Kuzma Minin years. Kuzma Minin: biography, historical events, militia. Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky

So he remained in history - as the first non-nobleman who played a key role in the fate of the Muscovite kingdom. A trading man, from relatively poor merchants. When the ideology of the Moscow kingdom was created under the Romanovs, symbols of national unity were needed. The nobility, merchants, clergy and peasantry - representatives of each estate made a significant contribution to overcoming. And each estate put forward an iconic hero.

Trade people, as a rule, are disliked by the people. And they give a reason for it. As the saying goes, "if you don't cheat, you won't sell." Minin's feat became an excuse for Russian merchants for many years to come. Even many years later, when they talked about Russian businessmen, about their unseemly role, Minin was certainly remembered as a counterweight: "But it was this merchant environment that put forward him." And that's true: social role Humans should not be dismissed or underestimated.

2. Where was the hero born?

There are many versions of this. According to one of them, Kuzma was the son of Mina Ankudinov, a salt worker from Balakhna. According to another, he was born in the family of a merchant in Nizhny Novgorod.

In the 19th century, he was often called Kuzma Zakharovich and the family nickname Sukhoruk was added to the surname. But, most likely, Minin (Minich) - this was the patronymic, from which, having become a celebrity and a nobleman, Kozma made his last name. Minin himself, most likely, was a beef - that is, he was engaged in the meat trade.

3. Great speaker

It can be called the Russian Demosthenes. Minin's speeches changed the course of history, gave the Second Home Guard the right tone, or rather, made it invincible. People at all times, for the most part, are indifferent to lofty ideas. They are more interested in questions of survival. And Minin was well versed in mass psychology.

He spoke about desecrated shrines, about the threat of enslavement. Called to act together, the whole world. Didn't fawn in front of the audience. He demonstrated sincere impulses and strict requirements for everyone. He talked about responsibility.

And, listening to him, disunited people turned into a militia, into a patriotic movement, into a people ready to act. It was Minin who was the initiator and soul of the Second Home Guard. In essence - the organizer of successful resistance.

4. Leader

Minin nominated Prince Dmitry Pozharsky to the military commanders, who at that time was recovering from injuries. Pozharsky insisted (and most likely agreed with Minin) that the initiator of the militia be given special powers. And the furry, sedate comrades-in-arms recognized the leader in Minin. Learned to obey him. He disposed of the treasury, led a difficult household of the militia, and at the same time established relations with the local population in all cities and villages. Stopped sedition. Burned out the embarrassment.

Minin became the most influential figure in the "Council of the Whole Earth", which, before the establishment of legal power, was actually the government of the country. The specifics of the militia, and indeed the specifics of that troubled time, did not allow quickly and reliably to establish army discipline. Strict, stern Minin in this sense did the maximum possible. According to his biography, one can study the psychology of leadership. It was he who strictly demanded that everyone give the “third money” (in rare cases, the fifth) to the militia, and those who disagreed were turned into slaves and completely deprived of their property.

5. Fight Moscow

The role of Minin was by no means limited to agitation and economic affairs. He showed leadership qualities during the battles for Moscow in the summer and autumn of 1612. He showed himself to be a true brave man, did not spare his belly. He was faithful to the oath "to die for the Christian faith", which he brought along with the army. At the climax of the battle, when desertion began in the militia and the Poles seized the initiative, Minin crossed the Moskva River with three hundred soldiers and headed for the Khodkevich camp. A dashing offensive forced the Poles to retreat. Militarily, it was the decisive attack of the entire war! And it was headed by Minin.

An interesting fact: shortly before his death, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky accepted the monastic schema under the name ... Cosmas! It is difficult to give up the assumption that he then remembered his comrade-in-arms, the man who, in fact, proposed Pozharsky to the post of military commander of the militia.

6. Duma nobleman

Shortly after the wedding to the kingdom, our first autocrat from the Romanov family, Mikhail Fedorovich, granted Minin patrimonies and the rank of duma nobleman. He deserved a quiet, prosperous life. But he did not seek peace. Minin took an active part in politics. He lived in the royal chambers, tirelessly sat in the Duma ...

The tsar saw him as a reliable and active dignitary, trusted Minin, evidence of which is important assignments. During the tsar's pilgrimage to the Sergius Monastery, Minin was among those whom Mikhail Fedorovich entrusted to protect Moscow ...

7. Last trip

In 1615, the eastern borders of the kingdom were shaken by unrest among the Tatars and Cheremis. Minin was sent on a search. And most likely - he asked for the service. He knew the Volga region well and from the time of the militia he skillfully brought hotheads to life.

Minin, together with Prince Romodanovsky, led the royal detachment. He conducted an investigation. One must think that the perpetrators did not manage to escape from Minin. And on the way back, in 1616, he fell seriously ill and did not get up. He was buried in the churchyard of the parish Pokhvalinskaya church.

8. Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral

The memory of the hero has not been erased. In 1672, his ashes were transferred to the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, to the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior. Metropolitan Filaret of Nizhny Novgorod served a memorial service. In the middle of the 19th century, the dilapidated cathedral was dismantled and a new one was built in its place. Minin's grave was carefully preserved.

In 1930, after the destruction of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior, the ashes were transferred for storage to the historical and architectural museum-reserve, and then transferred to the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. By the way, Minin also owned a plot of land on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin ...

9. The first monument of Moscow

Monument to Minin and Pozharsky on Red Square

sculptural monuments outstanding people- not in Russian, not in Orthodox tradition. They began to appear only in the post-Petrine era, when Western Europe. And even then this tradition took root slowly. In Moscow Belokamennaya, the first monument appeared only in 1818. 1812 stirred up the memory of the events of two hundred years ago. A new patriotic impulse made it possible to better understand Minin and Pozharsky.

Fundraising for the construction of the monument began in 1803. Initially, the well-wishers intended to erect a monument in Nizhny Novgorod. This was the idea of ​​Emperor Alexander I. Ivan Martos presented his sketches, which inspired the audience. In the end, the whole world decided to erect a monument in Moscow, on Red Square, and in Nizhny to install an obelisk.

Martos began work on the creation of the monument shortly after the expulsion of the French from the Fatherland. The sculpture was seen as a symbol of victory. Pushkin did not like the text engraved on the monument: “The inscription to Citizen Minin, of course, is not satisfactory: for us he is either the tradesman Kosma Minin, nicknamed Sukhorukoy, or the duma nobleman Kosma Minich Sukhorukoy, or, finally, Kuzma Minin, an elected person from all of Moscow state, as he is named in the letter of election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. It would not be bad to know all this, as well as the name and patronymic of Prince Pozharsky.

I would venture to guess that great poet was wrong. “Citizen Minin” is a high title, and it fully expresses the essence of this personality. Minin, as it were, calls Pozharsky to fight, strengthens his spirit. Raises a warrior to fight. Majestic and at the same time emotional composition.

10. On the silver screen

The famous film by Vsevolod Pudovkin "Minin and Pozharsky" was released shortly before the war, in 1939. A wonderful picture came out, a real folk epic scripted by Viktor Shklovsky. The artist Alexander Khanov (the grandfather of the whole people - his voice sounded in the popular children's radio program "Guess"!) simply shone. He guessed the main feature, Minin's nerve - his oratory. It turned out to be a people's tribune.

Cinematic glory resurrects the memory of the heroes of the distant past. The film is no-no in our time, and it will be repeated on television. Unfortunately, during the restoration in the 1960s, it was greatly reduced. But the main thing is that we have a film image of Minin. And so the legend continues.

Kuzma (Cosma) Minin(full name since 1613 - Kuzma (Cosma) Minich Minin, according to the Nikon Chronicle - Kozma Minich Minin Sukhoruk, according to many writers - Kozma Minich Zakharyev Sukhoruky; second half of the 16th century - May 21, 1616) - organizer and one of the leaders Zemsky militia 1611-1612 during the struggle of the Russian people against the Polish and Swedish interventions.

Origin

Little is known about Minin's early years. There is an assumption, based on local tradition (no later than the first half of the 19th century), that Kuzma Minin was the son of a salt maker Mina Ankudinov from Balakhna.

The modern version of the Balakhna origin, which has become practically universally recognized in the USSR, did not originate from documents about this itself, and is based not only on legend, but also on the fact that in Balakhna there were tubs in one pipe that belonged to the Balakhna Minins and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. Then, purely theoretically, families could be friends, Kuzma Minin could be called by the direct Christian name of Dmitry Pozharsky (who was also called Kozma (Cosma), and not Dmitry), Kuzma Minin proposed to lead the militia not just to the namesake, but to a family friend, etc. etc. Moreover, most likely, a significant part of the property of the Minins from Balakhna, who were called the Ankudinovs for a long time, and who changed their nickname after the Troubles, apparently for a reason, received after the execution at the end of 1608 for the adherence to the Tushins of the two main salt producers of Balakhna - township elders Vasily Kukhtin and Alexei Surovtsev - and the confiscation of their property. D. M. Pozharsky, as evidenced by the Register of the city of Balakhna 1674-1676, in 1628 was the owner of 100 buckets of brine in the Luninskaya pipe. In the same pipe, Fyodor Minin Ankudinov owned five hundred buckets. Only after the Time of Troubles, according to A. Melnikov-Pechersky, who referred to the Iskalsky inventory of 1618, the Minins-Ankudinovs occupied the 3rd place in the number of brines (925 buckets) after Spirin (2200 buckets) and the Trinity-Sergius Monastery (1025 buckets) . In the Scribe Book of the Zauzolskaya volost for 1591, Mina Ankudinov listed only the brine in the Kamenka pipe (by the way, in the same pipe his son Fyodor also owned brines in 1628). Moreover, unlike the folk history about the “Tatar origin” of Minin, this version has an author - a prominent and serious historian I. A. Kiryanov, and before that, the origin of Kuzma Minin from Mina Ankudinov was also admitted by A. Ya. Sadovsky.

The version about the Balakhna origin of Minin (previously substantiated by the historian I. A. Kiryanov in 1965) is now being questioned; there are suggestions that the Balakhna Minins were only his namesakes. Similar views were held by Melnikov-Pechersky; In our time, the relevant statements were put forward by a group of Nizhny Novgorod scientists in an article published in 2005-2006. in the collection "Minin's Readings". In their opinion, the "Balakhna" version is not confirmed by a re-examination of documents from the Central Archive Nizhny Novgorod region(commemorative records and scribe book).

As a result, S. V. Sirotkin states: “... the study of cadastral and other documents on the history of the Minin family in Balakhna allows us to speak quite confidently about the absence of their relationship with Kuzma Minin”. So, Kuzma Minin is not mentioned in any document that has come down to us, neither in connection with the Balakhna “brothers”, nor in connection with the “grandfather Ankundin”. “Neither in the 17th century, nor in the first half of the 18th century. Minin's overalls did not refer to their kinship with the Nizhny Novgorod headman in order to achieve any privileges, although if they were descendants of Kuzma Minin's brothers, they could count on a special attitude towards themselves.- the author also writes. ( special treatment it would have been necessary, if only because the Balakhna people supported the Tushino people and even undertook an unsuccessful campaign against Nizhny Novgorod, in connection with which, when the Second Militia entered Balakhna, and after the liberation of Moscow, the Balakhnin people were forced to fork out). But according to the cadastral books, the Minins just got rich, apparently as a result of the division of the property of the executed supporters of the Tushins, and after the election of Mikhail Romanov, the son of the Tushino patriarch and the nephew of one of the members of the Seven Boyars, as tsar, pardoning the supporters of the Tushinos and the Seven Boyars, returning them and the relatives of the dead property , the hooded Minins could try not to remind themselves once again. At the same time, according to the signature on one of the letters, the name of one of Kuzma Minin's brothers, Sergei, is reliably known. There was no such person among the balakhon Minins. The strongest argument against origin from the balakhon Minins (which does not exclude kinship with them) is the absence of the name Ankudin in the synodics of Kuzma's son, Nefed. The fact that in the synodic of the nobleman Nefyod Minin the lineage ends with his grandfather, Mina, at the end of his life, the monk Misail, may indeed testify in favor of the fact that Kuzma Minin's father was an orphan who did not remember his parents, a foundling or illegitimate, or Mina's parents ( Misail) were heretics, non-Orthodox, Gentiles, pagans (from the peoples of the Volga region). But this can also be explained by the fact that the commemoration of Mina's parents and their ancestors was already provided by another synodic, paid for by other relatives (for example, Mina's (Misail's) brothers or sisters, etc.).

B. M. Pudalov in his work spoke about the fact that "in the means mass media was voiced - without any evidence - the version of the non-Russian origin of K. Minin ("baptized Tatar"?). It cannot be accepted, as it contradicts the evidence of sources about the deep Orthodox roots of the clan..

For the first time, the Tatar origin of Kuzma Minin was announced in 2002 by the Ogonyok magazine in a sidebar to an article by the historian V. L. Makhnach. The magazine called Kuzma Minin "the baptized Tatar Kirisha Minnibaev." But then, after verification, this material was never published, the material was also lost, we do not even know the author of this version. In 2006, the chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Ravil Gainutdin, supported the version of the anonymous supplier of materials to Ogonyok about Minin's "Tatar origin".

At the same time, the thesis about the “possible Tatar nationality” of the hero of 1612 was voiced by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II. The patriarch also believed that there were many Tatars in the militia of Minin and Pozharsky, who went to liberate Moscow from the interventionists because Minin was a "Tatar". (Indeed, when I. I. Birkin tried to withdraw the entire army of the Kazan state from Yaroslavl, the Tatars, for the most part, remained, and the Russians left, etc.) But the fact that the Muslims of the Volga region supported the Second Militia is just more evidence against this version, since they would have considered a newly baptized Tatar a renegade.) V.V. Putin supported the mufti and the patriarch, saying that Russia was liberated by the Tatar Minin, and the liberation came from Kazan. Apparently, he was referring to the oath of the Kazan state on January 9, 1611, to the already dead False Dmitry II, and the subsequent letter from Kazan to the Vyatka land, which preceded the creation of both the First and Second Militias, “become, gentlemen, we Orthodox peasants for the true Orthodox faith of Christ, all unanimously so that we Orthodox peasants do not give up the Orthodox peasant faith in the evil and damned Latin faith. But after leaving for the First Militia, along with the troops and the icon of the Kazan Mother of God of the great governor Morozov, Kazan, whom historical cities Russia called for help, hesitated. Therefore, despite the call of the Russian cities to Kazan, and Patriarch Hermogenes - both to Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan - contrary to the hopes of the Russians and the promise of the Kazanians, the liberation of the Moscow state did not come from Kazan, but thanks to Minin - from Nizhny Novgorod.)

The well-known Kazan scholar-philologist, academician A. Kh. Khalikov, who died before the appearance of the version of the Tatar origin of Kuzma Minin, in his book “500 Russian Surnames of Bulgar-Tatar Origin” unequivocally states that the surname Minin can come from the name of the genus “Min”, which was a leading Kipchak-Horde clan (appeared among the Kipchaks after the Mongol conquest). Professor R. Z. Yanguzin also wrote in detail about the kind of mines as one of the powerful and viable formations of Turkic-Kypchak origin. Noble Horde clans, for example, the Kokand khans, came out of this Min tribe. The Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles also says that people from this Horde clan Min in the Muscovite state were called Minins. So, the arguments about the “Turkic origin” of the surname are very convincing.

But Minin's common man There was no first name. He was named after his father, whose Christian name was the name Mina that arose long before the appearance of the Ming clan. The surname Minin Kuzma received in 1613, when he became a duma nobleman. In addition, among the Kipchaks, Christianity appeared earlier than Islam, and according to all sources, Kuzma Minin is from an Orthodox family: most likely, Russians or Kryashens - both of them XVII century assimilated many Kipchaks, but theoretically it could be of a different origin, since all the Orthodox of Moscow Russia, of course, considered themselves, first of all, Russians, and his nickname Minin was from his father Mina, and not from the clan of Min.

Thus, there is no reliable and reasoned scientific information about whether Kuzma Minin was actually a Tatar. This is, by and large, a completely new and original version without an author and without evidence, which only in principle has the right to exist. It does not offend the Russian people in the same way as the heroism of the Kryashens, General Karbyshev, Major Gavrilov, Muslim Musa Jalil, etc. - on the contrary, politically it would be very good. But there is so little evidence for this that no one has yet admitted who was the author of this anonymous folk history, supported by Mufti Ravil Gainutdinov, Patriarch Alexy and President V.V. Putin.

It is known for certain that the widow of K. Minin, Tatyana Semyonovna, having outlived her husband and childless son Nefed, died shortly after 1635, taking monastic vows under the name “Taisia” before her death. V. A. Kuchkin in his work “On the family of Kuzma Minin” (ISSSR. - M., 1973. No. 2. S. 209-211) points to the monk Misail, inscribed in the synodics for commemoration of the Minin family, as a possible father folk hero.

Even about the middle name of Kuzma Minin, there were different opinions. In the second half of the 19th century, according to the erroneous opinion popularized by N.I. Kostomarov, which, apparently, only goes back to M.P. Pogodin, who was friends with the playwright A.N. namesakes - also Kuzma, but not Minin. Now the opinion has been established that "Minin" is not a family nickname, but a patronymic. P. I. Melnikov (Andrey Pechersky), who found this bill of sale, never called Minin that name either in his writings or in his correspondence, despite Pogodin’s opinion. The only thing he allowed himself was to call him Kozma instead of Kuzma. From the text of the bill of sale, in fact, it follows that in 1602 in Nizhny Novgorod he lived “above the river. Pochaenoy, on the Nikolskaya side, Kuzma Zakhariev, the son of Sukhoruk, ”who had nothing to do with his namesake Kuzma Minin.

Different versions also exist about Minin's occupation: either he was a "salt industrialist", or a "beef" (cattle trader). Today it is known for certain that he was a townsman from Nizhny Novgorod, elected headman.

What is known for certain today, and is supported by accurate scientific data, and not speculation, is the genealogical tree of the Kuzma Minin family. Father - Mina, mother - unknown, Mina's sons - Kuzma Minin (wife Tatyana Semyonovna, Taisia ​​in monasticism) and Sergey Minin, Mina also had a daughter Sophia (nun), their sister. On Nefyod, the only son of Kuzma Minin and his wife Tatyana Semyonovna, the tree breaks. Kuzma Minin - a great citizen, "elected of the whole earth" - the first democratically elected legitimate acting head Russian state, Nizhny Novgorod, townsman of Nizhny Novgorod, as he is called in the surviving documents of his time.

Participation in the militia

M. I. Scotty. Minin and Pozharsky. 1850

It is only known for certain that at the beginning of the 17th century he opened a shop in Nizhny Novgorod and engaged in the meat trade. In 1608-1610. as part of the local city militia (under the leadership of the governor A. Alyabyev and A. Repnin), he participated in battles with supporters of False Dmitry II. The Nizhny Novgorod people then managed to defeat the Tushinos, clear the outskirts of the city from them and gain combat experience. Details about the activities of Minin personally become known only from the autumn of 1611, when a letter from Patriarch Hermogenes was read out in Nizhny Novgorod (but now some suggest that in reality they read the letter from Troitsky monastery). The city council, convened to discuss the letter, was attended by the clergy and senior people in the city. Among the participants was Kuzma Minin, a zemstvo (townsman) headman elected in September, a middle-class man and a butcher by trade. The next day after the meeting, the content of the letter was read out to the townspeople. Undeservedly forgotten now, but in reality, who led the Nizhny Novgorod militia together with Minin and Pozharsky, the patriot Archpriest Savva convinced the people to “stand for the faith”, but the speech of Minin who spoke behind him turned out to be much more specific:

We want to help the Muscovite state, so we do not spare our property, do not spare anything, sell yards, mortgage wives and children, beat with our foreheads to those who would stand up for the true Orthodox faith and was our leader.

S.M. Soloviev. History of Russia since ancient times. Volume 8. Chapter 8. End of the Interregnum

In Nizhny Novgorod, constant gatherings began: they talked about how to rise, where to get people and funds. With such questions, they turned primarily to Minin, and he developed his plans in detail. Every day his influence grew; Nizhny Novgorod was carried away by Minin's proposals and, finally, decided to form a militia on a new basis, convene service people and collect money for their maintenance.

Prince Dmitry Pozharsky was chosen as the leader of the militia, who was then treated for wounds in the Nizhny Novgorod estate and wished that the economic part in the militia was entrusted to Minin.

With the support of Pozharsky's troops, Minin carried out an assessment of the property of the Nizhny Novgorod population and determined the part that should go to the militia. On the advice of Minin, they gave the "third money", that is, a third of the property, or, in some cases, a fifth. Persons who did not want to allocate the required amount were given into slaves, and their property was completely confiscated.

According to the chronicle, he “satisfied the thirsty hearts of the soldiers and covered their nakedness, and in everything they rested, and by these deeds he gathered not a small army.” Nizhny Novgorod was soon joined by other cities, raised by the well-known district charter, in the preparation of which, undoubtedly, Minin participated. Unlike the First Militia, which relied on the exceptionally brave but low-paid Cossack freemen, Minin did not spare money for more disciplined, albeit more expensive, military specialists. Both Nizhny Novgorod and Pozharsky themselves participated in the First Militia, recaptured almost 9/10 of Moscow, and then, due to the lack of siege artillery and specialists in the siege of cities, they could not do anything with the Poles and Little Russian Cossacks who had settled in Kitay-Gorod and the impregnable Kremlin. The first to come were two thousand experienced Belarusian warriors wandering near Nizhny, who participated in the defense of Smolensk, pardoned by King Sigismund after the capture of the city, but flatly refused to go to serve him and his son Vladislav, whom Sigismund, with the help of the Seven Boyars, wanted to approve on the Moscow throne. Minin managed to give even ordinary military specialists a very high salary - from 30 to 50 rubles a year. Many military personnel came to him - not only subjects of the Moscow state or patriots of the united Russian people, but, as we would say now, internationalist soldiers - both from the East and the West, as Simon Azaryin emphasizes - "from the whole Universe" . At the beginning of April 1612, a huge militia was already standing in Yaroslavl, headed by Prince Pozharsky and Minin.

Kuzma entered the "Council of the whole earth", created in Yaroslavl in the middle of 1612 and until the convening of the Zemsky Sobor in 1613, it served as the supreme body state power, which he actually headed, although due to the custom of localism, his signature was only the 15th. After all, he attracted the Council of the whole land and brought with him to Yaroslavl many Cossacks, the closest relative of Ivan the Terrible - his wife's nephew - Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Cherkassky, and the most well-born Rurik boyars, and even the signature of Rurikovich Dmitry Pozharsky turned out to be only 10th. The Council turned for military assistance to the King of Sweden and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, promising their sons the throne of Moscow - and received help from Germany and Sweden in large military detachments, and, most importantly, secured their rear from attacks by the Swedes, their puppet Novgorod state and the Holy Roman Empire. empire in conditions when the Commonwealth concluded a truce with them and wanted to attack the Russians together with them. In order to keep some of the serving Poles, Minin did not rule out the election of Vladislav to the kingdom. Only the possibility of participation in the management of the great Russian state of Sigismund III and any other foreigners, except for the tsar who converted to Orthodoxy, was categorically denied. Subsequently, at the Zemsky Sobor, all foreign contenders for the Moscow throne were given a turn from the gate - so as not to offend any of them and not to bring confusion into relations Christian states between themselves. In Yaroslavl, Minin no longer accepted ordinary foreign condottieri into the militia. The Cossacks of the princes Cherkassky and Shakhovsky organized their Circle, and Minin was looking for money to fulfill the decisions of both the “masters” and the “comrades”, Kuzma immediately found money for everything useful for the state, and did not refuse the rest to both authorities, but “continued the money search". On April 7, 1612, the Council of the Whole Land called the Muscovite State a great Russian power. But then the militia began to mow down a terrible pestilence. Contrary to the expectations of the Seven Boyars, the militia did not flee, and thanks to competent sanitary measures, the epidemic was stopped. Convinced of the safety of the rear, the militia marched on Moscow.

In the battles for Moscow 22-24.8 (01-03.9). 1612 Kuzma also showed resourcefulness and military prowess. His detachment, which consisted of three hundreds of nobles and a gonfalon, captain Khmelevsky, who had come to his service from the Commonwealth (in the Second Home Guard there were a lot of people from the Commonwealth, usually from its Western Russian lands, but also opponents of Sigismund of a different origin - for example, those who feared him revenge, participants of the Sandomierz Rokosh), crossed the Moskva River and, like snow on his head, fell on two Lithuanian companies set up by Hetman Khodkevich near the Crimean courtyard. Here the enemy could not withstand the onslaught, losing up to 500 people on the spot. Khodkevich was forced to leave Catherine's camp and retreated to the Donskoy Monastery. This provided a turning point in the course of the battle. So, in August, with the personal participation of Minin, Khodkevich was defeated, and in October Moscow was cleared of the Poles. Kuzma Minin, together with Dmitry Timofeevich Trubetskoy and Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, ruled the great Russian power until the Zemsky Sobor was convened, since after the unification of the Soviets of the entire land of the First and Second militias as a result of the capture of Moscow and the final unification of the militias, the Council of the whole land did not meet. (Probably to prevent conflicts). Like all the great princes, tsars and rulers of the Moscow state before Peter I, Kuzma Minin, the “elected of the whole earth,” did not sign anything himself. All letters, for example, on the convocation of the Zemsky Sobor, were signed for him by his comrades Trubetskoy and Pozharsky. The next day after the wedding to the kingdom (July 12, 1613), Mikhail Fedorovich granted Minin the rank of duma nobleman and estate. There were only two duma nobles in the Duma - appointed by False Dmitry I, but proclaiming at the Zemsky Sobor all Rurikovichs to be the same foreigners as Prince Vladislav, and therefore making it possible to elect Mikhail Romanov, a relative of the Romanovs Gavrila Pushkin with a salary of 120 rubles and the only one appointed by Mikhail himself - Kuzma Minin with a salary of 200 rubles. Since then, constantly sitting in the Duma and living in the royal palace, Minin enjoyed the great confidence of the tsar (in 1615, he, along with his fellow boyars, was instructed to “protect Moscow” during the tsar’s trip to the Sergius Monastery) and received the most important “parcels”.

Death

He died in 1616, "during the search" in the "Cossack places" (where the population of the former Kazan Khanate carried out the Cossack service to the proclaimed great Russian power) on the occasion of the uprising of the Tatars and Cheremis. Minin Kuzma Minich was buried in the graveyard of the parish church of Pokhvalinsk.

Tomb of Kuzma Minin in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior in the Kremlin. Erected by L. V. Dalem in 1874

Later, in 1672, his ashes were transferred to the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior by the first Nizhny Novgorod Metropolitan Filaret.

By the 1830s, the cathedral fell into disrepair and was demolished at the direction of the Nizhny Novgorod governor M.P. Buturlin. In 1838, a new cathedral was built, its foundation was shifted by several tens of meters relative to the old building, and the ashes of Minin and the princes resting nearby were placed in the sub-church.

In 1930, after the destruction of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior, the ashes were transferred for storage to the historical and architectural museum-reserve, and then transferred to the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.

According to the TV program "Searchers", a completely different ashes lie in the grave on the territory of the Kremlin, and the real remains of Minin continue to remain in the ground at the place where the Transfiguration Cathedral stood. Currently in place cathedral Built in 1838, there is a wooden cross.

Since 1804, IP Martos began to work on a sculptural composition in Nizhny Novgorod in honor of Kozma Minin. Upon completion of the sketches in the spring of 1809, a fundraising was announced in the Nizhny Novgorod province. By 1811, 18,000 rubles had been received, but on February 15 of the same year, the Committee of Ministers decided to erect a monument in Moscow. In 1818 a monument was erected to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow, and in 1828 a granite obelisk was erected in Nizhny Novgorod.

A family

Kuzma (Kozma) had an only son - Nefed and sister Sophia (name in monasticism). After the death of Minin, the tsar, by a letter dated July 5, 1616, confirmed the right to own a fiefdom in the Nizhny Novgorod district - the village of Bogorodskoye with villages - to the widow of Kuzma Tatyana Semyonovna and his son Nefed. Nefed had a courtyard on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, although he himself lived in Moscow in his service while performing the duties of a solicitor. Information about him is rather scattered. In 1625 he was present at the departure of the Persian ambassador, in 1626 he was "at the sovereign's lantern" at two royal weddings. The last mention in the palace ranks dates back to 1628. He died in 1632. The granted estates returned to the state treasury and were given to Prince Yakov Kudenetovich Cherkassky.

Tatyana Semyonovna Minina continued to live in Nizhny Novgorod. Apparently, at an advanced age, she became a nun, ending her life in one of the Nizhny Novgorod monasteries (most likely, in Voskresensky, located on the territory of the Kremlin).

Performance evaluations

Most historians (especially I. E. Zabelin and M. P. Pogodin) describe the historical portrait of Minin as worthy of respect for his heroic actions, mentioning his feat before the fatherland as a decisive step in defense of the Motherland, in contrast to N. I. Kostomarov, who considered him a man "with a strong will, a strong temper, who used all means to achieve the goal."

Origin

Participation in the militia

Performance evaluations

Kuzma (Kozma) Minin(full name Kuzma Minich Zakharyev Sukhoruky; late 16th century - May 21, 1616) - Russian national hero, organizer and one of the leaders of the Zemsky militia 1611-1612 during the struggle of the Russian people against the Polish and Swedish intervention.

Origin

Little is known about Minin's early years. There is an assumption, based on local tradition (no later than the first half of the 19th century), that Kuzma Minin was the son of a salt maker Mina Ankudinov from Balakhna.

The version about the Balakhna origin of Minin (previously documented by local historian I. A. Kiryanov in 1965) is being questioned; there are suggestions that the Balakhna Minins were only his namesakes. Similar views were held by Melnikov-Pechersky; In our time, the relevant statements were put forward by a group of Nizhny Novgorod scientists in an article published in 2005-2006. in the collection "Minin's Readings". In their opinion, the "Balakhna" version is not confirmed by a repeated study of documents from the Central Archive of the Nizhny Novgorod Region (commemorative records and a scribe book).

Participation in the militia

Details about Minin's activities become known only from the autumn of 1611, when a letter arrived in Nizhny Novgorod from Patriarch Hermogenes (or from the Trinity Lavra, it is not known exactly). The city council, convened to discuss the letter, was attended by the clergy and senior people in the city. Among the participants was Kuzma Minin, who was elected Zemstvo headman in September. The next day after the meeting, the content of the letter was read out to the townspeople. Archpriest Savva urged the people to “stand for the faith,” but Minin’s speech turned out to be much more convincing:

In Nizhny Novgorod, constant gatherings began: they talked about how to rise, where to get people and funds. With such questions, they turned primarily to Minin, and he developed his plans in detail. Every day his influence grew; Nizhny Novgorod was carried away by Minin's proposals and finally decided to form a militia, convene service people and collect money for them.

Prince Dmitry Pozharsky was chosen as the leader of the militia, who was then treated for wounds in the Nizhny Novgorod estate and wished that the economic part in the militia was entrusted to Minin.

With the support of Pozharsky's troops, Minin carried out an assessment of the property of the Nizhny Novgorod population and determined the part that should go to the militia. On the advice of Minin, they gave the "third money", that is, a third of the property, or, in some cases, a fifth. Persons who did not want to allocate the required amount were given into slaves, and their property was completely confiscated.

According to the chronicle, he “satisfied the thirsty hearts of the soldiers and covered their nakedness, and in everything they rested, and by these deeds he gathered not a small army.” Nizhny Novgorod was soon joined by other cities, raised by the well-known district charter, in the preparation of which, undoubtedly, Minin participated. At the beginning of April 1612, a huge militia was already standing in Yaroslavl, headed by Prince Pozharsky and Minin; in August Khodkevich was defeated, and in October Moscow was cleared of the Poles. The next day after the wedding to the kingdom (July 12, 1613), Mikhail Fedorovich granted Minin the rank of duma nobleman and estate. Since then, constantly sitting in the Duma and living in the royal palace, Minin enjoyed the great confidence of the tsar (in 1615, he, along with his fellow boyars, was instructed to “protect Moscow” during the tsar’s trip to the Sergius Monastery) and received the most important “parcels”.

Death

He died in 1616, "during the search" in the Kazan places on the occasion of the uprising of the Tatars and Cheremis. Minin Kuzma Minich was buried in the graveyard of the parish church of Pokhvalinskaya.

Later, in 1672, his ashes were transferred to the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior by the first Nizhny Novgorod Metropolitan Filaret.

By the 30s of the 19th century, the cathedral fell into disrepair and was demolished at the direction of the Nizhny Novgorod governor M.P. Buturlin. In 1838, a new cathedral was built, its foundation was shifted by several tens of meters relative to the old building, and the ashes of Minin and the princes resting nearby were placed in the sub-church.

In 1930, after the destruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral, the ashes were transferred for storage to the Historical and Architectural Museum Reserve, and then transferred to the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.
According to the TV program "Searchers", a completely different ashes lie in the grave on the territory of the Kremlin, and the real remains of Minin continue to remain in the ground at the place where the Transfiguration Cathedral stood. At present, on the site of the cathedral built in 1838, there is a wooden cross.

Since 1804, IP Martos began to work on a sculptural composition in Nizhny Novgorod in honor of Kozma Minin. Upon completion of the sketches in the spring of 1809, a fundraising was announced in the Nizhny Novgorod province. By 1811, 18,000 rubles had been received, but on February 15 of the same year, the Committee of Ministers decided to erect a monument in Moscow. In 1818 a monument was erected to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow, and in 1828 a granite obelisk was erected in Nizhny Novgorod.

A family

Kuzma had an only son - Nefed. After the death of Minin, the tsar, by a letter dated July 5, 1616, confirmed the right to own a fiefdom in the Nizhny Novgorod district - the village of Bogorodskoye with villages - to the widow of Kuzma Tatyana Semyonovna and his son Nefyod. Nefed had a courtyard on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, although he himself lived in Moscow in his service, acting as a solicitor. Information about him is rather scattered. In 1625 he was present at the departure of the Persian ambassador, in 1626 he was "at the sovereign's lantern" at two royal weddings. The last mention in the palace ranks dates back to 1628. He died in 1632. The granted estates returned to the state treasury and were given to Prince Yakov Kudenekovich Cherkassky.

Tatyana Semyonovna Minina continued to live in Nizhny Novgorod. Apparently, at an advanced age, she became a nun, ending her life in one of the Nizhny Novgorod monasteries (most likely in Voskresensky, located on the territory of the Kremlin).

Performance evaluations

Most historians (especially I. E. Zabelin and M. P. Pogodin) describe the historical portrait of Minin as worthy of respect for his heroic actions, mentioning his feat before the fatherland as a decisive step in defense of the Motherland, in contrast to N. I. Kostomarov, who considered him a man "with a strong will, a strong temper, who used all means to achieve the goal."

"There are sacred numbers in history, sacred names,
sacred beliefs that must be touched
with extreme caution... Find a new immutable
evidence ... with all signs of authenticity
and certainty without the slightest reason for reflection, -
oh, that's different! Then we are with pure historical
conscience will have to change our mind ... "
M. P. Pogodin

Let's compare, dear reader.

"At that very time, a certain person in Nizhny Novgorod named Kuzma Minin ..." (a contemporary of Minin and Pozharsky Prince S. Shakhovskaya). "The husband was pious in Nizhny Novagrad by the name of Kozma Minin ..." (monk-chronicler S. Azaryin). "Here ... Kuzma Zakharyevich Minin-Sukhoruk began to speak to the world ..." (historian N. Kostomarov). "...full name - Kuzma Minich son Zakhariev Sukhorukiy..." (Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1938). "... Minin, Zakharyev Sukhoruk, Kuzma Minich..." ("Soviet Historical Encyclopedia", 1966). "...Kosma Minich Zakharyev-Sukhoruk..." (Ogonyok magazine, 1985)... So what was the name of the Nizhny Novgorod headman, the savior of Russia, our national hero Minin?!

Until the first half of the XIX century. in chronicles and business documents we meet KUZMA and, very rarely, as an option, KOZMA.

There are more than a thousand names in the calendar - lists of Byzantine saints, but there are none. There is - COSMA. For example, in 1642, before his death, Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, according to the custom of those years, accepted the schema and in monasticism took the name KOSMA. It turns out that - the name of his unforgettable colleague and friend, with whom years and death separated, but not fate ... Documentary evidence has not reached us, but with all confidence it can be argued that it was this name that Minin received at baptism.

This fact is also confirmed by the surviving ancient synodics of the Russian Orthodox Church, where the hero is commemorated as COSMA.

However: most of the Byzantine names given to the Orthodox at baptism were unusual for Russian hearing and therefore adapted. For example, George turned into YURI, Matthew - into MATVEY, John - into IVAN, JOSEPH - into OSIP, etc. At the same time, both colloquial and church variants could be used in everyday life. The hero himself signed his letters and documents invariably KUZMA and invariably MININ. In Moscow documents, royal letters we also meet - KUZMA MININ: for example, in the royal letter "On the award ... Kuzma Minin to ... duma nobles." His son Nefed is called in the documents: "Kuzmin son of Minich".

So - undoubtedly, KUZMA! Otherwise it can not be! That was the name of the hero's relatives and friends, the sovereign and the great courtiers, that's how he realized himself.

But - MININ or MINICH?

This is the same thing - an indication of the father's name, patronymic, clarification, whose son.

A simple person of that time, whether a serf, a peasant, a townsman (Minin was from the townspeople), was supposed to have only a name, without a surname. But Kuzmas, Matveys, Ivans must have been somehow different? To avoid confusion in everyday life, they specified - MININ's son, MINICH, MININ. To this day, by the way, in some places in the Russian outback, villagers call each other that way. For example, my village grandfather Ivan Petrovich was nicknamed by those around him: "Ivan Petrov."

The fact that the father of the hero was called MINA, and nothing else, is documented. So, in the entry according to the Scribe Book of the Zauzolskaya volost for 1591, a number of arable lands and forest lands were listed "behind a hoodie, behind a townsman, behind Minea, behind Ankudinov."

By the end of his life, with the receipt of the Duma nobility, the hero was respectfully called KUZMA MINICH (compare - KUZMICH, ILYICH, etc.) MININ. The nobleman was supposed to have a surname, and Kuzma received it - by patronymic, by the name of his father.

So, the last name is MININ.

Kuzma's paternal grandfather, as we see, was called ANKUDIN. In the records of the Scribal Book of Yuryevets Povolzhsky, he appears as "Ankidin Vlasov", we immediately find a mention of his own brother - "Koska Vlasov". Consequently, Kuzma's great-grandfather was called VLAS, and all sorts of Zacharias, Sukhoruki there were none in the Minin family. Where did that come from?

"The water was muddied" by the magazine "Moskvityanin", edited by the writer M.P. Pogodin, whose quote about the "purity of historical conscience" we took out in the epigraph. In No. 4 for 1854, the magazine published a bill of sale drawn up in N. Nogorod in November 1602. In the original, it was indicated that the yard of such and such a master was located "near Kuzma Zakharyev's son Sukhoruk." So what? What does Minin have to do with it, you ask? How many namesakes he had! Despite the fact that when editing the material, someone’s willing hand (it’s hard to understand, however, for what reasons, perhaps in anticipation of a sensation and a fee) inserted only one word, and it turned out in the publication: “next to Kuzma Zakhariev, the son of Minin (emphasis mine - S.S.) Sukhoruka. And - let's go, let's go, and even in variations, through cities and villages! A name that did not exist in nature!

A.N. Ostrovsky writes the play "Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk". M.P. Kostomarov in historical writings echoes him, however, slightly correcting: KUZMA. In 1936, M. Bulgakov wrote a libretto to music by B. Asafiev for the opera "Minin and Pozharsky", where the title actor a certain Kuzma ZAHARYCH. In 1938 the magazine " New world"(N6) publishes V. Kostylev's novel "Kozma Minin" ("Is it really you, Kozma Zakharovich?" - one of the characters cannot recognize Minin in Minin). On November 7, 1943, a monument to the hero was opened on the central square of Gorky sculptor A. Kolobov, the monument is not bad, but made of reinforced concrete (for lack of war time funds), on the pedestal is signed - KOZMA MININ. About 15 years ago, Kolobovsky KOZMA, considered antediluvian, was dismantled and reinstalled in Balakhna. Instead, a bronze monument to O. Komov stood up, and again - KOZMA ...

I understand that KOZMA is pronounced, it seems, more blog-sounding than the "rustic" KUZMA is heard by ear. But let's think about it: does a national hero need to be embellished somehow, contrary to historical truth?

And aren't we sinning against the truth here to the same extent as the authors of the monument to KOZMA in the center of Nizhny Novgorod - Minin here is dressed in a ceremonial noble caftan? He received the rank of duma nobleman from the sovereign in 1613, but only three years in the nobility and looked like (he died in 1616), he hardly even got used to the outward attributes of his new status in his sixteen years of life.

That is why Kuzma Minin is dear to us, that is why we are especially revered by the people, because he is from the very essence of this people, blood from blood, flesh from his flesh!

S. SKATOV,
Active Member
Russian Historical Society

Minin Kuzma Minich (? -1616) - organizer of the militia against the Polish invaders in the early 17th century.

He came from the family of the Balakhna salt industrialist Mina Ankudinov. "Minin" - was originally a patronymic, then became a generic surname. Arriving in Nizhny Novgorod, Minin traded meat and fish. Elected by the Zemstvo headman, he began to form a people's militia in the city. According to legend, he gave a third of the property to the organization of the militia, including his wife's jewelry and silver salaries from icons. Chronograph 1617 quotes Minin's appeal to the people of Nizhny Novgorod: “You should not spare your property; and not only property! Do not regret selling your yards, and pawning your wives and children!”

Minin invited Dmitry Pozharsky as the chief governor, becoming the treasurer of the militia and their administrative head. He took from the population the “fifth”, and even the “third money” (one third of the property), paid the warriors, bought weapons and supplies. According to N.I. Kostomarov, he combined “the features of a dictator with tough, tough measures.”

In the winter of 1611-1612, under the leadership of Minin and Pozharsky, a kind of government took shape in Yaroslavl, the “Council of All the Earth”, which sent orders to other cities and counties. Minin was illiterate, Pozharsky put his signature on orders for him (“Prince Dmitry Pozharsky put his hand in the elected man with all the land in Kozmino in the place of Minino”). Minin's illiteracy did not prevent him from being an excellent organizer, he was well versed in the solvency of the population, the appointment of governors, considered complaints and petitions. The aristocrats and the provincial nobility were unhappy that some Nizhny Novgorod merchant was resolving disputes (“Let x[o]lop cultivate the land, let the priest know the church, let the Kuzmas engage in trade”). The dignitaries managed to push him to the background in the list of persons who signed the documents of the “Council of All the Earth”. Pozharsky in this list was in tenth place, and Minin in fifteenth place.

In the fighting of the First (February-March 1612) and Second (July-October 1612) militias, Minin played a more prominent role. Together with “three hundred noblemen”, showing military prowess and courage, he “crossed the river [in] a hundred [l] against the Crimean court for Moscow” and did not let the detachments of the Polish hetman Jan, who came to the Kremlin to help the Poles, settled in the Kremlin Karl Hodkiewicz. In October 1612, the starving Poles capitulated. According to contemporaries, it was Minin who accepted property from them, which he then distributed to Cossack soldiers.

From the autumn of 1612 until the crowning of Mikhail Romanov in February 1613, the Zemstvo government was headed by a triumvirate - Minin, Pozharsky and Prince Trubetskoy, Minin dealt with financial and economic issues. After the election of Mikhail Romanov, he received the rank of duma nobleman and a fiefdom in the village of Bogorodskoye near Nizhny Novgorod with 9 villages "in a kind of motionless." As a member of the Boyar Duma, he continued to live in Moscow, collected a fifth (20%) from the property of the townspeople, replenishing the treasury depleted by the Time of Troubles, and participated in government if the tsar left the capital.

In the winter of 1615, Tatars and Cheremis rebelled in the Volga region. To clarify the reasons, Minin was sent to Kazan. He died on the way back in Nizhny Novgorod, before he could reach Moscow. He was buried in the Nizhny Novgorod Transfiguration Cathedral.

A monument was erected to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow on Red Square (sculptor I.P. Martosa), a monument to one Minin in Nizhny Novgorod (sculptor A.I. Melnikov). The image of Minin was captured in the 19th century. artists A.Kivshenko (Appeal of Kuzma Minin to the people of Nizhny Novgorod), M.Scotti (Minin and Pozharsky). In 1939 directors V. Pudovkin and M. Doller shot the film Minin and Pozharsky.