Reflecting the raid of the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray. Virtual club. The significance of the Girey family in world history

(today is the 448th anniversary)

Detailed description:

The Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey (1551-1577) was known for his numerous military campaigns, mainly wars with the Russian state. He sought to restore the independence of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, conquered by the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible in 1552 and 1556. In the spring of 1571, Khan Devlet-Girey gathered a large army. According to various sources, it numbered from 40,000 to 120,000 thousand Crimean Horde and Nogai. The main forces of the Russian kingdom at that moment were tied up by the Livonian War, so the governors on the Oka had at their disposal no more than 6 thousand warriors. The Crimean Horde crossed the Oka, bypassing Serpukhov, where Ivan the Terrible stood with the oprichnina army, and rushed towards Moscow. On May 24, the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray himself with his main forces approached the outskirts of Moscow and set up a camp in the village of Kolomenskoye. Khan sent a 20,000-strong army to Moscow, ordering the city's outskirts to be set on fire. In three hours, the Russian capital was almost completely burned out. Devlet-Girey never entered the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod, surrounded by stone walls. The regiment of governor Mikhail Vorotynsky repelled all attacks of the Crimeans. On May 25, Devlet Geray with the Tatar horde retreated from near the capital to the south in the direction of Kashira and Ryazan, disbanding part of his troops along the way to capture prisoners. As a result of the Moscow campaign, the Crimean Khan Devlet I received the nickname “Took the Throne”. Khan's people killed 60 thousand people in Russia and more than 150 thousand were taken into slavery. In subsequent years, the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey did not personally raid Russian possessions. Only his sons, individual Crimean and Nogai Murzas with small forces attacked the Moscow outskirts.

Busy with the war in the West, the tsar tried with all his might to get along with Crimea. The Polish king had long been inciting Khan Devlet-Girey to attack Russian Ukraine, and the king, in turn, tried in every possible way to appease him, wrote him friendly letters, called Devlet-Girey “his brother”, sent him “wake”, i.e. gifts , by the way, expensive clothes from his shoulder, precious vessels, and he wrote: “In which dress we swore an oath (of friendship) to you, our brother, and we sent that dress from our shoulders to you, our brother, and you would , our brother, wore that dress for his health; and from which we drank the charm, and we sent that charm with a scoop to you, and you could drink from it for your health.” But nothing helped. Accepting generous gifts from the king, Devlet-Girey, referring to them, only bargained for himself even more handouts from the king. Moreover, the Turkish Sultan intended to take Astrakhan and Kazan from Moscow at any cost and ordered his assistant, the Crimean Khan, to launch a campaign against Astrakhan (1569). The Turkish detachment (17,000 people) and the Crimean horde of Devlet-Girey (50,000 people) moved towards the Volga; but this campaign was not a success at all. The Turkish army did not want to stay for the winter near Astrakhan and endure shortcomings in everything, they were worried, and when the news reached the Turks that a strong Russian army had come to Astrakhan, they completely lost control and fled without any fighting...

At a time when in Moscow the brutal executions after the Novgorod pogrom were still fresh in the memory of the people, when famine and pestilence were already raging in full force, suddenly a new misfortune befell the Russian land.

Devlet-Girey, even after the unsuccessful Turkish-Tatar campaign, still continued to demand concessions from the tsar to Astrakhan and Kazan. Obviously, this was only a pretext for the attack. The entire summer of 1570 passed in anxious anticipation of a Crimean raid: Russian scouts saw huge clouds of dust in the steppes, traces of numerous cavalry, but Tatars appeared everywhere only in small gangs. The king and his commanders had already calmed down, thinking that the Tatars were not up to a big deal.

The spring of 1571 arrived. Tatars suddenly appeared in the southern Russian borders. Devlet-Girey gathered all the small hordes subordinate to him, more than a hundred thousand people, and unexpectedly invaded southern Ukraine. No Cossack villages or Ukrainian fortresses could hold back the pressure of such a horde. There were Russian traitors who told Devlet-Girey that famine, pestilence and cruel executions had so devastated the Russian land that the tsar was not able to bring a large army into the field. The traitors guaranteed with their heads that they would lead the Tatars to Moscow itself so that there would be no meeting with the Russian army along the entire route.

The hastily assembled Russian army marched to the Oka River to meet the Tatars. Ivan the Terrible and his guardsmen arrived in Serpukhov. But Devlet-Gireya, at the direction of the traitors, secretly from the Russian governor crossed the Oka River and was already on his way to Moscow. The Tsar and his guardsmen, cut off from the main army, had to seek salvation and hastily retreated first to the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, and from there to Rostov. The Russian army hurried to the rescue of the capital, managed to arrive near Moscow the day before Devlet-Girey and settled on the outskirts of the city, instead of meeting the enemy in an open field. This was a disastrous mistake.

On May 24, the Feast of the Ascension, the khan approached Moscow. The morning was clear and quiet. Devlet-Girey ordered the suburbs to be set on fire. The Russian army was already vigorously preparing for mortal combat, when suddenly a fire broke out in many places at once. Wooden houses began to burn, first on the outskirts of the suburb. The fire quickly ran from roof to roof across the crowded wooden buildings and devoured the dry wood with a crash. Clouds of smoke swirled over Moscow. A whirlwind arose, and soon a sea of ​​fire spread throughout the city!..

There was no point in even thinking about putting out a complete fire. They also forgot about the Tatars. Residents of Moscow, crowds of people who fled from the Tatars here from all the surrounding places, soldiers - all mixed up, crowded along the streets, everyone sought salvation with cries of horror and died in the thousands... Eyewitnesses say that on some streets and especially at the gates, the most distant from the enemy, huge crowds of people gathered; they blocked each other's path, walked over the heads of the cramped crowd, the upper ones crushed the lower ones, the rear ones - the front ones. In a few hours, all of Moscow burned to the ground. Only the Kremlin survived thanks to its high stone walls. Several hundred thousand residents died during the terrible fire of Moscow set by Devlet-Girey, the likes of which in terms of terrible consequences had never happened before or since... The bodies dammed the Moscow River so that they then had to deliberately place people to lower the corpses down the river. “Whoever saw this terrible sight,” writes one foreign eyewitness, “always remembers it with new trepidation and prays to God not to see anything like it again.” This fire struck fear even among the Tatars themselves. In the midst of almost continuous fire, they had no time for robbery. Devlet-Girey ordered his horde to retreat to Kolomenskoye village; He did not besiege the Kremlin, but, having captured a huge number of prisoners, they say more than a hundred thousand, he moved back, ruining and plundering everything on the way...

He sent an arrogant letter to the king.

“I burn and devastate everything,” wrote Devlet-Girey, “for Kazan and Astrakhan, and I apply all the wealth of the world to the dust... I came against you, I burned your city, I wanted your crown and head, but you did not stand against us, and you also boast that you are the Sovereign of Moscow!.. If you want to be friends with us, then give us the yurts of Astrakhan and Kazan... Even if you want to give us all the wealth of the world instead of them, there is no need!.. And I saw and recognized the state of your road "

No matter how hard it was for the proud king, this time he had to come to terms. In a letter of response, he even agreed to cede Astrakhan to Devlet-Girey, “only now,” he added, “this matter cannot happen soon: we must have your ambassadors for it, and it is impossible to do such a great thing as messengers; Until then, you would have granted mercy, given time, and not fought against our land.”

But Devlet-Girey, relying too much on his success, was not content with the promised concession to Astrakhan; he also demanded Kazan. In the summer of 1572, he again rose with his entire horde to Moscow, crossed the Oka River with the same forces as the first time. But at Molodi, on the bank of Lopasnya, his governor, Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky, with a large Russian army, overtook him and defeated the Tatars in several hot battles. Devlet-Girey fled.

Now Ivan the Terrible spoke to him in a different language. Of course, there was no question of ceding Astrakhan. Having made peace with the khan and sending him, according to custom, gifts, this time the most insignificant, the king laughed at the boast of the khan’s letter. “I sent you a light wake,” he writes to Devlet-Girey, “I didn’t send a good wake: you wrote that you don’t need money, that wealth is equal to dust for you!”

The Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey did not forget the slap in the face that he received from Tsar Ivan during Danila Adashev’s campaign against the Crimea. Khan prepared for a long time to strike back, but when he struck, the blow turned out to be irresistible. Having secured the support of the Turkish Sultan Selim II and the neutrality of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Devlet-Girey invaded Russian borders. The khan's main hope was, first of all, speed and surprise. Khan's intelligence played a big role here, since through traitors and defectors Devlet-Girey was well aware of the difficulties that the Russian state faced at that moment.

The Khan knew that famine had come to the country and an ulcer was raging, that Tsar Ivan was mercilessly dealing with the most intelligent commanders. A clear example here was the fate of Danila Adashev, since the storm of the Crimean Tatars laid his head on the chopping block. And the foreign policy situation was developing very well for Devlet-Girey. The Livonian War was in full swing, the best Russian regiments were fighting in the west, and the Crimean military leaders understood that there might not be a better moment for an invasion. In the spring of 1571, the khan led the Tumen to Moscow.

Having learned about the invasion, Russian governors I. D. Belsky, I. F. Mstislavsky and M. I. Vorotynsky began to withdraw their regiments to the Oka River in order to block the horde’s path to the capital at the natural water line, but did not have time to do this. With the help of traitors, Devlet-Girey bypassed the abatis line and crossed the Oka River near Kromy, where he was not expected. At this time, Ivan IV was in Serpukhov with the oprichnina army. The most reasonable action on his part was to rush to Moscow and organize the defense of the capital, but the sovereign did not do this. Either he did not believe in the combat effectiveness of his guardsmen, or he was simply frightened and panicked when he learned about the breakthrough of the horde.

Abandoning Moscow to the mercy of fate, the tsar ran to Alexandrov Sloboda, and from there to Yaroslavl. The capital found itself without an army, without a governor and without any protection at all, and Devlet-Girey was already only thirty miles away. But the governors managed to deploy the regiments from Kolomna and bring them to Moscow on May 23, before the horde arrived. Advance detachments of the Krymchaks appeared in the vicinity of the capital the next morning, and then the khan himself arrived and settled in the village of Kolomenskoye. In Moscow they were preparing for battle, but the governors made a grave tactical mistake - instead of meeting the enemy on the outskirts of the capital, they drove the troops into the Moscow outskirts, where there were full of refugees.

Ivan Belsky with the Great Regiment stood on Varlamovskaya Street, and Ivan Mstislavsky on Yakimovskaya. Mikhail Vorotynsky positioned his regiment on Tagansky Meadow, and Vasily Temkin and the guardsmen stood behind the Neglinnaya River. Devlet-Girey carefully studied the location of the Russian troops and drew the appropriate conclusions. He did not storm Moscow, but simply ordered the suburbs where the Russian troops were stationed to be set on fire, since all the houses there were wooden. It flared so much that even the Crimeans were surprised. And then a whirlwind arose and the whole city turned into a huge bonfire.

The Russian army, with the exception of the Vorotynsky regiment, found itself in a fire trap. There was no talk of resisting the enemy; everyone, from the commanders to the simple warriors, thought only about their own salvation. The soldiers mixed with the residents of the settlement, the crowd poured into the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod to escape the fire. Prince Belsky lost command over the troops, galloped off to his courtyard and hid in the basement. Only on Tagansky Meadow, where the regiment of Prince Vorotynsky was stationed, cannon and squeak fire thundered, there the sovereign’s people repulsed the attacks of the Krymchaks. In other places, the Tatars tried to penetrate Moscow, but fire blocked their path. Three hours later, with the exception of the Kremlin, the city burned completely.

Seeing the scale of the disaster and the huge ashes instead of a prosperous city, Devlet-Girey did not even begin to storm the last stronghold of the Muscovites, realizing that his soldiers had nothing left to profit from. Khan led the horde to Crimea. An ambassador was sent to Ivan IV, who humiliated the tsar in every possible way and demanded that Astrakhan and Kazan be given back. The Emperor had already moved to Rostov, but was so frightened that he agreed to transfer Astrakhan to Devlet-Girey. Subsequently, Tsar Ivan began to look for the culprits of such a monstrous defeat, and since the governor Belsky suffocated from smoke in his own basement, the tsar placed all the blame on Mstislavsky and sent the boyar into disgrace.

The Girey dynasty ruled the Crimean Khanate for almost 350 years. It revealed to the world many famous personalities, some of whom were outstanding statesmen, while others found their calling in serving science and culture. The last type included the famous art critic and ethnographer Sultan Khan Giray. The biography of this man, as well as the history of the Girey dynasty as a whole, will be the subject of our discussion.

Biography of Khan-Girey

Sultan Khan-Girey was born in 1808 on the territory of modern Adygea. He was the third son of a Crimean Tatar aristocrat who came from the khan's family - Mehmed Khan-Girey. In addition, Circassian blood flowed in the Sultan’s veins. The best qualities of these two peoples are intertwined in him.

After reaching the age of 29, he participated in a number of wars of the Russian Empire, while holding an officer rank and commanding a separate unit. But he did not take part in the Caucasian War, which was tearing apart his homeland at that time, although, of course, this tragic conflict resonated in his heart.

Khan-Girey wrote a number of works on ethnography, folklore and art history of the Circassian people, which gained worldwide fame. Among them are “Notes about Circassia” and “Circassian legends”. He is also the author of a number of works of fiction. But most of his creations were published only after his death. Khan-Girey is also known as the compiler of the Adyghe alphabet.

Since 1841, he carried out active campaigning among the mountaineers (on behalf of the Russian government) with the goal of their reconciliation. However, his attempts ended in vain. Khan-Girey died at the age of 34, in 1842, in his small homeland.

This outstanding man left behind a son - Sultan Murat-Girey, born in the year of his father's death. But the contribution of Sultan Khan-Girey to the development of Adyghe culture and literature is priceless.

According to one version, it is in his honor that the Crimean Tatars want to rename Kherson Khan-Girey.

Let's find out who the ancestors of such an outstanding personality were.

Founding of a dynasty

The founder of the dynasty of rulers of Crimea was Hadji Giray. He came from the Tukatimurid family - one of the branches of the descendants of Genghis Khan. According to another version, the roots of the Girey dynasty came from the Mongolian Kirey family, and they were attributed to the Genghisids later in order to justify their right to power.

Hadji Giray was born around 1397 on the territory of modern Belarus, which at that time belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL).

At that time, the Golden Horde was going through hard times, actually breaking up into several independent states. The power in Crimea, with the support of the Lithuanian prince, managed to capture Hadji Gireya in 1441. Thus, he became the founder of a dynasty that ruled in Crimea for almost 350 years.

At the origins of power

Mengli-Girey is the khan who laid the foundation for the power of the Crimean Khanate. He was the son of Hadji Giray, after whose death (in 1466) a power struggle broke out between the children.

Initially, the eldest son of Hadji-Girey, Nur-Devlet, became the khan. But Mengli-Girey decided to challenge this right. Several times during this internecine struggle, the Crimean Khanate changed its ruler. Moreover, if Nur-Devlet relied on the forces of the Golden Horde and the Ottoman Empire in its claims, Mengli relied on the local Crimean nobility. Later, another brother joined the fight - Aider. In 1477, the throne was captured by Dzhanibek, who did not belong to the Girey dynasty at all.

Finally, in 1478, Mengli-Girey was able to finally defeat his rivals and establish himself in power. It was he who laid the foundations for the power of the Crimean Khanate. True, in the course of the struggle with other contenders, he had to recognize his state from the Ottoman Empire and give the south of Crimea, which his allies, the Genoese, colonized, to the direct control of the Turks.

The Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey entered into an alliance with the Moscow state against the Great Horde (heir to the Golden Horde) and Lithuania. In 1482, his troops ravaged Kyiv, which at that time belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Under him, the Crimean Tatars carried out massive predatory raids on the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as part of compliance with the treaty with Moscow. In 1502, Mengli-Girey finally destroyed the Great Horde.

Mengli-Girey died in 1515.

Further strengthening of the khan's power

The state was further strengthened by Mehmed-Girey, the khan who ruled after the death of Mengli-Girey and was his son. Unlike his father, from his youth he prepared to become a ruler, receiving the title - kalga, which corresponded to the title of crown prince. Mehmed-Girey led many campaigns and raids organized by Mengli-Girey.

By the time of his accession to the throne, he already held in his hands all the threads of government, so that his brothers’ attempts to rebel were doomed to failure.

In 1519, the Crimean Khanate strengthened significantly, as part of the Nogai Horde moved to its territory. This was caused by the fact that the Nogais were defeated by the Kazakhs, and they had to ask for asylum from Mehmed-Girey.

Under Mehmed, there was a change in the foreign policy course of the Crimean Khanate. After the Great Horde was defeated by his father, the need for an alliance with the Principality of Moscow disappeared, so Mehmed Giray Khan entered into an alliance with Lithuania against Rus'. It was under him that in 1521 the first major campaign of the Crimean Tatars against the Moscow Principality was organized.

Mehmed-Girey managed to place his brother Sahib-Girey on the throne of the Kazan Khanate, thereby extending his influence to the Middle Volga region. In 1522 he captured the Astrakhan Khanate. Thus, Mehmed-Girey actually managed to subjugate a significant part of the former Golden Horde.

But while in Astrakhan, the khan was so intoxicated with his power that he disbanded the army, which was taken advantage of by ill-wishers who organized a conspiracy against Mehmed-Girey and killed him in 1523.

The pinnacle of power

In the period from 1523 to 1551, the brothers and sons of Mehmed Giray ruled alternately. This time was full of intense struggle within the Crimean Khanate. But in 1551, Devlet-Girey, the son of Mubarek, who, in turn, was the offspring of Mengli-Girey, came to power. It was during his reign that the Crimean Khanate reached the peak of power.

Devlet-Girey is a Crimean Khan who became especially famous for his raids on the Russian state. His campaign of 1571 even culminated in the burning of Moscow.

Devlet-Girey was in power for 26 years and died in 1577.

Weakening of the Khanate

If the son of Devlet-Girey still managed to maintain the prestige of the Crimean Khanate, then under his successors the importance of the Tatar state in the international arena dropped significantly. Mehmed II himself was overthrown by the Turkish Sultan in 1584, and his brother Islyam-Girey was installed in his place. The following Crimean khans were unremarkable rulers, and in the state itself, unrest became a fairly common occurrence.

In 1648, Islyam-Girey III tried to enter the arena of big politics by concluding an alliance with the Zaporozhye Cossacks in the liberation war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But this union soon fell apart, and the hetmanate became subject to the Russian Tsar.

The Last Ruler

The last ruler of the Crimean Khanate was Khan Shagin-Girey. Even during the reign of his predecessor Devlet-Girey IV, in 1774, the Crimean Khanate gained independence from the Ottoman Empire and recognized the protectorate of Russia. This was one of the conditions of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi peace, which ended the next Russian-Turkish war.

The Crimean Khan Shagin-Girey came to power in 1777 as a protege of Russia. He was enthroned instead of the pro-Turkish Devlet-Girey IV. However, even supported by Russian weapons, he did not sit firmly on the throne. This is evidenced by the fact that in 1782 he was removed from the throne by his brother Bakhadyr-Girey, who came to power on the wave of a popular uprising. With the help of Russian troops, Shagin-Girey managed to regain the throne, but his further reign became a fiction, since he no longer had real power.

In 1783 this fiction was eliminated. Shagin-Girey signed the abdication of the throne, and the Crimean Khanate was annexed to the Russian Empire. Thus ended the period of Gireyev’s rule in Crimea. The only evidence of Shagin’s reign can now be the coins of Khan Girey, the image of which can be seen above.

After his abdication, Shagin-Girey first lived in Russia, but then moved to Turkey, where in 1787 he was executed by order of the Sultan.

Girey after losing power

Sultan Khan-Girey is not the only representative of the family who became widely known after the loss of the dynasty’s power over the Crimea. His brothers were famous - Sultan Adil-Girey and Sultan Sagat-Girey, who became famous in the military field for the benefit of the Russian Empire.

Khan-Girey's cousin Sultan Davlet-Girey became the founder of the Adyghe theater. The latter’s brother, Sutan Krym-Girey, was the chairman of the cavalry division committee. Both were killed in 1918 by the Bolsheviks.

Currently, the title of Crimean Khan is nominally claimed by Jezzar Pamir-Girey, who lives in London.

The significance of the Girey family in world history

The Gireyev family left a noticeable mark on the history of Crimea, and world history in general. The existence of the Crimean Khanate, a state that at one time played one of the leading roles in Eastern Europe, is almost inextricably linked with the name of this dynasty.

Gireev is also remembered by the current generation of Crimean Tatars, associating this family with glorious times in the history of the people. No wonder they came up with the initiative to rename Kherson Khan-Girey.

Battle of Molodi- a major battle in which Russian troops defeated the army of the Crimean Khan Devlet I Giray, which included, in addition to the Crimean troops themselves, Turkish and Nogai detachments. Despite more than twofold numerical superiority, the 40,000-strong Crimean army was put to flight and almost completely killed. In terms of its significance, the Battle of Molodi is comparable to Kulikovo and other key battles in Russian history. Victory in the battle allowed Russia to maintain its independence and became a turning point in the confrontation between the Muscovite state and the Crimean Khanate, which abandoned its claims to the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and henceforth lost most of its power.

FIFTY MIRS FROM MOSCOW

and the Crimean Tsar came to Moscow, and with him were his 100 thousand and twenty, and his son Tsarevich, and his grandson, and his uncle, and the governor Diviy Murza - and God help our Moscow governors over the Crimean power of the Tsar, Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky and other governors of the Moscow sovereign, and the Crimean Tsar fled from them inappropriately, not by path or by road, in a small squad; and our commanders of the Crimean Tsar killed 100 thousand on Rozhai on the rivers, near Resurrection in Molody, on Lopasta, in the Khotyn district, there was a case with Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky, with the Crimean Tsar and his governors... and there was a case from Moscow fifty miles away.

Novgorod Chronicle

MEANT MUCH, KNOWN LITTLE

The Battle of Molodin in 1572 is an important stage in the history of Russia’s struggle against the Crimean Khanate in the 16th century. The Russian state, busy at that time with the Livonian War, i.e., the struggle with the bloc of European powers (Sweden, Denmark, the Polish-Lithuanian state), was forced to simultaneously repel the onslaught of joint Turkish-Tatar attacks. Of the 24 years of the Livonian War, 21 years were marked by attacks by the Crimean Tatars. In the late 60s - first half of the 70s. Crimean raids on Russia intensified sharply. In 1569, on the Turkish initiative, an attempt was made to capture Astrakhan, which ended in complete failure. In 1571, a large Crimean army led by Khan Devlet-Girey invaded Russia and burned Moscow. The next year, 1572, Devlet-Girey with a huge army again appeared within Russia. In a series of battles, of which the most decisive and fierce was the Battle of Molodi, the Tatars were completely defeated and put to flight. However, there is still no special research on the Battle of Molodinsky in 1572, which is partly due to the lack of sources on this issue.

The range of published sources telling about the Battle of Molodi is still very limited. This is a brief testimony of the Novgorod II Chronicle and a short chronicler of time, published by Acad. M. N. Tikhomirov, books of rank - a short edition ("Sovereign's rank") and an abbreviated edition. In addition, an interesting story about the victory over the Crimean Tatars in 1572 was published, which was also used by A. Lyzlov and N. M. Karamzin; G. Staden provides interesting data in his notes and autobiography, who in some cases was a witness, in others a participant in the events of 1572. Finally, S. M. Seredonin published the order of the prince. M.I. Vorotynsky, commander-in-chief of the Russian army during the Battle of Molodin, and a painting of this army, but this publication is extremely unsatisfactory.

Website "Oriental Literature"

PROGRESS OF THE BATTLE

On July 28, forty-five versts from Moscow, near the village of Molodi, Khvorostinin’s regiment began a battle with the rearguard of the Tatars, commanded by the sons of the khan with selected cavalry. Devlet Giray sent 12,000 soldiers to help his sons. A large regiment of Russian troops set up a mobile fortress at Molodi - “walk-city”, and entered there. The advanced regiment of Prince Khvorostinin, with difficulty withstanding the attacks of three times the strongest enemy, retreated to the “walk-city” and with a quick maneuver to the right took its soldiers to the side, bringing the Tatars under deadly artillery and squeal fire - “many Tatars were beaten.” Devlet Giray, who on July 29 settled down to rest in a swampy area seven kilometers north of the Pakhra River near Podolsk, was forced to stop the attack on Moscow and, fearing a stab in the back - “that’s why he was afraid, did not go to Moscow, because the sovereign’s boyars and governors were following him “- he returned back, intending to defeat Vorotynsky’s army - “nothing will prevent us from fearlessly hunting over Moscow and the cities.” Both sides were preparing for battle - “they fought with the Crimean people, but there was no real battle.”

On July 30, a five-day battle began at Molodi, between Podolsk and Serpukhov. The Moscow state, practically crushed by the power of the Tsar, who was in Novgorod and had already written a letter to Devlet Giray with a proposal to give him both Kazan and Astrakhan, in case of defeat, could again lose its independence, won in a difficult struggle.

The large regiment was located in the “walk-city”, placed on a hill, surrounded by dug ditches. At the foot of the hill across the Rozhai River stood three thousand archers with arquebuses. The remaining troops covered the flanks and rear. Having launched an assault, several tens of thousands of Tatars knocked out the Streltsy, but were unable to capture the “Walk-Gorod”, suffered heavy losses and were repulsed. On July 31, the entire army of Devlet Giray went to storm the “walk-city”. The fierce assault lasted the whole day; the leader of the Nogais, Tereberdey-Murza, died during the assault. All Russian troops took part in the battle, except for the regiment of the left hand, which especially guarded the “Walk-Gorod”. “And on that day there was a lot of battle, the wallpaper left a lot of wallpaper, and the water was mixed with blood. And by evening the regiments were exhausted into convoys, and the Tatars went into their camps.”

On August 1, Devey-Murza himself led the Tatars to the assault - “I will take the Russian convoy: and they will tremble and be horrified, and we will beat them.” Having carried out several unsuccessful attacks and trying in vain to break into the “walk-city” - “he climbed onto the convoy many times in order to tear it apart,” Divey-Murza with a small retinue went on a reconnaissance mission to identify the weakest points of the Russian mobile fortress. The Russians made a sortie, near Divey, who began to leave, his horse stumbled and fell, and the second man after the khan in the Tatar army was captured by the Suzdalian Temir-Ivan Shibaev, son of Alalykin - “the argamak tripped under him, and he did not sit still. And then they took him from the Argamaks, dressed in armor. The Tatar attack became weaker than before, but the Russian people became braver and, climbing out, fought and beat many Tatars in that battle.” The assault stopped.

On this day, Russian troops captured many prisoners. Among them was the Tatar prince Shirinbak. When asked about the future plans of the Crimean Khan, he replied: “Even though I am a prince, I don’t know the prince’s thoughts; The princess’s thought is now all yours: you took Diveya-Murza, he was an industrialist for everything.” Divey, who said he was a simple warrior, was identified. Heinrich Staden later wrote: “We captured the main military commander of the Crimean king Divey-Murza and Khazbulat. But no one knew their language. We thought it was some small murza. The next day, a Tatar, a former servant of Divey Murza, was captured. He was asked - how long will the Crimean Tsar last? The Tatar answered: “Why are you asking me about this! Ask my master Divey-Murza, whom you captured yesterday.” Then everyone was ordered to bring their polonyaniki. The Tatar pointed to Divey-Murza and said: “Here he is - Divey-Murza!” When they asked Divey-Murza: “Are you Divey-Murza?”, he answered: “No, I’m not a big Murza!” And soon Divey-Murza boldly and impudently said to Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky and all the governors: “Oh, you peasants! How dare you, pathetic ones, compete with your master, the Crimean Tsar!” They answered: “You yourself are in captivity, and yet you are threatening.” To this, Divey-Murza objected: “If the Crimean Tsar had been captured instead of me, I would have freed him, and I would have driven all of you peasants into Crimea!” The governors asked: “How would you do it?” Divey-Murza answered: “I would starve you to death in your walking city in 5-6 days.” For he knew well that the Russians beat and ate their horses, on which they must ride against the enemy.” Indeed, the defenders of the “walk-city” had almost no water or provisions all this time.

On August 2, Devlet Giray resumed the assault on the “walk-city”, trying to recapture Divey-Murza - “many regiments of foot and horsemen to the walk-city to knock out Divey-Murza.” During the assault, Vorotynsky’s large regiment secretly left the “walk-city” and, moving along the bottom of the ravine behind the hill, went to the rear of the Tatar army. The regiment of Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin with artillery and the German reiters who remained in the “walk-city” fired a cannon salvo at the agreed signal, left the fortifications and again started a battle, during which a large regiment of Prince Vorotynsky struck the Tatar rear. “The battle was great.” The Tatar army was completely destroyed; according to some sources, the son and grandson of Devlet Giray, as well as all seven thousand Janissaries, were killed in the wheelhouse. The Russians captured many Tatar banners, tents, convoys, artillery and even the khan's personal weapons. Throughout the next day, the remnants of the Tatars drove to the Oka, twice knocking down and destroying the rearguards of Devlet Girey, who brought back to the Crimea only every fifth warrior from among those who took part in the campaign. Andrei Kurbsky wrote that after the Battle of Molodin, the Turks who went on a campaign with the Tatars “all disappeared and, they say, not a single one returned to Constantinople.” On August 6, Ivan the Terrible also learned about Molodin’s victory. Divey Murza was brought to him in Novgorod on August 9.

THE DOG OF THE CRIMEA KING

Song about the invasion of the Crimean Tatars into Rus'

“And not a strong cloud has clouded,

and the thunder thundered loudly:

Where is the dog of the Crimean king going?

And to the powerful kingdom of Moscow:

“And now we will go to stone Moscow,

and we’ll go back and take Rezan.”

And how will they be at the Oka River,

and then they will begin to erect white tents.

“And think with your whole mind:

who should sit with us in stone Moscow,

and to whom we have in Volodymer,

and who should sit with us in Suzdal,

and who will keep Rezan Staraya with us,

and to whom we have in Zvenigorod,

and who should sit with us in Novgorod?”

Divi-Murza's son Ulanovich comes out:

“And you are our sovereign, the Crimean king!

And you, sir, can sit with us in stone Moscow,

And to your son in Volodymer,

and to your nephew in Suzdal,

and to my relatives in Zvenigorod,

and the stable boyar will keep Rezan Staraya,

and for me, sir, perhaps the New City:

I have light-good-days lying there, father,

Divi-Murza son of Ulanovich."

From the collection “Songs Recorded for Richard James in 1619-1620.” Date of creation: end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries.

AFTER THE BATTLE

The firmness shown by the Moscow state in response to Turkish claims to Kazan and Astrakhan, successful military operations against the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray, in whose ranks, as is known, there were not only Nogais (Murza Keremberdeev with 20 thousand people), but also 7 thousand Janissaries sent Khan by the Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha, and finally, the successful raid of the Don Cossacks in 1572 on Azov, when they, taking advantage of the devastation of the city from the explosion of a gunpowder warehouse, caused great damage to the Turkish garrison - all this somewhat sobered up the Sultan’s government. In addition, Turkey after 1572 was distracted by the struggle that Sultan Selim II had to wage in Wallachia and Moldavia, and then in Tunisia.

That is why, when Selim II died in 1574, the new Turkish Sultan Murad III decided to send a special envoy to Moscow with notification of the death of Selim II and his accession to the throne.

This was a sign of reconciliation, especially pleasant for Russia, since Murad III's predecessor, his father Selim II, did not consider it necessary to notify the Moscow government of his accession.

However, Turkish politeness did not at all mean a renunciation of a hostile offensive policy.

The strategic task of the Turks was to form a continuous line of their possessions through Azov and the North Caucasus, which, starting from the Crimea, would encircle the Russian state from the south. If this task was successfully completed, the Turks could not only stop all relations between Russia and Georgia and Iran, but also keep these countries under attack and the constant threat of a surprise attack.

Russian historian I.I. Smirnov