The Khanate or Kingdom of Siberia, the conquest of which Ermak Timofeevich became famous in Russian history, was a fragment of the vast empire of Genghis Khan. It emerged from the Central Asian Tatar possessions, apparently no earlier than the 15th century - in the same era when the special kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan, Khiva and Bukhara were formed. The Siberian Horde, apparently, was closely related to the Nogai Horde. It was formerly called Tyumen and Shiban. The last name indicates that the branch of the Chingizids dominated here, which came from Sheibani, one of the sons of Jochi and the brother of Batu, and which ruled in Central Asia. One branch of the Sheibanids founded a special kingdom in the Ishim and Irtysh steppes and extended its borders to the Ural ridge and the Ob. A century before Ermak, under Ivan III, the Sheiban Khan Ivak, like the Crimean Mengli-Girey, was at enmity with the Golden Horde Khan Akhmat and was even his murderer. But Ivak himself was killed by a rival in his own land. The fact is that a part of the Tatars under the leadership of the noble Bek Taibuga separated from the Shiban Horde. True, Taibuga's successors were not called khans, but only beks; the right to the highest title belonged only to the descendants of Chingisov, i.e., the Sheibanids. Taibuga's successors withdrew with their horde further north, to the Irtysh, where the town of Siberia, below the confluence of the Tobol and the Irtysh, became its center, and where it subjugated the neighboring Ostyaks, Voguls and Bashkirs. Ivak was killed by one of Taibuga's successors. There was fierce enmity between these two clans, and each of them looked for allies in the Bukhara kingdom, the Kyrgyz and Nogai hordes and in the Moscow state.

Oath of the Siberian Khanate to Moscow in the 1550-1560s

These internal strife explain the readiness with which the prince of the Siberian Tatars Ediger, a descendant of Taibuga, recognized himself as a tributary of Ivan the Terrible. A quarter of a century before Ermak Timofeevich’s campaign, in 1555, Ediger’s ambassadors came to Moscow and beat him with his forehead so that he would accept the Siberian land under his protection and take tribute from it. Ediger sought support from Moscow in the fight against the Sheibanids. Ivan Vasilyevich took the Siberian prince under his hand, imposed a tribute of a thousand sables a year on him and sent Dimitri Nepeytsin to him to swear in the inhabitants of the Siberian land and enumerate the black people; their number extended to 30,700. But in subsequent years the tribute was not delivered in full; Ediger justified himself by saying that he was fought by the Shiban prince, who took many people captive. This Shiban prince was the future enemy of Ermak’s Cossacks Kuchum, grandson of Khan Ivaka. Having received help from the Kyrgyz-Kaisaks or Nogais, Kuchum defeated Ediger, killed him and took possession of the Siberian kingdom (around 1563). At first, he also recognized himself as a tributary of the Moscow sovereign. The Moscow government recognized him as a khan, as a direct descendant of the Sheibanids. But when Kuchum firmly established himself in the Siberian land and spread the Mohammedan religion among his Tatars, he not only stopped paying tribute, but also began to attack our northeastern Ukraine, forcing the neighboring Ostyaks, instead of Moscow, to pay tribute to him. In all likelihood, these changes for the worse in the east occurred not without the influence of failures in the Livonian War. The Siberian Khanate came out from under the supreme power of Moscow - this later made it necessary for Ermak Timofeevich to go to Siberia.

Stroganovs

The origin of Ataman Ermak Timofeevich is unknown. According to one legend, he was from the banks of the Kama River, according to another, he was a native of the Kachalinskaya village on the Don. His name, according to some, is a change from the name Ermolai; other historians and chroniclers derive it from Herman and Eremey. One chronicle, considering Ermak's name a nickname, gives him the Christian name Vasily. Ermak was at first the chieftain of one of the numerous Cossack gangs that plundered on the Volga and robbed not only Russian merchants and Persian ambassadors, but also royal ships. Ermak’s gang turned to the conquest of Siberia after entering the service of the famous Stroganov family.

The ancestors of Ermak's employers, the Stroganovs, probably belonged to the Novgorod families that colonized the Dvina land, and during the era of Novgorod's struggle with Moscow, they went over to the latter's side. They had large estates in the Solvycheg and Ustyug regions and acquired great wealth by engaging in salt production, as well as by trading with Perm and Ugra foreigners, from whom they exchanged expensive furs. The main nest of this family was in Solvychegodsk. The wealth of the Stroganovs is evidenced by the news that they helped Grand Duke Vasily the Dark ransom from Tatar captivity; for which they received various awards and preferential certificates. Under Ivan III, Luka Stroganov was famous; and under Vasily III the grandchildren of this Luke. Continuing to engage in salt mining and trade, the Stroganovs are the largest figures in the field of settling the northeastern lands. During the reign of Ivan IV, they extended their colonization activities far to the southeast, to the Kama region. At that time, the head of the family is Anikius, the grandson of Luke; but he was probably already old, and his three sons are the leaders: Yakov, Gregory and Semyon. They are no longer simple peaceful colonizers of the Trans-Kama countries, but have their own military detachments, build fortresses, arm them with their own cannons, and repel attacks of hostile foreigners. A little later, the gang of Ermak Timofeevich was hired as one of these detachments. The Stroganovs represented a family of feudal owners on our eastern outskirts. The Moscow government willingly provided enterprising people with all the benefits and rights to defend the northeastern borders.

Preparation of Ermak's campaign

The colonization activities of the Stroganovs, whose highest expression soon became Ermak’s campaign, were constantly expanding. In 1558, Grigory Stroganov confronted Ivan Vasilyevich about the following: in Great Perm, on both sides of the Kama River from Lysva to Chusovaya, there are empty places, black forests, uninhabited and not assigned to anyone. The petitioner asks the Stroganovs to grant this space, promising to build a city there, supply it with cannons and arquebuses in order to protect the sovereign’s fatherland from the Nogai people and from other hordes; asks permission to cut down forests in these wild places, plow arable land, build courtyards, and summon unliterate and non-taxable people. By a letter dated April 4 of the same year, the tsar granted the Stroganovs lands on both sides of the Kama for 146 versts from the mouth of Lysva to Chusovaya, with the requested benefits and rights, and allowed the establishment of settlements; freed them for 20 years from paying taxes and zemstvo duties, as well as from the court of Perm governors; so the right to try the Slobozhans belonged to the same Grigory Stroganov. This document was signed by okolnichy Fyodor Umny and Alexey Adashev. Thus, the energetic efforts of the Stroganovs were not without connection with the activities of the Elected Rada and Adashev, the best adviser of the first half of the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

Ermak Timofeevich's campaign was well prepared by this energetic Russian exploration of the Urals. Grigory Stroganov built the town of Kankor on the right side of the Kama. Six years later, he asked permission to build another town, 20 versts below the first on the Kama, named Kergedan (later it was called Orel). These towns were surrounded by strong walls, armed with firearms and had a garrison made up of various free people: there were Russians, Lithuanians, Germans and Tatars. When the oprichnina was established, the Stroganovs asked the tsar that their cities be included in the oprichnina, and this request was fulfilled.

In 1568, Gregory’s elder brother Yakov Stroganov challenged the Tsar to give him, on the same grounds, the entire course of the Chusovaya River and the twenty-verst distance along the Kama below the mouth of the Chusovaya. The king agreed to his request; only the grace period was now assigned to ten years (hence, it ended at the same time as the previous award). Yakov Stroganov set up forts along Chusovaya and started settlements that revived this deserted region. He also had to defend the region from attacks by neighboring foreigners - the reason why the Stroganovs then called upon Ermak’s Cossacks. In 1572, a riot broke out in the land of Cheremis; A crowd of Cheremis, Ostyaks and Bashkirs invaded the Kama region, plundered ships and beat several dozen merchants. But the Stroganovs’ military men pacified the rebels. Cheremis raised the Siberian Khan Kuchum against Moscow; he also forbade the Ostyaks, Voguls and Ugras to pay tribute to her. The next year, 1573, Kuchum’s nephew Magmetkul came with an army to Chusovaya and beat many Ostyaks, Moscow tribute-bearers. However, he did not dare to attack the Stroganov towns and went back beyond the Stone Belt (Ural). Informing the Tsar about this, the Stroganovs asked for permission to expand their settlements beyond the Belt, build towns along the Tobol River and its tributaries and establish settlements there with the same benefits, promising in return not only to defend the Moscow tribute-bearers Ostyaks and Voguls from Kuchum, but to fight and subjugate the Siberians themselves Tatars With a letter dated May 30, 1574, Ivan Vasilyevich fulfilled this request of the Stroganovs, this time with a twenty-year grace period.

Arrival of Ermak's Cossacks to the Stroganovs (1579)

But for about ten years, the Stroganovs’ intention to spread Russian colonization beyond the Urals was not realized, until Ermak’s Cossack squads appeared on the scene.

According to one Siberian Chronicle, in April 1579 the Stroganovs sent a letter to the Cossack atamans who were robbing the Volga and Kama, and invited them to their Chusov towns to help against the Siberian Tatars. The place of the brothers Yakov and Grigory Anikiev was then taken by their sons: Maxim Yakovlevich and Nikita Grigorievich. They turned with the aforementioned letter to the Volga Cossacks. Five atamans responded to their call: Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan and Matvey Meshcheryak, who arrived to them with their hundreds in the summer of the same year. The main leader of this Cossack squad was Ermak, whose name then became next to the names of his older contemporaries, the conquerors of America Cortez and Pizarro.

We do not have exact information about the origin and previous life of this remarkable person. There is only a dark legend that Ermak’s grandfather was a townsman from Suzdal, who was engaged in carriage; that Ermak himself, baptized Vasily (or Germa), was born somewhere in the Kama region, was distinguished by bodily strength, courage and the gift of speech; in his youth he worked in the plows that walked along the Kama and Volga, and then became an ataman of robbers. There are no direct indications that Ermak belonged to the Don Cossacks proper; rather, he was a native of north-eastern Rus', who, with his enterprise, experience and daring, resurrected the type of the ancient Novgorod free agent.

The Cossack atamans spent two years in Chusov towns, helping the Stroganovs defend themselves against foreigners. When Murza Bekbeliy with a crowd of Vogulichs attacked the Stroganov villages, Ermak’s Cossacks defeated him and took him prisoner. The Cossacks themselves attacked the Vogulichs, Votyaks and Pelymtsy and thus prepared themselves for the big campaign against Kuchum.

It is difficult to say who exactly took the main initiative in this enterprise. Some chronicles say that the Stroganovs sent Cossacks to conquer the Siberian kingdom. Others say that the Cossacks, led by Ermak, independently undertook this campaign; Moreover, threats forced the Stroganovs to supply them with the necessary supplies. Perhaps the initiative was mutual, but on the part of Ermak’s Cossacks it was more voluntary, and on the part of the Stroganovs it was more forced by circumstances. The Cossack squad could hardly carry out boring guard duty in the Chusov towns for a long time and be content with meager booty in the neighboring foreign lands. In all likelihood, it soon became a burden for the Stroganov region itself. Exaggerated news about the river expanse beyond the Stone Belt, about the riches of Kuchum and his Tatars and, finally, a thirst for exploits that could wash away past sins - all this aroused the desire to go to a little-known country. Ermak Timofeevich was probably the main driver of the entire enterprise. The Stroganovs got rid of the restless crowd of Cossacks and fulfilled the long-standing idea of ​​their own and the Moscow government: to transfer the fight with the Siberian Tatars to the Ural ridge and punish the khan who had fallen away from Moscow.

Beginning of Ermak's campaign (1581)

The Stroganovs supplied the Cossacks with provisions, as well as guns and gunpowder, and gave them another 300 people from their own military men, including, in addition to the Russians, hired Lithuanians, Germans and Tatars. There were 540 Cossacks. Consequently, the entire detachment was more than 800 people. Ermak and the Cossacks realized that the success of the campaign would have been impossible without strict discipline; therefore, for violation of it, the atamans established punishments: those who disobeyed and fugitives were to be drowned in the river. The upcoming dangers made the Cossacks pious; they say that Ermak was accompanied by three priests and one monk, who performed divine services daily. The preparations took a lot of time, so Ermak’s campaign began quite late, already in September 1581. The warriors sailed up the Chusovaya, after several days of sailing they entered its tributary, Serebryanka, and reached the portage that separates the Kama River system from the Ob system. It took a lot of work to get over this portage and go down into the Zheravlya River; quite a few boats were stuck in the portage. The cold season had already arrived, the rivers began to become covered with ice, and Ermak’s Cossacks had to spend the winter near the portage. They set up a fort, from where one part of them undertook searches to the neighboring Vogul regions for supplies and booty, while the other prepared everything needed for the spring campaign. When the flood came, Ermak’s squad descended down the Zheravleya River into the Barancha rivers, and then into Tagil and Tura, a tributary of the Tobol, entering the boundaries of the Siberian Khanate. On Tura there was an Ostyak-Tatar yurt Chingidi (Tyumen), which was owned by a relative or tributary of Kuchum, Epancha. Here the first battle took place, which ended in complete defeat and flight of the Epanchin Tatars. Ermak's Cossacks entered Tobol and at the mouth of the Tavda they had a successful deal with the Tatars. The Tatar fugitives brought Kuchum news of the coming of Russian soldiers; Moreover, they justified their defeat by the action of guns unfamiliar to them, which they considered special bows: “when the Russians shoot from their bows, then fire plows from them; the arrows are not visible, but the wounds are fatal, and it is impossible to defend against them with any military harness.” These news saddened Kuchum, especially since various signs had already predicted for him the arrival of the Russians and the fall of his kingdom.

The Khan, however, did not waste time, gathered Tatars, subordinate Ostyaks and Voguls from everywhere and sent them under the command of his close relative, the brave prince Magmetkul, to meet the Cossacks. And he himself built fortifications and fences near the mouth of the Tobol, under Chuvasheva Mountain, in order to block Ermak’s access to his capital, a town in Siberia, located on the Irtysh, slightly below the confluence of the Tobol. A series of bloody battles followed. Magmetkul first met the Cossacks of Ermak Timofeevich near the Babasany tract, but neither the Tatar cavalry nor the arrows could withstand the Cossacks and their arquebuses. Magmetkul ran to the abatis under Chuvasheva Mountain. The Cossacks sailed further along the Tobol and on the road captured the ulus of Karachi (chief adviser) Kuchum, where they found warehouses of all sorts of goods. Having reached the mouth of the Tobol, Ermak first evaded the aforementioned abatis, turned up the Irtysh, took the town of Murza Atika on its bank and settled down here to rest, pondering his further plan.

Map of the Siberian Khanate and Ermak's campaign

Capture of the city of Siberia by Ermak

A large crowd of enemies, fortified near Chuvashev, made Ermak think. The Cossack circle gathered to decide whether to go forward or turn back. Some advised retreat. But the more courageous ones reminded Ermak Timofeevich of the vow he had made before the campaign to stand rather to fall to a single person than to run back in shame. It was already deep autumn (1582), the rivers would soon be covered with ice, and the return voyage would become extremely dangerous. On the morning of October 23, Ermak’s Cossacks left the town. When shouting: “Lord, help your servants!” They struck a mark, and a stubborn battle began.

The enemies met the attackers with clouds of arrows and injured many. Despite desperate attacks, Ermak’s detachment could not overcome the fortifications and began to exhaust. The Tatars, considering themselves already winners, broke the abatis themselves in three places and made a sortie. But then, in desperate hand-to-hand combat, the Tatars were defeated and rushed back; The Russians burst into the abattoir. The Ostyak princes were the first to leave the battlefield and went home with their crowds. The wounded Magmetkul escaped in the boat. Kuchum watched the battle from the top of the mountain and ordered the Muslim mullahs to say prayers. Seeing the flight of the entire army, he himself hurried to his capital Siberia; but did not stay in it, because there was no one left to defend it; and fled south to the Ishim steppes. Having learned about Kuchum's flight, on October 26, 1582, Ermak and the Cossacks entered the empty city of Siberia; here they found valuable booty, a lot of gold, silver, and especially furs. A few days later, the residents began to return: the Ostyak prince came first with his people and brought Ermak Timofeevich and his squad gifts and food supplies; then little by little the Tatars returned.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895

So, after incredible work, Ermak Timofeevich’s detachment hoisted Russian banners in the capital of the Siberian kingdom. Although firearms gave him a strong advantage, we must not forget that the enemies had a huge numerical superiority: according to the chronicles, Ermak had 20 and even 30 times more enemies against him. Only extraordinary strength of spirit and body helped the Cossacks defeat so many enemies. Long trips along unfamiliar rivers show to what extent the Cossacks of Ermak Timofeevich were hardened in hardships and accustomed to fighting northern nature.

Ermak and Kuchum

With the conquest of Kuchum's capital, however, the war was far from over. Kuchum himself did not consider his kingdom lost, which half consisted of nomadic and wandering foreigners; the vast neighboring steppes provided him with reliable shelter; from here he made surprise attacks on the Cossacks, and the fight with him dragged on for a long time. The enterprising prince Magmetkul was especially dangerous. Already in November or December of the same 1582, he waylaid a small detachment of Cossacks engaged in fishing, and killed almost all of them. This was the first sensitive loss. In the spring of 1583, Ermak learned from a Tatar that Magmetkul was encamped on the Vagai River (a tributary of the Irtysh between Tobol and Ishim), about a hundred miles from the city of Siberia. A detachment of Cossacks sent against him suddenly attacked his camp at night, killed many Tatars, and captured the prince himself. The loss of the brave prince temporarily protected Ermak’s Cossacks from Kuchum. But their number has already greatly decreased; supplies were exhausted, while much work and battles still lay ahead. There was an urgent need for Russian help.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895. Fragment

Immediately after the capture of the city of Siberia, Ermak Timofeevich and the Cossacks sent news of their successes to the Stroganovs; and then they sent Ataman Ivan the Ring to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich himself with expensive Siberian sables and a request to send them royal warriors to help.

Cossacks of Ermak in Moscow near Ivan the Terrible

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the fact that in the Perm region after the departure of Ermak’s gang there were few military people left, some Pelym (Vogul) prince came with crowds of Ostyaks, Voguls and Votyaks, reached Cherdyn, the main city of this region, then turned to Kama Usolye, Kankor, Kergedan and Chusovskie towns, burning out surrounding villages and taking peasants captive. Without Ermak, the Stroganovs barely defended their towns from the enemies. Cherdyn governor Vasily Pelepelitsyn, perhaps dissatisfied with the privileges of the Stroganovs and their lack of jurisdiction, in a report to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich blamed the devastation of the Perm region on the Stroganovs: they, without the royal decree, called the thieves' Cossacks Ermak Timofeevich and other atamans to their prisons, the Vogulichs and They sent Kuchum and they were bullied. When the Pelym prince came, they did not help the sovereign cities with their military men; and Ermak, instead of defending the Perm land, went to fight to the east. Stroganov sent an unmerciful royal letter from Moscow, dated November 16, 1582. Stroganov was ordered from now on not to keep the Cossacks with him, but to send the Volga atamans, Ermak Timofeevich and his comrades, to Perm (i.e. Cherdyn) and Kamskoye Usolye, where they should not stand together, but separated; It was allowed to keep no more than a hundred people at home. If this is not carried out exactly and again some misfortune occurs over the Perm regions from the Voguls and the Siberian saltan, then “great disgrace” will be imposed on the Stroganovs. In Moscow, obviously, they knew nothing about the Siberian campaign and demanded that Ermak be sent to Cherdyn with the Cossacks, who were already located on the banks of the Irtysh. The Stroganovs were “in great sadness.” They relied on the permission given to them to establish towns beyond the Stone Belt and fight the Siberian Saltan, and therefore they released the Cossacks there, without communicating with either Moscow or the Perm governor. But soon news arrived from Ermak and his comrades about their extraordinary luck. With her, the Stroganovs personally hurried to Moscow. And then the Cossack embassy arrived there, led by Ataman Koltso (once sentenced to death for robbery). Of course, opals were out of the question. The Tsar received the ataman and the Cossacks kindly, rewarded them with money and cloth, and again released them to Siberia. They say that he sent Ermak Timofeevich a fur coat from his shoulder, a silver cup and two shells. He then sent Prince Semyon Volkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with several hundred military men to reinforce them. The captive Tsarevich Magmetkul, brought to Moscow, was granted estates and took a place among the serving Tatar princes. The Stroganovs received new trade benefits and two more land grants, Big and Small Sol.

Arrival of the detachments of Volkhovsky and Glukhov to Ermak (1584)

Kuchum, having lost Magmetkul, was distracted by the renewed struggle with the Taibuga clan. Ermak's Cossacks, meanwhile, completed the imposition of tribute on the Ostyak and Vogul volosts, which were part of the Siberian Khanate. From the city of Siberia they walked along the Irtysh and Ob, on the banks of the latter they took the Ostyak city of Kazym; but then during the attack they lost one of their atamans, Nikita Pan. The number of Ermak’s detachment decreased greatly; barely half of it remained. Ermak was looking forward to help from Russia. Only in the fall of 1584 did Volkhovskaya and Glukhov sail on plows: but they brought no more than 300 people - the help was too insufficient to consolidate such a vast space for Russia. The loyalty of the newly conquered local princes could not be relied upon, and the irreconcilable Kuchum still acted at the head of his horde. Ermak happily met the Moscow military men, but had to share meager food supplies with them; In winter, the death rate in the Siberian city began due to lack of food. Prince Volkhovskaya also died. Only in the spring, thanks to the abundant catch of fish and game, as well as bread and livestock delivered from surrounding foreigners, did the people of Ermak recover from hunger. Prince Volkhovskaya, apparently, was appointed Siberian governor, to whom the Cossack atamans had to surrender the city and submit, and his death freed the Russians from the inevitable rivalry and disagreement of the chiefs; for it is unlikely that the atamans would willingly give up their leading role in the newly conquered land. With the death of Volkhovsky, Ermak again became the head of the united Cossack-Moscow detachment.

Death of Ermak

Until now, success has accompanied almost all of Ermak Timofeevich’s enterprises. But happiness finally began to change. Continued success weakens constant precaution and gives rise to carelessness, the cause of disastrous surprises.

One of the local tributary princes, Karacha, that is, a former Khan's adviser, conceived treason and sent envoys to Ermak with a request to defend him from the Nogais. The ambassadors swore that they did not think any harm against the Russians. The atamans believed their oath. Ivan Ring and forty Cossacks with him went to the town of Karachi, were kindly received, and then treacherously all were killed. To avenge them, Ermak sent a detachment with ataman Yakov Mikhailov; but this detachment was also exterminated. After that, the surrounding foreigners bowed to the admonitions of Karachi and rebelled against the Russians. With a large crowd, Karacha laid siege to the city of Siberia itself. It is very possible that he was in secret relations with Kuchum. Ermak's squad, weakened by losses, was forced to withstand the siege. The last one dragged on, and the Russians were already experiencing a severe shortage of food supplies: Karacha hoped to starve them out.

But despair gives determination. One June night, the Cossacks split into two parts: one remained with Ermak in the city, and the other, with ataman Matvey Meshcheryak, quietly went out into the field and crept to the Karachi camp, which stood several miles from the city, separate from the other Tatars. Many enemies were beaten, and Karacha himself barely escaped. At dawn, when the main camp of the besiegers learned about the attack of Ermak’s Cossacks, crowds of enemies hastened to the aid of Karacha and surrounded the small squad of Cossacks. But Ermak fenced himself off with the Karachi convoy and met the enemies with rifle fire. The savages could not stand it and scattered. The city was freed from the siege, the surrounding tribes again recognized themselves as our tributaries. After that, Ermak undertook a successful trip up the Irtysh, perhaps to search beyond Kuchum. But the tireless Kuchum was elusive in his Ishim steppes and built new intrigues.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895. Fragment

As soon as Ermak Timofeevich returned to the city of Siberia, news came that a caravan of Bukhara merchants was heading to the city with goods, but stopped somewhere, because Kuchum did not give him the way! The resumption of trade with Central Asia was very desirable for the Cossacks of Ermak, who could exchange woolen and silk fabrics, carpets, weapons, and spices with furs collected from foreigners. In early August 1585, Ermak personally with a small detachment sailed towards the merchants up the Irtysh. The Cossack plows reached the mouth of the Vagai, however, not meeting anyone, they swam back. One dark, stormy evening, Ermak landed on the shore and found his death. Its details are semi-legendary, but not without some plausibility.

Ermak's Cossacks landed on an island on the Irtysh, and therefore, considering themselves safe, fell into sleep without posting a guard. Meanwhile, Kuchum was nearby. (The news of the unprecedented Bukhara caravan was almost released by him in order to lure Ermak into an ambush.) His spies reported to the khan about the Cossacks’ lodging for the night. Kuchum had one Tatar who was sentenced to death. The Khan sent him to look for a horse ford on the island, promising pardon if he was successful. The Tatar crossed the river and returned with the news of the complete carelessness of Ermak’s people. Kuchum did not believe it at first and ordered to bring proof. The Tatar went another time and brought three Cossack arquebuses and three cans of gunpowder. Then Kuchum sent a crowd of Tatars to the island. With the sound of rain and howling wind, the Tatars crept to the camp and began to beat the sleepy Cossacks. Waking up, Ermak rushed into the river towards the plow, but ended up in a deep place; Having iron armor on him, he was unable to swim out and drowned. With this sudden attack, the entire Cossack detachment was exterminated along with its leader. This is how this Russian Cortes and Pizarro died, the brave, “veleum” ataman Ermak Timofeevich, as the Siberian chronicles call him, who turned from robbers into a hero whose glory will never be erased from people’s memory.

Two important circumstances helped Ermak’s Russian squad during the conquest of the Siberian Khanate: on the one hand, firearms and military training; on the other, the internal state of the Khanate itself, weakened by civil strife and discontent of local pagans against Islam forcibly introduced by Kuchum. Siberian shamans with their idols reluctantly gave way to Mohammedan mullahs. But the third important reason for success is the personality of Ermak Timofeevich himself, his invincible courage, knowledge of military affairs and iron strength of character. The latter is clearly evidenced by the discipline that Ermak was able to establish in his squad of Cossacks, with their violent morals.

Retreat of the remnants of Ermak's squads from Siberia

Ermak's death confirmed that he was the main driver of the entire enterprise. When news of her reached the city of Siberia, the remaining Cossacks immediately decided that without Ermak, given their small numbers, they would not be able to hold out among the unreliable natives against the Siberian Tatars. Cossacks and Moscow warriors, numbering no more than one and a half hundred people, immediately left the city of Siberia with the Streltsy leader Ivan Glukhov and Matvey Meshcheryak, the only one remaining of the five atamans; By the far northern route along the Irtysh and Ob, they went back beyond the Kamen (Ural ridge). As soon as the Russians cleared Siberia, Kuchum sent his son Aley to occupy his capital city. But he didn't stay here long. We saw above that Prince Taibugina of the Ediger clan, who owned Siberia, and his brother Bekbulat died in the fight against Kuchum. Bekbulat's little son, Seydyak, found refuge in Bukhara, grew up there and became an avenger for his father and uncle. With the help of the Bukharians and Kyrgyz, Seydyak defeated Kuchum, expelled Aley from Siberia and himself took possession of this capital city.

Arrival of Mansurov's detachment and consolidation of the Russian conquest of Siberia

The Tatar kingdom in Siberia was restored, and the conquest of Ermak Timofeevich seemed lost. But the Russians have already experienced the weakness, diversity of this kingdom and its natural wealth; They were not slow in returning.

The government of Fyodor Ivanovich sent one detachment after another to Siberia. Still not knowing about Ermak’s death, the Moscow government in the summer of 1585 sent governor Ivan Mansurov with a hundred archers and, most importantly, a cannon to help him. On this campaign, the remnants of the detachments of Ermak and Ataman Meshcheryak, who had gone back beyond the Urals, united with him. Finding the city of Siberia already occupied by the Tatars, Mansurov sailed past, went down the Irtysh to its confluence with the Ob and built a wintering town here.

This time the task of conquest went easier with the help of experience and along the paths laid by Ermak. The surrounding Ostyaks tried to take the Russian town, but were repulsed. Then they brought their main idol and began to make sacrifices to it, asking for help against the Christians. The Russians aimed their cannon at him, and the tree along with the idol was smashed into chips. The Ostyaks scattered in fear. The Ostyak prince Lugui, who owned six towns along the Ob, was the first of the local rulers to go to Moscow to fight so that the sovereign would accept him as one of his tributaries. They treated him kindly and imposed a tribute of seven forty sables on him.

Foundation of Tobolsk

Ermak Timofeevich’s victories were not in vain. Following Mansurov, the governors Sukin and Myasnoy arrived in Siberia and on the Tura River, on the site of the old town of Chingiya, they built the Tyumen fortress and erected a Christian temple in it. The following year, 1587, after the arrival of new reinforcements, the head of Danil Chulkov set off further from Tyumen, went down the Tobol to its mouth and here on the banks of the Irtysh founded Tobolsk; this city became the center of Russian possessions in Siberia, thanks to its advantageous position at the junction of Siberian rivers. Continuing the work of Ermak Timofeevich, the Moscow government here too used its usual system: to spread and strengthen its rule by gradually building fortresses. Siberia, contrary to fears, was not lost to the Russians. The heroism of a handful of Ermak's Cossacks opened the way for the great Russian expansion eastward - all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Articles and books about Ermak

Solovyov S. M. History of Russia since ancient times. T. 6. Chapter 7 – “The Stroganovs and Ermak”

Kostomarov N.I. Russian history in the biographies of its main figures. 21 – Ermak Timofeevich

Kuznetsov E.V. Initial literature about Ermak. Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1890

Kuznetsov E.V. Bibliography of Ermak: Experience of indicating little-known works in Russian and partly in foreign languages ​​about the conqueror of Siberia. Tobolsk, 1891

Kuznetsov E.V. About the essay by A.V. Oksenov “Ermak in the epics of the Russian people.” Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1892

Kuznetsov E.V. Information about the banners of Ermak. Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1892

Oksenov A.V. Ermak in the epics of the Russian people. Historical Bulletin, 1892

Article “Ermak” in the Brockhaus-Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (Author - N. Pavlov-Silvansky)

Ataman Ermak Timofeevich, conqueror of the Siberian kingdom. M., 1905

Fialkov D.N. About the place of Ermak’s death and burial. Novosibirsk, 1965

Sutormin A. G. Ermak Timofeevich (Alenin Vasily Timofeevich). Irkutsk, 1981

Dergacheva-Skop E. Brief stories about Ermak’s campaign in Siberia - Siberia in the past, present and future. Vol. III. Novosibirsk, 1981

Kolesnikov A. D. Ermak. Omsk, 1983

Skrynnikov R. G. Siberian expedition of Ermak. Novosibirsk, 1986

Buzukashvili M.I. Ermak. M., 1989

Kopylov D.I. Ermak. Irkutsk, 1989

Sofronov V. Yu. Ermak’s campaign and the struggle for the Khan’s throne in Siberia. Tyumen, 1993

Kozlova N.K. About the “Chudi”, Tatars, Ermak and Siberian mounds. Omsk, 1995

Solodkin Ya. G. To the study of chronicle sources about the Siberian expedition of Ermak. Tyumen, 1996

Kreknina L.I. Theme of Ermak in the works of P.P. Ershov. Tyumen, 1997

Katargina M.N. The plot of the death of Ermak: chronicle materials. Tyumen, 1997

Sofronova M. N. About the imaginary and the real in the portraits of the Siberian ataman Ermak. Tyumen, 1998

Shkerin V.A. Ermak’s Sylven campaign: a mistake or a search for a way to Siberia? Ekaterinburg, 1999

Solodkin Ya. G. On the debate about the origin of Ermak. Ekaterinburg, 1999

Solodkin Ya. G. Did Ermak Timofeevich have a double? Ugra, 2002

Zakshauskienė E. Badge from Ermak’s chain mail. M., 2002

Katanov N. F. The legend of the Tobolsk Tatars about Kuchum and Ermak - Tobolsk chronograph. Collection. Vol. 4. Ekaterinburg, 2004

Panishev E. A. The death of Ermak in Tatar and Russian legends. Tobolsk, 2003

Skrynnikov R. G. Ermak. M., 2008

09.05.2015 0 10672

How difficult is it to distinguish a real story from a skillfully told legend? Especially when both of them concern an absolutely real person. ABOUT Ermak Timofeevich, a Cossack chieftain who lived in the mid-late 16th century, legends were composed by both friends and enemies.

A great warrior and conqueror of Siberia, who fought and died for the glory of his country. There are disputes about his name, the number of troops under his command and the circumstances of his death... But his feat is beyond doubt.

Famine and siege

Siberia, Tatar city of Kashlyk (Isker), 1585. The winter was long and monstrously cold, even by Siberian standards. There was so much snow that it was difficult to walk a few steps, let alone hunt. Both night and day, a dank icy wind blew incessantly.

Previously, due to the incessant autumn fighting, the Cossacks were unable to collect enough supplies. Ermak’s army was not used to grumbling, but there was a catastrophic shortage of food, and there were no more than two hundred people left...

Spring did not bring relief: the Tatars came again, encircling the city. The siege threatened to last for many months, dooming the Cossacks to starvation. But Ermak remained Ermak - as always, wise and cool-headed.

Having waited until June and lulled the vigilance of the Tatars, he sent his closest associate, Matvey Meshcheryak, on a night sortie. Matvey, together with two dozen soldiers, made their way to the camp of Karachi, the Tatar commander, and carried out a massacre.

Karachi escaped with difficulty, but both of his sons died, and the Cossacks disappeared into the night as unexpectedly as they had come.

The siege was lifted, but the issue of provisions remained as acute as in winter. How to feed an army when the Tatars can attack at any moment?

And then in August the long-awaited good news came - a rich trade caravan with supplies for the Cossacks was approaching Kashlyk. We just need to protect him from the enemy...

What's in my name?

It is not known for certain in what year Ermak was born. The dates are given differently: 1532, 1534, 1537 and even 1543. Rumors about the place of his birth also vary - either this is the village of Borok on the Northern Dvina, or an unknown village on the Chusovaya River, or the Kachalinskaya village on the Don. This is understandable, almost every Cossack clan wanted to boast that it was they who gave birth to the legendary chieftain!

Even Ermak’s name is in question. Some historians claim that Ermak is an abbreviation of the Russian name Ermolai, others call him Ermil, and others derive the name from Herman and Eremey. Or maybe Ermak is just a nickname? And in fact, the ataman’s name was Vasily Timofeevich Alenin. It is unknown where the surname came from - in those days they were not in use among the Cossacks.

By the way, about the Cossacks: the word “armak” for them meant “big”, like a common cauldron for meals. Doesn't remind you of anything? And of course, we must not forget about Ermak’s enemies, who, despite all their hatred towards him, respected him immensely. Irmak in Mongolian means “rapidly gushing spring”, practically a geyser. In Tatar, yarmak means “to chop, to dissect.” In Iranian, ermek means “husband, warrior.”

And this is not the whole list! Imagine how many copies historians have broken, arguing among themselves and trying to unearth Ermak’s real name or at least his origin. Alas, the Cossacks rarely kept chronicles, and when information is disseminated orally, something is lost, something is invented, something changes beyond recognition. This is roughly how real history breaks down into dozens of myths. The only thing that cannot be denied is that Ermak’s name turned out to be very successful.

Free Cossack

In the first decades of his mature life, somewhere before 1570, Ermak Timofeevich was by no means an angel. He was a typical Cossack ataman, walking along the free Volga with his squad and attacking Russian merchant caravans and Tatar and Kazakh detachments. The most common opinion is that Ermak, in his youth, entered the service of the then famous Ural merchants Stroganov, guarding goods on the Volga and Don. And then he “went from work to robbery,” gathered himself a small army and went over to the freemen.

However, the controversial period in Ermak’s life lasted relatively short. Already in 1571, he helped the squad repel the attack of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey under the walls of Moscow, and in 1581 he valiantly fought in the Livonian War under the command of governor Dmitry Khvorostinin, commanding a Cossack hundred. And already in 1582, the same Stroganovs remembered the brave chieftain.

Forgetting about all Ermak’s sins, they extremely respectfully asked him to protect the merchant interests of Rus' in Siberia. In those years, the Siberian Khanate was ruled by the cruel and dishonest Khan Kuchum, who overthrew Khan Ediger, who maintained more or less good relations with the Russian kingdom. Kuchum spoke about peace, but in reality he constantly attacked merchant caravans and moved his army to the Perm region.

Ermak agreed with the merchants not only for the sake of a rich reward. The Tatar Khan was a devout Muslim and spread Islam throughout Siberia and wherever he could reach it. For the Orthodox Cossack chieftain, it was a matter of honor to challenge Kuchum and win. Having gathered a relatively small squad - about 600 people - Ermak Timofeevich set out on a great campaign to Siberia.

Thunderstorm of the Siberian Khanate

To describe all the military exploits of Ermak, one article will not be enough. Moreover, as in the case of his place of birth or name, many of them are distorted by retelling, others are downplayed or embellished, there are two or three versions for almost every event. In fact, the incredible happened - six hundred Cossack warriors passed through the huge Siberian Khanate, over and over again defeating the Tatar army twenty times superior to them.

Kuchum's warriors were fast, but the Cossacks learned to be faster. When they were surrounded, they left along the rivers in small mobile boats - plows. They took cities by storm and founded their own fortifications, which then also turned into cities.

In each battle, Ermak used new tactics, confidently beat the enemy, and the Cossacks were ready to follow him through thick and thin. The conquest of Siberia took four years. Ermak broke the resistance of the Tatars and negotiated peace with the local khans and kings, bringing them to the citizenship of the Russian kingdom. But luck could not accompany the ataman forever...

The rumor about a merchant caravan carrying supplies for the starving Cossack army turned out to be a trap. Ermak, together with the rest of his squad, moved out of Kashlyk up the Irtysh River and was ambushed by Kuchum. The Cossacks were attacked under cover of darkness, and although they fought back like mad, there were too many Tatars. Out of 200, no more than 20 people survived. Ermak was the last to retreat to the plows, covering his comrades, and died by falling into the river waves.

Legendary man

Legend has it that the body of the great chieftain, caught from the river by his enemies, lay in the air for a month without beginning to decompose. Ermak was buried with military honors in the cemetery of the village of Baishevo, but behind a fence, since he was not a Muslim. The Tatars respected the fallen enemy so much that his weapons and armor were considered magical for a long time. For one of the chain mails, for example, they gave seven families of slaves, 50 camels, 500 horses, 200 bulls and cows, 1000 sheep...

Ermak lost that fight, but his cause did not die with him. The Siberian Khanate did not recover from the blow inflicted on it by the Cossack army. The conquest of Western Siberia continued, Khan Kuchum died ten years later, and his descendants were unable to provide worthy resistance. Towns and cities were founded throughout Siberia; previously warring local tribes were forced to accept citizenship of the Russian kingdom.

Tales about Ermak were written both during his life and after his death. No, no, and there was a descendant of a descendant of another descendant who knew for certain a certain Cossack from the squad of the great ataman and was ready to tell the whole truth. In my own way, of course. And there are dozens and hundreds of such examples. But is it so important in this case to distinguish reality from fiction? Ermak Timofeevich himself would probably have had a lot of fun listening to stories about himself.

Sergey EVTUSHENKO

Ermak Timofeevich (1532/1534/1542 - August 6, 1585, Khanate of Siberia) - Cossack chieftain, historical conqueror of Siberia for the Russian state.

The origin of Ermak is not exactly known; there are several versions.

“Unknown by birth, famous in soul,” he, according to one legend, was from the banks of the Chusovaya River. Thanks to his knowledge of local rivers, he walked along the Kama, Chusovaya and even crossed to Asia, along the Tagil River, until he was taken to serve as a Cossack ( Cherepanov Chronicle).

According to another version, he was a native of the Kachalinskaya village on the Don ( Bronevsky).

The name Ermaka is a colloquial variant of the Russian name Ermolai and sounds like its abbreviation. There is also an opinion that “Ermak” is simply a nickname derived from the name of the cooking pot.

Ermak's surname has not been established, but in those days, and much later, many Russians were called by their father or nickname. He was called either Ermak Timofeev or Ermolai Timofeevich Tokmak.

Probably, Ermak was at first the ataman of one of the numerous and multinational squads of Volga Cossacks, typical for that time, who traded on the trade route along the Volga with robbery and armed attacks on Russian merchant caravans and on the Crimean and Astrakhan Tatars. This is evidenced by the songs and legends of the Don Cossacks about Ermak that have reached us.

Confirmation of the above lifestyle are the petitions of the “old” Cossacks addressed to the tsar, namely: Ermak’s comrade-in-arms Gavrila Ilyin wrote that for 20 years he “flew” (led a free life) with Ermak in the Wild Field, another veteran Gavrila Ivanov wrote that he was “on the field for twenty years with Ermak in the village” and in the villages of other atamans.

Ermak took part in the Livonian War, commanding a Cossack hundred. Under the command of governor Dmitry Khvorostinin, he took part in a successful raid on Lithuania in 1581, reaching down the Dnieper to Mogilev. In the same year, he helped unblock besieged Pskov, and also took part in Khvorostinin’s victory over the Swedes in the Battle of Lyalitsy.

In 1581, a squad of Cossacks ( more than 540 people), under the command of the atamans Ermak Timofeevich, was invited by the Ural merchants Stroganovs for protection from regular attacks from the Siberian Khan Kuchum, and went up the Kama, and in June 1582 arrived on the Chusovaya River, in the Chusovsky towns of the Stroganov brothers. Here the Cossacks lived for two months and helped the Stroganovs defend their towns from predatory attacks by the Siberian Khan Kuchum. October 26, 1581 - conquest of Siberia.

Ermak Timofeevich died on August 6, 1585. He walked with a small detachment of 50 people along the Irtysh. While spending the night at the mouth of the Vagai River, Kuchum attacked the sleeping Cossacks and destroyed almost the entire detachment. According to one legend, the ataman, who bravely resisted, was burdened with his armor, in particular, the shell donated by the tsar, and, trying to swim to the plows, drowned in the Irtysh. According to Tatar legends, Ermak was mortally wounded in the throat by a spear from the Tatar hero Kutugai.

Ermak Timofeevich went down in Russian history as a Cossack ataman and a man who ensured not only the opening of Siberia for the Russian people, but also the territorial growth of the Russian state. Ermak went on the expedition on the direct orders of Ivan the Terrible and encountered resistance from the Siberian Khan Kuchum. The khan rejected the offer to voluntarily join Rus', and as a result lost power and all his lands.

Ermak’s personality is surrounded by many legends, and there is no exact information about his origin and life. It is not even known when he was born - researchers give dates from 1532 to 1542. Some sources claim that Ermak was born in the Vologda or Dvina lands. Most likely, he received his nickname for working as an artel cook while sailing on a plow - in fact, “ermak” means “artel boiler” or “road tagan”. But the Turkic word “ermak” is also known, translated meaning “breakthrough”.

It is interesting that Ermak was attributed to both the Ural Cossacks and the Don Cossacks, and other legends say that he came from Siberian princely families. One of the eighteenth-century documents reports that Ermak’s grandfather, Afanasy Alenin, was a “posad man” in the city of Suzdal, and his father, Timofey, fleeing poverty and hunger, moved to the Urals, to the possessions of the salt industrialists Stroganovs. It was here, on the Chusovaya River, that the father of the future pioneer married and gave birth to two sons - Vasily and Rodion. Vasily Timofeevich Alenin, according to the Remizov Chronicle, was distinguished by his masculinity, intelligence, curly hair and broad shoulders. Having hired himself to the Stroganovs, he sailed on plows along the Volga and Kama, but then gave up his “good trade” and gathered a small squad that took up robbery. It was then that he turned into Ataman Ermak. Even more interesting facts are contained in the ataman’s biography, published in Moscow in 1807: its pages tell that Ermak fought with the Tatars in the army of the “Cossack hetman”, got along with the hetman’s daughter and killed his son, who caught the lovers. After that, he fled to Astrakhan and on the way accosted the robbers, soon becoming their chieftain.

According to other sources, in the sixties of the century, Ermak was the ataman of the village located between the Volga and Don. In 1571, when the Crimean Khan Davlet-Girey moved his troops to Moscow, Ermak gathered a squad and participated in battles, defending the Moscow Tsar. Ermak also took part in the Livonian War - in particular, he fought in the battles of Mogilev and Orsha. He is also credited with a successful raid on the lands of the Nogais.

According to surviving information, in 1577, the Siberian Khan Kuchum sharply increased pressure on the lands that belonged to the Stroganov merchants. Then the legends begin again. According to one of them, the Stroganovs invited Ermak to protect their lands from raids, having received permission from the tsar to recruit a Cossack detachment. Moreover, permission was given not just to protect the borders, but also to conduct a raid in order to punish Khan Kuchum, whose army consisted of ten thousand soldiers. Ermak managed to recruit about five hundred and fifty people into his army, promising them rich booty in the Siberian lands. According to another version, the Stroganovs did not have any permission from the tsar and simply united their people with Ermak’s squad, sending them on a campaign. However, there is a third version of this event, according to which Ermak provided his detachment with weapons, flour and fodder, arbitrarily seizing all this from the Stroganovs’ estate.

Be that as it may, at the beginning of the summer of 1579 or 1581, Ermak’s detachment went east. On plows, the Cossacks moved along the rivers Chusovaya, Serebryanka and Zharovl, and on the rifts and between the rivers they dragged their ships. The first battle with the army of the Tatar princes took place near Tura. Ermak used a military trick, placing straw effigies dressed in Cossack clothes in plows, and led the best warriors along the shore and struck the Tatar army from the rear. In many ways, Ermak’s victories were due to the presence of firearms, but it is difficult to deny the talent of the Cossack leader, who forced the Tatars to fight in places where it was impossible to use cavalry.

Ermak’s second battle, with Kuchum’s vassal and nephew Mamet-kul, also ended in victory. The battle took place near the town of Yurta Babasan. But the decisive battle of this campaign is called the battle at the mouth of the Tobol River at the end of October 1582. As a result of this battle, Ermak received a fortified town, which he turned into a fortress and from where he went to Kashlyk, the capital of the Siberian Khanate. Kuchum and Mohammed-kul did not defend their capital and, taking the most valuable things, fled to the Ishim steppe. On October 26, the Cossack army occupied Kashlyk, and this was the most important milestone in the development of Siberia. The peoples of Mansi, Khanty and most of the Tatar uluses, seeing the strength of the Russian army, accepted Russian citizenship, and the entire lower Ob region joined the Russian state. In 1583, all lands up to the Irtysh mouth submitted to Rus', and the Siberian Khanate ceased to exist. Having received news of this, Ivan the Terrible ordered to forgive all the criminals who went on a campaign with Ermak, and rewarded the Cossacks. Ermak himself received the title of “Prince of Siberia” from the tsar. In the same year, the royal governors arrived at Ermak with a detachment of three hundred warriors, but were unable to provide serious assistance to Ermak’s squad, which was constantly under attack by the Tatars.

Khan Kuchum was categorically not satisfied with the loss of Siberian lands, and in 1585 he opposed Ermak, finally gathering a truly powerful army. Knowing the hurricane fire of the Russian arquebuses, Kuchum did not attack the fortified settlements, but tried to lure the Cossacks to a clear place in order to use the cavalry. Having received information that the Cossacks were expecting a caravan from Bukhara, Kuchum spread a rumor that he had managed to detain the caravan leaders along with their goods. By this time, the conquerors of Siberia were running out of food, and Ermak, at the head of a detachment of one and a half hundred people, moved on plows to the upper reaches of the Irtysh. At the mouth of the Bagai River, Kuchum's warriors unexpectedly attacked the Cossacks. The date of this battle is documented: August 6, 1585.

In the battle, Ermak was wounded and ordered to retreat across the river, but he himself could not swim across it. The ataman was destroyed, judging by the chronicle, by the gift of Ivan the Terrible - a strong but heavy chain mail that pulled Ermak to the bottom. The same chronicle says that the Tatars found the body of their sworn enemy and used it as a target for several days, shooting arrows. Then he was buried - with honors, but outside the cemetery, as a non-believer. True, the authenticity of this burial is questioned by historians.

Undoubted courage, talent as a leader and, in a sense, adventurism made Ermak a national hero, and the Siberian campaign turned him into one of the most remarkable figures in Russian history. In any case, it was with his light hand that the expansion of the Russian state to the east began.

Ermak