A beautiful story of Queen Syuyumbike. Love and death of queen syuyumbike
Russia has its own leaning tower and it is located in the capital of Tatarstan. This is the Syuyumbike watchtower. The spire of the structure deviates from the vertical by 1.98 meters. Historians are still arguing about the period of construction, agreeing that it was built between 1645-1650. The tower is located in the northern part of the territory of the Kazan Kremlin. The total height of the building is 58 meters.
Tower Syuyumbike
The tower is a unique symbiosis of Tatar and Russian architecture of the XIV-XVII centuries. The design resembles the Borovitskaya and Spasskaya towers of the Moscow Kremlin, but with oriental elements. They appear in the spire, through gates, semi-oval windows and graceful semi-columns on the front side. Guests of Tatarstan in the capital can see similar architecture in Moscow at the Kazansky railway station, which the architect Shchusev built in exact accordance with the leaning tower.
- The foundation of the tower was made of oak piles, which, over the course of centuries, sank to a depth of more than 2 meters. The walls were built of brick with lime mortar, and the edges are decorated with brick rollers. The structure has 7 tiers, the first 3 of which are square, and the rest are octagons.
- In the "cubes" of different heights of the first tiers, amusement places, typical for Russian architecture, are arranged. The "eye sockets" of the abysses were used to inspect the surrounding area.
- The next 2 tiers - the "eights" - were built so for a reason: firstly, with such masonry from the same amount of materials, the building is built 20% more in height, and secondly, it is less affected by the winds that are invariably present at a height.
- Next, a cone-shaped tier was erected, on which a sentinel tower was placed.
- crowns all this complex structure green spire, on which the Muslim crescent flaunts.
Construction history
If everything is clear and precise with architecture, then the history of construction raises many questions among scientists. This is due to the fact that during the capture of the city, the annals of the times of the Kazan Khanate were irretrievably lost, and later documents burned down in 1701 during the fire of Moscow. It is only established for certain that during the reign of Peter I, the tower was already on the city plan of 1717. Thus, the upper limit of the age of the structure was established. There are several theories regarding the construction time:
- Until 1552, during the period of the Khanate, another watchtower stood on the site of the building, which was completed and somewhat modified.
- Between 1645-1650 - based on archaeological studies of soil layers.
- Between 1694-1718 according to the analysis of cartographic data and characteristic elements of the Moscow Baroque.
Thanks to the traveler Adam Olearius, one can also delineate the lower limit of the estimated date of construction as 1638. That year, he visited Kazan and made sketches of the capital, in which no similar buildings were found.
The history of construction is full of mysteries: officially it is not known who, when and by whose order the building was erected, but the name hides even more secrets.
Queen Syuyumbike
In the entire history of the Kazan Khanate, a woman once stood at the head of the state - the queen-regent Syuyuk, who was forced to rule for her young son after the death of her husband. The dynasty of the queen, like her biography, was worthy - so, her great-great-great-grandfather was the founder Nogai Horde Edigei, father - Nogai biy Yusuf. Syuyuk married three times, and all her husbands were the rulers of the Kazan Khanate.
The reign of Syuyuk was remembered by the people for the abolition of a number of taxes for merchants, peasants and artisans. In gratitude for the relief of the tax burden, she was nicknamed "beloved lady", translated from Tatar - Syuyumbike. And not only the sentinel building of the Kremlin was named after her, but also many streets in various cities and villages. However, such a story is not so poetic, the legend is more interesting.
tower legends
There are many legends and stories associated with the building:
- History first. Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible heard about the beauty of the Kazan regent and decided to marry her. The queen was against it and then the king threatened to raze the khanate to the ground and kill all the inhabitants. Syuyumbike agreed for the sake of her people, but on the wedding night she threw herself down from the new building and died.
- The second story. The tower was erected after the capture of Kazan in 1552 by decree of Ivan the Terrible, but at the request of the Tatar queen. It took seven days to build it, one tier for each, and after the construction was completed, the queen of the captured khanate threw herself down from it.
- History the third. The structure was built by order of Syuyuk in memory of her second deceased husband Safa Giray.
The truth, however, turned out to be much sadder. After the capture of Kazan by Ivan IV the Terrible, the Murzas paid off the treasury, the princess and her son, who were transported to Russian Empire and baptized. Syuyuk did not become the wife of the Russian Tsar. However, this does not at all diminish the beauty and mystery of the falling structure. Of no less interest to architects and scientists is the reason for the tilt of the structure. On the basis of the conducted studies, it is assumed that the building began to lean to the east due to an elementary mistake during construction almost immediately after its completion.
The slope was discovered and measures were taken only in 1930. The rigid frame, elements of which can be seen on the first tier, stopped the fall and helped save the object cultural heritage RF in its original form, so that you can personally admire its splendor.
Tour to the tower
You can look at the falling tower, as well as take a picture against its background, on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin. A beautiful architectural structure delights tourists not only during the day, but also at night, when it lights up with bright light with the help of powerful spotlights. On the territory of the Kremlin, you can buy souvenirs depicting one of the main attractions of the capital of Tatarstan.
Syuyumbike's first husband was young Khan Jan-Ali. The union was concluded solely for political reasons and for a number of reasons was unsuccessful. Jan-Ali was only 17 years old, he did not like the imposed wife and the marriage was childless.
Syuyumbike repeatedly wrote to her father with a request to take her back to the Nogai steppe. Biy Yusuf, who loved his beautiful daughter, insisted on the deposition of Jan-Ali, which happened in 1535. The Khan's throne was again occupied by Safa Giray and after a while Syuyumbike became his wife.
The second marriage turned out to be much more successful: according to all available historical information, the marriage of Safa Giray and Syuyumbike was happy and "red-sunny", according to the author of the "Kazan History", the khanum was "more beloved than the first wives" for the khan.
Death of Safa Giray and his will
Syuyumbike lived with Safa Giray 14 years old and bore him a son-heir. In March 1549, the 42-year-old khan died, as if he had hit his head while bathing in the bath "in the washroom Teremets." Despite this, he managed to voice his last will, according to which, power passed to Syuyumbika, who became the sole ruler of the Kazan Khanate, and had to remain so until the age of their son Utyamish.
Ulan Kuchak, governor of the Crimean guards Safa Giray, supported the queen in every possible way. Not without his participation, the three-year-old Utyamysh Girey became khan, and Syuyumbike became regent under him. The political course of the Kazan Khanate remained the same as under Safa: orientation towards the Crimea, relying on a foreign army.
Syuyumbike at the head of the Kazan Khanate
Having become the head of state in 1549, Syuyumbike proved to be a wise ruler and quickly won the people's sympathy. She took over the maintenance of the mosque at which Safa Giray was buried, and also carried out some reforms, freeing peasants, small artisans and merchants from high taxes. For this, the chroniclers called her the "peasant queen."
Her act played a special role: the queen gave her own library to the madrasah at the Kul Sharif mosque, which could be used by any teacher (half) and even a student (shakird), and not only a student in this madrasah.
The reign of Syuyumbike was short-lived, only two years - from the spring of 1549 to the middle of 1551.
Captivity and death of Syuyumbike
The construction of a Russian military town in Sviyazhsk, 30 km from Kazan, gave impetus to the following events: the queen called for preparing for the defense of the city and gathering all available troops, but not everyone agreed with this position.
Members of the Khan's council, Karachi, secretly agreed with Moscow through Sviyazhsk on the following: Kazan will be surrendered, power will be transferred to the Sviyazhsk governor Shigalei, and Syuyumbike and her son will be sent to Moscow. Ivan IV gave his consent. On August 11, 1551, the voivode prince arrived in Kazan. Silver, from an old family of specific princes Obolensky. Syuyumbike was given 10 days to prepare, after which she and her son were to leave for Moscow.
Having learned about the arrest of Syuyumbike, the townspeople made an attempt to break into the Khan's court and free her, but they were repulsed and driven home. On August 21, 1551, the queen, having said goodbye to the grave of Safa Giray and Kazan, left the city.
In Moscow, Syuyumbike was settled in the palace under the queen Anastasia Romanovna. After the fall of Kazan, according to Prince A.M. Kurbsky, it became possible to restore the Kazan Khanate under the command of the captive queen herself or her son Utyamysh. In order to avoid such attempts, the former Kazan queen was hastily given off as Shah Ali and settled in Kasimov.
In 1553, Utyamysh was taken away from his mother, he was baptized in the Miracle Monastery under the name Alexander Safakirievich and determined to live at the palace of the Russian Tsar. Utyamysh Giray lived only 20 years.
When and where Syuyumbike died, it is not known exactly. Professor Urmancheev, for example, came to the conclusion that the most likely date of her death is 1557. The queen was then only 38 years old. As for the place of burial, in Kasimov, in the mausoleum of Shah Ali, an unknown tombstone was found. It is possible that the "peasant queen" is buried under it.
500 years ago, a girl was born in the Nogai Horde, who was to become the queen of the Kazan Khanate. The exact date of her birth is unknown, as is the date of her death. Her fate is closely connected with the fall of the Kazan Khanate, taken by the troops of Ivan the Terrible on October 2, 1552. One of the most popular legends says that Ivan IV himself was passionately in love with the mistress. What is true in the history of Syuyumbike, and what is fiction, says AiF-Kazan.
tower legend
Tower Syuyumbike. Photo: AiF / Yulia Shigareva
Everyone who comes to Kazan is shown the Syuyumbike tower, which has recently been crowned with a Muslim crescent. And they tell a beautiful legend that Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who fell in love with the Kazan ruler, took the city, and then decided to forcibly take her as his wife, but she set a condition for him: they say, build a high tower in seven days. "Easily!" - the tsar allegedly answered, and a week later the tower was ready, and the Kazan ruler, under the pretext of inspecting the building, climbed to the very top and, in order not to reach the unloved, jumped down ...
The tale, of course, is beautiful, but in reality Syuyumbike was taken to the territory of the Moscow state as an honorary hostage a year before the capture of Kazan, at that time the sovereign Ivan Vasilyevich was a little over 20, while the regent of the Kazan throne was 35. At that time it was a serious difference in age, therefore, yesterday’s young man most likely could not have any ardent feelings for such a mature woman. And the tower itself was supposedly built at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, that is, a hundred years after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate, and it is absent in the famous drawing by Adam Olearius, who visited Kazan in 1638. Historians are still arguing when it was built and what this building originally served as: a khan's mosque, a minaret or a watchtower. By the way, this is one of the few "falling" towers in the world - the deviation from the axis is 1.98 m.
Her name was Syuyumbike
This is how the artist Ildar Zaripov imagines Syuyumbike. Photo: Pushkin Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan
In fact, the name of the khansha was Xiuyun. "Bike" in translation means Mrs. The regent deserved this honorary addition to her name due to the fact that she never forgot about the common people, in particular about the peasants, always tried to delve into their problems and significantly reduced, speaking modern language, their "tax burden". Until the 20th century, it was called differently: Syuyumbika, Sumbeki, Syuyunbeka. The spelling that was established in the 20th century is Syuyumbike.
"Good face and smart"
The famous “Kazan Chronicler” (a historical story created, according to various sources, in 1564-1566 or between 1626 and 1640 and tells about the conquest of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible in 1552 - ed.), describes the appearance of the regent of the Kazan throne as follows: “ ... that queen was very good-looking and smart, so she had no equal in Kazan in beauty among women and girls, and in Moscow among Russians - daughters and wives of boyars and princes. However, it can be assumed that the beauty of Syuyumbike had a somewhat exotic character - even for Kazanians. It is enough to look at archival or modern photographs of the Nogai - the descendants of the inhabitants of the once formidable nomadic Nogai Horde, the great-great-granddaughter of the founder of which Edigeya and the daughter of the powerful Bek Yusuf was Syuyumbike. An exact description of the growth and complexion of the Kazan queen has not been preserved, but presumably she was slender and had a regal posture. But her skin, like all Nogais, probably had a darker shade than that of the Volzhans, and the shape of the eyes was more eastern than that of the natives of the Kazan region.
Married three times
Syuyumbike was married three times and all three times her husband was chosen for her. For the first time, she was married to the Kazan Khan Jan-Ali at the age of 12. It was a dynastic marriage concluded for the sake of a political counterbalance between the Nogai Horde, the Kazan and Crimean khanates. Two years later, Jan-Ali was killed, and the girl was given in marriage to Khan Safa-Giray, who, as chronicles say, was her beloved husband. She was also his fifth wife. It was after the death of Safa-Girey that Syuyumbike ascended the khan's throne, becoming regent with her minor son. The third time she was forcibly married after the fall of the khanate - to the Kaimov Khan Shah-Ali, (brother of Jan-Ali), which, by the way, was not happy with her husband himself.
uncomplaining victim
Legends often represent Syuyumbike as a "lady of a sad image", stoically enduring all the blows and vicissitudes of fate. In fact, according to the data that have come down to us, the future ruler from childhood had strong character and was willful. In particular, the following case is known: when the regent received news that the Russians had built the fortress city of Sviyazhsk in the very center of her state, then, according to the Kazan Chronicler, “like a ferocious lioness” began to call her subjects to war, promising to enlist help from their relatives in the Nogai Horde, as well as from the Crimean and Astrakhan khanates. However, then the subjects did not listen to her, deciding that they simply did not have enough strength for armed resistance to Moscow, and subsequently handed over the ruler to the Russian state. Her favorite, the Crimean oghlan Koschak, was also captured. Some sources state that he, once an ally of her second husband, Khan Safa Giray, was in a romantic relationship with the ruler, others that he was her only ally.Painting "Farewell to Syuyumbike" (2001) F. Khalikov. Photo: State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan
A legend has been preserved: when Syuyumbike, in order to conclude peace with Moscow, they decided to pass him off as a Russian protege, Khan Shah-Ali, she sent him food and a shirt as a gift. However, suspecting a trick, the cunning khan first fed his dog with this food, and ordered the servant to wear a shirt that fell into disfavor, after which both the animal and the man died.
The former husbands of Syuyumbike, by the way, died under rather strange circumstances: the first unloved husband of Jan-Ali was killed after deposition, moreover, history did not preserve the details of the death, and his beloved Safa-Girey was in his prime: he allegedly slipped and hit his head when taking a bath.
Portrait with son
Everyone who is interested in the fate of Syuyumbike knows her old portrait, in which she is allegedly depicted together with her son, Utyamysh-Girey. Sometimes the name of the work is attributed: “in a Russian prison”, although, as you know, neither the captive regent herself nor her offspring were ever held in any prison.
We know this pictorial composition thanks to the brush of the artist Dementiev, who seems to have rewritten the work from an earlier, almost lifetime original. However, some historians seriously doubt that it is her son that is depicted next to the Kazan ruler in the portrait. And there are good reasons for this - the child is wearing women's clothing, women's jewelry. There are suggestions that the canvas depicts the daughter of Syuyumbike's first husband, Khan Jan-Ali, whom she raised after the death of her father.
It is known that the legendary ruler had no love with this khan, as well as children.
The only woman on the Khan's throne
Quite often, Syuyumbike is credited with the fact that she was the only woman in the medieval Muslim world, in whose hands the highest state power was concentrated. What seriously distinguishes the Kazan Khanate and the Kazan Tatars in general from other eastern peoples, where this was simply impossible. In fact, the relatively liberal mores of Kazan in gender issues may be evidenced by the fact that Syuyumbike was just not the only woman who occupied the khan's throne. And if our heroine was in power as a regent for about three years (from 1549 to 1551), then the regent of her first husband Jana-Ali ruled almost the same time (he ascended the Kazan throne as a teenager) - khanbike Kovgorshad, the daughter of Khan Ibrahim and not the lesser-known khansha of Nur-Soltan.
Tortured by a tyrant husband
Portrait of Syuyumbike by sculptor Baki Urmanche. Photo: GMII IZO RT
Talking about sad fate Kazan ruler, they often say that it was extremely difficult for her to be married to the unloved Shah Ali, and that her third husband almost plunged her into the hell of domestic violence. Interestingly, similar rumors spread during the life of Syuyumbike, when her father, the Nogai bek Yusuf, was informed that his new husband had cut off his daughter's nose and ears. The indignant bek wrote a letter of the corresponding content to Ivan the Terrible, and he wrote to Shah-Ali. As a result, a whole delegation arrived from the Nogai Horde to the Russian lands to find out about the state of Syuyumbike, and the ambassadors personally made sure that the woman was alive and well.
Of course, deprived of power and settled in the wilderness, the Kazan queen asked her father to take her to her, Ivan the Terrible and her brothers asked for this, but the tsar was adamant. In a letter to one of the brothers, he justified his decision as follows: “And you yourself know, his daughter Syuyunbek, how much rudeness she did to us in Kazan, and how God gave her to us, and we dashingly forgot our father for your friendship, and for you.”
At the same time, Moscow's ally, Kasimov Khan Shah-Ali, as mentioned above, was himself not happy with the marriage to the deposed regent, agreeing to it solely under pressure from Moscow. The Russian state, on the other hand, took such measures in order to keep the power ambitions of the Kazan queen under control, especially since the Mother See was already quite tired of the fact that politics in Kazan for decades was built according to the following algorithm: peace was concluded with Moscow, as a result of a coup a pro-Crimean party came to power, a beating of Russian merchants and ambassadors was organized, and then a campaign against Russian lands for booty and slaves.
As soon as Syuyumbike was brought to her new husband, he immediately ordered to send her away. According to the hypothesis of local historian Anatoly Shekin, last years Kazan mistress took place in a place in the vicinity of the modern village of Vilya (Nizhny Novgorod region), where the khansha lived under the tutelage of her “personal bodyguard” Churay-Batyr. Subsequently, the village of Churaevka, now defunct, appeared on this place. It is characteristic that in the mausoleum of Shah Ali there was no place for the ashes of his wife. But scientists discovered an unknown tombstone in it, so historians do not exclude that Syuyumbike is still buried there.Of course, the last years of Syuyumbike cannot be called happy. The royal person lived in the outright wilderness, far from both her second homeland - Kazan, where she ascended to the top of the political Olympus, and historical - the steppes of the Nogai Horde. In addition to power, she was deprived of her only son, who was selected to be raised at the royal court in Moscow. The boy was baptized under the name Alexander and lived only twenty years, nine years outliving his mother, who died of anguish, abandoned and forgotten by everyone. Everyone, except for her people, who composed beautiful legends about her.
Until the end of the year, the Khazine Gallery in the Kazan Kremlin hosts the exhibition "Artists of Tatarstan: the image of Syuyumbike ..." from the collection of the State Museum fine arts Republic of Tatarstan and paintings by artists of Tatarstan. For the first time, she presents the legendary image of Syuyumbike in a single exhibition space.
Lesson progress
Picture 1
Kazan Queen Syuyumbike
Figure 2
Kazan queen Syuyumbike.
Why are all princesses beautiful? This is how they remain in the memory of the people. The daughter of a king or khan must be attractive. And if the kingdom is attacked by an enemy that cannot be resisted, the reigning persons do not surrender to the mercy of the winner, but prefer to voluntarily part with their lives ...
Similar stories are present in the legends of almost all peoples. As for the legend about the Kazan queen Syuyumbika, the first part of it is true. The sources meticulously studied by historians also testify to its indescribable beauty.
In fact, the Kazan queen was called Syuyun, and “Syuyumbike” - “Beloved Lady” - she was nicknamed by the people because she tried to delve into his hardships and, if possible, weaken them. Syuyun was the daughter of the noble Nogai bek Yusuf and grew up in the steppe. In those years, the Kazan khans had a fashion - to look for wives in Nogai yurts. The entire steppe from the Kuban to Kazakhstan was inhabited by relatives: noble nobles entered into dynastic marriages with each other. Young girls were very reluctant to leave their native steppes, life in the stone khan's chambers seemed boring to them, besides, it was full of court intrigues. Not everyone coped with such psychological stress. But Xiuyun grew up as a smart child from childhood, with a wayward "male" character.
The khans did not stay on the Kazan throne for a long time, practically no one died of their own death: sooner or later each of them became a victim of political intrigues. In the second third of the 16th century, the main struggle for power in the Kazan Khanate unfolded between the Moscow and Crimean groups. When Khan Safa died in 1549, an interregnum ensued, as the Kazan Chronicler describes, “and after the death of Tsarev, there was a great uprising in Kazan ...”
Who will be the next khan? Safa Giray had three sons: the elders Mubarak and Bulyuk lived in the Crimea, and the three-year-old Utyamysh with his mother Syuyun lived in Kazan. The Khan's guard, led by the Crimean commander Kuchak (Koshchak), put on Utyamysh. By the way, very conflicting information has been preserved about Kuchak. “The husband is very majestic and ferocious,” according to the Russian chronicle, allegedly consisted in “... prodigal love with the queen ...” Researchers dismiss the assumption that the Crimean lancer was the favorite of Syuyun. Still, it was not the Parisian court, but the Kazan court, where completely different customs reigned. In addition, it is known that the queen was madly in love with her husband Safu Giray and after his death did not stop grieving about him.
But she accepted Kuchak's help. So the three-year-old Utyamysh became a khan, and Syuyun became a regent under him. The policy continued the same as under Safa - an orientation towards the Crimea based on a foreign army. However, the regent managed to carry out some reforms, freeing peasants, small artisans and merchants from suffocating taxes, for which the people nicknamed her “Syuyumbike”, and historians called her “peasant queen”.
The rules of Syuyumbike did not last long - only two years. The political winds changed, and the Moscow party began to gain the upper hand. Kuchak tried to escape to the Crimea, but was caught. The tsarina and her young son were also arrested, and sent to "honorary captivity" in Moscow.
Popular rumor interpreted these events in their own way. After the capture of Kazan by Russian troops, Syuyumbike, in order not to surrender to the invaders, allegedly threw herself from the tower, which today bears her name. In fact, she was taken to Moscow back in 1551, a few months before the fall of the capital of the Kazan Khanate.
Sources say that before leaving for Moscow, the queen was allowed to visit the grave of her husband Safa and say goodbye to the people. What words Xiuyun said over the tombstone and what speech she made in front of the cauldrons is unknown. However, there is folklore in which the "Lament of Syuyumbike" is presented. Which is impossible to listen to without an internal shudder with such an emotional strain sounds ...
How was the life of the captive in the "honorary exile"? It is clear that she did not live in poverty, but she was morally very depressed. Xiuyun prayed for only one thing - to let her go to her father in the Nogai steppes, but she was refused. No matter how she resisted and fought back, she was still married to the old and ugly Kasimov Khan Shah-Ali, who, thanks to the support of Moscow, reigned on the Kazan throne. The queen's son Utyamysh was baptized and received a new name - Alexander Safakirievich, he lived only 20 years. During the Russian-Livonian war he was a commander. And he was buried in the Moscow Archangel Cathedral next to the Russian tsars.
When and where Syuyumbike died, there are different versions on this score. Professor Urmancheev systematized them and came to the conclusion that the most probable date of her death was 1557, when the captive was 38 years old. In Kasimov, in the mausoleum of Shah Ali, an unknown tombstone was found. It is possible that the “peasant queen” is buried under it.
Figure 3
Tower Syuyumbike.
Recognized as the architectural symbol of Kazan - the Syuyumbike Tower. The name of the tower is associated with the name of the Kazan queen Syuyumbike, the daughter of the Nogai Murza Yusuf and the wife of the last three Kazan kings: Janali, Safa Giray and Shah Ali.
The tower was erected at the end of the XVII - early XVIII century and was sentinel, as well as a triumphal entry directly into the sovereign's court. A monumental brick wall adjoined the tower on both sides, framing the palace buildings and the four-tiered Palace Wall.
Far beyond the borders of Tatarstan, and in fact is recognized by all the Tatars of the world as a symbol of their homeland.
It is impossible to imagine Kazan without it, just like Paris without the Eiffel Tower, London without the Tower, or Cairo without the pyramids.
Nothing in the rich panorama of Kazan attracts such attention as its elegance, slender silhouette. This is an effective building, located in the most prominent place of the Kremlin Hill, the ancient sacral center of the old part of Kazan.
History loves surprises. The beautiful queen died in complete oblivion far from Kazan and was buried in the same Kasimov near Ryazan, without even being honored with an inscription on the tombstone.
For two whole hours, the captive tsarina was killed at the tomb of her husband in front of the townspeople, and then “with all the city and the people of Gratsk who accompanied them from the city to the banks of the Kazanka”, where Russian boats were already waiting for her and her son Utyamysh. The mosque, where Safa-Girey was buried, was called “Syuyumbike” by the people, and this name passed to the current seven-tiered tower.
Built of large red brick 58 cm high, the Syuyumbike tower has seven tiers, different in height and size. Immediately after the completion of construction, the tower began to tilt to the east, because its western side, built on the foundation of an old watch tower, turned out to be more stable. The roll became clearly visible only at the beginning of the 20th century.
The tower was reinforced with iron brackets, and in 1913 its body was pulled together with a metal belt.
However, the tower continued to “fall” and in 1930 the deviation from the axis of its top was already 1 meter 28 cm. After restoration work in the early 90s, the list was suspended at around 1.9 meters. Now the tower is one of the most "falling" in the world. This architectural monument is a symbol of Kazan.
The image of Syuyumbike has been preserved, legends still live in the memory of the people, linking the tower with the name of Syuyumbike. Briefly, they boil down to the following plot:
- Ivan the Terrible.
- The tower was built by Queen Syuyumbike in memory of her husband.
- This is the minaret of Khanjali. All these legends, although reflecting certain historical facts, however, are far from reality.
Legends about the Kazan queen Syuyumbika.
The legend says that Ivan the Terrible, having learned about the beauty of the Kazan queen Syuyumbike, sent his matchmakers to Kazan...
Proud Syuyumbike refused the Russian tsar. Then Ivan the Terrible went to Kazan with a huge army and besieged the city of Syuyumbike in order to save Kazan, agreed to get married, but on the condition that the Russian Tsar would build the highest tower in Kazan in seven days. Hasty construction began - on the first day they built the first, largest tier in size, on the second day - the second, and so on. Finally, by the end of the seventh day, the tower was completed, and the wedding feast began. Syuyumbike asked permission to climb to the very top of the tower in order to survey the city with its citizens. When the queen climbed the tower, not having the strength to part with the city that had become close and dear to her, she rushed down to the sharp stones. In memory of the last Kazan queen, the people named the tower after her.
The tragic fate of Syuyumbike worried not only relatives and tribesmen. Her touching image is organically intertwined with the history of Russia. She is given a lot of space in Russian folklore, much of her fate came to us from Russian chronicles. Centuries later, famous Russian writers, composers, artists did not bypass this image. The poet M. Kheraskov wrote the poem “Rossiyada”, the composer S. N. Glinka wrote the opera Syuyumbike to take the Kazan Khanate, P. Gruzintsev created “The Conquered Kazan” - in all these works our illustrious khansha occupies a central place. A copy of the painting by an unknown artist “Syuyumbike and her son Utemyshgirey” has been preserved, and the Astrakhan Museum has a painting by the artist A.P. Rakhshtul “Daughter of the Nogai Murza Yusuf, Queen of Kazan Syuyumbike”.
In the first issue of the Syuyumbike magazine published in Kazan, Beit Syuyumbike was published. These verses were copied from an unknown manuscript by Gumer Bashirov in 1914. Among the Tatar people there is oral version Beit, its text was published by the scientist G. Ibragovimov in the book "Beits".
It seems that "Beit Syuyumbike" - literary work created by the Kazan queen herself. It is known from historical sources and oral traditions that Syuyumbike, the daughter of Yusuf, the ruler of the Nogai Horde, was an educated woman of her time, she knew Arabic, Greek, could read and write, surrounded herself with learned people. The fact that she erected a tower in honor of her husband clearly speaks of her involvement in the art of architecture, the desire to assert herself and her time.
Here is the text of "Beita Syuyumbike" taken from the journal Syuyumbike, as well as the translation into Russian, carried out by the Nogai poetess Farida Sidakhmetova.
"Beit Syuyumbike"
1 Lead:
No one can escape fate -
That the Almighty sent down to the slave,
That is on the mortal path of life
Man will experience in full.
In the year five hundred and fifteen I came into this world
And under the parental wing, not knowing the troubles, she lived.
About how much evil and tears will fall to me in fate,
I did not know, and you, where, could not help the slave
But where is my greatness, where is my father's shelter?
Where are the times when I lived with my father as a princess?
When I was only eighteen years old,
The time has come to leave the house, to follow her husband.
Fate brought me to Kazan from the Crimea then -
Kazan Khan became my husband. But here comes the problem:
2 Lead:
Khan Zhenali died at the hands of the enemy.
So for the first time longing and pain fell on my heart.
For only two years I was queen and wife.
And how much grief will I have to go through alone?
Where is the youthful laughter and clear gaze, the brilliance of the chela?
Where are the times when I lived as a wife of a khan?
Safa Giray came to the empty Khan's throne
From the Crimea and, holding three wives, called me his.
Evil times have come - suffering and discord.
The Russian tsar directed his insatiable gaze here.
Kazan is in alarm: not to understand who is yours now, who is the enemy.
And there were many internecine fights between the princes.
So Khan Safa-Girey ruled, and the people perished in battles.
The clouds were gathering, and the enemies were standing at the gates.
I lived with Safa-Girey for fourteen years.
But the fate of the khan is hard, full of worries and troubles.
And behind the Kazan wall, battles have been going on for a long time.
Trouble hovers over the city, spreading its wings.
So the world perishes and the light fades: in such a difficult hour
Safa-Girey, unfortunate husband, and you left us.
I do not grieve for myself - my Utemyshgirey,
My two-year-old son was left an orphan, nightingale.
1 Lead:
My name is Syuyumbike, I have Nogai blood in me.
But where is my greatness and where is my khan's shelter?
Where is the peaceful age, when I lived as the wife of a khan?
The son of an orphan, she herself is a widow. How heavy is the lot!
The Moscow khan wants to capture my Kazan,
He calls corrupt Murzas to him and asks to live in peace.
“I won’t let you hurt you,” he repeats, weaving a network of bondage.
And the Murzas have little strength, no one wants to die.
They do not listen to me, and the truce is the hour
Having violated the Khan's throne, having betrayed, they will leave us.
Nogais, Crimeans and Kazan fell apart - who goes where.
Where is the former friendship, union? But not one problem
Came to me, and I'm powerless. I can't hold the throne.
2 Lead:
Here everyone wants to become a khan, but where can I run?
How lonely I was in my despair,
And then the thought came to me: “Someday we will die.
What memory of ourselves will we leave in the haze of years?
And on the grave of the Khan, I erected a minaret.
When it's hard for me, I'll look at him...
Princes of Kazan, wanting to whitewash themselves,
They put a lot of effort into captivating me.
To whom to go for help? My clear vision has faded.
In captivity now dishonor and shame await me.
Here are two under my arms are already leading me to the arba.
And I, in powerlessness, for a long time send a curse to fate.
1 Lead:
My name is Syuyumbike, I have Nogai blood in me.
But where is my greatness and where is my khan's shelter?
I am sad, my eyes are in tears and there is no face on me,
I am a prisoner, without a homeland - and there is no end to troubles.
AT last time I looked up at my people
Everyone is crying ... Someone's loving voice then said to me:
"He is merciful, Moscow Khan." And the city is buzzing.
He does not know who betrayed us. Holding the child to your chest
So I thought then that people need me,
To all those who cry .... But I should not trust anyone!
They took me to the wagon .... Through tears, as if in delirium,
I realized that I would never come back.
When someone wished me a happy journey,
I said: “Goodbye everyone. I can't come back."
And the people fell on their knees along the ravine, where the river is.
Who dared, approached closer, and who - from afar.
For the last time I look at my city, as before the end.
He remained, my orphan, with a tear-stained face.
“Unfortunate city, you are deprived of a golden crown.
And your fate is terrible to me when the enemies come
And majestic palaces will be wiped off the face of the earth.
2 Lead:
My name is Syuyumbike, I have Nogai blood in me.
But where is my greatness and where is my khan's shelter?
Yesterday I was the mistress of the royal palace.
Now in captivity and an orphan. And the troubles have no end.
Behind me, for many miles, I could see the sad minaret.
I cry again, exhausted: there is no strength for hope.
“Farewell, you don’t know where fate is taking me.
My minaret, save yourself. Nothing will save us.
I raised you on the ashes of the khan, and fate
Forever by one name we are connected with you.
And the minaret is already far away. And then he disappeared from sight.
Farther away from native land the wagon carries us.
1 Lead:
My name is Syuyumbike, I have Nogai blood in me.
But where is my greatness, where is the Khan's throne and shelter.
An orphan son, she is a prisoner. And the troubles have no end.
As a predatory falcon carried a victim in its claws, so did I
Carries, swaying, into the distance, a wagon in two horses.
Here is the city of Zuya ahead, here at an unkind hour
Princes, boyars gathered to stare at us.
We were here for three days, not seeing the white light at all,
As in mourning. But no one cares about us.
From here they were taken to Moscow - the road is cruel
To us, the captives... Are the clouds floating to Kazan?
And many days passed before we got to Moscow.
Who knows what awaits us next, hope and pray!
Here they took us somewhere to the girl's room. And then
Confused, we entered a dark house.
Here we languished for ten days in custody. It's scary to wait
In ignorance day and night. And someone to call.
Here two of the boyars came and said: "Aida!"
We are powerless, we are unhappy. Who will tell me where
They are now taking me with the child. Maybe death?
Will the infidels let us die in peace?
But no, they brought us into the palace, there are many people there.
Everyone looks gloomy. Here is the king, looking from under his eyebrows,
He said to me rudely: “Your son will stay here, and you
I will marry you." They took me at the same time
The apple of the eye, nightingale, my son.
He was the last joy, deprived him too.
I later heard: the priests, taking the child to him,
They baptized, trampling the fire of true faith in him.
2 Lead:
My name is Syuyumbike, I have Nogai blood in me.
My greatness is in the dust, my throne and shelter are lost.
I am sad, my eyes are in tears, and there is no face on me.
I was left all alone. And the troubles have no end
Now my rival rejoices: there is no me
In Kazan. Beckons, her throne, drunken with power.
He sends messengers to Astrakhan for the khan. Young Yadiger
Became her husband - her dream came true, she now
Kazan rules. But the people are silently angry and she
He will soon say: "Wait, in your deceit
You will burn yourself ... ”and in the same year the Moscow Tsar me
Forced to marry. I, not hiding anger,
Shih-Ali Kasimovsky became his wife. He
All his life he was the enemy of Kazan, he was the Kazan throne
For a long time did not give rest. And taking me as your wife
Together with the Tsar of Moscow, he went to Kazan with the war.
1 Lead:
My name is Syuyumbike, I have Nogai blood in me.
But even if my royal throne and shelter are returned to me,
I don't have Kazan. And I can't forget
The pain that I had to endure for so many long years.
And Shih-Ali came to Kazan and took it by war,
He took off the heads from the corrupt Murz. And Yadiger and his wife
Already in captivity and they will have to test in full
All the shocks that I am. Should be comforted!
But, apparently, I will never be happy again -
My son left this perishable world. And don't forget
How the king separated me from him. My nightingale died
At six. And again I burn alone in my misfortune.
My name is Syuyumbike, I have Nogai blood in me.
All in the past. I entered my Kazan as a queen again.
But, neither a prayer nor a tear of sadness can be appeased,
And apart from life, I have nothing to take away.
Careless, mournful and holy, lucky and proud -
We will all become dust, we will all die, everything will have one end.
There were legends about Syuyumbik. The famous Tatar writer Rafael Mustafin, in his article dedicated to the 600th anniversary of the Nogai statehood, wrote: “The legends about the Syuyumbike garden on the banks of the Kuban, where she spent the summer months along with her servants, children and female household members, have come down to us. It was a palace park, with beautiful alleys, graceful buildings and marble statues. The name of Syuyumbike is associated with a number of jars from the Khan's treasury that have survived to this day, decorated with precious stones.
The daughter of the Nogai people left the composition "Biyit Syuyumbike" to the descendants, the saying of which is still common among the people. I am grateful to Isa Kapaev, Valery Kazakov who published one of Syuyumbike's works on the pages of the Polovtsian Moon magazine (No. 2, 1992).
The historical period testifies to the difficult times of the khanate. Ivan the Terrible undertook a campaign against Kazan with 100,000 troops. But the Horde survived despite the losses. The head of the Khan's Guard Koschak led the troops of the Horde. Ivan the Terrible next year undertakes another company, but this time he leaves Kazan, with nothing. Skillfully using discord among the Kazan nobles, Russian diplomats shook the defense of Kazan. And she fell.
Throughout her life and even many centuries after she died, Syuyumbike was accompanied by legends. One of them says that Ivan the Terrible, having taken Kazan by storm, struck by the beauty and intelligence of the captive queen, wished to marry her.
The chronicle "The Tale of the Kingdom of Kazan" speaks of the capture of Syuyumbike as follows: the great voivode, the Moscow prince Vasily Serebryany, arrived at the Khan's palace "strand bright eyes" with three thousand soldiers. In the courtyard, the king saw "the queen with the prince, like a myrrh bird in a nest with a single small chick." According to the Kazan chronicler, Syuyumbike did not know that she had been fraudulently betrayed to the Russians, “if she knew, she would have killed herself.”
At the request of the queen, she was allowed to stay in Kazan for a short time: she wanted to say goodbye to the grave of her husband Safagirey. Here is how it is said about this legend: “And the queen went out to the mosque, where the dead king was lying, and overthrew the golden utensils from her head, and tore her upper garments, and fell at the tomb of the king, tearing her hair and tearing her face with nails, and in persevere your beating, and weeping, and bitterly crying out the verb: “Oh, my dear Lord, to the king of Sapkirei!”
The captive queen was first taken to Sviyazhsk, then, along the Volga, to Nizhny Novgorod. Syuyumbike was taken to Moscow, where she appeared before the eyes of Ivan the Terrible.
Syuyumbike refused to accept Christianity. She was separated from her son and given "as a wife" to the Kasimov Khan, hated by Shakhali. For silent disobedience, inflexibility, Shakhali imprisoned Syuyumbike in a damp dungeon. Only servants devoted to the khan had access to the dungeon.
Many legends were composed by the people. They differ from each other, and the true circumstances of the death of the Kazan queen Syuyumbike are still not clear. Songs, poems, stories were composed about her, her beauty was described in verse. Here is one of the poems called "Syuyumbike".
Again the stars caress the spring.
Again I won't sleep until dawn
The month whispers to the Kazanka River:
- My dear Syuyumbike:
I am both a khan and a prisoner - Urus
Hopelessly I yearn for you.
Now you are close, and then you are far away,
My proud Syuyumbike!
From love unrequited string
I'll pull a golden horn
In a song of joy, in a song of longing
My tender Syuyumbike
The stars fall silently into the dawn,
And I give words to my beloved.
Sleeping sweetly in my arms
My little Syuyumbike.
Maybe it made me dream
I only hear - again in the spring
The month whispers to the Kazanka River:
- My eternal Syuyumbike!
But legends about Syuyumbika were born during her lifetime. Allegedly, it was she who predicted the fall of the Kazan Khanate to Safagirey, she sent to the oracle to find out about the fate of the state. And the departure of Syuyumbike from Kazan inspired the Kazan chronicler to create poetic laments of her husband's tomb and on the way to exile in Sviyazhsk... and grief."
By the way, at the end of the 19th century, the opera Syuyumbika was staged at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. It was written by a not very famous Russian composer. Scientists of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan dream of finding the score of the opera...
That's all that is known about this legendary woman, the last queen of the Khan. When and where Syuyumbike died, there are different versions of this. Professor Urmancheev systematized them and came to the conclusion that the most probable date of her death was 1557, when the captive was 38 years old. In Kasimov, in the mausoleum of Shakhali, an unknown tombstone was found.
It is possible that the “peasant queen Syuyumbike” is buried under it.
Literature:
- The relationship of the Nogais with the peoples North Caucasus and Russia in the XVI-XIV centuries; Epoch publishing house. Makhachkala, 2003. D.S. Kidirniyazov.
- "Immortal Death" Shai-Gora; Stavropol. I.S. Kapaev.
- "Polovtsian moon" U.A.Abdurakhmanovich. No. 2/4/92, 2004
- "Caucasian health resort". Mineralnye Vody of the Stavropol Territory.
- Evliya Celebi. Seyahat-name. T. 8. Istanbul, 1928, p. 8 (in Turkish) (hereinafter - Seyahat-name).
- Yusupov N. About the clan of the Yusupov princes. Part 2, page 155.
- Studies on the Kasimov Tsars, p. 520.
- Prod. Dr. Ross. Bethl., VIII, p. 303. - about the kind of Book. Yusup., Part 2, p. 64.