Where did the Ermak family live? Where did Ermak drown?

The conquest of Siberia by Yermak is an act that in its scope can only be compared with the conquest of America by Ernan Cortes. However, if you can find a lot of biographical information about the famous Spanish conquistador, then the facts of the life of the Russian ataman are known only a few facts, and even those that are rather contradictory.

Where was Yermak born?

As is known, the conquest of Siberia occurred in the 16th century. Unfortunately, in those days such an event as the appearance of a child in a peasant family usually did not find any documentary reflection. Therefore it is not surprising that today it is impossible to give an exact answer to the question: "Where did the Ermak family live at the time of his birth?" Some information on this issue is in the Cherepanovsky Chronicle, which tells how the grandfather of the future ataman helped Murom "dashing people", for which he was imprisoned, and his family settled in the estates of the Stroganoffs. However, many researchers are not inclined to trust this manuscript, especially since in its authors there is a literate coachman from Tobolsk, Ilya Cherepanov. Another document - "The Legend of the Siberian Land" - as the place where the Ermak family lived long before his birth, points to Suzdal. Further in the chronicle it is narrated that his grandfather together with his sons, one of whom was called Timofei, moved to Yuryevets-Povolsky where he had five grandchildren, including Vasily. As stated in the Legend, it was this boy who later had to become a conqueror of Siberia.

Pomeranian version of the origin of the ataman

Some researchers believe that the question of where the family lived Ermak, should be answered: "In the village Borok Arkhangelsk region." According to the same version, the real name of the ataman was Ermolai, or Ermil, and he got to the Volga, trying to escape the famine that gripped the Russian North. There, the young man entered the "chury" (servant-squire) to the elderly Cossack, and from 1563 began to go on hikes.

Life of Ermak before Siberian hikes

The only reliable information about the biography of the ataman before his appearance on the Stroganovs' lands is the memories of the Cossack sympathizers. In particular, two veterans claimed that they had spent their youth, serving in the Volga villages under the leadership of the conqueror of Siberia. Thus, the question of where Ermak lived around 1565, you can answer that he was in the Volga region and was already ataman. And this means that then he was no less than 20 years old. More information was preserved about the military exploits of Ermak. So, from the letter of the Lithuanian commandant of the city of Mogilev to King Stephen Batory, you can find out that he participated in the Livonian War as a Cossack centurion and distinguished himself at the siege of the Mogilev fortress. Later, his squad helped Khvorostinin stop the advance of the Swedes. As to whether the wife and children of Ermak existed, then there is no mention of them in any source.

Ermak and Stroganoff

In 1582, the famous Stroganov merchants were invited to the service of the Cossack squad, consisting of 540 Cossacks. Their leader was Ataman Ermak, who even then was famous as a fearless warrior and an excellent commander. The purpose of the Stroganoffs was to protect their lands from frequent attacks by Siberian khan Kuchum detachments. The army arrived in the Chysovo towns in the summer of 1582 and remained there until September, after which it went to fight for the Stone Belt, as in those days they called the Ural Mountains. There are records that the Stroganovs "opened their barns for military men" and provided them with everything necessary for the campaign.

Conquest of Siberia

As a means of transportation, the army of Ermak used plows. In total, the Cossacks had 80 ships, on which 840 people of different nationalities went on a campaign. Climbing the water up to the Tagil Pass, Ermak's squad was forced to drag strips along the ground to the Ghevlya River and then to Tobol, on the shore of which the battle with Siberian wax Kuchum took place. Having won in battle, the Cossacks captured the town of Kashlik. At that time, representatives of local peoples came to bow to Ermak, whom the ataman "greeted kindly" and forced to swear allegiance to the Russian tsar. In 1582 he sent to Ivan the Terrible one of his comrades-in-arms with good news about the conquest of Siberia. The king was delighted with the received news and sent Ermak rich gifts and 300 people of military people to help. The detachment arrived in Siberia in the autumn of 1583. However, by this time, fortune turned away from the ataman, many of its commanders were killed in fights with the Tatars.

Where did Ermak drown: what did the Cossacks tell

At the time of his death, the famous ataman was already a fairly well-known person, therefore several years after the last battle of the Cossacks with the army of Kuchum, on the orders of the Tobolsk archbishop Kipriyan, an investigation was conducted and the surviving Ermak's associates were questioned. In addition, the Tatars who fought as part of the khan's army also testified.

If we combine all the facts presented by the eyewitnesses, the following picture emerges: the last battle took place on the Vagai bow, where the Cossacks spent the night. They put tents-"canopies" on the bank of the Irtysh, not far from their plows, on which each soldier had his own particular place and his helmsman. That night a storm broke out, and therefore the detachment of Kuchum managed to catch them unawares. Despite this, most of the Cossacks managed to get on their ships and sail. Further in written sources contradictions begin. In particular, in an earlier document, written from the words of veterans of the Ermak army, it is said that they reproach themselves, because they threw the ataman and a small handful of comrades, and left the battlefield on the jets. Quite different information is contained in the synodial record, which the deacons composed later, and there one can read that all Cossacks took death with Ermak, and only one of them escaped and told about the defeat of the detachment.

The death of Yermak from the words of the Tatars

The most interesting is that information about the death of the ataman in the waves of the Irtysh near the Vagai bows is found only in records made from the words of the Tatars. In particular, many former warriors of Khan Kuchum claimed that Ermak still defeated the attackers and, trying to get to the floating Cossack vessels, went to the bottom. At the same time, there are no records indicating whether at that moment the armor was on the ataman.

Legends of the conqueror of Siberia

As life, and the death of the great ataman over the past centuries has acquired a lot of myths. For example, in one of the legends Ermak's wife, who was not married, is mentioned. As stated in the Cossack legend, one day the Tatar murza of the Sargach volost, wanting to enlist Ermak's friendship, brought his beautiful daughter to his camp and offered to take her as his wife. However, the ataman rejected this proposal and sent the girl home. In addition, everyone knows the story of the chain mail allegedly donated by Ermak Ivan the Terrible and caused the death of the hero. As some historians say, even if the ataman was at the bottom of the Irtysh because of heavy armor, they could not be a gift from the tsar.

History is a book that will never be written to the end. Moreover, there are many white pages in it that can be filled in by meticulous researchers. Perhaps they will someday find out where the Ermak family lived, or they will be able to tell us some more interesting facts about the personality of this national hero of Russia who has conquered the vast expanses of Siberia for his Motherland.