In the second half of the 17th century, nun Alyona Arzamasskaya led a detachment of many thousands of insurgents, which became part of Stepan Razin's army. A few months later, the rebels were defeated near the city of Temnikov by the troops of the governor Yuri Dolgorukov, and the nun herself, along with other prisoners, was executed.
Past atamanshi
A few historical documents about Alena Arzamasskaya have survived to this day. It is known that she was born into a family of serfs in a settlement near Arzamas, was married early and soon became a widow. Alyona accepted the monastic tonsure at the Nikolsky Convent due to extreme need. Historians claim that it was in the monastery that the nun learned to read and write, and also mastered the basics of traditional medicine.
Under what circumstances Alena Arzamasskaya decided to organize an insurgent detachment, it is not known.
When the Moscow authorities first heard about her
According to one of the voivodeship's notes, Yuri Dolgoruky was told about the story of the captive leader of one of the rebel groups of the army, Stepan Razin, who reported during interrogation about a "witch woman" who gathers thieves' people in villages and unites them into a detachment. The informant reported that the old woman enjoys great authority among the rebels, and her rebels are a formidable force.
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Capture of Temnikov
After the unification of the detachment of Alena Arzamasskaya with the army of another rebel Fyodor Sidorov, the number of rebels reached seven thousand people. This unit was armed not only with rifles and melee weapons, but also with captured guns. They managed to capture the city of Temnikov and hold out for two months. Leading the city at her own discretion, Alyona Arzamasskaya tried with “lovely letters” to persuade as many residents of the surrounding villages and villages as possible to join the rebels. In parallel, the eldress treated the wounded and sick with folk remedies, using, among other things, conspiracies.
Defeat the rebels
At the end of November 1670, near Temnikov, the combined detachment of Alena Arzamasskaya and Fyodor Sidorov was defeated by the troops of the voivode Ivan Likharev. Temnikov surrendered to the authorities, and the troops of Colonel Vasily Volzhinsky were met by the "best people of the city" with money and tearful requests for forgiveness for being "under the rule of thieves."
Alena Arzamasskaya fought to the last with several rebels, hiding in Temnikov's cathedral. In early December, the army of Yuri Dolgorukov entered the city, and the resistance of the rioters was finally broken, and their surviving leaders were captured.
7 years after this battle, the German publicist Johann Frisch in Germany published a brochure, which today is the only more or less detailed documentary evidence describing the appearance, character of the atamansha-old lady Alena Arzamasskaya and her last hours of life.
How she was captured and executed
Frisch, who fought in the Russian army as a mercenary, wrote that Arzamasskaya, shooting back from a bow, killed several soldiers of the voivode's army. When the "ammunition" ran out, she fell at the altar, and in this position was captured. The mercenary said in his brochure that Alyona wore military armor over her monastic attire and turned out to be a very strong woman - none of the soldiers managed to pull the bowstring from which the chieftain was shooting.
Over one and a half dozen prisoners, including Fyodor Sidorov, were hanged on the orders of Yuri Dolgorukov across the Moksha River. The governor of Arzamas ordered to be burned in a log house as a heretic and a witch, throwing her "thieves' letters" and "witch roots" into the fire.
Previously, the nun steadfastly endured the torture, never once screaming, which shocked her executioners, who had become firmly convinced that the chieftain was in fact a witch. Johann Frisch witnessed her execution.
Before her death, Alyona Arzamasskaya, chained in chains, made a short speech, the meaning of which boiled down to the fact that with a large number of rebels, Yuri Dolgorukov, the rebels would not have been defeated. Then the atamansha-eldress herself jumped into the burning log house and silently met her death. It is noteworthy that the chains with which the deceased had been bound were not later found in the ashes. Therefore, the people had a long tradition that the "Russian Joan of Arc" remained alive, and must certainly return to once again raise people to rebellion.
Nikolay Syromyatnikov
