A hero in a war is not an easy thing. After all, he who is for one side a savior, for the other - the greatest enemy. But history knows several personalities who were equally respected by both their own and others. Among them is the epic hero Evpatiy Kolovrat, whose feat was transmitted from mouth to mouth for many centuries. Let's find out more about this man and his fate, as well as consider the most famous literary and cinematic works dedicated to him.
Who is Evpatiy Kolovrat?
This name bears the legendary Ryazan hero, who lived in the first half of the XIII century. in Russia. History has preserved little information about him.
The origin of Eupathia is not exactly established by historians, nor is its status in the Ryazan state. According to some versions, he was a governor, according to others - a boyar. At the same time, everyone agrees that Kolovrat was a skilled and experienced warrior and held an important place among nobles, otherwise he would not have been able to assemble an army of 1700 people.
About personal life and heart preferences Eupathia is also not known, except that, probably, he had a middle name from Lvovich.
A hero was born around 1200. However, this could happen 3-5 years earlier or later. The place of birth is considered to be the village of Frolovo in Shilov volost.
How did the legend begin?
Having learned who Evpatiy Kolovrat is, it is worth learning more about what he is famous for.
XIII century for the lands of the former Kievan Rus and the adjoining principalities was a difficult period. The fact is that, due to fragmentation, the small states in this territory were easy money for nomadic Mongol-Tatar tribes, who united under the leadership of various khans and levied a tribute to the principality.
In 1237, the grandson of Genghis Khan Khan Batuy came with an army to Ryazan and, standing near the Voronezh River, demanded that the local prince pay him a tithe of all the good in the city, and also give him the beautiful daughter-in-law of the ruler Eupraxia.
After refusing to do this, Batu ordered the murder of the beauty’s husband, the prince’s son Fedor, and an attack on the city.
December 21, 1237 Ryazan fell. It was destroyed to the ground, and its inhabitants, including the ruler, were massacred. In order not to get to Batu, Eupraxia, along with her son, threw herself from the roof of the tower and died.
Soon after what happened on the ashes, Evpatiy Kolovrat returns from Chernigov. In horror of what happened, he collects a small squad (1700 soldiers) and sets off in pursuit.
In Suzdal, Kolovrat and his comrades manage to catch up with the Horde. However, to engage in battle with the Mongols was unreasonable, since their number significantly exceeded the number of Russians.
Then the people of Eupathia began to partisan in the local forests and gradually inflict damage on the enemy troops. It got to the point that the Horde began to think that they were avenged forest spirits.
The death of Kolovrat
Despite the successful efforts of the squad, after some time they had to engage in open battle with the army of Batu. Moreover, in this battle, Evpatiy Kolovrat showed truly heroic qualities - only dozens of glorious Mongol warriors died at his hands.
Other Rusich fought no worse. And although they had no chance of victory, the Horde could not cope with the opponents in a fair fight. And in order to destroy the soldiers they began to shoot at them from stone-throwing guns.
As a result, almost all of Kolovrat's comrades and he died. It happened on January 8-10, 1238.
After several surviving Rus were taken prisoner, Batu learned from them who Evpatiy Kolovrat was and that it was he who so skillfully commanded the detachment.
The great khan was struck by the courage of the deceased hero and bitterly regretted that the hero did not serve him. As a reward for courage, he released the survivors, and gave them the body of Eupatius, ordering him to be buried with all honors. This was done on January 11th.
Literary works dedicated to Kolovrat
Having learned who Evpatiy Kolovrat is and what he has done, it is worth considering in which written sources his story was described.
Although the events themselves occurred in 1237-1238. they were first described in chronicles 300 years later.
The first written mention of what happened was at the end of the 16th century in the Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan Batu.
Today 3 versions of this work are known. Each of them has differences, however, they are united in the description of the main events. This indicates that, probably, in the earlier period there was an original version of the work, which was subsequently lost.
Thanks to the story, in Russian society of the XVI and later centuries there was a lively interest in the personality of Kolovrat.
In future centuries, many famous folklorists, poets and writers considered it their duty to devote at least one work to the feat of Eupatius Kolovrat.
One of the first was the romantic poet Nikolai Yazykov, who in 1824 dedicated the poem Eupatius to the hero.
After 35 years, another Russian poet wrote "A Song about the Boyar Eupatius Kolovrat."
And in 1885, the famous folklore researcher M. G. Khalansky included in his collection “Great Russian epics of the Kiev cycle” some folk epics about Kolovrat.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, interest in the famous hero decreased. And only Evenin dedicated his work “The Legend of Evpatiya Kolovrat, of the Batu Khan ...” to him.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, in order to mobilize the spirit of the people to fight fascism, many writers began to popularize the images of epic heroes. They reminded people that in the past their ancestors had managed to cope with more terrible enemies. In those years, 3 works were devoted at once to the hero: “The Word about Evpathy Kolovrat” (S. Markov), “Evpathy the Furious” (V. Jan) and “Evpatius Kolovrat” (V. Ryakhovsky).
In subsequent years, the history of the hero periodically surfaced in fiction and scientific literature.
The film about Evpatiya Kolovrat
Unlike the trio of classical Slavic heroes - Muromets, Popovich and Nikitich - Kolovrat was less popular with filmmakers. The first attempt to transfer his story to a blue screen occurred in 1985. It was a cartoon "The Tale of Evpatiya Kolovrat", which was not particularly remembered by the audience.
However, in 2015-2016. in Russia, work was simultaneously started on 2 films dedicated to this hero. This is Ivan Shurkhovetsky’s tape “The Legend of Kolovrat” and the film “Evpatiy Kolovrat: Ascent” by Rustam Mosafir.
The first of these projects will be released on November 30, 2017. But it’s not known when the audience will be shown “Evpatiy Kolovrat: Ascent”.
Neopagan interpretation of the myth of Kolovrat
In recent years, when archeology and history reveal new and unexpected facts that are not hidden by censorship, modern people have the opportunity to look differently at many famous historical figures. Including Evpathia Kolovrat.
One of the most famous and scandalous attempts to rethink his image was made by the so-called neopagans. Such an unspoken nickname was given to those who are trying to revive pre-Christian Slavic culture.
So, some representatives of this movement put forward the theory that Kolovrat was a pagan, not a Christian, as he was later depicted in the annals.
In favor of this argument, the facts are cited that in the Orthodox clergy of that time there is no name Evpatiy, and the Kolovrat sign in those days was a symbol of the lord of heavenly fire Svarog and his son Dazhdbog. Given that, according to archaeological finds, paganism was common in Ryazan at least until the XII century, this means that such a version has the right to life.
Another attempt to interpret the image of Eupathia is also known. According to her, Kolovrat was not a surname, but the nickname of a hero. Perhaps he was given him for the ability to perfectly fight with two blades at once, while spinning in a circle.
At the same time, one should not exclude the possibility that the hero was a Scandinavian, of whom a lot in Russia lived in those days. Hence the unusual manner of fighting.
In addition to the above, there is an opinion that Kolovrat is not a real person, but a prefabricated image of several Slavic heroes.
The meaning of the name of the hero, according to Orthodox historians
In response to similar theories, many Orthodox forums attempt to challenge the main arguments of the neo-pagans.
According to them, Evpatiy is a variation of the famous Slavic name Hypatius.
And Kolovrat is the ancient name for round-handed self-arrows. So the hero could get his nickname for the ability to shoot perfectly from a bow or a crossbow.
Was there a hero?
All these theories, despite disputes, have the right to life. Indeed, in fact, nothing is known about the true fate of Evpatiy Kolovrat, since the story about him was recorded only after several centuries. That is, the people who wrote it simply physically could not be familiar with any eyewitness to the Ryazan tragedy, which means that their work was based more on their own imagination, rather than historical facts. Otherwise, how to explain a number of inconsistencies of this legend?
So, between the capture of Ryazan and the death of the Kolovrat detachment, it takes from 19 to 21 days. During this time, the Horde manage to not only rob a huge city, kill all its inhabitants (and there are many of them), but also reach Suzdal (from Ryazan to it about 280 km along modern roads) with a convoy. Suppose, being experienced nomads, it was not difficult for them.
However, Kolovrat was much more difficult. During the same period, he manages to return to Ryazan from Chernigov (on modern smooth roads, the distance between cities is 830 km), quickly gather and arm a squad of 1,700 people somewhere and catch up with the nomads, passing another 280 km.
On foot, they would not have caught up with the Mongols, which means they needed horses. But where to find a herd of almost 2000 goals on lands ruined by a horde? This is despite the fact that animals need to be fed something (and winter is in the yard) and given them rest or replaced with more fresh ones.
In addition to problems with transport, the question arises: where did the hero collect so many soldiers? After all, the annals say that Ryazan is destroyed, and all its defenders are exterminated. Where did 1700 people come from? Did they hide in the woods while the Horde burned their city? Then what kind of warriors they are, and even so many people in the forest behind the bush obviously will not hide.
There is a version that these people were a detachment of Kolovrat, with whom he went to Chernihiv. But just what kind of prince on the eve of the attack of the enemy will more than 1,500 experienced fighters leave the fortress? It is more likely that Evpatiy was sent to meet the Varangian mercenaries whom the Lord of Ryazan wanted to use for protection. Or was Kolovrat one of them? What if the hero was a retired Varangian (according to the annals he was almost 40), settled in Ryazan, and among the dead was his wife and children? Then it is logical why the mercenaries followed him.
It is also worth remembering that most of the authors of the annals were monks who benefited from the spread and exaltation of their own faith. For this purpose, they were even ready to embellish the truth, especially if no one already remembered how it really was. And therefore, if Evpaty was even an Arab with an earring in his nose, after 300 years on the pages of the annals he could safely be turned into a Slavic knight.
As it really was, we will never know. However, this is not so important. After all, the main thing is that several centuries ago, among the inhabitants of the Slavic lands oppressed by the Mongols, there were heroes who, not sparing their lives, rebuffed the enemy. And they should become an example for their descendants - that is, us.