For more than five hundred years, on the banks of the Don and the Don tributary - the Voronezh River, legends and songs have been composed about the mysterious robber Kudeyar, about his countless treasures buried in numerous caves and underground hiding places. However, information about Kudeyar is quite contradictory and vague. Some sources speak of him as a successful robber, in others, as a disgraced boyar who was forced to hide from the sovereign's anger, and thirdly, as a relative of the tsar or even brother of Ivan the Terrible himself.
As the leader of a gang of robbers, Kudeyar organized and participated in robberies of rich carts on the road leading from Muscovy to the Golden Horde. This happened during the time of Ivan the Terrible. The looted treasures hidden by the successful robber are still looking for in the Tula, Saratov, Voronezh provinces, as well as near Kiev, in the Bryansk region.
The following version of the riddle of Kudeyar's birth is most often considered. In 1525, the ruling Moscow prince Vasily Ivanovich, without waiting for an heir from his beloved wife Solomonia, sent his wife to the Suzdal monastery. And he himself married Elena Glinskaya. Three years later, the royal couple had a son - the future Ivan the Terrible.
However, exiled to the monastery, the former wife of the Grand Duke, gave birth to a boy. They named him George. Probably, no one would have become interested in this fact if the people did not say that this George became, subsequently, the legendary robber Kudeyar (in the jargon: kud is reprisal, yar is rage, breakage). The famous Russian writer, sings, and historian Nikolai Karamzin, in his famous book “History of the Russian State”, believed that Kudeyar was a fictional historical character. But he could be wrong.
There is a legend that says that for several years before the birth of Kudeyar, constant droughts occurred in the principality, which was the cause of hunger and suffering of the people. During childbirth, a witch came to Solomonia and said: “You gave birth to a great warrior and he will become a formidable eagle, but without wings. He will have both intelligence and daring, but there will be no sovereign power, since it will be in the hands of his half-brother. Solomonia was very afraid for her son and asked the sorceress for advice on how to keep the child alive. Soon the sovereign's people arrived at the monastery, who organized an investigation into the birth of a child by the ex-wife of the sovereign. Soon it was announced to the people that the child had suddenly died, but rumors spread throughout the cities and villages that a wooden doll was in the grave instead of the boy. And the baby was taken away and hid in the deep Russian forests near Volokolamsk, having sent him to study with a witch.
Once Tsar Vasily Ivanovich went on a hound hunting so beloved by him. And it must be the same, this time he visited just near Volokolamsk. During the pursuit of prey, unexpectedly, the prince's horse stood rooted to the spot and hammered with a hoof. The rider looked around and saw a little boy nearby. Although the baby was small, his wise and piercing look surprised and frightened the prince. The prince ordered the boy to approach him, but he quickly turned around and disappeared into the forest thicket. The ruler got angry and ordered to find the boy. But no matter how hard the servants tried, they never found the baby. And although they were experienced hunters, they did not find a trace of the boy, nor a broken twig that marked the path of the fugitive, even the birds did not mark his run of the boy with their cry. Only the wooden idol was seen by the servants of the prince in the wilderness. Out of anger and vexation they cut him down,and they returned to the owner with nothing. The prince himself suddenly felt severe pain in his leg and ordered him to go quickly to Joseph Monastery, where he hoped to get help and relieve the pain. But despite the efforts of the nuns, Vasily Ivanovich's leg continued to hurt until his death in 1533
From the legends it became clear that a mystical and mysterious connection existed between Kudeyar and Ivan the Terrible. There is information that they met in secret. After their conversation, Kudeyar left the forests near Moscow for the Don. Several times Ivan the Terrible stopped pursuing Kudeyar by his order, which allowed the robber, together with the gang, to escape from the pursuit safe and sound. One of the tsar's oprichniks said that he passed a note from the sovereign to the robber Kudeyar. To do this, he had to go to Wild Field, which was located between the Don, Oka, a tributary of the Dnieper and Desna. And more than once he brought Kudeyar's answer to the king. But this oprichnik did not tell the tsar's secrets for long. By order of Ivan the Terrible, they cut off his tongue and ears so that he would not talk too much. Since then, there has been an unspoken rule: no one should speak or even remember about Kudiyar.
In Ozhegov's dictionary there is a mention of "steal towns". There were a lot of them in Russia. Kudiyar had his own thief town (and, most likely, more than one!). No stranger could penetrate it, secret paths led to the town, which only the chieftain himself and his closest comrades knew about. In these towns the robbers kept the stolen treasures, sat out from the chase, feasted, divided the spoils and rested.
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After the death of Ivan the Terrible, Ataman Kudiyar decided to become a monk in order to atone for sins until the end of his life, and give his wealth to the monastery. But the unexpected happened - Kudeyar forgot where he buried his treasures. After all, he did not keep any records of where his gold and silver is.
There are various rumors about the last years of Kudeyar's life. One by one, he spent them in one of the monasteries on the territory of Ukraine. According to others, he turned into a beggar and went in search of his 18 treasures. The formidable ataman of robbers wandered under different names, but more often, he introduced himself under the name of George. Many then said that they often saw how, in any weather, an old ragamuffin wandered through swamps, forests, cities, asking everyone he met about where the thief towns were. Only some of the people recognized the former dashing ataman Kudeyar as a beggar.
Until now, the treasures of Kudeyar haunt treasure seekers. They are looking for the ataman's wealth in the Astrakhan floodplains, in the Saratov region, near Kiev, near Shatura, in the Don sands, in Moscow in Krylatsky, and on Losiny island. In these places, in all likelihood, there were steal towns. But there is a legend: it says that no one will be able to get to the treasures, since they are guarded by the same witchcraft wooden doll, which was placed in the coffin instead of the baby in the monastery. Rumor has it that the curse is very strong - treasure hunters lose their memory and become vagrant beggars.
The name of the famous robber Kudeyar is associated with the names of many geographical points. There are about a hundred Kudeyarov towns, where, according to legend, the ataman's treasures are buried. In the Lipetsk region there is "Kudeyarov Log" - this is a very secluded place and could well be a steal town. In the same Lipetsk region, there is a mountain called Black Yar. There is a strange blue stone on it. According to legend, it was on this place that the Kudeyarov fortress was located. A legend is also associated with her. They say that Kudeyar had the closest robber friends Boldyr and Anna. With them, Kudeyar took refuge on the Don, robbing rich caravans of merchants. The Don Cossacks were angry with Kudeyar. First, they destroyed the camp of Anna and Boldyr, and then attacked the headquarters of Kudeyar. But the fortress of Kudeyara was impregnable, and then the Cossacks simply set it on fire from all sides. Then Kudeyar buried his treasure, and set his horse over it, turning it into stone. He did not manage to run far, the Cossacks caught him, shackled him and threw him into the Don.
Popular rumor says that in the Bryansk forests there are stones under which the treasures of Kudeyar are hidden. Lights flash above these stones at night, and twice a week above them at midnight is heard the plaintive cry of a baby.
Time has shown that no mystical stories related to the search for Kudeyar's treasures can stop treasure hunters. The results, so far, are insignificant: in August 1893, the Saratov Museum received two coins found in Kudeyarova Gora. There, much later, a more significant treasure was found - about 12 buckets of copper coins, from the time of Kudeyar. Perhaps these finds serve as a kind of catalyst for the continuing interest of treasure hunters in the search for the treasures of the robber Kudeyar. Interestingly, until now none of the historians can say anything reliable about the last years of the life of the famous ataman. Only legends speak of the robber's repentance and his construction of a church with a golden iconostasis, the bells of which were made of silver. And that until his death, Kudeyar atoned for his numerous grave sins.