Battle of the Pian River (1377)

Background

In the spring of 1376, the Moscow governor and Lithuanian prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok-Volynsky, at the head of the Russian army, invaded the middle Volga , took away 5,000 rubles from mummies' proteges and planted Russian customs officers there ( road ).

In 1376, Khan of the Golden Horde Arapsha , who went to the service of Mamaia from the left bank of the Volga, ravaged the principality of Novosil , avoiding a battle with the Moscow army that had crossed the Oka .

The news of the approach of the Tatar army reached the South Russian borders long before the enemy approached, so in the lands of the Principality of Nizhny Novgorod it was possible to form a strong army to repulse the enemy. The Grand Duke of Moscow, Dmitry Ivanovich , was planning to lead the troops to repulse, hastily responding to a request for help from his father-in-law, Nizhny Novgorod Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich .

The balance of power

No news was heard about the enemy for a long time, so Dmitry Ivanovich returned to his possessions, leaving Vladimir , Pereyaslav , Murom , Yuryev and Yaroslavl regiments . The young prince Ivan , the son of Dmitry Konstantinovich, who participated in a successful campaign the previous year under the leadership of Bobrok-Volynsky against the Mamai proteges on the middle Volga, was appointed commander.

Data on the size of the Horde army has not been preserved.

Battle Progress

The united Russian army moved towards the Tatars, having camped on the left bank of the Pyana River, a hundred miles from Nizhny Novgorod . Then the news came that Arapsha was located on Wolf's Water , that is, on the borders of the Principality of Novosilsky. In the Russian army discipline began to plummet, general drunkenness began, and guard duty ceased to be carried out. The story of the battle on the river Piane , which is the main source of the battle, in subsequent events does not mention Arapsha, but the Tatars from the Mamaev Horde .

The Russian governors abandoned all their weapons and indulged in entertainments: "Start fishing for animals and birds, and have fun, without any doubt." Ordinary warriors followed suit: they abandoned their weapons, indulged in drunkenness and bragging.

The Horde, secretly let down by the Mordovian princes, attacked the Russian camp on August 2, 1377 . The Russian army, not made for battle, fled to the river, but was mercilessly destroyed. Prince Semyon Mikhailovich (who was also mentioned among those who died in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 ) died under the blows of Tatar sabers, along with him a huge number of boyars and ordinary soldiers. Many drowned, unable to cross the Drunk, among them was Prince Ivan Dmitrievich.

Consequences

The Nizhny Novgorod principality was left without protection. The Hordes approached Nizhny, which was already half empty (the population fled in fear in the Volga region, Gorodets and Murom), burned and robbed him for two days from August 5 to 7, after they plundered the principality.

Arapsha ravaged the lands beyond the Sura River, Ryazan was also taken in an attack, the Ryazan Grand Prince Oleg Ivanovich miraculously escaped captivity.

The Tatar raid on the Nizhny Novgorod principality was followed by the Mordovian raid, which, however, was unsuccessful - the Mordovian detachments were completely destroyed by Prince Boris Konstantinovich Gorodetsky , who in winter, together with his nephew Semyon Dmitrievich and the Moscow governor Svibl, made a punitive expedition to Mordovian land and laid it down .

After the successful raid of 1377 on the Russian borderland, the next year Mamai moved an army against Dmitry Moscow himself (see Battle on the Vozhe ).

• The tale of the battle on the river Pian // Military tales of Ancient Russia. - L .: Lenizdat, 1985.
• Solovyov S. M. The history of Russia since ancient times. Volume 3. Chapter 7. The reign of Dimitry Ioannovich Donskoy (1362-1389) .

• " The Tale of the Battle on the River Pian ." Preparation of the text, translation and comments by L. A. Dmitriev.
• The struggle of Russia for liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke (inaccessible link)