RUSSIAN GOVERNORS OF SIBERIA AND DESCENDANTS FROM THE GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA (BELARUSIAN AND LITHUANIAN LANDS) IN THE FIRST THIRD OF THE XVII CENTURY
I.R. Sokolovskiy
Institute of History of the SB RAS, Russia, 630090, Novosibirsk, Akad. Nikolaev str., 8
Keywords: Siberia, Belarus, communication, Lithuania, population, п¬Ѓ ghting, garrisons, XVII-XVIII century
Abstract
Muscovy and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth (the Grand Duchy owned some Russian and Belarusian lands) were states derived from the same root - the culture of Kievan Rus’. In the course of their historical development their paths significantly diverged which was the reason for both the mutual understanding and mutual misunderstanding between the subjects of both states. In 1632, Russian troops blocked the Smolensk fortress, defended by the Polish garrison and forces of “pospolite ruszenie” assembled by the neighboring gentry. Russian army was commanded by Mikhail Borisovich Shein, who was the commandant of Smolensk in 1607-1611 and defended it from the Poles. Russians intensively shelled the fortress, but could not take the city. Polish army under the command of King Wladislaw IV came to Smolensk in September 1633. Russian troops were trapped. The Russian army surrendered in February 1634. The war ended, but two years of warfare caused the appearance in Siberia of significant group of people from the Belarusian lands. In August 1633 approx. 150 “Lithuanians” arrived at Tomsk. On June 14, 1634 a “ploughing peasant” Timothy Emelyanov Smolyanin accused them of plotting to kill Russian Cossacks and the Governor and then to escape in big number to the West in order to get back to “Lithuania”. Interrogation of suspects gave modest results. The majority said that they heard about the plot for the first time. However, the Governor took decisive action and ordered to hang 12 men, whom he considered the most dangerous. Then he sent to Moscow the investigation materials, which are the only historical source at our disposal. The essential part of these materials is published as an appendix to this article. In Siberia of 1630s prisoners were perceived ambiguous. On the one hand, they were not completely “strangers”, they had meaningful names and spoke in plain language. On the other hand, a large group of prisoners of war was perceived by the local population as a threat, so the locals demanded from the government to take steps in order to remove them from the city.
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