Alexander Nevsky
- For other uses, see Alexander Nevsky (disambiguation).
Saint Alexander Nevsky listen ▶ (Александр Ярославич Невский in Russian; transliteration: Aleksandr Yaroslavich Nevskiy) (May 30, 1220?–November 14, 1263) was a Russian statesman and Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir (from 1252). He was the son of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and rose to legendary status because of his military victories.
Great victories
Born in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Alexander was the fourth son of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and seemed to have no chance of claiming the throne of Vladimir. In 1236, however, he was summoned by the Novgorodians to become kniaz' (or prince) of Novgorod and, as their military leader, to defend their northwest lands from Swedish and German invaders. After the Swedish army had landed at the confluence of rivers Izhora and Neva, Alexander and his small army suddenly attacked the Swedes on July 15, 1240 and defeated them. The Neva battle of 1240 saved Russia from a full-scale enemy invasion from the North. As a result of this battle, 19-year-old Alexander was given the name of “Nevsky” (which means of Neva). This victory strengthened Nevsky’s political influence, but at the same time it worsened his relations with the boyars. He would soon have to leave Novgorod because of this conflict.
After Russia had been invaded by the Teutonic Knights, the Novgorod authorities sent for Alexander. In spring of 1241 he returned from his exile, gathered an army, and drove out the invaders. Alexander and his men stood up against the Teutonic cavalry led by the Magister of the Order, Hermann, brother of Albert of Buxhoeveden. Nevsky faced the enemy on the ice of the Chudskoye Lake and crushed the Teutonic Knights during the Battle on Lake Peipus on April 5, 1242. The German attempts to invade Russia were effectively stopped for many centuries to come.
Alexander’s victory was a significant event in the history of the Middle Ages. Russian foot soldiers had surrounded and defeated an army of knights, mounted on horseback and clad in thick armor, long before they learned how foot soldiers could prevail over mounted knights in Western Europe. Nevsky's great victory against the Teutonic Order apparently involved only a few knights killed rather than hundreds claimed by the Russian chroniclers; decisive medieval and early modern battles were won and lost with small forces to modern eyes. The cultural value of the victory greatly outshone its strategic value, at the time and since.
Politician
After the Teutonic invasion, Nevsky continued to strengthen Russia’s Northwest. He sent his envoys to Norway and, as a result, they signed a first peace treaty between Rus’ and Norway in 1251. Alexander led his army to Finland and successfully routed the Swedes, who had made another attempt to block the Baltic Sea from the Russians in 1256.
Nevsky proved to be a cautious and far-sighted politician. He dismissed Papal curia’s attempts to cause war between Russia and the Golden Horde, because he understood the uselessness of such war with Tatars at that time since they were still a powerful force. Historians seem to be unsure about Alexander’s behavior when it came to his relations with Mongols. He may have understood that Catholicism presented a more tangible threat to Russian national identity than paying a tribute to the Khan, who had little interest in Russian religion and culture. It could also be argued that he intentionally kept Russia as a vassal to the Mongols in order to preserve his own status and count on the befriended Horde in case someone challenged his authority (he forced the citizens of Novgorod to pay tribute, but this was to prevent a possible mongol occupation of Northern Russia). Nevsky tried to strengthen his authority at the expense of the boyars and at the same time suppress any anti-feudal uprisings in the country (Novgorod uprising of 1259).
According to the most plausible version, Alexander’s intentions were to prevent Russia from ruinous invasions of the Mongol army. He is known to have gone to the Horde himself and achieved success in exempting Russians from fighting beside the Tatar army in its wars with other peoples.
Alexander's legacy
Thanks to his friendship with the Grand Khan, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252. A decade later, Alexander died in a town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from Sarai, the capitol of the Golden Horde. He was buried in Vladimir and canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547.
In the late 13th century, a chronicle was compiled called Alexander Nevsky’s Life (Житие Александра Невского), in which he is depicted as an ideal prince-soldier and defender of Russia. By order of Peter the Great, Nevsky’s remains were transported to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Petersburg where they remain to this day. On May 21, 1725, the Tsar introduced the Order of Alexander Nevsky as one of the highest military decorations. During the Great Patriotic War (July 29, 1942) the Soviet Order of Alexander Nevsky was introduced to revive the memory of Alexander's struggle with the Germans.
Sergei Eisenstein made one of his most acclaimed films, Alexander Nevsky, on Alexander's victory over the Teutonic Knights. Music for the film was written by Sergei Prokofiev, who also reworked the score into a concert cantata. Alexander's phrase from the movie, "Whoever will come to us with a sword, from a sword will perish," (a paraphrasing of the biblical phrase "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword") has become a slogan of Russian patriots.
See also
- Famous military commanders
| Preceded by: Andrew II |
Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir | Succeeded by: Yaroslav III |
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