History from Gostomysl to Timashev. Vasily ascended the throne, but soon the whole earth
GIFT EDITION OF THE FAMOUS HISTORY OF COUNT A.K. TOLSTOY
THE BEST GUIDE FOR STUDYING NEW TEXTBOOKS ON THE HISTORY OF THE RF
STORY
STATESRUSSIAN
FROMGOSTOMYSLTOOUR DAYS
Compiled by Count Alexei Tolstoy in 1868.
Continued and illustrated in 1975
commoner Evgeny Chernyavsky.
♦
CALLING OF THE VARYAGS
1. Listen, guys, to what your grandfather will tell you.
Our land is rich, but there is no order in it.
2. And this truth, children, has been for a thousand years
Our ancestors realized: There is no order, you see.
3. And they all stood under the banner, And they said: “What should we do?
Let's send to the Varangians: Let them come to reign.
4. After all, the Germans are tortuous, They know darkness and light,
Our land is rich, but there is no order in it.”
5. The messengers quickly went there
And they say to the Varangians: “Come, gentlemen!
6. We will give you gold like Kyiv sweets;
Our land is rich, but there is no order in it.”
7. The Varangians felt terrified, but they thought: “What's going on here?
Trying is not a joke - Let’s go if they call you!”
8. And then three brothers came, middle-aged Varangians,
They look - the land is rich, but there is no order at all.
9 “Well,” they think, “a team! Here the devil will break his leg,
Es ist ja eine Schande, Wir müssen wieder fort.”[It's a shame we should get away. (German)]
862 -879. Rurik's reign
10. But older brother Rurik, “Wait,” he said to others, “
Fortgeh’n wär ungebürlich, Vielleicht ist’s nicht so schlimm.
[ It would be rude to leave, but maybe it’s not so bad. (German)]
11 Even though the team is lousy, Almost one is just trash;
Wir bringen’s schön zustande, Versuchen wir einmal.”
[We can do this, let's try. (German)]
12. And he began to reign powerfully, He reigned for seventeen years,
The land was abundant, There was no order!
882 - 945. Reign of Oleg and Igor
13. Prince Igor reigned after him, and Oleg ruled over him,
Das war ein großer Krieger And a smart man. [He was a great warrior (German)]
946 -972. Reign of Olga and Svyatoslav
14. Then Olga reigned, and after Svyatoslav;
So ging die Reihenfolge of the pagan powers. [This was the sequence (German)]
972-980. FIRST FRACICIDAL WAR
between the sons of Svyatoslav from different wives.
980 - 1015. Reign of Kagan-Prince Vladimir
15. When Vladimir ascended to his father’s throne,
Da endigte für immer Die alte Religion. [Then the end of the old religion came. (German)]
16. He suddenly said to the people: “After all, our gods are rubbish,
Let’s go and get baptized in the water!” And he made Jordan for us.
17. “Perun is very disgusting! When we push him off,
You’ll see what kind of order we’ll create!”
BAPTISM OF Rus'
. Vladimir was baptized with the name Vasily. Christianity became the state religion of the Kyiv Metropolis of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Persecution of the Magi and other pagans.
Second fratricidal war (between 12 sons of Vladimir from several wives)
18. He sent for priests to Athens and Constantinople,
The priests came in droves, crossed themselves and burned incense,
19. They sing to themselves touchingly and fill their pouch;
The earth, as it is, is abundant, but there is no order.
20. Vladimir died of grief, without creating order.
The Great Yaroslav soon began to reign after him.
1015 - 1054. Reign of Prince YaroslavI
21. Perhaps there would be order with this,
But out of love for children, he divided the whole earth.
22. The service was bad, and the children, seeing it,
Let's tease each other: Who does what and what does what!
Third fratricidal war— between the descendants of Yaroslav - walked almost 600 years.
1223. APPEARANCE OF THE MONGOLS. Battle of Kalka. Defeat of the Rurikovichs.
23. The Tatars found out: “Well,” they thought, “don’t be a coward!”
We put on trousers and arrived in Rus'.
24. “Because of your supposed argument, the Earth went upside down,
Wait, we’ll soon bring order to you.”
1237 . Invasion of Khan Batu. Foundation of the Golden Horde.
1237 - 1480. Rus' - ULUS OF THE GOLDEN HORDE.
25. They shout: “Let’s pay tribute!” (at least bring the saints)
There is a lot of all sorts of rubbish here in Rus'.
26. Every day, brother brings word against brother to the horde;
The earth seems to be rich, but there is no order at all.
1462-1505. Ivan's reignIIIVasilievich
1480. “Standing on the Ugra” and the end of the Tatar yoke.
27. Ivan the Third appeared; He says: “ You're being naughty!
We are no longer children!” I sent shish to the Tatars.
28. And now the earth is free from all evils and troubles
And it’s very grainy, but there’s still no order.
1505 -1537. Vasily's reignIIIand his widow Helen, ur. Glinskaya
1547 -1586. Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Grozny)
29. Ivan the Fourth came, He was the Third’s grandson;
Grated roll for the kingdom And the spouses of many wives.
30. Ivan Vasilich the Terrible was to him namename
Because he was a serious, respectable person.
31. He is not sweet in his ways, But he is not lame in his mind;
This one has established order, At least roll it with a ball!
32. One could live carefree under such a king;
But ah! - nothing lasts forever - And Tsar Ivan died!
1586 - 1598. Tsar Fedor and boyar-oprichnik Boris Godunov
33. Fedor began to reign after him, a living contrast to the Father;
He was not a cheerful mind, he was only too keen to ring a bell.
END OF THE FIRST DYNASTY (Rurikovich)
♦
15 years of INTERGOVERNMENT from 1598 to 1613, or TIMES OF TROUBLES
1598 - 1605. Tsar Boris Godunov. First Patriarch Job.
34. Boris, the Tsar’s brother-in-law, was not a joke,
He was dark-haired, with a handsome face, and sat on the royal throne.
35. With him everything went smoothly, the old evils disappeared,
He didn’t bring a little bit of order to the land.
36. Unfortunately, an impostor, out of nowhere,
Such a dance was given to us, That Tsar Boris died.
1605 - 1606. Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich. The first impostor recognized by the boyars, clergy and the birth mother of Tsarevich Dmitry. Patriarch Ignatius was installed instead of Job, who was exiled to Staritsa. The impostor was confirmed as king in the Assumption Cathedral. The boyars and princes of Rurik (including Dmitry Pozharsky) swore allegiance to the impostor. Killed by supporters of boyar Vasily Shuisky (Rurikovich).
37. And, having climbed onto Boris’s place, this impudent
Nogami started chatting with his bride out of joy.
38. Although he was a brave guy and not even a fool,
But under his power the Pole began to rebel.
39. Otherwise we don’t like it; And then one night
We gave them pepper and drove them all away.
1606 - 1610. Tsar Vasily Ivanovich (Shuisky). The boyars forcibly tonsured him as a monk and took him to the Polish king Sigismund, where he died in captivity.
40. Vasily ascended the throne, But soon the whole earth
We asked him to go away.
41. The Poles returned, the Cossacks were brought;
There was confusion and fights: Poles and Cossacks,
42. Cossacks and Poles beat us again and again;
Without a king, we are like crayfish, We are grieving broke.
43. The passions were direct - Not worth a penny.
It is known that without power you cannot go far.
44. To straighten the royal throne and elect a king again,
Here Minin and Pozharsky quickly gathered an army.
1613 - 1646. Tsar Michael Fed. and Patriarch Filaret (Romanovs).
45. And the force of the Poles drove them out again,
The land of Michael ascended to the Russian throne.
46. It happened in the summer; But was there an agreement -
The story about this remains silent until now.
47. Warsaw and Vilna sent us their greetings;
The land was abundant - There was no order.
1646 - 1676. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov
48. Alexey sat down as king, then gave birth to Peter.
A new time has come for the state.
1676 - 1682. Tsar Fedor Alekseevich
1682 -1725. Two Tsars Ivan V and Peter I (then one Peter)
49. Tsar Peter loved order, Almost like Tsar Ivan,
And he was also not sweet, sometimes he was drunk.
50. He said: “I feel sorry for you, you will disappear completely;
But I have a stick, And I am the father of you all!
And immediately went to Amsterdam for order.
52. Returning from there, He shaved us smooth,
And for Christmas, it’s a miracle, I dressed up like the Dutch.
53. But this, however, is a joke; I don’t blame Peter:
Give the patient's stomach Rhubarb is beneficial.
54. Although the technique was very strong, perhaps;
But still, Order became quite strong under him.
55. But sleep overtook grave Peter in the prime of his life,
Look, the earth is abundant, but there is no order again.
HUNDRED YEARS OF PALACE COUPS
56. Many people reigned here meekly or sternly,
There are not too many kings, but more queens.
57. Biron reigned under Anna; He was a real gendarme,
We sat as if in a bathtub with him, das Gott erbarm! [God have mercy! (German)]
1740 - 1760. Reign of Elizabeth (daughter of Peter and Litvinka Martha Skavroschanko = Catherine I)
58. Merry Queen
There was Elizabeth:
Sings and has fun
There is just no order.
END OF THE SECOND DYNASTY (Romanovs)
1761-1762. Emperor Peter III. Duke of HOLSTEIN-GOTTORP. Killed by guards
1762 -1796. his wife Catherine II (ur. Sophia-Augusta-Friederike Anhaldt-Zerbst)
59. What is the reason for this and where is the root of evil,
Catherine herself could not comprehend.
60. “Madame, with you, Order will bloom amazingly, –
Voltaire and Diderot wrote to her politely,
61. It is only necessary for the people, whose mother you are,
Give us freedom soon, give us freedom soon”.
62. "Messieurs,- She objected to them, - vous me comblez”, – [Gentlemen, you are too kind to me. (French)]
And she immediately pinned the Ukrainians to the ground.
1796 - 1801. Emperor Paul I of Holstein-Gottorp (Romanov). Killed (strangled by conspirators).
63. Paul, the Maltese cavalier, began to reign after her,
But he didn’t exactly rule in a knightly manner.
1801 - 1825. Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich. Z fell ill with an unknown cause and died in Taganrog).
64. Tsar Alexander the First came to replace him,
His nerves were weak, But he was a gentleman.
1812 -1815. War with Napoleon and his allies (12 languages).
65. When the army of a hundred thousand is at us in excitement
Pushed Bonaparte, He[Alexander] began to retreat.
66. It seemed, well, lower You can’t sit in a hole,
And, lo and behold: we are already in Paris, With Louis le Désiré. [ Louis (Desired)(French) - after restoration]
67. At that time the color of Russia blossomed very strongly,
The land was abundant, but there was no order.
68. The last legend I would write mine,
But I expect punishment, I'm afraid Monsieur Velliot.
[ Velio I.O. – dir. post office dept. Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1868-1880]
69. It can be slimy to walk on some pebbles,
So, we’d better keep silent about what’s close.
78. So, having started again, I finish my column
From the Nativity of Christ In the year sixty-eight.
79. Seeing that things are getting worse for us,
The Lord has sent us quite a husband.
80. For our consolation We are like the light of dawn,
Reveal your face Timashev - The order of the courtyard.
81. That I am a great sinner On these mortal leaves
Do not hastily add notes or rewrites,
82. That, in front and behind Reading all the days,
Correct the truth for the sake of it, don’t curse Scripture.
83. Compiled from blades of grass This unwise story
The thin, humble monk Servant of God Alexey.
Note. A.K. Tolstoy, mentioning his work in letters, each time gave different abbreviated versions of the titles: “History of Russia”, “Abridged Russian History”. According to the testimony of V.M., close to Tolstoy. Zhemchuzhnikov, satire should be entitled “Abridged Russian history from Gostomysl to Timashev”(see: A. Baboreko. New information about the poems of A.K. Tolstoy. - In the magazine “Russian Literature”, 1959, No. 3, pp. 200-201). But publishers of the 19th century. chose the most cumbersome name - “History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev.” Chosen for its similarity to the title of the essay N.M. Karamzin - “History of the Russian State.” It became canonical . And for more than 100 years now, readers have had to explain who Timashev is and why he ended up in Russian History.
Since Tolstoy himself did not finally establish the name, the shortest and most understandable title was chosen from various author’s options for the title of the page on the site: "History of Russia". In addition, unlike the canonical editions, I inserted into the text important events and dates of reign princes and kings, like those mentioned in the “History” of Count A.K. Tolstoy, and those that he missed. Moreover, for some periods missed in his “History” and some incomprehensible expressions, I made Notes (see bottom of page). This was done for a purely practical purpose - for the convenience of readers, since Tolstoy does not indicate dates at all and often talks about a lot either in passing or with hints that are understandable only to his contemporaries.
We must not forget that his "History" was a satire on the state official ideology - the same one that in our time they dream of reviving in the Russian Federation (see Chimes). Satire A.K. Tolstoy, naturally, was distributed secretly, it was copied by hand. The poet could talk about many things in his “History” only with hints and “Aesopian language.” Both are well understood by contemporaries, but subsequent generations no longer understand why the information contained in each word is lost.
All poets and writers are forced to do the same. at any time. An example would be the author Sequels"Stories" of Tolstoy, who lived in 100 years after him. By comparing texts, we can easily find similarity in the political environment in Tsarist Russia in the 19th century. And in the Soviet Union in the 20th century, but, more importantly, with the one that exists in the Russian Federation at the beginning of the 21st century.
It must be said that, in addition to “History from Gostomysl to Timashev,” Count A.K. Tolstoy in his time wrote many similar works, suitable “for all times.” They are given in other sections on this site, but for now let’s return to “History” and get acquainted with its Continuation in the Soviet period.
CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY of Count A.K. Tolstoy
From AlexanderIIto the General Secretary of the CPSU Brezhnev
wrote in 1975. Author of the magazine "Bat"
Evgeny Borisovich Chernyavsky
Once upon a time I made up a simple tale from blades of grass
Thin, humble monk, Count Alexei Tolstoy.
I won’t compete with him, even if you ask me forever,
I, too, will not find order in Rus'.
And the stones are now slicker, it’s scary to look at them!
Well, okay, sit closer, I’ll gossip something.
1903 - 1907. WAR WITH JAPAN and REVOLUTION.
I’ll start from afar - the twentieth century has arrived.
Beat us from the East, we are in rebellion, dieOrdnung- weg! (Order out!)
The king was then frightened:
“Mein Tron ist gar nicht fest!” (“The throne is not at all strong!”)
He ordered the Manifesto to be posted at our windows.
There was a lot of noise here, and yet, finally,
We sat down to think about the Duma in the Tauride Palace.
Other people's fashions have gone - well, just Renaissances:
They set up factories, Modern and Decadence.
The land, as of old, is vast, as of old, there is no order,
We were sitting quietly in front of the Duma, but then our neighbor attacked.
1914 ― 1917. WAR WITH GERMANY. Overthrow of the king.
To get rid of the Germans, we overthrew the royal throne,
They set up a board of temporary persons.
There are free newspapers, cadets and Soviets,
Let's go write pamphlets - freedom is not in vain!
Scolded defeatists, bourgeois, renegades,
Pops, Jews, Germans, each other and the Tsar!
Ilyich came to us from the Finlyandsky Station,
He made his famous speech from an armored car.
In this April speech, he called on all power
Give it to the Soviets as quickly as possible, give it to the Soviets as quickly as possible.
[Soon Ilyich prevailed over the temporary power,
And it was in October, and it happened at night].
Since then, fortunately, the Bolsheviks have been in power,
Sharing this power is considered rude.
1918-1920. CIVIL WAR
They drove out the Founder, removed the “er” from the ends,
And whoever reached into the bottle experienced the severity of the measures.
Decrees shook the country many times;
The capital was carefully moved to Moscow.
To restore order, they arranged a Cheka.
However, order was not sweet for the peasant.
Moreover, life was unfulfilled, and with such melancholy
Both secretly and openly the men rebelled.
Individual figures from them gathered an army
And they started to fight against the dictatorship.
Estonians and Livonians, Ukrainians, Finns -
Everyone has become foreigners, God will sort them out!
Poles and Cossacks They beat us again and again,
Sometimes we back away like crayfish, sometimes we move forward.
There was such a slaughter that there was a groan throughout the entire Earth.
I have nothing to add here: they harassed each other.
1921-1924. NEP. Death of Lenin.
When we made peace, we wondered: where is the bread?
Ilyich said: “Have you fasted? Enough. There will be NEP!”
With this NEP, the people soon straightened their flesh,
But immediately, as if on a mountain, the Lord called the leader.
[When he died, he looked around his people and his country,
But all his property was worth nothing compared to the order — per. with him. ].
Before his death, he bequeathed us to the Georgians.
So that there is no sadness, he promised the people:
“The Georgian is mustachioed and disgusting, he doesn’t behave like that,
But still, he will quickly restore order.”
1924-1953. SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE CPSU (b) - I.V. STALIN.
The mustachioed new leader was serious:
Sometimes he put us into fear and trembling for no reason.
« Caring about order, he thought, bustle,
While our beds are filled with weeds and crowded conditions».
Deciding to get some sense out of us this time,
He began cleaning and weeding at the same hour.
Since then the fun began - we live happily:
For fun, we call weeding planting.
We became very rare and waited to see whose turn it was.
Who was trash and who was sweets, they didn’t know in advance.
Swallowed all the pills, didn’t wince from the enemas:
Collective farms, five-year plans - and lo and behold - socialism!
I’ve already restored my mustachioed order,
Yes, the possessed German led troops against us.
1941 - 1945. THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR.
[ INThe war was without mercy. It was hard for us at first
Then they fought better: the German army surrendered— per. with him. ].
We thought we would enjoy the fruits of victory in freedom:
There is more land now, but there is no order.
1953. Death of I.V. Stalin.
But the leader constantly put us in order,
He worked incessantly and did not spare his health.
And he took ill and died soon; we had to cry.
When suffering from grief, there were no casualties.
1956 - 1964. GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE CPSU N.S. Khrushchev
But the holy place will not be empty for long:
The heirs were choking until they crunched for power.
They fought at the trough, but he was fat and brave,
Nikita defeated everyone, which justified his name. [Nikita (Greek) - on behalf of the goddess of victory Nike]
Nikita judged the order with his saltyk,
He played hide and seek with the mustachioed man and stuck out his tongue.
Said: “Die Usatiy, and the cult with him, we don’t give a damn.
Follow me, guys, we’ll show you the motherfucker!”
To restore order means to build communism!
He’s there, you see, looming!” And fell into voluntarism".
That’s why Nikita sunk into oblivion like an axe.
This cannot be understood until now.
Since 1964 - SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE CPSU BREZHNEV and MEMBERS OF THE POLITIBURO.
And on the empty stage, having descended to our needs,
May the Lord provide a replacement very learned husband.
Since then we have had different management,
Another way to restore order in Rus'.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
It’s awkward to climb a mountain, slipping on pebbles.
That's why I'm finishing up and no longer walking:
And I really feel a chill under my belly.
There is no point in walking near geese in empty boasting -
Know your limits in impudence, like the monk Alexei.
When reading these verses, reader, do not be strict,
Having thought about the subject, forgive the clumsy syllable.
Evgeny Chernyavsky. Poems and drawings. 1975
A. K. Tolstoy
History of the Russian State
from Gostomysl to Timashev
This is the name that has stuck with us for the poem by Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, which he wrote in 1868. This poem - clearly humorous, even satirical - in an assertive style sets out the basic facts of Russian history and therefore, probably, it can serve as an invaluable guide for today's schoolchildren on the subject "History of the Fatherland." In any case, I myself learned history from Tolstoy’s poem.
By the way, studying history is extremely useful. I will give just one fairly well-known example. The husband bursts into the house and shouts to his wife from the threshold: “I know everything, this is how you are!” And in response he hears the imperturbable: “Yes? Do you know everything? But when was the Battle of Grunwald? Most likely, after this, the husband will immediately understand that he got a little excited.
Returning to the poem by A.K. Tolstoy: probably, the ability to be a textbook on Russian history is not its only advantage, otherwise it is difficult to explain why it has been extremely popular for almost a century and a half. And this despite the fact that a certain level of education is still required from the reader: Count Tolstoy, a child of his enlightened age, is not at all embarrassed in choosing a language if he needs to rhyme something. Therefore, no edition of the “History of the Russian State” is complete without commentary. From time to time we will stop reading to coordinate our understanding of the underlined words and expressions.
So, let's get started? Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, “History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev.”
Our whole land is great and abundant, but there is no decoration in it. Nestor, chronicle, pp. 8
| 1 Listen, guys, to what your grandfather will tell you. Our land is rich, but there is no order in it. 2 And this truth, children, For a thousand years our ancestors have realized: There is no order, you see. 3 And they all stood under the banner, And they said: “What should we do? Let's send to the Varangians: Let them come to reign. 4 After all, the Germans are tolerant, They know darkness and light, Our land is rich, There is just no order in it.” 5 The messengers went there quickly and said to the Varangians: “Come, gentlemen! 6 We will give you gold, like Kyiv sweets; Our land is rich, but there is no order in it.” | 7 The Varangians felt terrified, but they thought: “What’s going on here? Trying is not a joke - Let’s go if they invite you!” 8 And then three brothers came, middle-aged Varangians, They looked - the land was rich, but there was no order at all. 9 “Well,” they think, “a team! Here the devil will break his leg, Es ist ja eine Schande, Wir müssen wieder fort" 10 But the elder brother Rurik, “Wait,” he said to others, Fortgeh "n wär" ungebührlich, Vielleicht ist"s nicht so schlimm. 11 Even though the team is lousy, Almost one is just trash; Wir bringen "s schon zustande, Versuchen wir einmal" 12 And he began to reign strongly, He reigned for seventeen years, The land was abundant, There was no order! |
In the Tale of Bygone Years, in a fragment for the year 862, we read: “... And there was no truth among them, and they had strife, and they began to fight with themselves. And they said to themselves: “Let’s look for a prince who would rule us and judge us by right...” The advice to invite Rurik and other “Varangians” to Novgorod came from the noble Novgorodian Gostomysl. Tolstoy’s Varangians speak to each other in a modern and, for some reason, German language, and they say the following.
Es ist ja eine Schande, wir müssen wieder fort(es ist ya aine shande, vir mussen vider fort) - what a shame: we have to get away again (German).
Fortgeh"n wär" ungebührlich, vielleicht ist"s nicht so schlimm(fortgein vär ungebürlich, villleicht ists niht so schlim) - if we leave, then all sorts of conversations will start... maybe things are not so bad (German).
Wir bringen "s schon zustande, versuchen wir einmal(vir bringens shon tsushtande, ferzuhen vir ainmal) - may we cope: not gods, tea, pots are burned (German).
| 13 Prince Igor reigned after him, And Oleg ruled over him, Das war ein großer Krieger And a smart man. 14 Then Olga reigned, and after Svyatoslav; So ging die Reihenfolge of the pagan powers. 15 When Vladimir ascended to his father’s throne, Da endigte für immer Die alte Religion. 16 He suddenly said to the people: “After all, our gods are rubbish, Let’s go and be baptized in water!” AND Jordan made us. 17 “Perun is very disgusting! When we push him off, you’ll see what order we’ll create!” | 18 He sent for priests to Athens and Constantinople. The priests came in droves, cross themselves and burn incense, 19 sing to themselves touchingly and fill their pouch; The earth, as it is, is abundant, but there is no order. 20 Vladimir died of grief, without creating order. The Great Yaroslav soon began to reign after him. 21 Perhaps there would be order with this; But out of love for children, he divided the whole earth. 22 It was a bad service, And the children, seeing that, Let's push each other: Who is what and what is what! |
The Varangians quietly dissuaded each other, but the author - apparently by inertia - continues to actively use German words and expressions, rhyming them with Russian ones. He does it very naturally.
Das war ein großer Krieger (das war ein großer Krieger) - he was an outstanding warrior (German).
So ging die Reihenfolge (so ging di Reihenfolge) - this is the order in which the change took place (German).
Da endigte für immer die alte Religion(yes endigte für immer di alte religion) - it was then that the old religion ended forever (German).
Jordan made us- that is, he converted the pagan Kievites to Christianity, driving them into the waters of the Dnieper. As you know, Jesus Christ himself was baptized in the Jordan River.
| 23 The Tatars found out: “Well,” they thought, “don’t be a coward!” We put on trousers and arrived in Rus'. 24 “Because of your supposed argument, the Earth has gone upside down. Wait, we’ll soon bring you Order.” 25 They shout: “Let’s pay tribute!” (At least bring the saints.) There is a lot of all sorts of rubbish here in Rus'. 26 Every day, brother brings word against brother to the horde; The earth seems to be rich, but there is no order at all. 27 Ivan the Third appeared; He says: “You’re being naughty! We are no longer children!” I sent shish to the Tatars. | 28 And now the land is free from all evils and troubles and is very fertile, but still there is no order. 29 Ivan the Fourth came, He was the Third’s grandson; Grated roll for the kingdom And the spouses of many wives. 30 Ivan Vasilich the Terrible His name was Because he was a serious, respectable man. 31 He is not sweet in his ways, But he is not lame in his mind; This one has established order, At least roll it with a ball! 32 One could live carefreely under such a king; But ah! nothing lasts forever - And Tsar Ivan will die! |
From the colorful scene of the Tatars pulling on their trousers to the first (that is, the Third) Ivan Vasilyevich, who sent a mysterious shish to the Tatars - two and a half centuries flashed by completely unnoticed, isn’t it?
Name - that is, by name. Tolstoy’s parody of official papers, in which the word “name” sometimes served as a substitute for the real name: “such and such.”
| 33 Fedor began to reign after him, a living contrast to the Father; He was not a cheerful mind, he was only too keen to ring a bell. 34 Boris, the Tsar's brother-in-law, was seriously smart, dark-haired, not bad-looking, and sat on the Tsar's throne. 35 With him everything went smoothly, the former evils disappeared, there was a little bit of order in the land he did not bring. 36 Unfortunately, the impostor, out of nowhere, gave us such a dance that Tsar Boris died. 37 And, having climbed onto Boris’s place, this impudent one swung his legs with joy with his bride. | 38 Although he was a brave guy and not even a fool, But under his power the Pole began to rebel. 39 Otherwise it is not to our hearts; And then one night We gave them pepper and drove them all away. 40 Vasily ascended the throne, But soon the whole earth asked Him to come down. 41 The Poles returned, the Cossacks were brought; There was confusion and fights: Poles and Cossacks, 42 Cossacks and Poles They beat us again and again; Without a king, we are like crayfish. We are grieving broke. |
Time of Troubles... The impudent man dangling his legs on the throne is the so-called False Dmitry the First, who became the Russian Tsar in 1605 and was killed by conspirators the following year. Those times were indeed very troubled. Never again have the Poles felt more confident with us than then. One of the boyars-conspirators, Vasily Shuisky, replaced False Dmitry on the Moscow throne, but, as they say, failed to cope with control, brought matters to the point of Swedish intervention, was overthrown and died in Polish captivity.
The ancient word paki means “again”, “again”.
| 43 The passions were direct - Not worth a penny. It is known that without power you cannot go far. 44 In order to straighten the royal throne and elect a king again, Minin and Pozharsky quickly gathered an army. 45 And the power of the Poles drove them out again, and the Earth brought Michael to the Russian throne. 46 It happened in the summer; But was there an agreement? The story about this remains silent until now. 47 Warsaw and Vilna sent us their greetings; The land was abundant - There was no order. 48 Alexey sat down as king, then begat Peter. A new time has come for the state. | 49 Tsar Peter loved order, Almost like Tsar Ivan, And he was also not sweet, Sometimes he was drunk. 50 He said: “I feel sorry for you, you will perish completely; But I have a stick, And I am the father of you all!.. 51 Not until Christmas time I will give you order!” And immediately went to Amsterdam for order. 52 Returning from there, He shaved us clean, And for Christmas, it’s a miracle, He dressed us up like Dutchmen. 53 But this, however, is a joke, I don’t blame Peter: Giving a sick stomach Rhubarb is good for you. 54 Although the technique was very strong, perhaps; But still, Order became quite strong under him. |
But was there an agreement - the minor Mikhail was elevated to the throne in 1613 (he became the founder of the Romanov royal dynasty). According to legend, he allegedly signed some kind of paper that limited his autocratic power.
“But I have a stick, and I am the father of you all!..” - Peter’s logic appears as presented by A.K. Tolstoy is unusually convincing. In the next passage, Russia will also receive a mother - in the person of Catherine the Second.
| 55 But sleep overtook the grave of Peter in the prime of his life, You see, the earth is abundant, There is no order again. 56 Many people reigned here, meekly or strictly, Not too many kings, But more queens. 57 Biron reigned under Anna; He was a real gendarme, We sat as if in a bath with him, daß Gott erbarm! 58 There was a cheerful queen: Elizabeth was singing and having fun, but there was no order. 59 What is the reason for this and where is the root of evil, Catherine herself could not comprehend. 60 “Madame, with you Order will bloom marvelously,” Voltaire and Diderot wrote to her politely, “ | 61 It is only necessary for the people, to whom you are the mother, to give freedom as quickly as possible, to give freedom as quickly as possible.” 62 “Messieurs,” She objected to them, “vous me comblez,” and immediately pinned the Ukrainians to the ground. 63 After her, Paul, the Maltese cavalier, began to reign, But he did not exactly rule in a knightly manner. 64 Tsar Alexander the First Came to replace him, His nerves were weak, But he was a gentleman. 65 When Bonaparte pushed an army of one hundred thousand against us in excitement, He began to retreat. 66 It seemed, well, below you can’t sit in a hole, And lo and behold: we’re already in Paris, With Louis le Désiré. |
At the mere mention of the Duke of Courland Ernst Biron, the de facto ruler during the reign of Peter the Great’s niece Anna, Tolstoy cannot resist a contrite exclamation addressed to the Lord, again in German: “... daß Gott erbarm!” (das Gott Erbarm) - “... save and have mercy!”
Talking about Catherine the Mother, the author confines himself mainly to her polite correspondence with Voltaire and Diderot (Diderot in French). Madame (madam) - this is how philosophers address Catherine, followed by many pleasant words for her. “Messieurs, vous me comblez (Monsieur, vous me comblez), “Gentlemen, you are too kind to me,” the great German woman on the Russian throne affectionately answers the French.
The mysterious disappearance in Russia of the “hundred-thousand-strong army of the gambling Bonaparte” (and at first it seemed that it was inferior to her, Russia, “you can’t sit in a hole”) so struck Europe that Alexander the First’s desire to see the middle-aged Louis (or Louis) at the head of France - Louis le Désiré (Louis le desiré); désiré means “desired” in French) was readily performed.
| 67 At that time, the color of Russia blossomed very much, the Earth was abundant, there was no such thing as order. 68 The last legend I would write mine, But I expect punishment, I’m afraid of Monsieur Veillot. 69 It can be slippery to walk on some pebbles. So, we’d better keep silent about what’s close. 70 Let’s better leave the thrones, Let’s move on to the ministers. But what do I hear? groans, and screams, and sodom! | 71 What do I see! Only in fairy tales do we see such an outfit; The Ministers roll everything on small sleds. 72 From the mountain with a loud cry In corpore, in full, Sliding, they carry their names to their descendants. 73 This is Norov, this is Putyatin, this is Panin, this is Metlin, this is Brok, this is Zamyatnin, this is Korf, this is Golovnin. 74 There are many, very many of them, It is impossible to remember them all, And down the same road they fly, gliding. |
“It can be slippery to walk on some pebbles.” This wise thought gives Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy an excellent opportunity to finish with historiography and move on to listing names that were more relevant for his time, but names that are no longer from the first row. Having mentioned Monsieur Veillot (Monsieur Veillot) (Baron I. O. Velio had headed the postal department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs since 1868 and was a constant target of ridicule from A.K. Tolstoy), the author fluently, in corpore (in corpore - in Latin: in general, in full force) lists other high-ranking officials. Among them we see famous people of that time: members of the State Council, admirals, academicians and counts. Over the years, these people headed the Ministry of Public Education (A. S. Norov, E. V. Putyatin and A. V. Golovnin), the Censorship Committee (M. A. Korf), the Ministry of Justice (V. N. Panin and D. N. Zamyatnin), as well as the Ministry of Finance (P.F. Brock).
| 75 I am a sinner: the chronicler I forgot my syllable; I couldn’t resist the picturesque picture. 76 Lyricism, capable of anything, I know, is in my blood; O Rev. Nestor, you inspire me. 77 Calm my conscience, My diligence is in vain, And give me my story to finish without cunning. 78 So, starting again, I end my column from the birth of Christ in the year sixty-eight. 79 Seeing that things were getting worse for us, the Lord sent us a lot of husbands. | 80 For our consolation, To us, like the light of dawn, Timashev reveals Your face - Establish order. 81 That I am a great sinner On these mortal sheets, Not hastily added or copied, 82 Reading from front and back all the days, Correct the truth for the sake of truth, Do not curse the Scriptures. 83 Compiled from the blades of grass This unwise Thin Humble Monk, Servant of God Alexey, compiled a story. 1868 |
And finally, the ending. Having completely “forgotten his chronicle style,” Tolstoy did not forget about the main idea that runs like a refrain through the entire poem. The name of this thought is Order. And Order is, as you know, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was this department that was headed since 1868 by Alexander Egorovich Timashev, who was not at all very popular in liberal circles. But now, when the history of the Russian state has been replenished since the time of Tolstoy with a new century and a half, bloody and great, we can hardly be seriously interested in Timashev himself and Tolstoy’s attitude towards him...
Written in 1868, “The History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev” first saw the light only 15 years later, in 1883, after the death of A.K. Tolstoy. It’s interesting: if someone could adequately continue his “History” now - from Timashev to, say, Kudrin - what would come of it now?
Valentin Antonov, September 2008
Konstantin LAZAREVICH
Experience in literary and historical commentary
“History of the Russian State...” A.K. Tolstoy
Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy is not very fond of school curricula. “My bells...” in elementary school (and then usually in a truncated form), and maybe “Among the noisy ball...” in the ninth grade. And he deserves more. He was an excellent lyricist, and as a satirist he remained, perhaps, unsurpassed. The quality of his verse always meets the highest requirements, regardless of whether it is a gentle lyrical poem, a funny joke or an evil satire.
Written more than one hundred and thirty years ago, “The History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev” attracts attention primarily by its title. True, the poem was not published for a long time due to censorship reasons, and this is only one of the options for the title, but undoubtedly the author’s. The first of the persons mentioned in the title is legendary: the Novgorod mayor, who allegedly invited the Varangians to reign; the second is completely real: minister under Alexander II.
Listen guys
What will grandfather tell you?
Our land is rich
There is just no order in it.And this truth, children,
For a thousand years
Our ancestors realized:
There is no order, you see.
These two stanzas set the tone for the entire poem. In terms of content, the main theme is the theme of order, which still cannot be built in Rus'. And the rhyme with “no,” which, of course, relates to order, occurs thirteen times in the eighty-three quatrains of “History...”. The form is light iambic trimeter, simple cross rhyme, lively colloquial language without pretensions to learning or poetic sophistication; however, the conclusion about the unpretentiousness of the language will probably be hasty; surprises will begin a few quatrains later, when a foreign language suddenly wedges itself into Russian speech.
Now our historians do not like or recognize the Norman theory, but here it appears as something given in advance, as a condition of the task that is not discussed:
And then three brothers came,
Middle-aged Varangians
They look - the land is rich,
There is no order at all.“Well,” they think, “a team!
Here the devil will break his leg,
Es ist ja eine Schande,
Wir mu..ssen wieder fort” * .
* It's a shame we should get away (German).
The Varangians are foreigners to us; they speak an incomprehensible language. But don’t force them to speak Norwegian or Swedish; and no one will be able to read it. Let it be in German, they still fall into the category of Germans in the old sense. The poet handles the German language artistically, easily rhyming Russian words with German ones, as in the above stanza and those following it. (Later, the author uses French just as freely.) What, for example, can the name Igor rhyme with? In Russian, perhaps, it is difficult, you have to look for a non-standard solution:
Prince Igor reigned behind him,
And Oleg ruled them,
Das war ein grosser Krieger**
And a smart person.
** It was a great warrior (German).
Interesting formulation: Igor reigned, and Oleg ruled Igor. In textbooks and dictionaries Oleg is usually called a prince, but Rurik’s son (at least that’s what the chronicle says) was Igor, and Oleg ruled during his childhood. And not so young: Igor married Olga in 904, and became a full-fledged prince after Oleg’s death eight years later. In short, the careful formulation shows quite well the complexity of the situation itself:
When did Vladimir join
To your father's throne,
Da endigte fu..r immer
Die alte Religion.
Yes, with the arrival of Vladimir the old religion ended forever. The Varangian princes became completely Russian, and along with the old religion, the German language ended (although, as we will see later, not fu..r immer, not forever).
The poet describes the historical event - the baptism of Rus' - without much respect:
He suddenly said to the people:
“After all, our gods are rubbish,
Let’s go and get baptized in the water!”
And he made Jordan for us.
...........................
The priests came in droves
They cross themselves and burn incense,
Sing to yourself touchingly
And they fill their pouch...
A pouch is not a pouch for tobacco; it didn’t exist in Rus' at that time; no, for money.
Vladimir did not create order. His son, the great Yaroslav (the Wise), could have built it,
But out of love he for children
He divided the whole land.
The service was bad
And the children, seeing that,
Let's tease each other:
Who how and what into what!
The time begins, which historians call the period of feudal fragmentation. This plays into the hands of external enemies:
The Tatars found out:
“Well,” they think, “don’t be a coward!”
We put on bloomers,
We arrived in Rus'.
They were going to restore order, but it turned out even worse. Two centuries later, Ivan III, however, expelled the Tatars (sent shish to the Tatars), but order was destined to be created only by his grandson, Ivan IV.
The receptions are not sweet,
But the mind is not lame;
This one put things in order,
At least roll the ball!I could live carefree
Under such a king;
But ah! nothing lasts forever -
And Tsar Ivan died!
What is the value of the phrase “You could live carelessly // Under such a king,” you can understand by reading “Prince Serebryany”; in this novel the attitude of A.K. Tolstoy to Ivan the Terrible.
Fedor began to reign after him,
A living contrast to my father;
Was not a vigorous mind,
It’s just too much to call.
Indeed, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich was weak-minded (his mind was not vigorous), but most of all he loved the ringing of bells, listened with pleasure and rang them himself.
Then a series of rulers: Boris Godunov, the Pretender, Vasily Shuisky. And behind him
The Poles have returned
The Cossacks were brought in;
There was confusion and fights:
Poles and Cossacks,
Cossacks and Poles
They beat us again and again,
We are like crayfish without a king
We're broke.
There has been such turmoil in Rus', we are being beaten so endlessly that the author even, for the only time in the entire “History...”, abandoned the usual rhyming: instead of abab cdcd in the last two quatrains, he insistently repeats one rhyme - abaa aaab. And so, realizing that you can’t go far without power, the earth placed Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov on the royal throne. This is followed by a stanza that is amazing in its boldness even for A.K. Tolstoy, a man close to the court; he was allowed many things that others could not even dream of.
It happened in the summer;
But was there an agreement -
The story about this
He remains silent until now.
Even if this is not a doubt about the legitimacy (nowadays they like to say legitimacy) of the dynasty ruling at that time, but just an assumption that Mikhail Romanov gave some obligations limiting his power, as they now write in the notes to Tolstoy’s text, it is unlikely who else could dare to say such a thing.
But Mikhail did not restore order, and the author mentions his son only because his son was Peter. Further we can’t do without a big quote:
Tsar Peter loved order
Almost like Tsar Ivan,
And it was also not sweet,
Sometimes he was drunk.He said: “I feel sorry for you,
You will perish completely;
But I have a stick
And I am the father of you all!..”
.............................
But this is, however, a joke,
I don't blame Peter:
Give the patient a stomach
Useful for rhubarb.Although he is very strong
There might have been a reception;
But still quite durable
There was order with him.
...meekly or strictly
There were many faces.
There are not too many kings
And more queens.
Indeed: Catherine I (2 years), Peter II (3 years), Anna Ivanovna (10 years), Ivan VI (1 year), Elizaveta Petrovna (20 years), Peter III (1 year), Catherine II (34 years) , Paul I (5 years); Even if women do not predominate numerically in the post-Petrine era of the 18th century (five to five), but in terms of time of reign the advantage is overwhelming: 66 years versus 10; but there was also Anna Leopoldovna, regent under the young Ivan VI.
Biron reigned under Anna;
He was a real gendarme,
We sat as if in a bath
With him, dab Gott erbarm! ***
*** So God have mercy!
So the German language has returned - along with the dominance of the Germans in Russia, which lasted much longer than the Bironovism.
And no one ever created order in Russia - neither the cheerful Queen Elizabeth, nor even Catherine: instead of quickly giving freedom to her people, giving freedom as soon as possible, she immediately attached the Ukrainians to the land - liquidated the Zaporozhye Sich and introduced serfdom in Ukraine.
Paul began to reign after her,
Maltese Cavalier,
But he didn't quite rule
In a knightly manner.Tsar Alexander the First
Came to him in return,
His nerves were weak,
But he was a gentleman.
This is already, as they would say now, on the verge of a foul. After all, Pavel and Alexander are the grandfather and uncle of the emperor, under whom all this was written. This is how Alexander I was characterized in the war of 1812:
When we're excited
Army of a hundred thousand
Pushed Bonaparte,
He began to retreat.It seemed, well, lower
You can't sit in a hole
And lo and behold: we’re already in Paris,
With Louis le DeRsire.
They took Paris, placed Louis XVIII the Desired on the throne (Louis le DeRsire), whom, by the way, the author rhymes very irreverently; it would seem that everything is in order. But that’s what’s missing:
At that time it was very
The color of Russia has blossomed,
The land was abundant
There is no order at all.
And not a word more about the kings, otherwise Monsieur Veillot (Baron I. O. Velho, director of the postal department), looking through other people's correspondence - such a sin was committed by him - will read something that was not intended for him:
Walking can be slippery
By other stones,
So, about what is close,
We'd better keep silent.Let's better leave our thrones,
Let's move on to the ministers.
And the author sees a picture that makes him forget his chronicle style and remember lyricism, capable of anything: ministers - listing them takes a whole quatrain - roll down the mountain on a small sled, taking their names to their descendants. They are all one-day butterflies and will be immediately forgotten. The salvation of Russia lies in only one person:
Seeing that everything is getting worse
Things are going well for us
Quite a lot of husband
The Lord sent it down to us.For our consolation
To us, like the light of dawn,
Reveal your face Timashev -
The order of the courtyard.
Reveal and establish is not an imperative form, the author does not ask to restore order, he says that Timashev has already shown his face and established order, he speaks about this in a high syllable, using the archaic form of the past tense, which can mislead us.
The irony here is quite obvious. For a thousand years they could not restore order, but Timashev (he was the manager of the Third Department of His Imperial Majesty’s own chancellery, and by the time Tolstoy wrote “History...”, he became the Minister of Internal Affairs) came and restored order.
This poem can serve as an example of a deep understanding of history, although it is presented with a fair amount of humor, and in places there is a caustic satire.
P.S. We tried to compose a continuation of this “History...”, capturing times that were memorable to us all. But the short man is far from the hare. To do this you need to be Alexei Tolstoy. We would have thought that this was the only experience of such a presentation of history if Charles Dickens’s “History of England for Young People” had not appeared this year. As far as I know, this book was never included in our collected works of Dickens; I didn’t see any mention of her in the writer’s biography. This, of course, is not three hundred and thirty lines of poetry, but five hundred pages of prose. The excellent translation by T. Berdikova and M. Tyunkina conveys Dickensian language and the author’s attitude towards the persons and events he describes. The writer told the story for his children; he didn't try at all to embellish anything or anyone. Even the romantic king Richard the Lionheart is such an insidious scoundrel that is rarely encountered. The result is not so much the history of England as the history of the English kings, but what life was like for the people under these kings can be seen on almost every page. Here's a short example:
King James the Second was such an unpleasant person that to most historians his brother Charles seems just a darling in comparison.
Just from this phrase one can imagine what was said about brother Karl...
Perhaps we have yet to learn that other great writers have paid attention to their history in a similar way.
