Prince Kurbsky Andrei Mikhailovich is a famous Russian politician, commander, writer and translator, the closest associate of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. In 1564, during the Livonian War, he fled from a possible disgrace to Poland, where he was accepted into the service of King Sigismund II Augustus. Subsequently, he fought against Muscovy.
Family tree
Prince Rostislav Smolensky was the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh himself and was the founder of two eminent families - Smolensk and Vyazemsky. The first of them had several branches, one of which was the Kurbsky family, which reigned in Yaroslavl from the 13th century. According to legend, this surname came from the main village called Kurba. This inheritance went to Yakov Ivanovich. All that is known about this man is that he died in 1455 on the Arskoye field, bravely fighting the Kazan. After his death, the inheritance passed into the possession of his brother Semyon, who served with the Grand Duke Vasily.
In turn, he had two sons - Dmitry and Fedor, who were in the service of Prince Ivan III. The last of them was the Nizhny Novgorod governor. His sons were brave warriors, but only Mikhail, who was nicknamed Karamysh, had children. Together with his brother Roman, he died in 1506 in the battles near Kazan. Semyon Fedorovich also fought against Kazan and Lithuanians. He was a boyar under Vasily III and sharply condemned the prince's decision to mow Solomia's wife as a nun.
One of the sons of Karamysh, Mikhail, was often appointed to various command posts during campaigns. The last in his life was the military campaign of 1545 against Lithuania. After himself, he left two sons - Andrei and Ivan, who subsequently successfully continued the family military traditions. During the capture of Kazan , Ivan Mikhailovich was seriously wounded, but did not leave the battlefield and continued to fight. I must say that numerous injuries severely crippled his health, and a year later he died.
An interesting fact is that no matter how many historians write about Ivan IV, they will definitely remember about Andrei Mikhailovich, perhaps the most famous representative of a kind and the closest associate of the tsar. Researchers are still arguing about who Prince Kurbsky really is: a friend or enemy of Ivan the Terrible?
Biography
No information about his childhood years has been preserved, and no one would have been able to determine the birth date of Andrei Mikhailovich if he himself had not mentioned this in passing in one of his works. And he was born in the fall of 1528. Not surprisingly, for the first time, Prince Kurbsky, whose biography was associated with frequent military campaigns, is mentioned in documents in connection with the next campaign of 1549. In the army of Tsar Ivan IV, he had the rank of steward.
He was not yet 21 years old when he took part in a campaign in Kazan. Perhaps Kurbsky was able to immediately become famous for his feats of arms on the battlefields, because a year later the sovereign made him governor and sent him to Pronsk to protect the south-eastern borders of the country. Soon, as a reward either for military merits, or for a promise to arrive at the first call with his detachment of soldiers, Ivan the Terrible granted Andrei Mikhailovich lands located near Moscow.
First victories
It is known that Kazan Tatars, starting from the reign of Ivan III, quite often raided Russian settlements. And this despite the fact that Kazan was formally dependent on Moscow princes. In 1552, the Russian army was again convened for another battle with the rebellious Kazan. Around the same time, an army of the Crimean Khan appeared in the south of the country. The enemy army came close to Tula and besieged it. Tsar Ivan the Terrible decided to stay with the main forces near Kolomna, and send a 15,000-strong army to the rescue of the besieged city, commanded by Schenyatev and Andrei Kurbsky.
The Russian troops, by their unexpected appearance, took the khan by surprise, so he had to retreat. However, a large detachment of Crimeans still remained near Tula, mercilessly robbing the vicinity of the city, not suspecting that the main troops of the khan had gone into the steppe. Immediately, Andrei Mikhailovich decided to attack the enemy, although he had half as many warriors. According to the surviving documents, this battle lasted an hour and a half, and Prince Kurbsky emerged victorious from it.
The result of this battle was a large loss of enemy troops: half of the 30,000th unit died during the battle, and the rest were either captured or drowned during the crossing of Shivoron. Kurbsky himself fought along with his subordinates, as a result of which he received several wounds. However, a week later he got back into operation and even went camping. This time, his path ran through the Ryazan lands. His task was to cover the main forces from the sudden attacks of the steppes.
Siege of Kazan
In the fall of 1552, Russian troops approached Kazan. Schenyatev and Kurbsky were appointed commanders of the regiment of the Right Hand. Their units were located across the Kazanka River. This area was unprotected, so the regiment suffered heavy losses as a result of firing opened at them from the city. In addition, Russian soldiers had to repel the attacks of Cheremis, often coming from the rear.
On September 2, the assault on Kazan began, during which Prince Kurbsky and his warriors had to stand at the Elbugin Gate so that the besieged could not escape from the city. Numerous attempts by enemy troops to break through the guarded area were largely repelled. Only a small part of the enemy soldiers managed to break out of the fortress. Andrei Mikhailovich with his soldiers rushed in pursuit. He fought bravely, and only a severe wound forced him to finally leave the battlefield.
Tsar's Advisor
Two years later, Kurbsky again went to Kazan lands, this time to pacify the rebels. I must say, the campaign turned out to be very difficult, since the troops had to make their way off-road and fight in a wooded area, but the prince coped with the task, and then returned to the capital with a victory. It was for this feat of arms that Ivan the Terrible made him a boyar.
At this time, Prince Kurbsky was one of the closest people to Tsar Ivan IV. Gradually, he became close with Adashev and Sylvester, representatives of the party of reformers, and also became one of the sovereign advisers, entering the Elected Council. In 1556, he took part in a new military campaign against the Cheremis and again returned victorious from the campaign. First, he was appointed governor in the regiment of the Left Hand, which was deployed in Kaluga, and a little later took command of the Regiment of the Right Hand, located in Kashira.
War with livonia
It was this circumstance that made Andrei Mikhailovich return to combat formation again. At first he was appointed to command the Storozhev, and a little later, the Advanced Regiment, with whom he took part in the capture of Yuryev and Neuhaus. In the spring of 1559 he returned to Moscow, where they soon decided to send him to serve on the southern border of the state.
The victorious war with Livonia did not last long. When setbacks began to crumble one after another, the king called Kurbsky to himself and made him commander of the entire army fighting in Livonia. I must say that the new commander immediately began to act decisively. Without waiting for the main forces, he was the first to attack the enemy detachment, located near Weissenstein, and won a landslide victory.
Without thinking twice, Prince Kurbsky makes a new decision - to fight the enemy troops, which were personally led by the master of the famous Livonian Order. Russian troops bypassed the enemy from the rear and, despite the night, attacked him. Soon, the skirmish with the Livonians grew into hand-to-hand combat. And here the victory was for Kurbsky. After a ten-day respite, the Russian troops moved on.
Having reached Fellin, the prince ordered to burn his suburbs, and then begin the siege of the city. In this battle, the land marshal of the order F. Chall von Belle was captured, hurrying to the aid of the besieged. He was immediately sent to Moscow with a cover letter from Kurbsky. In it, Andrei Mikhailovich asked not to kill the land marshal, since he considered him a smart, brave and courageous man. Such a message suggests that the Russian prince was a noble warrior who not only knew how to fight well, but also respected worthy opponents with great respect. However, despite this, Ivan the Terrible still executed the lioness. Yes, this is not surprising, since at about the same time the government of Adashev and Sylvester was eliminated, and the advisers themselves, their associates and friends were executed.
Defeat
Andrei Mikhailovich took Fellin Castle in three weeks, after which he went to Vitebsk, and then to Nevel. Here luck turned away from him, and he was defeated. However, the royal correspondence with Prince Kurbsky indicates that Ivan IV was not going to accuse him of treason. The king was not angry with him for the unsuccessful attempt to capture the city of Helmet. The fact is that if this event were given great importance, then this would be said in one of the letters.
Nevertheless, it was then that the prince first thought about what would happen to him when the king learns of his failures. Knowing well the steep disposition of the ruler, he knew very well that if he defeated his enemies, he would not be in danger, but if he was defeated, he could quickly fall out of favor and find himself on the chopping block. Although, in truth, apart from compassion disgraced, there was nothing to blame him.
Judging by the fact that after the defeat at Nevel, Ivan IV appointed Andrei Mikhailovich governor to Yuryev, the tsar was not going to punish him. However, Prince Kurbsky fled to Poland from royal anger, because he felt that sooner or later the fury of the sovereign would fall on his head. King Sigismund II Augustus highly appreciated the feats of arms of the prince, and therefore somehow called him to his service, promising him a good reception and a luxurious life.
Escape
Kurbsky began increasingly to reflect on the proposal of the Polish king, until at the end of April 1564 he decided to secretly flee to Wolmar. Together with him went his followers and even servants. Sigismund II received them well, and awarded the prince himself with estates with the right of hereditary property.
Upon learning that Prince Kurbsky had fled from royal anger, Ivan the Terrible brought all his fury to the relatives of Andrei Mikhailovich who remained here. All of them suffered a difficult fate. In justification of his cruelty, he accused Kurbsky of treason, violation of the cross kissing, as well as the abduction of his wife Anastasia and the desire to reign himself in Yaroslavl. Ivan IV was able to prove only the first two facts, but he obviously invented the rest in order to justify his actions in the eyes of Lithuanian and Polish nobles.
Life in exile
Having entered the service of King Sigismund II, Kurbsky almost immediately began to occupy high military posts. Not even six months had passed, as he had already fought against Muscovy. With Lithuanian troops, he participated in a campaign against Velikiye Luki and defended Volyn from the Tatars. In 1576, Andrei Mikhailovich commanded a large detachment, which was part of the troops of Grand Duke Stefan Batory, who fought with the Russian army near Polotsk.
In Poland, Kurbsky lived almost all the time in Milyanovichi, near Kovel. He entrusted the management of his lands to proxies. In his spare time from military campaigns, he was engaged in scientific research, giving preference to works in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and theology, as well as studying Greek and Latin.
The fact is known that the fugitive prince Kurbsky and Ivan the Terrible corresponded. The first letter was sent to the king in 1564. His faithful servant Andrei Mikhailovich Vasily Shibanov delivered him to Moscow, who was subsequently tortured and executed. In his letters, the prince expressed his deep indignation at the unjust persecution, as well as the numerous executions of innocent people who served the sovereign faithfully. In turn, Ivan IV defended the absolute right, at his own discretion, to pardon or execute any of his subjects.
Correspondence between the two opponents lasted for 15 years and ended in 1579. The letters themselves, the well-known pamphlet entitled "The Story of the Grand Duke of Moscow" and the rest of Kurbsky's works are written in literary language. In addition, they contain very valuable information about the era of the reign of one of the most cruel rulers in the history of Russia.
Already living in Poland, the prince married a second time. In 1571, he married the wealthy widow of Kozinskaya. However, this marriage did not last long and ended in divorce. For the third time, Kurbsky already married a poor woman named Semashko. From this union, a son and a daughter were born to the prince.
Shortly before his death, the prince took part in another campaign against Moscow, led by Stefan Batory. But this time he didn’t have to fight - having almost reached the border with Russia, he became seriously ill and had to turn back. Andrei Mikhailovich died in 1583. He was buried in the monastery, located under Kovel.
All his life he was an ardent supporter of Orthodoxy. The proud, harsh and irreconcilable nature of Kurbsky greatly contributed to the fact that he had many enemies among the Lithuanian and Polish nobility. He constantly quarreled with neighbors and often seized their lands, and covered royal emissaries with Russian abuse.
Soon after the death of Andrei Kurbsky, his attorney, Prince Konstantin of Ostrog, also died. From that moment, the Polish government began to gradually take away the possessions of his widow and son, until finally Kovel was taken away. The court hearings on this subject lasted several years. As a result, his son Dmitry managed to recover part of the lost lands, after which he converted to Catholicism.
Characteristics of Prince Kurbsky
Opinions about him as a politician and a person are often diametrically opposed. Some consider him an inveterate conservative with an extremely narrow and limited outlook, who supported the boyars in everything and opposed tsarist autocracy. In addition, his flight to Poland is regarded as a kind of prudence associated with the great everyday benefits that King Sigismund Augustus promised him. Andrei Kurbsky is suspected even of the insincerity of his judgments, set forth by him in numerous works that were entirely aimed at supporting Orthodoxy.
Many historians tend to think that the prince was still an extremely intelligent and educated person, as well as sincere and honest, always on the side of goodness and justice. For such character traits, he was called the "first Russian dissident." Since the reasons for the disagreement between him and Ivan the Terrible, as well as the legends of Prince Kurbsky themselves, have not been fully studied, the debate about the personality of this famous political figure of that time will continue for a long time.
The well-known Polish heraldry and historian Simon Okolsky, who lived in the 17th century, expressed his opinion on this issue. His characterization of Prince Kurbsky was as follows: he was a truly great man, and not only because he was related to the royal house and held the highest military and government posts, but also because of his valor, as he won several significant victories . In addition, the historian wrote about the prince as a truly happy person. Judge for yourself: he, the exile and the fugitive boyar, was received with unusual honors by the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus.
Until now, the reasons for the flight and treason of Prince Kurbsky among researchers have caused keen interest, since the personality of this person is ambiguous and multifaceted. Additional evidence that Andrei Mikhailovich possessed a remarkable mind can also be the fact that, being already middle-aged, he was able to learn Latin, which until then had not been known at all.
In the first volume of a book called Orbis Poloni, which was published in 1641 in Krakow, the same Simon Okolsky placed the coat of arms of the Princes of Kurbs (in the Polish version - Krupsky) and gave him an explanation. He believed that this heraldic sign was Russian in origin. It is worth noting that in the Middle Ages the image of a lion could often be found on the arms of the nobility in different states. In ancient Russian heraldry, this animal was considered a symbol of nobility, courage, moral and military valor. Therefore, it is not surprising that it was the lion that was depicted on the princely coat of arms of Kurbsky.