In the 16th century, it was restless in Belarus. Several centuries ago, the people of the region repulsed the invasion of the Mongols and did not submit to them, becoming "not blackened" White Russia. But not only slaves under the leadership of Batko Yarosh Shtamet began to riot, but also the old gentry. The Lithuanian hetman also bothered with his raids …
At the beginning of the 16th century, a gang appeared in the area of the Oshmyany Upland (today the Grodno and Minsk regions) that robbed both the rich and the poor, leaving no living witnesses after their raids.
Elusive villains
The gang acted evil and brazenly: like ghosts, horsemen raided estates and settlements, robbed and killed, regardless of their position or age..
Prince Alexander of Vilna, grimacing with displeasure, read the reports from the governors, like reports from the battlefield. Alas, in the search for the intruders, the announcement for their capture of a fabulous for those times reward of a thousand gold rubles did not help either.
The patience of the authorities came to an end, when the priest was first killed, who was going to the bishop with a demand to put pressure on the authorities in the capture of the covetous. And then two families were slaughtered at once. Moreover, this happened at a time when the heads of families, together with other militias, were fighting back the Tatar-Mongols who were making another raid on the Belarusian lands. It was then that the Grand Duke, after consulting with his entourage, summoned the shock judge Ryhor Vankovich. He heard that the minister of justice from Minsk was not only a successful detective who had solved more than one serious crime, but was also known for his honesty.
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At first sight
And so Vankovich in the middle of 1506 appeared before the prince. The place where the gang operated was completely impenetrable swamps and deaf forests. But the prince not only promised to give the judge special powers, but also transferred a dozen of the best guards from his retinue under his command. And Vankovich agreed. Being an experienced man, to Smorgon, from where he decided to start looking for bandits, he went alone, ordering his fellows to wait for the command.
And now, having reached the place, the judge began to investigate. First of all, he needed to decide on housing. Going into the bin, in a conversation with one of the visitors, he learned that Lady Yadviga Rusinskaya lived 10 versts from the town.
Her husband, one of the richest people in the volost, died several years ago at the hands of bandits in an ambush, so, most likely, she will give the capital official a roof over his head. And so it turned out.
The young widow was not only a well-to-do mistress of a large estate, but also the first beauty in the area - golden hair tied on her head in a crown, piercing blue eyes, a beautiful figure. In addition, her late husband was a great admirer of beauty, and the judge, a capital resident and bibliophile, admired the huge library, which contained books in the form of ancient manuscripts on parchment. Unfortunately, there was no time to enjoy reading. The forty-year-old bachelor Vankovich was also a prominent man, so there is nothing surprising in the fact that sympathy arose between single people at first, which very soon grew into love. And she was so strong that a month after they met, Ryhor asked for the hand of his beloved. She agreed, and even a wedding day was appointed.
In the meantime, despite the fact that the judge made every effort to find the bandits, it was impossible to get on their trail. All that we managed to carefully find out from the miraculously surviving witnesses is that the number of bandits does not exceed a dozen, they are dressed in traditional clothes for these places - veleis cloaks thrown over their shoulders, pistons on their legs, leather bast shoes, cloth makerki on their heads, pulled over the eyes. The leader is dressed in metal armor, and his head is crowned with a helmet with a visor. The robbers were armed with short cord swords and daggers. Only the leader had a long sword, a cord and a coin, which, in addition to its main purpose - to crush the skulls of enemies, - meant a symbol of power. Since no one heard the clatter of hooves, it was reasonable to assume that the robbers wrapped them in rags before going out to work.
Shocking meeting
And that was all! As if mocking Vankovich, the bandits continued to carry out raids. By the end of October, when the judge promised to put an end to this case, there were almost 400 victims on the bloody account of murderers. The unlucky detective was already thinking with longing that instead of getting married, he would have to commit suicide by fulfilling his oath. And then an interesting idea came to his mind.
He sent a messenger to Vilna, and a few days later his assistants rode up from there. They stopped at the estate of one of the gentry, Pan Sobeika, did nothing, except that they drank around the clock in the shankar and told random drinking companions that in a week they would get rid of the gang, for which they would receive a solid reward. The cunning plan worked - when this information reached the leader, it was decided to teach a lesson to the visiting impudent people.
And so, on a dark night, seven horsemen rode silently into the estate. After waiting for the drunken hubbub to subside and the candles to go out, and therefore, the uninvited guests would fall asleep after another binge, the bandits, on the orders of the leader, who remained waiting for their thugs in the yard, rushed into the house with knives and sabers. A few minutes later, the leader considered that the deed was done, the hunters were dead, and calmly proceeded to the house.
But only in the leader's room was a severe disappointment. Half of his accomplices were stabbed to death, and the rest, bound hand and foot, twitched on the floor, unsuccessfully trying to free themselves from the bonds. Ryhor Vankovich came out of the next room with a burning candle. He silently walked up to the leader and tore off his helmet from his head. There was no limit to the shock of the judge - his beloved Yadviga stood in front of him. Yes, it was this stately woman with blue eyes, luxurious hair and a gentle character who turned out to be the very monster that terrified the area.
Rusinskaya and her accomplices were convoyed to Vilno. The investigation lasted only a few weeks, and the verdict of the court read - for all the bandits the death penalty. On the night before ascending the scaffold, Yadviga asked to meet with her fiancé. He refused a date, as before that he refused to conduct a pre-trial investigation into the gang's case.
On October 6, 1507, people began to flock to the main square of Vilna, to the Church of St. Stanislav, near which the scaffold was erected. According to the chroniclers, at least 5 thousand people came to see the execution of the "Oshmyany witch". When the executioner threw a noose around Jadwiga's neck, she, finding Vankovich with her gaze in the crowd of onlookers, in accordance with the law, exercised her right to the last word: “It was boring for me to live! I would have been born a knight, but, apparently, the devil intervened - he united the female body with the male heart. I hated everyone, I do not regret the spilled blood of others, including my hated husband, at the sight of it I received unspeakable pleasure. But you, judge, I really loved! " And a week after the execution, residents burned down her estate so that nothing would remind of those terrible days.
Sergey Uranov