“Drinking without measure”: how Yuri Dolgoruky was poisoned in Kiev

On May 15, 1157, Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince of Suzdal and Kiev, died in Kiev, Gyurgi, or now George, the sixth son of Vladimir Monomakh, best known for his “foundations” Moscow and the equestrian monument opposite. Moscow City Hall. This monument to Orlov, Antropov and Stamm was erected in 1954 on the site where an equestrian statue of Mikhail Skobelev, the hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, once stood – the Bolsheviks demolished it in April 1918. The Statue of Liberty soon fell into disrepair, however, due to poor quality materials.

Historians’ suspicions that the prince was poisoned are based on the story cited in the Ipatiev Chronicle, and the Laurentian Chronicle does not mention anything of that kind; this means that the death of the prince may seem quite natural to his contemporaries.

The prince died on the eve of the events that threatened him with losing Kiev. Against him there was a strong alliance of three princes – Rostislav Mstislavich from Smolensk, Mstislav Izyaslavich from Volyn and Izyaslav Davydovich from Chernigov – Yuri Dolgoruky’s nephew and his main rival in the Kyiv struggle – he took the throne of Kyiv immediately after his death. Dolgoruky’s photo.

Yuri was surprisingly careless: when the enemies were already united, preparing to march from Chernigov to Kiev, he continued to attend the banquet for many days and did not stand close to his army at all. In addition, during the three years of his reign in Kyiv – this is total with cuts – Dolgoruky gained such a bad reputation among the people of Kyiv that immediately after his death they started an uprising and invited a rival to rule.

“But Izyaslav wants to go to Kiev, and that day the Kiyans came to Izyaslav, the rivers: go to the Kyiv prince, Gyurgis died”, the Ipatiev Chronicle tells. “She shed a tear and raised her hand to God, and said: Praise the Lord, you did not judge death by blood, but by it.”

That is, the rival was glad that he did not have to shed blood, and the city itself fell at his feet.

In the same chronicle, previous events are described as follows: “Beer bo Gyurgi, in osmenik [т.е. сборщика податей] In Petril, he fell ill at night that day and was fed up with it for 5 days, and in May, Prince Gyurgi Volodimirich of Kyiv went to bed at night at 15 on Wednesday, and went to bed on Thursday morning. Holy Savior Monastery and much evil happened that day, its courtyard turned red, and its other courtyard beyond the Dnieper was plundered; he is called Vasilkov Yard, son of Heaven itself and its plunderer.

It is quite characteristic that the Grand Duke feasted not in Kiev, not in the Voivode, but in the petty boyar Petrila, as well as the “osmyannik” – that is, the “tax officer”, who collected a special trade. duty in favor of the prince. Apparently, it was the collection of taxes that at that time seemed to Yuri the most important part of the activity of the princely administration, which extorted money from the southern capital.

Despite the fact that the long-term goal of Yuri Dolgoruky was to obtain and hold the throne of Kiev, he remained a stranger and a stranger to the people of Kyiv, moreover, openly and defiantly trampled on the rights won under the ancient princes. ; The people of Kyiv expected the prince to sign a special treaty with them, a “rank” and not just act as a proprietor-conqueror, but to get everything right from the “oldest” prince – especially since his rights always remained controlled. Yuri considered it unnecessary to conclude any “disputes” with the city council “in the old fashioned way”, moreover, he flooded the city with the northerners he brought with him and counted on their support.

Perhaps it was among the inhabitants of Kyiv that a secret conspiracy against Yuri was ripening. In addition to the pre-revolutionary historians, the version of poisoning was especially strictly adhered to by the Ukrainian medievalist and academician Petro Tolochko, honorary director of the Archaeological Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He draws attention to the speed with which the problem of the “golden” throne was settled after the death of the prince, and gives a number of other indirect arguments. After the death of Gyurgi, many of his sons suffered, lost their property and power, some later lost their lives, and there was the matter of direct murder charges already fully recognized. The prince was hastily buried the next day and was buried not in the central St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev next to his father Vladimir Monomakh, but in the suburban residence of Monomakhovichi near the Transfiguration Church.

But direct evidence of the poisoning of Dolgoruky still did not survive, and against this version speaks volumes against the fact that the prince, who suffered for at least five days, did not order to retaliate against the boyar who treated him and his family. version.

By that time, Dolgoruky himself was no longer young and quite healthy, abundant liberties could provoke, for example, an acute heart attack, stroke or hypertensive attack. This is exactly what the Kyiv writer of the 17th century, the author of the Gustynskaya Chronicle, believed: “Kyiv Yuri consoles himself on his own, is excessively drunk and fell ill from this drink.” The thing that is celebrated on May 10, that is. suggests that such a pastime, on a completely not a holiday Friday, was quite familiar to Dolgoruky in Kiev, which he conquered with the help of the Polovtsy. However, he was far from the first of the Kyiv princes, who died as a result of an excessive feast – similarly, after “fun” with his team, his elder brother Vyacheslav also passed away.

In 1989, Kyiv archaeologist Viktor Kharlamov and his students built the XII Church near the Church of the Savior in Berestovo.

Although some suspicious substances were still found, there were no obvious signs of poisoning. However, a reservation must be made here that there is no solid evidence that the remains actually belonged to Dolgoruky.

According to this expert opinion“in the bone tissue of the skeleton … spectral analysis methods revealed an unknown substance containing lipids (absorption band 1726 cm)^-one) and an inorganic component (absorption band 1384 cm^-one), as well as potassium and copper”, but “it is possible that these inclusions reflect the nature of the protective solutions used.”

When examining the remains, some conclusions were drawn about the appearance of Dolgoruky, devoid of a skull (which fell into dust due to soil water), which made it possible to suspect that he never got his nickname. A frantic desire to take Kyiv and other Russian cities from the original place of his reign in Rostov, but only because of one characteristic physical feature: “The size of the brushes slightly exceeded the average standards for the European population,” say the researchers. carefully. Other parameters of the prince – if the skeleton really belonged to him – also do not fit the famous “heroic” equestrian monument, since these are the remains of a “short (about 157 cm), fragile physique man, poorly developed, who died in the elderly (60-70 years old)” muscles.” Throughout his life, he “sufficed from a pronounced osteochondrosis of the cervical and lumbar spine, accompanied by pain” – this means that horseback riding was difficult for him.

As for the founding of Moscow, none of the historians here attributed to the prince the foundation of the settlement itself, which Moscow archaeologists tracked at least two hundred years before Dolgoruky. During his reign, Moscow was first mentioned only in the chronicles.

According to the Ipatiev Chronicle, on April 4, 1147, Yuri received his allies, led by the famous father, the Novgorod-Seversky prince Svyatoslav Olgovich, in a town called Moskov (“Come to me, my brother, to Moscow”). Chernigov Igor Svyatoslavich became the main character of the “Word About Igor’s Regiment”. Prince Igor himself could then also be part of this delegation and meet in that city with Yuri Dolgoruky’s beloved son, Andrei Bogolyubsky. Yuri himself has already sat on the throne of Kyiv.

In the Novgorod birch bark of the XII century, Moscow is mentioned as Kuchkov – probably from the XII century. The Suzdal boyar Kuchko of the XIX century owned villages and villages along the Moscow River and even gave his name to the future capital. Later, among the numerous murderers of Andrei Bogolyubsky, the annals mention Kuchkovichi, a relative of this boyar, and in 2015, during the restoration of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky, an inscription from the 12th century, among which Kuchkovichi was discovered, was discovered. Twenty conspirators describing the circumstances of the murder, and Kuchkovichi was first listed there.

From all this, stories repeatedly appeared that Kuchkovichi aroused curiosity for generations and took revenge on Dolgoruky and his grandchildren for taking Moscow from them, possibly for killing the boyar Kuchko. Allegedly, the prince, who was standing in the Kuchkovo district and was initially greeted quite cordially by the boyar, later became angry with him for some insolence – or for a failed poisoning attempt – and ordered his execution, while Kuchko took the children. married her to Suzdal or to Vladimir, or even her son Andrei to Kuchko’s daughter Ulita, who was distinguished by extraordinary beauty. There is also a theory about the secret paganism of the Vyatichi, who lived near Moscow, who found themselves in the circle of ancient Russian principalities and resisted the eventual Christianization. In this case, the “boyar Kuchko” may have been one of the last tribal leaders of the Vyatichi, whom Dolgoruky’s missionaries had executed in retaliation for the death of the monk Kuksha and his friend Pimen, whom Vyatichi had killed in 1141. However, most historians consider all these “details” to be later speculation.