On the territory of the Pskov Kremlin lies an ancient relic – a two-handed knight’s sword from the 13th century. Young men called to military service come here to take their military oath. The owner of this sword has long been considered in Pskov the holy patron of warriors going into battle. For this sword belonged to a great hero of the past – Prince Dovmont, our compatriot. He came to Pskov as an exile to become its prince and to glorify his name.
In the distant 13th century, Lithuanian princes ruled in the largest cities of Belarusian lands. Pagans, they worshipped the god Perkunas. But many of them were wise and brave. Therefore, the Orthodox inhabitants often endured their power and even showed them loyalty. Dovmont was one of these princes. His principality was called Nalshansk and was located in the northwest of present-day Belarus. The main city of this principality was Krevo.
Dovmont lived happily in his Krevo Castle with his wife Agna and their little son Polyush. But one day a messenger rode in. He brought dark news. The beloved sister of Princess Marta, married to the ruler of Novogrudok Mindaugas, had died. He was the strongest of Dovmont’s neighbors and even held the title of king for a time. Now, the grieving widower asked his relatives to come and say goodbye to Queen Marta.
Dovmont of Pskov
At that time, Dovmont was seriously ill. He could not go to the funeral. But he let his wife go. A few days later, the princess’s servants returned to Krevo, but without their mistress.
– What happened to my Agna? – asked the worried Dovmont.
– My lord, – the servants replied. – As soon as we arrived in Novogrudok, the king himself came out to meet the lady. He said that now, since Queen Marta has died, his wife should be Agna.
– How could the king take a married woman? – Dovmont exclaimed in indignation.
– The king explained to us that this was the last wish of Queen Marta.
Dovmont decided to save his wife. He invited three of his brothers and Agna’s father to Krevo. However, the relatives had to admit that they did not have the strength for an open struggle with Mindaugas. But they remembered that King Mindaugas had a secret enemy – his own nephew Tronyata, who dreamed of sitting on his uncle’s throne. With his help, Dovmont and his brothers infiltrated Mindaugas’s castle when the king sent his army to fight the Bryansk principality and killed the vile kidnapper of other men’s wives.
The unfortunate Princess Agna, whom Dovmont found in Mindaugas’s castle, did not live long. In captivity, she mourned her fate so bitterly that she fell seriously ill and never recovered. But Prince Dovmont did not have time to mourn his wife properly. For the murder of Mindaugas, his son Voishelk sought revenge. He subjected both the guilty and the innocent to cruel executions. And Voishelk’s army was countless. Dovmont had to leave Krevo. With all his court, boyars, and army, the prince set off for Pskov.
The people of Pskov welcomed Dovmont and his warriors. And the prince gave Pskov not only his sword but also his heart. Here, according to the chronicler, “the grace of God breathed upon him,” and he, along with his entire retinue, accepted holy baptism. From the baptismal font, the prince emerged as Timothy.
Soon after this, Dovmont, “a worthy and wise man,” was elected by the Pskovites at the veche as their prince. And they were not mistaken. He ruled for thirty-three years and was the only prince in the entire history of Pskov who managed to live for so long in peace and harmony with the Pskov veche.
Fortress Izborsk
However, no matter how much the prince wanted to lead a peaceful life, the times were such that the sword had to be kept at the ready. And the first to meet Dovmont of Pskov on the battlefield was his compatriot and relative – the Polotsk prince Herdin. As soon as Dovmont left the Nalshansk principality, Herdin captured him. Burning with the desire to punish the invader, the Pskovites themselves commanded:
– Lead the army on a campaign! Lead to Krevo!
The Pskov army captured Krevo Castle, launching a surprise attack. Dovmont took Herdin’s family out of the city. The prince hoped that Herdin, upon learning of this, would immediately rush after him. And as soon as the pursuers appeared, the prince was the first to charge into battle. Herdin’s army was defeated, and its leader barely escaped destruction.
In 1268, Dovmont had to confront the Crusaders. The Novgorod prince Yaroslav asked the Pskovites for support. He was gathering forces to fight the Danes, who had conquered Estonia and threatened the lands of Northern Rus. The Novgorodians, Pskovites, Pereyaslavites, and Suzdalites set out on the campaign. They quickly reached the city of Rakovor, where the Danes had taken refuge. And here it turned out that a powerful reinforcement had come to the enemy – the master of the Livonian Order brought his warriors. And there were so many Crusaders that the chronicler claims: “They stood like a dense forest.” The forces were unequal. But there was no avoiding battle now. Only death with honor remained. Suddenly, inspiration came to Dovmont:
– Remember how Alexander Nevsky defeated the Crusaders on Lake Chud! Let us arrange our ranks the same way!
The Russian troops crossed the river that separated them from the enemy. The Crusaders, as was their custom, formed a wedge, which they called “the pig.” The chronicler stated: “There was a terrible battle, such as neither fathers nor grandfathers had known.” Finally, the right wing of the Russian army, in which Dovmont fought, shattered the enemy formation. “God helped the Russian princes, and they drove the Germans to Rakovor for three days’ journey for seven versts, and there was no place for a horse to step due to the multitude of German corpses, and they drove them to the city.” The master of the Livonian Order harbored malice against Dovmont. He vowed to wash away the shame of his defeat with the blood of the Pskovites and their prince. And the following year, at the head of an 18,000-strong army on horses and boats, he invaded Pskov lands. The Crusaders captured and burned the city of Izborsk. They besieged Pskov. They brought siege engines to its walls.
Seeing the countless army encamped around their city, the Pskovites began to prepare for death. They decided to meet it in battle. Dovmont brought his warriors to the Church of the Holy Trinity. The elder abbot Isidore blessed the prince and all the defenders, and then personally put a belt with a sword on Dovmont.
Koporye
The battle for Pskov lasted for ten days. Like sea waves, the besiegers crashed against the fortress walls, but retreated under a hail of arrows, stones, streams of boiling water, and molten resin. In one of the skirmishes, the prince faced the master. Dovmont wounded his opponent in the face…
After ten days, the Novgorod army arrived to help the Pskovites. The Crusaders, no longer hoping for victory, hurried to conclude peace. For each day of the siege, the Pskovites demanded a year of peaceful life from their opponents. For a full ten years after that, the Crusaders did not dare to disturb the Pskovites with their attacks.
The Lord sent the prince a true friend, the son of Saint Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry. They first met at the walls of Rakovor, where they fought together against the Crusaders. The princes came to each other’s aid more than once.
In 1281, Dmitry Alexandrovich found himself in trouble. His younger brother, envious of Dmitry’s possessions, brought Tatars to Rus and captured Dmitry’s city of Pereyaslav. Dmitry rushed with his family to seek refuge in Novgorod lands, where he had the fortress of Koporye. And he fell from the fire into the flames. The Novgorodians captured Dmitry Alexandrovich’s daughters.
– What did you not share with the Novgorodians? – Dovmont asked his friend, who was calling for help.
– Our dispute is over my fortress of Koporye, – sighed Prince Dmitry heavily. – You see, it was built on the land of Great Novgorod. So the Novgorodians demand that I give them the fortress.
– It would be a disgrace for us, Prince Dmitry, to have a new civil war in Rus. Give the Novgorodians Koporye and live in Pskov as long as you need, – said Dovmont.
The Pskov prince did not allow fratricide. Demonstrating his strength, Dovmont conveyed Dmitry’s consent to reconciliation to the besieging Novgorodians. The princesses were released, and one of them, Maria, charmed Dovmont so much that soon he asked for the girl’s hand from Prince Dmitry. And they lived in love and joy for many years.
For many years, the Crusaders did not trouble Pskov. But Dovmont took care to make the city impregnable. He built a mighty stone wall around Pskov, the strongest in all of Russian lands.
In 1299, the master of the Livonian Order again brought his knights to Pskov. Dovmont, by that time already an eighty-year-old elder with gray hair, gathered his warriors and declared:
– We will not wait for help from the Novgorodians. We will immediately punish the sacrilegious, the desecrators of monasteries, with our own forces. Saint Leontius will help us!
The Pskovites fell upon the enemy army on the banks of the Velikaya River, crushed them, and drove them into the water. Many greedy knights found their death here. Dovmont challenged the master, clad in iron from head to toe, to single combat and wounded him in the head.
And a few months after this glorious victory, Prince Dovmont passed away. Pskov was visited by the Black Death – the plague. It was she, not the enemy’s sword, that ended the life of the brave hero.
But Prince Dovmont still managed to give his last instruction to his youngest son, born in his marriage to Maria, David: to remain faithful to those to whom he took an oath, even under the threat of death, never to renounce the Orthodox faith, and never to ally with the Crusaders.
Source: