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RAZIN, STEPHEN TIMOFEEVICH (d. 1671)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 937 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RAZIN, See also:STEPHEN TIMOFEEVICH (d. 1671) , Cossack See also:hetman and See also:rebel, whose parentage and date and See also:place of See also:birth are unknown. We first hear of him in 1661 on a See also:diplomatic See also:mission from the See also:Don See also:Cossacks to the See also:Kalmuck See also:Tatars, and in the same See also:year we meet him on a See also:pilgrimage of a thousand See also:miles to the See also:great Solovetsky monastery on the See also:White See also:Sea " for the benefit of his soul." After that all trace of him is lost for six years, when he reappears as the See also:leader of a robber community established at Panshinskoe, among the marshes between the See also:rivers Tishina and Ilovlya, from whence he levied See also:blackmail on all vessels passing up and down the See also:Volga. His first considerable exploit was to destroy the " great See also:water See also:caravan " consisting of the See also:treasury-See also:barges and the barges of the See also:patriarch and the wealthy merchants of See also:Moscow, He then sailed down the Volga with a See also:fleet of See also:thirty-five galleys, capturing the more important forts on his way and devastating the See also:country. At the beginning of 1668 he defeated the See also:voivode Jakov Bezobrazov, sent against him from See also:Astrakhan, and in the See also:spring embarked on a predatory expedition into See also:Persia which lasted for eighteen months. Sailing into the See also:Caspian, he ravaged the See also:Persian coasts from Derbend to See also:Baku, massacred the inhabitants of the great See also:emporium of See also:Resht, and in the spring of 1669 established himself on the isle of See also:Suina, off which, in See also:July, he annihilated a Persian fleet sent against him. Stenka,' as he was generally called, had now become a potentate with whom princes did not disdain to treat. In See also:August 1669 he reappeared at Astrakhan, and accepted a fresh offer of See also:pardon from the See also:tsar there; the See also:common See also:people were fascinated by his adventures. The semi-See also:Asiatic See also:kingdom of Astrakhan, where the whole See also:atmosphere was predatory and nine-tenths of the See also:population were nomadic, was the natural milieu for such a See also:rebellion as Stenka Razin's. In 1670 Razin, while ostensibly on his way to See also:report himself at the Cossack headquarters on the Don, openly rebelled against the See also:government, captured Cherkask, See also:Tsaritsyn and other places, and on the 24th of See also:June burst into Astrakhan itself. After massacring ' Steevy.all who opposed him, and giving the See also:rich bazaars of the See also:city over to pillage, he converted Astrakhan into a Cossack See also:republic, dividing the population into thousands, hundreds and tens, with their proper See also:officers, all of whom were appointed by a vyecha or See also:general See also:assembly, whose first See also:act was to proclaim Stephen Timofeevich their gosudar (See also:sovereign). After a three See also:weeks' See also:carnival of See also:blood and debauchery Razin quitted Astrakhan with two See also:hundred barges full of troops to establish the Cossack republic along the whole length of the Volga, as a preliminary step towards advancing against Moscow.

See also:

Saratov and See also:Samara were captured, but See also:Simbirsk defied all efforts, and after two bloody encounters See also:close at See also:hand on the See also:banks of the Sviyaga (See also:October 1st and 4th); Razin was ultimately routed and fled down the Volga, leaving the bulk of his followers to be extirpated by the victors. But the rebellion was by no means over. The emissaries of Razin, armed with inflammatory proclamations, had stirred up the inhabitants of the See also:modern governments of Nizhniy-See also:Novgorod, See also:Tambov and See also:Penza, and penetrated even so far as Moscow and Great Novgorod. It was not difficult to revolt the oppressed population by the promise of deliverance from their yoke. Razin proclaimed that his See also:object was to See also:root out the boyars and all officials, to level all ranks and dignities, and establish Cossackdom, with its corollary of See also:absolute equality, throughout Muscovy. Even at the beginning of 1671 the issue of the struggle was doubtful. Eight battles had been fought before the insurrection showed signs of weakening, and it continued for six months after Razin had received his quietus. At Simbirsk his See also:prestige had been shattered. Even his own settlements at Saratov and Samara refused to open their See also:gates to him, and the Don Cossacks, See also:hearing that the patriarch of Moscow had anathematized Stenka, also declared against him. In 1671 he was captured at Kagalnik, his last fortress, and carried to Moscow, where, on the 6th of June, after bravely enduring unspeakable torments, he was quartered alive. See N. I.

Kostomarov, The Rebellion of Stenka Razin (Rus.) (2nd ed., See also:

Petersburg, 1859) ; S. M. Solovev, See also:History of See also:Russia (Rus.), vol. ii. (Petersburg, 1895, &c.); R. N. See also:Bain, The First Romanovs (See also:London, 1905). (R. N.

End of Article: RAZIN, STEPHEN TIMOFEEVICH (d. 1671)

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