Encyclopedia
Stepan Timofeyevich Razin was a
Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and Tsar's bureaucracy in South Russia.
Early life
Historians first hear of him in 1661 on a
diplomatic mission from the Don Cossacks to the
Kalmyk Tatars. That same year Razin went on a long-distance pilgrimage to the great
Solovetsky Monastery on the
White Sea for the benefit of his soul. After that all trace of him is lost for six years, when he reappears as the leader of a
robber community established at Panshinskoye, among the marshes between the rivers Tishina and Ilovlya, from whence he levied blackmail on all vessels passing up and down the
Volga.
A long war with
Poland in 1654-1667 and
Sweden in 1656-1658 put heavy demands upon the people of Russia.
Taxes increased as did
conscription. Many
peasants hoping to escape these burdens fled south and joined bands of Razin's marauding Cossacks. They were also joined by many other disaffected with the Russian government, including people of the lower classes as well as representatives of non-Russian ethnic groups that were being oppressed.
Razin's first considerable exploit was to destroy the great water caravan consisting of the treasury
barges and the barges of the
patriarch and the wealthy merchants of
Moscow. Razin then sailed down the Volga with a
fleet of thirty-five
galleys, capturing the more important
forts on his way and devastating the country. At the beginning of 1668 he defeated the
voivode Yakov Bezobrazov, sent against him from
Astrakhan, and in the spring embarked on a predatory expedition into
Persia which lasted for eighteen months.
Persian expedition
Sailing into the
Caspian Sea, he ravaged the Persian coasts from
Derbend to
Baku, massacred the inhabitants of the great emporium of
Rasht, and in the spring of 1669 established himself on the isle of Suina, off which, in July, he annihilated a Persian fleet sent against him. Stenka Razin, as he was generally called, had now become a potentate with whom
princes did not disdain to treat.
In August 1669 he reappeared at Astrakhan, and accepted a fresh offer of pardon from
tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich there; the common people were fascinated by his adventures. The lawless Russian border region of Astrakhan, where the whole atmosphere was predatory and many people were still
nomadic, was the natural milieu for such a rebellion as Razin's.
Open rebellion
In 1670 Razin, while ostensibly on his way to report himself at the
Cossack headquarters on the
Don, openly rebelled against the government, captured
Cherkassk,
Tsaritsyn and other places, and on June 24 burst into Astrakhan itself. After massacring all who opposed him and giving the rich
bazaars of the city over to pillage, he converted Astrakhan into a Cossack
republic, dividing the population into thousands, hundreds and tens, with their proper officers, all of whom were appointed by a
veche or general assembly, whose first act was to proclaim Stepan Timofeyevich their
gosudar .
After a three weeks carnival of blood and debauchery Razin quitted Astrakhan with two hundred barges full of troops to establish the Cossack republic along the whole length of the Volga, as a preliminary step towards advancing against Moscow.
Saratov and
Samara were captured, but
Simbirsk defied all efforts, and after two bloody encounters close at hand on the banks of the Sviyaga River , Razin was ultimately routed and fled down the Volga, leaving the bulk of his followers to be extirpated by the victors.
But the rebellion was by no means over. The emissaries of Razin, armed with inflammatory proclamations, had stirred up the inhabitants of the modern governments of
Nizhny Novgorod,
Tambov and
Penza, and penetrated even so far as Moscow and
Novgorod. It was not difficult to revolt the oppressed population by the promise of deliverance from their yoke. Razin proclaimed that his object was to root out the
boyars and all officials, to level all ranks and dignities, and establish Cossackdom, with its corollary of absolute equality, throughout
Muscovy.
Even at the beginning of 1671 the issue of the struggle was doubtful. Eight battles had been fought before the insurrection showed signs of weakening, and it continued for six months after Razin had received his quietus. At Simbirsk his prestige had been shattered. Even his own settlements at Saratov and Samara refused to open their gates to him, and the Don Cossacks, hearing that the
patriarch of Moscow had anathematized Stenka, also declared against him.
In 1671 he and his brother Frol Razin were captured at Kaganlyk, his last
fortress, and carried to Moscow, where, after tortures, Stepan was
quartered alive in the
Red Square at the
Lobnoye Mesto.
References
- Sakharov, Andrei Nikolaevich Stepan Razin Moskva, "Mol. gvardiia", 319 p. Biography in Russian.
- Field, Cecil The great Cossack; the rebellion of Stenka Razin against Alexis Michaelovitch, Tsar of all the Russias London, H. Jenkins, 125 p. Biography in English.
Song
Stenka Razin is the hero of a popular
Russian folk song , better known by the words
Volga, Volga mat' rodnaya. The song was dramatized in the very first Russian feature film, shot by Vasily Goncharov in 1908 and entitled
Ponizovaya Volnitsa. The melody was used by Tom Springfield in the song
The Carnival is Over that placed
The Seekers at #1 in 1965 in
Australia and the
UK.
| Words in Russian | Transcribed | English language version |
??-?? ??????? ?? ????????,
?? ??????? ?????? ?????,
????????? ?????????,
??????????? ?????.
| Iz-za ostrova na strezhen',
Na prostor rechnoy volny,
Vyplyvayut raspisnye,
Ostrogrudye chelny.
| From beyond the wooded island
To the river wide and free
Proudly sailed the arrow-breasted
Ships of Cossack yeomanry.
|
?? ???????? ??????? ?????,
?????????, ????? ? ???????,
??????? ????? ?????????,
??? ??????? ? ????????.
| Na perednem Sten'ka Razin,
Obnyavshis', sidit s knyazhnoy,
Svad'bu novuyu spravlyaet,
Sam veselyi i khmel'noy.
| On the first is Stenka Razin
With his princess by his side
Drunken holds in marriage revels
With his beauteous young bride
|
?????? ?? ?????? ?????:
??? ?? ???? ????????!
?????? ???? ? ??? ??????????
??? ?????? ????? ???? . . . .
| Pozadi ikh slyschen ropot:
Nas na babu promenyal!
Tol'ko noch' s nej provozilsja
Sam nautro baboy stal . . . .
| From behind there comes a murmur
"He has left his sword to woo;
One short night and Stenka Razin
Has become a woman, too."
|
???? ????? ? ????????
?????? ??????? ??????,
? ??????? ?????
????? ????????? ????.
| Etot ropot i nasmeshki
Slyshit groznyi ataman,
I mogucheju rukoju
Obnjal persijanki stan.
| Stenka Razin hears the murmur
Of his discontented band
And his lovely Persian princess
He has circled with his hand.
|
????? ?????? ???????,
??????????? ?????.
?????? ?????? ????????
????????? ?????.
| Brovi chornye soshlisya,
Nadvigaetsya groza.
Buynoy krov'yu nalilisya
Atamanovy glaza.
| His dark brows are drawn together
As the waves of anger rise;
And the blood comes rushing swiftly
To his piercing jet black eyes.
|
"?????? ?? ???????,
????? ?????? ?????!" —
????????? ????? ????????
?? ????????? ???????.
| "Nichevo ne pozhaleyu,
Bujnu golovu otdam!" —
Razdayotsya golos vlastnyi
Po okrestnym beregam.
| "I will give you all you ask for
Head and heart and life and hand."
And his voice rolls out like thunder
Out across the distant land.
|
"?????, ?????, ???? ??????,
?????, ??????? ????,
?? ?????? ?? ???????
?? ???????? ??????!
| "Volga, Volga, mat' rodnaya,
Volga, russkaya reka,
Ne khotela ty podarka
Ot donskovo kazaka!
| Volga, Volga, Mother Volga
Wide and deep beneath the sun,
You have never such a present
From the Cossacks of the Don.
|
????? ?? ???? ???????
????? ???????? ??????,
?????, ?????, ???? ??????,
??, ????????? ??????!"
| Shtoby ne bylo razdora
Mezhdu vol'nymi ljud'mi,
Volga, Volga, mat' rodnaja,
Na, krasavitsu voz'mi!"
| So that peace may reign forever
In this band so free and brave
Volga, Volga, Mother Volga
Make this lovely girl a grave.
|
?????? ??????? ?????????
?? ????????? ??????
? ?? ???? ?? ???????
? ?????????? ?????.
| Moshchnym vzmakhom podnimaet
On krasavitsu knyazhnu
I za bort eyo brosaet
V nabezhavshuyu volnu.
| Now, with one swift mighty motion
He has raised his bride on high
And has cast her where the waters
Of the Volga roll and sigh.
|
"??? ? ??, ??????, ?????????
??, ??, ??????, ????, ?????!
?????? ????? ??????
?? ????? ?? ????!.."
| "Shto zh vy, bratsy, priunyli?
Ej, ty, Fil'ka, chert, pljashi!
Grjanem pesnyu udaluyu
Na pomin ee dushi!.."
| What is this that's in your eyes?
"Dance, you fools, and let's be merry
Let us thunder out a chantey
To the place where beauty lies."
|
??-?? ??????? ?? ????????,
?? ??????? ?????? ?????,
????????? ?????????
??????????? ?????.
| Iz-za ostrova na strezhen',
Na prostor rechnoy volny,
Vyplyvajut raspisnye
Ostrogrudiye chelny.
| From beyond the wooded island
To the river wide and free
Proudly sailed the arrow-breasted
Ships of Cossack yeomanry.
|
