Robber Kudeyar belongs to one of the most popular characters in folklore.

Stories about him were widespread in legends in all the southern and central provinces of Russia - from Smolensk to Saratov. They say that he lived in very ancient times - right up to the Time of Troubles. He put together a gang with which he robbed rich convoys. The names of many small geographical locations in Rus' (Kudeyarovka fortress, mountain, forest, Kudeyarovka village) are associated with his name. Very often there are stories about numerous treasures hidden by a robber, which were actively sought in the 19th century. based on forged letters and inventories.

There are about a hundred such Kudeyarov towns, where, according to legend, the robbers' treasures are buried, there are about a hundred known in Southern Russia. Especially many of these places were located within the Voronezh, Tula and Kaluga provinces. In the Bryansk forests they named places where treasures buried by Kudeyar were hidden. They said that lights flash over the stones covering these treasures, and twice a week at 12 o'clock the plaintive cry of a child is heard.

Among Kudeyar’s associates are the robber Anna, Boldyrya and his cursed daughter Lyubasha (her ghost appeared near the Optina Pustyn), as well as the famous associate.

“And then there was Kudeyar - this one didn’t rob anywhere! And in Kaluga, and in Tula, and to Ryazan, and to Yelets, and to Voronezh, and to Smolensk - he visited everywhere, set up his camps everywhere and buried many treasures in the ground, but all with curses: he was a terrible sorcerer. And what vile power he wielded: he would spread out his fur coat or retinue on the banks of a river, lake, or stream, and go to bed; sleeps with one eye, watches with the other: is there a chase somewhere; the right eye has fallen asleep - the left one is watching, and there the left one is sleeping, the right one is watching - so in alternation; and when he sees the detectives somewhere, he jumps to his feet, throws the sheepskin coat he was sleeping on into the water, and that sheepskin coat becomes not a sheepskin coat, but a boat with oars; Kudeyar gets into that boat - remember what his name was... And he died his own death - they couldn’t catch him, no matter how hard they tried.”

This is just one of the short biographies of Kudeyar that existed among the people. What real historical character is hidden behind this name? Many hypotheses have already been expressed on this score, but, alas, none of them sheds light on the mystery of Kudeyar.

The name Kudeyar itself, according to one version, comes from the Persian Xudāyār - “beloved by God.” According to another version, Kudeyar is Kuda Yary, i.e. Kudin Yary. Kudin is a form of the church name Akindin (from Greek “safe”). But most historians also agree that the name Kudeyar (Khudoyar) is of Tatar origin. Karamzin mentions the Crimean Murza Kudoyar, who in 1509 treated the Russian ambassador Morozov very rudely, calling him a “servant.” The Crimean and Astrakhan ambassadors are known with the same name. But, as often happened in the past, this name could have been adopted by the Russians from the Tatars. Since the area of ​​distribution of legends is very wide, researchers propose a version according to which the name Kudeyar could become a household name, and it was used by several atamans. “Kudeyar” was found as a proper name in the Voronezh, Tambov, Saratov, Kharkov, Kursk, Oryol, Tula, and Kaluga provinces. This is where the surname Kudeyarov came from. It is also mentioned that the word “kudeyar” could be the name of the Turkic position of tax collector.

When did Kudeyar live? Here the opinions are basically the same: in the middle of the 16th century. He was a contemporary of Ivan the Terrible. This is partly confirmed by documents. So, in 1640, in response to a request from Moscow, the Tula governor wrote that “old people told him about Kudeyar a long time ago, about forty years ago.”

What do the legends say...

Many legends directly call Kudeyar a Tatar. According to legends recorded in the Saratov and Voronezh provinces, Kudeyar was a Tatar who knew Russian and a man of enormous stature. He was a baskak - the khan's tax collector. Having plundered the villages near Moscow and returning with great wealth to the Horde, to the Saratov steppes, Kudeyar decided on the way to hide the tribute taken from the khan and settled in the Voronezh lands, where he began to engage in robbery. Here he married a Russian girl - a rare beauty, whom he took away by force.

In Ryazan and some areas of the Voronezh province they said that Kudeyar was a disgraced guardsman who stole livestock from local residents, robbed and killed Moscow merchants. And in the Sevsky district of the Oryol province, Kudeyar was generally considered not a person, but an unclean spirit - a “storekeeper” who guards enchanted treasures.

Legends of the Tula region say that he comes from our area, from the former Belevsky district. One of the versions says that he could be Kudeyar Tishenkov (XVI century) - the son of a boyar, originally from the city of Belev. Contemporary of Ivan the Terrible, traitor. In May 1571, he showed the hordes of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey the route to Moscow. Retreating together with the Crimean Tatars, he left the Moscow state and remained in Crimea. Then it is mentioned in the letters of the captive Vasily Gryazny from Crimea to the Tsar. After some time, Tishenkov turns to Ivan IV with a request for pardon and permission to return to Moscow. Permission was given. Further traces of the historical Kudeyar Tishenkov are lost. There is no evidence that the robber Kudeyar, who lived around the same era and, as they say, also came from Belev, and Tishenkov are one and the same person.

The fact that Kudeyar belonged to their family was also told in the Kursk Markov family. A very popular fascinating hypothesis is that Kudeyar is none other than the elder brother of Ivan the Terrible, a contender for the Russian throne. The basis for such statements was the following historical events. The first wife of Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich, father of Ivan the Terrible, Solomonia Saburova was childless. After much waiting, it became clear that the prince would have no heirs. Then Solomonia Saburova, in violation of all church canons, was forcibly tonsured into a monastery, and the prince remarried Elena Glinskaya, who bore him two sons - Ivan and George (Yuri). Meanwhile, the nun Solomonia Saburova, imprisoned in a monastery... also had a son! The newborn soon died and was buried in the Suzdal Intercession Monastery. However, excavations of his grave in 1934 showed that a doll dressed as a boy was buried. There is an assumption that the child was hidden, fearing assassins sent by his second wife, Elena Glinskaya, and secretly transported to the Crimean Khan. There he grew up, and under the Tatar name Kudeyar came to Rus' as a contender for the throne. Having failed to achieve success, Kudeyar took up robbery.

As you can see, almost all of the above hypotheses connect Kudeyar with the Crimean Khanate. And the places where, according to legend, Kudeyar robbed, despite their geographical dispersion, are united by one common feature: ancient trade and embassy routes from Crimea to Moscow Rus' passed here. On these roads, robbers tracked down rich booty, and then hid it in secret places near their camps and settlements.

About a hundred Kudeyarov towns, where, according to legend, the robbers' treasures are buried, are known in Southern Russia. In the Tula and Kaluga provinces they talked about Kudeyar’s treasures, buried in various “wells”, “tops”, “yars”, and in some places treasure records of Kudeyar’s treasures were preserved. At the end of the last century, one of these records was owned by a monk of the Optina Hermitage, after whose death the manuscript ended up in the monastery library. It contained extensive information about the treasures buried by Kudeyar in the vicinity of Kozelsk and Likhvin (now Chekalin).

As one of the places where Kudeyar's treasures were deposited, the manuscript named Devil's Settlement or Shutovo Gora - a mysterious forest tract 18 miles from the Optina Monastery, not far from the ancient road from Kozelsk to Likhvin, on which it was so convenient to rob passing merchants.

On a high hill overgrown with forest, dominating the surrounding area, almost at its very top, a huge block of grayish sandstone, furrowed with numerous cracks and overgrown with moss, rises from the ground with three sheer walls. Because of these clear edges, the fort was sometimes also called Granny Kholm. The fourth side of the fort, dilapidated by time and overgrown with grass, is almost level with the platform at the top of the hillock, forming the “yard” of the Devil's fort. According to legend, Kudeyar’s “castle” was located here, built for him by evil spirits. As if in one night the demons built a two-story stone house, a gate, and dug a pond on the site of the fort. However, they did not have time to finish the construction before dawn - the rooster crowed, and the evil spirits fled. And, according to witnesses, for a long time later, until the beginning of the 1800s, an unfinished building could be seen on the site - a “monument of demonic architecture”, which then began to quickly collapse.

Traces of a pond dug by “demons” were indicated back in the 1880s, and numerous stone fragments scattered around the site seem to indicate some kind of buildings that were once here. And on one of the stones that lay at the foot of the settlement, a hundred years ago the trace of the “paw” of the unclean was clearly visible.

Several caves are hidden in the thickness of the sandstone from which the fort is built. The main cave, called the “entrance to the lower floor,” could comfortably accommodate several people. From it two narrow holes go deep into the mountain. They say that the evil spirits that built the castle are now saving Kudeyar’s treasures buried on the site and in the surrounding ravines and forest tracts. And at night the ghost of Kudeyar’s daughter Lyubusha appears on the fort, cursed by her father and forever imprisoned in the depths of the Devil’s fort. It’s as if she goes out onto the mountain, sits on the stones and cries, asking: “It’s hard for me! Give me the cross! In former times, the monks of Optina Pustyn erected a cross on the site twice. Not far from the settlement there is the Kudeyarov well, in which, according to legend, 12 barrels of gold are hidden.

Did these treasures belong to the legendary robber? Unknown. And in general, it’s hard to believe that one person could “populate” vast expanses of the steppe. The opinion has long been expressed that several different people could be hiding under the name Kudeyar - like under the names of Tsarevich Dmitry or Peter III. Or maybe, from the personal name of some particularly daring Russian or Tatar robber, the name Kudeyar turned into a common noun for every leader of a bandit gang and became synonymous with the word “robber”? That is why the versions about the origin, life and death of Kudeyar vary so much. That’s why we have so many kudeyars - for whatever reason, but from time immemorial there has been no shortage of robbers in Rus'.

What real historical character is hidden behind this name? Many hypotheses have already been expressed on this score, but, alas, none of them sheds light on the mystery of Kudeyar. But who exactly is Kudeyar? Myth? Real personality? When did Kudeyar live? Here the opinions are basically the same: in the middle of the 16th century. He was a contemporary of Ivan the Terrible. This is partly confirmed by documents. So, in 1640, in response to a request from Moscow, the Tula governor wrote that “old people told him about Kudeyar a long time ago, about forty years ago.”

First of all, this name reminds of the character of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Remember: “There were 12 robbers, There was Ataman Kudeyar. Robbers have shed many bloods of honest Christians..."?

A symbol of freemen and brave prowess, Kudeyar, judging by folklore sources, hunted throughout the south of Russia. The right to consider him “their” hero is being disputed by the Saratov, Rostov, Lipetsk, Belgorod and even Tambov regions.

Version 1. Just a bandit

Hiding in the thicket of the forest, Kudeyar and his “gang” tracked down the tasty prey (in the film, a convoy that was supposed to deliver the royal salary to the Cossacks) and attacked it. The Time of Troubles definitely contributed to such “feats.” However, as you know, unrest most often begins from the head, or more precisely, from the head of state. This follows...

A rather popular character in the history of Slavic folklore was Ataman Kudeyar. Legends about him are known in many regions of both central and southern Russia. This article will examine in more detail some fairly well-known references in history, legends and literature to this chieftain.

Origin of the name Kudeyar

No one can name the exact dates of the life of Ataman Kudeyar, but it is generally accepted that he lived in the sixteenth century. There are many opinions regarding the origin of the Persian name Khudoyar, which means “beloved by God,” or Kudeyar; most often it is attributed to Tatar origin. In western and central Russia this name had a different meaning - the most powerful wizard.

For a long time, the proper name Kudeyar was found in many provinces, such as Voronezh, Kharkov, Tula, Kaluga and many others. Later, the surname Kudeyarov began to gain popularity.

The name of Ataman Kudeyar is found not only in legends. You can give examples of his mention in history:

• In the family of noble Markovs, originally from Kursk, there was Kildeyar Ivanovich, who was abbreviated as Kudeyar.
• Some historical documents mention a landowner originally from Arzamas, who bore the name Kudeyar Chufarov.
• The name of the Moscow Cossack Karachaev Kudeyar is known.
• Kudeyar Ivanovich is often mentioned in chronicles.
• There are also records of a person who fled to the Crimea, named Kudeyar Tishenkov, originally from the Belevsky boyars. Many associate this particular historical figure with the image of the ataman.

Identification of the ataman with Tsarevich Yuri

There are several legends in which a parallel is drawn between Ataman Kudeyar and Yuri Vasilyevich, the son of Solomonia Saburova and Vasily III. Some of them can be highlighted:

1. The legend comes from Saratov, which tells that Ivan the Terrible, before leaving for hostilities in Kazan, left Moscow in the care of Kudeyar. Later it was found out that the Kazan Decree was false, made so that during the absence of the sovereign, Kudeyar Vasilyevich, having appropriated the state treasury, would escape punishment.
2. The Simbirsk legend tells that Yuri Kudeyar was summoned to Kazan to be executed at the hands of Ivan the Terrible. However, having learned in advance about the tsar’s intentions, Yuri took up defensive positions on the Volga, near the city of Krotkovo.
3. There is a well-known legend that Tsar Ivan the Terrible nevertheless met with Yuri near besieged Kazan, and he, in turn, fled from the ruler to the north of the country.
4. The Kursk legend says that Yuri was captured by the Tatars, who wanted to receive a ransom from the sovereign for him. When the attempt failed, the prisoner was sent along with the army to the war for the royal throne. However, this idea also turned out to be unsuccessful, after which Yuri remained on Russian lands, where he took up robbery.
5. The Suzdal legend, on the contrary, tells about the conclusion by Kudeyar Vasilyevich of a voluntary alliance with the Tatars, the purpose of which was to conquer the throne. However, having seen from the side the atrocities committed by the Tatars, he began to defend his native land.

All legends about both the ataman and Yuri Kudeyar point to his betrayal of the Motherland, which manifests itself in escape or in going over to the side of the enemy.

Other legends about the origin of Kudeyar

There are many stories about the origin of Ataman Kudeyar:

• According to the Voronezh chronicles, Kudeyar was a tax collector for the khan. Once, having plundered Russian settlements, he decided not to return to the ruler, settled in the Voronezh lands, gathered like-minded people around him and continued his life as a bandit. Soon he fell in love with a Slavic girl, kidnapped her and made her his wife.

• In the village of Lokh they believe in the legend that Kudeyar was none other than the younger brother of Ivan the Terrible. The Emperor decided to kill him, believing rumors that when he grew up, he would deprive him of his rightful throne. However, the servants disobeyed the king's orders and fled with the prince, who later converted to Islam and was named Kudeyar.
• There is a legend that Kudeyar was the son of Zsigmont Botory, who was born before his uncle was proclaimed king of Poland. He fled to the Dnieper to the Cossacks, later entered the service of Ivan the Terrible, but after the tsar’s disgrace he escaped and turned to the life of a bandit.
• In Ryazan, there is an opinion that Kudeyar was a guardsman who not only robbed merchants from Moscow, but also appropriated the livestock of local residents.
• The ataman was positioned as an unclean spirit who guards his treasures.

Considering the huge number of sources different from each other, it is quite difficult to give an accurate description of Ataman Kudeyar.

Legends about the Kudeyara Cave

For a long time, many treasure hunters tried to find the treasures of the robber Kudeyar, about which there are many legends. But everything was to no avail. Many ancient manuscripts tell about cities where the robbers of Ataman Kudeyar hid their loot. Most of these places are noted in the Voronezh region. According to some stories, in the forests of Bryansk there are places where treasures are hidden, and at night light can be seen from under the rubble of stones, and sometimes children’s cries are heard.

Kudeyarov Cave is described as a place in which not only the loot was stored, but also where the ataman himself lived in richly furnished chambers. The mountain in which the cave was located is completely covered with dense thickets. Next to it there is another mountain - Karaulnaya, on which the robber's sentries were posted. A deep ditch was dug around these places, protecting the shelter and its inhabitants from uninvited guests. At the time when Kudeyar left his shelter in search of new profit, he locked all the premises and blocked the entrance to the cave with stones. It is believed that the spirit of the ataman to this day guards his untold wealth from people. Some are of the opinion that Kudeyar, due to his magical abilities, is still alive today.

There is another version of the legend. According to it, all his treasures were enchanted from human eyes for 200 years. This deadline has long passed, and an odd number of people are needed to find the treasure. After the entrance is dug, to open the lock you should use the golden key, which is stored in Sim's spring. It is not so easy to get it, this can only be done by someone who draws out the source or can get water from the Dinner Lake, the location of which no one knows.

Collective image of a robber

The image of Tsarevich Yuri, whom many consider the robber Kudeyar, in history is collective and consists of biographical data of real, but completely different people. As a result, the name Kudeyar became a household name among the people. It characterizes all existing robbers. It is not possible to call this character reliably historical due to the lack of data confirming his real existence.

According to records made in Kudeyar, he appears to be a Tatar who knows the Russian language well and is distinguished by his rather tall stature and bestial appearance. Also, many legends endow this character with magical abilities, which helped him in robberies and also hid him from his pursuers.

In some manuscripts, the ataman is described as a black-skinned man of a hot-tempered and indomitable character, who was also a headstrong Cossack. In turn, according to some folk tales, a different image appears - a man of attractive appearance, heroic stature, intelligent, with a weakness for young girls.

In general, several images of Kudeyar can be distinguished, based on ancient legends. Some attribute to him the life of a cruel robber, others believe that Ataman Kudeyar was of royal blood and was hiding from the righteous wrath of the king. There is also an opinion that he was an impostor who posed as a person of royal blood.

Mention of a character in Nekrasov’s work

Ataman Kudeyar is mentioned by Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, the great Russian writer, in “Who Lives Well in Rus',” in one of the chapters entitled “A Feast for the Whole World.” The last lines of this chapter differ depending on the edition, since several versions of the text are known:

• Manuscript of 1876 for the journal "Otechestvennye zapiski" and a censored typographical impression made on the basis of this manuscript. Another truncated publication in this magazine was noted in 1881.
• In 1879, an illegal edition of the St. Petersburg Free Printing House was published. This version is included in the collection of the author's essays.

In this work, the character Ataman Kudeyar is a legend told by Ionushka. His story tells about a fierce robber who repented of his sins and began a hermit's life. However, he finds no place for himself, and one day a wanderer appears to him and tells him how the robber can achieve peace. To do this, you need to cut down a century-old oak tree with the same weapon that killed innocent people. It took years to complete this task, but the tree collapsed only after the murder of Pan Glukhovsky.

Ataman Kudeyar had few people close to him in “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The work indicates their number. The poem says about this: “Once upon a time there lived twelve robbers, once upon a time lived Kudeyar the Ataman.” When Kudeyar decided to atone for his sins and repent, he dismissed his retinue to free bread.

Mentions in the works of other authors

The image of Ataman Kudeyar is present not only in the works of Nekrasov. There are mentions of him in Kostomarov’s novel “Kudeyar”, as well as in “Kudeyar’s Last Love”, described by Navrotsky.

Kostomarov’s work contains references to the legend about the origin of the character from the first marriage of Vasily the Third. His wife, after the divorce, was sent to a monastery due to infertility. However, within the walls of the monastery, her son is born. The woman sends him with people devoted to her to the Turkish border, where the prince is captured. A little later, having become more adult, he escapes to his native land, where he becomes a robber named Kudeyar.

This character is also mentioned in Soviet literature:

• In Kuprin's story "Grunya" there is a comparison of the main character's uncle with the image of the famous chieftain.
• The story of Kudeyar was described by Bakhrevsky in his work “The Ataman’s Treasure.”
• Shiryaev mentions the ataman in “Kudeyarov Oak”.
• Alexandrov describes the image in Kudeyarov's camp.
• The robber is mentioned in the cycle "Pelageya" by the writer Akunin.

Chaliapin's song

“Once upon a time there lived twelve robbers, there lived Kudeyar the Ataman” - this is how the first verse of the song “The Legend of the Twelve Thieves” begins, performed by Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, according to the words of Nekrasov’s work. According to some sources, the creation of music is attributed to Nikolai Manykin-Nevstruev.

“Kudeyar-ataman” - a song about a robber and his comrades-in-arms - is performed together with a choir, which sings the chorus after each verse: “Let us pray to the Lord God, we will proclaim the ancient story! This is what the honest monk Pitirim told us in Solovki.”

Although this creation is based on the text from Nekrasov’s unfinished poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” it, in turn, has significant semantic differences. For example, in the poet’s work it was not indicated that Kudeyar and Pitirim are the same person, unlike the song.

In addition, in many legends and in the text of the work, Kudeyar is described as a kind of avenger of the people who stops the life of a robber, becomes a pilgrim and lives in solitude in the wilderness, and Kudeyar-ataman in the song goes to a monastery to atone for his sins.

The lyrics of the song have several versions and performers. Many have heard this work performed by Evgeny Dyatlov. Today it is included in the repertoire of many male church choirs.

Kudeyarovo settlement

According to some legends, Ataman Kudeyar lived with his robbers on the banks of the Seim, in the so-called Kudeyarov settlement. This legend mentions Catherine the Second, who at that time was traveling through southern Russia. During one of her rest stops not far from this settlement, Kudeyar stole the empress’s golden carriage and buried it between three oak trees.

No less famous is the Devil's Settlement, which many call Shutovaya Mountain, on the road from Kozelsk to Likhvin. This place was very well located, since it was along this road that caravans with goods often passed, which were excellent prey for any robber.

Many believe that Kudeyar’s refuge was located here, built for him by evil spirits. It is believed that it is this force that to this day protects the hidden treasures of the robber, and at night the ghost of Lyubusha, the chieftain’s daughter, who was cursed and imprisoned by her own father in these lands, appears in those places.

Black Yar

In fact, a large number of Kudeyarov cities are known in southern Russia. Each province has its own stories and places where the treasures of Kudeyar’s gang are hidden.

The mountain located in the Lipetsk region is very popular. Its distinctive feature is a bluish-colored stone lying on top, which is considered to be the chieftain’s petrified horse, which received this color after being scorched by fire.

According to many legends, it was here that the Kudeyarov fortress was located. According to legend, the Don Cossacks, dissatisfied with the outrages of Kudeyar and his robbers, took up arms against them. When they got to the fortress, they could not capture it, so they surrounded it with brushwood and set it on fire.

The chieftain hid all the loot and left his favorite horse as guard. And so that she would not be harmed by the fire, he turned her into stone.

For most contemporaries, Ataman Kudeyar is a forgotten story, but not so long ago this character was legendary, one might say, semi-mythical. And even today, the memory of him has been preserved in the names of mountains, cities, ravines, and the name Kudeyar itself is associated with an ominous, remarkable force.

Legends about the glorious Cossack robber Kudeyar, the hero of folk tales of the Upper Don and Volga region, were not born out of nowhere. There were rumors throughout the central provinces of Russia that Kudeyar was not of ordinary origin, but... of royal origin. That is why his image was endowed with supernatural qualities and abilities.

As they say, there is no smoke without fire.

Let's look through the history of the Russian state together, paying attention to those places where we are talking about the family life of the collector of Russian lands, the Grand Duke (Tsar) of Moscow Vasily III. He lived for twenty-one years with his first wife, Solomonia Saburova, without having any offspring from her. Whatever the king and queen did, God would give them a baby. They gave rich gifts to churches and monasteries, went to famous saints to worship, distributed alms to the poor, pardoned hardened criminals, but nothing worked. Then, in despair, they turned to sorcerers and sorcerers, ready to bow to anything for the sake of the birth of an heir.

Stepanida Ryazanka, a well-known fortune teller throughout Rus', came to the Kremlin palace, looked at the queen and declared: There will be no children.

Vasily III had to turn to the holy fathers for permission to divorce Solomonia and remarry. However, he found understanding only with Metropolitan Daniel. The rest of the high priests, including the learned monk Maxim the Greek, invited from the Athos Monastery, took the position of condemning the Grand Duke for his sinful intentions, thus taking the side of his brother Yuri Ivanovich, who was already aiming for the Grand Duke's throne.

Basil III, together with Metropolitan Daniel, managed to get rid of his opponents with the help of secular and spiritual courts. Maxim the Greek, for example, was sentenced to imprisonment in the Volokolamsk monastery. The Grand Duke received Daniel's blessing for divorce and a new marriage. His wife was the young Lithuanian-Russian princess Elena Glinskaya, who after four and a half years gave Vasily III an heir. So on August 25, 1530, the future Tsar Ivan IV was born. Contemporaries, not without reason, suspected that the father of the child was Elena’s lover, Prince I.F. Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky. The prophets predicted: And cruelty was born in lawlessness and sensuality.

Consecrated as a nun under the name of Sophia, Solomonia Saburova, contrary to the church legend about voluntariness, rebelled for several years. At the moment of violent tonsure, they say, in a violent outburst, she trampled on the monastic robe. For this, the Tsar's adviser Ivan Shigona whipped her with a whip. Nun Sophia spent five years in exile in Kargopol, then she was transferred to Suzdal, to the Intercession Monastery. There, at about the same time as Elena Glinskaya, she became pregnant and, as knowledgeable monks claimed, also gave birth to a royal son.

The son of the former queen, named George, died in infancy. This is what Solomonia said to the envoys of Vasily III, who came to Suzdal to investigate this strange case. She even showed them a tomb in the common tomb of the monastery, where her son allegedly rested. At the same time, Solomonia threatened: the son would grow up and legally take the throne of his father.

The mysterious tomb of the royal son George has survived to this day. A scientific autopsy in 1934 made it possible to verify that instead of a baby, a doll in a boy’s shirt, wrapped in 16th-century cloth and surrounded by a belt with tassels, was buried in the coffin-deck. The archaeological find allows us to think about two versions: barren Solomonia did not have any son, or in fact, a forty-two-year-old nun, in revenge for Vasily III (the barren), gave birth to a son, George, from a man unknown to us and, in order to save him from her ex-husband, declared him dead, handing him over to raising faithful people.

Further search for Tsarevich George leads us to the glorious robber Kudeyar, who all his life did nothing but take revenge for the insulted honor of his mother. The compassionate attitude of the Russian people towards the humiliated and insulted by the supreme power gave rise to many oral tales about the legendary robber. Many central provinces of Russia considered him their fellow countryman. Well-wishers searched for and found the surest evidence of Kudeyar’s presence in their area.

For example, local historians of the Ryazan province in the 18th century found his robber’s lair on the banks of the Istra River in the Kamennye Kresty tract (the main thing, as they believed). Local historians considered the giant limestone stone with Kudeyar’s name inscribed on it to be indisputable evidence.

The treasure of the famous robber on the banks of the Don is looted goods obtained by Kudeyar together with his assistants Voldyr and Anna. This small band of robbers was hiding in the forests between Dubko and Lebedyan. She was engaged in robbery of ships carrying goods down the Don, to Azov. That is why the Don Cossacks took up arms against Ataman Kudeyar. The fellows of the Don tried to catch the famous robber and take possession of his treasure, but nothing came of it.

Researcher of the Kudeyar mystery G. Antonov advises treasure hunters not to confuse the legendary Kudeyar with a genuine historical figure:

In Russian history of the second half of the 16th century, during the time of Ivan the Terrible, the son of a boyar, originally from the city of Belev, Kudeyar Tishenkov, was known. The fate of the aforementioned Kudeyar Tishenkov is noteworthy. In May 1571, numerous horse hordes of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey made a swift attack on Moscow. Together with his supporters, Tishenkov went over to the side of the enemies and showed them the path to the capital. The Crimean Khan managed to set Moscow on fire, but then his troops were forced to retreat. However, the service to the enemies was invaluable, and this was enough to earn the khan’s trust. Retreating along with the Crimean Tatars, Kudeyar left the Moscow state and remained in Crimea.

There are known letters from the captive Vasily Gryazny from Crimea to Ivan the Terrible, in which Kudeyar is mentioned. After several years of exile, Kudeyar turned to the king with a request to forgive his guilt and allow him to return to his homeland. The royal consent was received. It is unknown what Kudeyar’s future fate was. His name was never mentioned anywhere else. There are no documents confirming that Kudeyar Tishenkov and the famous chieftain of the robbers are one and the same person...

Further, G. Antonov says that in the legends and traditions of the Tula province the name of the robber Kudeyar was associated with the former Belevsky district. That there is the village of Kudeyarovka and the Kudeyarovsky settlements. Allegedly, Kudeyar’s grave is located in Tula land: not far from Tula, behind Kosaya Gora...

Following the example of ancient Greek cities that argued among themselves for the right to be called the birthplace of Homer, and medieval cities that claimed to be the birthplace of Columbus, our Russian provinces competed for the right to be the last refuge of the robber Kudeyar.