Kuchko (in the writings of the 17th century, Stepan Ivanovich Kuchka ) was a Suzdal boyar of the 12th century, who allegedly owned villages and villages along the Moscow River. This follows from the fact that Kuchkov was called in ancient times the city of Moscow [1] , including in the birch bark letter number 723 of the XII century [2] [3] . In connection with the activities and murder of Andrei Bogolyubsky , his relatives, Kuchkovichi, are mentioned several times in the annals.
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Origin
Vladimir Toporov compared the name Kučko with the Prussian toponyms Kuczke, Kuczithen, the name Kutcze, the Lithuanian anthroponym Kucaitis and the toponyms Kučkelių vk., Kučkų km., Kučių km., Kučiškės km. [4] Russian linguist Alexei Shilov suggested that Stepan Kuchko came from the local Merya aristocracy. This is indicated by his name. According to the researcher, it is more likely to come from the Finno-Ugric vocabulary (cf. meadow march . Kuchyzh - “eagle” and meadow march . Kuchyk - “short”) than slavic [5] .
Tales of Kuchka and Kuchkovichi
In this XVII-XVIII centuries, the national imagination of this meager historical frame increased the mass of fictional details related to the founding of Moscow. So, in later sources there are reports that Vladimir-Suzdal Prince Yuri Dolgoruky allegedly stopped in Kuchkovoy area, and Kuchko ordered to kill for some rudeness (in other versions - for an attempt to poison), seized the villages of the murdered boyar and laid on the shore The river of Moscow is a city which at first was called Kuchkov, and then Moscow .
The murderers explained this murder with Kuchkovich’s blood feud against Yuriev’s son. According to the same legends, the grand duke took Kuchko’s children with him to Suzdal or Vladimir , and married Kuchko’s daughter, Julitta, his son Andrey . In 1155, when Yuri established himself in Kiev , Andrei secretly left him for Suzdal land; as noted in one of the chronicles, to this is his “Kuchkovichi podyasya” ladder. One of the brothers, involved in some kind of atrocity, was executed by order of Andrew; another brother, Yakim, hated the prince for this and participated in his murder.
V.Tatishchev's information about the romantic history of Yuri and Kuchko’s wife, as a result of which Kuchko was allegedly killed, is implausible, and the legend about the participation of Andrei’s wife, Kuchkovna, in the plot on her husband’s life is refuted by another legend, according to which Andrei was married at that time already the second time.
In the 17th century art stories, Stepan (Stefan) Ivanovich Kuchko (Kuchka) is represented by the Suzdal boyar who owned villages and villages (the so-called “red settlements”) at the confluence of the Moscow and Neglinnaya rivers [6] . This land was fertile and inhabited by peasants. This land was called Kuchkovo or Kuchkovo Pole. According to the Tale of the Beginning of the City of Moscow , when Prince Yuri Dolgoruky arrived at Stepan Kuchka, the boyar “became very proud and did not honor the Grand Duke with a fitting honor, which should be given to the Grand Princes, and he also blasphemed” [7] . For this, Yuri Vladimirovich ordered to seize the boyar Kuchka and execute him. The villages that belonged to Kuchkovich, Yury Dolgoruky annexed to him, founding the city of Moscow here in 1147 .
Stepan Kuchka had two sons: one of them was called Yakim (Akim, Iakim), the name of the second is unknown. In The Tale of the Beginning of Moscow, the sons of Kuchka are named by Yakim and Peter: “His sons, seeing the youngsters, were wildly wicked, named Peter and Akim” [7] At the same time, the Suzdal Chronicle says that Peter was not the son , and "son-in-law Kuchkov" [8] . According to another version, one of the Kuchkovich brothers was executed by Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, which turned Yakim Kuchkovich against his brother.
Kuchka’s daughter, Ulita Stepanovna (Stefanovna), from 1148 was married to Andrei Yurevich Bogolyubsky. Kuchkovich served Andrei Bogolyubsky. It is known that in 1155 , when Yuri Dolgoruky established himself in Kiev, Andrei secretly left him for Suzdal land; as noted in one of the chronicles, to this is his “Kuchkovichi podyasya” ladder.
There are a number of reasons that led to the conspiracy against Prince Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky. One of the main reasons was the struggle of the Grand Duke and the boyars. Also, the attitude of the boyars to the prince deteriorated after the military campaign of 1173 by Andrew against Kiev against the Rostislavich ( Rurik of Kiev and Mstislav the Brave ), during which the squads of Andrei and his allies were defeated near Vyshgorod . In addition, the prince’s harsh nature is often called the cause — the execution of one of Kuchkovichs was the pretext for the conspiracy, after which Yakim Kuchkovich told the conspirators: “Today he was executed, and tomorrow, us, Providence about this prince.”
In addition to Yakim, the conspiracy was led by Peter Kuchkovich (Kuchkov's son-in-law), the princely key- keeper Anbal Yasin , and also an approximate prince Efrem Moizich. There were a total of 20 conspirators. It is also believed that Julitta Kuchkovna, the wife of Prince Andrei, took part in the plot, although there is a version that by that time Andrei was married a second time to another wife unnamed in the chronicles. On the night of June 28 , 1174, conspirators approached Prince Andrew’s bedroom, one of them tried to deceive the prince and introduced himself as princely servant Procopius (this Procopius was also killed), but the prince understood from his voice that this was not his servant. Then the conspirators, fearing that the prince would raise the alarm, broke into his chambers, a fight ensued. The prince rushed for his weapon - the Sword of St. Boris , but he was prudently removed from the princely chambers by the key-keeper Anbal. The prince fought with the conspirators with his bare hands, but from blows with swords and spears soon weakened and fell.
After that, the conspirators urgently retired from the princely bedroom, trying to save his comrade, who was wounded in the confusion with a spear. Andrew at that time came to his senses and tried to hide and call for help. The conspirators discovered Andrew on the bloody trail, after which Peter Kuchkovich delivered the final blow to the prince, cutting off his hand [9] . After the murder of the prince, the conspirators plundered the palace in Bogolyubovo.
After the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky, civil war broke out . The conspirators Kuchkovichi, who survived, according to some sources, were executed after the approval in Vladimir of Vsevolod the Big Nest , Andrei's younger brother: allegedly Vsevolod "Kuchkovichi caught, and he washed them into the lake in a box” [10] . At the direction of Vsevolod, Julitta Stepanovna (or, perhaps, the second unnamed wife of Andrei), who participated in the plot, was executed.
The name of the Heap remains not only in the legends, but also in the names of the localities. In the 15th century, Kuchka volost was mentioned in Suzdal, in Moscow, at the same time, the tract Kuchkovo Pole, which was located in the area of the later Sretensky Gate, was well known. But the most important thing is that in the second half of the 12th century Moscow had a double name: “Moscow rexe Kuchkovo” (“Moscow, that is, Kuchkovo”) [1] .
Interesting Facts
- The noble family Iznoskovy erected their clan to the boyar Kuchka [11] .
The image of the boyar Kuchka in the cinema
- Prince Yuri Dolgoruky ( 1998 ; Russia , director Sergey Tarasov , Boris Nevzorov as Kuchka).
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 PSRL. T. II. P. 118 [PSRL. M., 1962. T. II. P. 600].
- ↑ Birch bark letter number 723 Archival copy of March 5, 2016 on the Wayback Machine (about going to Kuchkov, that is, Moscow, and about collecting debts)
- ↑ Novgorod bark mail. Findings of 2004. Science and Life, № 4 2005.
- ↑ Toporov V.N. “Baltica” near Moscow. // Balto-Slavic collection. - M .: Science, 1972. - P. 217-281.
- ↑ Shilov A.L. Ethnonyms and non-Slavic anthroponyms of birch bark letters // Questions of onomastics . - 2010. - № 1. - p. 43-44.
- К Kuchkovich Conspiracy.
- ↑ 1 2 ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF THE REINFORCED GREAT CITY OF MOSCOW, WHAT THE CONCERTAIN WILL BEGAN
- ↑ LAVRENTIEV CHAIR
- ↑ N. M. Karamzin. History of Russian Goverment. Volume III. Chapter I.
- ↑ Novgorod Chronicle according to the Synodal Characteristic List. SPb., 1888. P. 436 [NPL. M. - L 1950. S. 468].
- ↑ Agafonov N. Kazan and Kazan. - Kazan, 1907. - Vol. Ii. - P. 14.
Literature
- History of Moscow from ancient times to the present day / A. L. Khoroshkevich . - Moscow : Mosgorahiv, Moscow textbooks and kartolithograph, 1997. - T. 1. XII — XVIII centuries. - 432 s.
- Kuchkin V. A. Kuchkovichi // Ancient Russia in the Medieval World: Encyclopedia / E. A. Melnikova , V. Ya. Petrukhin . - M .: Ladomir, 2014. - 439 p.
- Kuchko, Stepan Ivanovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.