how much did Andrei Kurbsky pay for treason to his homeland – Rambler / Saturday
It is customary to call Andrei Kurbsky “the first Russian dissident,” and his emigration is called forced. The prince “burned with a verb” and denounced Ivan IV himself, but he himself was not distinguished by virtues.
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Interestingly, some people are still considered Andrei Kurbsky a “victim” in his confrontation with Ivan IV, supposedly Kurbsky had to flee Russia because he was afraid of the tsarist disgrace. In some respects, this is true, but rather not disgraces, but revelations, since Kurbsky had something to fear.
His betrayal began long before he fled to Lithuania. This is evidenced by the correspondence between King Sigismund II Augustus and the Vitebsk voivode dated January 13, 1563, that is, long before Andrei Kurbsky left “God’s land.” there is a message to Kurbsky, which, according to him, could become the beginning of some “pleasant undertaking.”
This “pleasant undertaking” was the secret negotiations between Kurbsky and the Lithuanians. It should not be forgotten that Kurbsky was not only a “special close”, but was aware of all the military-strategic affairs of Moscow, knew everything about the deployment of troops, the composition, armament of the Russian army. For the Polish-Lithuanian state, Kurbsky was an extremely valuable agent.
When Kurbsky arrived in Livonia, he immediately betrayed the Livonian supporters of Moscow to the Lithuanians, and also declassified Moscow agents at the royal court.
The accusatory rhetoric of Kurbsky in his correspondence with Ivan the Terrible is very effective, which is not surprising: in his letters Kurbsky used a huge number of quotes and allusions. Showed democracy and liberalism through his methods of interaction with various social groups. He used complaints about their plight only as a rhetorical device.
From the Lithuanian period of Kurbsky’s life, it is known that the boyar was not distinguished by gentle morals and humanism either in relation to his neighbors, or in relation to distant ones. He often beat his neighbors, took away their land, and even put merchants in vats with leeches and extorted money from them.
Kurbsky’s crossing of the border resembles in its drama the crossing of the border by Ostap Bender at the end of the novel The Golden Calf. Kurbsky arrived at the border as a rich man. Under him there were 30 ducats, 300 gold, 500 silver thalers and 44 Moscow rubles. It is interesting that this money was not received from the sale of land, since the estate of the boyar was confiscated by the treasury. It is also known that this money was not from the provincial treasury; if this were so, this fact would certainly have “surfaced” in the correspondence with Ivan IV. Where did the money come from then? Obviously, it was royal gold, Kurbsky’s “30 pieces of silver”.
However, the fate of this money was a foregone conclusion. When crossing the border in the area of the Livonian castle of Helmet, Kurbsky was simply robbed by border guards. Volmar Kurbsky arrived beggar. However, his life soon improved again.
The correspondence of Ivan IV with his former favorite and friend is interesting and indicative. Kurbsky diligently seeks excuses for his betrayal, but at the same time he does not forget to attack and denounce the king, the church (Josephite), the state system. Ivan IV, however, is adamant and does not intend to forgive treason. The tsar’s reply letter is twenty times larger than the one with which Kurbsky addressed. Grozny responds to the accusations so thoroughly that at times he almost begins to justify himself. The king agrees that, they say, his “piety” was shaken in his youth. Grozny even agrees that some kind of “games” are allowed (perhaps we are talking about spectacles for the people, often ending in someone’s death), but he did all this so that his subjects would recognize his power as the governor of God, and “not you, traitors “.
The purpose of this tone is not at all to prove anything (although this is exactly what Kurbsky resorts to, inserting letters from Cicero and structuring the answer according to all the rules of rhetoric). Rather, Grozny says to Kurbsky what the Pechersk elders did not have time to say, to make the fugitive look at the crime he had committed and lead to repentance. Grozny exclaims: “If you are good and righteous, then why, seeing how a fire flared up in the royal council, did not extinguish it, but kindled it even more? […] Are you not like Judas the traitor? “.
Grozny notes not even that Kurbsky cannot repent, but that he could not even before. Humility before the local power of God (king) and his absence for treason – this is the “back” thought of all his answers.
But Kurbsky remains adamant. It is interesting to note how, from a state of indecision and hesitation, the voivode comes to arrogance, confirming his righteousness. Even from the text of the letters, it is clear that Kurbsky rejects repentance, replacing it with lengthy reasoning. The further, the more reasoning.
Grozny is slowly giving in to this intransigence. With his second letter (which is already an order of magnitude less than the first), the Tsar makes the last warning: “With humility I remind you, O prince: look how to our sins and especially to my lawlessness … God’s majesty is condescending …” “Judge for yourself how and what you have done … “” Look inside yourself and open up in front of you! “
To this already Prince Kovelsky replies with his longest letter, practicing in rhetorical methods. Grozny no longer honors the traitor with the third answer.
The role of Kurbsky would not be so fatal if his betrayal was limited to words. But boyar Kurbsky was able to seriously “annoy” his Fatherland with his deeds. He participated in the Lithuanian invasion in March 1565.
According to the data left in the diary of the Riga diplomat, the Lithuanians owe their victory in that battle to Kurbsky, who knew the area and the specifics of the Russian army well. According to the diplomat, Kurbsky overturned the defenses of the Russian troops, ravaged four provinces and took many prisoners away. After that, he even asked Sigismund to give him a 30-thousandth army and allow him to go with it to Moscow. As proof of his loyalty, Kurbsky stated that “he agreed to be chained to a cart on the march, surrounded by archers with loaded rifles in front and behind, so that they would shoot him if they noticed infidelity in him.”