What is Ivan Susanin famous for? Ivan Susanin: biography, feat

Ivan Susanin was a peasant who lived in the Kostroma district. In the history of Russia he is known as a man who saved the tsar (Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov) from the Polish invaders. To date, there is no reliable information about the personality of this national hero. According to historical chronicles, Susanin served as a prefect in the village of Domnino, Kostroma Uyezd. A detachment of Polish interventionists asked Ivan Osipovich to bring them to his village, where the Tsar Mikhail Romanov was staying . For this Susanin relied. Instead, the future hero led the Poles into a dense forest. After some wanderings, the interventionists guessed that the man had decided to destroy them. After prolonged torture over the peasant, they realized that he would not indicate the road leading to the village. The Poles killed Susanin. But the murderers themselves soon died in the forest marshes. Today the name of this noble person is immortalized. And the proof of the hero's existence is a letter handed to his son-in-law. And also the remains of a person found under Kostroma, which, apparently, belonged to Susanin. Well, now we will consider in more detail what famous Ivan Susanin is and we will study some facts of his biography.

Time of life of Ivan Susanin

Before going directly to the very feat and personality of Ivan Osipovich Susanin, I would like to acquaint the reader with the period in which the great martyr lived. So, it was in the first half of the XVII century. In the early 1600s, Russia was surrounded by unprecedented class, natural and religious cataclysms. It was during this period that the famous famine of 1601-1603, the seizure of the throne by an impostor, the coming to power of Basil Shuisky, the Polish invasion of 1609, as well as the militia of 1611 and many other incidents occurred.

A great misfortune came to the Kostroma region, where Ivan Susanin lived , whose biography leaves a lot of blank spots. The episodes that characterize that time include: the destruction of Kostroma in 1608-1609 by Falsdmitry II, an attack on the Ipatievsky Monastery, the destruction of Kineshma by Polish troops and other bloody events.

Whether the events described above, namely anxiety, internecine quarrels and invasion of the enemies, attitude to Susanin and his relatives, or to some time bypassed their kind of party, are unknown. But all this era is the time when Ivan Susanin lived. And the war itself came to the hero's house when, it seemed, it was already over.

Susanin's personality

Ivan Susanin, whose biography contains very little known facts, the person is still interesting. Little is known about the existence of this man. We only know that Ivan had a daughter with an unusual name for our time - Antonida. Her husband was a peasant Bogdan Sabinin. Susanin had two grandchildren - Constantine and Daniel, but when they were born, it is not known.

Also there is no information about the wife of Ivan Osipovich. Historians are inclined to believe that at the time the peasant committed the feat, she was no longer alive. And since Antonida was 16 at the same time, scientists answered that he had been in adulthood when asked how many years Ivan Susanin was when he led the Poles into the forest. That is it is about 32-40 years.

When everything happened

Today, many know what Ivan Susanin is famous for, and what a feat he accomplished. But about the year and at what time everything happened, there are several versions. Opinion one: the event took place in the late autumn of 1612. As an argument in favor of this date, the following information is provided. In some legends we are talking about the fact that Ivan hid the king in the pit of a recently burned barn. Also, the story tells that the hero also covered the hole with charred boards. But this theory was denied by most researchers. If this is still true, and the ancient legends do not lie, then it was really in the fall, as the bays were drowned and burned at this time of the year.

Or maybe the last winter month of 1613?

In the minds of ordinary people, thanks to numerous art paintings, literary works and Mikhail Glinka's opera, the image of Ivan Susanin, who led the Poles with snowdrifts through the forest, was firmly entrenched. And this is the generally accepted version. Therefore, there is reason to believe that the feat was committed somewhere in the second part of February or the first half of March. At this time, Poles were sent, who were to kill Tsar Michael, in order to destroy the stabilization of Russia and to continue the struggle for the right to become head of the Russian throne.

But one way or another, no one will ever know the truth about the exact date of accomplishing the feat. After all, an incredibly large number of important details remains a mystery. And those that managed to save, most likely, are misunderstood. What famous Ivan Susanin, we are aware of. And everything else, so it remains a myth.

Death of Susanin in the Village

In several historical chronicles in which Ivan Susanin hid Romanov in a pit in the village of Derevnishche, it is also said that in the same village of Ivan Osipovich Poles were tortured and then deprived of life. But this theory is not supported by any documents. This version was not supported by almost anyone who was engaged in researching the life of the famous hero.

The most common version of doom

The following theory regarding the death of the hero is the most famous and most supported by historians. According to her, Ivan Susanin, whose feat is described above, died on the Isupovsky swamp. And the image of a red pine that grew on the blood of a hero is considered incredibly poetic. The second name of the swamp sounds like "Pure", for it is washed by the suffering blood of Ivan Osipovich. But all this is only folklore speculation. But anyway, it is the swamp that is the main place of action of the entire Susan's exploit. The peasant in the quagmire drove the Poles, luring them into the very depths of the forest, away from the village they needed.

But with this, and there are many questions. If Ivan Susanin (the history of feats described above) died really in the swamp, then did all the Poles die after his death? Or have only a part of them sunk into oblivion? Who then said that the peasant is no longer alive? The death of the Poles is not mentioned in any documents that historians managed to find. But there is an opinion that the real (and not the folklore) hero Ivan died not in the swamp, but in some other place.

Death in Isupovo village

The third version of the death of Ivan says that he died not in the swamp, but in the village of Isupovo. This is evidenced by a document in which Susanin's great-grandson (Sobinin IL) asks the Empress Anna Ioannovna to confirm the privileges laid down by the descendants of Ivan Susanin. According to this petition, it was in this village of Ivan Osipovich that his death was overtaken. If you believe this legend, then the death of his countryman was seen by Isupovo residents. Then it turns out they brought bad news to the village of Domnino, and perhaps they brought the body of the deceased there.

This version is the only theory that has documentary evidence. It is considered the most real. In addition, the great-grandson, who was not so remote in time from his great-grandfather, could not help but know what Ivan Susanin is famous for, and where he died. Many historians also share this hypothesis.

Where Ivan Osipovich Susanin is buried

The question of where the grave of the Russian hero is located will be natural. If you believe the legend that he died exactly in Isupovo village, and not on the same bog, then the burial must be mandatory. It is assumed that the body of the deceased was buried in a cemetery near the Resurrection Church, which was a parish temple for the inhabitants of villages Derevnishche and Domnino. But this fact does not have weighty and plural proofs.

One can not but mention the fact that a little later after the burial, Ivan's body was reburied in the Ipatiev Monastery. This is also a version that does not have strong evidence. And she was rejected by almost all researchers of Susanin's feat.