An important event in history was the siege of the Trinity-Sergeev Monastery by the troops of False Dmitry 2. What are its causes, and what were the events of those times? You will learn about all this in the process of reading the article.
In August 1530 (according to the old style), the young princess Elena Glinsky, who belonged to the family of the temnik Mamaia, defeated in the Battle of Kulikovo, who was the second wife of Vasily III, was born an heir. He was baptized in this monastery and named Ivan, later known as the Terrible. At 4, his father dies, and at 8, his mother. In the fortieth year of the sixteenth century, Ivan, most likely listening to Metropolitan Joseph, gave the decree around the above monastery to build walls of stone. Prior to this, walls of wood surrounded him, sometimes helping to save, and sometimes not, from the encroachments of neighbors. The monastery housed holy relics and excellent icons, food, cattle, dishes, horses.
This house for the monks was a large landowner. In the Zamoskovsky Territory, he had more than 200,000 hectares of land, on which at least 7,000 peasant households plowed. Every year, conducting business, the monastery received about 1,500 rubles. It was a big amount. For example, a cow could be bought for about 1 ruble, and chicken for 1 kopeck. Today this amount is 30 million rubles.
Also, the monastery led the paths to the northeast and north. The stone fortress was completed by the year 50 of the 16th century. The house for the monks became a serious construction for defense.
Objects on the territory of the monastery
At the beginning of the 17th century on its territory there were Trinity and Assumption Cathedrals made of white stone, Soyedentskaya and Sergievskaya churches, refectory in two floors. And also the dwellings of the monks, a bell tower made of wood and other various buildings. Almost throughout the entire free space of the southern half of the building there were graves, next to which there were tombstones of white stone.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Trinity Monastery had many different weapons, for example, cannons and four-armed spines. They were scattered along the roads to harm the horses of the enemy. A deep moat dug along the wall from the east. Around the wall put hollows, which are logs that are dug in several rows. Before False Dmitry II approached the walls of Moscow, the Cossacks were engaged in the protection of the monastery. Later, about 800 nobles and children of the boyars, about 100 archers, led by Prince Dolgoruky-Roshcha and the nobleman Golokhvast, sent to help them.
Vohonsky paradox
Vohon peasants were more consistent as adherents of the Pretender, despite the legend in Pavlovo-Posad local history about the battle of local peasants of the monastery under the leadership of Colonel Chaplinsky, which allegedly occurred on the Klyazma coast in the fall of 1609. The secretaries of Sapieha noticed that when he arrived at the Trinity, he sent people twice to negotiate in the temple, inviting them to admit defeat. The words in his letters quoted by A. Palitsyn, as well as the answers of the besieged, are all the fantasies and literary works of the writer.
Previous events
Before the beginning of the Time of Troubles, this monastery already had a strong influence on religion, possessed many treasures and an excellent fortress. Around this temple were twelve towers, which were connected by a fortress wall with a length of more than a thousand meters, and their height was from eight to fourteen meters, a thickness of one meter. There are more than 100 guns, throwing devices, boilers in which tar and boiling water were boiled, and devices on top of the towers and walls, so that they can be knocked over to the enemy.
False Dmitry II with the Poles who supported him stopped near Moscow, after which he tried to completely block her. When the monastery was occupied and the northeastern regions of Russia were controlled, treasures were seized.
The financial situation could have been strengthened, and the influential brethren of the monastery would have been attracted, which would have completely destroyed the authority of Tsar Vasily Shuisky and subsequently, False Dmitry II would be crowned with the kingdom. To achieve this goal, a Lithuanian-Polish army was sent to the temple, led by the hetman Jan Sapega. It was reinforced by detachments of Russian allies, Cossacks and Tushins, commanded by Colonel Alexander Lisovsky. There is no single information about the number of these soldiers (some sources claim that it is approximately fifteen thousand people, and the second - approximately thirty thousand people).
According to the historian I. Tyumentsev, Lithuanian-Polish regiments and mercenaries totaled about five thousand people, and Tushins - about six thousand people. The army included: infantry - 6000 people, cavalry - 6770 people. At that time, this number was a huge fighting force. And there were field tools that did not bring any benefit in conducting a siege. Previously, the leadership of Vasily Shuisky sent to the temple detachments of Cossacks and archers, led by the nobleman Golokhvastov and voivode Dolgorukov-Roshcha.
Before the start of hostilities, there were approximately 2,000 military men and about 1,000 peasants from villages, monks, church workers, and pilgrims who actively defended it. For all the time of the blockade, Princess Ksenia Godunova lived in this building , who was trimmed as a nun by order of False Dmitry I.
Beginning of the siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery
It was unexpected for the commanders of the Lithuanian-Polish forces that the population so stubbornly defended the temple, not en masse accepting the kingdom of Vasily Shuisky. For this reason, they were hindered by the refusal of the troops to surrender the guarded building without any opposition. First, the besiegers quickly built their camps, fortified them and began to prepare for the assault. At the same time, they tried to start negotiating with the besieged. But defeat awaited Sapieha at the end - Joasaph, the archimandrite of the monastery, sent him a letter in response, where he put not the oath to Tsar Shuisky at the forefront, but the need to defend Orthodoxy and the duty to be devoted to the sovereign. Copies of the letters on which this message was distributed throughout Russia. This had a serious impact on the consciousness of the Russian people. So, from the very first days, the protection of the temple among the besieged and Russian people began to have a nationwide character, which was multiplied by the armed forces of one of the main shrines of Orthodoxy.
In the middle of the fall of 1608, small clashes begin: a struggle occurs between the besiegers and the Russian spies. The besieged are engaged in cutting off and destroying small groups of attackers at construction works and harvesting fodder. Under the monastery towers began to build undermines. On the night of the first of November of the same year, for the first time they tried to storm a simultaneous attack from several sides. One of the main wooden fortifications was set on fire by the besiegers. Fire flames lit up the coming troops. The defenders of the monastery in the face of Russian artillery in large numbers with the help of precise fire stopped the attackers and forced them to flee. And when the next sortie was made, the disengaged groups of Tushino people who were hiding in the trenches were destroyed. The besiegers of the first assault turned out to be a failure, they suffered tremendous damage. The commanders of the monastery garrison were active in defense.
Siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery
The situation was very difficult for those who defended the monastery. Even though they had rye, it was impossible to grind it, because the mills stood behind the monastery walls. Due to crowdedness, people lived in the open air. Pregnant women were forced to give birth to babies in front of strangers. During one sortie, two peasants discovered a digging, they decide to blow themselves up in it and thereby violate the cunning plans of the enemy. The troops of False Dmitry 2 sieged this temple in the seventeenth century (the date of the siege of the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius is September 23, 1608 - January 12, 1610). It lasted 16 months. Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky and Jacob Delagardi managed to lift the siege with the help of their troops.
Outings
At the end of 1608 - at the beginning of 1609, thanks to sorties from opponents, hay and cattle were taken away, several outposts were destroyed, several of their structures were set on fire. But the defenders lost a lot. At the beginning of the winter, they counted more than 300 people killed and captured. Also, several people went over to the side of the enemy. At the beginning of 1609, during the siege of one of the sorties, a tragedy almost happened - they suffered from a trap on the part of the enemy and were separated from the temple, and the cavalry of the besiegers attacked the gates of the temple, which were open. Several attackers were able to break into the temple. And again, help came from the Russian artillery, it fired accurately and plunged the Tushins into confusion. This helped the archers who participated in the sortie to return to the temple, of which forty people were killed. Almost all the horsemen who were able to enter the temple were destroyed by peasants and pilgrims. They threw stones and logs at them.
Events of 1609
At the beginning of 1609, the situation of the besieged became worse, because there were not enough food reserves, they began to suffer from scurvy. In February, more than fifteen people died a day. Powder began to run out. This information was reported to hetman Jan Sapieha, who was preparing to conduct an attack again. He planned to blow up the gates with the help of prepared firecrackers.
The governors of Vasily Shuisky made an attempt to support the besieged. Gunpowder was sent to the temple. He was accompanied by 20 servants of the monastery and 70 Cossacks. The Poles seized the messengers sent by the elders of the convoy to the monastery to coordinate an action plan. Due to torture, the messengers gave out everything they knew. For this reason, on the night of February 16, 1609, the convoy was ambushed, the Cossacks guarding it began to fight in an unequal battle. The noise of the boyars was heard by Governor Dolgoruky-Roscha, and he decided to make a sortie, after which the ambush was dispelled, a valuable convoy was able to break into the temple.
Colonel Alexander Lisovsky was saddened by the failure and ordered in the morning to bring to the monastery walls and brutally kill the captured prisoners. In response to this, Dolgoruky-Roscha ordered to bring and chop down all the prisoners who were in the temple (these are more than 50 people, many of them are mercenaries, as well as Cossacks-Tushins). Because of this, the Tushins from among the besiegers rebelled and accused Lisovsky of the tragic death of their comrades. Since that time, quarrels in the camp between the besiegers have intensified. More disagreements began to occur between monks and archers in the monastery garrison. Some began to side with the enemy. Knowing the difficulties of the besieged, Sapega began to make preparations for a new Trinity siege, and so that everything would be successful, the Martyash Pole was sent to the besieged building in order to gain the confidence of the Russian governor, and at the right time to disable part of the fortress artillery.
He managed to achieve the intended goal, that is, he was able to inspire confidence. But before the assault in the church, a defector Litvin (of the Orthodox faith) appeared, who spoke about a scout. Martyash was seized and tortured in order to find out all the information about the planned assault, which he eventually issued. The fight took place at night. The assault was repelled. During the battle, more than thirty people were captured. But, unfortunately, in the ranks of the besieged, the number of soldiers was reduced to two hundred people. For this reason, Sapega began to prepare for the third attack. He annexed the Tushintsy, operating in the surrounding areas, and the number of his troops amounted to 12,000 people. He planned to attack from all sides in order to completely crush the garrison forces and destroy the defense of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The signal for the attack should be a shot from a cannon, which will cause a fire in the fortress, and if it doesn’t, then the next salvo, if by again, then repeat, and so on until the goal is reached.
Conducting an attack
The attack was planned to be carried out on July 28, 1609.
Voivode Dolgoruky-Grove, who saw all the preparations, did everything necessary to arm the monks with the peasants. He gave the order to carry all the gunpowder to the walls, but there were almost no chances for a successful fight. The besieged could be saved only by praying and hoping for a miracle. The warning system for the start of the battle was very confusing - some units began to storm when the first shot was fired, and the second after the next. Due to the darkness, the order of the attackers was mixed up. When the German mercenaries heard the screams of the Russian Tushins, they thought that the besieged decided to make a sortie - they began to fight with them. On the other hand, a column from the Poles during the shots was able to see the Tushino people who came from the flank and opened fire on them. The besieged began to shoot at the battlefield, due to which the turmoil intensified and panic began. The besiegers began to cut each other. Several hundred people were killed in this turmoil and panic. Sapega decides to stop attacking the temple. He planned to kill the defenders in the siege by the Poles of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery with the help of hunger.
The historian Golubinsky noted that they teased the starving, grazed cattle behind the ponds in the south side of the church, on the Klementyevsky field and Red Mountain. The Poles wanted to use cattle as a bait, for the besieged to have a desire to make sorties with the aim of beating them and taking cattle. And in fact, the besieged did just that. But it so happened that they were able to procure part of the livestock from among their people with absolutely no loss. And in mid-August, the besieged sent several people on horseback for the herd grazing on Red Mountain. They managed to sneak in and suddenly attack the guard of the herd and beat them, and the animals were taken to the monastery. But in the autumn a strong famine nevertheless occurred in the monastery - the grain ran out, all cats and birds were eaten by people.
Siege completion
Since the attackers could not agree among themselves, there was a turning point in the struggle for the temple. All disagreements: on the one hand, between mercenaries and Poles, and on the other hand, from Tushino, they came to the surface. There was a discord among the besiegers. Most of the chieftains of Tushino’s own troops were withdrawn from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, and many deserters appeared in the remaining units. After the Tushins, foreign mercenaries left the Sapieha camp. And among the besieged, there was confidence that the salvation of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery was the result of the intercession by God and that the siege would end soon.
In the fall of 1609, under the leadership of Jacob Delagardi and Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, Russian troops were able to win the battle against the Poles and Tushins. Then they again began to advance towards Moscow. Some troops sent to fight with Sapieha troops. They surrounded him in their own camp and restored permanent communication between the besieged and the troops who were going to help. In the autumn of the same year and at the beginning of the winter of 1610, help came to the people holding the defense: the archers of the governors Zherebtsova and Grigory Valuev managed to enter the monastery. The troops began to fight. Sagittarius, having made one of the sorties, set fire to the wooden fortifications located in the Sapegi camp. The enemy outnumbered them, because of which they could not enter the camp, but the outcome of the struggle was already clear.
Having received information that the troops of Y. Delagardi and M. Skopin-Shuisky were moving from Novgorod, Sapega ordered the lifting of the siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. In mid-January 1610, Lithuanian-Polish detachments left the church for Dmitrov. There, they were overtaken and defeated by a detachment of Russians led by governor Ivan Kurakin. After that, Sapega brought about a little more than a thousand people back to False Dmitry II. By the end of the attack, in the besieged monastery there were no more than 1000 people from those who were there at the beginning of the siege, and the number of troops was less than two hundred people. The 16-month siege by the Poles of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery ended in victory. This greatly improved the mood of people, strengthened the fighting spirit of warriors who boldly and decisively fought against invaders during the Time of Troubles.
The siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery during the Time of Troubles marked the beginning of the onset of a difficult period for Russia. Tsar Vasily Shuisky was tired of receiving petitions from the besieged building, and therefore (based on petition) he first handed the award to Davyd Zherebtsov, and then governor Grigory Dolgoruky-Roshcha. The prince felt insulted and sent a complaint to the court. But the court session was not held, and he was sent to Vologda as the second governor. There he constantly drank and did not engage in the defense of the city, for which he was executed in September 1612 (the city was captured by a gang of Cossacks, and the governor was executed by them).
Afterword
In 1618, the Polish prince Wladyslaw made an attempt to attack the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, but thanks to its new, strongly fortified buildings, the temple was impregnable. As a result, in Deulino, near Sergiev Posad, they signed the Deulinsky peace, which served as the end of the Russo-Polish war of 1609-1618.