Cossack ataman Ermak Timofeevich died on August 6, 1585. According to a popular legend, he drowned in the Irtysh River, which he tried to swim across, fleeing from an attack by a detachment of the Siberian Khan Kuchum. At that moment, the ataman was wearing two heavy chain mail, donated by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in gratitude for the Siberian campaign. According to Tatar legends, Yermak was mortally wounded with a spear in the throat by the Tatar hero Kutugay.
According to legend, Yermak's body was soon fished out of the Irtysh by a Tatar fisherman "Yanysh, Begishev's grandson." Many noble murzas, as well as Kuchum himself, came to look at the body of the ataman. The Tatars shot the body with bows for several days and feasted. But, according to eyewitnesses, his body lay in the open air for a month and did not even begin to decompose. Later, having divided his property, in particular, taking two chain mail donated by the Tsar of Moscow, he was buried in the village, which is now called Baishevo. They buried him in a place of honor, but behind the cemetery, since he was not a Muslim. There is no consensus on the place of burial in the sources. A number of researchers argue that the grave should be looked for in Bashkortostan.
1 version about the burial place
As the leader of the expedition, Alexander Adamov, explained in an interview, the search for the place was carried out according to a map compiled in 1806 by the provincial land surveyor Vasily Filimonov based on a survey of local residents. “On his map, Filimonov indicated that Yermak’s grave is located on a hill near the forest, where arable land passes. We checked this information and indeed, in the area of the village of Begishevskoye, we found a hill. It is located not far from the place where, according to the legends, Yermak took his last fight,” the scientist said.
Adamov noted that the height indicated on the map of the 19th century turned out to be untouched by the Irtysh River, which overflows during the spring flood. “We have already found burials of the 10th-11th centuries on the hill. Now we want to explore it by geoscanning to find other burials in its bowels. After the results of geoscanning are received, we will carry out point excavations,” the archaeologist explained.
2 version about the place of burial
Recently, a burial was found in Bashkiria, in which, perhaps, the legendary ataman Ermak Timofeevich was buried. An ancient grave was found on the outskirts of the Kirgiz-Miyaki settlement. According to the results of the examination, she is about five hundred years old, which coincides with the date of Yermak's death. The assumption that in the vicinity of the regional center of Kirghiz-Miyaki on a high mound was found the grave of Yermak, was put forward by Chelyabinsk historians. They were excavating on a high mountain and came across an ancient grave. Radiocarbon analysis of the remains showed that the age of the burial is about 500 years old, it contains the remains of an unknown man of Slavic origin, buried in accordance with the Orthodox tradition.
"There was a version that this is neither more nor less, but the grave of Yermak Timofeevich. This is such a beautiful, romantic version, which is confirmed, for example, by the ancient Bashkir shezheres - family trees," says Gayaz Samigulov, Associate Professor of the Eurasia Department of South Ural University . Local historians indirectly confirmed the version of historians: the mountain with an ancient grave is really revered by local residents. In ancient legends, it is mentioned that a noble Russian was buried in it, but who exactly was still a mystery. Historians are in no hurry to draw conclusions. Who 500 years ago might need to carry the body of the ataman a thousand kilometers and carefully hide the traces of his grave is unknown.
I think that it is necessary to organize expeditions to both regions.
It's hard to believe, but sometimes graves move hundreds of meters along with stone slabs. This phenomenon baffles conventional science. The facts are there, but there is not a single worthy explanation. Maybe the researchers are just looking in the wrong place?
In May 2012, a real riot almost broke out in the Bashkir Kirghiz-Miyaki. Local residents said they did everything possible to prevent archaeological excavations. The dispute broke out over a mound on the outskirts of the village. The old-timers insisted that he harbors powerful strength, heals the sick, puts the weak on their feet, and even helps animals.
It is believed that some Russian is buried here. But who he was, no one knows. The legend of the great Russian
Passed down from generation to generation. Everyone here knew about the Orthodox grave, taken outside the Muslim village. But who is actually buried under a multi-meter layer of earth? Despite the protests of local residents, excavations began. The result shocked archaeologists - a version arose that this burial could be the grave of Yermak Timofeevich.
Historians have established that his name is indeed mentioned in local chronicles. Spectral analysis of the bones confirmed the hypothesis of scientists - this grave belongs to Yermak. But now researchers are faced with a more difficult puzzle. According to the annals of Yermak
Timofeevich died on August 6, 1585. Fleeing from the attacks of Khan Kuchum, the ataman drowned in the waters of the Irtysh River. According to legend, the next day it was caught by local fishermen. Yermak was also buried there in Siberia.
But then how did the body of the ataman turn out to be a thousand kilometers from the place of his death? The scientific versions failed one after another. Archaeologists had to state that in an inexplicable way the coffin with the body of Yermak moved from Siberia to the southern Urals. It will seem incredible, but the massive coffin with the remains of the ataman covered about a thousand kilometers.
An ordinary trip to the Miyakinsky district, the purpose of which was to collect material about rural workers, turned into a real sensation. The head of the district, Zainulla Nasyrov, between the story of the beginning of the sowing campaign and the story of growing milk yields, was taken aback by the news of the imminent arrival of Chelyabinsk archaeologists and local historians in the region: “We found Yermak's grave. It’s very close here, in the area of the TV tower.”
You have probably heard such a common expression: “And then a chair swayed under me”? So, the chair under me really shook from such news. And how else, if nothing is still known for certain about the place of burial of Yermak?
"The Urus is buried on a high mountain"
One of the main versions of Yermak's death, based on Siberian-Tatar legends, says that Yermak drowned. Wikipedia explains: “There is a legend that Yermak’s body was soon caught from the Irtysh by a Tatar fisherman “Yanysh Begishev’s grandson”. Many noble murzas, as well as Kuchum himself, came to look at the body of the ataman. The Tatars shot the body with bows and feasted for several days, but, according to eyewitnesses, his body lay in the air for a month and did not even begin to decompose. Later, having divided Yermak's property, in particular, taking two chain mail donated by the Tsar of Moscow, he was buried in the village, which is now called Baishevo. They buried him in a place of honor, but behind the cemetery, since he was not a Muslim. The question of the authenticity of the burial is currently being considered. There is a mention of where the great ataman rests in the Remezov Chronicle: “And they called (the Tatars) God, and buried him according to their custom at the Baishevsky cemetery under a decorated pine tree ...”.
As you know, there is no evidence of Ermak's burial in Siberia, although the search for his real grave has been going on for more than one century. Even Peter I sent messengers to Siberia for this purpose, but everything turned out to be in vain. The local population either simply refused to communicate with researchers on this topic, or deliberately directed them along the wrong path.
And now, according to the assurances of the Chelyabinsk local historian Fyodor Zhizhilev, the answer to the centuries-old mystery is nearing its logical conclusion. The "Republic of Bashkortostan" managed to contact the researcher by phone, who has no doubt that it is Yermak who rests in the grave located on the outskirts of Kirghiz-Miyakov.
“This burial on the outskirts of the district center has been known to the Bashkirs from the Ming clan for centuries (“The Urus is buried on a high mountain ...”), and a local teacher Roza Kileeva told us about it,” says Fedor Zhizhilev. “According to legend, every time you passed by this grave, you had to throw a pebble on it so that it would not be lost, and Russians could not talk about it. It is noteworthy that the buried was always mentioned in such epithets as "prince".
“Arriving at the indicated place, we really found a grave mound completely littered with stones,” Fedor continues. - Inside the grave was an oak coffin with the remains. The skeleton lay with its head to the east, which is typical for local Muslims, and not to the west, as is customary among the Orthodox. However, a birch broom lay at the head, and this is a sure sign that the buried was a Slav.
After opening the grave, according to Zhizhilev, part of what was found in it, namely the copper nails with which the coffin was knocked together, pieces of the coffin itself, fragments of tissue and, most importantly, a fragment of the calcaneal bone of the buried, was sent to the laboratory to determine the age of the burial. Analyzes have shown that the find is almost five hundred years old, and a more accurate date can only be established with a more thorough, professional archaeological study.
More questions than answers
And indeed it is. Firstly, the argumentation of Fyodor Zhizhilev does not stand up to even superficial criticism so far - there is no reason to assert that the buried "Urus" is in fact the legendary Ermak Timofeevich. On the other hand, there is a grave. And there are the remains of some noble person, probably of Slavic origin, buried in this grave. Who is he? And why was the funeral rite that accompanied his funeral so strange, sustained both by Orthodox and at the same time by Muslim canons?
Archaeologists have even more questions about Zhizhilev's hypothesis.
- It is necessary to thoroughly study the found remains, and this should be done by professionals, not amateur local historians. In any case, it is too early to draw any conclusions today, a comprehensive study of the object is necessary,” Ilshat Bakhshiev, a leading specialist of the Scientific and Production Center for the Protection and Use of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites of the Republic, shared his thoughts with the newspaper.
“We expect to receive answers to these questions in the very near future,” Fyodor Zhizhilev told us. - Already on April 30, new excavations will begin. Among the participants of the expedition will be specialists in the late Middle Ages. We invite you to your newspaper. By the way, right at the excavation site, I will be able to present to you those arguments and evidence that you cannot present by phone. In short, come and see for yourself.
The editors accept the proposal of a well-known local historian in the Southern Urals and promise to inform their readers in the most detailed and prompt manner about the events unfolding in the Miyakinsky district.
What is known about the origin of Yermak?
For certain - nothing, although Wikipedia gives several versions. According to one of them, he was from the banks of the Chusovaya River. Thanks to the knowledge of local rivers, he walked along the Kama, Chusovaya and even crossed to Asia along the Tagil River. According to another version, Yermak was a native of the Kachalinsky village on the Don (Bronevsky). There is also a version about its Pomeranian origin.
The name Ermak, according to Professor Nikitsky, is a colloquial version of the Russian name Yermolai and sounds like its abbreviation. The famous Russian writer V. Gilyarovsky calls him Ermil Timofeevich. Other historians and chroniclers derive his name from German and Yeremey (Yerema). One chronicle, considering the name Yermak as a nickname, gives him the Christian name Vasily. According to the Irkutsk historian A. Sutormin, the full name of Yermak allegedly sounded like Vasily Timofeevich Alenin. The same version is played out in P. Bazhov's tale "Ermakov's swans". There is also an opinion that Yermak is just a nickname derived from the name of a cooking boiler.
There is also a hypothesis about the Turkic origin of Yermak. In favor of this version, arguments are made that the Tatars, Bashkirs and Kazakhs still have this typically Turkic name, but it is pronounced Ermek - fun, fun. In addition, the male name Ermak (Yrmag) is found among the Alan-Ossetians, who widely inhabited the Don steppes until the 16th century. The version about the Turkic origin of Yermak is indirectly confirmed by the description of his appearance, preserved by Semyon Remezov in his "Remezov chronicler" of the late 17th century. According to S. Remezov, whose father, the Cossack centurion Ulyan Moiseevich Remezov, personally knew the surviving participants in Yermak’s campaign, the famous ataman was “greatly courageous, and humane, and transparent, and is pleased with all wisdom, flat-faced, black-bearded, age [that is, growth] middle, and flat, and broad-shouldered.
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In September 1581, the Cossack squad of Ermak Timofeevich went on a campaign beyond the Urals. Thus began the conquest of Siberia. Ermak's detachment consisted of about 800 people. The enemy, Khan Kuchum, had about 10,000 troops, but the Tatars were much worse armed.
Khan Kuchum from the Sheibanid clan was a relative of Khan Abdullah who ruled in Bukhara and, apparently, was an ethnic Uzbek. In 1563, Kuchum made a coup, killing Khan Ediger, who formally recognized Russian citizenship. Kuchum established his power in Siberia with extreme cruelty. This led to the unreliability of the detachments of the Voguls, Ostyaks and other indigenous peoples, forcibly gathered by him in 1582 to repel the Cossack invasion. On October 26, 1582, Yermak occupied the capital of the Khanate, the city of Siberia, located 14 kilometers above modern Tobolsk along the Irtysh. And he sent the ataman Ivan Koltso to bow to Ivan the Terrible with the land of Siberia. However, the resistance of the Tatars grew, the chieftains died one after another. On August 6, 1585, Ermak Timofeevich himself died. He walked with a small detachment of 50 people along the Irtysh. During his overnight stay at the mouth of the Vagai River, Kuchum attacked the sleeping Cossacks and exterminated almost the entire detachment. According to one legend, the ataman, who courageously resisted, was burdened with his armor, in particular, the shell donated by the king, and, trying to swim to the plows, drowned in the Irtysh. According to Tatar legends, Yermak was mortally wounded with a spear in the throat by the Tatar hero Kutugay.
According to legend, Yermak's body was soon fished out of the Irtysh by a Tatar fisherman "Yanysh, Begishev's grandson." Many noble murzas, as well as Kuchum himself, came to look at the body of the ataman. The Tatars shot the body with bows for several days and feasted. But, according to eyewitnesses, his body lay in the open air for a month and did not even begin to decompose. Later, having divided his property, in particular, taking two chain mail donated by the Tsar of Moscow, he was buried in the village, which is now called Baishevo. They buried him in a place of honor, but behind the cemetery, since he was not a Muslim.
For a long time, this version of Yermak's burial was considered the only one. However, recently a burial was found in Bashkiria, in which, perhaps, the legendary ataman Ermak Timofeevich was buried. An ancient grave was found on the outskirts of the Kirgiz-Miyaki settlement. According to the results of the examination, she is about five hundred years old, which coincides with the date of Yermak's death. However, in order to shed light on the mystery of the death of the Cossack ataman, scientists have to conduct a number of examinations.
The assumption that in the vicinity of the regional center of Kirghiz-Miyaki on a high mound was found the grave of Yermak, was put forward by Chelyabinsk historians. They were excavating on a high mountain and came across an ancient grave. Radiocarbon analysis of the remains showed that the age of the burial is about 500 years old, it contains the remains of an unknown man of Slavic origin, buried in accordance with the Orthodox tradition.
"There was a version that this is neither more nor less, but the grave of Yermak Timofeevich. This is such a beautiful, romantic version, which is confirmed, for example, by the ancient Bashkir shezheres - family trees," says Gayaz Samigulov, Associate Professor of the Eurasia Department of South Ural University .
Local historians indirectly confirmed the version of historians: the mountain with an ancient grave is really revered by local residents. In ancient legends, it is mentioned that a noble Russian was buried in it, but who exactly was still a mystery.
Historians are in no hurry to draw conclusions. Who 500 years ago might need to carry the body of the ataman a thousand kilometers and carefully hide the traces of his grave is unknown.
"Determining the place of events, in this case, the burial site, requires serious work not only by archaeologists, but also by those who work with written sources. At the moment, chronicle materials, in particular, the Remezov Chronicle, and the folklore of many peoples of Siberia - Khanty, Mansi - indicate that Yermak's grave is still located on the Irtysh River," explains Bulat Aznabaev, professor at the Bashkir State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences.
The hypothesis about the supposedly found grave of the ataman has already made a lot of noise in the press. The version of the Chelyabinsk scientists was supported by the republican authorities, who expect that the find could attract an additional flow of tourists to Bashkiria.
“If Yermak is really buried here, it will be another interesting site for us to visit. We will improve it. And if it is confirmed that this is Yermak’s grave, there will probably be quite a lot of people who want to see it,” said Zainulla Nasyrov, head of the administration of the Miyakinsky district.
Whoever rests in the found grave, the inhabitants of Kirghiz-Miyakov believe that the ancient burial place should be left alone. But Chelyabinsk scientists are going to continue excavations.
Ermak is an act that in its scale can only be compared with the conquest of America by Hernan Cortes. However, if you can find a lot of biographical information about the famous Spanish conquistador, then only a few facts are known for certain about the life of the Russian ataman, and even then they are rather contradictory.
Where was Yermak born?
As you know, the conquest of Siberia took place in the 16th century. Unfortunately, in those days, such an event as the appearance of a child in a peasant family usually did not find any documentary reflection. Therefore, it is not surprising that today it is impossible to give an exact answer to the question: "Where did Yermak's family live at the time of his birth?" Some information on this issue is in the Cherepanov Chronicle, which tells how the grandfather of the future ataman helped the Murom "dashing people", for which he was imprisoned, and his family settled in the estates of the Stroganovs. However, many researchers are not inclined to trust this manuscript, especially since its authors list a certain competent coachman from Tobolsk, Ilya Cherepanov. Another document - "The Legend of the Siberian Land" - as the place where the Yermak family lived long before his birth, points to Suzdal. Further in the annals, it is narrated that his grandfather, together with his sons, one of whom was named Timothy, moved to Yuryevets-Povolsky, where he had five grandchildren, including Vasily. As stated in the "Tale", it was this boy who was later to become the conqueror of Siberia.
Pomeranian version of the origin of the ataman
Some researchers believe that the question of where the Yermak family lived should be answered: “In the village of Borok, Arkhangelsk Region.” According to the same version, the real name of the ataman was Yermolai, or Yermil, and he ended up on the Volga, trying to escape the famine that gripped the Russian North. There, the young man entered the “chury” (servant-squire) to an elderly Cossack, and from 1563 he began to go on campaigns.
Life of Yermak before the Siberian campaigns
The only reliable information regarding the biography of the chieftain before his appearance on the lands of the Stroganovs is the memoirs of fellow Cossacks. In particular, two veterans claimed that they spent their youth serving in the Volga villages under the command of the conqueror of Siberia. Thus, to the question of where Yermak lived around 1565, one can answer that he was in the Volga region and was already an ataman. And this means that then he was no less than 20 years old. More information has been preserved about Yermak's military exploits. So, from the letter of the Lithuanian commandant of the city of Mogilev to King Stefan Batory, you can find out that he participated in the capacity of a Cossack centurion and distinguished himself during the siege of the Mogilev fortress. Later, his detachment helped Khvorostinin stop the advance of the Swedes. As for whether Yermak's wife and children existed, there is no mention of them in any source.
Yermak and the Stroganovs
In 1582, the famous merchants Stroganovs invited a Cossack squad, consisting of 540 Cossacks, to serve. Their leader was Ataman Yermak, who was already famous as a fearless warrior and an excellent commander. The goal of the Stroganovs was to ensure the protection of their lands from frequent attacks by detachments of the Siberian Khan Kuchum. The army arrived in the towns of Chusovoy in the summer of 1582 and remained there until September, after which they went to fight for the Stone Belt, as they called it in those days. There are records that the Stroganovs “opened their barns for military people” and provided them with everything necessary for the campaign.
Conquest of Siberia
Yermak's army used plows as a means of transportation. In total, the Cossacks had 80 ships, on which 840 people of different nationalities went on a campaign. Having risen through the water to the Tagil Pass, Yermak's squad was forced to drag the plows along the ground to the Zheravlya River and then get to Tobol, on the banks of which the battle with the wax of the Siberian Khan Kuchum took place. Having won the battle, the Cossacks captured the city of Kashlyk. Then representatives of local peoples began to come to bow to Yermak, whom the ataman “greeted kindly” and forced them to swear allegiance. In 1582, he sent one of his associates with good news about the conquest of Siberia. The tsar was delighted with the news and sent Yermak rich gifts and 300 military men to help. The detachment arrived in Siberia in the autumn of 1583. However, by this time, fortune had turned away from the chieftain, many of his commanders were killed in battles with the Tatars.
Where Yermak drowned: what the Cossacks told
At the time of his death, the famous chieftain was already a fairly well-known person, so a few years after the last battle of the Cossacks with the army of Kuchum, on the orders of the Tobolsk Archbishop Kipriyan, an investigation was conducted and the surviving associates of Yermak were interrogated. In addition, the Tatars who fought as part of the Khan's army also testified.
If we combine all the facts stated by eyewitnesses, the following picture emerges: the last battle took place on the Vagayskaya bow, where the Cossacks spent the night. They set up "canopy" tents on the banks of the Irtysh, not far from their plows, on which each warrior had his own fixed place and his own helmsman. A storm broke out that night, and therefore Kuchum's detachment managed to take them by surprise. Despite this, most of the Cossacks managed to get on their ships and set sail. Further contradictions begin in the written sources. In particular, in an earlier document, recorded from the words of the surviving veterans of Yermak's army, it is indicated that they reproach themselves, as they abandoned the ataman and a small handful of comrades, and left the place of the fight on plows. Quite different information is contained in the synodal record, which the deacons compiled later, and there you can read that all the Cossacks died together with Yermak, and only one of them escaped and told about the defeat of the detachment.
The death of Yermak according to the Tatars
The most interesting thing is that information about the death of the ataman in the waves of the Irtysh near the Vagai bow is found only in records made from the words of the Tatars. In particular, many former soldiers claimed that Yermak still defeated the attackers and, trying to get to the departing Cossack ships, went to the bottom. At the same time, there are no records indicating whether the chieftain was wearing armor at that moment.
Legends about the conqueror of Siberia
Both the life and death of the great ataman over the past centuries have acquired many myths. For example, in one of the legends, Yermak's failed wife is mentioned. As stated in the Cossack legend, once the Tatar murza of the Sargach volost, wanting to enlist the friendship of Yermak, brought his beautiful daughter to him in the camp and offered to take her as his wife. However, the chieftain rejected this proposal and sent the girl home. In addition, everyone knows the story of the chain mail allegedly presented to Yermak by Ivan the Terrible and which caused the death of the hero. According to some historians, even if the ataman ended up at the bottom of the Irtysh because of heavy armor, they could not have been a gift from the king.
History is a book that will never be completely written. Moreover, there are many blank pages in it that meticulous researchers can fill in. Perhaps they will someday be able to find out where the Yermak family lived, or they will be able to tell us some more interesting facts about the personality of this national hero of Russia, who conquered the vast expanses of Siberia for his homeland.
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