Archer uprisings. Sadist and bloody psychopath Peter I: Streltsy rebellion Peter 1 chopped off heads

Streltsy rebellion of 1698- the uprising of the Moscow archery regiments, caused by the hardships of service in the border cities, exhausting campaigns, and harassment by the colonels.

background

In March 1698, 175 archers appeared in Moscow, deserting from 4 archery regiments that participated in the Azov campaigns of Peter I 1695-1696. The archers left in Azov as a garrison, instead of the expected return to Moscow in 1697, were sent to Velikiye Luki.

An attempt by the Moscow authorities to arrest in Moscow their petitioners against the regimental authorities failed. The archers took refuge in the settlements and established contact with Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna, who was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent; On April 4, 1698, the soldiers of the Semyonovsky regiment were sent against the archers, who, with the assistance of the townspeople, “knocked out” the rebellious archers from the capital. The archers returned to their regiments, in which fermentation began.

The course of the riot

On June 6, they removed their commanders, elected 4 elected representatives in each regiment, and headed for Moscow. The rebels (about 4 thousand people) intended to enthrone Princess Sophia or, in case of her refusal, V.V. Golitsyn, who was in exile. The government sent Preobrazhensky, Semenovsky, Lefortov and Gordon regiments (2300 people in total) and noble cavalry under the command of A.S. Shein and P. Gordon against the archers.

On June 14, after a review on the Khodynka River, the regiments set out from Moscow. On June 17, ahead of the archers, Shein's troops occupied the New Jerusalem (Resurrection) Monastery. On June 18, 40 miles west of Moscow, the rebels were defeated.

Executions of archers

"Morning of the Streltsy Execution". Painting by V. I. Surikov (1881, State Tretyakov Gallery)

On June 22 and 28, on the orders of Shein, 56 "great breeders" of the rebellion were hanged, on July 2 - another 74 "fugitives" to Moscow. 140 people were beaten with a whip and exiled, 1965 people were sent to cities and monasteries.

Urgently returning from abroad on August 25, 1698, Peter I led a new investigation (“great search”). From September 1698 to February 1699, 1182 archers were executed (contemporaries called much larger numbers - up to 7000 executed), beaten with a whip, branded and exiled 601 (mostly juveniles). The tsar himself and (on his orders) the boyars and "all the ward people" took part in the execution.

Yard places for archers in Moscow were distributed, buildings were sold. In February 1700, the Boyar Duma sentenced 42 people to execution, the investigation and executions continued until 1707. At the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. 16 archery regiments that did not participate in the uprising were disbanded. Streltsy with their families were deported from Moscow to other cities and recorded in townships.

Description of executions

Executions of archers began in Moscow on October 10, 1698, on the orders of Moscow Tsar Peter I. In total, about 2,000 archers were executed. Peter I personally cut off the heads of five archers.

Many historians write about mass torture and executions of archers, including with the personal participation of Tsar Peter I.

The Russian historian Nikolai Kostomarov describes the executions of archers and their families as follows:

Again, then, tortures took place, among other things, various archery wives were tortured, and from October 11 to 21, there were daily executions in Moscow; four had their arms and legs broken with wheels on Red Square, others had their heads cut off; most hung. So 772 people died, of which on October 17, 109 people were beheaded in Preobrazhensky village. This was done, by order of the tsar, by boyars and duma people, and the tsar himself, sitting on a horse, looked at this spectacle. On different days, 195 people were hanged near the Novodevichy Convent right in front of the cells of Princess Sophia, and three of them, hanging right under the windows, were given paper in the form of petitions. The last executions of archers were carried out in February 1699.

According to the Russian historian Solovyov, the executions took place as follows:

September 30 was the first execution: archers, numbering 201 people, were taken from Preobrazhensky in carts to the Pokrovsky Gates; in each cart sat two and held a lit candle in their hand; wives, mothers, children ran behind the carts with terrible cries. At the Pokrovsky Gates, in the presence of the tsar himself, a fairy tale was read: “In the interrogation and torture, everyone said that it was to come to Moscow, and in Moscow, starting a riot, beat the boyars and ruin the German settlement, and beat the Germans, and outrage the mob, all four regiments knew and intended. And for your theft, the great sovereign ordered to be executed by death. After reading the tale, the convicts were taken to the indicated places to execute; but five, it is said in the file, had their heads cut off in Preobrazhensky; Reliable witnesses explain this strangeness to us: Peter himself cut off the heads of these five archers with his own hand.

Austrian diplomat Johann Korb, who was present at the executions, gives the following description:

This execution differs sharply from the previous ones; it was accomplished in a very different and almost unbelievable way: 330 people at a time, led out together under the fatal blow of an ax, doused the entire valley with albeit Russian, but criminal blood; this enormous execution could only be carried out because all the boyars, senators of the kingdom, duma and clerks, who were members of the council that had gathered on the occasion of the streltsy rebellion, were called to Preobrazhenskoye by the tsar’s order, where they were supposed to take up the work of executioners. Each of them struck the wrong blow, because the hand trembled when performing an unusual task; of all the boyars, extremely clumsy executioners, one boyar distinguished himself with a particularly unsuccessful blow: failing to hit the convict on the neck, the boyar hit him on the back; the archer, cut in this way almost into two parts, would have undergone unbearable torment if Aleksashka, deftly acting with an ax, had not hurried to cut off the unfortunate head ...

Everyone must be well aware of the painting "Morning of the Streltsy Execution". For many decades, reproductions of it were included in the appendices of history textbooks, were reproduced in calendars and art albums. The image of the sovereign - the reformer, who planted civilization with fire and sword in a wild, uneducated country, was sung by historians - Masons both before the October Revolution of 1917 and after it. The suppression of the Streltsy rebellion in line with this interpretation of Russian history was considered the apotheosis of the state instincts of the young tsar, who shed the blood of stupid clerical fanatics in the name of the country's highest interests.
How justified is such a view of the events of that time?

The glory of the winners of the Turks, which the entire Moscow army rightfully acquired after the second Azov campaign, was reaped only by the "amusing" regiments of the young sovereign, who returned with him. For their meeting in Moscow, even wooden triumphal gates were built. The Streltsy regiments, having endured all the hardships of military everyday life, remained in the defeated Azov as a garrison of the fortress; in addition to guard and sentinel service, they also carried out numerous construction works during the restoration of city fortifications.
The immediate reason for the indignation of the archers was the news of the intention to transfer 4 regiments to the city of Velikiye Luki to cover the western border. In addition to the non-payment of the due monetary allowance, the archers considered the requirement of the command to carry guns in their hands to be especially outrageous, since there were not enough draft horses in the regiments. In March 1698, a group of 175 people, soldiers of those same 4 regiments, left the location of the garrison and went to Moscow to seek the truth.
No one was waiting for them in the capital. Peter I was in England, and in his absence, no one wanted to deal with archers. In an effort to attract at least someone to their side, the archers turned to Princess Sophia for support. The latter also could not help them, but in the future, the very fact of such an appeal served as evidence of the existence of some kind of extensive conspiracy aimed at overthrowing Peter I.
In the end, under the threat of exile, the archers were forced to return to their regiments.
That. the conflict was not resolved, but rather, only driven deep into the depths for the time being. He broke through after a while, when the regiments refused to obey their commanders, instead of them they elected 4 people from each regiment and went to the capital to apply for the sovereign's mercy. The archers were from Moscow, their families lived in Moscow, and the rebels only wanted to achieve compliance with the usual standards of service: payment of allowances, dissolution from home after the end of the war, etc. They were not recruits and their demands did not go beyond common sense or military traditions.
The indignation of the archers occurred on June 6, 1698, and on June 18 they were met at the New Jerusalem Monastery by an army led by A. S. Shein and P. Gordon (2300 people in the "amusing" regiments and a noble cavalry militia). The archers had no intention of fighting; they perceived the same voivode Aleksey Semenovich Shein as "their own", since he was a participant in both Azov campaigns and in the last of them led a land group. At the very first shots of the "amusing" artillery, the archers dispersed; the cavalry rounded up the fleeing people for trial. Shein and Romodanovsky conducted an inquiry right in the field and immediately hanged 57 archers, who were found guilty of the confusion and calls to disobey the regimental commanders.
On this, in fact, the story of the Streltsy rebellion of 1698 ends. What happened next has more to do with psychiatry than to the history of military affairs or political investigation in Russia, since it clearly characterizes the inadequacy of the worldview that Peter I discovered throughout his life.
The tsar returned from a trip abroad at the end of August and at first seemed to demonstrate complete satisfaction with the work of Shein and Romodanovsky in defeating the archers. In any case, he did not seem to demonstrate any intentions to arrange a special trial. The young sovereign showed great enthusiasm in trimming the beards of the boyars; in any case, he devoted two consecutive evenings to this at the “assembly” (that is, a drinking bout) with Generallisimo Shein. After Peter got tired of shaving his beard, to the surprise of those around him, he was carried away by the idea of ​​punishing the archers. This is exactly how Patrick Gordon, who was a witness and a direct participant in those events, described in his diary the emergence of the idea of ​​a new investigation of the Streltsy rebellion.
The retinue thought that the drunken king would oversleep and forget about everything in the morning. But this did not happen. In the morning, Peter I went to survey the economy of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, which was engaged in detective work throughout Muscovy, in order to get an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhether this institution could demonstrate the necessary efficiency in the forthcoming work.
What he saw did not satisfy the sovereign: he ordered that additional torture chambers be immediately equipped. In total, 14 of them were built. This was more than the number of Prikaz employees entitled to investigate independently (in total, there were 10 such employees under Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky: two clerks and eight clerks). In Preobrazhensky, in fact, for the first time an investigative conveyor was organized: while in one torture chamber the clerk was interrogating and drawing up a protocol, in the other at that time they began torture; the deacon moved from cell to cell without stopping anywhere.
Peter I demonstrated the seriousness of his intentions by starting the investigation with the interrogation of his hated sister Sophia. The princess was tortured - up on the rack and flogged with a whip. The interrogation was informal; no protocol was drawn up, and the fact that it took place at all was disputed by Russian liberal historians, who tend to portray Peter I as a wise and just sovereign. Only the diary of Patrick Gordon, published a century and a half later, shed light on these events. The cruelty of the "great" monarch towards his relatives anticipated the massacre of Peter over his own son two decades later. It will seem surprising, but Princess Sophia steadfastly endured the interrogation with passion, without showing a single word against the archers. She did not even acknowledge the fact of meeting with them, although the latter, by the way, is quite reliable. The king was extremely annoyed by the persistence of his sister, did not believe her at all and ordered Sophia to be imprisoned in a monastery. Another sister of the Monarch, Princess Martha, was subjected to a similar imprisonment - all of whose guilt boiled down to the fact that she was a deeply religious woman and shared the views of Sophia in everything. The sisters were separated: Sophia remained in Moscow, and Martha was taken to Vladimir.
In September, general arrests of Moscow archers began. The hunt for them received the loud name "great detective". Its greatness can be recognized only in relation to the scope of the arrests, but by no means the complexity of the investigation. The archers stationed in the capital lived openly and did not think of hiding from anyone; as a result of raids carried out in the streltsy settlements, almost 4 thousand people were arrested during the week. All of them got "on the assembly line" in the Preobrazhensky order.
The torture of archers often began even before the investigator and secretary appeared in the torture chamber, who were supposed to conduct interrogation and protocol. The accused (if this concept can be applied in the present case) were asked to give an account of "their own faults"; since no one felt guilty of anything, they whipped him up on the rack or applied red-hot tongs to the body. The interrogation was carried out quickly and energetically and usually did not take more than a quarter of an hour. The sophisticated tortures that the participants in the uprising of Stepan Razin were once subjected to (pouring ice water on the crown of the head, etc.) were not used in the present case precisely because they required a lot of time.
After several energetic jerks on the rack and 10-15 blows with a whip, the interrogated person received quite serious injuries (torn tendons, pain shock, for older people - a heart attack or stroke) and the interrogation was terminated due to the physical impossibility of continuing it. By the end of the interrogation, most of the archers had already confessed both to their own intentions to overthrow Tsar Peter Alekseevich, and to hatred of foreigners. This was quite enough to convict the suspect.
People slandered themselves guided - as it may seem strange - by common sense: in view of the senselessness of proving something to the executioner and in order not to aggravate their own suffering. However, the history of the "great" detective knows examples of absolutely amazing stamina of the accused, when they, already severely mutilated, had to be tortured 5-6 and even 7 times (!), But these examples prove only the exceptional physical endurance of individuals and their innocence ; for the bloodthirsty monarch, this steadfastness was just another irritating factor that had to be eliminated.
In its final form official version the streltsy rebellion looked like this: the rebels intended to overthrow Peter I and enthrone Princess Sophia, after which they set fire to the German settlement and destroy all foreigners in Moscow; the conspirators kept in touch with each other through a certain Ofimka Kondratiev, the host of Princess Sophia, the widow of three archers. By the role women played in it, it is just right to call it not a shooter's rebellion, but a woman's. No data really incriminating the princesses Sophia and Martha in collusion with the archers was received.(they, apparently, did not exist at all), however, this did not at all alleviate the fate of the archers.
Peter carried out the first mass execution of people tormented by torture on September 30, 1698. A column of 200 people was withdrawn from the Preobrazhensky order and escorted to the Execution Ground in Moscow. When passing the convicts under the windows of the sovereign's palace (also located in the village of Preobrazhensky) Peter I jumped out into the street and ordered to chop off the heads of the archers right on the road. Five of them had their heads cut off on the spot. The savagery and senselessness of this reprisal against people already doomed to death in an hour or two, does not lend itself to rational explanation at all; a believer will call this obsession with possession, a psychiatrist - psychosis, but regardless of the point of view, one should agree that on this day Peter I showed himself to be a man, of course, terrible and inadequate in their reactions.
After the execution of five people randomly snatched from the column, Peter I allowed the movement to continue and he himself rushed along with his retinue to the Execution Ground. There, with a huge confluence of people, the sovereign took cut off heads archers. His retinue was obliged take part in it; only foreigners refused, motivating their unwillingness by the fear of earning the hatred of the Moscow common people.
The execution on September 30 dragged on for more than 2 hours, which caused the displeasure of the monarch, who loved speed in everything and fell into depression from any prolonged tension.
Therefore, in order to speed up the executions, from now on it was decided to use not chopping blocks, but logs and lay the convicts on them not one at a time, but as long as the length of the log would get.
At the next mass execution, which followed on October 11, 1698, they did just that. On two long ship pines, up to 50 people laid their necks at the same time; the executioners had to stand on the bodies of the executed. 144 archers were executed in three steps. Drunk Peter tired of waving his own ax and he ordered that those wishing to be called out from the crowd. Many agreed to be voluntary executioners. The execution turned into a grand show; the crowd was poured vodka for free, "drink - I don't want to"!
The next day - October 12, 1698 - another, the most massive execution took place: on this day, the heads of 205 archers were cut off.
Finally, on October 13, a new act of diabolical bacchanalia. On this day, another 141 archers were executed. As in previous days, volunteers called out from the crowd, who, for a royal gift and out of their own passion, agreed to become executioners. Peter I wanted to share with the people his responsibility for unprecedented murder. Vodka flowed like a river on Red Square, drunken crowds noisily expressed devotion and love to their sovereign.
Still dissatisfied with the execution of almost 800 people, but already fed up with the mechanical chopping off of heads, the sovereign tyrant decided to give this procedure a little more solemnity. Since early snow fell in the autumn of 1698, Peter I decided to take the executed to the Execution Ground in a black sleigh entwined with black ribbons, in which the archers were supposed to. sit in pairs with lit candles in their hands. Brown horses and drivers in black sheepskin coats, according to the thought of the highest director, made even greater horror with their appearance.
It took three days to prepare the necessary entourage, and on October 17, 1698, the series of executions continued. On this day, 109 people were executed. The next day, 65 archers were executed, and on October 19, 106.
Peter went to Voronezh and the persecution of the archers stopped; everyone understood the absurdity of what was happening. The head of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, the boyar Fedor Yuryevich Romodanovsky, revered by official historical science as a rare sadist and murderer, in the absence of Peter I (November - December 1698) did not execute a single archer, although he had such a right. During this time, he sent more than 600 people to hard labor, but not a single one on the chopping block. Explanation here m. b. one thing - Romodanovsky perfectly understood the delusional nature of the official version of the Streltsy rebellion and did not want to stain himself with the blood of people in whose guilt he did not believe.
Returning in January 1699 from a trip to Voronezh, Peter I was extremely annoyed by the cessation of executions. Apparently, he believed that he had not yet sufficiently frightened his subjects with his ferocity.
In January - February 1699, another 215 archers were executed. Unlike those executed in the fall, these people were hanged. On the wall surrounding the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, gallows were erected, on which the unfortunate were hung. Princess Sophia was imprisoned in the monastery; executed, according to the plan of the autocratic executioner, by their appearance d. b. frighten her and the inhabitants of the monastery and warn them against new conspiracies. The entire rest of the winter and the month of March (until the onset of heat) the bodies of the executed remained on the walls.
There were many conspiracies in Russia; many conspirators were executed at different times, but no one, except for the Bolsheviks and the Tatars, reached such blasphemy as a deliberate insult to Orthodox shrines. In this, the young sovereign, the reformer, can be satisfied: he is on a par with the most vicious enemies of historical Russia - foreigners and gentiles.
From September 1698 to February 1699, 1,182 archers were executed, almost one in three of those involved in the investigation. More than 600 people were sent to Siberia, another 2000 people were forcibly sent from the capital to serve in the provincial archery regiments (they were finally destroyed as a branch of the army in 1705).
What is the fate of the unintentional victims of the "streltsy revolt"? The king's sisters - Sophia and Martha - never left the monasteries in which they were kept in prison. Sophia (during tonsure she took the name Susanna) died in captivity in 1707; Marfa (during tonsure - Margarita) - in 1704
What happened to the heroes of the suppression of the "streltsy rebellion"? Generallisimo Alexei Shein survived the last of the executed archers by exactly one year: he died on February 12, 1700 at the age of 37. His comrade-in-arms, a valiant Scot who changed three masters in his lifetime, Patrick Gordon, died even earlier - on November 29, 1699. The circumstances of the martyrdom of Peter I are well known. There were many terrible crimes on the conscience of this monarch, but the massacre of archers stands apart in this gloomy list.
For some reason, none of these people feel sorry for: neither Shein, nor Gordon, nor - even more so! - Petra. It is a pity for the country and the people that they are doomed by the historical fate to endure the most difficult trials born in the heads of tyrant rulers.

Berkhholz, Russian Empire, Quotes and extracts for abstracts, YaAuthorsExecution, Penitentiary system

F. Berchholz

After dinner I went with the two brigadiers, Negelein and Tikhoy, out of town to look at the three people on the wheel that day in the morning, but still alive, murderers and counterfeit coin makers. The sight was disgusting. They received only one hit with a wheel on each leg and arm, and after that they were tied to three wheels mounted on poles. One of them, old and very sickly, was already dead; but the other two, while still young, had no deathly pallor on their faces; on the contrary, they were very ruddy. I was assured that people in this position sometimes lived for four to five days. These two were so cheerful, as if nothing had happened to them, calmly looked at everyone and did not even make a sour face. […] About the unimaginable cruelty of the Russian people, the envoy Shtamke told me another story, which for several years in St. Petersburg he himself was an eyewitness. There they burned alive a man who, during the divine service, knocked the image of some saint out of the hands of the bishop with a thick stick and said that he was convinced in his conscience that the veneration of icons was idolatry, which should not be tolerated. The emperor, they say, himself went to him several times, during his detention and after pronouncing the sentence, and assured him that if he only said before the court that he was mistaken, he would be granted life, even more than once postponed the execution; but this man remained despite the fact that his conscience did not allow him to do so. Then they put him on a fire made of various combustible substances, and tied him with iron chains to a pole arranged on it with a transverse bar on the right side, to which they attached it with thick iron wire and then tightly wrapped a hand with tarred canvas along with a stick that served as an instrument of crime. First, they lit this right hand and gave it one fire until the fire began to capture further, and the prince-caesar, along with other nobles who were present at the execution, ordered the fire to be set on fire. In such terrible torment, the criminal did not utter a single cry and remained with a completely calm face, although his hand burned for one minute, seven or eight, until finally the whole dais was lit. He fearlessly looked all this time at his burning hand, and only then turned away in the other direction, when the smoke began to eat his eyes very much and his hair began to burn. I was assured that a few years earlier this man's brother had been burned in much the same manner and for a similar act.

Diary of the chamber junker F.V. Berchholtz. At 4 h. M., 1902. Part 2. S. 199-200.

Torture and executions.

©"Mysterious crimes of the past", 1999

There is no exaggeration in the assertion that the investigative proceedings in Russia, despite their severity, until Peter the Great remained much more humane than European. It was this monarch - due to the very specific features of his personality - that contributed a lot to the tightening of the procedure for interrogation and execution.

The Petrine and post-Petrine era left several striking examples of massacres against living people, which were imprinted in the memory of the people for a long time, got into the letters and memoirs of contemporaries, serving as a source of various kinds of legends.

An investigation into the activities of Tsarevich Alexei, undertaken in 1717-18. specially established "Secret Chancellery", gave Peter the Great information that his first wife, Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina (sheeped nun Elena) had a love affair with Major Stepan Bogdanovich Glebov.

This connection began around 1714 or a little earlier, when Glebov, being the commissioner for the recruitment of recruits, visited the monastery where the disgraced queen was kept in captivity. The king took this news extremely painfully; most likely, it hurt his male pride. In any case, Glebov, who did not play any political role in the circle of oppositionists, was subjected to torture, much more painful than his more influential accomplices (Bishop Dosifei, Alexander Kikin, Fyodor Pustynny and others.

).
It is known from the investigation file that Major Glebov was tortured four times. The first time, being hung on the "temple", the officer received 34 (!

) hit with a whip. This alone should be considered extreme rigidity, since even a strong man was usually not given more than 15 blows with a whip in one torture. Peter the Great sought from Glebov the recognition of the fact of intimacy with his former wife. Glebov, according to a legend recorded in April 1731 by Lady Rondo, “spitting in his face, said that he would not have spoken to him if he had not considered it his duty to justify his mistress.”

Perhaps this spit provoked the fury of the torture appointed by Peter the Great.
The next torture was red-hot coals, which were applied to Glebov's open wounds, left over from whipping. For the third torture, red-hot iron tongs were used, which were applied to the arms and legs of the interrogated officer. Despite the monstrous suffering, the major refused to admit his guilt and claimed that he had been slandered.

Peter the Great was extremely annoyed by the officer's stamina; The tsar had no doubt that in fact a love affair had taken place (he was informed about this by his son, Alexei Petrovich, who himself was under investigation). To break Glebov's resistance, Peter the Great ordered him to be tied to a board studded with nails. The officer lay motionless on this board for three days, after which he confessed to the charges against him. In addition to the consciousness of a love affair with Tsarina Evdokia, Glebov gave revealing testimony against the Bishop of Rostov Dositheus, which actually predetermined a cruel sentence against the latter.

The manifesto of March 6, 1718 summed up the results of almost a year of investigation and publicly announced the forthcoming reprisals against the supporters of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich.

This document spoke directly about Glebov's adultery; this was done in order to shame the disgraced Empress Evdokia and put in a bad light all the accused who condoned adultery.
The executions were carried out on March 15, 1718 in Moscow and stretched out for more than three hours. The autocratic director, developing the ritual of execution, gave free rein to sadistic fantasies.

Peter the Great obliged to be present at the execution of the sentence of his son Alexei. Before the eyes of the latter, his friends and like-minded people were martyred.

Kikin, the secretary of the Tsarevich, was ordered to be wheeled and 4 times 100 blows with a whip, at the one hundred and twentieth blow he began to agonize and the executioner hastened to cut off his head; valet Afanasiev was assigned to behead; Bishop Dositheus was broken on the wheel, his head was put on a stake, and his insides were burned. Poklanovsky, after being whipped, they cut off his nose, ears and tongue (this was against the rules, such “crippled” punishments were not combined). But if wheeling and whipping were still traditional for the "torture" practice of that time, then the execution of Major Glebov turned out to be completely exceptional for folk customs and shocked everyone who saw it.

Glebov ... was impaled alive.
The execution took place at three o'clock in the afternoon. The Archimandrite of the Spassky Monastery Lopatinsky, Hieromonk Markel and the priest of the same monastery Anofry were seconded to the suicide bomber. They d. b. admonish the dying on the threshold of another life. It is known from the stories of the priests that Glebov did not utter a single word during the monstrous execution; to all calls to repentance he answered that he had nothing to repent of.

At night, the officer asked Hieromonk Markel to bring him the Holy Gifts, the dying man wanted to take communion. It is not known whether the hieromonk fulfilled this request; fearing the wrath of the autocratic tyrant, he did not tell anyone this.
Glebov's death followed at half past seven in the morning on March 16, 1718. His head was cut off, and his body was taken off the stake and thrown among the bodies of others executed in this case.

(I must say that disrespect for the bodies of the executed was traditional for the Petrine era. With his neglect of the remains of enemies, he deeply hurt the feelings of many Orthodox believers.

It is known that the bodies of the archers, executed by Peter the Great back in 1698-99, remained unburied until 1713; their decayed remains hung in hinges on the walls of the Novodevichy Convent, lay on wheels or were impaled on stakes at the city gates. In 1714, the Preobrazhensky Prikaz investigated a denunciation of a certain Karp Evtifyevich Sytin, from which it followed that the latter was indignant at "the heads of the executed, stuck on stakes outside the Spassky Gates."

Since the executed archers were, as they would say now, political criminals, and not criminals, the denunciation of Sytin took on a political character. Ober-fiscal Alexei Nesterov in 1714 did not give an investigation to this move, which 8 years later was blamed on him and contributed to his condemnation.)
However, having executed the hated major, Peter the Great did not forget him.

After some time, the Sovereign Emperor deigned to return to this story: apparently, the Monarch did not feel completely avenged. Three and a half years later - August 15, 1721

- he ordered the Holy Synod to betray Stepan Glebov to eternal anathema, that is, to a church curse.

Executions of archers under Peter I

In pursuance of this command, His Grace Varlaam, Bishop of Suzdal and Yuryevsky, published on November 22, 1721, the so-called. the hierarchical decree in which he gave the form of the proclaimed anathema.

In it, Major Glebov was called "an evil criminal of the law of God", "an opponent of the royal majesty", "the most cruel criminal and despiser of piety."

That. for the same crime, the same person was punished twice with an interval of three years. Moreover, the second time - already posthumously. Such is the case...
If we evaluate the massacre of Major Glebov retrospectively, then it is impossible not to recognize it as a legally executed murder. Glebov posed no objective threat either personally to the Autocrat or to His authority.

All the officer’s fault boiled down to the fact that this person was able to have good feelings for the disgraced Queen, psychologically supported her in the most difficult moments of her life and did this not out of selfish motives. This nobility and spiritual purity of the major apparently served as a mute reproach to Peter. It seems that if Glebov had stated during interrogations that he was seduced by the money and nobility of his mistress, then he would have had a chance to be pardoned. The soul of the dissolute Monarch would be warmed by the thought that before him was an ordinary villain, to match himself.

But it was precisely the nobility of Glebov, his devotion to the Queen, that caused that merciless fury of the Monarch, which cannot be called otherwise than an obsession.

June 28 (18th according to the Julian calendar), 1698, the rebellious archers were defeated by troops loyal to Peter I. This was far from their first conflict: Peter remembered the events of 1682 for the rest of his life, when the archers unleashed real terror against the Naryshkins, relatives of his mother, and their supporters.

death penalty, executioner

He also remembered how the conspirators from the archers tried to kill him in 1689. Their third performance proved fatal...

Streltsy army appeared in Russia in the middle.

XVI century, in the era of Ivan IV, and made up the elite of the army. Foreign travelers who visited the Moscow kingdom often called them "musketeers".

There was every reason for this: the archers were armed with both edged weapons (berdysh, sabers and swords) and firearms (squeakers, muskets), they could be both infantrymen and horsemen. Over time, the archers, in addition to military service, also began to engage in crafts and trade, were exempted from township taxes, and a special Streltsy order was created to resolve all issues of their activities.

By the end of the 17th century, the streltsy army had gained significant influence in the state, de facto turning into a guard on which court groups could rely and which influenced decision-making. This clearly became clear after the 1682 rebellion, when it was the archers who insisted on the erection of two tsars to the throne at once - Peter I and Ivan V - under the regency of Princess Sophia.

In 1689, part of the archers took the side of Sophia against Peter, but the matter ended with the victory of the latter and the conclusion of the princess in the Novodevichy Convent. Wide repressions against archers then, however, did not follow.

In 1697, Tsar Peter I left Russia for a while, leaving for the Great Embassy - a large diplomatic mission, in which he visited a number of European states and held negotiations with the most influential monarchs of the era.

In his absence, the discontent that had been brewing among the archers began to grow from a deaf into an open one. They were dissatisfied with the fact that Peter preferred the regiments of the "new order" led by foreign generals - Patrick Gordon and Franz Lefort.

The archers complained about the lack of food and wages, as well as the long separation from their families. In March 1698, 175 archers deserted from their regiments and went to Moscow to submit a petition outlining all their problems. In case of refusal, they were ready to start "beating the boyars." Ivan Troekurov, who headed the Streltsy order, ordered the arrest of representatives of the Streltsy, but they were supported by the assembled crowd of dissatisfied.

The beginning of the rebellion was laid.

Soon, political reasons were added to the everyday reasons: among the archers and their supporters, rumors quickly spread that Peter had been replaced or even killed during his trip to Europe, and his double “from the Germans” was being brought here to Moscow. The rebels quickly established contacts with Princess Sophia, assuring her of their support, and she allegedly replied to them with two letters urging them to expand the uprising and not recognize the power of Peter.

However, researchers are still not sure about the authenticity of these letters.

Fedor Romodanovsky

Prince Fyodor Romodanovsky, whom Peter actually put at the head of the state during his absence, sent the Semyonovsky regiment against the archers.

With his help, the rebellious archers were forced to leave Moscow. This, however, led to the unification of all the rebellious regiments outside the capital and the removal of their colonels.

In the beginning. In June, about 2,200 rebels settled near the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery. It was here that they clashed with the troops that remained loyal to Peter I: the Preobrazhensky, Semyonovsky, Lefortovsky and Butyrsky regiments. All together there were twice as many as the rebel archers.

Later they were joined by other pro-government forces led by the boyar Alexei Shein and General Patrick Gordon, as well as artillery. With such a balance of power, the outcome of the conflict was obvious. On June 18, a short battle took place, lasting about an hour and ending in the complete defeat of the archers.

There were not many deaths on the battlefield. Gordon wrote about 22 dead archers and about 40 wounded. Soon, the boyar Shein launched an investigation, as a result of which 56 people accused of organizing a riot were hanged, many participants in the riot were beaten with a whip and sent into exile.

However, this punishment did not satisfy Peter at all. Returning from Europe, he launched a full-scale repression against the archers, in which more than a thousand people were sentenced to death, about 600 were beaten with a whip and exiled. The tsar seemed to want to put an end to the archery army so hated by him once and for all and, taking advantage of the riot, to get even with him for 1682.

Mass executions unfolded in different parts of Moscow.

The largest of them were held in the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow (now within the capital). According to some foreign eyewitnesses, Peter took a personal part in the execution and cut off the heads of five archers with his own hands, after which he forced his close associates to follow his example.

Of course, they did not have experience in such a “craft”, therefore, they delivered blows inaccurately, thereby only increasing the torment of those doomed to death.

Another place of executions of archers was Red Square, in particular, Lobnoye Mesto.

There is an ingrained stereotype that it was used exclusively for executions, which is why the “Execution Place” is often called the place of execution of death sentences today. In fact, this is not at all the case: the Execution Ground on Red Square served as a platform for the announcement of royal decrees and public appeals to the people, it also appeared in some ceremonies and rituals, for example, in religious processions on holidays.

Only during the time of Peter I this place became stained with blood. In 1698-1699, here, as in Preobrazhensky, numerous executions of archers took place. Most likely, this is where the bad “fame” of the Execution Ground originates.

The Streltsy rebellion of 1698 and the massacre of its participants were reflected in Russian art in their own way. The most famous canvas on this subject is Vasily Surikov’s painting “The Morning of the Archery Execution”, which showed the horror of the unfolding confrontation and the tragic fate of the archers and their families.

Hanged archers can also be seen in Ilya Repin's painting "Princess Sophia": the corpse of one of the executed is visible through the window of the cell.

Arseny Tarkovsky dedicated the poem "Peter's Executions" to the Streltsy rebellion, which begins with these words:

In front of me is a block

Gets up in the square

Red shirt

Doesn't let you forget.

Anna Akhmatova also remembered the events of 1698 in the poem "Requiem".

It was dedicated to the repressions of the late 1930s. The poet recalled how she stood in prison lines in Leningrad, her soul was torn by fear for her arrested son, Lev Gumilyov. The Requiem contains the following lines:

I will be like archery wives,

Howl under the Kremlin towers.

The fate of the archers is discussed in the novel by Alexei Tolstoy "Peter I" and the film "At the Beginning of Glorious Deeds" based on it, shot by Sergei Gerasimov in 1980.

Years 1689 - 1699

(the ending)

Years 1698 and 1699

On August 25, 1698, Peter returned to Moscow from a trip. That day he was not in the palace, did not see his wife; I spent the evening in the German Quarter, from there I went to my Preobrazhenskoye. The next day, at a solemn reception of the boyars in Preobrazhensky, he began to cut the boyars' beards and shorten long caftans.

Barbering and wearing German dress were made compulsory. Those who did not want to shave their beards soon began to pay an annual fee for them, but regarding the wearing of German dress there were no indulgences for persons of the nobility and urban class, only the peasantry and clergy remained in the old outfit. The old Russian views did not approve of barbering and changing clothes, they saw in the beard an external sign of inner piety, a beardless person was considered impious and depraved.

The Moscow patriarchs, even the last one - Adrian - forbade barbering; Moscow Tsar Peter made it obligatory, not embarrassed by the authority of church authorities. The sharp contradiction of the tsar's measure with the long-standing habits of the people and the preaching of the Russian hierarchy gave this measure the character of an important and abrupt upheaval and aroused popular displeasure and dull opposition in the masses.

But even the harsher actions of the young monarch were not slow to appear in the eyes of the people. Without delay on his return from abroad, Peter resumed the investigation about the rebellion of the archers, which forced him to interrupt the journey.

This rebellion arose in this way.

Streltsy regiments after the capture of Azov were sent there for garrison service. Not accustomed to long absences from Moscow, leaving their families and trades there, the archers were weary of long-distance and long service and were waiting for their return to Moscow.

But from Azov they were transferred to the Polish border, and in Azov, in place of the departed, all those archers who still remained there were moved from Moscow. Not a single streltsy regiment remained in Moscow, and now a rumor spread among the streltsy on the Polish border that they had been taken out of the capital forever and that the streltsy army was in danger of destruction.

This rumor excites archers; they consider the boyars and foreigners who took possession of the affairs to be the culprits of such a misfortune. They decide to illegally return to Moscow by force and on the road (under the Resurrection Monastery) they encounter regular troops sent against them. It came to a battle, which the archers could not stand and surrendered.

Boyar Shein made a search for a rebellion, hanged many, threw the rest into prison.

Streltsy revolt of 1698, search and execution. Educational video

Peter was dissatisfied with the search for Shein and began a new investigation.

In Preobrazhensky, horrific torture of archers began. From the archers they got new evidence about the goals of the rebellion: some admitted that Princess Sophia was involved in their case, that it was in her favor that the archers wanted to make a coup. It is difficult to say how fair this accusation of Sophia was, and not tortured out by torture, but Peter believed him and terribly took revenge on his sister and punished the rebels.

Sophia, according to the testimony of a contemporary, was put on trial by the representatives of the people. We do not know the verdict of the court, but we know the future fate of the princess.

She was tonsured a nun and imprisoned in the same Novodevichy Convent, where she had lived since 1689. In front of her very windows, Peter hung archers. In total, far over a thousand people were executed in Moscow and Preobrazhensky. Peter himself cut off the heads of the archers and forced his close associates and courtiers to do the same. The horrors experienced by Moscow at that time are difficult to describe: S. M. Solovyov characterizes the autumn days of 1698 as a time of “terror”.

Morning of the archery execution.

Painting by V. Surikov, 1881

Along with the executions of the archers and the destruction of the archers' army, Peter also experienced a family drama. While still abroad, Peter persuaded his wife to have her hair cut voluntarily. She didn't agree. Now Peter sent her to Suzdal, where, a few months later, she was tonsured a nun under the name of Elena (June 1699). Tsarevich Alexei remained in the arms of his aunt Natalya Alekseevna.

A series of stunning events in 1698

had a terrible effect both on Moscow society and on Peter himself. In society, a murmur was heard about cruelty, about Peter's innovations, about foreigners who led Peter astray. To the voice of public displeasure, Peter responded with repressions: he did not yield a single step on the new path, mercilessly tore all ties with the past, lived himself and forced others to live in a new way.

And this struggle with public opinion left deep traces in him: from torture and serious labor, moving on to feast and rest, Peter felt restless, irritated, lost self-control. If he had expressed himself more easily and revealed his inner world more clearly, he would, of course, have told what mental anguish the second half of 1698 cost him, when he first settled with the old order and began to carry out his cultural innovations.

And political events and the internal life of the state went on as usual.

Turning to the administration of the state, Peter in January 1699 carried out a rather large social reform: he gave the right to self-government to taxable communities through elected Burmister chambers. These chambers (and after them all taxable people) are removed from the jurisdiction of the governor and are subordinate to the Moscow Burmister Chamber, also elected. At the end of the same year, 1699, Peter changed the way of reckoning.

Our ancestors counted the years from the creation of the world, and the beginning of the year - from September 1 (according to the old account, Sept.

Torture and execution of archers under Peter I

1699 was 1 Sept. 7208). Peter ordered January 1 of this year 7208 to be celebrated as the New Year and this January to be considered the first month of the year 1700 from Christmas. Christ. In changing the calendar, Peter relied on the example of the Orthodox Slavs and Greeks, feeling that many would not like the abolition of the old custom.

So in the form of individual measures, Peter began his reforms. At the same time, he outlined a new direction for his foreign policy: The preparatory period for activity was over.

Peter took shape and took on the heavy burden of independent government, independent politics. A great epoch of our historical life was born.

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Peter I Alekseevich the Great

(1682-1725)

gg. - Azov campaigns of Peter I.

The first Azov campaign in 1695.

Commanders: P. Gordon, A.M. Golovin and F. Lefort.

Second Azov campaign in 1696.

Commanding: A.S. Shein.

Governor Shein for merits in the second Azov campaign became the first Russian generalissimo.

Treaty of Constantinople 1700- concluded in 1700 between Russia and Turkey. It was the result of the Azov campaigns of Peter the Great.

result The Azov campaigns were the capture of the fortress of Azov, the beginning of the construction of the port of Taganrog, the possibility of an attack on the Crimean peninsula from the sea; and was exempted from the annual payment of "tribute" to the Crimean Khan.

gg. - The Great Embassy of Peter I to Europe.

v In March 1697, the Great Embassy was sent to Western Europe, the main purpose of which was to find allies against the Ottoman Empire. Grand Ambassadors were appointed F.Ya. Lefort, F.A. Golovin. In total, up to 250 people entered the embassy, ​​among which Tsar Peter I himself was under the name of the constable of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Peter Mikhailov.

v Peter visited Riga, Koenigsberg, Brandenburg, Holland, England, Austria.

v The Grand Embassy did not achieve its main goal: it was not possible to create a coalition against the Ottoman Empire.

G. - uprising of archers in Moscow.

End of the 17th century - accession of Kamchatka to Russia.

Military reforms of Peter I.

v funny troops- a special formation of troops and forces for the training and education of soldiers of the "army of the new system" and their commanders from the subjects of the Russian kingdom.

v In 1698, the old army was disbanded, except for 4 regular regiments (Preobrazhensky, Semyonovsky, Lefortovsky and Butyrsky regiments), which became the basis of the new army.

v Preparing for the war with Sweden, Peter ordered in 1699 to produce a general recruiting kit.

v B 1715 Petersburg was opened Marine Academy.

v B 1716 was published Military Charter, strictly defining the service, rights and duties of military personnel.

v Peter opens many weapons factories, the most famous of which were Tula arms factory and Olonets artillery plant.

gg. - North War.

After returning from the Grand Embassy, ​​the tsar began to prepare for a war with Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea. In 1699 was created northern union against the Swedish king Charles XII, which, in addition to Russia, included Denmark, Saxony and the Commonwealth.

Commanders: B.P. Sheremetev, A.D. Menshikov, M.M. Golitsyn, A.I. Repnin, F.M. Apraksin, Ya.V. Bruce.

1703- the foundation of St. Petersburg.

1705- introduction of recruitment.

Battle of Lesnaya- a battle during the Northern War, which took place near the village of Lesnoy in 1708 As a result of the battle, the corvolant (flying corps) under the command of Peter the Great defeated the Swedish corps of General A.L. Lewenhaupt. This victory, according to Peter the Great, became the "mother of the Poltava battle."

Commanders: Peter I, A.D. Menshikov, R.Kh. Baur.

1709 – Poltava battle. The defeat of the main forces of the Swedes by the Russian army under the command of Peter I.

Commanders: B.P. Sheremetev, A.D. Menshikov, A. I. Repnin.

Prut campaign– trip to Moldova in summer 1711 Russian army led by Peter I against the Ottoman Empire during the Russian-Turkish war of 1710-1713.

With an army led by Field Marshal General B.P. Sheremetev, Tsar Peter I personally went to Moldova. The hopeless situation of the army forced Peter to negotiate, and as a result, a peace agreement was concluded, according to which Azov, conquered in 1696, and the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov departed to Turkey.

1714 - battle at Cape Gangut. The victory of the Russian fleet over the Swedish squadron (the first naval victory of the Russian fleet in the history of Russia).

Commanding: F. Apraksin.

Battle of Grengam- a naval battle that took place in 1720 in the Baltic Sea near Grengam Island, was the last major battle of the Great Northern War.

Commanding: M. Golitsyn.

1721– Peace of Nystadt (end of the Northern War).

Main provisions of the agreement:

· Full amnesty on both sides, with the exception of the Cossacks who followed Mazepa;

· The Swedes concede into the eternal possession of Russia: Livonia, Estland, Ingermanland, part of Karelia;

· Finland returns to Sweden;

Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea.

1721- the proclamation of Russia as an empire (after the victory in the Northern War).

Reforms of Peter I.

1702- the beginning of the publication of the newspaper "Vedomosti".

1708- Provincial reform. The division of Russia into 8 provinces.

Moscow, Ingermandland, Kiev, Smolensk, Azov, Kazan, Arkhangelsk and Siberia.

1711- the establishment of the Senate, which replaced the Boyar Duma.

1714- adoption of the Decree on single inheritance (the decree eliminated the difference between the estate and the estate; eliminated the difference between the boyars and the nobility).

1720- publication of the General Regulations - an act regulating the work of state institutions.

1721- the abolition of the post of patriarch and the establishment of the Spiritual College - the Governing, then the Holy Synod.

1722- publication of the Table of Ranks.

1722- the adoption of the "Charter on the succession of the throne", which gave the king the right to appoint his successor.

Boards- the central bodies of sectoral management in the Russian Empire, formed in the era of Peter the Great to replace the system of orders that had lost its significance.

v College of foreign (foreign) affairs - was in charge of foreign policy.

v Military Board (Military) - staffing, weapons, equipment and training of the land army.

v Admiralty Board - naval affairs, fleet.

v The patrimonial board - was in charge of noble land ownership

v Chamber College - collection of state revenues.

v State-offices-collegium - was in charge of the state's expenses.

Education reform.

v In 1701, a school of mathematical and navigational sciences was opened in Moscow.

v At the beginning of the 18th century. artillery, engineering and medical schools were opened in Moscow, an engineering school and a naval academy in St. Petersburg, mining schools at the Olonets and Ural factories.

v In 1705, the first gymnasium in Russia was opened. The goals of mass education were to serve, created by decree of 1714, digital schools in provincial cities, called "to teach children of all ranks to read and write, numbers and geometry."

Popular uprisings under Peter I.

· Astrakhan uprising- the uprising of archers, soldiers, townspeople, workers and fugitives, which took place in Astrakhan in 1705-1706

Cause: increased arbitrariness and violence on the part of the local administration, the introduction of new taxes and the cruelty of the Astrakhan governor Timofey Rzhevsky.

· 1707-1709 – uprising of the Don Cossacks led by Kondraty Bulavin.

Cause: attempts to limit Cossack self-government, forced use of people in the construction of the fleet and fortifications

· Bashkir uprising of 1704-1711

Cause: the introduction of additional taxes and a number of measures affecting the religious feelings of the Bashkirs.

Briefly about the Streltsy rebellion

Strelecky riot 1682

One of the landmark uprisings in the Moscow principality was the Streltsy revolt of 1698. If usually discontent flared up among ordinary people, then this time the archery regiments rebelled, complaining about hard service, long campaigns and excesses of the leadership. However, the real underlying reason for this event was an attempt by Princess Sofya Alekseevna to usurp power in the principality.
In March 1698, almost two hundred archers arrived in Moscow, called by the princess. She argued that Peter I was not her brother, and thus hoped to overthrow him by seizing the throne.

Streltsy tried to capture Moscow, but on April 4, the Semyonovsky regiment drove the conspirators out of the capital, who then returned to their regiments and began to spread discipline in them. As a result, on June 6, the archers displaced their leadership, and among 2200 people began to fight for Princess Sophia. The government took adequate measures, and sent twice as large a detachment against the rebels. Already 4 days later they were defeated in a battle near the Resurrection Monastery. Thus, the Streltsy revolt, in short, was unsuccessful. The only serious battle in this rebellion was, in fact, simply the execution of the rebels from artillery pieces, of which the government troops had 6 times more.

Many rebels died, some were taken prisoner. On June 22 and 28, 56 rebels were hanged; on July 2, 74 rebels who fled to Moscow were also executed. 140 people were exiled, and the rest of the participants "got off" with exile to the nearest cities and monasteries. Peter I, having learned about the rebellion, urgently returned to the country, starting a second wave of persecution of the rebels. In total, more than two thousand archers were executed, including those who did not directly participate in the rebellion, six hundred archers were exiled. At the same time, the king cut off the heads of five rebels with his own hands.