>> Chernigov-Seversk Principality

On the left bank of the Dnieper (Left Bank) is the Chernigov-Seversky Principality. It was big and powerful. His lands occupied the current territories of northeastern Ukraine, southeastern Belarus and western Russia. The Dnieper was considered the border between the Chernigov and Kyiv principalities. The northeastern possessions of the Chernigov principality reached Moscow. In the southeast, the Chernigov lands bordered the Polovtsian steppe, which forced the local princes to often fight with the Polovtsians. On the other hand, the Chernigov princes repeatedly entered into alliances with them, enlisted their support in internecine clashes and could even become related. So, in 1094 Oleg Svyatoslavich with the Polovtsian horde attacked Chernigov and captured it. The price of such an alliance was the plunder of the Chernigov land by the Polovtsians. The wife of Oleg Svyatoslavich, nicknamed Gorislavich, was the daughter of the Polovtsian khan Osaluka.

The appanage principality of Chernigov was formed back in the 11th century, when Yaroslav the Wise planted his son Svyatoslav there. The Novgorod-Seversky Principality was formed by the decision of the Lyubech Congress. Political development of the Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky principalities in the XII - first half of the XIII centuries. was associated with the activities of the sons of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich. Oleg received Novgorod-Severskoye, and David received the Principality of Chernigov.

Formally, the Novgorod-Seversky princes were subordinate to Chernigov, but in fact they often pursued independent policies. If the Chernigov princes of the Davidovich dynasty were oriented towards Kyiv, then the Novgorod-Seversk princes of the Olgovich dynasty wanted separation from Kyiv and therefore entered into alliances with its political opponents. The lands of the principalities often became the scene of internecine clashes and by the middle of the 13th century. broke up into numerous small fiefs.

There were 46 cities in Chernigov land. The largest among them were Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky, Putivl, Kursk, Rylsk and others. The largest cities stood on the Desna.

Fragment of the mosaic floor in the Church of the Annunciation in Chernigov. 1186 Reconstruction by Yu. Aseev

Silver bowl from the 12th century

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Chernigov. XI century Contemporary photography

The construction of this cathedral began in the 30s of the 11th century. during the reign of Mstislav the Brave.

In the interior of the cathedral, marble fragments of columns of Byzantine origin have been preserved to this day. Some Chernigov princes are buried in the cathedral, in particular, probably, Prince Igor, one of the main characters of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”

Chernigov was an important political and economic center of Rus'. It is a large city, protected by two lines of defensive ramparts. It was surrounded by villages, feudal castles, boyar and princely estates. Many roads of military and economic importance converged in the city. So, two roads connected Chernigov with Kyiv. The road to the north - to Lyubech and Starodub - was of great importance. There was also a road leading out of the city that led to the steppe beyond the borders of Rus'. All this contributed to the fact that Chernigov became an important center of trade and craft. The city produced weapons, jewelry, tools, wood products and much more. The economic growth of Chershnov is also evidenced by the intensive construction that was carried out during the 12th - early 13th centuries. One of the best cathedrals of ancient Rus', Borisoglebsky, was built here. St. Michael's and Annunciation churches, decorated with multi-colored glazed tiles, mosaics, and figured plinths, testified to the high skill of local architects. The slender Pyatnitskaya Church, decorated with ornaments made of brick, aroused the admiration of its contemporaries.

Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Chernigov. Contemporary photography

Apse- a semicircular (sometimes polygonal) protrusion in the wall of a church or ancient building.

In the notebook of an erudite
St. George's Goddess is the conventional name for the apse and a fragment of the wall of St. Michael's Church (1098), which has not survived to this day. Bozhnitsa belongs to the Pereyaslav architectural school. This is the only monument of Pereyaslavl monumental architecture that has survived to this day. Named after Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Mentioned in the chronicle around 1151. In 1240 it suffered from Mongol raids.
The structure consists of a plinth interspersed with red local sandstone. Masonry technique using cement mortar (a mixture of crushed brick and lime). The plinth is dark red and yellow; in some places on its edges you can see the characteristic marks of the masters, repeating the marks of the ancient Russian monuments of Chernigov. The shrine is covered with a metal roof. Of significant interest is the mural painting of the apse, which belongs to the school of Kyiv monumental painting of the 12th century. Wall paintings are placed in three tiers. It was made between 1098-1125, the color of the drawings is kept in warm colors with a predominance of red and ocher colors.

1. Why was the church of the Pereyaslav architectural school built on the lands of the Chernigov principality? What does this indicate?

Yuriev's goddess. A monument of ancient Russian architecture, located in the town of Oster, Kozeletsky district, Chernigov region

Svidersky Yu. Yu., Ladychenko T. V., Romanishin N. Yu. History of Ukraine: Textbook for 7th grade. - K.: Certificate, 2007. 272 ​​p.: ill.
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From to 1503 - as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then - the Russian State.

Story

Before the Lyubech Congress

Taking advantage of the weakening of Svyatopolk and Vladimir Monomakh and entering into an alliance with the Polovtsy, Oleg in 1094 restored the independence of the Chernigov principality, expelling Vladimir Monomakh from Chernigov. In 1096, he undertook a campaign along the route Starodub - Smolensk - Murom - Suzdal - Rostov - Murom (Murom Campaign (1096)), after which the Lyubech Congress was convened.

Under the Svyatoslavichs (1097-1127)

The campaign ended with defeat in a 3-day battle and the temporary captivity of the princes who took part in it. The Polovtsian retaliatory invasion of Rus' was successfully stopped on the Dnieper and Seimas.

Campaigns of 1180-1181

The campaign, during which Svyatoslav and his allies consistently encountered all their political opponents, was undertaken by Svyatoslav at a time when, almost simultaneously, his relations with the Smolensk princes worsened, who continued to keep the entire Kiev land under their control and lay claim to Vitebsk together with Svyatoslav’s allies - the Polotsk princes, as well as with Vsevolod the Big Nest, who launched an offensive against the Ryazan relatives of Svyatoslav and at the same time captured his son Gleb. The reason for the war was given by Svyatoslav himself, who attacked Davyd Rostislavich on the Dnieper catches and immediately left Kyiv for Chernigov for a military training camp with his brothers. Leaving part of his forces in Chernigov, Svyatoslav, with the Polovtsians and Novgorodians, invaded the Vladimir-Suzdal principality and stood to no avail with Vsevolod, on whose side were the Ryazan and Murom residents, along the two banks of the Vlena River, and leaving from there in the spring of 1181, he burned Dmitrov. Then he united with part of the Chernigov forces near Drutsk, in which he besieged Davyd of Smolensk and forced him to leave the city. However, Svyatoslav had to recognize the Kyiv land for the Rostislavichs, since Rurik defeated the Olgovichi and Polovtsians on the Dnieper, and Novgorod (as well as influence in Ryazan) was ceded to Vsevolod, who captured Torzhok after Svyatoslav left.

Campaigns of 1196

After the death of Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich and the reign of Rurik Rostislavich in Kyiv, Vsevolod the Big Nest destroyed the union of the southern Monomakhovichs, demanding from Rurik the parish in the Kyiv land that had previously been given to Roman Mstislavich of Volyn and then transferring it to Rurik’s son Rostislav. Roman divorced Rurik’s daughter and entered into an alliance with the Olgovichs (). In the winter of 1196, the Olgovichi, in alliance with the Polotsk residents, conducted a campaign in the Smolensk land. In the fall of 1196, Roman ordered his people to ravage the lands of Rurik, who, in turn, soon organized an attack by the troops of Vladimir Galitsky and Mstislav Romanovich on Peremil, and Rostislav Rurikovich on Kamenets. At the same time, Rurik, Davyd and Vsevolod attacked the Principality of Chernigov and, although they could not overcome the defenses of Chernigov and spotted the principality in the northeast, they forced Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to abandon his claims to Kyiv and Smolensk.

Early 13th century

"Grand Duke of Chernigov" as a title of the Bryansk princes

In the first years of the 14th century, the Smolensk princely dynasty was established in Bryansk through a dynastic marriage, and until the capture in 1357 by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd, there was a struggle between the Smolensk and Bryansk princes, complicated by the intervention of the Tatars. Under Lithuanian rule, the principality maintained autonomous governance for several decades. In the 14th century, the formation of fiefs continued: in addition to those mentioned above, the principalities arose: Mosalsky, Volkonsky, Mezetsky, Myshetsky, Zvenigorod and others; The Novosilsk principality splits into Vorotynskoye, Odoevskoye and Belevskoye.

The last Prince of Bryansk and Grand Duke of Chernigov was Roman Mikhailovich. Subsequently, he was the Lithuanian governor in Smolensk, where in 1401 he was killed by rebel townspeople. By the end of the 15th century, most of the appanage principalities in the Chernigov-Seversk land were liquidated and the corresponding territories belonged directly to the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who installed his governors in the cities.

The owners of the small Chernigov principalities at different times lost their independence and became serving princes under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The largest of them (the Novosilsk princes) retained complete internal autonomy from Lithuania and their relations with Vilna were determined by agreements (terminations), the smaller ones lost part of their princely rights and approached the status of ordinary patrimonial owners.

The descendants of many of the appanage Chernigov-Seversk princes at the turn of the 16th century transferred along with their lands to Moscow service (Vorotynsky, Odoevsky, Belevsky, Mosalsky and others), while retaining their possessions and enjoyed (until the liquidation of the appanages in the middle of the 16th century) the status of servicemen princes. Many of them became the founders of the Russian princely families that still exist today.

Left bank of the Dnieper

Already in the 9th century, Southern Rus' included, in addition to the tribal reign of the glades, also part of the Dnieper left bank with the later cities of Chernigov and Pereyaslavl. It is difficult to accurately determine its eastern border. Academician B. A. Rybakov includes here the middle reaches of the Desna and the Seim basin. In Oleg’s treaty with the Greeks in 907, the main centers of the Dnieper left bank, Chernigov and Pereyaslavl, are mentioned among Russian cities, respectively, in second and third place after Kyiv, and it is said that princes subordinate to Kyiv sit in them.

First mention of people that side of the Dnieper as representatives of a special territorial entity dates back to 968. At the head of these people, Voivode Pretich is mentioned, who could have been an official of the Kyiv prince. However, the decisive argument in favor of their intervention in the siege of Kyiv by the Pechenegs is the fear of revenge on the part of the Kyiv prince, and then Pretich makes peace with the Pecheneg khan when he lifted the siege of Kyiv, but did not go to the steppe. And only Svyatoslav, who returned from the Danube, expelled the Pechenegs.

Before the final conquest of the Vyatichi in the 11th century, communication with the Murom land took place through Smolensk, and not through Chernigov, and the princely center in Murom arose earlier than Chernigov. An accurate idea of ​​the delimitation of the possessions of the princes of the left bank with the possessions of the princes of the right bank east of the Dnieper is given by the negotiations of Oleg Svyatoslavich in 1096 with Izyaslav and Mstislav Vladimirovich: Murom is considered the patrimony of the Chernigov princes, Rostov - of the Kyiv princes. Smolensk land also did not belong to the possessions of the Chernigov princes. Although Smolensk itself was located on the right bank of the Dnieper, the territory under its control included the upper reaches of the Desna in the south and the Protva basin in the east.

The epochal division of the Russian land along the Dnieper between Yaroslav and Mstislav Vladimirovich dates back to 1024, which lasted until the death of Mstislav in 1036. Moreover, during this period, the Kiev prince Yaroslav lived in Novgorod. In 1024, Tmutarakan, the original table of Mstislav, joined the Chernigov principality. Since 1054, a new princely center was formed in Pereyaslavl on the left bank, which subsequently did not belong to the possessions of the Chernigov dynasty. Under the elder Yaroslavichs, separate Orthodox metropolises existed in Chernigov and Pereyaslavl. In 1097, the entire Chernigov land was recognized as the descendants of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, however, they were deprived of the right to occupy the Kyiv throne. This right was restored in 1139 by Vsevolod Olgovich, who married the daughter of Mstislav Monomakhovich, and of all the Olgovichs, only the descendants of Vsevolod subsequently laid claim to Kyiv. However, this right was disputed by the Monomakhovichs, who tried to secure for themselves not only Smolensk and Kyiv, but also all the Kyiv volosts on the right bank. The claims of the Chernigov princes to Pereyaslavl existed in parallel with their claims to Kyiv.

Economy

Most of the principality (except for the forest-steppe Posemye) was covered with forests, with the western part (the outskirts of the capital) being swampy and the eastern part (the upper reaches of the Oka) being hilly. The trade route along the Desna connected the middle Dnieper with the upper reaches of the Volga through a system of portages on the upper Dnieper, the trade route along the Seim connected the middle Dnieper with the upper Oka and the Seversky Donets in the Kursk region, and there was also a dry route between Kiev and Bulgar to the east.

Destinations of the Chernigov principality

• Principality of Tmutarakan (Krasnodar Territory, Crimea) - lost at the end of the 11th century.
• Principality of Murom (Ryazan and Vladimir regions) - separated in 1127.
• Vshchizh Principality (Bryansk Region) → (mid-XIII century)→ Bryansk Principality (Bryansk Region)
• Starodub Principality (Bryansk Region) → (mid-XIII century)→ Bryansk Principality (Bryansk Region)
• Snov Principality (Chernigov region) → (mid-XIII century) → Bryansk Principality (Bryansk region)
• Novgorod-Seversk Principality (Chernigov region) → (mid-XIII century) → Bryansk Principality (Bryansk region)
• Trubchevsk Principality (Bryansk Region) → (mid-XIII century)→ Bryansk Principality (Bryansk Region)

Family

• Principality of Kursk (Kursk region) → (early XIV century)→ Principality of Kiev
• Principality of Rila (Kursk region) → (beginning of the 14th century)→ Principality of Kiev
• Putivl Principality (Sumy region) → (beginning of the 14th century) → Kiev Principality
• Lipetsk Principality (Lipetsk region)

Verkhovsky principalities

• Karachev Principality (territory of Kaluga, Lipetsk and Oryol regions)
• Glukhov Principality (Sumy region)
  • Odoevsky Principality (Tula Region)
  • Novosilsk Principality (Oryol Region)
• Tarusa Principality (Kaluga Region)
  • Obolensky Principality (Kaluga Region)
• Principality of Mezets (Kaluga region)
• Principality of Spazh (Tula region)
• Principality of Konin (Tula region)

Russian princely families originating from the Principality of Chernigov

see also

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Notes

Literature

• Zotov R.V. About the Chernigov princes according to the Lyubets Synodik and about the Chernigov principality in the Tatar era. - St. Petersburg, 1892.
• Zaitsev A.K. Chernigov principality X-XIII centuries. : selected works / Alexey Zaitsev; Preparation of maps V. N. Temushev. State Historical Museum. State Military-Historical and Natural Museum-Reserve "Kulikovo Field".. - M.: Quadriga, 2009. - 226 p. - (Historical and geographical research). - 1,000 copies.- ISBN 978-5-91791-006-2.
• (in translation)// Ancient Rus'. Questions of medieval studies. 2008. No. 3 (33). pp. 106-114.
• .

Links

• Nikolaev V.V. . UNPC Oryol State Technical University. Retrieved April 30, 2009.
• Zotov,

Turning events stories Chronicle tribes Kyiv rulers before the collapse of Old Russian states (1132) Significant wars and battles Major principalities in the XII-XIII centuries Society Crafts and economics Culture Literature Architecture

An excerpt characterizing the Principality of Chernigov

“No, fifty,” said the Englishman.
- Okay, for fifty imperials - that I will drink the entire bottle of rum without taking it from my mouth, I will drink it while sitting outside the window, right here (he bent down and showed the sloping ledge of the wall outside the window) and without holding on to anything... So? ...
“Very good,” said the Englishman.
Anatole turned to the Englishman and, taking him by the button of his tailcoat and looking down at him (the Englishman was short), began repeating to him the terms of the bet in English.
- Wait! - Dolokhov shouted, banging the bottle on the window to attract attention. - Wait, Kuragin; listen. If anyone does the same, then I pay one hundred imperials. Do you understand?
The Englishman nodded his head, not giving any indication as to whether he intended to accept this new bet or not. Anatole did not let go of the Englishman and, despite the fact that he nodded, letting him know that he understood everything, Anatole translated Dolokhov’s words to him in English. A young thin boy, a life hussar, who had lost that evening, climbed onto the window, leaned out and looked down.
“Uh!... uh!... uh!...” he said, looking out the window at the stone sidewalk.
- Attention! - Dolokhov shouted and pulled the officer from the window, who, entangled in his spurs, awkwardly jumped into the room.
Having placed the bottle on the windowsill so that it would be convenient to get it, Dolokhov carefully and quietly climbed out the window. Dropping his legs and leaning both hands on the edges of the window, he measured himself, sat down, lowered his hands, moved to the right, to the left and took out a bottle. Anatole brought two candles and put them on the windowsill, although it was already quite light. Dolokhov's back in a white shirt and his curly head were illuminated from both sides. Everyone crowded around the window. The Englishman stood in front. Pierre smiled and said nothing. One of those present, older than the others, with a frightened and angry face, suddenly moved forward and wanted to grab Dolokhov by the shirt.
- Gentlemen, this is nonsense; he will be killed to death,” said this more prudent man.
Anatole stopped him:
- Don’t touch him, you’ll scare him, he’ll kill himself. Eh?... What then?... Eh?...
Dolokhov turned around, straightening himself and again spreading his arms.
“If anyone else bothers me,” he said, rarely letting words slip through his clenched and thin lips, “I’ll bring him down here now.” Well!…
Having said “well”!, he turned again, let go of his hands, took the bottle and brought it to his mouth, threw his head back and threw his free hand up for leverage. One of the footmen, who began to pick up the glass, stopped in a bent position, not taking his eyes off the window and Dolokhov’s back. Anatole stood straight, eyes open. The Englishman, his lips thrust forward, looked from the side. The one who stopped him ran to the corner of the room and lay down on the sofa facing the wall. Pierre covered his face, and a weak smile, forgotten, remained on his face, although it now expressed horror and fear. Everyone was silent. Pierre took his hands away from his eyes: Dolokhov was still sitting in the same position, only his head was bent back, so that the curly hair of the back of his head touched the collar of his shirt, and the hand with the bottle rose higher and higher, shuddering and making an effort. The bottle was apparently emptied and at the same time rose, bending its head. “What’s taking so long?” thought Pierre. It seemed to him that more than half an hour had passed. Suddenly Dolokhov made a backward movement with his back, and his hand trembled nervously; this shudder was enough to move the entire body sitting on the sloping slope. He shifted all over, and his hand and head trembled even more, making an effort. One hand rose to grab the window sill, but dropped again. Pierre closed his eyes again and told himself that he would never open them. Suddenly he felt that everything around him was moving. He looked: Dolokhov was standing on the windowsill, his face was pale and cheerful.
- Empty!
He threw the bottle to the Englishman, who deftly caught it. Dolokhov jumped from the window. He smelled strongly of rum.
- Great! Well done! So bet! Damn you completely! - they shouted from different sides.
The Englishman took out his wallet and counted out the money. Dolokhov frowned and remained silent. Pierre jumped onto the window.
Gentlemen! Who wants to bet with me? “I’ll do the same,” he suddenly shouted. “And there’s no need for a bet, that’s what.” They told me to give him a bottle. I'll do it... tell me to give it.
- Let it go, let it go! – said Dolokhov, smiling.
- What you? crazy? Who will let you in? “Your head is spinning even on the stairs,” they spoke from different sides.
– I’ll drink it, give me a bottle of rum! - Pierre shouted, hitting the table with a decisive and drunken gesture, and climbed out the window.
They grabbed him by the arms; but he was so strong that he pushed the one who approached him far away.
“No, you can’t persuade him like that,” said Anatole, “wait, I’ll deceive him.” Look, I bet you, but tomorrow, and now we're all going to hell.
“We’re going,” Pierre shouted, “we’re going!... And we’re taking Mishka with us...
And he grabbed the bear, and, hugging and lifting it, began to spin around the room with it.

Prince Vasily fulfilled the promise made at the evening at Anna Pavlovna's to Princess Drubetskaya, who asked him about her only son Boris. He was reported to the sovereign, and, unlike others, he was transferred to the Semenovsky Guard Regiment as an ensign. But Boris was never appointed as an adjutant or under Kutuzov, despite all the efforts and machinations of Anna Mikhailovna. Soon after Anna Pavlovna's evening, Anna Mikhailovna returned to Moscow, straight to her rich relatives Rostov, with whom she stayed in Moscow and with whom her beloved Borenka, who had just been promoted to the army and was immediately transferred to guards ensigns, had been raised and lived for years since childhood. The Guard had already left St. Petersburg on August 10, and the son, who remained in Moscow for uniforms, was supposed to catch up with her on the road to Radzivilov.
The Rostovs had a birthday girl, Natalya, a mother and a younger daughter. In the morning, without ceasing, trains drove up and drove off, bringing congratulators to the large, well-known house of Countess Rostova on Povarskaya throughout Moscow. The countess with her beautiful eldest daughter and guests, who never ceased replacing one another, were sitting in the living room.
The Countess was a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children, of whom she had twelve. The slowness of her movements and speech, resulting from weakness of strength, gave her a significant appearance that inspired respect. Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, like a domestic person, sat right there, helping in the matter of receiving and engaging in conversation with the guests. The youth were in the back rooms, not finding it necessary to participate in receiving visits. The Count met and saw off the guests, inviting everyone to dinner.
“I am very, very grateful to you, ma chere or mon cher [my dear or my dear] (ma chere or mon cher he said to everyone without exception, without the slightest shade, both above and below him) for himself and for the dear birthday girls . Look, come and have lunch. You will offend me, mon cher. I sincerely ask you on behalf of the whole family, ma chere.” He spoke these words with the same expression on his full, cheerful, clean-shaven face and with an equally strong handshake and repeated short bows to everyone, without exception or change. Having seen off one guest, the count returned to whoever was still in the living room; having pulled up his chairs and with the air of a man who loves and knows how to live, with his legs spread gallantly and his hands on his knees, he swayed significantly, offered guesses about the weather, consulted about health, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in very bad but self-confident French, and again with the air of a tired but firm man in the performance of his duties, he went to see him off, straightening the sparse gray hair on his bald head, and again called for dinner. Sometimes, returning from the hallway, he walked through the flower and waiter's room into a large marble hall, where a table for eighty couverts was being set, and, looking at the waiters wearing silver and porcelain, arranging tables and unrolling damask tablecloths, he called to him Dmitry Vasilyevich, a nobleman, who was taking care of all his affairs, and said: “Well, well, Mitenka, make sure everything is fine. “Well, well,” he said, looking around with pleasure at the huge spread-out table. – The main thing is serving. This and that...” And he left, sighing complacently, back into the living room.
- Marya Lvovna Karagina with her daughter! - the huge countess's footman reported in a bass voice as he entered the living room door.
The Countess thought and sniffed from a golden snuffbox with a portrait of her husband.
“These visits tormented me,” she said. - Well, I’ll take her last one. Very prim. “Beg,” she said to the footman in a sad voice, as if she was saying: “Well, finish it off!”
A tall, plump, proudly looking lady with a round-faced, smiling daughter, rustling with their dresses, entered the living room.
“Chere comtesse, il y a si longtemps... elle a ete alitee la pauvre enfant... au bal des Razoumowsky... et la comtesse Apraksine... j"ai ete si heureuse..." [Dear Countess, how long ago... she should have been in bed, poor child... at the Razumovskys' ball... and Countess Apraksina... was so happy...] lively women's voices were heard, interrupting one another and merging with the noise of dresses and the moving of chairs. That conversation began, which is started just enough so that at the first pause you get up and rustle with dresses. , say: “Je suis bien charmee; la sante de maman... et la comtesse Apraksine” [I am delighted; mother’s health... and Countess Apraksina] and, again rustling with dresses, go into the hallway, put on a fur coat or a cloak and leave. about the main city news of that time - about the illness of the famous rich and handsome man of Catherine's time, old Count Bezukhy, and about his illegitimate son Pierre, who behaved so indecently at an evening with Anna Pavlovna Scherer.
“I really feel sorry for the poor count,” said the guest, “his health is already bad, and now this grief from his son will kill him!”
- What's happened? - asked the countess, as if not knowing what the guest was talking about, although she had already heard the reason for Count Bezukhy’s grief fifteen times.
- This is the current upbringing! “Even abroad,” said the guest, “this young man was left to his own devices, and now in St. Petersburg, they say, he did such horrors that he was expelled from there with the police.
- Tell! - said the countess.
“He chose his acquaintances poorly,” Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened. - The son of Prince Vasily, he and Dolokhov alone, they say, God knows what they were doing. And both were hurt. Dolokhov was demoted to the ranks of soldiers, and Bezukhy’s son was exiled to Moscow. Anatoly Kuragin - his father somehow hushed him up. But they did deport me from St. Petersburg.
- What the hell did they do? – asked the Countess.
“These are perfect robbers, especially Dolokhov,” said the guest. - He is the son of Marya Ivanovna Dolokhova, such a respectable lady, so what? You can imagine: the three of them found a bear somewhere, put it in a carriage and took it to the actresses. The police came running to calm them down. They caught the policeman and tied him back to back to the bear and let the bear into the Moika; the bear is swimming, and the policeman is on him.
“The policeman’s figure is good, ma chere,” shouted the count, dying of laughter.
- Oh, what a horror! What's there to laugh about, Count?
But the ladies couldn’t help but laugh themselves.
“They saved this unfortunate man by force,” the guest continued. “And it’s the son of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov who is playing so cleverly!” – she added. “They said he was so well-mannered and smart.” This is where all my upbringing abroad has led me. I hope that no one will accept him here, despite his wealth. They wanted to introduce him to me. I resolutely refused: I have daughters.
- Why do you say that this young man is so rich? - asked the countess, bending down from the girls, who immediately pretended not to listen. - After all, he only has illegitimate children. It seems... Pierre is also illegal.
The guest waved her hand.
“He has twenty illegal ones, I think.”
Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened in the conversation, apparently wanting to show off her connections and her knowledge of all social circumstances.
“That’s the thing,” she said significantly and also in a half-whisper. – The reputation of Count Kirill Vladimirovich is known... He lost count of his children, but this Pierre was beloved.
“How good the old man was,” said the countess, “even last year!” I have never seen a more beautiful man.
“Now he’s changed a lot,” said Anna Mikhailovna. “So I wanted to say,” she continued, “through his wife, Prince Vasily is the direct heir to the entire estate, but his father loved Pierre very much, was involved in his upbringing and wrote to the sovereign... so no one knows if he dies (he is so bad that they are waiting for it) every minute, and Lorrain came from St. Petersburg), who will get this huge fortune, Pierre or Prince Vasily. Forty thousand souls and millions. I know this very well, because Prince Vasily himself told me this. And Kirill Vladimirovich is my second cousin on my mother’s side. “He baptized Borya,” she added, as if not attributing any significance to this circumstance.
– Prince Vasily arrived in Moscow yesterday. He’s going for an inspection, they told me,” the guest said.
“Yes, but, entre nous, [between us],” said the princess, “this is an excuse, he actually came to Count Kirill Vladimirovich, having learned that he was so bad.”
“However, ma chere, this is a nice thing,” said the count and, noticing that the eldest guest was not listening to him, he turned to the young ladies. – The policeman had a good figure, I imagine.
And he, imagining how the policeman waved his arms, laughed again with a sonorous and bassy laugh that shook his entire plump body, as people laugh who have always eaten well and especially drunk. “So, please, come and have dinner with us,” he said.

There was silence. The Countess looked at the guest, smiling pleasantly, however, without hiding the fact that she would not be at all upset now if the guest got up and left. The guest’s daughter was already straightening her dress, looking questioningly at her mother, when suddenly from the next room several men’s and women’s feet were heard running towards the door, the crash of a chair being snagged and knocked over, and a thirteen-year-old girl ran into the room, wrapping her short muslin skirt around something, and stopped in the middle rooms. It was obvious that she accidentally, with an uncalculated run, ran so far. At the same moment a student with a crimson collar, a guards officer, a fifteen-year-old girl and a fat, ruddy boy in a children's jacket appeared at the door.
The count jumped up and, swaying, spread his arms wide around the running girl.
- Oh, here she is! – he shouted laughing. - Birthday girl! Ma chere, birthday girl!
“Ma chere, il y a un temps pour tout, [Darling, there is time for everything,” said the countess, pretending to be stern. “You keep spoiling her, Elie,” she added to her husband.
“Bonjour, ma chere, je vous felicite, [Hello, my dear, I congratulate you,” said the guest. – Quelle delicuse enfant! “What a lovely child!” she added, turning to her mother.
A dark-eyed, big-mouthed, ugly, but lively girl, with her childish open shoulders, which, shrinking, moved in her bodice from fast running, with her black curls bunched back, thin bare arms and small legs in lace pantaloons and open shoes, I was at that sweet age when a girl is no longer a child, and a child is not yet a girl. Turning away from her father, she ran up to her mother and, not paying any attention to her stern remark, hid her flushed face in the lace of her mother’s mantilla and laughed. She was laughing at something, talking abruptly about a doll that she had taken out from under her skirt.
– See?... Doll... Mimi... See.
And Natasha could no longer speak (everything seemed funny to her). She fell on top of her mother and laughed so loudly and loudly that everyone, even the prim guest, laughed against their will.
- Well, go, go with your freak! - said the mother, feigning angrily pushing her daughter away. “This is my youngest,” she turned to the guest.
Natasha, taking her face away from her mother’s lace scarf for a minute, looked at her from below through tears of laughter and hid her face again.
The guest, forced to admire the family scene, considered it necessary to take some part in it.
“Tell me, my dear,” she said, turning to Natasha, “how do you feel about this Mimi?” Daughter, right?
Natasha did not like the tone of condescension to childish conversation with which the guest addressed her. She did not answer and looked at her guest seriously.
Meanwhile, all this young generation: Boris - an officer, the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna, Nikolai - a student, the eldest son of the count, Sonya - the count's fifteen-year-old niece, and little Petrusha - the youngest son, all settled in the living room and, apparently, tried to keep within the boundaries of decency the animation and gaiety that still breathed from every feature of them. It was clear that there, in the back rooms, from where they all ran so quickly, they were having more fun conversations than here about city gossip, the weather and Comtesse Apraksine. [about Countess Apraksina.] Occasionally they glanced at each other and could hardly restrain themselves from laughing.
Two young men, a student and an officer, friends since childhood, were the same age and both were handsome, but did not look alike. Boris was a tall, fair-haired young man with regular, delicate features of a calm and handsome face; Nikolai was a short, curly-haired young man with an open expression on his face. Black hairs were already showing on his upper lip, and his whole face expressed impetuosity and enthusiasm.
Nikolai blushed as soon as he entered the living room. It was clear that he was searching and could not find anything to say; Boris, on the contrary, immediately found himself and told him calmly, jokingly, how he had known this Mimi doll as a young girl with an undamaged nose, how she had grown old in his memory at the age of five and how her head was cracked all over her skull. Having said this, he looked at Natasha. Natasha turned away from him, looked at her younger brother, who, with his eyes closed, was shaking with silent laughter, and, unable to hold on any longer, jumped and ran out of the room as quickly as her fast legs could carry her. Boris didn't laugh.
- You seemed to want to go too, maman? Do you need a carriage? – he said, turning to his mother with a smile.
“Yes, go, go, tell me to cook,” she said, pouring out.
Boris quietly walked out the door and followed Natasha, the fat boy angrily ran after them, as if annoyed at the frustration that had occurred in his studies.

Of the young people, not counting the countess's eldest daughter (who was four years older than her sister and already behaved like a grown-up) and the young lady's guest, Nikolai and Sonya's niece remained in the living room. Sonya was a thin, petite brunette with a soft gaze, shaded by long eyelashes, a thick black braid that wrapped around her head twice, and a yellowish tint to the skin on her face and especially on her bare, thin, but graceful, muscular arms and neck. With the smoothness of her movements, the softness and flexibility of her small limbs, and her somewhat cunning and reserved manner, she resembled a beautiful, but not yet fully formed kitten, which would become a lovely little cat. She apparently considered it decent to show participation in the general conversation with a smile; but against her will, from under her long thick eyelashes, she looked at her cousin [cousin] who was leaving for the army with such girlish passionate adoration that her smile could not deceive anyone for a moment, and it was clear that the cat sat down only to jump more energetically and play with your sauce as soon as they, like Boris and Natasha, get out of this living room.
“Yes, ma chere,” said the old count, turning to his guest and pointing to his Nicholas. - His friend Boris was promoted to officer, and out of friendship he does not want to lag behind him; he leaves both the university and me as an old man: he goes into military service, ma chere. And his place in the archive was ready, and that was it. Is that friendship? - said the count questioningly.
“But they say war has been declared,” said the guest.
“They’ve been saying this for a long time,” said the count. “They’ll talk and talk again and leave it at that.” Ma chere, that’s friendship! - he repeated. - He is going to the hussars.
The guest, not knowing what to say, shook her head.
“Not out of friendship at all,” answered Nikolai, flushing and making excuses as if from a shameful slander against him. – Not friendship at all, but I just feel a calling to military service.
He looked back at his cousin and the guest young lady: both looked at him with a smile of approval.
“Today, Schubert, colonel of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment, is dining with us. He was on vacation here and takes it with him. What to do? - said the count, shrugging his shoulders and speaking jokingly about the matter, which apparently cost him a lot of grief.
“I already told you, daddy,” said the son, “that if you don’t want to let me go, I’ll stay.” But I know that I am not fit for anything except military service; “I’m not a diplomat, not an official, I don’t know how to hide what I feel,” he said, still looking with the coquetry of beautiful youth at Sonya and the guest young lady.
The cat, glaring at him with her eyes, seemed every second ready to play and show all her cat nature.
- Well, well, okay! - said the old count, - everything is getting hot. Bonaparte turned everyone’s heads; everyone thinks how he got from lieutenant to emperor. Well, God willing,” he added, not noticing the guest’s mocking smile.
The big ones started talking about Bonaparte. Julie, Karagina’s daughter, turned to young Rostov:
– What a pity that you weren’t at the Arkharovs’ on Thursday. “I was bored without you,” she said, smiling tenderly at him.
The flattered young man with a flirtatious smile of youth moved closer to her and entered into a separate conversation with the smiling Julie, not noticing at all that this involuntary smile of his was cutting the heart of the blushing and feignedly smiling Sonya with a knife of jealousy. “In the middle of the conversation, he looked back at her. Sonya looked at him passionately and embitteredly and, barely holding back the tears in her eyes and a feigned smile on her lips, she stood up and left the room. All Nikolai's animation disappeared. He waited for the first break in the conversation and with an upset face left the room to look for Sonya.
– How the secrets of all these young people are sewn with white thread! - said Anna Mikhailovna, pointing to Nikolai coming out. “Cousinage dangereux voisinage,” she added.
“Yes,” said the countess, after the ray of sunshine that had penetrated into the living room with this young generation had disappeared, and as if answering a question that no one had asked her, but which constantly occupied her. - How much suffering, how much anxiety has been endured in order to now rejoice in them! And now, really, there is more fear than joy. You're still afraid, you're still afraid! This is precisely the age at which there are so many dangers for both girls and boys.
“Everything depends on upbringing,” said the guest.
“Yes, your truth,” continued the Countess. “Until now, thank God, I have been a friend of my children and enjoy their complete trust,” said the countess, repeating the misconception of many parents who believe that their children have no secrets from them. “I know that I will always be the first confidente [confidant] of my daughters, and that Nikolenka, due to her ardent character, if she plays naughty (a boy cannot live without this), then everything is not like these St. Petersburg gentlemen.
“Yes, nice, nice guys,” confirmed the count, who always resolved issues that confused him by finding everything nice. - Come on, I want to become a hussar! Yes, that's what you want, ma chere!
“What a sweet creature your little one is,” said the guest. - Gunpowder!
“Yes, gunpowder,” said the count. - It hit me! And what a voice: even though it’s my daughter, I’ll tell the truth, she will be a singer, Salomoni is different. We hired an Italian to teach her.
- Is not it too early? They say it is harmful for your voice to study at this time.
- Oh, no, it’s so early! - said the count. - How did our mothers get married at twelve thirteen?
- She’s already in love with Boris! What? - said the countess, smiling quietly, looking at Boris’s mother, and, apparently answering the thought that had always occupied her, she continued. - Well, you see, if I had kept her strictly, I would have forbidden her... God knows what they would have done on the sly (the countess meant: they would have kissed), and now I know every word she says. She will come running in the evening and tell me everything. Maybe I'm spoiling her; but, really, this seems to be better. I kept the eldest strictly.
“Yes, I was brought up completely differently,” said the eldest, beautiful Countess Vera, smiling.
But a smile did not grace Vera’s face, as usually happens; on the contrary, her face became unnatural and therefore unpleasant.
The eldest, Vera, was good, she was not stupid, she studied well, she was well brought up, her voice was pleasant, what she said was fair and appropriate; but, strangely, everyone, both the guest and the countess, looked back at her, as if they were surprised why she said this, and felt awkward.
“They always play tricks with older children, they want to do something extraordinary,” said the guest.
- To be honest, ma chere! The Countess was playing tricks with Vera,” said the Count. - Well, oh well! Still, she turned out nice,” he added, winking approvingly at Vera.
The guests got up and left, promising to come for dinner.
- What a manner! They were already sitting, sitting! - said the countess, ushering the guests out.

When Natasha left the living room and ran, she only reached the flower shop. She stopped in this room, listening to the conversation in the living room and waiting for Boris to come out. She was already beginning to get impatient and, stamping her foot, was about to cry because he was not walking now, when she heard the quiet, not fast, decent steps of a young man.
Natasha quickly rushed between the flower pots and hid.
Boris stopped in the middle of the room, looked around, brushed specks from his uniform sleeve with his hand and walked up to the mirror, examining his handsome face. Natasha, having become quiet, looked out from her ambush, waiting for what he would do. He stood in front of the mirror for a while, smiled and went to the exit door. Natasha wanted to call out to him, but then changed her mind. “Let him search,” she told herself. Boris had just left when a flushed Sonya emerged from another door, whispering something angrily through her tears. Natasha restrained herself from her first move to run out to her and remained in her ambush, as if under an invisible cap, looking out for what was happening in the world. She experienced a special new pleasure. Sonya whispered something and looked back at the living room door. Nikolai came out of the door.

Chernigov. Pyatnitskaya Church of the 12th century

CHERNIGOV, a city in Little Russia on the banks of the Desna, one of the oldest Russian cities. In the 9th century. was the center of the East Slavic tribe of northerners. In the 9th century became part of Kievan Rus. First mentioned in Russian chronicles in 907. In the X-XII centuries. Chernigov was a large craft and trading city. In 1024-36 and 1054-1239 - the capital of the Chernigov principality (in 1037-53 as part of Kievan Rus). In 1239 it was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars. In the 2nd half. XIV century Chernigov became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the victory of Moscow troops in the war against Lithuania, Chernigov, together with the Chernigov-Seversk land, was returned to Russia. In 1611 it was captured by the Poles, and according to the Deulin Truce of 1618 it went to Poland, within which it was the center of the so-called. Chernigov principality, and from 1635 - Chernigov voivodeship.

Chernigov principality, ancient Russian principality (XI-XIII centuries) with its center in Chernigov. It occupied territory along both banks of the Dnieper, along the Desna, Seim, Sozh and Upper Oka. Previously, this territory belonged to tribal associations of northerners and glades.

The territorial core of the Chernigov principality consisted of the cities: Lyubech, Orgoshch, Moroviysk, Vsevolozh, Unenezh, Belavezha, Bakhmach, as well as the “Snov thousand” with the cities of Snovsk, Novgorod-Seversky and Starodub. Until the 11th century. this area was ruled by local nobles and governors from Kyiv, who collected tribute here. Politically, Chernigov became isolated in 1024, when, by agreement between the sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Chernigov and the entire Dnieper left bank were received by Mstislav Vladimirovich. After his death (1036), the Chernigov territory was again annexed to Kyiv. The Chernigov principality itself was allocated in 1054, inherited according to the will of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Svyatoslav Yaroslavich together with Murom and Tmutarakan. From the beginning of the 11th century. The Chernigov principality was finally assigned to the Svyatoslavichs. In the 12th century. its princes played an important role in the political life of Kievan Rus. Many of them (Vsevolod II Olgovich, Izyaslav Davydovich, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, Mikhail Vsevolodovich) occupied the Kiev table and defended all-Russian interests. Some Chernigov princes reigned in Novgorod. The territory of the Chernigov principality has grown greatly in the eastern and northern directions, ch. arr. at the expense of the Vyatichi lands. At the same time, within the Chernigov principality itself there were signs of collapse. In 1097, a principality headed by Novgorod-Seversky emerged (see: Seversky Principality); in the 12th century. Putivl, Rylsk, Trubchevsk, Kursk, Vshchizh and others became centers of special possessions. The attempt of the last Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich to unite the southern Russian lands and Novgorod under his rule was paralyzed by the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In 1239 Chernigov was taken and burned by the Mongol-Tatars. Soon the Principality of Chernigov ceased to exist as a state entity. VC.

Man first appeared in the Chernihiv region more than one hundred and fifty thousand years ago. In the northeast of the region (Novgorod-Seversky, Chulatov village, etc.), archaeologists have discovered numerous monuments of the Mousterian era of the Old Stone Age. The most interesting monument of this period is the unique site of a primitive man of the Late Paleolithic, discovered by Ukrainian archaeologists in 1908 near the village of Mezin, on the river. Desna, a few kilometers south of the city of Novgorod-Seversky. Some of the first musical instruments in human history, made from sea shells and mammoth bones, were discovered here. Meander images painted on jugs and household utensils were also found here. A similar meander pattern would appear many millennia later among the ancient Greeks and Romans.

A settlement of a primitive man of almost the same time as the Mezinskaya site was discovered not far from the city of Slavutich, where Chernobyl power engineers now live. This site went down in history under the name Pustynki and is located 1.5 km away. from the village of Mnev, on the left bank of the Dnieper. Here the ancient inhabitants exchanged their goods, coming both from the right bank of the Dnieper and from the left, as well as from the upper reaches of the Dnieper and its tributaries. Apparently the name of the village Mnev (exchange, exchange) has been preserved to this day. The settlement itself consisted of several dozen wooden dwellings, installed in two rows, forming a street-canal along which one could drive up to any house by boat and shop. The houses, as if on chicken legs, stood on high wooden stilts, thereby residents could avoid flooding from the deep spring floods of the wild Dnieper.

And in the area of ​​the village of Navozy (formerly Dneprovskoye), which is a few kilometers from the city of Slavutich on the Dnieper, archaeologists discovered the remains of primitive crocodiles:

At the end of the 7th century. on the ancient land of the “north, north” (northerners) tribe of Iranian origin, on the Yeletsky hills, which is next to the Boldin Heights, where now the Eternal Flame is for the soldiers who fell in the war of 1941-45, the city of Chernigov was founded, which later became the capital of the principality.

The Chernigov principality was the largest ancient Russian principality in terms of territory, occupying an area of ​​400 thousand square meters. km is 14 modern Chernigov regions or the area of ​​modern Great Britain.

The borders of the Chernigov principality covered lands from the Dnieper in the west to Moscow in the east, from southern Belarus to Taman with Tmutarakan principality at the Black Sea.

Chernigovshchina-Severshchyna was one of the most populated territories among the twelve ancient Russian principalities. There were more than five hundred cities and towns, impregnable castles of Medieval Rus', where almost half a million people lived. The Chernihiv region on the southern and eastern side was adjacent to the Wild Field, where numerous steppe peoples (Pechenegs, Polovtsians, Turks) roamed.

The constant danger from such aggressive and restless neighbors fostered a warlike spirit in the Chernigov residents. They knew how to fight wild tribes, so many ancient Russian princes often resorted to the help of northern Chernigovites to seize new lands, and the hired Chernigovites received considerable wealth from the enslaved peoples. This is how foreign princes paid mercenaries:

The Chernigov Orthodox diocese adopted Christianity in 992, four years after the baptism of Kyiv, and was the largest in parishioners, and in the number of Christian churches and monasteries it was not inferior to the Kyiv diocese, where the Patriarch of All Rus' was located.

According to the legends of the city of Chernigov and Polish chronicles, the first prince of Chernigov was supposedly Prince Cherny, who, even before the adoption of Christianity, died in a battle with the Drevlyans under the walls of Chernigov. His daughter Cherna (Tsarna), because of whom, in fact, the battle took place, upon learning of the death of her father, her protector, committed suicide so as not to fall to the Drevlyans. Where Prince Cherny died, a huge mound was built, 15 meters high and almost 40 meters in diameter. When the fire was lit on its top, the fire could be seen for 30 km. in District. Over time, this mound began to be called the “Black Grave”, i.e. Cerna's grave.

It is located in the courtyard of a modern administrative building on the street. Proletarskaya, 4, opposite the Yeletsky Convent. This mound is one of the surviving mounds in the former Soviet Union from the times of pagan Rus'. His excavations at the end of the 19th century. was carried out by archaeologist-enthusiast Samokvasov D.Ya., who came to the conclusion that the method of burial and the structure of the hill completely coincided with Greek burials from the time of the Trojan War.

Prince Cherny, unfortunately, is an unproven beautiful legend, nothing more. Otherwise, we would have a definite source or version of the origin of the name of the city of Chernigov. It is still a historical mystery.

The struggle for Chernigov and the Seversk land continued throughout its history; the Chernigov region with its main river, the beautiful Desna, was a very tasty morsel.

The first prince of Chernigov known in chronicles was the son of Vladimir the Baptist from the famous Polotsk princess Rogneda Mstislav Vladimirovich Tmutarakansky, nicknamed “The Brave”. Hero of the duel with the Kasozh prince Rededei. Unfortunately, we still do not know exactly who Mstislav’s mother is; there is an assumption that she was also the Czech Adele (Adil). In general, there is little historical information about Mstislav of Chernigov, although chroniclers speak of him as a worthy successor to the military glory of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav, Mstislav’s grandfather, father of Vladimir the Baptist. You will not find these words about his older brother Yaroslav the Wise, who, with his temper and ambitions, unleashed the first civil war in Kievan Rus, refusing to pay taxes from his rule in Veliky Novgorod to his father Vladimir the Baptist.

In 1024 Mstislav defeated the army of his brother Yaroslav the Wise near the village of Maly Listven, which is not far from the village of Repki in the Chernigov region, and thereby divided Kievan Rus into two states - Right Bank Rus with its capital in Kyiv and Left Bank Rus with its capital in Chernigov.

In the year 1024 Mstislav founded the Transfiguration Cathedral as the cathedral of the capital of Left Bank Rus' - the city of Chernigov. Nowadays this Spassky Cathedral is the most ancient Orthodox church, both in Ukraine and in Russia. Only Sophia of Constantinople, which is now located in Turkish Istanbul, is ancient. Kiev Sofia is 12 years younger than Chernigov Spas, and Novgorod Sofia is two decades younger.

The Spassky Cathedral of Chernigov, which is now located on the ancient princely courtyard (Val), still evokes admiration to this day. Here one can trace the architectural style of early Rus', distant Byzantium and India. Its two towers, unfortunately, which took on a Catholic pointed form, so strange for Orthodoxy, after a severe fire at the end of the 18th century, served as a clock, but not a quartz clock, but a solar one.

The priests could use them to determine the start time of the service with an accuracy of five minutes.

But Chernigov was not the capital of Left Bank Ukraine for long. The mysterious death of first Mstislav's adult son Eustathius, and then the mysterious death of Mstislav himself from an upset stomach after a hunt (burned to death in three days) in 1036, allowed Yaroslav the Wise to seize all the lands of Great Rus' into his own hands.

Only 18 years later, in 1054, the year of the great schism (schism) in the Christian Church, the first official prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, the eldest son of Yaroslav the Wise, was installed in Chernigov. He ruled in Chernigov for almost 20 years. During this time, the city became a perfectly fortified fortress. Was built Yeletsky Monastery with the majestic Assumption Cathedral.

Assumption Cathedral of the Yelets Monastery, 11th century

In 1069, in the Boldin Mountains, the great Chernigov resident, a native of Lyubech, the first Russian monk, the father of Russian monasticism, the founder of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, Anthony of Pechersk (in the world Antipas) founded the Chernigov Anthony Caves, the secrets and mysteries of which continue to excite many scientists today.

Before the entrance to these caves, which have a length of about four hundred meters underground, at a depth of up to 12 meters, where all year round the constant temperature is +10+12 degrees C and almost 100 percent air humidity, under Svyatoslav the single-pillar Ilyinsky Church was built, which has no time and the architecture of world analogues. The caves and the church, somewhat rebuilt, have survived to this day and are still in use.

For more than thirty years, employees and hundreds of visitors to the Chernigov caves have been observing mysterious phenomena occurring in the depths of the caves, at a depth of almost 12 meters, next to the underground church of St. Nicholas Svyatoshi:

Every year, on February 18, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the day of remembrance of the Yelets Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God. The history of this amazing and first miraculous icon in Russian Orthodoxy is very interesting.

During the reign of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich in Chernigov there was a miraculous appearance of the icon of the Mother of God on one of the fir trees of Yeletskaya Mountain. And this happened in 1060. The prince saw this as a great sign and ordered the foundation of the Assumption Church on this site. But the adventures of the wonderful Yeletsk icon were just beginning.

In the history of the Russian church, the appearance of this icon was the first such miracle, which is why it was called “The Unfading Flower” of the Yelets Mother of God of the Assumption Monastery in the city of Chernigov and is a great treasure and shrine not only of the Chernigov diocese and the entire Chernigov region, but also of the entire world Orthodox Christian Church in in general.

The first Yeletskaya icon allegedly disappeared during the Tatar pogrom in Chernigov in the fall of 1239. Although there is a legend that they managed to wall it up in the stone wall of the Assumption Cathedral.

Then it was removed from the wall and again exhibited in its place in the Assumption Cathedral.

In 1579, the direct descendant of the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich (Olgovich family), Prince Baryatinsky, took the holy icon into his home.

But in 1687, the okolnichy (the second highest boyar rank), Prince Daniil Baryatinsky, being the commander of the Novgorod regiments, took the shrine with him on the Crimean campaign.

Returning home after heavy fighting, Prince Daniil fell mortally ill and, being not far from Kharkov, donated the icon to the Kharkov Assumption Cathedral. During Soviet times, the icon disappeared without a trace.

But our Chernigov was not left without its shrine. Back in 1676, brothers Matvey and Nikita Kozel brought an image of the Holy Mother of God of Yelets to Chernigov for the Epiphany Fair. It is not known at what price they agreed, but Chernigov resident Konstantin Mezopeta buys this icon from the brothers and on January 11, 1676 donates it to the Yeletsky Monastery.

In 1930, by order of the Soviet government, this icon was transferred to the State Chernigov Historical Museum. V.V. Tarnovsky (from whose collection this museum was mainly created), where it was located until 1941. The abbess of the monastery wanted to make a copy of the icon and give it to the museum, but the museum demanded the original.

Finally, on April 1, 1999, the city authorities transferred the Yeletsk Icon to the Yeletsk Monastery for temporary use. Metropolitan Anthony of Chernigov and Nizhyn and the abbess of the Eletsk Holy Dormition Convent, Mother Ambrosia (in the world Ivanenko), put a lot of effort and wisdom into obtaining their shrine.

Modern art historians examined the icon and found that it actually dates back to the 90s of the 17th century, i.e. this is the icon that was donated to the Yelets monastery by the Chernigov resident Mesopeta. Glory to you Mesopete!

The icon is painted with tempera and oil paints on two wide boards, fastened with two wooden dowels. The total length of the icon is 135 cm, width 76 cm, thickness of the boards 3 cm.

The composition of the icon is also interesting, having both a theological meaning and the iconography of the very history of the appearance of the shrine back in 1060.

On the Boldin Mountains there are two unique pagan mounds - “Nameless” and “Gulbische”, where the remains of a giant warrior were discovered, who had an almost one and a half meter steel sword, weighing more than ten kilograms. But they also had to work in battle.

So what kind of power did his owner have?

And not far from these mounds you can see many large and small mounds, more than two hundred of them. These are mounds under which Chernigov residents were buried back in pagan times.

Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh, son of Vsevolod, grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, ruled in Chernigov for about twenty years, until the people of Kiev called him to their place in 1113 to pacify the uprising of the townspeople against Jewish moneylenders.

It was the Chernigov prince Vladimir Monomakh who initiated the first congress of the Russian six princes in the city of Lyubech in 1097. Here it was accepted that the civil strife had come to an end, everyone held their own patrimony, here everyone swore an oath to go together against the filthy Polovtsians.

Monomakh was buried not in Kyiv, but in his beloved Chernigov, in the Spassky Cathedral.

Also, during the reign of David, the monastery complex and the Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa were founded (nowadays the Chernigov Ukrainian Drama Theater is located on the territory of the monastery, and the square in front of it is called the Red Square of the city). During the war, the Nazis bombed the Church of Friday, this monument of Chernigov architecture. Only through the efforts of the architect Baranovsky, who once saved St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow from destruction by the Bolsheviks, was the Pyatnitskaya Church, the same age as the Tale of Igor's Campaign, restored after the war.

And the hero of this amazing work, Prince Igor, at one time was even the Prince of Chernigov, where he sat quietly like a mouse after the failure with the Polovtsians in 1185, then he was still the Prince of Novgorod-Seversk.

In the fall of 1239, Chernigov fell under the attack of the Tatar hordes.

For almost three centuries, chronicles have been silent about Chernigov. Until the Chernihiv region fell under the rule of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1503, most of the Chernihiv region became part of Muscovite Rus'. Lithuanians and Polish gentry left Chernigov. But horseradish turned out to be no sweeter than radish. In the summer of 1606, from Chernigov Putivl, where Yaroslavna once cried for her prince Igor,

a huge army of rebel Cossacks, Chernigovites, under the leadership of Ivan Bolotnikov, rushed to Moscow. The uprising was suppressed, but Muscovy began to think about the freedom-loving people of Chernigov.

Soon Moscow gave the Chernigov region back to the Poles, supposedly out of harm’s way. This is where the gentry remembered everything to the Ukrainian people, until Bogdan Khmelnitsky came. Among Bogdan's closest associates was the first Chernigov colonel Martyn Nebaba with his Chernigov regiment of dashing Cossacks.

In 1696, it was the Chernigov Cossack regiment under the command of the assigned hetman Yakov Lizogub that broke into the Turkish fortress of Azov. Peter the Great, out of delight at the heroism of the Chernigovites, awarded them all and especially Yakov Lizogub. Upon returning home to Chernigov, Yakov Lizogub, using funds raised by the participants of the Azov campaign, built the Catherine Church in Chernigov in the Ukrainian Baroque style.

No less famous is the participant in the Battle of Poltava, Colonel of the Chernigov regiment Pavel Polubotok, on whose courage and ability to fight Peter the Great counted so much, and the Chernigov people did not let the tsar down.

In 1679, on the Boldin Mountains, the Trinity Cathedral was founded by Archbishop Leonty Baranovich of Chernigov according to the design of a German from Vilna (now Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania) John Baptist. And in 1775, a magnificent 58-meter bell tower was built according to the design of Rastrelli, the author of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.

In 1700, a Collegium was built in Chernigov, where the children of wealthy Chernigov residents studied science. They were prepared for public service. Later, a similar Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum will be opened near St. Petersburg.

Under Empress Elizabeth, Count Potemkin visited the Chernigov region several times. It was in the Chernihiv region, in the village of Lemeshi, near Kozelets, in a local church that he heard the singing of the beautiful young man Alexei Rozum, the son of Razumikha, who tended goats during the day and worked part-time in the choir in the evening. The young man was immediately taken to St. Petersburg before the clear eyes of the empress.

Thus began the lightning-fast career of Elizabeth Petrovna’s favorite from Chernigov, Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky and his brother Kirill, who would be President of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, patron of Lomonosov, and the last hetman of Left-Bank Ukraine, to the field marshal’s baton.

Chernigov residents were active participants in the December uprising of 1825, but not in the north, but in the south of the empire. The uprising of the Chernigov regiment, organized by Muravyov-Apostol S.I. and Bestuzhev-Ryumin M.P., which began on December 29, 1825. in the village of Trilesy. Then more than a thousand soldiers and officers captured the city of Vasilkov, Chernigov province. But near Bila Tserkva they were defeated by government troops on January 3, 1826. In July 1826 The leaders of the Chernigov uprising were executed in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg.

In the village of Voronki, not far from the town of Bobrovitsy in the Chernihiv region, the Decembrist Sergei Grigorievich Volkonsky and his amazing wife, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, daughter of the general, hero of 1812 Nikolai Nikolaevich Raevsky, lived in the last years after the amnesty of 1856, and then were buried here. .

It was 20-year-old Maria Volkonskaya who became the heroine of Nekrasov’s poem “Russian Women”; it was Maria Volkonskaya, who left a warm home, a noble title, and a young son, who went to hard labor in Siberia for her husband, where she spent the most difficult years with him in the mines, and This is 30 years in a foreign land, in a half-starved region. Those were glorious times and people!..

Trinity Elias Monastery:

In the right nave of the Trinity Cathedral there is a shrine of the Chernigov Archbishop, the holy wonderworker Theodosius of Uglitsky and Chernigov, the heavenly patron of Chernigov.

Near his holy remains, many thousands of sick people were healed and there is a lot of testimony to this. To this day, on the territory of the Yeletsky Monastery, a wooden house has been preserved, which is more than three hundred years old and where the great Theodosius lived.

On the modern territory of the Trinity Monastery is located one of the few theological schools in Ukraine for the training of church choir directors - leaders of church choirs. The Administration of the Chernigov Diocese, headed by Archbishop Anthony of Chernigov and Nizhyn, is also located here. Currently, unfortunately, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is experiencing another schism.

Also on the territory of the Trinity Monastery is now located the chapel of Grigory Stepanovich Shcherbina,

a native of the Chernihiv region, 1868 - 1903, a Russian diplomat who knew 16 languages, and graduated from the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages ​​in Moscow. He worked in Turkey, Egypt, Albania, and in 1902 he was appointed consul to Mitrovica (Serbia), where he was killed in 1903 by an Albanian fanatic. Shcherbina G.S. was a member of the Russian Geographical Society, defended his doctoral dissertation in Turkish.

At the Trinity Cathedral there is a bust of Leonid Ivanovich Glebov buried here. In Ukrainian literature he is considered the most talented fabulist (in Ukrainian - baikar).

Also buried next to the Trinity Cathedral was the Major General, Princess Sofya Ivanovna Prozorovskaya,

nee Skoropadskaya, born in 1767. and died in 1833. She was a relative of the wife of Generalissimo Suvorov A.V. Varvara Ivanovna.

In 1820, a descendant of Hetman Skoropadsky, Ivan Mikhailovich Skoropadsky, bought the village of Trostyanets, Ichnyansky district, Chernihiv region, where he created a huge regular park no worse than the Peterhof parks near St. Petersburg. Scientists and nature lovers from almost all over the world came to him and brought with them new seedlings for such an amazing park, which spread over an area of ​​more than two hundred hectares. The Skoropadsky family crypt is also located here. And the last of the Skoropadsky family, adjutant general of the Russian Tsar, Pavel Petrovich Skoropadsky, was declared hetman of Ukraine in 1918. But he never became a “rich Ukrainian”, he failed to cope with the duties of hetman - Ukraine did not become an independent country until 1991.

On the Boldin Mountains, on a steep slope, Markovich Afanasy Vasilyevich, a Ukrainian folklorist and ethnographer, who was married to the no less famous writer M.O., is buried.

Vilinskaya (Marko Vovchek). Collects folk songs and sayings. Wrote music for Kotlyarevsky's play "Natalka Poltavka".

There, on Boldina Mountain, above the Elias Church, the Kotsyubinsky couple are buried - Mikhail and his wife Vera Deisha. Mikhail Kotsyubinsky is an outstanding Ukrainian writer, public figure, founder of modern Ukrainian literature.

I would like to say a few words about Lyubech, a wonderful city, first mentioned by Nestor in the Tale of Bygone Years in the year 882, which is 25 years earlier than Chernigov.

For many years, Lyubech was owned by Count Andrei Miloradovich, the father of Mikhail Miloradovich, Governor-General of St. Petersburg, hero of 1812, mortally wounded by Pyotr Kakhovsky on December 14, 1825 on Senate Square in St. Petersburg during the December uprising. It was in Lyubech that the mother of Vladimir the Baptist Malush was born, and her brother the epic hero Dobrynya became the mentor and father of young Vladimir.

To this day, there is a legend in Chernigov that underground passages were dug from Chernigov and Lyubech to Kyiv, along which city residents escaped the enemy in hard times.

The Chernihiv region became the birthplace of the Russian sculptor Ivan Petrovich Martos, the author of the monument to Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky in Moscow. Russian painter Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge, was also born in the Chernigov region and often came here to look for inspiration. Ilya Repin repeatedly visited Chernigov and its suburbs, where he tried to find living prototypes of his heroes in the painting “The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Turkish Sultan.”

The city of Chernigov has some kind of inexplicable aura, because the events of April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant did not affect it in the first days. Indeed, if you look at the map of radioactive fallout for the first five days after April 26, 1986, you can see that the contamination of Chernigov is minimal compared to other regions, especially Kyiv.

Gruzdev Vyacheslav Borisovich

Princes of Chernigov:

Principality of Chernigov

A dynasty of princes descendants of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich was established in the Chernigov principality.

Mstislav Vladimirovich 1024-1036

Svyatoslav Yaroslavich 1054-1073

Vsevolod Yaroslavich 1073-1076

Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh 1076-1077

Boris Vyacheslavich 1077

Vsevolod Yaroslavich 1077-1078

Oleg Svyatoslavich 1078

Vladimir Monomakh (secondary) 1078-1094

Oleg Svyatoslavich (secondary) 1094-1097

Davyd Svyatoslavich 1097-1123

Yaroslav Svyatoslavich 1123-1126

Vsevolod Olgovich 1126-1139

Vladimir Davydovich 1139-1151

Izyaslav Davydovich 1151-1154

Svyatoslav Olgovich 1154-1155

Izyaslav Davydovich (secondary) 1155-1157

Svyatoslav Olgovich (secondary) 1157-1164

Oleg Svyatoslavich 1164

Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich 1164- 1177

Yaroslav Vsevolodovich 1177-1198

And Gor Yaroslavich (possibly) 1198

Igor Svyatoslavich 1198-1202

Oleg Svyatoslavich 1202-1204

Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny 1204-1210/12

Rurik Rostislavich 1210/12-1214

Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (secondary) 1214-1215

Davyd Olgovich 1215

Gleb Svyatoslavich 1215-1219

Mstislav Svyatoslavich 1219-1224

Mikhail Vsevolodovich 1224-1226

Oleg Svyatoslavich 1226

Mikhail Vsevolodovich (secondary) 1226-1235

Mstislav Glebovich 1235-1239

Rostislav Mikhailovich approx. 1240

Mikhail Vsevolodovich (for the third time) approx. 1240

Andrey Mstislavich 1246

Vsevolod Yaropolkovich 1246-1261

Andrey Vsevolodovich 1261-1263

Roman Mikhailovich Old 1263-1288

Oleg Romanovich con. XIII century

Mikhail Dmitrievich con. XIII century - beginning XIV century

Mikhail Alexandrovich first floor. XIV century

Roman Mikhailovich Junior 7-1370

Dmitry-Koribut Olgerdovich approx. 1372-1393

Roman Mikhailovich (secondary) 1393-1401

Liquidation of the appanage by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Destinations of the Chernigov principality

Chernigov Princes.(genealogical table).

CHERNIGOV PRINCIPALITY- an ancient Russian principality that included lands along the middle Dnieper, Desna, Seim and upper Oka.
Arose in the 2nd half. XI century The core of the principality consisted of lands on which in the 9th century. Slavic tribes of northerners lived. In the X-XI centuries. The Chernigov land was ruled by governors from Kyiv and local nobility. The principality became isolated in 1024, after the brother of Yaroslav the Wise, the Tmutarakan prince Mstislav Vladimirovich the Brave, came to reign in Chernigov. After his death, the territory of the Chernigov principality again went to Kyiv. According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Chernigov land, together with Murom and Tmutarakan, passed to his son Svyatoslav Yaroslavich in 1054. In the 12th century. the Chernigov princes had quite an impressive weight in the political life of Rus'. They interfered in the affairs of other principalities, repeatedly occupied the Kiev table, and expanded their possessions to the north at the expense of the lands of the Vyatichi.
From the end XI century strife began in Chernigov land. In 1097, the Seversk principality emerged; in the 12th century. Kursk, Putivl, Rylsk, Trubchevsk and others became isolated. In 1239, the principality was devastated by the Mongol-Tatar conquerors and ceased to exist.

Principality of Chernigov

Chernigov. Pyatnitskaya Church of the 12th century

CHERNIGOV, a city in Little Russia on the banks of the Desna, one of the oldest Russian cities. In the 9th century. was the center of the East Slavic tribe of northerners. In the 9th century became part of Kievan Rus. First mentioned in Russian chronicles in 907. In the X-XII centuries. Chernigov was a large craft and trading city. In 1024-36 and 1054-1239 - the capital of the Chernigov principality (in 1037-53 as part of Kievan Rus). In 1239 it was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars. In the 2nd half. XIV century Chernigov became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the victory of Moscow troops in the war against Lithuania, Chernigov, together with the Chernigov-Seversk land, was returned to Russia. In 1611 it was captured by the Poles, and according to the Deulin Truce of 1618 it went to Poland, within which it was the center of the so-called. Chernigov principality, and from 1635 - Chernigov voivodeship.

Chernigov principality, ancient Russian principality (XI-XIII centuries) with its center in Chernigov. It occupied territory along both banks of the Dnieper, along the Desna, Seim, Sozh and Upper Oka. Previously, this territory belonged to tribal associations of northerners and glades.

The territorial core of the Chernigov principality consisted of the cities: Lyubech, Orgoshch, Moroviysk, Vsevolozh, Unenezh, Belavezha, Bakhmach, as well as the “Snov thousand” with the cities of Snovsk, Novgorod-Seversky and Starodub. Until the 11th century. this area was ruled by local nobles and governors from Kyiv, who collected tribute here. Politically, Chernigov became isolated in 1024, when, by agreement between the sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Chernigov and the entire Dnieper left bank were received by Mstislav Vladimirovich. After his death (1036), the Chernigov territory was again annexed to Kyiv. The Chernigov principality itself was allocated in 1054, inherited according to the will of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Svyatoslav Yaroslavich together with Murom and Tmutarakan. From the beginning of the 11th century. The Chernigov principality was finally assigned to the Svyatoslavichs. In the 12th century. its princes played an important role in the political life of Kievan Rus. Many of them (Vsevolod II Olgovich, Izyaslav Davydovich, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, Mikhail Vsevolodovich) occupied the Kiev table and defended all-Russian interests. Some Chernigov princes reigned in Novgorod. The territory of the Chernigov principality has grown greatly in the eastern and northern directions, ch. arr. at the expense of the Vyatichi lands. At the same time, within the Chernigov principality itself there were signs of collapse. In 1097, a principality headed by Novgorod-Seversky emerged (see: Seversky Principality); in the 12th century. Putivl, Rylsk, Trubchevsk, Kursk, Vshchizh and others became centers of special possessions. The attempt of the last Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich to unite the southern Russian lands and Novgorod under his rule was paralyzed by the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In 1239 Chernigov was taken and burned by the Mongol-Tatars. Soon the Principality of Chernigov ceased to exist as a state entity. VC.

Man first appeared in the Chernihiv region more than one hundred and fifty thousand years ago. In the northeast of the region (Novgorod-Seversky, Chulatov village, etc.), archaeologists have discovered numerous monuments of the Mousterian era of the Old Stone Age. The most interesting monument of this period is the unique site of a primitive man of the Late Paleolithic, discovered by Ukrainian archaeologists in 1908 near the village of Mezin, on the river. Desna, a few kilometers south of the city of Novgorod-Seversky. Some of the first musical instruments in human history, made from sea shells and mammoth bones, were discovered here. Meander images painted on jugs and household utensils were also found here. A similar meander pattern would appear many millennia later among the ancient Greeks and Romans.

A settlement of a primitive man of almost the same time as the Mezinskaya site was discovered not far from the city of Slavutich, where Chernobyl power engineers now live. This site went down in history under the name Pustynki and is located 1.5 km away. from the village of Mnev, on the left bank of the Dnieper. Here the ancient inhabitants exchanged their goods, coming both from the right bank of the Dnieper and from the left, as well as from the upper reaches of the Dnieper and its tributaries. Apparently the name of the village Mnev (exchange, exchange) has been preserved to this day. The settlement itself consisted of several dozen wooden dwellings, installed in two rows, forming a street-canal along which one could drive up to any house by boat and shop. The houses, as if on chicken legs, stood on high wooden stilts, thereby residents could avoid flooding from the deep spring floods of the wild Dnieper.

And in the area of ​​the village of Navozy (formerly Dneprovskoye), which is a few kilometers from the city of Slavutich on the Dnieper, archaeologists discovered the remains of primitive crocodiles:

At the end of the 7th century. on the ancient land of the “north, north” (northerners) tribe of Iranian origin, on the Yeletsky hills, which is next to the Boldin Heights, where now the Eternal Flame is for the soldiers who fell in the war of 1941-45, the city of Chernigov was founded, which later became the capital of the principality.

The Chernigov principality was the largest ancient Russian principality in terms of territory, occupying an area of ​​400 thousand square meters. km is 14 modern Chernigov regions or the area of ​​modern Great Britain.

The borders of the Chernigov principality covered lands from the Dnieper in the west to Moscow in the east, from southern Belarus to Taman with Tmutarakan principality at the Black Sea.

Chernigovshchina-Severshchyna was one of the most populated territories among the twelve ancient Russian principalities. There were more than five hundred cities and towns, impregnable castles of Medieval Rus', where almost half a million people lived. The Chernihiv region on the southern and eastern side was adjacent to the Wild Field, where numerous steppe peoples (Pechenegs, Polovtsians, Turks) roamed.

The constant danger from such aggressive and restless neighbors fostered a warlike spirit in the Chernigov residents. They knew how to fight wild tribes, so many ancient Russian princes often resorted to the help of northern Chernigovites to seize new lands, and the hired Chernigovites received considerable wealth from the enslaved peoples. This is how foreign princes paid mercenaries:

The Chernigov Orthodox diocese adopted Christianity in 992, four years after the baptism of Kyiv, and was the largest in parishioners, and in the number of Christian churches and monasteries it was not inferior to the Kyiv diocese, where the Patriarch of All Rus' was located.

According to the legends of the city of Chernigov and Polish chronicles, the first prince of Chernigov was supposedly Prince Cherny, who, even before the adoption of Christianity, died in a battle with the Drevlyans under the walls of Chernigov. His daughter Cherna (Tsarna), because of whom, in fact, the battle took place, upon learning of the death of her father, her protector, committed suicide so as not to fall to the Drevlyans. Where Prince Cherny died, a huge mound was built, 15 meters high and almost 40 meters in diameter. When the fire was lit on its top, the fire could be seen for 30 km. in District. Over time, this mound began to be called the “Black Grave”, i.e. Cerna's grave.

It is located in the courtyard of a modern administrative building on the street. Proletarskaya, 4, opposite the Yeletsky Convent. This mound is one of the surviving mounds in the former Soviet Union from the times of pagan Rus'. His excavations at the end of the 19th century. was carried out by archaeologist-enthusiast Samokvasov D.Ya., who came to the conclusion that the method of burial and the structure of the hill completely coincided with Greek burials from the time of the Trojan War.

Prince Cherny, unfortunately, is an unproven beautiful legend, nothing more. Otherwise, we would have a definite source or version of the origin of the name of the city of Chernigov. It is still a historical mystery.

The struggle for Chernigov and the Seversk land continued throughout its history; the Chernigov region with its main river, the beautiful Desna, was a very tasty morsel.

The first prince of Chernigov known in chronicles was the son of Vladimir the Baptist from the famous Polotsk princess Rogneda Mstislav Vladimirovich Tmutarakansky, nicknamed “The Brave”. Hero of the duel with the Kasozh prince Rededei. Unfortunately, we still do not know exactly who Mstislav’s mother is; there is an assumption that she was also the Czech Adele (Adil). In general, there is little historical information about Mstislav of Chernigov, although chroniclers speak of him as a worthy successor to the military glory of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav, Mstislav’s grandfather, father of Vladimir the Baptist. You will not find these words about his older brother Yaroslav the Wise, who, with his temper and ambitions, unleashed the first civil war in Kievan Rus, refusing to pay taxes from his rule in Veliky Novgorod to his father Vladimir the Baptist.

In 1024 Mstislav defeated the army of his brother Yaroslav the Wise near the village of Maly Listven, which is not far from the village of Repki in the Chernigov region, and thereby divided Kievan Rus into two states - Right Bank Rus with its capital in Kyiv and Left Bank Rus with its capital in Chernigov.

In the year 1024 Mstislav founded the Transfiguration Cathedral as the cathedral of the capital of Left Bank Rus' - the city of Chernigov. Nowadays this Spassky Cathedral is the most ancient Orthodox church, both in Ukraine and in Russia. Only Sophia of Constantinople, which is now located in Turkish Istanbul, is ancient. Kiev Sofia is 12 years younger than Chernigov Spas, and Novgorod Sofia is two decades younger.

The Spassky Cathedral of Chernigov, which is now located on the ancient princely courtyard (Val), still evokes admiration to this day. Here one can trace the architectural style of early Rus', distant Byzantium and India. Its two towers, unfortunately, which took on a Catholic pointed form, so strange for Orthodoxy, after a severe fire at the end of the 18th century, served as a clock, but not a quartz clock, but a solar one.

The priests could use them to determine the start time of the service with an accuracy of five minutes.

But Chernigov was not the capital of Left Bank Ukraine for long. The mysterious death of first Mstislav's adult son Eustathius, and then the mysterious death of Mstislav himself from an upset stomach after a hunt (burned to death in three days) in 1036, allowed Yaroslav the Wise to seize all the lands of Great Rus' into his own hands.

Only 18 years later, in 1054, the year of the great schism (schism) in the Christian Church, the first official prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, the eldest son of Yaroslav the Wise, was installed in Chernigov. He ruled in Chernigov for almost 20 years. During this time, the city became a perfectly fortified fortress. Was built Yeletsky Monastery with the majestic Assumption Cathedral.

Assumption Cathedral of the Yelets Monastery, 11th century

In 1069, in the Boldin Mountains, the great Chernigov resident, a native of Lyubech, the first Russian monk, the father of Russian monasticism, the founder of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, Anthony of Pechersk (in the world Antipas) founded the Chernigov Anthony Caves, the secrets and mysteries of which continue to excite many scientists today.

Before the entrance to these caves, which have a length of about four hundred meters underground, at a depth of up to 12 meters, where all year round the constant temperature is +10+12 degrees C and almost 100 percent air humidity, under Svyatoslav the single-pillar Ilyinsky Church was built, which has no time and the architecture of world analogues. The caves and the church, somewhat rebuilt, have survived to this day and are still in use.

For more than thirty years, employees and hundreds of visitors to the Chernigov caves have been observing mysterious phenomena occurring in the depths of the caves, at a depth of almost 12 meters, next to the underground church of St. Nicholas Svyatoshi:

Every year, on February 18, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the day of remembrance of the Yelets Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God. The history of this amazing and first miraculous icon in Russian Orthodoxy is very interesting.

During the reign of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich in Chernigov there was a miraculous appearance of the icon of the Mother of God on one of the fir trees of Yeletskaya Mountain. And this happened in 1060. The prince saw this as a great sign and ordered the foundation of the Assumption Church on this site. But the adventures of the wonderful Yeletsk icon were just beginning.

In the history of the Russian church, the appearance of this icon was the first such miracle, which is why it was called “The Unfading Flower” of the Yelets Mother of God of the Assumption Monastery in the city of Chernigov and is a great treasure and shrine not only of the Chernigov diocese and the entire Chernigov region, but also of the entire world Orthodox Christian Church in in general.

The first Yeletskaya icon allegedly disappeared during the Tatar pogrom in Chernigov in the fall of 1239. Although there is a legend that they managed to wall it up in the stone wall of the Assumption Cathedral.

Then it was removed from the wall and again exhibited in its place in the Assumption Cathedral.

In 1579, the direct descendant of the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich (Olgovich family), Prince Baryatinsky, took the holy icon into his home.

But in 1687, the okolnichy (the second highest boyar rank), Prince Daniil Baryatinsky, being the commander of the Novgorod regiments, took the shrine with him on the Crimean campaign.

Returning home after heavy fighting, Prince Daniil fell mortally ill and, being not far from Kharkov, donated the icon to the Kharkov Assumption Cathedral. During Soviet times, the icon disappeared without a trace.

But our Chernigov was not left without its shrine. Back in 1676, brothers Matvey and Nikita Kozel brought an image of the Holy Mother of God of Yelets to Chernigov for the Epiphany Fair. It is not known at what price they agreed, but Chernigov resident Konstantin Mezopeta buys this icon from the brothers and on January 11, 1676 donates it to the Yeletsky Monastery.

In 1930, by order of the Soviet government, this icon was transferred to the State Chernigov Historical Museum. V.V. Tarnovsky (from whose collection this museum was mainly created), where it was located until 1941. The abbess of the monastery wanted to make a copy of the icon and give it to the museum, but the museum demanded the original.

Finally, on April 1, 1999, the city authorities transferred the Yeletsk Icon to the Yeletsk Monastery for temporary use. Metropolitan Anthony of Chernigov and Nizhyn and the abbess of the Eletsk Holy Dormition Convent, Mother Ambrosia (in the world Ivanenko), put a lot of effort and wisdom into obtaining their shrine.

Modern art historians examined the icon and found that it actually dates back to the 90s of the 17th century, i.e. this is the icon that was donated to the Yelets monastery by the Chernigov resident Mesopeta. Glory to you Mesopete!

The icon is painted with tempera and oil paints on two wide boards, fastened with two wooden dowels. The total length of the icon is 135 cm, width 76 cm, thickness of the boards 3 cm.

The composition of the icon is also interesting, having both a theological meaning and the iconography of the very history of the appearance of the shrine back in 1060.

On the Boldin Mountains there are two unique pagan mounds - “Nameless” and “Gulbische”, where the remains of a giant warrior were discovered, who had an almost one and a half meter steel sword, weighing more than ten kilograms. But they also had to work in battle.

So what kind of power did his owner have?

And not far from these mounds you can see many large and small mounds, more than two hundred of them. These are mounds under which Chernigov residents were buried back in pagan times.

Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh, son of Vsevolod, grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, ruled in Chernigov for about twenty years, until the people of Kiev called him to their place in 1113 to pacify the uprising of the townspeople against Jewish moneylenders.

It was the Chernigov prince Vladimir Monomakh who initiated the first congress of the Russian six princes in the city of Lyubech in 1097. Here it was accepted that the civil strife had come to an end, everyone held their own patrimony, here everyone swore an oath to go together against the filthy Polovtsians.

Monomakh was buried not in Kyiv, but in his beloved Chernigov, in the Spassky Cathedral.

Also, during the reign of David, the monastery complex and the Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa were founded (nowadays the Chernigov Ukrainian Drama Theater is located on the territory of the monastery, and the square in front of it is called the Red Square of the city). During the war, the Nazis bombed the Church of Friday, this monument of Chernigov architecture. Only through the efforts of the architect Baranovsky, who once saved St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow from destruction by the Bolsheviks, was the Pyatnitskaya Church, the same age as the Tale of Igor's Campaign, restored after the war.

And the hero of this amazing work, Prince Igor, at one time was even the Prince of Chernigov, where he sat quietly like a mouse after the failure with the Polovtsians in 1185, then he was still the Prince of Novgorod-Seversk.

In the fall of 1239, Chernigov fell under the attack of the Tatar hordes.

For almost three centuries, chronicles have been silent about Chernigov. Until the Chernihiv region fell under the rule of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1503, most of the Chernihiv region became part of Muscovite Rus'. Lithuanians and Polish gentry left Chernigov. But horseradish turned out to be no sweeter than radish. In the summer of 1606, from Chernigov Putivl, where Yaroslavna once cried for her prince Igor,

a huge army of rebel Cossacks, Chernigovites, under the leadership of Ivan Bolotnikov, rushed to Moscow. The uprising was suppressed, but Muscovy began to think about the freedom-loving people of Chernigov.

Soon Moscow gave the Chernigov region back to the Poles, supposedly out of harm’s way. This is where the gentry remembered everything to the Ukrainian people, until Bogdan Khmelnitsky came. Among Bogdan's closest associates was the first Chernigov colonel Martyn Nebaba with his Chernigov regiment of dashing Cossacks.

In 1696, it was the Chernigov Cossack regiment under the command of the assigned hetman Yakov Lizogub that broke into the Turkish fortress of Azov. Peter the Great, out of delight at the heroism of the Chernigovites, awarded them all and especially Yakov Lizogub. Upon returning home to Chernigov, Yakov Lizogub, using funds raised by the participants of the Azov campaign, built the Catherine Church in Chernigov in the Ukrainian Baroque style.

No less famous is the participant in the Battle of Poltava, Colonel of the Chernigov regiment Pavel Polubotok, on whose courage and ability to fight Peter the Great counted so much, and the Chernigov people did not let the tsar down.

In 1679, on the Boldin Mountains, the Trinity Cathedral was founded by Archbishop Leonty Baranovich of Chernigov according to the design of a German from Vilna (now Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania) John Baptist. And in 1775, a magnificent 58-meter bell tower was built according to the design of Rastrelli, the author of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.

In 1700, a Collegium was built in Chernigov, where the children of wealthy Chernigov residents studied science. They were prepared for public service. Later, a similar Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum will be opened near St. Petersburg.

Under Empress Elizabeth, Count Potemkin visited the Chernigov region several times. It was in the Chernihiv region, in the village of Lemeshi, near Kozelets, in a local church that he heard the singing of the beautiful young man Alexei Rozum, the son of Razumikha, who tended goats during the day and worked part-time in the choir in the evening. The young man was immediately taken to St. Petersburg before the clear eyes of the empress.

Thus began the lightning-fast career of Elizabeth Petrovna’s favorite from Chernigov, Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky and his brother Kirill, who would be President of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, patron of Lomonosov, and the last hetman of Left-Bank Ukraine, to the field marshal’s baton.

Chernigov residents were active participants in the December uprising of 1825, but not in the north, but in the south of the empire. The uprising of the Chernigov regiment, organized by Muravyov-Apostol S.I. and Bestuzhev-Ryumin M.P., which began on December 29, 1825. in the village of Trilesy. Then more than a thousand soldiers and officers captured the city of Vasilkov, Chernigov province. But near Bila Tserkva they were defeated by government troops on January 3, 1826. In July 1826 The leaders of the Chernigov uprising were executed in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg.

In the village of Voronki, not far from the town of Bobrovitsy in the Chernihiv region, the Decembrist Sergei Grigorievich Volkonsky and his amazing wife, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, daughter of the general, hero of 1812 Nikolai Nikolaevich Raevsky, lived in the last years after the amnesty of 1856, and then were buried here. .

It was 20-year-old Maria Volkonskaya who became the heroine of Nekrasov’s poem “Russian Women”; it was Maria Volkonskaya, who left a warm home, a noble title, and a young son, who went to hard labor in Siberia for her husband, where she spent the most difficult years with him in the mines, and This is 30 years in a foreign land, in a half-starved region. Those were glorious times and people!..

Trinity Elias Monastery:

In the right nave of the Trinity Cathedral there is a shrine of the Chernigov Archbishop, the holy wonderworker Theodosius of Uglitsky and Chernigov, the heavenly patron of Chernigov.

Near his holy remains, many thousands of sick people were healed and there is a lot of testimony to this. To this day, on the territory of the Yeletsky Monastery, a wooden house has been preserved, which is more than three hundred years old and where the great Theodosius lived.

On the modern territory of the Trinity Monastery is located one of the few theological schools in Ukraine for the training of church choir directors - leaders of church choirs. The Administration of the Chernigov Diocese, headed by Archbishop Anthony of Chernigov and Nizhyn, is also located here. Currently, unfortunately, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is experiencing another schism.

Also on the territory of the Trinity Monastery is now located the chapel of Grigory Stepanovich Shcherbina,

a native of the Chernihiv region, 1868 - 1903, a Russian diplomat who knew 16 languages, and graduated from the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages ​​in Moscow. He worked in Turkey, Egypt, Albania, and in 1902 he was appointed consul to Mitrovica (Serbia), where he was killed in 1903 by an Albanian fanatic. Shcherbina G.S. was a member of the Russian Geographical Society, defended his doctoral dissertation in Turkish.

At the Trinity Cathedral there is a bust of Leonid Ivanovich Glebov buried here. In Ukrainian literature he is considered the most talented fabulist (in Ukrainian - baikar).

Also buried next to the Trinity Cathedral was the Major General, Princess Sofya Ivanovna Prozorovskaya,

nee Skoropadskaya, born in 1767. and died in 1833. She was a relative of the wife of Generalissimo Suvorov A.V. Varvara Ivanovna.

In 1820, a descendant of Hetman Skoropadsky, Ivan Mikhailovich Skoropadsky, bought the village of Trostyanets, Ichnyansky district, Chernihiv region, where he created a huge regular park no worse than the Peterhof parks near St. Petersburg. Scientists and nature lovers from almost all over the world came to him and brought with them new seedlings for such an amazing park, which spread over an area of ​​more than two hundred hectares. The Skoropadsky family crypt is also located here. And the last of the Skoropadsky family, adjutant general of the Russian Tsar, Pavel Petrovich Skoropadsky, was declared hetman of Ukraine in 1918. But he never became a “rich Ukrainian”, he failed to cope with the duties of hetman - Ukraine did not become an independent country until 1991.

On the Boldin Mountains, on a steep slope, Markovich Afanasy Vasilyevich, a Ukrainian folklorist and ethnographer, who was married to the no less famous writer M.O., is buried.

Vilinskaya (Marko Vovchek). Collects folk songs and sayings. Wrote music for Kotlyarevsky's play "Natalka Poltavka".

There, on Boldina Mountain, above the Elias Church, the Kotsyubinsky couple are buried - Mikhail and his wife Vera Deisha. Mikhail Kotsyubinsky is an outstanding Ukrainian writer, public figure, founder of modern Ukrainian literature.

I would like to say a few words about Lyubech, a wonderful city, first mentioned by Nestor in the Tale of Bygone Years in the year 882, which is 25 years earlier than Chernigov.

For many years, Lyubech was owned by Count Andrei Miloradovich, the father of Mikhail Miloradovich, Governor-General of St. Petersburg, hero of 1812, mortally wounded by Pyotr Kakhovsky on December 14, 1825 on Senate Square in St. Petersburg during the December uprising. It was in Lyubech that the mother of Vladimir the Baptist Malush was born, and her brother the epic hero Dobrynya became the mentor and father of young Vladimir.

To this day, there is a legend in Chernigov that underground passages were dug from Chernigov and Lyubech to Kyiv, along which city residents escaped the enemy in hard times.

The Chernihiv region became the birthplace of the Russian sculptor Ivan Petrovich Martos, the author of the monument to Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky in Moscow. Russian painter Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge, was also born in the Chernigov region and often came here to look for inspiration. Ilya Repin repeatedly visited Chernigov and its suburbs, where he tried to find living prototypes of his heroes in the painting “The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Turkish Sultan.”

The city of Chernigov has some kind of inexplicable aura, because the events of April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant did not affect it in the first days. Indeed, if you look at the map of radioactive fallout for the first five days after April 26, 1986, you can see that the contamination of Chernigov is minimal compared to other regions, especially Kyiv.

Gruzdev Vyacheslav Borisovich

Princes of Chernigov:

Principality of Chernigov

A dynasty of princes descendants of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich was established in the Chernigov principality.

Mstislav Vladimirovich 1024-1036

Svyatoslav Yaroslavich 1054-1073

Vsevolod Yaroslavich 1073-1076

Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh 1076-1077

Boris Vyacheslavich 1077

Vsevolod Yaroslavich 1077-1078

Oleg Svyatoslavich 1078

Vladimir Monomakh (secondary) 1078-1094

Oleg Svyatoslavich (secondary) 1094-1097

Davyd Svyatoslavich 1097-1123

Yaroslav Svyatoslavich 1123-1126

Vsevolod Olgovich 1126-1139

Vladimir Davydovich 1139-1151

Izyaslav Davydovich 1151-1154

Svyatoslav Olgovich 1154-1155

Izyaslav Davydovich (secondary) 1155-1157

Svyatoslav Olgovich (secondary) 1157-1164

Oleg Svyatoslavich 1164

Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich 1164- 1177

Yaroslav Vsevolodovich 1177-1198

And Gor Yaroslavich (possibly) 1198

Igor Svyatoslavich 1198-1202

Oleg Svyatoslavich 1202-1204

Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny 1204-1210/12

Rurik Rostislavich 1210/12-1214

Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (secondary) 1214-1215

Davyd Olgovich 1215

Gleb Svyatoslavich 1215-1219

Mstislav Svyatoslavich 1219-1224

Mikhail Vsevolodovich 1224-1226

Oleg Svyatoslavich 1226

Mikhail Vsevolodovich (secondary) 1226-1235

Mstislav Glebovich 1235-1239

Rostislav Mikhailovich approx. 1240

Mikhail Vsevolodovich (for the third time) approx. 1240

Andrey Mstislavich 1246

Vsevolod Yaropolkovich 1246-1261

Andrey Vsevolodovich 1261-1263

Roman Mikhailovich Old 1263-1288

Oleg Romanovich con. XIII century

Mikhail Dmitrievich con. XIII century - beginning XIV century

Mikhail Alexandrovich first floor. XIV century

Roman Mikhailovich Junior 7-1370

Dmitry-Koribut Olgerdovich approx. 1372-1393

Roman Mikhailovich (secondary) 1393-1401

Liquidation of the appanage by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Destinations of the Chernigov principality

Chernigov Princes.(genealogical table).