I beg of you not to let that happen! Send me more men and supplies. Hire some more German mercenaries in Estonia perhaps so I may end this siege and claim Kexholm for Your Highness!

Despite Obolenski’s pleas, Vasily still does not send more men into Finland. Vasily’s scouts report him that Novgorod is about to fall as famine strikes the city. In combination with the siege and the Russian winter, the citizens of Novgorod cannot hold out much longer. On February 18 1454, the city surrenders to Vasily and the German mercenaries begin to loot the city. With the keys tot the city in his hands, Vasily trusts that the merchants will soon strike a deal with him. However, the merchants know that Kexholm and Narva are still fighting and that the princes of Moscow and Suzdal only have a handful of troops in Finland left. Hoping on a miracle, they refuse to hand Finland over to the Muscovites and force Vasily to send his troops and the remaining German mercenaries into Finland. (most of the German troops had left with their spoils after the city was looted)

With the fresh forces of Suzdal and Moscow at their gates, the city of Narva capitulates on the 2nd of October 1454. Obolenski gets his revenge as Ivan of Suzdal has to step down as commander of the army that takes Narva and hand over command to Prince Vasily. Obolenski never gets to see his siege of Kexholm completed though. As the news of the capture reaches Novgorod, the city council wants to resume the peace talks with Vasily and Ivan. This results in the treaty of Novgorod (April 16 1455) that hands over Kexholm and Narva to Prince Vasily. Novgorod also has to pay a large sum of money to compensate Prince Ivan for his expanses that he doesn’t see compensated in territorial gains.

3.2.5 Letter of April 30th 1455

I finish this chapter with a fragment of Obolenski’s letter to his wife Alexia on his way back to Moscow from Novgorod. It gives a short description of what happened with his serfs after the war was over.

My dear Alexia,

The war is over now and I am returning home to you. I hope this letter will reach you before I get to Moscow.
I have sent most the peasants home to work our lands when we took Narva last autumn. See to it that they repair the road to the village that was damaged in the floods last month and that they begin sowing our fields. Included in the peace agreement with Novgorod is a deal that Muscovites may trade their grain, wool and flax free of taxes and duties. I want to make sure we get a price good for our crops this autumn! My guards and a handful of German mercenaries will return with me to Moscow.

Hope to see you soon.

Though this little more then a note back home, Obolenski gives us a good glimpse of how life was back then. The serfs, as they are today, are bound by their lords. They had to tend to his crops and lands and were required to perform the manorial duties, such as repairing a road. They were only being called to arms in times of war. Being a good entrepreneur, Obolenski knows a good deal when he sees one, as he has firsthand information about the peace treaty that other lords and competitors may very well be ignorant of!