When the first information about Stenka Razin was jotted down in our historical sources,
he was part of a Don Cossack diplomatic mission in the Northern Caucasus.
The next thing we know is that he was a pirate, pillaging and massacring cities around the
Volga river, well into Persia.
Eventually however, he entered the history books as the leader of one of the first popular
revolts against the Tsarist Regime, that actually had some considerable success and gained notoriety
for their bloody massacres, although the reprisals from the Tsars side were just as brutal.
So… who is Stenka Razin and what did he do?
-intro-
Before we get to Razin, the theatre in which he appeared ought to be sketched - that is
to say: we have to understand what Russia was going through at that time.
The seventeenth century was ushered in with chaos and turmoil, the so-called Time of Troubles.
The last Tsar of the Rurik dynasty Feodor Ivanovich passed away in fifteen-ninety-eight,
and it would not be until sixteen-thirteen for the Romanov dynasty to be established.
The first two tsars of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail and Alexis embarked on a policy of
centralization of power - which in turn meant the Russian nobility was slowly but surely
forced to hand in influence.
So in short: there was a “cleavage” between the Tsars and the Russian nobility.
Not only that, but the peasantry and nobility lived in worlds apart, and that is an understatement.
In sixteen-forty-nine the Sobornoye Ulozheniye was declared.
This legal code created a new serf class, in which free peasants and slaves were placed,
and codified the hereditary and unchangeable status of this class, so I don’t think I
have to explain exactly why there was friction between the Russian serfs and nobility.
Furthermore, from sixteen-fifty-four to sixteen-sixty-seven Russia waged war with Poland, and in sixteen-fifty-six
the two year war with Sweden took its toll on the Russian population in terms of taxes,
conscription and the general misery the lowest class of people lived in.
Right, so to get to Stenka Razin, the first trace of him appears in sixteen-sixty-one
during diplomatic exchanges between the Don Cossacks and the Tatar Kalmyks in Russia’s
north caucasus territory, in which he participated as an envoy of the Don Cossack delegation.
This same year he retreated to the Solovetsky monastery near the White Sea, after which
he disappears from our sources for six years.
The next time he appears, he’s suddenly the chief of a community of thieves and bandits
living along the river Volga, living from blackmail and robberies.
As I mentioned beforehand, both the Russo-Swedish war and the Russo-Polish war took its toll
and as a result many peasants fled their lands, in an attempt to escape the hopeless situation
they were in.
Many joined Cossack troops, including Razin’s band of bandits, which grew larger and larger.
Due to the increase in size of his gang, Razin managed to pillage along the rivers of Southern
Russia, Dagestan, and present-day Azerbaijan.
Razin's first noteworthy act was the hijacking and destruction of a large navy convoy which
transported great wealth belonging to, among others, rich Muscovite merchants and the Bishop
of Moscow.
Razin then continued to sail on the Volga with his own fleet of thirty-five ships.
Along the way he sowed death and destruction, seizing forts and defeating military commanders
that were sent to capture or kill him.
From the Don-Cossack region, he eventually ended up in Persia via the Caspian Sea, where
his gang roamed for eighteen months pillaging whatever coastal settlements they could find.
Razin was basically a pirate, massacring the cities he encountered.
And, Persia did try to kick him out - a fleet sent by Mamed-khan was destroyed, and even
military leaders opened cities to him out of fear for his gang.
It got so bad that in sixteen-sixty-nine Tsar Alexis the First offered him a pardon for
his actions, in the hopes he would cease his campaign, which Razin obviously didn’t have
anything against.
Though, as interesting as a pirate with a marauding gang of bandits is, he wouldn’t
have entered the history books due to his actions up until this point.
In sixteen-seventy however, Razin publicly declared a revolt against the Russian government
and Tsar Alexis He captured several Russian cities and fortresses, killing two princes
and anyone that resisted his army.
Gradually Astrakhan, one of the cities captured, plundered and massacred, transformed into
a Cossack stronghold and what somewhat resembled a Cossack republic.
Razin was proclaimed gosudar, which translates to as much as the sovereign, and the city
and its surroundings were massacred and pillaged.
Razin, however, wasn’t satisfied yet.
He was, in fact, preparing an offensive to take Moscow.
Yuri Baryatinsky, a Russian military leader and nobleman, was sent to curb the Razin revolt
- some five-thousand soldiers withstood the Cossack attacks and though, numerically superior,
the Cossacks were routed, after which Razin fled, leaving the majority of his supporters
behind.
It has to be said that the repression by the Tsarist troops weren’t exactly easy-going
either - rebels were captured, mutilated, and their bodies displayed in public places
in order to deter the population not to join Razin.
It worked, and after the defeat at Simbirsk Razin found it more difficult to gather troops.
Razin wasn’t about to give up though, his messengers however really made the difference.
These had penetrated the Russian lands and whether it was in cities or in peasant villages,
these men stirred the population against the Russian government, convincing them to join
the popular Cossack uprising.
Obviously, considering the condition of the peasants, there were some that thought it
better to revolt against the government considering their current living conditions.
Razin himself stated that he wanted to exterminate the Russian nobility and bureaucrats and create
a Cossack republic that… resembled a somewhat primitive form of an early classless communist
society?
Anyhow, the revolt of Razin continued, with momentum, but the bloody repression by Russian
troops had dented its prestige.
When the Bishop of Moscow publicly spoke out against him, in combination with troops sent
by the Tsar to root out the rebels, the end of Razin suddenly rapidly came closer.
Ironically, the Don Cossacks, those from the diplomatic mission years before, turned on
him, capturing him and handing both him and his brother over to Tsarist loyalists.
These, obviously, decided to make an example of him, and on the Bolotnaya Square in Moscow,
Stenka Razin was quartered on the scaffold.
Some sources, probably romanticizing his last moments, describe how after his leg and arm
were cut off, his brother stated he wanted to inform on anyone disloyal to the Tsar,
after which Razin told him to “shut up, dog”.
Perhaps these really were his last words, we’ll never know.
Stenka Razin’s story however is fascinating, a marauding pirate that became a symbol of
the peasantry, rising up against the oppressive Tsarist regime.
He certainly wouldn’t be the last Cossack or peasant to rise up against the Russian
Tsars, but that’s a story for another time.
Thank you for watching this video and what is an event or a person that sparked a revolt
or rebellion that you would like to know more about, and perhaps see a video of?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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See you next time!