Battle on the Seritsa River - occurred on August 27, 1501 during the Russian-Livonian-Lithuanian war of 1500-1503. near Izborsk between the troops of the Grand Duchy of Moscow under the command of the Moscow governors Daniil Alexandrovich Penko , Vasily Vasilyevich Shuisky and Pskov Prince Ivan Ivanovich Suzdalsky-Gorbaty, on the one hand, and the troops of the Livonian Confederation under the command of Master Walter von Plettenberg .
| Battle of the Seritsa River | |||
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| Main conflict: Russian-Livonian-Lithuanian war 1500-1503 | |||
| date | August 27, 1501 | ||
| A place | 10 km from Izborsk | ||
| Total | The victory of the Livonian army | ||
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Ahead of the Battle
In the summer of 1501, 150 Pskov merchants were arrested in Livonian Derpt , allegedly in connection with the theft. However, the true reason for such widespread repression was the decision of Livonia to soon begin hostilities against the Grand Duchy of Moscow. A joint campaign of Livonia and Lithuania was planned for July 25. The goal of their campaign was probably to be Pskov . However, in connection with internal political events in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland - the death of the Polish king Jan Olbracht and the claims of the Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon on the Polish throne - the Lithuanian campaign was postponed until August 28. Seeing the threat in a northwestern direction, Ivan III sent a Moscow detachment to Pskov under the leadership of princes Vasily Vasilyevich Shuisky and Daniil Aleksandrovich Penko , who arrived in the city on August 1. Despite everything, Ivan III tried to avoid war, and the Moscow army in Pskov stood idle for a long time. Russian forces began to advance to the Livonian border only on August 22. On August 26, the Livonian army crossed the border near the city of Ostrov in order to unite with the allied Lithuanian army on Russian territory. But already on August 27, the Plettenberg detachment collided with the Russian army on the Seritsa River
Battle
Composition and number of parties
According to the Livonian source Schonne Hysthorie Plettenberg's army consisted of 4 thousand horsemen and 2 thousand foot soldiers, however, along with artillerymen, convoys and other servants, the number of 80 thousand people is indicated. The last figure seems very high. The main feature of the Livonian army was the presence in it of a significant amount of artillery: field guns and hand squeakers.
The same source estimates the strength of the Russians at 30-40 thousand people. These numbers are probably also overpriced. Most likely, in reality, about 6 thousand warriors also participated from the Russian side [1] . The troops included the Pskov detachment of Prince I.I. Gorbaty and the Moscow-Tver detachment. The chief commander of the army was D.A. Penko.
Battle Progress
The Russian army moved towards the Livonian border in two lines: in the forefront were the Pskov warriors, followed by Muscovites and Tverichi. The Livonian army, apparently, was also divided into a forward detachment and main forces. The clash was unexpected for both sides. The first to assess the situation were Russians. The front line promptly attacked them Livonian avant-garde. During this onslaught, the Pskovites, according to the annals, scored many Livonians, losing 20 people [2] . The advanced Livonian detachment took flight, the Russians pursued the fleeing. However, the main forces of the Livonians did not panic. They managed to deploy their artillery and fired a salvo at the approaching Pskovites. One of the first from their fire fell Pskov posadnik Ivan Tenshin. Soon, under fire, the entire first line of the Russian army began to depart. The Livonians, however, transferred the fire to the second line, which had not had time to prepare for the attack, which also took to flight. Having captured the convoy thrown by the Russians, the Livonians did not try to pursue the retreating.
The reason for the defeat of the Russian army, in addition to the skillful use of artillery by the enemy, also consisted in the unsatisfactory organization of interaction between the Pskov and Moscow-Tver units, which were operating and defeated virtually in isolation [3] .
Losses
In addition to the Pskov posadnik Ivan Tenshin, annals speak of the death in battle of the governor Ivan Borisovich Borozdin. Losses among ordinary warriors are estimated as "few" [4] . However, given that after the battle the Russian army completely gave the Livonians the initiative, it, if it did not suffer significant losses, was demoralized [3] .
According to the Livonian side, its losses were also insignificant [5] .
Consequences of the battle
After the battle on Seritsa, Plettenberg's army unsuccessfully tried to take Izborsk , and then take fords across the Great River. The Livonians, beaten off by the Pskovites at the fords, turned south and on September 7 took the city of Ostrov , where up to 4 thousand inhabitants died [6] . Then an epidemic broke out in the Livonian army that forced Plettenberg to return to Livonia. Another reason for leaving was that the ON army did not come to the rescue. September 14, Plettenberg was already in Livonia. A small detachment of Lithuanians came to Pskov land after the departure of the Livonian army and, unsuccessfully trying to take the fortress Opochka , also retreated.
Notes
- ↑ Zimin A.A. Russia at the turn of the XV-XVI centuries: (Essays on socio-political history) . - M .: Thought, 1982. - S. 190. Archived on July 22, 2011. Archived July 22, 2011 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Pskov annals. Issue 2. - M. , 1955 .-- S. 252.
- ↑ 1 2 Alekseev Yu. G. Campaigns of Russian troops under Ivan III . - SPb. : SPbU, 2007. Archived February 11, 2009 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ PSRL . T.VIII. Chronicle of the Resurrection List. - SPb. , 1859. - S. 341.
- ↑ Kazakova N.A. Russian-Livonian and Russian-Hanseatic relations. The end of the XIV - the beginning of the XVI century. - L .: Nauka, 1975. - S. 223. - Kazakova refers to the "Schonne Hysthorie" and the "Chronicle of the Province of Livonia" B. Russov
- ↑ Pskov Chronicle. - M. , 1837. - S. 173.
Literature
- Alekseev Yu. G. Campaigns of Russian troops under Ivan III . - SPb. : SPbU, 2007 .-- ISBN 978-5-288-04840-1 . Archived February 11, 2009 on Wayback Machine
- Volkov V.A. Wars and troops of the Moscow state. - M .: Eksmo, 2004 .-- ISBN 5-699-05914-8 .
- Kazakova N.A. Russian-Livonian and Russian-Hanseatic relations. The end of the XIV - the beginning of the XVI century. - L .: Science, 1975.