Biography of Ivan Susanin and the historiography of the question

The name of this person is known today to every native schoolboy. The biography of Ivan Susanin is associated primarily with his famous feat, thanks to which the life of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich was saved. Yes, we are talking about the same event that happened with the Polish interventionists and about which each of us at least once, let him hear in life. It is the biography of Ivan Susanin that will become the main topic of this article. And also the difficulties associated with its restoration.

Ivan Susanin. Biography: Summary

This peasant was born in the village of Derevenki. As for his age, the researchers did not come to a consensus. Some argue that he was about 30-35 years old, others that he was old.

According to an unconfirmed legend, in the winter of 1612, when a significant part of the then Moscow kingdom was occupied by the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the peasant Ivan Susanin was hired by a detachment of Polish-Lithuanian troops. He was to become their guide to the village of Domnino, in which then was still the young Russian Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. However, the peasant deceived the invaders, telling them the wrong way. He led the Poles in the opposite direction, towards Isupovu, and sent to Domnino his own son-in-law with the news of the impending danger (the mention of the son-in-law and prompted historians to think about the hero's mature age).

When the deception was discovered, Ivan Susanin was brutally tortured, but the hero did not reveal the whereabouts of the young king. For this he was chopped into small pieces, forever remaining in that forest. Here, in general, and all the information that has the biography of Ivan Susanin.

There were versions that he was a feudal landowner, Shestov. Other researchers believed that this man was not an ordinary peasant, but a village headman.

Biography of Ivan Susanin and the problems of the historiography of the question

And here it turns out that not everything is so simple. Usually it is not difficult for historians to restore the biography of more or less famous figures of the modern era. It is more difficult to clarify the details of the events of earlier eras, since no documents or material evidence in sufficient quantity, as a rule, was preserved. And Ivan Susanin was not at all an important person.

Today we can restore events from the life of medieval kings and generals, comparing them with reformist activities, military campaigns and other acts that have left a mark on history. But who in the end of the XVI century was interested in individual peasants? For quite some time the only document mentioning this name was the letter of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. It mentioned Ivan Susanin himself, a biography short of this man, and also a general description of his exploit. The paper is dated 1619 year. Then it was handed to the relatives of the hero. There were other, later letters, but they only repeated the text of the first, nothing new was introduced.

It is interesting that the heroization of the image of this peasant began only at the dawn of the nineteenth century. Composer Sergei Glinka, historian and writer Dmitry Bantysh-Kamensky, famous poets of that time described him in his works as the real savior of the Russian tsar and national hero.

At the same time, even the reality of Susanin's personality was subjected to and questioned by a number of researchers. One such skeptic, for example, was the Russian historian Nikolai Karamzin.

The fact is that such a "Susanin" story is known and during the war, in which Bohdan Khmelnytsky participated . Then the Ukrainian Cossack Nikita Galagan led the Polish nobles into impassable jungle, thus ensuring victory for his army in the Battle of Korsun in 1648. There is an opinion that the legend of Ivan Susanin is inspired by this episode.

However, since the XIX century, the uncontrollable creation of the image that we know today has begun. Susanin began to devote poems, plays, novels and dramas. He got an honorable place in the work of famous cultural figures: Ryleeva, Polevoy, Glinka.

In 1838, at the behest of Emperor Nicholas I, the first monument to Susanin was erected in Russia. Thus, the peasant who was in oblivion for two centuries after his probable feat became a real national hero by the beginning of the 20th century.