For what city Ivan Susanin gave his life. What did Ivan Susanin do

The name of the national hero Ivan Osipovich Susanin is known to any Russian child of the 3rd grade. Many do not know his biography, but they know that he led someone somewhere into the impenetrable jungle. Let's take a quick look at this biography. famous person and try to understand what is reality and what is fiction.

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It must be said that not much is known about Ivan. He was born in the Kostroma region in the village of Derevenki. According to other sources, the place of birth is the village of Domnino, which was the patrimony of the Shestov nobles. Who I. Susanin was during his lifetime is also not very clear. According to different sources there are different views:

1. Generally accepted - a simple peasant;
2. Little accepted - the village headman;
3. Little known - Ivan Osipovich acted as a clerk and lived at the court of the Shestov boyars.

For the first time, they learned about him in 1619 from the royal charter of Tsar Mikhail Romanov. From this letter we learn that in the fierce winter of 1612, the Polish-Lithuanian detachment of the Commonwealth appeared. The purpose of the detachment was to find the young Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov and destroy him. At that time, the tsar, together with his mother, nun Martha, lived in the village of Domnino.

A detachment of Poles and Lithuanians advanced along the road to Domnino and met the peasant Ivan Susanin and his son-in-law Bogdan Sobinin. Susanin was ordered to show the way to the court where the young king lives. The peasant reluctantly agreed and led the enemy in the other direction. According to the letter and legend, Ivan led them to the swamps into the impenetrable jungle. When the deception was revealed, the gentry tortured him and cut the body into small pieces. They were never able to get out of the wilds and froze in the swamps. Under the yoke of torture, Ivan Osipovich did not change his decision to destroy the enemy and did not indicate the right path.

History shows that that Susanin led the gentry, and son-in-law Sobinin went to Domnino to warn the king. The king and his mother took refuge in a monastery. Judging by the fact that son-in-law Sobinin is mentioned, it is determined that Susanin's age was about 35-40 years. According to other sources - it was an old man of advanced years.

In 1619, the tsar grants a letter to his son-in-law Bogdan Sobinin to manage half of the village and exempt from taxes. In the future, there were still salaries to the widow of Sobinin and the descendants of Susanin. Since then, the legend of the immortal feat of the Russian peasant Ivan Susanin lives and is passed from mouth to mouth.

The cult of Susanin in Tsarist Russia

In 1767, Catherine the Great traveled to Kostroma. After that, she mentions the feat that the hero accomplished and speaks of him as the savior of the tsar and the entire Romanov family.

Before 1812 little was known about him. The fact is that this year the Russian writer S. N. Glinka wrote about Susanin as a national hero, about his feat, self-sacrifice in the name of the tsar-father and the Fatherland. Since that time, his name has become the property of the entire public of tsarist Russia. He became a character in history textbooks, many operas, poems, stories.

In the reign of Nicholas I, the cult of the hero's personality intensified. It was a political light image tsarist Russia, who advocated the ideals of self-sacrifice for the sake of the tsar, autocracy. The image of a peasant hero, a peasant defender of the Russian land. In 1838, Nicholas I signed a decree renaming the main square of Kostroma into Susaninskaya Square. A monument to the hero was erected on it.

A completely different perception of the image of Susanin was at the beginning of the formation of the power of the Soviets. He was ranked not among the heroes, but among the king's saints. All monuments to the tsars were demolished by Lenin's decree. In 1918 they began to demolish the monument in Kostroma. The square was renamed Revolution Square. In 1934, the monument was completely demolished. But at the same time, the rehabilitation of the image of Susanin as a national hero who gave his life for his homeland began.

In 1967, a monument to Ivan was re-erected in Kostroma. The photo of the monument reveals the image of an ordinary peasant in long clothes. The inscription on the monument reads: "To Ivan Susanin - a patriot of the Russian land."

Biography of Ivan Susanin

Photo by N.M. Bekarevich. 1895

Standing in the place where, according to legend,
was the house of Bogdan Sobinin.

What do we know for sure about Susanin? Very little, almost nothing. His nickname is curious, because “Susanin” is not a surname in our understanding, which in those days the peasants did not have. The nickname was given, as a rule, by the name of the father - remember, for example, Kuzma Minin, nicknamed Minin because the father of the famous Nizhny Novgorod was called Mina; Susanin's grandson Daniil, the son of his son-in-law Bogdan Sobinin, again passed through his father in the documents as “Danilko Bogdanov”, etc. The nickname Susanin clearly comes from female name Susanna (“white lily” in Hebrew; such a name was borne by one of the myrrh-bearing women). Most likely, Susanna was the name of Ivan Susanin's mother, and the nickname after the mother's name allows us to assume that Susanin grew up without a father, perhaps who died when his son was very young. In the literature about Susanin, his middle name is usually reported - Osipovich, but it is fictitious. In the sources of the 17th century, there is no mention of any patronymic of Susanin, and this is natural, since there were no official patronymics for peasants at that time: they were the privilege of only boyars and nobles. If Susanin's father really was called Osip (Joseph), then his nickname would be Osipov, not Susanin. A

One of the most important is the question - who was Ivan Susanin in the Domnino estate? The documents of the 17th century say nothing about this. Historians of the 18th-19th centuries usually called him a peasant. Archpriest A.D. Domninsky, referring to the legends that existed in Domnino, was the first to point out that Susanin was not a simple peasant, but a patrimonial elder. He wrote: “That Susanin was the headman of the estate, I consider this reliable because I heard about it from my great-uncle, the elderly priest of the village of Stankov Mikhail Fedorov, who was brought up, together with my grandfather, by their grandfather, and my great-great-grandfather, the Domna priest Matvey Stefanov, a native of Domninsky and who died around 1760, and this was the grandson of the Domninsky priest Photius Evsebiyev, who witnessed the mentioned event. This one, in a deed of gift from the great old woman Marfa Ioannovna in 1631, was recorded as a sexton with his father, the priest Eusebius. 23 In another place, he repeats again: "The old peasants of Domnino also said that Susanin was a headman." 24

After A.D. Domninsky, some authors began to call Susanin the clerk of Marfa Ivanovna, and, apparently, this is true. As you know, in the boyar estates of the 16th-17th centuries there were two main officials: the headman and the clerk. The headman was an elected person of the local community (“world”), while the clerk (or “village”) was appointed by the owner of the estate. N.P. Pavlov-Silvansky wrote: “The management and economy of the master’s estate were usually in the hands of the clerk authorized by the master / village / ... Poselsky was in charge of the master’s own economy on the boyar land, while in relation to the plots occupied by the peasants as independent owners, he was only a collector of dues and taxes, as well as judge and steward. His reward was the use of the granted plot of land, in particular the special duties that he collected from the peasants in his favor. 25 The historian continues: “The master's clerk (... rural) was not a full-fledged steward; his power was limited by an elected headman and a lay assembly of the community.” 26

Apparently, Susanin was not an elected headman, but a clerk (village), managing the Domnino patrimony and living in Domnino at the boyar court. This conclusion is by no means contradicted by the fact that A.D. Domninsky calls Susanin "patrimonial headman." Firstly, even in the old days the term “headman” also had the meaning of “steward”. 27 Secondly, by the time of A.D. Domninsky, this term somewhat changed its meaning, which it had in the 17th century, and from the designation of an elected person who performed a number of important worldly functions, it became - at least in noble estates - also synonymous with the words "clerk", "steward", "burmister". ". b

We also know very little about the Susanin family. Since neither the documents nor the legends mention his wife, then, most likely, by 1612-1613. she's already dead. Susanin had daughter of Antonida, who was married to a local peasant Bogdan Sobinin.

The village of Derevenki is the birthplace of Ivan Susanin.

We know about her marriage only in 1619, but judging by the fact that Sobinin died by 1631, and his sons Daniil and Konstantin were listed as masters of the court for that year, 29 we can confidently assume that Antonida by 1612-1613. was already married and that, most likely, by this time the grandchildren of Susanin, the children of Bogdan and Antonida, Daniel and Konstantin, had already been born (at least Daniel was clearly the eldest).

ABOUT Bogdan Sobinin we know even less than about his famous test. We know that Sobinin was a local peasant; his nickname, most likely, comes from the ancient name "Sobina" V which is apparently his father's name. As mentioned above, for 1612-1613. he was probably already married to Susanin's daughter. It is usually written in the literature that Sobinin was an orphan or adopted by Susanin, thereby trying to explain the fact that, apparently, it was not Antonida who went to his family, but he went to the courtyard, which apparently belonged to his father-in-law.

According to legend, Susanin was from the village of Derevenki, located near Domnino. G, but he himself lived in Domnino, and Bogdan and Antonida lived in Derevenki.

Photo by N.M. Bekarevich. 1895


Spas-Khripeli village. In the center is the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior.

Village Derevenki has long belonged to parish Graveyard Spas-Khripeli d- it was above the river Shacha, three miles below Domnino. For the first time in the sources known to us, the graveyard is mentioned in the letter of Marfa Ivanovna from 1631, which says: “... the village of Khrapeli, and in it a temple in the name of the Divine Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, and another warm temple with a meal in the name of Archangel Michael ...”, 36 however, there is no doubt that this settlement arose long before the beginning of the 17th century (in one document of 1629–1630, it is said about the Church of Michael the Archangel that it is “dilapidated”).

Apparently, it was the graveyard in Spas-Khripeli that was the main religious center for the peasants of the Domnino patrimony (the Church of the Resurrection in Domnino, as we remember, was clearly a manor), including, of course, for Ivan Susanin. Most likely, it was here that he was baptized, married here and baptized his daughter Antonida; in the parish cemetery near the walls of the Transfiguration and Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk churches, of course, they buried his mother (who, apparently, was called Susanna) and his wife, unknown to us, his father could have been buried here. Here, in the graveyard of Spas-Khripeli over Shacha, apparently, Ivan Susanin himself was originally buried (more on that below).

Perhaps there is no person in Russia who has not heard about Ivan Susanin. The figure of Susanin in the popular mind turned out to be akin to the figure of Chapaev - they also write jokes and various stories about him that never happened in reality. Susanin - part Russian history which is present not only in the past, but also in the present. And even the publications that have appeared recently (their authors, of course, are not professional historians) that Susanin did not accomplish any feat are only the very exception that confirms the very rule.

But try to say in the same Kostroma that Susanin came up with! Without waiting for an answer, you will have to run quickly, and preferably as far as possible. Well, for example, to places that are officially called “Susaninsky” even today. From the regional center it is about eighty kilometers ... First you see a sign that you are entering the Susaninsky district. However, in the very district center of Susanino, only a monument built in the traditions of socialist realism reminds of the legendary countryman. Put Lenin on this pedestal - nothing would change ...

Then the path lies to the village of Domnino. Once the ancestral patrimony of the Romanovs flourished. And Ivan Susanin himself was the headman here, or, speaking in our language, the head of the administration. Today, Domnino has fallen into disrepair, 60 people live here, and those are mostly pensioners. The decoration of the village is the Holy Assumption Church, built at the beginning of the 19th century on the very spot where once stood the house of the mother of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Feodorovich Xenia Ivanovna, who bore the maiden name of Shestova. The temple is active. There is little hope for the state, in the sense of restoration; the nuns of the Epiphany-Anastasia Monastery keep order. And last year there was a sponsor who changed the roof.

Archaeologists are looking for the place where Susanin's house was located, and they are sure that sooner or later they will find it. But you don’t need to look for the place where Susanin was born - back in 1913, local peasants “in memory of the 300th anniversary of the feat of Ivan Susanin” built a chapel on the very spot in the village called Derevenki, where Ivan Susanin’s house stood. This place has long been overgrown with forest, but the chapel survived Soviet power no adventure.

Another memorable sign is the so-called Susaninsky stone. A huge block, on which there is only a laconic inscription: “Ivan Susanin. 1613”, is installed just in the very places where everything, according to legend, happened. Forests and swamps are visible from above. Squishes in the forest underfoot. Locals say that the swamps have survived to this day, and it happens that careless hunters fall into them.

Not much is known about what happened in 1613. For a long time, the only source was the charter of Tsar Mikhail Romanov, which he “on the advice and request of his mother” gave to Susanin’s son-in-law, Bogdan Sabinin. Sabinin and his family received half of the village as a reward for the exploit of Susanin, whom “Polish and Lithuanian people found and tortured with great exorbitant tortures, and tortured where at that time great sovereign, king and Grand Duke Mikhail Feodorovich. Knowing about us... enduring unreasonable torture... he did not say anything about us, and for that he was tortured to death by the Polish and Lithuanian people.”

It is known that Kostomarov, for example, doubted the feat of Susanin, but at the end of the 19th century, another historian, Samaryanov, proved that a detachment of Poles and Lithuanians really approached the village of Domnino in order to capture Mikhail Romanov, who at that time had already been proclaimed king. The question "why?" has a very specific answer: in order to eliminate the main rival - the Polish prince Vladislav, who also claimed the Russian crown. Susanin undertook to be a guide, but instead of the Ipatiev Monastery, he led the enemy detachment into dense forests. According to legend, he managed to send his son-in-law to the tsar with advice to take refuge, and the next day he himself revealed his deceit to the Poles and, despite torture, did not say anything, for which he was hacked to pieces by the Poles.

The charter of 1619 was confirmed three more times - in 1641, in 1691 and in 1837. In the 30s of the XIX century, a number of works about the personality and feat of Susanin appeared. Ryleev wrote the widely known "Duma", Glinka wrote the opera, and Polevoy wrote the drama "Kostroma Forests". Soon, in Kostroma, at the behest of Nicholas I, a monument was erected: “In evidence that grateful descendants saw in the immortal feat of Susanin - saving the life of the newly elected Tsar by the sacrifice of his life - salvation Orthodox faith and the Russian kingdom from foreign domination and enslavement. Alas, this monument did not survive the political upheavals. The new government could not allow such a monument to stand in the center of Kostroma: at the top of the granite column - the bust of the king, and at the foot - the bowed figure of Susanin ... The granite column still lies in this place, and in 1967 a new one was installed a monument to which questions, of course, did not arise.

By the way, about questions. During the stay of the Patriarch of All Rus' Alexy II on Kostroma land, one student asked him if Ivan Susanin would be canonized. The Patriarch expressed himself in the sense that the Church is working on this issue.

The whole point, indeed, is to have someone to work with. All "Susanin places" are forgotten, tourists do not come here, because no one is lucky. And how to carry if the necessary infrastructure is completely absent. Therefore, only the curious and those who are interested in the history of their country come here.

But, oddly enough, there is still some hope that the situation will change for the better. Galina Starchenko, who moved from Primorye, has been living in Domnino for two years now. Now she is building a refectory near the temple, but in principle she would like to organize a whole tourist complex in Domnino. Of course, no one will build a hotel, but Russian-style huts with the required level of comfort should appear. According to Starchenko's plan, there will also be work for local residents: they will be engaged in crafts, as in the old days, - rolling pims, weaving, and so on (not free, of course). It is unlikely that anyone will refuse to take a steam bath in a Russian bathhouse and go fishing on the picturesque river Shacha. There are also investors who understand that history for Domnino is actually also the economy.

But not everything is measured in money. Galina Starchenko says: “I live in a historical place and I feel how everything was. Here the soul grows with the person. I can imagine how Ksenia Ivanovna Shestova lived, and every day the desire to perpetuate the memory of this woman is ripening. After all, Filaret Romanov was in captivity for another five years when Mikhail became the Russian Tsar. All these years, the mother was next to her son, and, I think, God's grace addressed him through her. In memory of the mother of the Russian Tsar, Galina Starchenko dreams of erecting a monument next to the temple. One of the Kostroma sculptors has already completed the model, and if the necessary 500 thousand rubles are found, the dream will come true.

Historians argue where Ivan Susanin accomplished his feat, and the locals will easily show you that same Clean Swamp. True, one of the old-timers has a different point of view and refers to his ancestors. But, in general, everyone here knows: “So few years have passed ... Four hundred years is not a time period.” If Starchenko's project is successful, then people will be able to visit both places, which today are considered "the very ones", on a specially laid flooring through marshy places.

And maybe the state will think about it. Of course, it is easier to produce Ivan Susanin vodka and make beautiful speeches. At the same time, at least a penny was transferred to bring the “Susanian places”, which are customary to be proud of at the official level, into a divine form. Everything is idle. But tomorrow may be too late.

Domnino village - Novosibirsk

Author's photo

Arseniy Zamostyanov tells about Ivan Susanin, his feat and the significance of this story for the Russian statehood.

The feat of Ivan Susanin

With Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, the three-hundred-year reign of the Romanov dynasty began - and this happened after a dashing, shameful decade of unrest.

“Not a single royal house began as unusually as the house of the Romanovs began. Its beginning was already a feat of love. The last and lowest subject in the state offered and laid down his life in order to give us a tsar, and with this pure sacrifice he already linked the sovereign inseparably with the subject, ”these are the words of Gogol.

This last subject is the peasant Ivan Osipovich Susanin, key person autocratic ideology. Remember the triad of Count Uvarov - "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality"? The Minister of Public Education formulated it in the 1840s, but in historical reality this ideology has existed for centuries. Without it, it would be impossible to overcome the turmoil. This very “nationality” was personified by Ivan Susanin, a peasant in the village of Domnina, seventy miles from Kostroma, a serf of the Shestov nobles. Nun Marfa Ivanovna, she is also Xenia, the wife of the boyar Fyodor Romanov and the mother of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, bore the surname Shestova as a girl, and the village of Domnino was her fiefdom.

The name of Ivan Susanin in Russia is known to everyone, but only fragmentary and vague information has been preserved about his life. The Orthodox, especially the people of Kostroma, revere the hero, but in response to the age-old question about canonization, a reasonable one sounds: “We need to study, investigate the biography of the martyr. We need to know more about him…”

Official version

How was it? Let us turn to the official version - on which all the Romanovs were brought up.

In February 1613, a Polish detachment scoured the Kostroma region in search of Mikhail Romanov and his mother, nun Martha. They intended to capture or destroy the real Russian pretender to the throne of Moscow. Or maybe they wanted to capture him in order to demand a ransom. According to a legend that was passed down from generation to generation in the Domnino parish, the future tsar, having learned about the approach of the Poles, fled from the village of Domnina and ended up in settlements, in the house of Susanin. The peasant regaled him with bread and kvass and covered him in a barn pit, throwing firebrands and burnt rags at it.

The Poles raided Susanin's house and began torturing the old man. He did not give Michael away. The Poles failed to find him with the dogs: the firebrands interrupted the human smell. The drunken enemies cut down Susanin and galloped away. Mikhail got out of hiding and, accompanied by peasants, went to the Ipatiev Monastery.

Another interpretation of events is better known. Not far from Domnino, the Poles met the village head Ivan Susanin and ordered him to show the way to the village. Susanin managed to send his son-in-law, Bogdan Sabinin, to Domnino with instructions to equip Mikhail Romanov to the Ipatiev Monastery. And he himself led the Poles in the opposite direction - to the swamps. He was tortured and executed - but it was Susanin's feat that allowed Mikhail to reach Ipatievskoye unharmed.

Susanin was buried first in his native village, and a few years later the ashes were transferred to the Ipatiev Monastery - which became a symbol of the salvation of the dynasty. True, this version is often questioned - there are several alleged graves of Ivan Susanin. And ten years ago, archaeologists (not for the first and probably not the last time) discovered the place of Susanin's death...

In a word, a mystery shrouded in mystery. Even the hero's memorial day has not been set. The most likely date of the feat and death is February 1613, 400 years ago ... Before the revolution, honors were brought to the savior of the first royal Romanov on September 11, on the feast of the Beheading of the head of the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John. A special funeral commemoration of the national hero was performed. This tradition was revived in the 21st century.

The late His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II addressed the fellow countrymen of the legendary hero: “Kostroma, for several centuries referred to as the “cradle of the Romanov dynasty”, overshadowed by the All-Russian shrine - the miraculous Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God - was of particular importance in the events of 1613, which marked the beginning of overcoming the Time of Troubles. The appeal to the memory of Ivan Susanin is seen by Us as a good sign of the spiritual revival of the Kostroma region and all of Russia. Remembering with love our visit to the places of life and deeds of Ivan Susanin, which took place in 1993, now with the entire Kostroma flock We offer up Our First Hierarchal Prayers for the blessed repose of the servant of God John in the villages of the righteous, “where there is illness, no sorrow, no sighing, but endless life ".

The story is symbolic, parable, mysterious.

Why was the legend about Ivan Susanin necessary?

The point is not only that the village headman has become a model of sacrificial, selfless devotion to the sovereign. A vivid (albeit mysterious) episode of the massacre of a peasant who lured a Polish detachment into impenetrable swamps was the last manifestation of the Time of Troubles - and so it remained in the people's memory. Dismay is and Civil War, and anarchy, and the betrayal of the ruling circles, and the bestiality of the people, and rampant imposture, and the excesses of the conquerors ... Ivan Susanin gave his life in the name of ending this disaster.

Skeptics will throw up their hands: yes, he could not think about such matters as the salvation of statehood or national sovereignty ... At best, the peasant showed vassal devotion.

Perhaps he was hostile towards non-Christian Catholics, but Susanin was not and could not be any conscious statesman ... Yes, Susanin was hardly a politically literate patriot. It is unlikely that he thought in terms of "state", "sovereignty", "war of liberation". Perhaps he did not even have a chance to see the great Russian cities. But the meaning of any act is determined over decades ...

In 1619, during a pilgrimage, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich remembered the winter of 1613. Most likely, it was then, in the hot pursuit of events, that he was told about the deceased peasant. Russian autocrats often made trips to monasteries - but Mikhail Fedorovich chose to thanksgiving prayer Trinity-Makarevsky Monastery, on the Unzha River. This monastery is associated with the work of St. Macarius Zheltovodsky. The holy elder lived 95 years, died in 1444 - and was in Tatar captivity, in Kazan, which had not yet been conquered. He (even before canonization, which took place just during the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich) was prayed for the salvation of the captives. The tsar's father, Patriarch Filaret, was released from captivity alive and unharmed - and the Romanovs saw this as the patronage of the Zheltyvodsk elder. There is a version that in February 1613, when Ivan Susanin destroyed the Polish detachment, Martha and Mikhail were heading to Unzha, to the Trinity-Makarevsky Monastery.

The feat of Susanin prevented the looting of the monastery and the capture of the future king. The king, bowing to the relics of St. Macarius, decided to reward the relatives of the fallen hero. It was then that the sovereign drew up a letter of commendation to Ivan Susanin's son-in-law, Bogdan Sobinin. This is the only document testifying to the feat! Let's not forget: these lines were written six years after the February events of 1613, when the memory of them had not yet faded:

“By the grace of God, we, the great sovereign, tsar and grand duke Mikhailo Fedorovich, autocrat of all Russia, by our royal mercy, and by the advice and petition of our mother, the empress, the great old woman nun Marfa Ivanovna, granted us the Kostroma district, our village Domnina, peasant Bogdashka Sobinin, for service to us and for blood, and for the patience of his father-in-law Ivan Susanin: how we, the great sovereign, tsar and grand duke Mikhailo Fedorovich of all Russia in the past 121 (that is, in 1613 from the Nativity of Christ!) year were in Kostroma, and at that time Polish and Lithuanian people came to the Kostroma district, and Lithuanian people confiscated his father-in-law, Bogdashkov, Ivan Susanin at that time and tortured him with great, unreasonable tortures and tortured him where at that time we, the great Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhailo Fedorovich of All Russia were, and he was Ivan, knowing about us, the great sovereign, where we were at that time, enduring unreasonable tortures from those Polish and Lithuanian people, about us, the great sovereign, by those Polish and Lithuanian He didn’t tell people where we were at that time, but the Polish and Lithuanian people tortured him to death.

And we, the great sovereign, the tsar and the great prince Mikhailo Fedorovich of all Russia, granted him, Bogdashka, for the service of his father-in-law Ivan Susanin to us and for the blood in the Kostroma district of our palace village of Domnina, half of the village of Derevnishch, on which he, Bogdashka, now lives, one and a half four of the land was ordered to be whitewashed from that semi-village, and one and a half four of the land was ordered to be whitewashed on him, on Bogdashka, and on his children, and on our grandchildren, and on our great-grandchildren, no taxes and feed, and carts, and all sorts of canteen and grain stocks , and in urban handicrafts, and in mostovshchina, and in others, they did not order any tax to imati from them; they ordered them to whitewash that half of the village in everything, both for their children and grandchildren, and for the whole family immobile. And there will be our village of Domnino in which the monastery will be in return, that half of the village of Derevnishch, one and a half four of the land in which the monastery with that village was not ordered to be given, they ordered, according to our royal salary, to own it, Bogdashka Sobinin, and his children, and grandchildren and unmoved into their generation forever. This is our royal charter in Moscow in the summer of 7128 (from the Nativity of Christ - 1619) November on the 30th day.

Note: Susanin is not called Ivashka, but Ivan - with reverence. And his son-in-law is Bogdashka. In those years, the autocrats rarely rendered such an honor to the “vile people”.

Ivan Susanin: martyr's crown

Since then, Russia has not forgotten about Ivan Susanin.

“Faithful to his Christian duty, Susanin accepted the crown of martyrdom and blessed, like the righteous Simeon of old, God, who made him worthy, if not to see, then to die for the salvation of the lad, whom God anointed with holy oil and called him the king of Russia,” they wrote about Susanin by the beginning of the 19th century. This is how schoolchildren and high school students recognized the hero.
Is it possible to forget the thought of Kondraty Ryleev - which in Soviet years studied at school. True, instead of "for the tsar and for Rus'" in our anthologies it was written: "For dear Rus'." In the Soviet tradition, Susanin is the hero of the liberation struggle of the Russian people against the interventionists; monarchist aspirations were kept silent about.

These lines are unforgettable:

"Where did you take us?" - Lyakh old cried out.
– “Where you need it!” Susan said.
– “Kill! torture! my grave is here!
But know, and rush: - I saved Michael!
A traitor, they thought, you found in me:
They are not and will not be on the Russian land!
In it, everyone loves their homeland from infancy,
And he will not destroy his soul by betrayal. -

“Villain!” shouted the enemies, boiling over:
"You will die under swords!" “Your anger is not terrible!
Who is Russian by heart, then cheerfully and boldly
And joyfully dies for a just cause!
Neither execution nor death, and I'm not afraid:
Without flinching, I will die for the Tsar and for Rus'!” -
“Die!” The Sarmatians shouted to the Hero -
And the sabers over the old man, whistling, flashed!
"Die, traitor! Your end has come!" -
And the solid Susanin fell all over in ulcers!
The snow is clean, the purest blood stained:
She saved Mikhail for Russia!

With Ivan Susanin, the Russian opera began, in which a peasant in a sheepskin coat so impressively declared himself, bringing out in a bass wonderful unborrowed tunes: “They smell the truth! You, dawn, rather shine, rather build, raise the hour of salvation! Great opera image. By the way, Glinka's "Life for the Tsar" was not the first opera about that feat. Back in 1815, Katerino Cavos created the opera Ivan Susanin. This plot was perceived as state-forming. But then the time came to revise the usual ideas about the history of Rus'. From the monarchical myths, gilding flew off. “Is it sacred? A total lie!"

“It could be that the robbers who attacked Susanin were the same kind of thieves, and the event, so loudly glorified later, was one of many that year,” wrote historian Nikolai Kostomarov, the eternal troublemaker of academic peace and subverter of ideals.

No, the feat of Ivan Susanin is not a falsification, not someone's fantasy, the peasant really fell victim to the interventionists in the Kostroma swamps. But the main thing in this feat is a parable, a legend, historical context. If young Mikhail Romanov had not become the first king of a powerful dynasty, history would hardly have preserved the name of a pious peasant. In those years, Russian people often became victims of atrocities - and the first to die were those who remained faithful to their faith and legitimate authority. History itself wove a laurel wreath for Ivan Osipovich - and the disgrace of noble ideals has not yet brought happiness to anyone. We are told about the slavish ("dog") devotion of the serf Susanin to his masters. But what grounds do skeptics have for such a cruel diagnosis? According to many testimonies (including the testimonies of foreign guests of Rus'), the Muscovite peasants, despite their slave status, developed a feeling dignity. Do not throw mud at loyalty, do not treat it arrogantly.

Of course, Susanin did not know that a conciliar decision had been made in Moscow to call Mikhail Fedorovich to the kingdom. As hard as it is to believe, there was no radio or internet in those years. But it can be assumed that the wise peasant heard rumors that this young boyar is our future autocrat. And he felt the high significance of the feat - to save the young man, not to let the enemy through Domnino, to give his life with a prayer for others ...
The Russian land is glorious with heroes. Many feats have peasant roots. And the first in the people's memory was Susanin - he was (I hope that he remains!) An example for posterity. He will still serve the Fatherland: the heroes who died for the Motherland do not die. A village does not stand without a righteous man - and without legends and myths.

The feat of Ivan Susanin is described in all textbooks on the history of the USSR and Russia, but there is very little reliable data on the life and circumstances of the death of a peasant in the Kostroma district. At the moment, the alleged place of the tragic events has been established, but opinions differ greatly about the date of the feat.

So, Archpriest Alexy Danilovich Domninsky (1794-1871) claimed that Susanin died in the autumn of 1612. Most domestic researchers are convinced that the hero definitely died after March 3, 1613 (election Zemsky Cathedral Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to reign). So, taking into account the natural and climatic factors and the location of the Polish troops, the most probable date of death can be considered March 30, 1613.

Evidence and doubt

The very fact of the feat of the headman of the village of Domnino (the patrimony of the Romanov family) Ivan Susanin, as a rule, is not questioned. Historians have at their disposal four letters of 1619, 1633, 1644 and 1691, which regulate the privileges and privileges of the descendants of the hero who gave his life for Mikhail Fedorovich.

• Nuns of Epiphany-Anastasia convent at the memorial stone installed at the site of the death of a peasant from the village of Domnino Ivan Susanin
• RIA News

In a letter of commendation dated November 30, 1619, it was proclaimed that the son-in-law of the hero Bogdan Sobinin gets rid of all taxes "for his father-in-law, Ivan Susanin, to serve us, and for blood." 14 years later, a letter was issued that allowed the daughter of the deceased peasant Antonida to move with the children (“with Danilok and Kostka”) to the wasteland of Korobovo, Kostroma district.

However, these documents do not provide detailed description feat of Susanin. A small passage from the letter of 1619 reports only that "Polish and Lithuanian people" constantly visited the Kostroma district, looking for Mikhail Fedorovich, and tortured the peasant to death.

“... Ivan, knowing about us, the great sovereign, where we were at that time, enduring unreasonable torture from those Polish and Lithuanian people, did not say about us, the great sovereign, to those Polish and Lithuanian people where we were at that time, and Polish and Lithuanian people tortured him to death…” the document noted.

The legend that Susanin agreed to show the invaders the location of the monarch and deliberately led them into an impenetrable thicket appeared in Mikhail Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar (1836) and then firmly entered the history books.

In written sources, nothing is said about the death of the Poles. The composer's version was criticized by his contemporary, Corresponding Member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Ivan Kostomarov (1817-1885).

In addition, Kostomarov refuted the authenticity of the facts stated about Susanin in a letter of commendation dated 1619. The historian believed that Bogdan Sobinin allegedly created the heroic legend in an effort to beg privileges from Mikhail Fedorovich. According to Kostomarov, Susanin died as a victim of robbers.

A long-awaited find

Most modern historians, relying on the results of archaeological examinations, refute Kostomarov's interpretation. Experts agree that Susanin really existed, suffered torment and sacrificed himself, saving the newly elected sovereign.

In particular, local archaeologists found a 17th-century Polish saber.

This find confirmed the fact that foreign invaders often visited the Kostroma district, the capture of which was not of strategic importance.

In addition, many human remains and pectoral crosses were found near the village of Isupovo (Susaninsky district of the Kostroma region - now it is an extinct village). For a long time this place was a swamp. It is noteworthy that almost all the found crosses turned out to be Catholic, and one of the Orthodox ones was cut.

• Fragment of the painting by Mikhail Nesterov "Ivan Susanin"

Most likely, it was here that Susanin died. The study of his alleged remains made it possible to establish the age (45-50 years), height (about 165 cm) and the cause of death - a blow to the head.

In addition, historians have determined that Susanin is not the name of a Russian hero in the usual modern man sense. Susanin literally means the son of Susanna - this is how widows were called in Rus'. Thus, we can conclude that the peasant did not have a father, and the patronymic "Osipovich", which is often mentioned in literary sources, is an invention.

There is no particular dispute that Susanin worked as the headman of Domnino, but how close he was to the tsar and his mother Marfa Ivanovna is not known for certain.

Symbol of unity

The deputy director of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA), the chief curator of the fund, Yuri Eskin, in an interview with RT, stated that information about Susanin is still very scarce. One of the reasons is a peasant origin and the absence of a son. The Susanin family after the death of Ivan continued through the female line.

“There is no special information about the Sobinins, except for those documents that were given to the daughter of Ivan Susanin ... We cannot say whether Susanin knew about the election of Mikhail Romanov to the throne. Susanin, perhaps, knew Mikhail as a child and therefore was ready to give his life for him, ”Eskin explained.

In addition, the expert urged not to draw unambiguous conclusions about the death of Susanin. According to him, robbers and "soldiers of fortune" were operating in the Kostroma district during the Time of Troubles. Raids on peasants were often carried out by gangs consisting of Ukrainians, Belarusians and Cossacks.

“The story of Susanin became popular outside the Kostroma province quite late. They started talking about Ivan Susanin after Catherine II's visit to Kostroma in 1767. The nobles were almost not interested in the history of Russia until the 19th century. There was also an important ideological moment: is it good that a simple man saved the king, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

The situation changed radically after Patriotic War 1812. The story of Susanin's feat became a symbol of the unity of the tsarist government and the people, fitting into the concept of "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality."

• Monument to Ivan Susanin in Kostroma
• Barbara Gertier

The image of the hero-peasant continued to live in Soviet time. In 1939, Glinka's opera was renamed Ivan Susanin. In the new libretto, the mention of a feat for the sake of the king disappeared. The character of the Domninsky elder symbolized the heroism of a simple Russian person.

Susanin remained a cult historical figure after 1991. In May 1993, Patriarch Alexy II served a memorial service for the hero at the chapel in Derevenki (the supposed birthplace of Susanin). And since 2005, Russia has been celebrating National Unity Day, remembering the exploits of Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky and Ivan Susanin.