Women of Mari-El have always been distinguished by a penchant for original talents. Almost all Mari women are very musical, they know and enjoy dancing folk dances, and also master the art of ancient national embroidery. IN Everyday life they are decisive and lively, but infinitely kind and welcoming. The main thing for them is family values.
Women of various nationalities live in Mari El - there are more than twenty of them. This means that their traditions, clothes, tastes, and to some extent even their ideas about life are completely different. However, we can single out women of two nationalities, whose representatives constitute the majority in the republic. These are Russians and Maris. If everything is more or less clear with the first, then little is known about Mari women in other regions of Russia.
The Mari belong to the Subural anthropological type. In simple terms, they differ from the classical variants of the Ural race; Mongoloid features are more noticeable in them. As a rule, Mari women are short in stature, dark hair and slightly slanted eyes.
The majority of representatives of the fair sex of the Mari region are characterized by such character traits as perseverance, determination and perseverance, which sometimes develops into stubbornness.
Despite the fact that the Mari are classified as Finno-Ugric peoples, they are not very similar in character. If the Finno-Ugrians are quite calm and even somewhat infantile, then the Mari people are very decisive and lively. Take, for example, the fact that some of them remained pagans and preserved their faith almost in its original form. This also applies to Mari women. They are very persistent, strong-willed and a little cunning, but at the same time very kind and welcoming.
Another very important trait that Mari women have is thriftiness and hard work. Maintaining a home, coziness and comfort in the family is the most important thing for them. Since ancient times, Mari women have mastered the high art of weaving and embroidery. The national costume that has survived to this day amazes with its colorful and unusual ornaments. Of course, modern Yoshkar-Rolinkas have not worn Mari costumes in everyday life for a long time. However, they are happy to flaunt them during national holidays.
Embroidery has always been a traditional occupation of Mari women. They were taught to embroider from childhood so that the girl could prepare her dowry. It was by embroidery that they determined how hardworking a girl was and assessed her taste and artistic skills. This activity, on the one hand, is very difficult and painstaking, requiring a lot of patience and perseverance. But on the other hand, it's very exciting. Plus, embroidery is soothing and the results are always worth the time spent.
By the way, making national costumes and creating embroidery is a hobby for many Mari women. Their products are very successful.
I started sewing late, having already retired. However, I really like this activity, and it started working out right away. I definitely use Mari embroidery in my products. I mainly sew costumes for folk ensembles. Nowadays they order suits according to fashion, so that they are fitted. I sell it for about 2000-2500 rubles per set. There are a lot of orders, I can hardly keep up with them. Of course, relatives and colleagues help.
Of course, in everyday life no one wears the national Mari costume. Residents of Yoshkar-Ola prefer the most ordinary, comfortable everyday clothes. The preferred shades when choosing a suit are the brightest. In addition, in recent years, ancient Mari embroidery has become one of the fashion trends, and today, more and more often, national ornaments can be found in the modern costume of a Mari woman.
It should be noted that city women boldly experiment with makeup, even on weekdays preferring the brightest colors of lipstick and eye shadow.
Girls dress differently. But mostly they prefer comfortable clothes: jeans, shorts, T-shirts, sundresses. There are also fashionistas who always follow the trends of the season. I noticed that residents of Yoshkar-Ola prefer bright colors in clothes - pink, coral, blue, yellow. It's great that our women don't dress in gloomy clothes. dark colors. They look cheerful, cheerful and confident.
In makeup, residents of the Mari Republic prefer bright shades and bold tones. They are not afraid to stand out and do their best to emphasize the beauty given to them by nature.
Mari women are very talented and approach life creatively. Almost every Mari woman, in addition to her ability to embroider, is famous for her choreographic and musical abilities. Many perform in national ensembles and go on tour. For example, the state dance ensemble “Mari El” is familiar to groups and artists from many countries around the world who have jointly participated in prestigious international festivals. For more than 70 years, he has been pleasing and surprising audiences in his republic and other regions and countries with his original and varied repertoire. By the way, the winner of the “Miss Student Finno-Ugria” contest, held this year in Saransk, was a girl from the Republic of Mari El.
Mari, (Cheremis is the Old Russian name for the Mari) Finno-Ugric people. The self-name is the name “Mari”, “Mariy”, which translates as “husband”, “man”.
The Mari are a people living in Russia, indigenous people Republic of Mari El (312 thousand people according to the 2002 census). The Mari also live in the neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals. In total, there are 604 thousand Mari in the Russian Federation (data from the same census). The Mari are divided into three territorial groups: mountainous, meadow (forest) and eastern. Mountain Mari live on the right bank of the Volga, meadow Mari - on the left, eastern - in Bashkiria and Sverdlovsk region.
The Mari language belongs to the Finno-Volga group of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic languages. About 464 thousand (or 77%) Mari speak the Mari language, the majority (97%) speak Russian. Mari-Russian bilingualism is widespread. The Mari's writing is based on the Cyrillic alphabet.
The faith is Orthodox, but there is also its own Mari faith (Marla faith) - this is a combination of Christianity with traditional beliefs. The first written mention of the Mari (Cheremis) is found in the Gothic historian Jordan in the 6th century. They are also mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. Close ties with the Turkic peoples played a major role in the development of the Mari ethnic group.
The formation of the ancient Mari people occurred in the 5th–10th centuries. In 1551–52, after the defeat of the Kazan Khanate, the Mari became part of the Russian state. In the 16th century, the Christianization of the Mari began. However, the Eastern Mari and some of the Meadow Mari did not accept Christianity; they still retain pre-Christian beliefs, especially the cult of ancestors, to this day.
The Mari have many holidays, like any people with a centuries-old history. There is, for example, an ancient ritual holiday called “Sheep's Foot” (Shorykyol). It begins to be celebrated on the day winter solstice(December 22) after the birth of the new moon. During the holiday, a magical action is performed: pulling sheep by the legs so that more sheep will be born in the new year. A whole set of superstitions and beliefs was dedicated to the first day of this holiday. The weather on the first day was used to judge what spring and summer would be like, and predictions were made about the harvest.
Reference article from the almanac “Faces of Russia” from the site rusnations.ru/etnos/mari/
The Mari are one of the ancient Finno-Ugric peoples of the Middle Volga region. Currently, the Mari live in dispersed groups in many regions of Russia.
The Mari are divided into three ethnographic groups: mountain, meadow, and eastern.
How do the Mari live?
Mountain Mari (Kyrykmars) live on the right bank of the Volga within the modern Mountain Mari region of the Republic of Mari El, as well as along the basins of the Vetluga, Rutka, Arda, Parat rivers on the left bank of the river.
Volga. The entire central and eastern part of the Mari El Republic is inhabited by a large ethnographic group of Meadow Mari (Olyk Mari). In the 16th century part of the Mari rushed to the Trans-Kama region to the Bashkir lands, marking the beginning of the formation of the ethnographic group of the Eastern Mari.
Self-name - In scientific literature there is an opinion that the Mari under the name “Imniscaris” or “Scremniscans” were mentioned by the Gothic historian of the 6th century.
Jordanes in "Getica" among northern peoples, subject to the 4th century. Gothic leader Herman Rich. More reliable information about this people called “Ts-r-mis” is found in a letter from the 10th century. Khazar Kagan Joseph. The self-name of the Mari people (Mari, Mare) - originally used in the meaning of “man, man”, has been preserved to this day and is represented in the traditional names of small territorial groups "Votla Mare"(Vetluga Mari), "Paja Marais"(Pizhma Mari), "Morco Mari"(Morkin Mari).
The closest neighbors used ethnonyms in relation to the Mari "chirmesh"(Tatars), "eyarmys"(Chuvash).
Settlement - According to the 2002 census, there are 604,298 people in the Russian Federation of Mari. The Mari are predominantly settled on the territory of the Volga-Ural historical and ethnographic region. 60% of the Mari population lives in the Vetluzhsko-Vyatka interfluve (Mari El and adjacent areas of the Kirov and Nizhny Novgorod regions), about 20% along the Belaya rivers in Ufa and in their interfluve (northwest Bashkiria and southwest Sverdlovsk region).
Small groups of Mari villages are found in Tataria, Udmurtia, Perm and Chelyabinsk regions. In the 20th century, especially after the Great Patriotic War, the proportion of Mari living outside their traditional settlement areas increased.
Nowadays, beyond the Urals, in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, in the south of the European part of Russia, in Ukraine and other places, more than 15% of the total number of Mari live.
Clothing - Traditional women's and men's costumes consisted of a headdress, a tunic-like shirt, a caftan, a belt with pendants, pants, leather shoes or bast shoes with woolen and canvas footwear. The women's costume was most richly decorated with embroidery and complemented with removable jewelry. The costume was produced mainly by home methods.
Clothes and shoes were made from hemp, less often linen, homemade cloth and half-cloth, tanned animal skins, wool, bast, etc. Mari men's clothing was influenced by Russian costume, which was associated with handicrafts. Traditional men's undershirt ( Tuvir, Tygyr) had a tunic-like cut. A panel folded in half made up the front and back of the shirt; sleeves were sewn to it at right angles to the width of the canvas, and under the sleeves, side panels in the form of rectangular panels were sewn to the waist.
Embroidery on shirts was located at the collar, at the chest slit, on the back, sleeve cuffs and hem.
Settlements - The Mari have long developed a riverine-ravine type of settlement. Their ancient habitats were located along the banks of large rivers - the Volga, Vetluga, Sura, Vyatka and their tributaries. Early settlements, according to archaeological data, existed in the form of fortified settlements ( pocket, op) and unfortified villages ( Ilem, surt), related by family ties.
Until the middle of the 19th century. The layout of Mari settlements was dominated by cumulus, disorderly forms, inheriting early forms of settlement by family-patronymic groups. The transition from cumulus forms to an ordinary street layout of streets occurred gradually in the middle - second half of the 19th century.
Noticeable changes in layout occurred after the 1960s. Modern central estates of agricultural enterprises combine the features of street, block and zoned layouts. Types of Mari settlements are villages, villages, neighborhoods, repairs, settlements.
The village is the most common type of settlement, accounting for about half of all types of settlements in the mid-19th century.
National Republic of Mari El
The Republic of Mari El is located in the center of the European part of Russia, in the basin of the great Russian river Volga. The area of the republic is 23.2 thousand square meters. km, population - about 728 thousand people, capital - city.
Yoshkar-Ola (founded in 1584). From the north, north-east and east, Mari El borders on the Kirov region, from the south-east and south - on the republics of Tatarstan and Chuvashia, and in the west and north-west - on the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Guests of the republic are invariably amazed and delighted by the nature of the region. Mari El is a land of the purest springs, deep rivers and beautiful lakes. The rivers Ilet, Bolshaya Kokshaga, Yushut, Kundysh are among the cleanest in Europe.
The pearls of the Mari region are the forest lakes Yalchik, Kichier, Karas, and Sea Eye. The northeastern regions of the republic have long been called “Mari Switzerland”.
The culture of the Republic of Mari El is also unique. There are not many regions in Russia where you can still meet people in national clothes in everyday life, where the faith of their ancestors - paganism - has been preserved, where traditional culture is an integral and organic part of modern life.
Figure 1. Ancient jewelry, 4-6 centuries: // Medzhitova, D.E. Mari Mari folk art = Kalik. Article: album / Medzhitova E.D. - Yoshkar-Ola 1985: .
Photo 2. Beer spoons. Herbalist and the mountains of Marie. Kazan province, 19th century: [Photos: Tsv. 19.0x27.5 cm] // Medzhitova, D.E. Mari Mari folk art = Kalik article: album / Medzhitova E.D. - Yoshkar-Ola, 1985 - P. 147.
Gerasimova E.F. Traditional musical instruments of Mary in the system of primary music education / E.
F. Gerasimova // Musical instrument of the peoples of the Volga region and the Urals: traditions and modernity. - Izhevsk, 2004 - p. 29-30.
The Art of Maria // Folk decorative skills of the peoples of the RSFSR. - M., 1957. - p. one hundred and third
Kryukova T.A. Mari vez = Mari Tu: r / T.A. Kryukova; Maris.
scientific research etc. I, lit. and history, State. Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR. - L., 1951. - Text par.: Rus., Marius. language
Mariž kalyk Art: Album / Medžitova ED - Yoshkar-Ola: Marijs. book. publishing house, 1985. - 269 pp.: ill., color. ill. +Res. (7 seconds). On the road. auto not indicated. — Parallel text: Russian, Marius. language Residence in English. and Hungarian. language — Bibliography: p. 269-270.
Model of embroidered women's T-shirts. Fragments. Herbalist Marie. Kazan region. First half of the 19th century: [Photos: color; 19.0 × 27.5 cm] // Mezhitova, E.D. Mari Mari art: Mari kalyk: album / Medzhitova E.D. - Yoshkar-Ola, 1985 - p. two hundred and sixth
Wedding towels. Fragments. Additional weaving. East Marie. Ufa province, 1920-1930s: [Photos: color; 19.0x27.5 cm] // Medzhitova, D.E. Mari Mari folk art = Kalik article: album / Medzhitova E.D. - Yoshkar-Ola, 1985 - P. 114.
Figure 5.
Dagger married women rustles. Herbalist Marie. Vyatka province, 18th century: [Photos: color. 19.0 × 27.5 cm] // Medzhitova, E. Mari folk art = Mari kalyk Art: Album / Mezhitova E.D. — Yoshkar-Ola, 1985.
Photo 6. Women's cervical and chest jewelry - kishkivudzhan arsash. Herbalist Marie. Kazan province, 19th century: [Photos: Tsv. 19.0x27.5 cm] // Medzhitova, D.E. Mari Mari folk art = Kalik article: album / Medzhitova E.D. - Yoshkar-Ola, 1985 - P. 40.
Women's chest and back trim - shy arshash. Herbalist Marie. Kazan region. Second half of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries: [Photos: color; 19.0 × 27.5 cm] // Medzhitova E.
D. Mari folk art = Mariy kalyk Art: Album / Medzhitova ED - Yoshkar-Ola, 1985. - P. 66.
Molotova L.N. Art of the peoples of the Volga region and the Urals / Molotova L.N. // Folk art of the Russian Federation: from pos. Gos. Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR. - L., 1981. - p. 22-25.
Aprons. Additional weaving. East Marie. Udmurt and Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, 1940-1950: [Photos: color; 19.0 × 27.5 cm] // Mezhitova, E.D. Mari human art = Mari kalyk: album / Medzhitova E.
D. - Yoshkar-Ola, 1985. - S.
Marie or Cheremis
one hundred and eighteenth
Photo 9. Women's T-shirts. Additional weaving. East Marie. Ufa region. Second half of the 19th century - first half of the 20th century: [Photos: color; 19.0 × 27.5 cm] // Mezhitova, E.D. Mari human art = Mari kalyk: album / Medzhitova E.
D. - Yoshkar-Ola, 1985. - P. 120.
Nikitin V.V. Sources of Mari art = Mari artistic tungalty Children / V.V. Nikitin, T.B. Nikitina; Maris. scientific research etc. I, lit. and their stories. V. M. Vasilyeva, Scientific-Prov. Center for the Protection and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments of the Ministry of Culture, Press and Nationalities. Mari El Republic. - Yoshkar-Ola: , 2004. - 150, p. : sick. — The text is parallel. Russian, Marius. Residence Eng.
The book presents archaeological materials about the artistic history of the population of the Vetluz-Vatka Bear from the Stone Age to the 17th century, and studies the problems and direction of the creation and development of Mary's folk art.
Mara Art Craft Basics: Handmade Crafts for Kids: For Teachers of Preschool Children.
institutions, teachers. classes, hands. Art. studio / Marie. Phil. Feder. state. Sci. Institution “Institute for Problems of National Schools”; auto-comp. L. E. Maykova. - Yoshkar-Ola: , 2007. - 165, p.
Soloviev, G.
I. Mari folk wood carving / Solovyova G.I. — 2nd ed., Revised. — Yoshkar-Ola: Marius. book. publishing house, 1989. - 134 p. — Bibliography: p. one hundred twenty-eighth
This book is the first general publication to cover the most widespread and traditional art form of Mari art.
The work was written based on a study of literature sources and analysis of materials collected during expeditions of the Mari Research Institute.
Khmelnitskaya L. Traditional Mari culture and the influence of Russian cultural traditions on its territory / L. Khmelnitskaya // Ethnocultural history of the Ural people 16.-21. Centuries: problems of nationality.
identification and culture. interaction. - Ekaterinburg, 2005. - st. 116-125
The Mari in the past were known as "Cheremis"; this name is found in historical monuments from the 10th century.1 The Mari themselves call themselves Mari, Mari, Mar (man). This self-name has been established as an ethnonym since the formation of the Mari Autonomous Region. The Mari live mainly within the Middle Volga region. Their total number throughout the Soviet Union is 504.2 thousand. In small groups, the Mari are scattered in the Bashkir, Tatar and Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, Kirov, Gorky, Sverdlovsk, Perm and Orenburg regions.
The bulk of the Mari (55% of their total number) live in the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In addition to the Mari, Russians, Tatars, Chuvash, Udmurts, Bashkirs, and Mordovians live in the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
The Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is located in the middle part of the Volga basin.
In the north and northeast it borders with the Kirov region, in the southeast with the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in the southwest with the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in the west with the Gorky region. The Volga divides the territory of the republic into a large low-lying left-bank plain - the forested Trans-Volga region - and the right bank, which occupies a relatively small part - mountainous, indented by deep ravines and valleys of small rivers. The rivers of the Volga basin flow through the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic: Vetluga, Rutka, Kokshaga, Ilet, etc. On the territory of the republic there are large forests and many forest lakes.
The Mari are divided into three groups: mountain (kuryk marii), meadow (iolyk marii) or forest (kozhla marii) and eastern (upo marii).
The bulk of the mountain Mari inhabit the right, mountainous bank of the Volga, the meadow Mari live in the wooded areas of the left bank; Eastern Mari villages are located within Bashkiria and partly in the Sverdlovsk region. and in the Tatar ASSR.
This division has existed for a long time. Already Russian chronicles distinguished between mountain and meadow “cheremis”; the same division is also found in old cartography of the 17th century.
However, the territorial attribute adopted to designate individual groups of Mari is largely arbitrary. Thus, the mountain Mari inhabiting the Gornomari region of the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic live not only on the mountainous right bank, but also partially on the left bank of the Volga. The main differences between these groups are linguistic features and some uniqueness of life.
The Mari language belongs to the eastern branch of the Finno-Ugric languages and has three main dialects: meadow, eastern and mountain.
In terms of vocabulary, the first two are close, while mountain is only 60-70% similar to them. In all these dialects there are a number of words of common Finno-Ugric origin, for example kid (hand), vur (blood), etc.
etc., and many words borrowed from the Russian language as a result of long-term cultural communication with the Russian people.
The Mari have two literary languages: Meadow-Eastern and Mountain Mari, which differ mainly in phonetics: the Meadow-Eastern language has 8 vowel phonemes, and the Mountain Mari language has 10. The consonant system is basically the same; The grammatical structure is also common.
In recent years, the vocabulary of the Mari language has been enriched thanks to new word formations and the assimilation of international terms through the Russian language.
The Mari writing is based on the Russian alphabet with the addition of some diacritics to more accurately convey the sounds of the Mari language.
Brief historical sketch
The Mari tribes were formed as a result of the interaction of the bearers of the Pyanobor culture on the left bank of the Volga with the tribes of the late Teoden culture living on the right bank.
The data at our disposal allows us to see the Mari as aborigines of the local region. A.P. Smirnov writes: “The Mari tribes were formed on the basis of earlier tribal groups that inhabited the interfluve of the Volga and Vyatka, and are the autochthonous population of the region.” However, it would be incorrect to identify the ancient inhabitants of the Volga region with the modern Mari people, since it was formed as a result of the crossing of many tribes, from which the peoples of the Volga region were subsequently formed.
In a letter from the Khazar king Joseph (mid-10th century), “tsarmis” are mentioned among the Volga peoples under his control, in which it is easy to recognize “cheremis”.
The Russian Tale of Bygone Years also mentions the “Cheremis” living at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga. This latest news allows us to significantly expand our understanding of the boundaries of the settlement of the Mari in the past. At the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. e. the Mari were influenced by the Bulgars. In the first half of the 13th century. The Bulgarian state was defeated by the Mongols and lost its independence.
The power of the Golden Horde was established in the Volga region. At the beginning of the 15th century. The Kazan Khanate was formed, under whose rule the bulk of the Mari came to be.
The Golden Horde culture also influenced the formation of the Mari culture. At the same time, there are obvious traces of close communication with neighboring peoples (Mordovians, Udmurts), with whom the Mari share a common origin.
Archaeological material allows us to trace the ancient connections of the Mari tribes with the Slavs, but the question of the relationship between the ancient Slavic and Mari cultures has not yet been sufficiently developed.
After the fall of Kazan (1552), the territory occupied by the Mari was annexed to the Russian state.
At this time, patriarchal-tribal relations dominated among the Mari. Legends have been preserved about the existence of princes in the past in Mari society.
Apparently, this concept meant representatives of the distinguished tribal elite, since there is no information about the feudal dependence of the Mari population on these princes. In legends, the Mari princes
act as heroes - military leaders. During the period of the Kazan Khanate, some of these princes probably joined the ruling class of Tatar society, since there is information about the existence of the Mari Murzas and Tarkhans.
As part of the Russian state, the Mari Murzas and Tarkhans became part of the service people and gradually merged with the Russian nobility.
The inclusion of the Mari in the population of the Russian state contributed to their introduction to the more developed culture of the Russian people.
However, their situation remained difficult. The forced introduction of Christianity, numerous extortions, abuses of local authorities, the seizure of the best lands by monasteries and landowners, conscription and various in-kind duties placed a heavy burden on the Mari population, which more than once served as the reason for the Mari to speak out against social and national oppression.
The Mari, together with other peoples of the Volga region and the Russians, took an active part in the peasant wars under the leadership of Stepan Razin and Emelyan Pugachev (XVII-XVIII centuries).
Uprisings of Mari peasants also broke out in the middle and end of the 19th century.
The Christianization of the Mari began at the end of the 16th century. and especially intensified in the middle of the 18th century. But the Christian religion was actually not accepted even by the baptized Mari population.
The transition to the glorification of the peoples of the Volga region did not supplant paganism; Christian rituals were often performed under duress. The majority of the Mari, who were formally Orthodox, retained many remnants of pre-Christian beliefs. In addition, there remained, mainly among the eastern and meadow Mari, a group of so-called chi marii - “real Mari”, i.e.
i.e. unbaptized. The Mari encountered Islam even before Christianization, but its influence was insignificant, although some groups of Mari observed certain Muslim customs, for example, considering Friday a holiday.
The pre-Christian beliefs of the Mari are characterized by polytheism. Chief among the deities who personified the elements of nature was the good god Yumo, the god of the sky. The bearer of evil, according to the Mari, was the peremet; they prayed to him and made sacrifices in special kermet groves.
In general, the Mari did not have a coherent religious system. We can only talk about a complex interweaving of beliefs that arose at different stages of social development.
Magic occupied a significant place in the beliefs and rituals of the Mari. Magical actions were associated, for example, with the cycle of agricultural work: the plow festival (aga-payrem), the autumn festival of new bread (kinde payrem).
The festival of manure of fields was associated in time with the ritual of sur rem - the expulsion of an evil spirit.
The struggle of the Russian autocracy and the church against the pre-Christian beliefs of the Mari lasted for many decades and especially intensified in the 19th century. In their actions, the administration and the church relied on the wealthy strata of the village. Repressions against the general mass of the Mari population, who did not succumb to Christianization, aroused religious-nationalist sentiments among the Mari.
In the 70s years XIX V. The Kugu Sorta (Big Candle) sect appeared, which tried to reform old beliefs on the basis of pronounced nationalism and was extremely reactionary.
It is no coincidence that already under Soviet power, during the intensified class struggle in the countryside during the period of collectivization, sectarians actively opposed collective farms, as well as cultural events.
By the beginning of the 20th century. include organized joint actions of Russian and Mari workers - against tsarism and the exploiting classes.
National character of the Mari
This was largely due to the growth of the working class in connection with the development of industry in the Mari region (here in 1913, for example, 1,480 workers were already employed in industry).
As elsewhere in Russia, the Bolshevik Party stood at the head of the working masses. The first Bolshevik Social Democratic circle on the territory of what is now the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created in the spring of 1905.
in the village of Yurino from workers at tanneries. He had connections with the Nizhny Novgorod district center of the RSDLP. In 1905-1906 Political demonstrations took place under his leadership.
During the revolution of 1905-1907.
The Kazan regional committee of the RSDLP led joint actions of Russian, Chuvash and Mari workers and peasants against the landowners and the local bourgeoisie.
Such revolutionary uprisings took place in Zvenigovo, Kokshamary, Mariinsky Posad and other villages and towns of Kozmodemyansky and Cheboksary districts. These protests were mercilessly suppressed by the tsarist authorities.
After the overthrow of tsarism in March 1917, power in the Mari region was seized by the bourgeoisie, which organized the so-called Committee of Public Security in Tsarevokokshaisk (now Yoshkar-Ola).
However, revolutionary forces also grew, and in May 1917, Mari workers began seizing private lands and enterprises.
The complete liberation of the Mari people from political, economic and national oppression was achieved during the Great October Socialist Revolution. At the beginning of January 1918, Soviet power was established in the Mari region.
On January 30, the district congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies began its work. At the end of the same year, the first party cell was created. During Kolchak’s offensive in the Volga region in 1919, 50% of the entire party membership went to the front; On the initiative of the party organization, volunteers were recruited from among the Mari workers, who were formed into special-purpose companies and sent to the Eastern Front.
In the struggle against foreign invaders and internal enemies, the Mari workers marched in the same ranks with other peoples of the multinational Soviet country.
A significant date for the Mari people is November 4, 1920 - the date of publication of the decree on the formation of the Mari Autonomous Region signed by V.I. Lenin and M.I. Kalinin. The Mari Autonomous Region included Krasnokokshaysky and part of the Kozmodemyansky district of the Kazan province, as well as volosts with the Mari population of the Iranian and Urzhum districts of the Vyatka province.
and Yemaninskaya volost of Vasilsursky district of Nizhny Novgorod province. The regional center became the city of Krasnokokshaysk, which was later renamed Yoshkar-Ola. At the beginning of 1921, the Mari regional party organization took shape organizationally. On June 1, 1921, the First Congress of Soviets of the Mari Autonomous Region opened, outlining practical measures to restore the national economy.
In 1936, the Mari Autonomous Region was transformed into the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
The devotion of the Mari people to the Motherland and the Communist Party manifested itself with particular force during the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War, when Mari patriots showed themselves to be courageous fighters both at the front and in the rear.
The collective farmer from the village swore the oath of the legendary Mari hero Choray. Nyrgynda, Private Eruslanov before leaving for the front: “As long as my eyes see the light, and my hands bend in the joints, my heart will not tremble. If my heart trembles, let my eyes close forever.” And the heart of the brave warrior did not waver: in 1943, his tank destroyed an entire fascist unit.
A heroic feat was performed by Komsomol partisan O. A. Tikhomirova, who, after the death of her commander, led the partisans into an attack. For their courage and courage, forty soldiers of the Mari Republic were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union; more than 10 thousand were awarded military orders and medals.
fighters and commanders. During the war, collective farms of the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic joined the national movement to help the front. They donated 1,751,737 pounds of bread, 1,247,206 pounds of meat, 3,488 short fur coats, 28,100 pairs of felt boots and 43 million rubles to the army fund. Members of the Peredovik collective farm built two airplanes using their personal funds.
The post-war period in the republic, as well as throughout the Soviet Union, is characterized by an increased role of public organizations and the further development of Soviet democracy.
The workers of the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic take an active part in the work of local Soviets through permanent commissions. Greater powers are vested in production meetings at enterprises and collective farms. The role of the Komsomol has increased both in cities and in rural areas. The youth of the Mari Republic, on Komsomol vouchers, go to the mines of Donbass, to Angarstroy, to the construction of railways and the virgin lands of Kazakhstan.
The labor exploits of communist labor teams in industry and agriculture are the real contribution of the Mari people to the common cause of building a communist society.
(self-name ≈ Mari; former name ≈ Cheremis), people; live mainly in the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as in the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Udmurd Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Kirov, Gorky, Perm and Sverdlovsk regions of the RSFSR. They are divided into 3 territorial groups: mountain, meadow (or forest) and eastern M. Mountain M. live mainly on the right bank of the Volga, meadow - on the left, eastern - in Bashkiria and the Sverdlovsk region. The total number is 599 thousand people (1970 census). Language M.
Reflections on the Mari people
(see Mari language) belongs to the eastern branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. After the Mari lands became part of the Russian state in the 16th century, the Christianization of M. began, but the eastern and small groups of meadow M. did not accept Christianity; they retained pre-Christian beliefs, especially the cult of ancestors, until the 20th century.
By origin, M. are closely related to the ancient population of the Volga region. The beginning of the formation of the Mari tribes dates back to the turn of the century. e., this process took place mainly on the right bank of the Volga, partly capturing the left bank regions of the Volga region.
The first written mention of the Cheremis (Mari) is found in the Gothic historian Jordan (6th century). They are also mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. In progress historical development M.
became closer and interacted with the neighboring peoples of the Volga region. Resettlement to Bashkiria began at the end of the 16th century and occurred especially intensively in the 17th and 18th centuries. The cultural and historical rapprochement with the Russian people began in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. After the annexation of the Middle Volga region to Russia (16th century), ties expanded and strengthened. After the October Revolution of 1917, M. received national autonomy and formed into a socialist nation.
M. are employed both in agriculture and in industry, created mainly during the years of Soviet power. Many features of the unique national culture of Moldova have been further developed in modern times—folklore, decorative arts (especially embroidery), and musical and song traditions.
National Mari literature, theater, fine Arts. The national intelligentsia has grown.
About the history, economy and culture of M., see also Art. Mari ASSR.
Lit.: Smirnov I.N., Cheremisy, Kaz., 1889: Kryukova T.A., Material culture of the Mari of the 19th century, Yoshkar-Ola, 1956; Essays on the history of the Mari ASSR (From ancient times to the Great October Socialist Revolution), Yoshkar-Ola, 1965; Essays on the history of the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1917 ≈ 1960), Yoshkar-Ola, 1960; Kozlova K.
I., Ethnography of the peoples of the Volga region; M., 1964; Peoples of the European part of the USSR, vol. 2, M., 1964; Origin of the Mari people, Yoshkar-Ola, 1967.
K.I. Kozlova.
Origin of people
The question of the origins of the Mari people is controversial to this day. The first theory is the scientific basis of the ethnogenesis of Mari, expressed in 1845 by the famous Finnish linguist M. Castren. Marie tried to define it as a chronicle. This point of view was supported and developed by T.S.Semenov, I.N.Smirnov, S.K.Kuznetsov, A.A.Spitsyn, D.K.Zelenin, M.N.Yantemir, F.E.Egorov and many other researchers from the second half of the nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth century.
A new hypothesis in 1949, he made an important Soviet archaeologist A.P. Smirnov to find Gorodets (near Mordovians) foundations, other archaeologists Bader V.F. Gening, defending his dissertation dyakovskom (close to action) the origin of the Mari.
However, archaeologists have been able to convincingly demonstrate that the acts and Marie, although related, are not the same people. In the late 1950s, when it became a regular act of the Mari archaeological expedition, its leaders A.H.Halikov G.A.Arhipov and developed the theory of the mixed azelinskoy Gorodetsky (volzhskofinsko-Perm), based on the Mari people.
Later, GAArhipov, further development of this hypothesis, the discovery and study of new archaeological objects showed that the mixed basis of the Mari is dominated by the components of Gorodetsky Dyakovo (Volga-Finnish) and the creation of the ethnic Mari, which began in the first half of the 1st millennium BC, which ended in the 9th century in general. - XI century, the Mari ethnic group had already begun to be divided into two main groups - the mountains and the meadow Mari (in the past, compared to the first, the stronger influence of the Azelinskie (permoyazychnye) tribes).
Currently, this theory is generally supported by the majority of scientists and archaeologists who study this problem. Mari archaeologist V.S. Patrushev put forward a different hypothesis that the formation of the ethnic foundations of both Mari Mary and Mure, formed on the basis of the image of the Akhmylovsky population. Linguists (I.S.Galkin, D.E.Kazantsev), based on language data, indicate that the creation on the territory of the Mari people should not be found in the area between Vetluzhsky-Vyatsky, as archaeologists believe, and to the southwest, between Oka and Suri.
Archaeologists TBNikitina, according to data, not only archeology, linguistics, but they also came to the conclusion that the ancestral home of Mari is located in the Volga part of the interfluve Oki-Sura and Povetluzhe and east to Vyatka occurred in the 8th - 11th centuries, during which contact was made and mixing with the Azalian (Permian) tribes.
The source of the “Mari” and “Cheremis” ethnic groups
The question of the origin of the Mari and Cheremis ethnons remains complex and unclear. The meaning of the word "Mari", the name of the name Mary itself, many linguists come from the Indo-European term "mar", "measures" in various sound versions (translated as "man", "husband").
The word "Cheremis" (called "Russian Mari" and a slightly different but similar vowel by many other people) has many different interpretations. The first written mention of this name (in the original "c-p-MIS"), which is available in the letter of Kazar Kagan Joseph on the Scientology of the Hard of Cordoba to Hasdai ibn Shaprut (960s).
Marie. History of ethnicity
The degree of elasticity of Kazantsev followed the historian XIX. Century. G.I. Peretyatskovich came to the conclusion that the name “Cheremisian” was given by the Maris tribe of Mordovia, and translated this word means “a person living on the sunny side in the east.” According to I.G. Ivanov, “Cheremisyan” is “a person of the Chera or Hora tribe,” in other words, the name of one of the tribes of the neighboring Mari nation, and then spread to the entire ethnic group.
The wide popular version of Mari etnografi 1920 - early 1930 and F.E. Egorova M. N. Yantemir shows that it extends to the ethnonym of the Turkish term “man’s warrior”.
F.I. Gordeev and supports his version of I.S. Galkin to defend hypotheses about the origin of the word “Cheremisian” from the ethnonym “Sarmatian” through mediation in Turkish languages. A number of other versions were released. The problem of the etymology of the word “Cheremisian” is complicated by the fact that in the Middle Ages (until the 17th-18th centuries) in some cases it was not only the Mari, but also their neighbors - the Chuvash and Udmurts.
links
For more details see: S.K. Svechnikov.
Methodical manual "History of people IX-XVI. Century "Yoshkar-Ola: GOU DPO (PK) C" Mari Institute of Education ", 2005
History of the Mari people from ancient times. part 2 The question of the origin of the Mari people is still controversial. For the first time, a scientifically substantiated theory of the ethnogenesis of the Mari was expressed in 1845 by the famous Finnish linguist M. Castren. He tried to identify the Mari with the chronicle measures. This point of view was supported and developed by T.S. Semenov, I.N. Smirnov, S.K. Kuznetsov, A.A. Spitsyn, D.K. Zelenin, M.N. Yantemir, F.E. Egorov and many others researchers of the 2nd half of the 19th – 1st half of the 20th century. A new hypothesis was made in 1949 by the prominent Soviet archaeologist A.P. Smirnov, who came to the conclusion about the Gorodets (close to the Mordovians) basis; other archaeologists O.N. Bader and V.F. Gening at the same time defended the thesis about Dyakovsky (close to measure) origin of the Mari. Nevertheless, archaeologists were already able to convincingly prove that the Merya and Mari, although related to each other, are not the same people. At the end of the 1950s, when the permanent Mari archaeological expedition began to operate, its leaders A.Kh. Khalikov and G.A. Arkhipov developed a theory about the mixed Gorodets-Azelinsky (Volga-Finnish-Permian) basis of the Mari people. Subsequently, G.A. Arkhipov, developing this hypothesis further, during the discovery and study of new archaeological sites, proved that the mixed basis of the Mari was dominated by the Gorodets-Dyakovo (Volga-Finnish) component and the formation of the Mari ethnos, which began in the first half of the 1st millennium AD , generally ended in the 9th – 11th centuries, and even then the Mari ethnic group began to be divided into two main groups - the mountain and meadow Mari (the latter, compared to the former, were more strongly influenced by the Azelin (Perm-speaking) tribes). This theory is generally supported by the majority of archaeological scientists working on this problem. Mari archaeologist V.S. Patrushev put forward a different assumption, according to which the formation of the ethnic foundations of the Mari, as well as the Meri and Muroms, took place on the basis of the Akhmylov-type population. Linguists (I.S. Galkin, D.E. Kazantsev), who rely on language data, believe that the territory of formation of the Mari people should be sought not in the Vetluzh-Vyatka interfluve, as archaeologists believe, but to the southwest, between the Oka and Suroy. Scientist-archaeologist T.B. Nikitina, taking into account data not only from archeology, but also from linguistics, came to the conclusion that the ancestral home of the Mari is located in the Volga part of the Oka-Sura interfluve and in Povetluzhie, and the advance to the east, to Vyatka, occurred in 8 - 11 centuries, during which contact and mixing took place with the Azelin (Perm-speaking) tribes. Azelinskaya culture is an archaeological culture of the 3rd-5th centuries in the Volga-Vyatka interfluve. Classified by V.G. Gening and named after the Azelinsky burial ground near the village of Azelino, Malmyzh district, Kirov region. It was formed on the basis of the traditions of the Pyanobor culture. Habitats are represented by settlements and settlements. The entire economy is based on arable farming, animal husbandry, hunting and fishing. The Buyskoe settlement (Buisky Perevoz) hid a treasure of 200 iron hoes and spears. Most round-bottomed vessels have a pattern of notches or cord prints. Ground burial grounds, inhumation burials, oriented with their heads to the north. The ancient Russian hero Svyatogor, who is considered the ancestor of the entire ancient Russian people, was also an asur. united people(Hyperboreans, Boreans, Biarmians). Some researchers of the history of the Mari people believe that the Mari descended from the mixing of ancient Iranian tribes with the Chud tribes.– Bulgars (initially they were called Onogurs, Utigurs, Kutrigurs). In addition to the ancient Bulgar tribes, other Turkic-speaking tribes, the Suvars, came to the territory of the steppes of the North Caucasus and the Don. From the 4th century until the emergence of a strong Khazar state in these places, many different nomadic tribes lived in the territory between the Black and Caspian Seas and in the steppes of the Don and Volga - Alans, Akatsirs (Huns), Maskuts, Barsils, Onogurs, Kutrigurs, Utigurs) . In the 2nd half of the 8th century, part of the Bulgars moved to the region of the Middle Volga region and the lower reaches of the Kama. There they created the state of Volga Bulgaria. Initially, this state was dependent on the Khazar Kaganate. The appearance of the Bulgars in the lower reaches of the Kama led to the fact that the single space occupied by the ancient Mari tribes was divided into two parts. A significant part of the Mari living in the west of Bashkiria found themselves cut off from the main territory of residence of the Mari. In addition, under pressure from the Bullgars, some of the Mari were forced to move north and displace the ancient Udmurt tribes (Votyaks), the Mari settled between the Vyatka and Vetluga rivers. For information, I inform readers that in those days the modern Vyatka land had a different name - “Votskaya Zemlya” (land of the Votyaks). In 863, part of the Suvars who lived within the Northern Caucasus and the Don, under the influence of Arab invasions, moved up the Volga to the Middle Volga region, where they became part of the Volga Bulgaria in the 10th century and built the city of Suvar. According to some Bashkir historians in Volga Bulgaria, the Suvars were the numerically dominant ethnic group. It is believed that the inconsistent descendants of the Suvars are the modern Chuvash.. 960s - the first written mention of this ethnonym (in the original “ts-r-mis”) is found in a letter from the Khazar Kagan Joseph to the dignitary of the Cordoba Caliph Hasdai ibn Shaprut. D.E. Kazantsev, following the 19th century historian G.I. Peretyatkovich, came to the conclusion that the name “Cheremis” was given to the Mari by the Mordovian tribes, and in translation this word means “a person living on the sunny side, in the east.” According to I.G. Ivanov, “Cheremis” is “a person from the Chera or Chora tribe,” in other words, the name of one of the Mari tribes. Neighboring peoples subsequently extended this name to the entire Mari people. The version of the Mari local historians of the 1920s and early 1930s, F.E. Egorov and M.N. Yantemir, is widely popular, who suggested that this ethnonym goes back to the Turkic term “warlike person.” F.I. Gordeev, as well as I.S. Galkin, who supported his version, defend the hypothesis about the origin of the word “Cheremis” from the ethnonym “Sarmatian” through the mediation of Turkic languages. A number of other versions were also expressed. The problem of the etymology of the word “Cheremis” is further complicated by the fact that in the Middle Ages (up to the 17th and 18th centuries) this was the name in a number of cases not only for the Mari, but also for their neighbors – the Chuvash and Udmurts. : solar (solar) signs in the form of a circle and a cross took a prominent place in the ornaments of the Finno-Ugric peoples. In general, all ancient peoples had solar gods and worshiped the Sun as the source of life on Earth. Let me remind you once again that the suras (ancient gods from the Sun) were the divine teachers of the first people - the asuras. This process is evidenced by such archaeological monuments as the Younger Akhmylovsky burial ground on the left bank of the Volga opposite Kozmodemyansk, the Shor-Unzhinsky burial ground in the Morkinsky district, the Kubashevsky settlement in the south of the Kirov region and others containing materials from the Gorodets and Azelinsky cultures. By the way, the formation of the ancient Mari on the basis of two archaeological cultures predetermined the initial differences between the mountain and meadow Mari (the former had a predominance of features of the Gorodets culture, and the latter - the Azelinskaya). The region of formation and initial habitat of the ancient Mari tribes in the west and southwest extended far beyond the borders of the modern Republic of Mari El. These tribes occupied not only the entire Povetluga region and the central regions of the Vetluga-Vyatka interfluve, but also the lands west of Vetluga, bordering the Meryan tribes in the area of the Unzha River; on both banks of the Volga, their habitat area extended from the mouth of the Kazanka to the mouth of the Oka. In the south, the ancient Mari occupied not only the lands of the modern Gornomari region, but also northern Chuvashia. In the north, the border of their settlement passed somewhere in the area of the city of Kotelnich. In the east, the Mari occupied the territory of western Bashkiria. At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia, when the ancient Mari people were basically already established, close relationships with related Finno-Ugric tribes (except for the closest neighbors - the Mordovians and Udmurts) actually ceased and quite close contacts were established with the early Turks (Suvars and Bulgars) who invaded the Volga. . Already from that time (mid-1st millennium), the Mari language began to experience a strong Turkic influence. The ancient Mari, already having their own For example, the authors of the textbook “History of the Mari People” about archaeological finds related to Iranian-speaking tribes write that sacrificial fire pits with a large content of bones of domestic animals were discovered in Volga settlements. Rituals associated with the worship of fire and the sacrifice of animals to the gods subsequently became an integral part of the pagan cult of the Mari and other Finno-Ugric people. Sun worship was also reflected in and while maintaining a certain similarity with the related Finno-Ugric peoples, they began to experience serious Turkic influence. On the southern outskirts of the Mari territory, the population both assimilated with the Bulgars and was partially forced out to the north. It should be noted that some researchers in China, Mongolia and Europe, when covering the history of Attila’s Empire, include the Finnish-speaking tribes of the Middle Volga region in the empire. In my opinion this statement was extremely erroneous. In such conditions there could be no question of creating a national feudal state. applied arts Khlynov Vetluzhsky. At this time, the Galician prince Konstantin Yaroslavich (brother of Alexander Nevsky) tried by force of arms to force the Vetluga Cheremis to submit to Galich and pay tribute with “Zakamsky silver”. But the Cheremis defended their independence. Boundless dense mixed virgin forests occupied the entire Meadow Side in a continuous massif, merging with the taiga in the north. When describing the Mari region, contemporaries often used expressions such as “forest supports”, “wilds”, “forest deserts”, etc. In the Mari forests there was a great variety of game - bears, moose, deer, wolves, foxes, lynxes, ermines, sables, squirrels, martens, beavers, hares, a large number of various birds, the rivers were full of fish. Hunting among the Mari was commercial, focused on the extraction of furs for sale. An examination of bones from Mari archaeological sites shows that about 50% of them belong to fur-bearing animal species, mainly beaver, marten and sable. The Russians had already penetrated to the banks of the Unzha, but they were not in the valley of the Upper Vetluga (in the Vetluga region). The northern Mari, the Cheremis, still lived there. But from the north, Novgorodians gradually penetrated into this territory, and Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod residents penetrated into the territory of the south of Vetluga. At the end of the 12th century, Mari armed detachments took part in the internecine wars of the Kostroma and Galician princes, helping one of the warring princes. But it didn't last long.
specific features
new town
Svechnikov S.K.
The 9th-16th centuries occupy a special place in the history of the Mari people. During this period, the formation of the Mari ethnic group was completed, and the first written mentions of this people appeared. The Mari paid tribute to the Khazar, Bulgar, and Russian rulers, were under the rule of the Golden Horde khans, developed as part of the Kazan Khanate, and then, having been defeated in the Cheremis Wars of the second half of the 16th century, became part of the great power - Russia. This is the most dramatic and fateful page in the past of the Mari people: being between the Slavic and Turkic worlds, they had to be content with semi-freedom, and often defend it. However, IX-XVI centuries. - it's not just wars and blood. These are still large “fortresses” and small ilems, proud puddles and wise cards, the tradition of mutual assistance in the Vÿma and the mysterious signs of the Tiste.
Modern science has a considerable amount of knowledge about the medieval past of the Mari people, but much will never be known to descendants: the Mari did not have their own written language at that time. The Tatars who had it failed to save almost nothing that was written by them before the 17th century. Russian scribes and European travelers learned and recorded not everything. Non-written sources contain only grains of information. But our task is not absolute knowledge, but preserving the memory of the past. After all, the lessons of the events of those years will help answer many pressing questions of today. And simply knowing and respecting the history of the Mari people is the moral duty of any resident of the Republic of Mari El. Besides, this is such an interesting piece of Russian history.
The proposed methodological manual names the main topics, sets out their brief content, gives the topics of the abstracts, a bibliography, the publication also contains a dictionary outdated words and special terms, chronological table. Texts that represent reference or illustrative material are surrounded by a frame.
General bibliography
- History of the Mari region in documents and materials. The era of feudalism / Comp. G. N. Ayplatov, A. G. Ivanov. - Yoshkar-Ola, 1992. - Issue. 1.
- Ayplatov G. N. History of the Mari region from ancient times to the end of the 19th century. - Yoshkar-Ola, 1994.
- Ivanov A. G., Sanukov K. N. History of the Mari people. - Yoshkar-Ola, 1999.
- History of the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 2 volumes - Yoshkar-Ola, 1986. - T. 1.
- Kozlova K. I. Essays on the ethnic history of the Mari people. M., 1978.
TOPIC 1. Sources and historiography of the history of the Mari people of the 9th - 16th centuries.
Sources on the history of the Mari people of the 9th-16th centuries. can be divided into five types: written, material (archaeological excavations), oral (folklore), ethnographic and linguistic.
Written sources contain the bulk of information on this period of Mari history. This type of sources includes such types of sources as chronicles, works of foreigners, original ancient Russian literature (military stories, journalistic works, hagiographic literature), historical material, and grade books.
The most numerous and informative group of sources are Russian chronicles. The largest amount of information on the medieval history of the Mari people is contained in the Nikon, Lvov, Resurrection Chronicles, the Royal Book, the Chronicler of the Beginning of the Kingdom, and the Continuation of the Chronograph of the 1512 edition.
The works of foreigners are also of great importance - M. Mechovsky, S. Herberstein, A. Jenkinson, D. Fletcher, D. Horsey, I. Massa, P. Petrey, G. Staden, A. Olearius. These sources contain rich material on various issues in the history of the Mari people. Ethnographic descriptions are extremely valuable.
Of particular interest is “Kazan History,” a military story presented in chronicle form. Certain issues of the medieval history of the Mari people were also reflected in the “History of the Grand Duke of Moscow” by Prince A. M. Kurbsky, as well as in the petitions of I. S. Peresvetov and other monuments of ancient Russian journalism.
Some unique information on the history of Russian colonization of the Mari lands and Russian-Mari relations is available in the lives of the saints (Makariy of Zheltovodsk and Unzhensky, Barnabas of Vetluzh, Stefan of Komel).
The documental material is represented by several letters of commendation, ecclesiastical deeds, bills of sale and other documents of Russian origin, which contain a variety of reliable material on this issue, as well as office documents, of which instructions to ambassadors, interstate correspondence, reports of ambassadors on the results of their missions and other monuments of diplomatic relations stand out Russia with the Nogai Horde, the Crimean Khanate, the Polish-Lithuanian state. A special place among office documents is occupied by grade books.
Of exceptional interest is the official material of the Kazan Khanate - the labels (tarkhan letters) of the Kazan khans, as well as the contractual record of the Sviyazhsk Tatars of the 2nd quarter of the 16th century. and a deed of sale for the side plot dated 1538 (1539); in addition, three letters from Khan Safa-Girey to the Polish-Lithuanian king Sigismund I (late 30s - early 40s of the 16th century), as well as a written message from Astrakhan H. Sherifi to the Turkish Sultan dated 1550, have been preserved. To this group sources can also include the letter of the Khazar Kagan Joseph (960s), which contains the first written mention of the Mari.
Written sources of Mari origin have not survived. This deficiency can be partially compensated for by folklore material. Mari oral narratives, especially about Tokan Shura, Akmazik, Akpars, Boltush, Pashkan, have amazing historical authenticity, largely echoing written sources.
Additional information is provided by archaeological (mainly from monuments of the 9th - 15th centuries), linguistic (onomastics), historical and ethnographic studies and observations from different years.
The historiography of the history of the Mari people of the 9th - 16th centuries can be divided into five stages of development: 1) mid-16th - early 18th centuries; 2) II half of the XVIII - beginning of the XX centuries; 3) 1920s - early 1930s; 4) mid-1930s - 1980s; 5) since the early 1990s. - Until now.
The first stage is highlighted conditionally, since at the next second stage there were no significant changes in approaches to the problem under consideration. However, unlike the works of later times in early works contained only descriptions of events without scientific analysis. Questions concerning the medieval history of the Mari were reflected in the official Russian historiography of the 16th century, which appeared fresh in the wake of events. (Russian chronicles and original ancient Russian literature). This tradition was continued by historians of the 17th - 18th centuries. A. I. Lyzlov and V. N. Tatishchev.
Historians late XVIII- I half of the 19th centuries. M. I. Shcherbatov, M. N. Karamzin, N. S. Artsybashev, A. I. Artemyev, N. K. Bazhenov) did not limit themselves to a simple retelling of chronicles; they used a wide range of new sources and gave their own interpretation of the events in question. They followed the tradition of apologetic coverage of the policies of Russian rulers in the Volga region, and the Mari, as a rule, were portrayed as “fierce and savage people.” At the same time, the facts of hostile relations between the Russians and the peoples of the Middle Volga region were not hushed up. One of the most popular in the works of historians of the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. became the problem of Slavic-Russian colonization of the eastern lands. At the same time, as a rule, historians pointed out that the colonization of the Finno-Ugric settlement territories was a “peaceful occupation of land that did not belong to anyone” (S. M. Soloviev). The most complete concept of the official historical science of Russia in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. in relation to the medieval history of the Mari people is presented in the works of the Kazan historian N. A. Firsov, the Odessa scientist G. I. Peretyatkovich and the Kazan professor I. N. Smirnov, the author of the first scientific study devoted to the history and ethnography of the Mari people. It is necessary to point out that in addition to traditional written sources, researchers from the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. They also began to attract archaeological, folklore, ethnographic, and linguistic material.
From the turn of the 1910-1920s. the third stage of development of the historiography of the history of the Mari began in the 9th - 16th centuries, which lasted until the early 1930s. In the first years of Soviet power, historical science was not yet subject to ideological pressure. Representatives of the old Russian historiography S.F. Platonov and M.K. Lyubavsky continued to conduct their research activities, touching on the problems of the medieval history of the Mari in their works; original approaches were developed by Kazan professors N.V. Nikolsky and N.N. Firsov; The influence of the school of the Marxist scientist M.N. Pokrovsky, who considered the annexation of the Middle Volga region to the Russian state as “absolute evil,” increased; Mari local historians F.E. Egorov and M.N. Yantemir covered the history of their people from a Maricentric position.
1930-1980s - the fourth period of development of the historiography of the medieval history of the Mari people. In the early 30s. As a result of the establishment of a totalitarian regime in the USSR, a strict unification of historical science began. Works on the history of the Mari of the 9th - 16th centuries. began to suffer from schematism and dogmatism. At the same time, during this period, research into the medieval history of the Mari people, as well as other peoples of the Middle Volga region, proceeded through the identification, analysis and application of new sources, the identification and study of new problems, and the improvement of research methods. From this point of view, the works of G. A. Arkhipov, L. A. Dubrovina, K. I. Kozlova are of undoubted interest.
In the 1990s. the fifth stage began in the study of the history of the Mari people in the 9th - 16th centuries. Historical science freed itself from ideological dictate and began to be considered depending on the worldview, way of thinking of researchers, their commitment to certain methodological principles from various positions. Among the works that laid the foundation for a new concept of the medieval history of the Mari, especially the period of annexation to the Russian state, the works of A. A. Andreyanov, A. G. Bakhtin, K. N. Sanukov, S. K. Svechnikov stand out.
History of the Mari people IX - XVI centuries. Foreign researchers also touched upon this in their works. This problem was developed most fully and deeply enough by the Swiss scientist Andreas Kappeler.
Abstract topics
1. Sources on the history of the Mari people of the 9th - 16th centuries.
2. Studying the history of the Mari people of the 9th - 16th centuries in domestic historiography.
Bibliography
1. Ayplatov G. N. Questions of the history of the Mari region of the mid-16th - 18th centuries. in pre-revolutionary and Soviet historiography // Questions of historiography of the history of the Mari ASSR. Kirov; Yoshkar-Ola, 1974. pp. 3 - 48.
2. It's him."Cheremis Wars" of the second half of the 16th century. in domestic historiography // Questions of the history of the peoples of the Volga and Urals regions. Cheboksary, 1997. pp. 70 - 79.
3. Bakhtin A. G. Main directions in the study of colonization of the Middle Volga region in domestic historiography // From the history of the Mari region: Abstracts of reports. and message Yoshkar-Ola, 1997. pp. 8 - 12.
4. It's him. Written sources about the early history of the Mari region // Sources and problems of source study of the history of Mari El: Materials of reports. and message rep. scientific conf. 27 Nov 1996 Yoshkar-Ola, 1997. pp. 21 - 24.
5. It's him. pp. 3 - 28.
6. Sanukov K. N. Mari: problems of studying // Mari: problems of social and national cultural development. Yoshkar-Ola, 2000. pp. 76 - 79.
TOPIC 2. Origin of the Mari people
The question of the origin of the Mari people is still controversial. For the first time, a scientifically substantiated theory of the ethnogenesis of the Mari was expressed in 1845 by the famous Finnish linguist M. Castren. He tried to identify the Mari with the chronicle measures. This point of view was supported and developed by T. S. Semenov, I. N. Smirnov, S. K. Kuznetsov, A. A. Spitsyn, D. K. Zelenin, M. N. Yantemir, F. E. Egorov and many others researchers of the 2nd half of the 19th - 1st half of the 20th centuries. A new hypothesis was made in 1949 by the prominent Soviet archaeologist A.P. Smirnov, who came to the conclusion about the Gorodets (close to the Mordovians) basis; other archaeologists O.N. Bader and V.F. Gening at the same time defended the thesis about Dyakovsky (close to measure) origin of the Mari. Nevertheless, archaeologists were already able to convincingly prove that the Merya and Mari, although related to each other, are not the same people. At the end of the 1950s, when the permanent Mari archaeological expedition began to operate, its leaders A. Kh. Khalikov and G. A. Arkhipov developed a theory about the mixed Gorodets-Azelinsky (Volga-Finnish-Permian) basis of the Mari people. Subsequently, G. A. Arkhipov, developing this hypothesis further, during the discovery and study of new archaeological sites, proved that the mixed basis of the Mari was dominated by the Gorodets-Dyakovo (Volga-Finnish) component and the formation of the Mari ethnos, which began in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, generally ended in the 9th - 11th centuries, and even then the Mari ethnos began to be divided into two main groups - the mountain and meadow Mari (the latter, compared to the former, were more strongly influenced by the Azelin (Perm-speaking) tribes). This theory is generally supported by the majority of archaeological scientists working on this problem. Mari archaeologist V.S. Patrushev put forward a different assumption, according to which the formation of the ethnic foundations of the Mari, as well as the Meri and Muroms, took place on the basis of the Akhmylov-type population. Linguists (I.S. Galkin, D.E. Kazantsev), who rely on language data, believe that the territory of formation of the Mari people should be sought not in the Vetluzh-Vyatka interfluve, as archaeologists believe, but to the southwest, between the Oka and Suroy. Archaeological scientist T. B. Nikitina, taking into account data not only from archeology, but also from linguistics, came to the conclusion that the ancestral home of the Mari is located in the Volga part of the Oka-Sur interfluve and in Povetluzhie, and the advance to the east, to Vyatka, occurred in VIII - XI centuries, during which contact and mixing took place with the Azelin (Perm-speaking) tribes.
The question of the origin of the ethnonyms “Mari” and “Cheremis” also remains complex and unclear. The meaning of the word “Mari”, the self-name of the Mari people, is derived by many linguists from the Indo-European term “mar”, “mer” in various sound variations (translated as “man”, “husband”). The word “Cheremis” (as the Russians called the Mari, and in a slightly different, but phonetically similar vowel, many other peoples) has a large number of different interpretations. The first written mention of this ethnonym (in the original “ts-r-mis”) is found in a letter from the Khazar Kagan Joseph to the dignitary of the Cordoba Caliph Hasdai ibn-Shaprut (960s). D. E. Kazantsev, following the historian of the 19th century. G.I. Peretyatkovich came to the conclusion that the name “Cheremis” was given to the Mari by the Mordovian tribes, and translated this word means “a person living on the sunny side, in the east.” According to I.G. Ivanov, “Cheremis” is “a person from the Chera or Chora tribe,” in other words, neighboring peoples subsequently extended the name of one of the Mari tribes to the entire ethnic group. The version of Mari local historians of the 1920s and early 1930s, F.E. Egorov and M.N. Yantemir, is widely popular, suggesting that this ethnonym goes back to the Turkic term “warlike person.” F. I. Gordeev, as well as I. S. Galkin, who supported his version, defend the hypothesis about the origin of the word “Cheremis” from the ethnonym “Sarmatian” through the mediation of Turkic languages. A number of other versions were also expressed. The problem of the etymology of the word “Cheremis” is also complicated by the fact that in the Middle Ages (up to the 17th - 18th centuries) this was the name in a number of cases not only for the Mari, but also for their neighbors - the Chuvash and Udmurts.
Abstract topics
1. G. A. Arkhipov on the origin of the Mari people.
2. Merya and Marie.
3. Origin of the ethnonym “Cheremis”: different opinions.
Bibliography
1. Ageeva R. A. Countries and peoples: origin of names. M., 1990.
2. It's him.
3. It's him. The main stages of the ethnogenesis of the Mari // Ancient ethnic processes. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1985. Vol. 9. pp. 5 - 23.
4. It's him. Ethnogenesis of the Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga region: current state, problems and objectives of study // Finno-Ugric Studies. 1995. No. 1. pp. 30 - 41.
5. Galkin I. S. Mari onomastics: Local history polysh (in Mar.). Yoshkar-Ola, 2000.
6. Gordeev F. I. On the history of the ethnonym Cheremis// Proceedings of MarNII. Yoshkar-Ola, 1964. Vol. 18. pp. 207 - 213.
7. It's him. On the question of the origin of the ethnonym Marie// Questions of Mari linguistics. Yoshkar-Ola, 1964. Vol. 1. pp. 45 - 59.
8. It's him. Historical development of the vocabulary of the Mari language. Yoshkar-Ola, 1985.
9. Kazantsev D. E. Formation of dialects of the Mari language. (In connection with the origin of the Mari). Yoshkar-Ola, 1985.
10. Ivanov I. G. Once again about the ethnonym “Cheremis” // Questions of Mari onomastics. Yoshkar-Ola, 1978. Vol. 1. pp. 44 - 47.
11. It's him. From the history of Mari writing: To help the teacher of cultural history. Yoshkar-Ola, 1996.
12. Nikitina T. B.
13. Patrushev V.S. Finno-Ugrians of Russia (2nd millennium BC - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD). Yoshkar-Ola, 1992.
14. Origin of the Mari people: Materials of a scientific session held by the Mari Research Institute of Language, Literature and History (December 23 - 25, 1965). Yoshkar-Ola, 1967.
15. Ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Mari. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1988. Vol. 14.
TOPIC 3. Mari in the 9th-11th centuries.
In the IX - XI centuries. In general, the formation of the Mari ethnic group was completed. At the time in question, the Mari settled over a vast territory within the Middle Volga region: south of the Vetluga and Yuga watershed and the Pizhma River; north of the Piana River, the upper reaches of Tsivil; east of the Unzha River, the mouth of the Oka; west of Ileti and the mouth of the Kilmezi River.
The Mari economy was complex (farming, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing, gathering, beekeeping, crafts and other activities related to the processing of raw materials at home). There is no direct evidence of the wide spread of agriculture among the Mari; there is only indirect evidence indicating the development of slash-and-burn agriculture among them, and there is reason to believe that in the 11th century. the transition to arable farming began. Mari in the 9th - 11th centuries. almost all grains, legumes and industrial crops cultivated in the forest belt of Eastern Europe at the present time were known. Swidden farming was combined with cattle breeding; Stall housing of livestock in combination with free grazing predominated (mainly the same types of domestic animals and birds were bred as now). Hunting was a significant help in the economy of the Mari, and in the 9th - 11th centuries. fur production began to have a commercial character. Hunting tools were bows and arrows; various traps, snares and snares were used. The Mari population was engaged in fishing (near rivers and lakes); accordingly, river navigation developed, while natural conditions (dense network of rivers, difficult forest and swampy terrain) dictated the priority development of river rather than land routes of communication. Fishing, as well as gathering (primarily forest products) were focused exclusively on domestic consumption. Beekeeping became significantly widespread and developed among the Mari; they even put signs of ownership on the beet trees - “tiste”. Along with furs, honey was the main item of Mari export. The Mari did not have cities; only village crafts were developed. Metallurgy, due to the lack of a local raw material base, developed through the processing of imported semi-finished and finished products. Nevertheless, blacksmithing in the 9th - 11th centuries. among the Mari it had already become a special specialty, while non-ferrous metallurgy (mainly blacksmithing and jewelry - the production of copper, bronze, and silver jewelry) was mainly carried out by women. The production of clothing, shoes, utensils, and some types of agricultural implements was carried out on each farm in the time free from agriculture and livestock raising. Weaving and leatherworking were in first place among the domestic industries. Flax and hemp were used as raw materials for weaving. The most common leather product was shoes.
In the IX - XI centuries. The Mari conducted barter trade with neighboring peoples - the Udmurts, Meryas, Vesya, Mordovians, Muroma, Meshchera and other Finno-Ugric tribes. Trade relations with the Bulgars and Khazars, who were at a relatively high level of development, went beyond natural exchange; there were elements of commodity-money relations (many Arab dirhams were found in the ancient Mari burial grounds of that time). In the territory where the Mari lived, the Bulgars even founded trading posts such as the Mari-Lugovsky settlement. The greatest activity of Bulgarian merchants occurred at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries. There are no clear signs of close and regular ties between the Mari and the Eastern Slavs in the 9th - 11th centuries. not yet discovered, things of Slavic-Russian origin in the Mari archaeological sites of that time are rare.
Based on the totality of available information, it is difficult to judge the nature of the contacts of the Mari in the 9th - 11th centuries. with their Volga-Finnish neighbors - Merya, Meshchera, Mordovians, Muroma. However, according to numerous folklore works, the Mari developed tense relations with the Udmurts: as a result of a number of battles and minor skirmishes, the latter were forced to leave the Vetluzh-Vyatka interfluve, retreating east, to the left bank of the Vyatka. At the same time, among the available archaeological material, no traces of armed conflicts between the Mari and the Udmurts were found.
Relations between the Mari and the Volga Bulgars apparently were not limited to trade. At least part of the Mari population, bordering the Volga-Kama Bulgaria, paid tribute to this country (kharaj) - initially as a vassal-intermediary of the Khazar Kagan (it is known that in the 10th century both the Bulgars and the Mari - ts-r-mis - were subjects of Kagan Joseph, however, the former were in a more privileged position as part of the Khazar Kaganate), then as an independent state and a kind of legal successor to the Kaganate.
Abstract topics
1. Occupations of the Mari in the 9th - 11th centuries.
2. Relations of the Mari with neighboring peoples in the 9th - 11th centuries.
Bibliography
1. Andreev I. A. Development of farming systems among the Mari // Ethnocultural traditions of the Mari people. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1986. Vol. 10. pp. 17 - 39.
2. Arkhipov G. A. Mari IX - XI centuries. On the question of the origin of the people. Yoshkar-Ola, 1973.
3. Golubeva L. A. Mari // Finno-Ugrians and Balts in the Middle Ages. M., 1987. S. 107 - 115.
4. Kazakov E. P.
5. Nikitina T. B. Mari in the Middle Ages (based on archaeological materials). Yoshkar-Ola, 2002.
6. Petrukhin V. Ya., Raevsky D. S. Essays on the history of the peoples of Russia in ancient times and the early Middle Ages. M., 1998.
TOPIC 4. Mari and their neighbors in the XII - early XIII centuries.
From the 12th century in some Mari lands the transition to fallow farming begins. The funeral rites of the Mari were unified and cremation disappeared. If earlier swords and spears were often found in the everyday life of Mari men, now they have been replaced everywhere by bows, arrows, axes, knives and other types of light bladed weapons. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the new neighbors of the Mari were more numerous, better armed and organized peoples (Slavic-Russians, Bulgars), which could only be fought with partisan methods.
XII - early XIII centuries. were marked by a noticeable growth of Slavic-Russian and a decline in Bulgar influence on the Mari (especially in Povetluzhye). At this time, Russian settlers appeared in the area between the Unzha and Vetluga rivers (Gorodets Radilov, first mentioned in chronicles in 1171, settlements and settlements on Uzol, Linda, Vezlom, Vatom), where there were still settlements of the Mari and Eastern Merya, as well as on Verkhnyaya and Middle Vyatka (the cities of Khlynov, Kotelnich, settlements on Pizhma) - on the Udmurt and Mari lands. The territory of settlement of the Mari, in comparison with the 9th - 11th centuries, did not undergo significant changes, however, its gradual shift to the east continued, which was largely due to the advance from the west of the Slavic-Russian tribes and the Slavicizing Finno-Ugric peoples (primarily the Merya) and, possibly, the ongoing Mari-Udmurt confrontation. The movement of the Meryan tribes to the east took place in small families or their groups, and the settlers who reached Povetluga most likely mixed with related Mari tribes, completely dissolving in this environment.
The material culture of the Mari came under strong Slavic-Russian influence (obviously through the mediation of the Meryan tribes). In particular, according to archaeological research, instead of traditional local molded ceramics comes dishes made on a potter's wheel (Slavic and “Slavonic” ceramics); under Slavic influence, the appearance of Mari jewelry, household items, and tools changed. At the same time, among the Mari antiquities XII - beginning of XII I centuries there are much fewer Bulgarian things.
No later than the beginning of the 12th century. The inclusion of the Mari lands into the system of ancient Russian statehood begins. According to the Tale of Bygone Years and the Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land, the Cheremis (probably the western groups of the Mari population) were already paying tribute to the Russian princes. In 1120, after a series of Bulgar attacks on Russian cities in Volga-Ochye, which took place in the second half of the 11th century, a series of retaliatory campaigns began by the Vladimir-Suzdal princes and their allies from other Russian principalities. The Russian-Bulgar conflict, as is commonly believed, flared up due to the collection of tribute from the local population, and in this struggle the advantage steadily leaned towards the side of the feudal lords of North-Eastern Rus'. There is no reliable information about the direct participation of the Mari in the Russian-Bulgar wars, although the troops of both warring sides repeatedly passed through the Mari lands.
Abstract topics
1. Mari burial grounds of the XII-XIII centuries. in Povetluzhye.
2. Mari between Bulgaria and Russia.
Bibliography
1. Arkhipov G. A. Mari XII - XIII centuries. (On the ethnocultural history of Povetluga region). Yoshkar-Ola, 1986.
2. It's him.
3. Kazakov E. P. Stages of interaction between the Volga Bulgarians and the Finns of the Volga region // Medieval antiquities of Volga-Kama. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1992. Vol. 21. pp. 42 - 50.
4. Kizilov Yu. A.
5. Kuchkin V. A. Formation of the state territory of North-Eastern Rus'. M., 1984.
6. Makarov L. D.
7. Nikitina T. B. Mari in the Middle Ages (based on archaeological materials). Yoshkar-Ola, 2002.
8. Sanukov K. N. Ancient Mari between the Turks and Slavs // Russian civilization: Past, present, future. Collection of articles VI student. scientific conference 5 Dec. 2000 Cheboksary, 2000. Part I. P. 36 - 63.
TOPIC 5. Mari as part of the Golden Horde
In 1236 - 1242 Eastern Europe was subjected to a powerful Mongol-Tatar invasion; a significant part of it, including the entire Volga region, came under the rule of the conquerors. At the same time, the Bulgars, Mari, Mordovians and other peoples of the Middle Volga region were included in the Ulus of Jochi or the Golden Horde, an empire founded by Batu Khan. Written sources do not report a direct invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in the 30s and 40s. XIII century to the territory where the Mari lived. Most likely, the invasion affected the Mari settlements located near the areas that suffered the most severe devastation (Volga-Kama Bulgaria, Mordovia) - these are the Right Bank of the Volga and the left bank Mari lands adjacent to Bulgaria.
The Mari were subordinate to the Golden Horde through the Bulgar feudal lords and khan darugs. The bulk of the population was divided into administrative-territorial and tax-paying units - uluses, hundreds and tens, which were led by centurions and foremen - representatives of the local nobility - accountable to the khan's administration. The Mari, like many other peoples subject to the Golden Horde Khan, had to pay yasak, a number of other taxes, and carry out various duties, including military. They mainly supplied furs, honey, and wax. At the same time, the Mari lands were located on the forested northwestern periphery of the empire, far from the steppe zone; it did not have a developed economy, so strict military and police control was not established here, and in the most inaccessible and remote area - in Povetluzhye and the adjacent territory - the power of the khan was only nominal.
This circumstance contributed to the continuation of Russian colonization of the Mari lands. More Russian settlements appeared in Pizhma and Middle Vyatka, the development of Povetluzhye, the Oka-Sura interfluve, and then Lower Sura began. In Povetluzhie, Russian influence was especially strong. Judging by the “Vetluga Chronicler” and other Trans-Volga Russian chronicles of late origin, many local semi-mythical princes (Kuguz) (Kai, Kodzha-Yaraltem, Bai-Boroda, Keldibek) were baptized, were in vassal dependence on the Galician princes, sometimes concluding military wars against them alliances with the Golden Horde. Apparently, a similar situation was in Vyatka, where contacts between the local Mari population and the Vyatka Land and the Golden Horde developed. The strong influence of both the Russians and the Bulgars was felt in the Volga region, especially in its mountainous part (in the Malo-Sundyrskoye settlement, Yulyalsky, Noselskoye, Krasnoselishchenskoye settlements). However, here Russian influence gradually grew, and the Bulgar-Golden Horde weakened. By the beginning of the 15th century. the interfluve of the Volga and Sura actually became part of the Moscow Grand Duchy (before that - Nizhny Novgorod), back in 1374 the Kurmysh fortress was founded on the Lower Sura. Relations between the Russians and the Mari were complex: peaceful contacts were combined with periods of war (mutual raids, campaigns of Russian princes against Bulgaria through the Mari lands from the 70s of the 14th century, attacks by the Ushkuiniks in the second half of the 14th - early 15th centuries, participation of the Mari in military actions of the Golden Horde against Rus', for example, in the Battle of Kulikovo).
Mass migrations of Mari continued. As a result of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and subsequent raids by steppe warriors, many Mari who lived on the right bank of the Volga moved to the safer left bank. At the end of the XIV - beginning of the XV centuries. The left-bank Mari, who lived in the basin of the Mesha, Kazanka, and Ashit rivers, were forced to move to more northern regions and to the east, since the Kama Bulgars rushed here, fleeing the troops of Timur (Tamerlane), then from the Nogai warriors. The eastern direction of resettlement of the Mari in the XIV - XV centuries. was also due to Russian colonization. Assimilation processes also took place in the zone of contact between the Mari and the Russians and Bulgaro-Tatars.
Abstract topics
1. Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Mari.
2. Malo-Sundyrskoye settlement and its surroundings.
3. Vetluzhskoe kuguztvo.
Bibliography
1. Arkhipov G. A. Fortifications and villages of Povetluzhye and Gorky Trans-Volga region (on the history of Mari-Slavic contacts) // Settlements and dwellings of the Mari region. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1982. Vol. 6. P. 5 - 50.
2. Bakhtin A. G. XV - XVI centuries in the history of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1998.
3. Berezin P. S.. Zavetluzhye // Nizhny Novgorod Mari. Yoshkar-Ola, 1994. pp. 60 - 119.
4. Egorov V. L. Historical geography of the Golden Horde in the XIII - XIV centuries. M., 1985.
5. Zeleneev Yu. A. The Golden Horde and the Volga Finns // Key problems of modern Finno-Ugric studies: Materials of the I All-Russian. conference Finno-Ugric scholars. Yoshkar-Ola, 1995. pp. 32 - 33.
6. Kargalov V. IN. Foreign policy factors in the development of feudal Rus': Feudal Rus' and nomads. M., 1967.
7. Kizilov Yu. A. Lands and principalities of North-Eastern Rus' during the period of feudal fragmentation (XII - XV centuries). Ulyanovsk, 1982.
8. Makarov L. D. Old Russian monuments of the middle reaches of the Pizhma River // Problems of medieval archeology of the Volga Finns. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1994. Vol. 23. pp. 155 - 184.
9. Nikitina T. B. Yulyalskoe settlement (on the issue of Mari-Russian ties in the Middle Ages) // Interethnic connections of the population of the Mari region. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1991. Vol. 20. pp. 22 - 35.
10. It's her. On the nature of the settlement of the Mari in the 2nd millennium AD. e. on the example of the Malo-Sundyr settlement and its surroundings // New materials on the archeology of the Middle Volga region. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1995. Vol. 24. pp. 130 - 139.
11. It's her. Mari in the Middle Ages (based on archaeological materials). Yoshkar-Ola, 2002.
12. Safargaliev M. G. The collapse of the Golden Horde // At the junction of continents and civilizations... (from the experience of the formation and collapse of empires of the 26th centuries). M., 1996. S. 280 - 526.
13. Fedorov-Davydov G. A. Social system of the Golden Horde. M., 1973.
14. Khlebnikova T. A. Archaeological sites of the 13th - 15th centuries. in the Gornomarisky region of the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic // Origin of the Mari people: Materials of a scientific session held by the Mari Research Institute of Language, Literature and History (December 23 - 25, 1965). Yoshkar-Ola, 1967. pp. 85 - 92.
TOPIC 6. Kazan Khanate
The Kazan Khanate arose during the collapse of the Golden Horde - as a result of the appearance in the 30s - 40s. XV century in the Middle Volga region, the Golden Horde Khan Ulu-Muhammad, his court and combat-ready troops, who together played the role of a powerful catalyst in the consolidation of the local population and the creation of a state entity equivalent to the still decentralized Rus'. The Kazan Khanate bordered in the west and north with the Russian state, in the east with the Nogai Horde, in the south with the Astrakhan Khanate and in the southwest with the Crimean Khanate. The Khanate was divided into sides: Mountain (Right Bank of the Volga east of the Sura River), Lugovaya (Left Bank of the Volga north and north-west of Kazan), Arsk (Kazanka basin and adjacent areas of the Middle Vyatka), Poberezhnaya (Left Bank of the Volga south and south-east of Kazan, Lower Kama region). The parties were divided into darugs, and those into uluses (volosts), hundreds, dozens. In addition to the Bulgaro-Tatar population (Kazan Tatars), the Mari (“Cheremis”), southern Udmurts (“Votyaks”, “Ars”), Chuvash, Mordovians (mostly Erzya), and Western Bashkirs also lived on the territory of the Khanate.
Middle Volga region in the XV - XVI centuries. was considered a land of economic development and rich in natural resources. The Kazan Khanate was a country with ancient agricultural and livestock-raising traditions, developed craft (blacksmithing, jewelry, leather, weaving) production, with internal and external (especially transit) trade gaining accelerated momentum during periods of relative political stability; the capital of the Khanate, Kazan, was one of the largest cities in Eastern Europe. In general, the economy of the majority of the local population was complex; hunting, fishing and beekeeping, which were of a commercial nature, also played a significant role.
The Kazan Khanate was one of the variants of eastern despotism; to a large extent, it inherited the traditions of the state system of the Golden Horde. The head of the state was a khan (in Russian - “tsar”). His power was limited to the council of the highest nobility - the divan. The members of this council bore the title "Karachi". The khan's court retinue also included ataliks (regents, educators), imildashis (foster brothers), who seriously influenced the adoption of certain government decisions. There was a general meeting of Kazan secular and spiritual feudal lords - kurultai. The most important issues in the field of foreign and domestic policy. The Khanate had an extensive bureaucratic apparatus in the form of a special palace-patrimonial management system. The role of the office, which consisted of several bakshi (identical to Russian clerks and clerks), grew in it. Legal relationships were regulated by Sharia and customary law.
All lands were considered the property of the khan, who personified the state. Khan demanded rent in kind and cash rent (yasak) for the use of land. The khan's treasury was replenished from yasak and the apparatus of officials was maintained. The khan also had personal possessions like palace land.
In the Khanate there was an institute of conditional awards - suyurgal. Suyurgal was a hereditary land grant, subject to the condition that the person who received it performed military or other service in favor of the khan along with a certain number of horsemen; at the same time, the owner of the suyurgal received the right to judicial, administrative and tax immunity. The Tarkhan system was also widespread. The feudal Tarkhans, in addition to immunity and personal freedom from judicial liability, also had some other privileges. The title and status of Tarkhan, as a rule, was awarded for special merits.
A large class of Kazan feudal lords was involved in the sphere of suyurgal-tarkhan awards. Its leadership consisted of emirs, hakims, and biks; the middle feudal lords included the Murzas and Oglans (Uhlans); The lowest stratum of service people consisted of city ("ichki") and rural ("isnik") Cossacks. A large layer within the feudal class was the Muslim clergy, which had significant influence in the Khanate; He also had land holdings (waqf lands) at his disposal.
The bulk of the Khanate's population - farmers ("igencheler"), artisans, traders, the non-Tatar part of Kazan subjects, including the bulk of the local nobility - belonged to the category of tax-paying people, "black people" ("kara khalyk"). In the Khanate there were more than 20 types of taxes and duties, among which the main one was yasak. Duties of a temporary nature were also practiced - logging, public construction work, permanent service, maintaining communications (bridges and roads) in proper condition. The combat-ready male part of the tax-paying population had to participate in wars as part of the militia. Therefore, “kara halyk” can be considered as a semi-service class.
In the Kazan Khanate stood out and social group personally dependent people - kollar (slaves) and churalar (representatives of this group were less dependent than kollar; this term often appears as a title for serving military nobility). Mostly Russian captives became slaves. Those prisoners who converted to Islam remained on the territory of the Khanate and were transferred to the position of dependent peasants or artisans. Although slave labor was used quite widely in the Kazan Khanate, the bulk of the prisoners, as a rule, were exported to other countries.
In general, the Kazan Khanate did not differ much from the Moscow state in its economic structure, level of economic and cultural development, but it was significantly inferior to it in its area, in the size of natural, human and economic resources, in the scale of agricultural and handicraft products produced, and was less homogeneous in ethnically. In addition, the Kazan Khanate, unlike the Russian state, was weakly centralized, so internecine clashes more often occurred there, weakening the country.
Abstract topics
1. Kazan Khanate: population, political system and administrative-territorial structure.
2. Land legal relations in the Kazan Khanate.
3. Economy and culture of the Kazan Khanate.
Bibliography
1. Alishev S. Kh.
2. Bakhtin A. G. XV - XVI centuries in the history of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1998.
3. Dimitriev V. D. About yasak taxation in the Middle Volga region // Questions of history. 1956. No. 12. pp. 107 - 115.
4. It's him. On the socio-political system and governance in the Kazan land // Russia on the paths of centralization: Collection of articles. M., 1982. S. 98 - 107.
5. History of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. (From ancient times to the present day). Kazan, 1968.
6. Kizilov Yu. A.
7. Mukhamedyarov Sh. F. Land legal relations in the Kazan Khanate. Kazan, 1958.
8. Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals. M., 1967.
9. Tagirov I. R. History of the national statehood of the Tatar people and Tatarstan. Kazan, 2000.
10. Khamidullin B. L.
11. Khudyakov M. G.
12. Chernyshev E. I. Villages of the Kazan Khanate (according to scribe books) // Questions of ethnogenesis of the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Middle Volga region. Archeology and ethnography of Tataria. Kazan, 1971. Issue. 1. pp. 272 - 292.
TOPIC 7. Economic and socio-political situation of the Mari as part of the Kazan Khanate
The Mari were not included in the Kazan Khanate by force; dependence on Kazan arose due to the desire to prevent armed struggle with the aim of jointly opposing the Russian state and, in accordance with the established tradition, paying tribute to the Bulgar and Golden Horde government officials. Allied, confederal relations were established between the Mari and the Kazan government. At the same time, there were noticeable differences in the position of the mountain, meadow and northwestern Mari within the Khanate.
The majority of the Mari had a complex economy, with a developed agricultural basis. Only among the northwestern Mari, due to natural conditions (they lived in an area of almost continuous swamps and forests), agriculture played a secondary role compared to forestry and cattle breeding. In general, the main features of the economic life of the Mari in the 15th–16th centuries. have not undergone significant changes compared to the previous time.
The Mountain Mari, who, like the Chuvash, Eastern Mordovians and Sviyazhsk Tatars, lived on the Mountain side of the Kazan Khanate, stood out for their active participation in contacts with the Russian population, the relative weakness of ties with the central regions of the Khanate, from which they were separated by the large Volga River. At the same time, the Mountain Side was under fairly strict military and police control, which was due to the high level of its economic development, the intermediate position between the Russian lands and Kazan, and the growing influence of Russia in this part of the Khanate. The Right Bank (due to its special strategic position and high economic development) was invaded somewhat more often by foreign troops - not only Russian warriors, but also steppe warriors. The situation of mountain people was complicated by the presence of main water and land roads to Rus' and the Crimea, since permanent conscription was very heavy and burdensome.
The meadow Mari, unlike the mountain Mari, did not have close and regular contacts with the Russian state; they were more connected with Kazan and the Kazan Tatars politically, economically, and culturally. In terms of the level of their economic development, the meadow Mari were not inferior to the mountain Mari. Moreover, the economy of the Left Bank on the eve of the fall of Kazan developed in a relatively stable, calm and less harsh military-political environment, therefore contemporaries (A. M. Kurbsky, author of “Kazan History”) describe the well-being of the population of the Lugovaya and especially the Arsk side most enthusiastically and colorfully. The amounts of taxes paid by the population of the Mountain and Meadow sides also did not differ much. If on the Mountain Side the burden of regular service was felt more strongly, then on Lugovaya - construction: it was the population of the Left Bank that erected and maintained in proper condition the powerful fortifications of Kazan, Arsk, various forts, and abatis.
The northwestern (Vetluga and Kokshai) Mari were relatively weakly drawn into the orbit of the Khan’s power due to their distance from the center and due to their relatively low economic development; at the same time, the Kazan government, fearing Russian military campaigns from the north (from Vyatka) and the north-west (from Galich and Ustyug), sought allied relations with the Vetluga, Kokshai, Pizhansky, Yaran Mari leaders, who also saw benefits in supporting the aggressive actions of the Tatars in relation to the outlying Russian lands.
Abstract topics
1. Life support of the Mari in the XV - XVI centuries.
2. Meadow side as part of the Kazan Khanate.
3. Mountain side as part of the Kazan Khanate.
Bibliography
1. Bakhtin A. G. Peoples of the Mountain Side as part of the Kazan Khanate // Mari El: yesterday, today, tomorrow. 1996. No. 1. pp. 50 - 58.
2. It's him. XV - XVI centuries in the history of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1998.
3. Dimitriev V. D. Chuvashia in the era of feudalism (XVI - early XIX centuries). Cheboksary, 1986.
4. Dubrovina L. A.
5. Kizilov Yu. A. Lands and peoples of Russia in the XIII - XV centuries. M., 1984.
6. Shikaeva T. B. Economic inventory of the Mari of the XIV - XVII centuries // From the history of the economy of the population of the Mari region. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1979. Vol. 4. pp. 51 - 63.
7. Khamidullin B. L. Peoples of the Kazan Khanate: Ethnosociological study. - Kazan, 2002.
TOPIC 8. “Military democracy” of the medieval Mari
In the XV - XVI centuries. The Mari, like other peoples of the Kazan Khanate, except the Tatars, were at a transitional stage in the development of society from primitive to early feudal. On the one hand, individual family property was allocated within the land-kinship union (neighborhood community), parcel labor flourished, property differentiation grew, and on the other hand, the class structure of society did not acquire its clear outlines.
Mari patriarchal families were united into patronymic groups (nasyl, tukym, urlyk), and those into larger land unions (tiste). Their unity was based not on consanguinity, but on the principle of neighborhood, and to a lesser extent on economic ties, which were expressed in various kinds mutual “help” (“vÿma”), joint ownership of common land. Land unions were, among other things, unions of mutual military assistance. Perhaps the Tiste were territorially compatible with the hundreds and uluses of the Kazan Khanate period. Hundreds, uluses, and dozens were led by centurions or centurion princes (“shÿdövuy”, “puddle”), foremen (“luvuy”). The centurions appropriated for themselves some part of the yasak they collected in favor of the khan's treasury from the subordinate ordinary community members, but at the same time they enjoyed authority among them as intelligent and courageous people, as skillful organizers and military leaders. Centurions and foremen in the XV - XVI centuries. They had not yet managed to break with primitive democracy, but at the same time the power of the representatives of the nobility increasingly acquired a hereditary character.
The feudalization of Mari society accelerated thanks to the Turkic-Mari synthesis. In relation to the Kazan Khanate, ordinary community members acted as a feudal-dependent population (in fact, they were personally free people and were part of a kind of semi-service class), and the nobility acted as service vassals. Among the Mari, representatives of the nobility began to stand out as a special military class - Mamichi (imildashi), bogatyrs (batyrs), who probably already had some relation to the feudal hierarchy of the Kazan Khanate; on lands with the Mari population, feudal estates began to appear - belyaki (administrative tax districts given by the Kazan khans as a reward for service with the right to collect yasak from land and various fishing grounds that were in the collective use of the Mari population).
The dominance of military-democratic orders in medieval Mari society was the environment where the immanent impulses for raids were laid. War, which was once waged only to avenge attacks or to expand territory, now becomes a permanent trade. The property stratification of ordinary community members, whose economic activities were hampered by insufficiently favorable natural conditions and the low level of development of productive forces, led to the fact that many of them began to increasingly turn outside their community in search of means to satisfy their material needs and in an effort to raise their income. status in society. The feudalized nobility, which gravitated towards a further increase in wealth and its socio-political weight, also sought outside the community to find new sources of enrichment and strengthening of its power. As a result, solidarity arose between two different layers of community members, between whom a “military alliance” was formed for the purpose of expansion. Therefore, the power of the Mari “princes,” along with the interests of the nobility, still continued to reflect general tribal interests.
The northwestern Mari showed the greatest activity in raids among all groups of the Mari population. This was due to their relatively low level of socio-economic development. The meadow and mountain Mari, engaged in agricultural work, took a less active part in military campaigns; moreover, the local proto-feudal elite had other ways than the military to strengthen their power and further enrich themselves (primarily through strengthening ties with Kazan).
Abstract topics
1. Social structure Mari society XV - XVI centuries.
2. Features of the “military democracy” of the medieval Mari.
Bibliography
1. Bakhtin A. G. XV - XVI centuries in the history of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1998.
2. It's him. Forms of ethnic organization among the Mari and some controversial problems in the history of the Middle Volga region in the 15th - 16th centuries // Ethnological problems in a multicultural society: Materials of the All-Russian school-seminar “National Relations and Modern Statehood”. Yoshkar-Ola, 2000. Vol. 1. pp. 58 - 75.
3. Dubrovina L. A. Socio-economic and political development of the Mari region in the XV - XVI centuries. (based on materials from the Kazan Chronicler) // Questions of the pre-revolutionary history of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1978. pp. 3 - 23.
4. Petrov V.N. Hierarchy of Mari cult associations // Material and spiritual culture of the Mari. Archeology and ethnography of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1982. Vol. 5. pp. 133 - 153.
5. specific features The main features of the social system of the Mari in the 15th - first half of the 16th centuries. // Finno-Ugric studies. 1999. No. 2 - 3. P. 69 - 71.
6. Stepanov A. Statehood of the ancient Mari // Mari El: yesterday, today, tomorrow. 1995. No. 1. pp. 67 - 72.
7. Khamidullin B. L. Peoples of the Kazan Khanate: Ethnosociological study. Kazan, 2002.
8. Khudyakov M. G. From the history of the relationship between Tatar and Mari feudal lords in the 16th century // Poltysh - Prince of Cheremis. Malmyzh region. Yoshkar-Ola, 2003. pp. 87 - 138.
TOPIC 9. Mari in the system of Russian-Kazan relations
In 1440 - 50s. Equality of power remained between Moscow and Kazan; subsequently, relying on the successes of gathering Russian lands, the Moscow government began the task of subjugating the Kazan Khanate, and in 1487 a protectorate was established over it. Dependence on the grand ducal power ended in 1505 as a result of a powerful uprising and a successful two-year war with the Russian state, in which the Mari took an active part. In 1521, the Crimean Girey dynasty, known for its aggressive foreign policy towards Russia, reigned in Kazan. The government of the Kazan Khanate found itself in a difficult situation when it constantly had to choose one of the possible political lines: either independence, but confrontation with a strong neighbor - the Russian state, or a state of peace and relative stability, but only under the condition of subordination to Moscow. Not only in Kazan government circles, but also among the subjects of the Khanate, a split began to emerge between supporters and opponents of rapprochement with the Russian state.
The Russian-Kazan wars, which ended with the annexation of the Middle Volga region to the Russian state, were caused by both defense motives and the expansionist aspirations of both warring parties. The Kazan Khanate, carrying out aggression against the Russian state, sought, at a minimum, to carry out robbery and capture prisoners, and, at a maximum, to restore the dependence of the Russian princes on the Tatar khans, modeled on the order that existed during the period of the power of the Golden Horde Empire. The Russian state, in proportion to its existing forces and capabilities, tried to subjugate to its power the lands that had previously been part of the same Golden Horde empire, including the Kazan Khanate. And all this happened in the conditions of a rather acute, protracted and debilitating conflict between the Moscow state and the Kazan Khanate, when, along with aggressive goals, both opposing sides also solved the problems of state defense.
Almost all groups of the Mari population took part in military campaigns against Russian lands, which became more frequent under Giray (1521 - 1551, with interruptions). The reasons for the participation of Mari warriors in these campaigns most likely boil down to the following points: 1) the position of the local nobility in relation to the khan as service vassals, and ordinary community members as semi-service class; 2) features of the development stage public relations(“military democracy”); 3) obtaining military booty, including captives for their sale in slave markets; 4) the desire to prevent Russian military-political expansion and people's monastic colonization; 5) psychological motives - revenge, the dominance of Russophobic sentiments as a result of the devastating invasions of Russian troops and fierce armed clashes on the territory of the Russian state.
In the last period of the Russian-Kazan confrontation (1521 - 1552) in 1521 - 1522 and 1534 - 1544. the initiative belonged to Kazan, which sought to restore the vassal dependence of Moscow, as it was during the time of the Golden Horde. In 1523 - 1530 and 1545 - 1552. The Russian state led a broad and powerful attack on Kazan.
Among the reasons for the annexation of the Middle Volga region and, accordingly, the Mari to the Russian state, scientists mainly indicate the following points: 1) the imperial type of political consciousness of the top leadership of the Moscow state, which arose during the struggle for the “Golden Horde inheritance”; 2) the task of ensuring the security of the eastern outskirts; 3) economic reasons (the need for fertile land for feudal lords, tax revenues from a wealthy region, control over the Volga trade route and other long-term plans). At the same time, historians, as a rule, give preference to one of these factors, relegating the others to the background or completely denying their significance.
Abstract topics
1. The Mari and the Russian-Kazan War of 1505 - 1507.
2. Russian-Kazan relations in 1521 - 1535.
3. Campaigns of Kazan troops on Russian lands in 1534 - 1544.
4. Reasons for the annexation of the Middle Volga region to Russia.
Bibliography
1. Alishev S. Kh. Kazan and Moscow: interstate relations in the XV - XVI centuries. Kazan, 1995.
2. Bazilevich K.V. Foreign policy of the Russian centralized state (second half of the 15th century). M., 1952.
3. Bakhtin A. G. XV - XVI centuries in the history of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1998.
4. It's him. Reasons for the annexation of the Volga and Urals regions to Russia // Questions of history. 2001. No. 5. pp. 52 - 72.
5. Zimin A. A. Russia on the threshold of a new time: (Essays on the political history of Russia in the first third of the 16th century). M., 1972.
6. It's him. Russia at the turn of the XV - XVI centuries: (Essays on socio-political history). M., 1982.
7. Kappeler A.
8. Kargalov V.V. On the steppe border: Defense of the “Crimean Ukraine” of the Russian state in the first half of the 16th century. M., 1974.
9. Peretyatkovich G. I.
10. Smirnov I. I. Eastern policy of Vasily III // Historical notes. M., 1948. T. 27. P. 18 - 66.
11. Khudyakov M. G. Essays on the history of the Kazan Khanate. M., 1991.
12. Schmidt S. O. Eastern policy of Russia on the eve of the “Capture of Kazan” // International relations. Policy. Diplomacy of the 16th - 20th centuries. M., 1964. S. 538 - 558.
TOPIC 10. Accession of the mountain Mari to the Russian state
The entry of the Mari into the Russian state was a multi-stage process, and the first to be annexed were the mountain Mari. Together with the rest of the population of the Mountain Side, they were interested in peaceful relations with the Russian state, while in the spring of 1545 a series of large campaigns of Russian troops against Kazan began. At the end of 1546, the mountain people (Tugai, Atachik) attempted to establish a military alliance with Russia and, together with political emigrants from among the Kazan feudal lords, sought the overthrow of Khan Safa-Girey and the installation of the Moscow vassal Shah-Ali on the throne, thereby preventing new invasions Russian troops and put an end to the oppressive pro-Crimean domestic politics khan. However, Moscow at this time had already set a course for the final annexation of the Khanate - Ivan IV was crowned king (this indicates that the Russian sovereign was putting forward his claim to the Kazan throne and other residences of the Golden Horde kings). Nevertheless, the Moscow government failed to take advantage of the successful rebellion of the Kazan feudal lords led by Prince Kadysh against Safa-Girey, and the help offered by the mountain people was rejected by the Russian governors. The mountainous side continued to be considered by Moscow as enemy territory even after the winter of 1546/47. (campaigns to Kazan in the winter of 1547/48 and in the winter of 1549/50).
By 1551, a plan had matured in Moscow government circles to annex the Kazan Khanate to Russia, which provided for the separation of the Mountain Side and its subsequent transformation into a support base for the capture of the rest of the Khanate. In the summer of 1551, when a powerful military outpost was erected at the mouth of Sviyaga (Sviyazhsk fortress), it was possible to annex the Mountain Side to the Russian state.
The reasons for the entry of the Mountain Mari and the rest of the population of the Mountain Side into Russia, apparently, were: 1) the introduction of a large contingent of Russian troops, the construction of the fortified city of Sviyazhsk; 2) the flight to Kazan of a local anti-Moscow group of feudal lords, which could organize resistance; 3) the fatigue of the population of the Mountain Side from the devastating invasions of Russian troops, their desire to establish peaceful relations by restoring the Moscow protectorate; 4) the use by Russian diplomacy of the anti-Crimean and pro-Moscow sentiments of the mountain people for the purpose of directly including the Mountain Side into Russia (the actions of the population of the Mountain Side were seriously influenced by the arrival of the former Kazan Khan Shah-Ali to Sviyaga along with the Russian governors, accompanied by five hundred Tatar feudal lords who entered the Russian service); 5) bribery of local nobility and ordinary militia soldiers, exemption of mountain people from taxes for three years; 6) relatively close ties of the peoples of the Mountain Side with Russia in the years preceding the annexation.
There is no consensus among historians regarding the nature of the annexation of the Mountain Side to the Russian state. Some scientists believe that the peoples of the Mountain Side joined Russia voluntarily, others argue that it was a violent seizure, and others adhere to the version about the peaceful, but forced nature of the annexation. Obviously, both reasons and circumstances of a military, violent, and peaceful, non-violent nature played a role in the annexation of the Mountain Side to the Russian state. These factors complemented each other, giving the entry of the mountain Mari and other peoples of the Mountain Side into Russia an exceptional originality.
Abstract topics
1. “Embassy” of the mountain Mari to Moscow in 1546
2. Construction of Sviyazhsk and adoption of Russian citizenship by the mountain Mari.
Bibliography
1. Ayplatov G. N. Forever with you, Russia: On the annexation of the Mari region to the Russian state. Yoshkar-Ola, 1967.
2. Alishev S. Kh. The accession of the peoples of the Middle Volga region to the Russian state // Tataria in the past and present. Kazan, 1975. pp. 172 - 185.
3. It's him. Kazan and Moscow: interstate relations in the XV - XVI centuries. Kazan, 1995.
4. Bakhtin A. G. XV - XVI centuries in the history of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1998.
5. Burdey G.D.
6. Dimitriev V. D. Peaceful accession of Chuvashia to the Russian state. Cheboksary, 2001.
7. Svechnikov S. K. The entry of the mountain Mari into the Russian state // Current problems of history and literature: Materials of the republican interuniversity scientific conference V Tarasov readings. Yoshkar-Ola, 2001. pp. 34 - 39.
8. Schmidt S. Yu. Eastern policy of the Russian state in the middle of the 16th century. and “Kazan War” // 425th anniversary of the voluntary entry of Chuvashia into Russia. Proceedings of ChuvNII. Cheboksary, 1977. Vol. 71. pp. 25 - 62.
TOPIC 11. Annexation of the left-bank Mari to Russia. Cheremis War 1552-1557
Summer 1551 - spring 1552 The Russian state exerted powerful military-political pressure on Kazan, and the implementation of a plan for the gradual liquidation of the Khanate through the establishment of a Kazan governorship began. However, anti-Russian sentiment was too strong in Kazan, probably growing as pressure from Moscow increased. As a result, on March 9, 1552, the Kazan people refused to allow the Russian governor and the troops accompanying him into the city, and the entire plan for the bloodless annexation of the Khanate to Russia collapsed overnight.
In the spring of 1552, an anti-Moscow uprising broke out on the Mountain Side, as a result of which the territorial integrity of the Khanate was actually restored. The reasons for the uprising of the mountain people were: the weakening of the Russian military presence on the territory of the Mountain Side, the active offensive actions of the left-bank Kazan residents in the absence of retaliatory measures from the Russians, the violent nature of the accession of the Mountain Side to the Russian state, the departure of Shah-Ali outside the Khanate, to Kasimov. As a result of large-scale punitive campaigns by Russian troops, the uprising was suppressed; in June-July 1552, the mountain people again swore allegiance to the Russian Tsar. Thus, in the summer of 1552, the mountain Mari finally became part of the Russian state. The results of the uprising convinced the mountain people of the futility of further resistance. The mountainous side, being the most vulnerable and at the same time important part of the Kazan Khanate in military-strategic terms, could not become a powerful center of the people's liberation struggle. Obviously, a significant role was played by such factors as privileges and all kinds of gifts granted by the Moscow government to the mountain people in 1551, the experience of multilateral peaceful relations between the local population and the Russians, and the complex, contradictory nature of relations with Kazan in previous years. Due to these reasons, most mountain people during the events of 1552 - 1557. remained loyal to the power of the Russian sovereign.
During the Kazan War of 1545 - 1552. Crimean and Turkish diplomats conducted active work to create an anti-Moscow union of Turkic-Muslim states to counter the powerful Russian expansion in the eastern direction. However, the unification policy failed due to the pro-Moscow and anti-Crimean position of many influential Nogai Murzas.
In the battle for Kazan in August - October 1552, a huge number of troops took part on both sides, while the number of besiegers outnumbered those besieged by initial stage 2 - 2.5 times, and before the decisive assault - 4 - 5 times. In addition, the troops of the Russian state were better prepared in military-technical and military-engineering terms; Ivan IV's army also managed to defeat the Kazan troops piecemeal. October 2, 1552 Kazan fell.
In the first days after the capture of Kazan, Ivan IV and his entourage took measures to organize the administration of the conquered country. Within 8 days (from October 2 to October 10), the Prikazan Meadow Mari and Tatars were sworn in. However, the majority of the left-bank Mari did not show submission, and already in November 1552, the Mari of the Lugovaya Side rose up to fight for their freedom. The anti-Moscow armed uprisings of the peoples of the Middle Volga region after the fall of Kazan are usually called the Cheremis Wars, since the Mari showed the greatest activity in them, along with the insurgent movement in the Middle Volga region in 1552 - 1557. is, in essence, a continuation of the Kazan War, and the main goal of its participants was the restoration of the Kazan Khanate. People's liberation movement 1552 - 1557 in the Middle Volga region was caused by the following reasons: 1) defending one’s independence, freedom, and the right to live in one’s own way; 2) the struggle of the local nobility to restore the order that existed in the Kazan Khanate; 3) religious confrontation (the Volga peoples - Muslims and pagans - seriously feared for the future of their religions and culture as a whole, since immediately after the capture of Kazan, Ivan IV began to destroy mosques and build in their place Orthodox churches, destroy the Muslim clergy and pursue a policy of forced baptism). The degree of influence of the Turkic-Muslim states on the course of events in the Middle Volga region during this period was negligible; in some cases, potential allies even interfered with the rebels.
Resistance movement 1552 - 1557 or the First Cheremis War developed in waves. The first wave - November - December 1552 (separate outbreaks of armed uprisings on the Volga and near Kazan); second - winter 1552/53 - early 1554. (the most powerful stage, covering the entire Left Bank and part of the Mountain Side); third - July - October 1554 (the beginning of the decline of the resistance movement, a split among the rebels from the Arsk and Coastal sides); fourth - end of 1554 - March 1555. (participation in anti-Moscow armed protests only by the left-bank Mari, the beginning of the leadership of the rebels by the centurion from the Lugovaya Strand, Mamich-Berdei); fifth - end of 1555 - summer of 1556. (rebel movement led by Mamich-Berdei, his support by Arsk and coastal people - Tatars and southern Udmurts, captivity of Mamich-Berdey); sixth, last - end of 1556 - May 1557. (universal cessation of resistance). All waves received their impetus on the Lugovaya side, while the left bank (Meadow and northwestern) Maris showed themselves to be the most active, uncompromising and consistent participants in the resistance movement.
The Kazan Tatars also took an active part in the war of 1552 - 1557, fighting for the restoration of the sovereignty and independence of their state. But still, their role in the insurgency, with the exception of some of its stages, was not the main one. This was due to several factors. Firstly, the Tatars in the 16th century. were experiencing a period of feudal relations, they were differentiated by class and they no longer had the kind of solidarity that was observed among the left-bank Mari, who did not know class contradictions (largely because of this, the participation of the lower classes of Tatar society in the anti-Moscow insurgent movement was not stable). Secondly, within the class of feudal lords there was a struggle between clans, which was caused by the influx of foreign (Horde, Crimean, Siberian, Nogai) nobility and the weakness of the central government in the Kazan Khanate, and the Russian state successfully took advantage of this, which was able to win over a significant group to its side Tatar feudal lords even before the fall of Kazan. Thirdly, the proximity of the socio-political systems of the Russian state and the Kazan Khanate facilitated the transition of the feudal nobility of the Khanate to the feudal hierarchy of the Russian state, while the Mari proto-feudal elite had weak ties with the feudal structure of both states. Fourthly, the settlements of the Tatars, unlike the majority of the left-bank Mari, were located in relative proximity to Kazan, large rivers and other strategically important routes of communication, in an area where there were few natural barriers that could seriously complicate the movements of punitive troops; moreover, these were, as a rule, economically developed areas, attractive for feudal exploitation. Fifthly, as a result of the fall of Kazan in October 1552, perhaps the bulk of the most combat-ready part of the Tatar troops was destroyed; the armed detachments of the left bank Mari then suffered to a much lesser extent.
The resistance movement was suppressed as a result of large-scale punitive operations by the troops of Ivan IV. In a number of episodes, rebel actions took the form civil war and class struggle, but the main motive remained the struggle for the liberation of their land. The resistance movement ceased due to several factors: 1) continuous armed clashes with the tsarist troops, which brought countless casualties and destruction to the local population; 2) mass famine and plague epidemic that came from the Volga steppes; 3) the left bank Mari lost the support of their former allies - the Tatars and southern Udmurts. In May 1557, representatives of almost all groups of meadow and northwestern Mari took an oath to the Russian Tsar.
Abstract topics
1. The fall of Kazan and the Mari.
2. Causes and driving forces of the First Cheremis War (1552 - 1557).
3. Akpars and Boltush, Altysh and Mamich-Berdey at the turning point of Mari history.
Bibliography
1. Ayplatov G. N.
2. Alishev S. Kh. Kazan and Moscow: interstate relations in the XV - XVI centuries. Kazan, 1995.
3. Andreyanov A. A.
4. Bakhtin A. G. On the question of the causes of the insurgency in the Mari region in the 50s. XVI century // Mari Archaeographic Bulletin. 1994. Vol. 4. pp. 18 - 25.
5. It's him. On the question of the nature and driving forces of the uprising of 1552 - 1557. in the Middle Volga region // Mari Archaeographic Bulletin. 1996. Vol. 6. pp. 9 - 17.
6. It's him. XV - XVI centuries in the history of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1998.
7. Burdey G.D. Russia’s struggle for the Middle and Lower Volga region // Teaching history at school. 1954. No. 5. pp. 27 - 36.
8. Ermolaev I. P.
9. Dimitriev V. D. Anti-Moscow movement in the Kazan land in 1552 - 1557 and the attitude of its Mountain side towards it // People's School. 1999. No. 6. pp. 111 - 123.
10. Dubrovina L. A.
11. Poltysh - Prince of Cheremis. Malmyzh region. - Yoshkar-Ola, 2003.
TOPIC 12. Cheremis wars of 1571-1574 and 1581-1585. Consequences of the Mari joining the Russian state
After the uprising of 1552 - 1557. The tsarist administration began to establish strict administrative and police control over the peoples of the Middle Volga region, but at first this was only possible on the Mountain Side and in the immediate vicinity of Kazan, while in most of the Meadow Side the power of the administration was nominal. The dependence of the local left-bank Mari population was expressed only in the fact that it paid a symbolic tribute and fielded soldiers from its midst who were sent to the Livonian War (1558 - 1583). Moreover, the meadow and northwestern Mari continued to raid Russian lands, and local leaders actively established contacts with the Crimean Khan with the aim of concluding an anti-Moscow military alliance. It is no coincidence that the Second Cheremis War of 1571 - 1574. began immediately after the campaign of the Crimean Khan Davlet-Girey, which ended with the capture and burning of Moscow. The causes of the Second Cheremis War were, on the one hand, the same factors that prompted the Volga peoples to start an anti-Moscow insurgency shortly after the fall of Kazan, on the other hand, the population, which was under the strictest control of the tsarist administration, was dissatisfied with the increase in the volume of duties, abuses and shameless arbitrariness of officials, as well as a streak of failures in the protracted Livonian War. Thus, in the second major uprising of the peoples of the Middle Volga region, national liberation and anti-feudal motives were intertwined. Another difference between the Second Cheremis War and the First was the relatively active intervention of foreign states - the Crimean and Siberian Khanates, the Nogai Horde and even Turkey. In addition, the uprising spread to neighboring regions that had already become part of Russia by that time - the Lower Volga region and the Urals. With the help of a whole set of measures (peaceful negotiations with a compromise with representatives of the moderate wing of the rebels, bribery, isolation of the rebels from their foreign allies, punitive campaigns, construction of fortresses (in 1574, at the mouth of the Bolshaya and Malaya Kokshag, Kokshaysk was built, the first city in the territory modern Republic of Mari El)) the government of Ivan IV the Terrible managed to first split the rebel movement and then suppress it.
The next armed uprising of the peoples of the Volga and Urals region, which began in 1581, was caused by the same reasons as the previous one. What was new was that strict administrative and police supervision began to extend to the Lugovaya Side (the assignment of heads (“watchmen”) to the local population - Russian servicemen who exercised control, partial disarmament, confiscation of horses). The uprising began in the Urals in the summer of 1581 (an attack by the Tatars, Khanty and Mansi on the Stroganovs' possessions), then the unrest spread to the left-bank Mari, soon joined by the mountain Mari, Kazan Tatars, Udmurts, Chuvash and Bashkirs. The rebels blocked Kazan, Sviyazhsk and Cheboksary, made long campaigns deep into Russian territory - to Nizhny Novgorod, Khlynov, Galich. The Russian government was forced to urgently end the Livonian War, concluding a truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1582) and Sweden (1583), and devote significant forces to pacifying the Volga population. The main methods of fighting against the rebels were punitive campaigns, the construction of fortresses (Kozmodemyansk was built in 1583, Tsarevokokshaisk in 1584, Tsarevosanchursk in 1585), as well as peace negotiations, during which Ivan IV, and after his death the actual Russian ruler Boris Godunov promised amnesty and gifts to those who wanted to stop resistance. As a result, in the spring of 1585, “they finished off the Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich of all Rus' with a centuries-old peace.”
The entry of the Mari people into the Russian state cannot be unambiguously characterized as evil or good. Both negative and positive consequences of the entry of the Mari into the Russian state system, closely intertwined with each other, began to manifest themselves in almost all spheres of social development. However, the Mari and other peoples of the Middle Volga region were faced with a generally pragmatic, restrained and even soft (compared to Western European) imperial policy of the Russian state. This was due not only to fierce resistance, but also to the insignificant geographical, historical, cultural and religious distance between the Russians and the peoples of the Volga region, as well as the traditions of multinational symbiosis dating back to the early Middle Ages, the development of which later led to what is usually called the friendship of peoples. The main thing is that, despite all the terrible upheavals, the Mari still survived as an ethnic group and became an organic part of the mosaic of the unique Russian super-ethnic group.
Abstract topics
1. Second Cheremis War 1571 - 1574
2. Third Cheremis War 1581 - 1585
3. Results and consequences of the annexation of the Mari to Russia.
Bibliography
1. Ayplatov G. N. Socio-political movement and class struggle in the Mari region in the second half of the 16th century (On the question of the nature of the “Cheremis wars”) // Peasant farming and village culture of the Middle Volga region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1990. pp. 3 - 10.
2. Alishev S. Kh. Historical destinies of the peoples of the Middle Volga region. XVI - early XIX century. M., 1990.
3. Andreyanov A. A. The city of Tsarevokokshaysk: pages of history (late 16th - early 18th centuries). Yoshkar-Ola, 1991.
4. Bakhtin A. G. XV - XVI centuries in the history of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1998.
5. Ermolaev I. P. Middle Volga region in the second half of the 16th - 17th centuries. (Management of the Kazan region). Kazan, 1982.
6. Dimitriev V. D. National-colonial policy of the Moscow government in the Middle Volga region in the second half of the 16th - 17th centuries. // Bulletin of the Chuvash University. 1995. No. 5. pp. 4 - 14.
7. Dubrovina L. A. The first peasant war in the Mari region // From the history of the peasantry of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola, 1980. P. 3 - 65.
8. Kappeler A. Russia - a multinational empire: Emergence. Story. Decay / Transl. with him. S. Chervonnaya. M., 1996.
9. Kuzeev R. G. Peoples of the Middle Volga region and Southern Urals: An ethnogenetic view of history. M., 1992.
10. Peretyatkovich G. I. Volga region in the 15th and 16th centuries: (Essays on the history of the region and its colonization). M., 1877.
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DICTIONARY OF OBSOLETE WORDS AND SPECIAL TERMS
Bakshi - an official involved in office work in the offices of central and local institutions of the Kazan Khanate.
The struggle for the “Golden Horde inheritance” - the struggle between several Eastern European and Asian states (Russian state, Kazan, Crimean, Astrakhan khanates, Nogai Horde, Polish-Lithuanian state, Turkey) for lands that were previously part of the Golden Horde.
Beekeeping - collecting honey from wild bees.
Bik (beat) - the ruler of a district (region), usually a member of the khan's divan.
Vassal - a subordinate, dependent person or state.
Voivode - commander of troops, head of the city and district in the Russian state.
Vÿma (mÿma) - a tradition of free collective mutual assistance in Mari rural communities, usually practiced during periods of large-scale agricultural work.
Homogeneous - homogeneous in composition.
Mountain people - population of the Mountain side of the Kazan Khanate (mountain Mari, Chuvash, Sviyazhsk Tatars, eastern Mordovians).
Tribute - natural or monetary exaction levied on a conquered people.
Daruga - a large administrative-territorial and taxation unit in the Golden Horde and the Tatar khanates; also the governor of the khan, collecting tribute and duties.
Ten - small administrative-territorial and taxation unit.
Foreman - elective position in the peasant community, leader of the dozen.
Clerks and clerks - clerks of the offices of central and local institutions of the Russian state (clerks were lower in their position on career ladder and obeyed the clerks).
Life - in the Russian Orthodox Church, a moral narrative about the life of a saint.
Ilem - a small family settlement among the Mari.
Imperial - associated with the desire to annex other countries and peoples and keep them in various ways as part of one large state.
Kart (arvuy, yoktyshö, onaeng) - Mari priest.
Support - fortress, fortification; difficult place.
Kuguz (kugyza) - elder, leader of the Mari.
Puddle - centurion, prince of a hundred among the Mari.
Murza - feudal lord, head a separate kind or hordes in the Golden Horde and Tatar khanates.
Raid - sudden attack, short-term invasion.
Oglan (lancer) - representative of the middle layer of feudal lords of the Kazan Khanate, an equestrian warrior with a pike; in the Golden Horde - a prince from the family of Genghis Khan.
Parcel - family-individual.
Protectorate - a form of dependence in which a weak country, while maintaining some independence in internal affairs, is actually subordinate to another, stronger state.
Proto-feudal - pre-feudal, intermediate between primitive communal and feudal, military-democratic.
Centurion, centurion prince - elective position in the peasant community, leader of hundreds.
A hundred - administrative-territorial and taxation unit uniting several settlements.
Side - one of the four large geographical and administrative-territorial regions of the Kazan Khanate.
Tiste - a sign of ownership, a “banner” among the Mari; also a union of several Mari settlements located next to each other.
Ulus - administrative-territorial unit in the Tatar khanates, region, district; originally - the name of a group of families or tribes subordinate to a particular feudal lord and nomadic on his lands.
Ushkuiniki - Russian river pirates who sailed on ushkiy (flat-bottomed sailing and rowing boats).
Hakim - ruler of a region, city, ulus in the Golden Horde and Tatar khanates.
Kharaj - land or poll tax, usually not exceeding a tithe.
Sharia - a set of Muslim laws, rules and principles.
Expansion - a policy aimed at subjugating other countries and seizing foreign territories.
Emir - leader of the clan, ruler of the ulus, holder of large land holdings in the Golden Horde and Tatar khanates.
Ethnonym - name of the people.
Shortcut - diploma in the Golden Horde and Tatar khanates.
Yasak - the main natural and monetary tax that was levied on the population of the Middle Volga region as part of the Golden Horde, then the Kazan Khanate and the Russian state until the beginning of the 18th century.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
IX - XI centuries- completion of the formation of the Mari ethnic group.
960s- the first written mention of the Mari (“ts-r-mis”) (in a letter from the Khazar Kagan Joseph Hasdai ibn-Shaprut).
End of the 10th century- the fall of the Khazar Kaganate, the beginning of the dependence of the Mari on the Volga-Kama Bulgaria.
Beginning of the 12th century- mention of the Mari (“Cheremis”) in the “Tale of Bygone Years”.
1171- the first written mention of Gorodets Radilov, built on the territory of settlement of the Eastern Meri and Western Mari.
End of the 12th century- the appearance of the first Russian settlements in Vyatka.
1221- foundation of Nizhny Novgorod.
1230 - 1240s- conquest of the Mari lands by the Mongol-Tatars.
1372- foundation of the city of Kurmysh.
1380, September 8- participation of hired Mari warriors in the Battle of Kulikovo on the side of Temnik Mamai.
1428/29, winter- raid of the Bulgars, Tatars and Mari led by Prince Ali Baba on Galich, Kostroma, Pleso, Lukh, Yuryevets, Kineshma.
1438 - 1445- formation of the Kazan Khanate.
1461 - 1462- Russian-Kazan war (attack of the Russian river flotilla on Mari villages along the Vyatka and Kama, raid of the Mari-Tatar army on the volosts near Veliky Ustyug).
1467 - 1469- the Russian-Kazan war, which ended with the signing of a peace treaty, according to which the Kazan Khan Ibrahim made a number of concessions to Grand Duke Ivan III
1478, spring - summer- unsuccessful campaign of Kazan troops against Vyatka, siege of Kazan by Russian troops, new concessions by Khan Ibrahim.
1487- siege of Kazan by Russian troops, establishment of a Moscow protectorate over the Kazan Khanate.
1489- march of Moscow and Kazan troops to Vyatka, annexation of Vyatka Land to the Russian state.
1496 - 1497- the reign of the Siberian prince Mamuk in the Kazan Khanate, his overthrow as a result of a popular uprising.
1505, August - September- unsuccessful campaign of Kazan and Nogai troops to Nizhny Novgorod.
1506, April - June
1521, spring- anti-Moscow uprising in the Kazan Khanate, accession of the Crimean Girey dynasty to the Kazan throne.
1521, spring - summer- raids of the Tatars, Mari, Mordovians, Chuvash on Unzha, near Galich, on Nizhny Novgorod, Murom and Meshchera places, participation of Kazan troops in the campaign of the Crimean Khan Muhammad-Girey to Moscow.
1523, August - September- the campaign of Russian troops on the Kazan lands, the construction of Vasil-city (Vasilsursk), the (temporary) annexation of the mountain Mari, Mordovians and Chuvash, who lived near Vasil-city, to the Russian state.
1524, spring - autumn- an unsuccessful campaign of Russian troops against Kazan (the Mari took an active part in the defense of the city).
1525- opening of the Nizhny Novgorod fair, ban on Russian merchants trading in Kazan, forced relocation (deportation) of the border Mari population to the Russian-Lithuanian border.
1526, summer - the unsuccessful campaign of Russian troops against Kazan, the defeat of the vanguard of the Russian river flotilla by the Mari and Chuvash.
1530, April- July - an unsuccessful major campaign of Russian troops against Kazan (the Mari warriors actually saved Kazan with their decisive actions, when at the most critical moment Khan Safa-Girey left it with his retinue and guard, and the fortress gates were wide open for several hours).
1531, spring- raid of the Tatars and Mari on Unzha.
1531/32, winter- attack of Kazan troops on the Trans-Volga Russian lands - on Soligalich, Chukhloma, Unzha, the volosts of Toloshma, Tiksna, Syangema, Tovto, Gorodishnaya, on the Efimev Monastery.
1532, summer- anti-Crimean uprising in the Kazan Khanate, restoration of the Moscow protectorate.
1534, autumn- raid of the Tatars and Mari on the outskirts of Unzha and Galich.
1534/35, winter- devastation of the outskirts of Nizhny Novgorod by Kazan troops.
1535 September- coup d'etat in Kazan, the return of the Gireys to the khan's throne.
1535, autumn - 1544/45, winter- regular raids by Kazan troops on Russian lands up to the outskirts of Moscow, the outskirts of Vologda, Veliky Ustyug.
1545, April - May- attack of the Russian river flotilla on Kazan and settlements along the Volga, Vyatka, Kama and Sviyaga, the beginning of the Kazan War of 1545 - 1552.
1546, January - September- a fierce struggle in Kazan between supporters of Shah-Ali (Moscow party) and Safa-Girey (Crimean party), mass flight of Kazan residents abroad (to Russia and the Nogai Horde).
1546, early December- the arrival of a delegation of mountain Mari to Moscow, the arrival of Prince Kadysh’s messengers in Moscow with the news of the anti-Crimean uprising in Kazan.
1547, January - February- the crowning of Ivan IV, the campaign of Russian troops led by Prince A. B. Gorbaty to Kazan.
1547/48, winter- the campaign of Russian troops led by Ivan IV to Kazan, which was disrupted due to a sudden strong thaw.
1548 September- unsuccessful attack of the Tatars and Mari led by Arak (Urak) the hero on Galich and Kostroma.
1549/50, winter- an unsuccessful campaign of Russian troops led by Ivan IV to Kazan (the capture of the city was prevented by a thaw, significant isolation from the nearest military-food base - Vasil-city, as well as the desperate resistance of the Kazan people).
1551, May - July- the campaign of Russian troops against Kazan and the Mountain Side, the construction of Sviyazhsk, the entry of the Mountain Side into the Russian state, the campaign of mountain people against Kazan, the gifting and bribery of the population of the Mountain Side.
1552, March - April- refusal of Kazan residents from the project of peaceful entry into Russia, the beginning of anti-Moscow unrest on the Mountain Side.
1552, May - June- suppression of the anti-Moscow uprising of mountain people, entry of a 150,000-strong Russian army led by Ivan IV onto the Mountain Side.
1552, October 3-10- swearing in the oath to the Russian Tsar Ivan IV of the Prikazan Mari and Tatars, the legal entry of the Mari region into Russia.
1552, November - 1557, May- The First Cheremis War, the actual entry of the Mari region into Russia.
1574, spring - summer- foundation of Kokshaysk.
1581, summer - 1585, spring- Third Cheremis War.
1583, spring - summer- foundation of Kozmodemyansk.
1584, summer - autumn- foundation of Tsarevokokshaisk.
1585, spring - summer- foundation of Tsarevosanchursk.
The people got their name from the adapted Mari “mari” or “mari”, which in Russian translation means “man” or “person”. The population, according to the 2010 census, is approximately 550,000 people. Mari are an ancient people whose history dates back more than three thousand years. Now living, for the most part, in the Republic of Mari El, part of the Russian Federation. Also, representatives of the Mari ethnic group live in the republics of Udmurtia, Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Sverdlovsk, Kirov, Nizhny Novgorod and other regions of the Russian Federation. Despite the rough process of assimilation, the indigenous Mari, in some remote settlements, managed to preserve their original language, beliefs, traditions, rituals, clothing style and way of life.
Mari people of the Middle Urals (Sverdlovsk region)
The Mari, as an ethnic group, belong to the Finno-Ugric tribes, which, even in the early Iron Age, lived along the floodplains of the Vetluga and Volga rivers. One thousand years BC. The Mari built their settlements in the Volga interfluve. And the river itself got its name precisely thanks to the Mari tribes who lived along its banks, since the word “Volgaltesh” means “brilliance”, “brilliant”. As for the indigenous Mari language, it is divided into three language dialects, determined by the topographic area of residence. The groups of adverbs are named, in turn, as are the speakers of each dialect variant, as follows: Olyk Mari (Meadow Mari), Kuryk Mari (Mountain Mari), Bashkir Mari (Eastern Mari). In fairness, it is necessary to make a reservation that the speech is not too different from each other. Knowing one of the dialects, you can understand the others.
Before IX, the Mari people lived on fairly vast lands. These were not only the modern Republic of Mari El and the present Nizhny Novgorod, but the lands of Rostov and the present Moscow Region. However, just as nothing lasts forever, the independent, original history of the Mari tribes suddenly ceased. In the 13th century, with the invasion of the troops of the Golden Horde, the lands of the Volga-Vyatka interfluve fell into the power of the khan. Then the Mari peoples received their second name “Cheremysh”, which was later adopted by the Russians as “Cheremis” and has a designation in the modern dictionary: “man”, “husband”. It is worth immediately clarifying that this word is not used in the current lexicon. The lives of people and the wounded valor of the Mari warriors during the reign of the khan will be discussed a little further in the text. And now a few words about the identity and cultural traditions of the Mari people.
Customs and life
Crafts and farming
When you live near deep rivers and endless forests around you, it is natural that fishing and hunting will not occupy the last place in life. This is how it was among the Mari peoples: hunting animals, fishing, beekeeping (extracting wild honey), then cultivated beekeeping occupied not the least place in their way of life. But agriculture remained the main activity. Primarily agriculture. Cereals were grown: oats, rye, barley, hemp, buckwheat, spelt, flax. Turnips, radishes, onions, and other root vegetables, as well as cabbage, were cultivated in the gardens; later they began to plant potatoes. Gardens were planted in some areas. The tools for cultivating the soil were traditional for that time: plow, hoe, plow, harrow. They kept livestock - horses, cows, sheep. They made dishes and other utensils, usually wooden. They wove fabrics from flax fibers. They harvested timber, from which dwellings were then built.
Residential and non-residential buildings
The houses of the ancient Marias were traditional log buildings. A hut, divided into living and utility rooms, with a gable roof. A stove was placed inside, which served not only for heating in cold weather, but also for cooking. Often a large stove was added for a convenient cooking stove. On the walls there were shelves with various utensils. The furniture was wooden and carved. Artfully embroidered fabric served as curtains for windows and sleeping places. In addition to the residential hut, there were other buildings on the farm. In the summer, when hot days came, the whole family moved to live in a kudo, a kind of analogue of a modern summer dacha. A log house without a ceiling, with an earthen floor, on which, right in the center of the building, there was a fireplace. A cauldron was hung over an open fire. In addition, the economic complex included: a bathhouse, a cage (something like a closed gazebo), a barn, a canopy under which sleighs and carts were located, a cellar and pantry, and a cattle shed.
Food and household items
Bread was the main dish. It was baked from barley, oatmeal, and rye flour. In addition to unleavened bread, they baked pancakes, flatbreads, and pies with various fillings. The unleavened dough was used for dumplings with meat or curd filling, and was also thrown into soup in the form of small balls. This dish was called “lashka”. They made homemade sausages and salted fish. The favorite drinks were puro (strong mead), beer, and buttermilk.
Meadow Mari
They made household items, clothes, shoes, and jewelry themselves. Men and women dressed in shirts, trousers and caftans. In cold weather they wore fur coats and sheepskin coats. Clothes were complemented with belts. Women's wardrobe items were distinguished by rich embroidery, a longer shirt and were complemented by an apron, as well as a robe made of canvas fabric, which was called a shovyr. Of course, women of the Mari nationality loved to decorate their outfits. They wore items made from shells, beads, coins and beads, and intricate headdresses called: magpie (a kind of cap) and scharpan (national scarf). Men's headdresses were felt hats and fur hats. Shoes were made from leather, birch bark, and felted.
Traditions and religion
In traditional Mari beliefs, as in any European pagan culture, the main place was occupied by holidays associated with agricultural activities and the change of seasons. So a shining example are Aga payrem - the beginning of the sowing season, the holiday of the plow and plow, Kinde payrem - the harvest, the holiday of new bread and fruits. In the pantheon of gods, Kugu Yumo was considered supreme. There were others: Kava Yumo - the goddess of fate and sky, Wood Ava - the mother of all lakes and rivers, Ilysh Shochyn Ava - the goddess of life and fertility, Kudo Vodyzh - the spirit guarding the house and hearth, Keremet - the evil god who, at special temples in the groves , sacrificed livestock. The religious person who conducted the prayers was a priest, “kart” in the Mari language.
As for marriage traditions, marriages were patrilocal; after a ceremony, the obligatory condition of which was the payment of a bride price, and the girl herself was given a dowry by her parents, which became her personal property, the bride went to live with her husband’s family. During the wedding itself, tables were set and a festive tree - a birch tree - was brought into the yard. The family structure was established as patriarchal; they lived in communities and clans called “Urmat”. However, the families themselves were not too crowded.
Mari priests
While the remnants of family relationships have long been forgotten, many ancient burial traditions have survived to this day. The Mari buried their dead in winter clothes; the body was transported to the graveyard exclusively on sleighs, at any time of the year. On the way, the deceased was supplied with a thorny branch of rose hips in order to ward off dogs and snakes guarding the entrance to the afterlife.
Traditional musical instruments during celebrations, rituals, and ceremonies were the harp, bagpipes, various trumpets and pipes, and drums.
A little about history, the Golden Horde and Ivan the Terrible
As mentioned earlier, the lands on which the Mari tribes originally lived were, in the 13th century, subordinated to the Golden Horde Khan. The Mari became one of the nationalities that were part of the Kazan Khanate and Golden Horde. There is an excerpt from the chronicle of times, which mentions how the Russians lost a major battle to the Mari, the Cheremis as they were called then. The figures of thirty thousand killed Russian warriors are mentioned and talk about the sinking of almost all of their ships. Also, chronicle sources indicate that at that time the Cheremis were in alliance with the Horde, carrying out raids together as a single army. The Tatars themselves, by the way, are silent about this historical fact, attributing to himself all the glory of the conquests.
But, as Russian chronicles say, the Mari warriors were brave and dedicated to their cause. Thus, one of the manuscripts cites an incident that occurred in the 16th century, when the Russian army surrounded Kazan and the Tatar troops suffered crushing losses, and their remnants, led by the khan, fled, leaving the city to be conquered by the Russians. Then it was the Mari army that blocked their path, despite the significant advantage of the Russian army. The Mari, who could easily go into the wild forest, put up an army of 12 thousand people against the 150 thousandth army. They managed to fight back and forced the Russian army to retreat. As a result, negotiations took place, Kazan was saved. However, Tatar historians deliberately remain silent about these facts, when their troops led by their leader shamefully fled, the Cheremis stood up for the Tatar cities.
After Kazan had already been conquered by the Terrible Tsar Ivan IV, the Mari launched a liberation movement. Alas, the Russian Tsar solved the problem in his own spirit - with bloody massacres and terror. The “Cheremis Wars” - an armed uprising against Moscow rule, were so named because it was the Mari who were the organizers and main participants in the riots. In the end, all resistance was brutally suppressed, and the Mari people themselves were slaughtered almost completely. The survivors had no choice but to surrender and take an oath of allegiance to the winner, that is, the Tsar of Moscow.
Today's day
Today, the land of the Mari people is one of the republics that is part of the Russian Federation. Mari El borders on the Kirov and Nizhny Novgorod regions, Chuvashia and Tatarstan. Not only indigenous peoples, but also other nationalities, numbering more than fifty, live on the territory of the republic. The bulk of the population are Mari and Russians.
Recently, with the development of urbanization and assimilation processes, the problem of the extinction of national traditions, culture, vernacular. Many residents of the republic, being indigenous Mari, abandon their native dialects, preferring to speak exclusively in Russian, even at home, among their relatives. This is a problem not only in large, industrial cities, but also in small, rural settlements. Children do not learn their native speech, and national identity is lost.
Of course, sports are being developed and supported in the republic, competitions are held, orchestra performances are held, writers are awarded, environmental activities are carried out with the participation of young people, and many other useful things are carried out. But against the backdrop of all this, we should not forget about the ancestral roots, the identity of the people and their ethnic and cultural self-identification.
