29. Ancient Rus and the Great Steppe, Gumilev

XXXII. The White Horde, 212. WINDS FROM THE WEST AND EAST. Wrapping up the Mongol story.

The "submission" expressed by Khan Temir-Kutlug to Emir Timur did not save him from trouble. Brave and stubborn prisoners, natives of the Blue Horde, could not rejoice that their khan was a Timur officer, a descendant of their long-time enemy Urus Khan, who made peace with a cruel victor who plundered their yurts and cattle and stole their wives and daughters into captivity. A year has passed... and a conspiracy arose. In 1398, the temniki, relying on loyal troops, invited Tokhtamysh to the throne, who immediately informed the world that he was the sole ruler of the state. Temir-Kutlug fled beyond the Urals and there, in the White Horde, he found help among the enemies of the Blue Horde, as well as the support of Edigey, the sworn enemy of Tokhtamysh. The latter had to flee again, and in the winter of 1398/99 he found himself in Kiev, visiting the Grand Duke of Lithuania and Russia Vitovt.

Vytautas at that time was obsessed with the idea of uniting the whole of Eastern Europe into a single state under his rule. He captured Smolensk already in 1395, but then the war with Ryazan began, because Prince Oleg supported the national party in Smolensk. In 1398, Vytautas won, but the brutal massacres of the Russians provoked in response not horror, but the will to defend. Smolensk rebelled against Lithuania again and again, Moscow prepared for war, Prince Mikhail of Tver concluded a defensive alliance with Prince Vasily of Moscow "against the Tatars, Lithuania, Germans and Lyakhs"[1]. And yet Lithuania was stronger than Russia.

The Moscow Principality had no allies: neither sincere nor mercenary. Members of their superethnos should be considered sincere. For the departing Russia and the nascent Russia, the Orthodox were friends: Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Georgians, Wallachians. Unfortunately, in 1385 the Turks took Sofia, in 1389 they defeated the Serbs on the Kosovo field, after which a year later they occupied Bulgaria, and in 1394 the blockade of Constantinople began. In the same years (1386-1403) Timur bled Georgia dry with a number of campaigns. There were no sincere friends left, He had to resort to the help of selfish ones.

The Latins, as the Western European Catholics were called, also suffered from the Turks, who ousted the Catalans from Central Greece, but the power of Europe was great, and the Papal-See aimed it at saving Constantinople, believing that this price would buy the reunification of the Eastern church with Rome. The strongest and most energetic among the sovereigns of Europe was Sigismund, King of Hungary and Bohemia. He led a crusade against the Turks in 1396. Charles VI sent Marshal Boucicault, Count d'ess, Count of Nevers, 1 thousand knights and 6 thousand mercenaries to help Sigismund. Reinforcements came from Germany under the command of Prior Ioannitov and other nobles. On the way, the Wallachians joined the 100,000-strong crusading army, and at Nikopol (in Serbia) all this was completely defeated by the Turks, who were supported by the Serbs, who feared the West more than the Muslim East. Selfish "friends" were more dangerous than enemies. The ethnic system of growing passionarity defeated the system that stood on the verge of breaking. It would seem that Moscow had less chances than its neighbors. In 1353, the plague swept through the Moscow land, in 1380 there was a terrible bloodshed on the Kulikov field, and in 1382 24 thousand Muscovites were buried, hacked to death by the Tatars. Where did the forces come from? Traditional historiography does not give an answer.

Let's turn to ethnology. The strength of an ethnic group is directly proportional to the number of passionaries and inversely proportional to the number of sub-passionaries. So, both the multiplication of passionaries and the reduction of sub-passionaries gives the same result.

The "Black Death" mowed down both, but it did not "stay" for long. After the epidemic, people who lost loved ones were in shock, but among the passionaries, the re-adaptation was faster; they restored families and farms, while the sub-passionaries mourned their fate.

During any battle, the cavalry cuts down only the fleeing ones. When an advanced regiment was killed on the wide Kulikovo field and "Muscovites, who are unaccustomed to battle, ran away," the Yasi, Kasogi and Nogai chased after them. Those who were going to the "hedgehogs" and defended themselves had a better chance of salvation, and the ambush regiment had almost no losses. And finally, in August 1382, the soldiers rested in the villages; those who stayed in Moscow tried to get out, and not get drunk with looted honey. They survived. So the percentage of subpassionaries naturally decreased, and the resistance of the Moscow Principality increased so much that Vytautas limited himself to the capture of Smolensk in 1395 and made peace with Vasily I.

But, despite the obvious strengthening, Vasily Dmitrievich did not break the alliance with Tokhtamysh, because this barrier separated Russia from the main and terrible enemy - Timur, who revived the fading culture of the Muslim superethnos. And the ghost of the deceased is always scary, whether it's the ghost of a person or a superethnos.

And now Tokhtamysh is not only defeated - such a disaster can happen to anyone, but worse than that - he has changed the age-old tradition of the union of the Horde and Russia. After all, it was only thanks to Russian valor that he sat on the golden throne of the Barn and got rid of the usurper Mamai without shedding Tatar blood. The Russian city of Yelets was destroyed and looted. And so Tokhtamysh comes to an agreement with Vitovt and betrays white-stone Moscow to him!

But, on the other hand, Tokhtamysh's enemy Khan Temir-Kutlug and his friend Edigey are the henchmen of the terrible Timur, who can create more troubles than Vitovt and Tokhtamysh. What could Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich have done? Only one thing - to survive! And fate, i.e. historical regularity, saved Russia.

213. FATAL MOMENT

Having met in Kiev, the prince and the khan found a common language. Tokhtamysh ceded the rights to Russia to Vytautas, and Vytautas promised to help Tokhtamysh return to the Barn, then to live in peace and friendship. The implementation of this project was hindered only by Temir-Kutlug and Edigey, who had to be kicked out of the Barn, which seemed easy, because Timur in 1398 took his veterans to India, and from there a year later to Georgia, Syria and Iraq. Only in these rich countries could the "soldier emperor" count on abundant loot to pay off his own warriors. In Siberia, it was impossible to raise such funds, and it was too risky to lead an army exhausted by battles and transitions to Russia. Therefore, Temir-Kutlug and Edigey were left to their fate, and Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich was generally ignored and remained neutral. There was nothing else for him to do, since for Orthodox Moscow the Catholic and Muslim superethnoses were equally hostile, and the Siberian Tokhtamysh turned out to be a traitor.

Temir-Kutlug could not help but feel the instability of his throne. There were many supporters of Tokhtamysh in the Volga region, and if he had returned to the banks of the Volga with a powerful Lithuanian ally, they would have willingly thrown off the puppet khan who participated in the defeat of their country. Therefore, Temir-Kutlug applied the Timur strategy: he led his small army to the Dnieper, having agreed with Edigey about a meeting before the decisive battle.

Vytautas treated the proposed operation with full attention and foresight. The Lithuanian-Belarusian army was reinforced by the Polish gentry and a detachment of German knights from Prussia. There are about 100 thousand warriors in total. Bunchukas of Siberian Tatars who arrived in Lithuania with Tokhtamysh were lost in the general mass of banners, banners and knightly badges. However, only the Tatars represented the capabilities of their opponents.

Temir-Kutlug sent an ultimatum to Vytautas: "Give me the runaway Tokhtamysh! He is my enemy, I cannot stay in peace, knowing that he is alive and living with you, because our life is changeable: today a khan, and tomorrow a fugitive, today rich, and tomorrow a beggar, today many friends, and tomorrow all enemies. I am afraid of my own, not just strangers, but Khan Tokhtamysh is a stranger to me and my enemy, and even an evil enemy; so give him to me, and whatever is near him, it's all for you"[2]. Vytautas refused and met the Tatar Khan on the shore of Vorskla.

Temir-Kutlug again entered into negotiations: "Why did you come to me? I have not taken your land, nor your cities, nor your villages."[3] Vytautas demanded complete submission, threatening to put the entire Horde to the sword.

Vytautas, who had already declared himself the "Grand Duke of Lithuania and Russia", was so confident in the superiority of his forces that he succumbed to Temir-Kutlug's bait and delayed negotiations. And during this time, Edigei's troops managed to approach, and immediately everything changed. Edigei demanded a meeting with Vytautas and told him: "Prince brave! Our khan could not but recognize you as an older brother, since you are older than him by years. But in turn, you are younger than me. Therefore, it will be right if you show me obedience, oblige me to pay tribute and you will depict my seal on Lithuanian money."

Vytautas broke out, and on August 12, 1399, Lithuanian troops moved to the left bank of Vorskla under the cover of artillery fire. But the guns and squeaks turned out to be ineffective in the wide steppe. But the Lithuanian cavalry began to press the formation of the Tatars of Edigey.

That's what Tom needed. He held back the frustrated Vytautas regiments for exactly as long as it took Temir-Kutlug to outflank the Lithuanians and hit the rear. There was a panic in the Lithuanian army. Tokhtamysh was the first to flee from the battlefield, having well mastered the invincibility of Timur tactics. He knew that Temir-Kutlug and Edigey were Timur's disciples. Then Pan Shchurkovsky ran, loudest of all demanding Tatar blood. Vitovt was led into a remote forest by Cossack Mamai, one of the descendants of the famous temnik. They wandered in the forest for three days until Vytautas promised his guide a princely title and a Clay tract. He immediately found his way... and his descendants should be grateful to him for this. Including Ivan IV the Terrible.

And on the shores of Vorskla there was a terrible massacre. Tatars cut down the non-resisting Lithuanians, Poles, Germans and Russians. They fled 500 versts, all the way to Kiev, and then the Tatars, scattered in detachments, exterminated people up to Lutsk. More than 20 princes were among those killed[4].

The chivalrous West, equipped with the newest military equipment, fell for the second time before the East, which absorbed both the tested Mongolian passionarity - in the Horde, and the new one - in the Turkish Sultanate, which broke the Crusaders at Nikopol. The Turkish threat in the Balkans tied the hands of Catalan pirates, French feudal lords, Venetian and Genoese merchants who tried to make a colony out of Ancient Hellas, and the Hungarian Kingdom, the stronghold of Catholic Europe in the southeast. Lithuania was so weakened that in 1401, by the act of the Union of Vilna, it agreed to include it in the Kingdom of Poland[5]. The grandiose plans of Vytautas were overturned by the "power of things" - a historical pattern, and all the "fragments" of Ancient Russia were devastated by Tatar raids. Strictly speaking, the year 1399 can be considered the end of ancient Russian ethnogenesis, as the fall of Constantinople in 1453 - Byzantine. Only Moscow, which received the necessary respite, benefited from the carnage on Vorskla. But why didn't the Tatars take advantage of their victory?

214. DEATH, AND DEATH AGAIN

Nika is a cruel goddess: when she grants success, she demands retribution. True, the winners are not judged, but they are killed. So Temir-Kutlug died in the year of his victory.

But why? After all, he was a warrior in the prime of his life. Healthy, smart, kind to his people. The information about his death is very vague. Only Sheref ad-Din wrote in the Book of Victories that "a person rebels when he sees that he has become rich." How can the ruler of a sovereign power "rebel"? After all, he was a popular khan, because he was supported in 1398, when Tokhtamysh tried to regain power in Sarai, (on the Volga), and when the warriors of the White Horde grappled with the knighthood of Lithuania, Poland and the Teutonic Order. Who has become displeased with the khan-winner?

Sheref ad-Din explains: Temir-Kutlug "showed ingratitude and committed hostile actions, now he is dead... and his ulus is in disarray"[6]. Sheref ad-Din glorified Timur and wrote from his perspective. The steppe people did not like Timur and defended themselves against him as best they could. Consequently, Temir-Kutlug had a choice between the mercy of the allied ruler and the sympathy of his people. Apparently, he chose his people... and died. And Murza Yedigei remained loyal to Timur... and he became the ruler of the ulus of Dzhuchiyev, putting the young Shadibek, the brother of the deceased, on the golden throne. This boy was not touched by Timur's agents, and Shadibek survived his terrible neighbor, who died in 1405. But that's not all.

When the news of Timur's death and the collapse of his empire reached the banks of the Volga, the government of Khan Shadibek returned to the traditional political line of the Golden Horde - a close alliance with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which had greatly intensified in those recent years. The main enemy of Moscow, Vasily Kirdyapa, died in Gorodets in 1403 [7], and his brother Semyon, "seeking his fatherland, served in the Horde for 8 years, without resting and enduring a lot of work, not knowing his refuge and not finding peace with his feet, he will not have time for anything" [8]. The Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod Principality ceased to exist, and along with the conquered territory, Moscow got the Volga merchants with trade routes, markets and forms of commodity exchange inherited from Kiev times.

A powerful rival of Moscow, Oleg Ryazansky, turned his military talent against Lithuania and in 1401 conquered Smolensk from Vitovt for his son-in-law Yuri Svyatoslavich, executing the boyars-lithophiles [9]. But the very next year, Semyon Olgerdovich defeated the Ryazan troops at Lyubutsk. The shock was strong; Oleg Ivanovich died, fortunately, at home and was buried in the family crypt in 1402. After his death, Ryazan was no longer a rival of Moscow.

Vitovt, inspired by success, moved to Moscow, but Shadibek sent Vasily I help, and when in 1406 both troops converged on the Plava River (near Tula), Vitovt, apparently remembering Vorskla, retreated without a fight [10]. The union of the Horde and Moscow has justified itself again.

Meanwhile, Tokhtamysh, who became a bek from the sovereign, but rather a bagatur, found a use for his abilities. He, as it is now customary to say, has returned to the level of his competence. Having seen with his experienced eye what the battle of the knights with the Gulyams of Timur training promises, Tokhtamysh led his detachment from the shores of Vorskla even before the battle and led them to his native Volga region without losses. The Trans-Ural Tatars supported him, this allowed him to wait for Timur's death, which was not shameful to be afraid of.

Having learned about the collapse of the Timur empire and the feuds between the Timurids, Tokhtamysh tried to take Sarai, but was thrown back by Shadibek to the lower reaches of Tobol and killed there.

Shadibek proved to be an intelligent ruler and commander. Therefore, barely turning from a young man into a mature husband ... he "died", and in his place Edigey raised a child, the son of Temir-Kutlug, Pulad, who in turn was overthrown in 1410. Further enumeration of regicides and strife is impractical. It is clear that the unity of the Horde was lost, that the Tatar ethnos crumbled, that only Edigey remained faithful to the Timur tradition, who seized the Black Sea coast and made disastrous raids on Russia and Lithuania. When he died in the battle with the sons of Tokhtamysh, we can say that the described era is over and it is time for the transition of a growing country - Russia from the phase of ascent to the akmatic phase, with new rhythms, tasks and a different alignment of forces.

215. REFLECTION ON TRADITION

From the time of Genghis Khan to the events described, only a hundred and fifty years have passed, but the balance of forces has changed diametrically. The nomads lost their ability to win, and the sedentary ones kept it at the same level as at the beginning of the XIII century. We find that the conservative system turned out to be more powerful than the evolving one. A paradox? No. This shows that the development proceeded with an increase in entropy. In fact, the victories of the first half of the XIII century. Mongolia won thanks to the "people of long will", who managed to attract under their nine-legged white banner [11] steppe relatives, Baturs and Nuhurs, each of whom was no less brave and hardy than any of Temujin's companions, but did not possess passionarity. The ancient Mongols who died were benevolent to foreign religions and philosophical concepts, hospitable and faithful to treaties, and the defeated opponents were spared for their valor and loyalty, offering them to join their army.

This stereotype of behavior is incomprehensible to the layman: steppe, rural, urban, academic. The layman regards his neighbors by the number of troubles caused to him. The fewer of them, the better the neighbor. And the philistine is eternal: it is worth it for the passionaries to die, and he is right there.

As you know, the Mongolian passionaries exterminated each other in the civil strife of the second half of the XIII century, and the inhabitants of the "Mongol sphere" multiplied. They knew how to graze cattle, they obeyed the khans, they squandered the remnants of their ancestors' loot, and they did not need to learn anything, since their existence was ensured by homeostasis. In the Steppe, they even lost military skills, the preservation of which was valuable on the outskirts of the "Mongol sphere". But there the Mongols were talking, getting beaten up, getting paid. Prominent representatives of the marginal population were Timur and his gulyams - professional warriors.

Now we can make an empirical generalization. Ethnogenesis is determined by three parameters. The first one is landscape-geographical, or a rigid connection of the ethnos with the feeding landscape. Since landscape conditions are not stable, especially in the interior regions of the continent, the strength and weakness of nomadic ethnic groups depend on the degree of humidification of the steppe zone of Eurasia. In the XIII-XIV centuries. the conditions were optimal. In the XVI century. there was a century-long drought; therefore, the XV century was a transitional and unstable period.

The second parameter is the energy that created the ethnosystems and is inevitably decreasing. Passionarity dissipates among the surrounding ethnic groups, raising their activity, or goes nowhere with the death of its bearers - heroes. The faster the entropy process goes, the sooner passionaries give way to harmonious individuals who are able to prolong the existence of an ethnic group for several centuries.

The third parameter is the ethnic dominant, formed thanks to the mastered heritage of former ethnic groups, whose passionarity has dried up, but the culture still fascinates descendants. So the Franks and Lombards respected ancient wisdom, the Russians worshipped Byzantine iconography, theology and music; the Tabgachi of the Tang dynasty revered Confucianism and Taoism, and the Persians and Arabs, even after the collapse of the caliphate, preserved the rhymed history of the ancient Persian kings - "Shahnameh". Human creations, unlike the works of nature, do not develop, but either exist or are destroyed. But it is they who are open to direct observation, thanks to which Science is able to understand invisible, but intelligible phenomena. Moreover, each of us has a genetic memory that is not felt in everyday life, but sometimes flashes in the subconscious. No wonder the poet said:

... And then I woke up and screamed, "What if
Is this country truly my homeland?
Wasn't it here that I loved and died Wasn't it here,
In this green and sunny country?"
And realized that I was lost forever
In the empty transitions of spaces and times,
And somewhere the native rivers flow,
To which the path is forever forbidden to me.

(Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev, Lev Gumilev's father)

NOTES:

[1] Soloviev S.M. The history of Russia. Book II. Vol. IV. p. 357.

[2] Ibid. Vol. III. pp. 364-365.

[3] Ibid. p. 365.

[4] See; Shennikov A.A. The Principality of the descendants of Mamai // Deposited in INION. No.7380. L., 1981.pp.20-22.

[5] See: Shabuldo F.M. Decree. op. p. 150.

[6] Tiesenhausen T. P. S. 188.

[7] Copy A.V. Decree.op.C.426.

[8] PSRL.GU. P.108; cit. by: Komarovich V.L. Kitezh Legend. p.67.

[9] See: Instantirsky A.V. Decree. op.p.591.

[10] See: Soloviev S.M. History of Russia...Book II. T.IV.P.369.

[11] The cloth was held on nine spears, and on each hung a bunchuk (horse tail).

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