Saint Alexander Nevsky

Saint Alexander Nevsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский)​, Prince and Knjaz of Novgorod and Vladimir

Born: 5 June 1221, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia Died: 14 November 1263 (aged 42), Gorodets, Russia

Father: Yaroslav II of Vladimir Mother: Fedosia Igorevna of Ryazan Spouse: Daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, Vasilisa Issue: Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod, Eudoxia Aleksandrovna, Dmitry of Pereslavl, Andrey of Gorodets, Daniel of Moscow

Medlands

ALEKSANDR Iaroslavich "Nievskiy", son of IAROSLAV Vsevolodich Grand Prince of Vladimir & his third wife Fedosia Igorevich of Riazan ([30 May 1220]-Gorodets 14 Nov 1263, bur Vladimir Monastery of the Nativity). His father installed him as Prince of Novgorod in 1236. He was also Prince of Dmitrov 1238/1246, and Prince of Pereyaslavl 1238/1252. Pereyaslavl was captured by the Mongols in Mar 1239. Aleksandr defended north-western Rus against Germany and Sweden. He defeated the Swedes at the battle of Neva River in 1240, from which he earned his epithet 'Nievskiy', and the Teutonic Knights at Lake Peipus (in Estonia) in Apr 1242 after ending their occupation of Pskov. He left Novgorod for the Mongol court in 1246, returning in 1250. He was created Grand Prince of Kiev in 1250 by the Great Mongol Khan at Karakoram, but maintained Novgorod as his main base of operations. He succeeded his brother in 1252 as ALEKSANDR Grand Prince of Vladimir, under the suzerainty of the Golden Horde. The Novgorod Chronicle records that, in 1255, he was opposed by his brother Iaroslav whom "the men of Novgorod led … from Pskov and set … on the throne" in Novgorod, but Aleksandr reasserted his position later the same year. In alliance with the Mongols, he forced Novgorod to submit to the Mongol request for payment of taxes and taking a census in 1259. He died at Gordodets monastery on the journey back from a visit to the Mongol capital Sarai. He was the subject of a hagiographic biography to which Metropolitan Kirill, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church during Aleksandr's reign, largely contributed. m firstly (Toropets 1239) PARASKEVIYA [Aleksandra] Bryacheslavna of Polotsk, daughter of BRYACHESLAV Vasilkovich Prince of Polotsk and Vitebsk & his wife --- (-[1261/62]). Her marriage is referred to in the Novgorod Chronicle, which names her father but does not give her own first name. m secondly ([1262/63]) VASILISA, daughter of Unknown. Aleksandr & his first wife had five children, Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod, Eudoxia Aleksandrovna, Dmitry of Pereslavl, Andrey of Gorodets, Daniel of Moscow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky, 30 May 1220 – 14 November 1263, proclaimed "Saint"of the Russian Orthodox Church by Metropolite Macariy in 1547. was the Prince of Novgorod and Grand Duke of Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the city's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Rus, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military victories over the German and Swedish invaders while employing collaborationist policies towards the powerful Golden Horde.

Great victories

From Tales of the Life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince Alexander found in the Second Pskovian Chronicle, circa 1260–1280, comes one of the first known references to the Great Prince:
"By the will of God, prince Alexander was born from the charitable, people-loving, and meek the Great Prince Yaroslav, and his mother was Theodosia. As it was told by the prophet Isaiah: 'Thus sayeth the Lord: I appoint the princes because they are sacred and I direct them.' "... He was taller than others and his voice reached the people as a trumpet, and his face was like the face of Joseph, whom the Egyptian Pharaoh placed as next to the king after him of Egypt. His power was a part of the power of Samson and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon ... this Prince Alexander: he used to defeat but was never defeated ..."

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,German and Muslim invaders. After the Swedish army had landed at the confluence of the rivers Izhora and Neva, Alexander and his small army suddenly attacked the Swedes on 15 July 1240 and defeated them. The Neva battle of 1240 saved Rus' from a full-scale enemy invasion from the North. Because of this battle, 19-year-old Alexander was given the sobriquet "Nevsky" (which means of Neva). This victory, coming just three years after the disastrous Mongol invasion of Rus, 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 Pskov had been invaded by the crusading Livonian 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 faced the Livonian heavy cavalry led by the master of the Order, Hermann, brother of Albert of Buxhoeveden. Nevsky faced the enemy on the ice of the Lake Peipus and defeated the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights during the Battle of the Ice on 5 April 1242. Alexander’s victory was a significant event in the history of the Middle Ages. Foot soldiers of Novgorod had surrounded and defeated an army of knights, mounted on horseback and clad in thick armour, long before Western Europeans learned how foot soldiers could prevail over mounted knights. Nevsky's great victory against the Livonian Brothers 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 by smaller margins than is seen in contemporary conflicts. Strategic considerations aside, Alexander's victory was an important milestone in the development of Muscovite Russia.

Politician

After the Livonian 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 Russia 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 the Roman Curia’s attempts to cause war between Russia and the Golden Horde, because he understood the uselessness of such war with the Tatars at a time when 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 thought 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 is also argued that he intentionally kept Russia as a vassal to the Mongols in order to preserve his own status and counted on the befriended Horde in case someone challenged his authority (he forced the citizens of Novgorod to pay tribute). Nevsky tried to strengthen his authority at the expense of the boyars and at the same time suppress any anti-Muscovite uprisings in the country (Novgorod uprising of 1259).
According to the most plausible version, Alexander’s intentions were to prevent scattered principalities of what would become Russia from repeated invasions by 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. The fact that the Muscovite state was still no match for the Army of the Golden Horde (Mongols) must be taken into account when Alexander's actions vis-à-vis the Horde are considered. Some historians see Alexander's choice of subordination to the Golden Horde and refusal of co-operating with western countries and church as an important turn to the east for the Russians.

Grand Prince of Vladimir

Thanks to his friendship with Sartaq Khan, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252. A decade later, Alexander died in the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. Prior to his death, he took monastic vows and was given the religious name of Alexis.
From the Second Pskovian Chronicle: "Returning from the Golden Horde, the Great Prince Alexander, reached the city of Nizhniy Novgorod, and remained there for several days in good health, but when he reached the city of Gorodets he fell ill ... Great Prince Alexander, who was always firm in his faith in God, gave up this worldly kingdom ... And then he gave up his soul to God and died in peace on 12 November, [1263] on the day when the Holy Apostle Philip is remembered ...At this burial Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril said, 'My children, you should know that the sun of the Suzdalian land has set. There will never be another prince like him in the Suzdalian land.' And the priests and deacons and monks, the poor and the wealthy, and all the people said: 'It is our end.' " Though he died in Gorodets, Alexander was laid to rest in the city of Vladimir, in the Great Abbey at The Church of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God.

Marriage and children

According to the Novgorod First Chronicle, Alexander married first a daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, in 1239. Her name is not given in the chronicle. Genealogies name her as Paraskeviya or Alexandra. Possibly birth and marital names respectively. They had at least five children:
Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod (c. 1239–1271). He was betrothed to Princess Kristina of Norway in 1251. The marriage contact was broken. Kristina went on to marry Felipe of Castile, a son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen. Eudoxia Aleksandrovna. Married Konstantin Rostislavich, Prince of Smolensk. Dmitry of Pereslavl (c. 1250–1294). Andrey of Gorodets (c. 1255 – 27 July 1304 Daniel of Moscow (1261 – 4 March/5 March 1303). He married a second wife named Vasilisa shortly before his death. They had no known children.

Alexander's legacy

Some of Alexander's policies on the Western border were continued by his grandson-in-law, Daumantas of Pskov, who was also beatified in the 16th century.
In the late 13th century, a chronicle was compiled called the Life of Alexander Nevsky (Житие Александра Невского), in which he is depicted as an ideal prince-soldier and defender of Russia. Veneration of Alexander Nevsky as a saint began soon after his death. The remains of the prince were uncovered in response to a vision, before the Battle of Kulikovo in the year 1380, and found to be incorrupt. He was glorified (canonized) by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. His principal feast day is 23 November. By order of Peter the Great, Nevsky’s relics were transported to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg where they remain to this day. A second feast day was instituted on 30 August in commemoration of this event. He is also commemorated in common with other saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl on 23 May.

Military Order

On 21 May 1725, the empress Catherine I introduced the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky as one of the highest decorations in the land. During the Great Patriotic War, on 29 July 1942, the Soviet authorities introduced an Order of Alexander Nevsky to revive the memory of Alexander's struggle with the Germans. There was also a Bulgarian Order dedicated to Saint Alexander which was founded on 25 December 1881 and then ceased to exist when a People's Republic was declared on 16 September 1946.

In 1938, Sergei Eisenstein made one of his most acclaimed films, Alexander Nevsky, on Alexander's victory over the Teutonic Knights. The soundtrack for the film was written by Sergei Prokofiev, who also reworked the score into a concert cantata. At Joseph Stalin's insistence,[citation needed] the film was rushed into theaters and the resulting sound recording was notably disappointing, while the visual images were quite impressive, especially the spectacular battle on the ice.
Alexander's phrase "Whoever will come to us with a sword, from a sword will perish," has become a slogan of Russian patriots. There is a long tradition of Russian naval vessels bearing Nevsky's name, such as the nineteenth century screw frigate Alexander Neuski and a nuclear submarine currently being built for the Russian Navy. Alexander Nevsky's fame has spread beyond the borders of Russia, and numerous churches are dedicated to him, including the Patriarchal Cathedral at Sofia, Bulgaria; the Cathedral church in Tallinn, Estonia; a church in Belgrade, Serbia; and a church in Tbilisi, Georgia. On 24 September 2008, Alexander Nevsky was declared the main hero of Russia’s history by popular vote, as reported by the Kommersant Newspaper. In December 2008, Alexander was voted the greatest Russian in the Name of Russia television poll.

______________________________________________________

Venerated in Eastern Orthodox Church

Canonized 1547 by Russian Orthodox Church

Major shrine Vladimir; Pereslavl-Zalessky

Feast November 23 (Repose)

May 23 (Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl

August 30 (Translation of relics)

Attributes Robed as a Russian Great Prince, often wearing armor.

Patronage Soldiers, Borders of Russia

Saint Alexander Nevsky listen (help·info) (Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский in Russian; transliteration: Aleksandr Yaroslavich Nevskij) (May 30, 1220? – November 14, 1263) was the Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the country's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Russia, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military victories over the German invaders while employing shrewd conciliatory policies towards the powerful Golden Horde.

Contents

1 Great victories

2 Politician

3 Grand Prince of Vladimir

4 Marriage and children

5 Alexander's legacy

6 Music Influences

7 See also

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Great victories

From Tales of the Life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince Alexander found in the Second Pskovian Chronicle, circa 1260-1280, comes one of the first known references to the Great Prince:

"By the will of God, prince Alexander was born from the charitable, people-loving, and meek the Great Prince Yaroslav, and his mother was Theodosia. As it was told by the prophet Isaiah: 'Thus sayeth the Lord: I appoint the princes because they are sacred and I direct them.' "...He was taller than others and his voice reached the people as a trumpet, and his face was like the face of Joseph, whom the Egyptian Pharaoh placed as next to the king after him of Egypt. His power was a part of the power of Samson and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon...this Prince Alexander: he used to defeat but was never defeated..."[1]

Monument in Ust-Izhora, traditional site of the Battle of the Neva.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 the 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. Because of this battle, 19-year-old Alexander was given the name of "Nevsky" (which means of Neva). This victory, coming just a year after the disastrous Mongol invasion of Russia, 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 Pskov had been invaded by the crusading Livonian 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 faced the Livonian heavy cavalry led by the Magister of the Order, Hermann, brother of Albert of Buxhoeveden. Nevsky faced the enemy on the ice of the Lake Peipus and defeated the Livonian Knights during the Battle of the Ice on April 5, 1242.

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 Western Europeans learned how foot soldiers could prevail over mounted knights. Nevsky's great victory against the Livonian Brothers 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 by smaller margins than is seen in contemporary conflicts. Strategic considerations aside, Alexander's victory was an important milestone in the development of Muscovite Russia.

Politician

Bust of Alexander Nevsky in Pereslavl, in front of the Transfiguration of the Saviour Cathedral in which he was baptised.After the Livonian 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 Russia 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.[1]

Nevsky proved to be a cautious and far-sighted politician. He dismissed the Roman 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 thought 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 is also argued that he intentionally kept Russia as a vassal to the Mongols in order to preserve his own status and counted on the befriended Horde in case someone challenged his authority (he forced the citizens of Novgorod to pay tribute). Nevsky tried to strengthen his authority at the expense of the boyars and at the same time suppress any anti-Muscovite uprisings in the country (Novgorod uprising of 1259).

According to the most plausible version, Alexander’s intentions were to prevent scattered principalities of what would become Russia from repeated invasions by 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. The fact that the Muscovite state was still no match for the Army of the Golden Horde (Mongols) must be considered when Alexander's actions vis-à-vis the Horde are considered.

Grand Prince of Vladimir

Thanks to his friendship with Sartaq Khan, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252. A decade later, Alexander died in the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. Prior to his death, he took monastic vows and was given the religious name of Alexis.

From the Second Pskovian Chronicle:

"Returning from the Golden Horde, the Great Prince Alexander, reached the city of Nizhney Novgorod, and remained there for several days in good health, but when he reached the city of Gorodets he fell ill... Great Prince Alexander,who was always firm in his faith in God, gave up this worldly kingdom...And then he gave up his soul to God and died in peace on November 12, [1263] on the day when the Holy Apostle Philip is remembered... At this burial Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril said, 'My children, you should know that the sun of the Suzdalian land has set. There will never be another prince like him in the Suzdalian land.' And the priests and deacons and monks, the poor and the wealthy, and all the people said: 'It is our end.' "[2]

Though he died in Gorodets, Alexander was laid to rest in the city of Vladimir, in the Great Abbey at The Church of the Navitity of the Holy Mother of God.

Marriage and children

Alexander Nevsky by Vasiliy Shebuev, 1836According to the Novgorod First Chronicle, Alexander married first a daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, in 1239. Her name is not given in the chronicle. Genealogies name her as Paraskeviya or Alexandra. Possibly birth and marital names respectively. They had at least five children:

Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod (c. 1239 - 1271). He was betrothed to Princess Kristina of Norway in 1251. The marriage contact was broken. Kristina went on to marry Felipe of Castile, a son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen.

Eudoxia Aleksandrovna. Married Konstantin Rostislavich, Prince of Smolensk.

Dmitry of Pereslavl (c. 1250 - 1294).

Andrey of Gorodets (c. 1255 - 27 July 1304

Daniel of Moscow (1261 - 4 March/5 March 1303).

He married a second wife named Vasilisa shortly before his death. They had no known children.

Alexander's legacy

Decoration of the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky.Some of Alexander's policies on the Western border were continued by his grandson-in-law, Daumantas of Pskov, who was also beatified in the 16th century.

In the late 13th century, a chronicle was compiled called the Life of Alexander Nevsky (Житие Александра Невского), in which he is depicted as an ideal prince-soldier and defender of Russia.

Veneration of Alexander Nevsky as a saint began soon after his death. The remains of prince were uncovered in response to a vision, before the Battle of Kulikovo in the year 1380, and found to be incorrupt. He was glorified (canonized) by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. His principal feast day is November 23. By order of Peter the Great, Nevsky’s relics were transported to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg where they remain to this day. A second feast day was instituted on August 30 in commemoration of this event. He is also commemorated in common with other saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl on May 23.

On May 21, 1725, the empress Catherine I introduced the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky as one of the highest decorations in the land. During the Great Patriotic War (July 29, 1942) the Soviet authorities introduced an Order of Alexander Nevsky to revive the memory of Alexander's struggle with the Germans. There was also a Bulgarian Order dedicated to Saint Alexander which was founded on 25th December, 1881 and then ceased to exist when a People's Republic was declared on 16th September, 1946.

Sergei Eisenstein's envisioning of Alexander Nevsky forms the background of this Soviet poster from World War II.In 1938, 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. At Stalin's insistence, the film was rushed into theaters and the resulting sound recording was notably disappointing, while the visual images were quite impressive, especially in the spectacular battle on the ice.

Alexander's phrase "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, shall perish by the sword"—Matthew 26:52) has become a slogan of Russian patriots. There is a long tradition of Russian naval vessels bearing Nevsky's name, such as the nineteenth century screw frigate Alexander Neuski and a nuclear submarine currently being built for the Russian Navy.

Alexander Nevsky's fame has spread beyond the borders of Russia, and numerous churches are dedicated to him, including the Patriarchal Cathedral at Sofia, Bulgaria; the Cathedral church in Tallinn, Estonia; and a church in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Music Influences

In the year of 2003, the Israeli\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\Russian band "Arafel" made an whole album called "The way of Defender" about Nevsky’s life, and his famous battles.

Eisenstein's film about Nevsky was famously enhanced by a score written by one of the 20th century's most important composers, Sergei Prokofiev. Although the original film score was poorly recorded, Prokofiev recast it as a blazingly original and dramatic cantata, of which there are many fine recordings.

See also

Rulers of Russia family tree

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral — an incomplete listing of Eastern Orthodox cathedrals which bear his name.

Famous military commanders

References

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008)

^ Begunov,K., translator, Second Pskovian Chronicle, ("Isbornik", Moscow, 1955)p.11-15

^ Ibid. #1

Further reading

Isoaho, Mari. The Image of Aleksandr Nevskiy in Medieval Russia: Warrior and Saint (The Northern World; 21). Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 90-04-15101-X).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Alexander NevskyRepose of St Alexander Nevsky Orthodox icon and synaxarion (November 23)

Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl (May 23)

Translation of the relics of St Alexander Nevsky (August 30)

Alexander Nevsky's listing in Medieval Lands by Charles Cawley.

Preceded by

Andrew II Grand Prince of Vladimir Succeeded by

Yaroslav III

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Nevsky"

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Alexander Nevsky

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Alexander Nevsky listen (help·info) (Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский in Russian; transliteration: Aleksandr Yaroslavich Nevskij) (May 30, 1220? – November 14, 1263) was the Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the country's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Russia, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military victories over the German invaders while employing shrewd conciliatory policies towards the powerful Golden Horde.

Great Victories

From Tales of the Life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince Alexander found in the Second Pskovian Chronicle, circa 1260-1280, comes one of the first known references to the Great Prince:

"By the will of God, prince Alexander was born from the charitable, people-loving, and meek the Great Prince Yaroslav, and his mother was Theodosia. As it was told by the prophet Isaiah: 'Thus sayeth the Lord: I appoint the princes because they are sacred and I direct them.' "...He was taller than others and his voice reached the people as a trumpet, and his face was like the face of Joseph, whom the Egyptian Pharaoh placed as next to the king after him of Egypt. His power was a part of the power of Samson and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon...this Prince Alexander: he used to defeat but was never defeated..."[1]

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 the 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. Because of this battle, 19-year-old Alexander was given the name of "Nevsky" (which means of Neva). This victory, coming just a year after the disastrous Mongol invasion of Russia, 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 Pskov had been invaded by the crusading Livonian 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 faced the Livonian heavy cavalry led by the Magister of the Order, Hermann, brother of Albert of Buxhoeveden. Nevsky faced the enemy on the ice of the Lake Peipus and defeated the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights during the Battle of the Ice on April 5, 1242.

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 Western Europeans learned how foot soldiers could prevail over mounted knights. Nevsky's great victory against the Livonian Brothers 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 by smaller margins than is seen in contemporary conflicts. Strategic considerations aside, Alexander's victory was an important milestone in the development of Muscovite Russia.

[edit]Politician

After the Livonian 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 Russia 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.[1]

Nevsky proved to be a cautious and far-sighted politician. He dismissed the Roman Curia’s attempts to cause war between Russia and the Golden Horde, because he understood the uselessness of such war with Tatars at a time when 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 thought 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 is also argued that he intentionally kept Russia as a vassal to the Mongols in order to preserve his own status and counted on the befriended Horde in case someone challenged his authority (he forced the citizens of Novgorod to pay tribute). Nevsky tried to strengthen his authority at the expense of the boyars and at the same time suppress any anti-Muscovite uprisings in the country (Novgorod uprising of 1259).

According to the most plausible version, Alexander’s intentions were to prevent scattered principalities of what would become Russia from repeated invasions by 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. The fact that the Muscovite state was still no match for the Army of the Golden Horde (Mongols) must be considered when Alexander's actions vis-à-vis the Horde are considered.

Some historians see Alexander's choice of subordinating to the Golden Horde and refusal of co-operating with western countries and church as an important turn to the east for the Russians.[2]

[edit]Grand Prince of Vladimir

Thanks to his friendship with Sartaq Khan, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252. A decade later, Alexander died in the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. Prior to his death, he took monastic vows and was given the religious name of Alexis.

From the Second Pskovian Chronicle:

"Returning from the Golden Horde, the Great Prince Alexander, reached the city of Nizhney Novgorod, and remained there for several days in good health, but when he reached the city of Gorodets he fell ill... Great Prince Alexander,who was always firm in his faith in God, gave up this worldly kingdom...And then he gave up his soul to God and died in peace on November 12, [1263] on the day when the Holy Apostle Philip is remembered... At this burial Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril said, 'My children, you should know that the sun of the Suzdalian land has set. There will never be another prince like him in the Suzdalian land.' And the priests and deacons and monks, the poor and the wealthy, and all the people said: 'It is our end.' "[1]

Though he died in Gorodets, Alexander was laid to rest in the city of Vladimir, in the Great Abbey at The Church of the Navitity of the Holy Mother of God.

[edit]Marriage and children

According to the Novgorod First Chronicle, Alexander married first a daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, in 1239. Her name is not given in the chronicle. Genealogies name her as Paraskeviya or Alexandra. Possibly birth and marital names respectively. They had at least five children:

Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod (c. 1239 - 1271). He was betrothed to Princess Kristina of Norway in 1251. The marriage contact was broken. Kristina went on to marry Felipe of Castile, a son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen.

Eudoxia Aleksandrovna. Married Konstantin Rostislavich, Prince of Smolensk.

Dmitry of Pereslavl (c. 1250 - 1294).

Andrey of Gorodets (c. 1255 - 27 July 1304

Daniel of Moscow (1261 - 4 March/5 March 1303).

He married a second wife named Vasilisa shortly before his death. They had no known children.

[edit]Alexander's legacy

Some of Alexander's policies on the Western border were continued by his grandson-in-law, Daumantas of Pskov, who was also beatified in the 16th century.

In the late 13th century, a chronicle was compiled called the Life of Alexander Nevsky (Житие Александра Невского), in which he is depicted as an ideal prince-soldier and defender of Russia.

Veneration of Alexander Nevsky as a saint began soon after his death. The remains of prince were uncovered in response to a vision, before the Battle of Kulikovo in the year 1380, and found to be incorrupt. He was glorified (canonized) by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. His principal feast day is November 23. By order of Peter the Great, Nevsky’s relics were transported to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg where they remain to this day. A second feast day was instituted on August 30 in commemoration of this event. He is also commemorated in common with other saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl on May 23.

On May 21, 1725, the empress Catherine I introduced the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky as one of the highest decorations in the land. During the Great Patriotic War (July 29, 1942) the Soviet authorities introduced an Order of Alexander Nevsky to revive the memory of Alexander's struggle with the Germans. There was also a Bulgarian Order dedicated to Saint Alexander which was founded on 25 December, 1881 and then ceased to exist when a People's Republic was declared on 16 September, 1946.

In 1938, Sergei Eisenstein made one of his most acclaimed films, Alexander Nevsky, on Alexander's victory over the Teutonic Knights. The soundtrack for the film was written by Sergei Prokofiev, who also reworked the score into a concert cantata. At Stalin's insistence[citation needed], the film was rushed into theaters and the resulting sound recording was notably disappointing, while the visual images were quite impressive, especially in the spectacular battle on the ice.

Alexander's phrase "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, shall perish by the sword"—Matthew 26:52) has become a slogan of Russian patriots. There is a long tradition of Russian naval vessels bearing Nevsky's name, such as the nineteenth century screw frigate Alexander Neuski and a nuclear submarine currently being built for the Russian Navy.

Alexander Nevsky's fame has spread beyond the borders of Russia, and numerous churches are dedicated to him, including the Patriarchal Cathedral at Sofia, Bulgaria; the Cathedral church in Tallinn, Estonia; a church in Belgrade, Serbia; and a church in Tbilisi, Georgia.

On September 24, 2008, Alexander Nevsky was declared the main hero of Russia’s history by popular vote, as reported by Kommersant Newspaper.

In December 2008, Alexander was voted the greatest Russian in the Name of Russia television poll.[3]

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http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D...

http://www.hrono.info/biograf/nevski.html

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Saint Alexander Nevsky, Russian Aleksandr Nevsky, original name Aleksandr Yaroslavich (born c. 1220, Vladimir, Grand Principality of Vladimir—died Nov. 14, 1263, Gorodets; canonized in Russian Church 1547; feast days November 23, August 30), prince of Novgorod (1236–52) and of Kiev (1246–52) and grand prince of Vladimir (1252–63), who halted the eastward drive of the Germans and Swedes but collaborated with the Mongols in imposing their rule on Russia. By defeating a Swedish invasion force at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva (1240), he won the name Nevsky, “of the Neva.”

Alexander was the son of Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich, grand prince of Vladimir, the foremost among the Russian rulers. In 1236 Alexander was elected prince—a figure who functioned as little more than military commander—of the city of Novgorod. In 1239 he married the daughter of the Prince of Polotsk.

When in 1240 the Swedes invaded Russia to punish the Novgorodians for encroaching on Finnish tribes and to bar Russia’s access to the sea, Alexander defeated the Swedes at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva. His standing enhanced by his victory, he apparently began to intervene in the affairs of the city and was expelled a few months later.

When, urged by Pope Gregory IX to “Christianize” the Baltic region, the Teutonic Knights shortly thereafter invaded Russia, Novgorod invited Alexander to return. After a number of battles, Alexander decisively defeated the Germans in the famous “massacre on the ice” in April 1242 on a narrow channel between Lakes Chud (Peipus) and Pskov. Alexander, who continued to fight both the Swedes and Germans and eventually stopped their eastward expansion, also won many victories over the pagan Lithuanians and the Finnic peoples.

In the east, however, Mongol armies were conquering most of the politically fragmented Russian lands. Alexander’s father, the grand prince Yaroslav, agreed to serve the new rulers of Russia but died in September 1246 of poisoning after his return from a visit to the Great Khan in Mongolia. When, in the ensuing struggle for the grand princely throne, Alexander and his younger brother Andrew appealed to Khan Batu of the Mongol Golden Horde, he sent them to the Great Khan. Violating Russian customs of seniority, the Great Khan appointed Andrew grand prince of Vladimir and Alexander prince of Kiev—probably because Alexander was Batu’s favourite and Batu was in disfavour with the Great Khan. When Andrew began to conspire against the Mongol overlords with other Russian princes and western nations, Alexander went to Saray on the Volga and denounced his brother to Sartak, Batu’s son, who sent an army to depose Andrew and installed Alexander as grand prince. Henceforth, for over a century, no northeastern Russian prince challenged the Mongol conquest. Alexander proceeded to restore Russia by building fortifications and churches and promulgating laws. As grand prince, he continued to rule Novgorod through his son Vasily, thus changing the constitutional basis of rule in Novgorod from personal sovereignty by invitation to institutional sovereignty by the principal Russian ruler. When, in 1255, Novgorod, tiring of grand princely rule, expelled Vasily and invited an opponent of Mongol hegemony, Alexander assembled an army and reinstalled his son.

In 1257 the Mongols, in order to levy taxes, took a census in most of Russia. It encountered little opposition, but when news of the impending enumeration reached Novgorod an uprising broke out. In 1258 Alexander, fearing that the Mongols would punish all of Russia for the Novgorodian revolt, helped force Novgorod to submit to the census and to Mongol taxation. This completed the process of imposing the Mongol yoke on northern Russia.

In 1262 uprisings broke out in many towns against the Muslim tax farmers of the Golden Horde, and Alexander made a fourth journey to Saray to avert reprisals. He succeeded in his mission, as well as in obtaining exemption for Russians from a draft of men for a planned invasion of Iran. Returning home, Alexander died on Nov. 14, 1263, in Gorodets on the Volga. After his death Russia once more disintegrated into many feuding principalities. His personal power, based upon support of the princes, boyars, and clergy, as well as the fear of Mongols, could not be transmitted to any other man, including his weak sons.

Whether Alexander was a quisling in his dealings with the Mongol conquerors is a question seldom posed by Russian historians, because some Russian princes had for centuries concluded alliances with Turkic steppe nomads in order to gain advantage in domestic rivalries. Because Alexander was a willing collaborator, he may have reduced the common people’s suffering by interceding for them with the Khan. He was supported by the church, which thrived under Mongol protection and tax exemption and feared the anti-Mongol princes who negotiated with the papacy. For these reasons, Alexander by 1381 was elevated to the status of a local saint and was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. Alexander’s son Daniel founded the house of Moscow, which subsequently reunited the northern Russian lands and ruled until 1598. Alexander was one of the great military commanders of his time, who protected Russia’s western frontier against invasion by Swedes or Germans. This image of him was popular in northwestern Russia and has in succeeding centuries been adduced for propaganda purposes. Thus, after the conclusion of the war with Sweden, the Order of Alexander Nevsky was created in 1725, and during World War II (in July 1942), when Germany had deeply penetrated into the Soviet Union, Stalin pronounced Alexander Nevsky a national hero and established a military order in his name.

Richard Hellie

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Prince of Novgorod (1236-1240, 1241-1252 and 1257-1259), Grand Prince of Kiev (1249-1263), Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252-1263), the famous Russian commander.

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Honored in Eastern Orthodox Church

Canonized 1547 by Metropolite Macarius

from wikipedia: Thanks to his friendship with Sartaq Khan, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252. A decade later, Alexander died in the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. Prior to his death, he took monastic vows and was given the religious name of Alexis. From the Second Pskovian Chronicle: "Returning from the Golden Horde, the Great Prince Alexander, reached the city of Nizhniy Novgorod, and remained there for several days in good health, but when he reached the city of Gorodets he fell ill ... Great Prince Alexander, who was always firm in his faith in God, gave up this worldly kingdom ... And then he gave up his soul to God and died in peace on 12 November, [1263] on the day when the Holy Apostle Philip is remembered At this burial Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril said, 'My children, you should know that the sun of the Suzdalian land has set. There will never be another prince like him in the Suzdalian land.' And the priests and deacons and monks, the poor and the wealthy, and all the people said: 'It is our end.' "[2] Though he died in Gorodets, Alexander was laid to rest in the city of Vladimir, in the Great Abbey at The Church of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God.

He married a second wife named Vasilisa shortly before his death. They had no known children

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Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский); 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) served as Prince of Novgorod (1236–52), Grand Prince of Kiev (1236-52) and Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252–63) during some of the most difficult times in Kievan Rus' history.

Commonly regarded as a key figure of medieval Rus', Alexander - the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest - rose to legendary status on account of his military victories over German and Swedish invaders while agreeing to pay tribute to the powerful Golden Horde. He was canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church by Metropolite Macarius in 1547.

According to the Novgorod First Chronicle, Alexander married first a daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, in 1239. Her name is not given in the chronicle. Genealogies name her as Paraskeviya or Alexandra (possibly birth and marital names respectively). They had five children:

Vasily Alexandrovich, Prince of Novgorod (c. 1239–1271). He was betrothed to Princess Kristina of Norway in 1251. The marriage contract was broken. Kristina went on to marry Felipe of Castile, a son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen.

Eudoxia Alexandrovna. Married Konstantin Rostislavich, Prince of Smolensk.

Dmitry of Pereslavl (c. 1250–1294).

Andrey of Gorodets (c. 1255 – 27 July 1304).

Daniel of Moscow (1261 – 4 March/5 March 1303).

He married a second wife named Vasilisa or Vassa shortly before his death. They had no known children.

Saint Alexander Nevsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский)​, Prince and Knjaz of Novgorod and Vladimir

Born: 5 June 1221, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia Died: 14 November 1263 (aged 42), Gorodets, Russia

Father: Yaroslav II of Vladimir Mother: Fedosia Igorevna of Ryazan Spouse: Daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, Vasilisa Issue: Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod, Eudoxia Aleksandrovna, Dmitry of Pereslavl, Andrey of Gorodets, Daniel of Moscow

Medlands

ALEKSANDR Iaroslavich "Nievskiy", son of IAROSLAV Vsevolodich Grand Prince of Vladimir & his third wife Fedosia Igorevich of Riazan ([30 May 1220]-Gorodets 14 Nov 1263, bur Vladimir Monastery of the Nativity). His father installed him as Prince of Novgorod in 1236. He was also Prince of Dmitrov 1238/1246, and Prince of Pereyaslavl 1238/1252. Pereyaslavl was captured by the Mongols in Mar 1239. Aleksandr defended north-western Rus against Germany and Sweden. He defeated the Swedes at the battle of Neva River in 1240, from which he earned his epithet 'Nievskiy', and the Teutonic Knights at Lake Peipus (in Estonia) in Apr 1242 after ending their occupation of Pskov. He left Novgorod for the Mongol court in 1246, returning in 1250. He was created Grand Prince of Kiev in 1250 by the Great Mongol Khan at Karakoram, but maintained Novgorod as his main base of operations. He succeeded his brother in 1252 as ALEKSANDR Grand Prince of Vladimir, under the suzerainty of the Golden Horde. The Novgorod Chronicle records that, in 1255, he was opposed by his brother Iaroslav whom "the men of Novgorod led … from Pskov and set … on the throne" in Novgorod, but Aleksandr reasserted his position later the same year. In alliance with the Mongols, he forced Novgorod to submit to the Mongol request for payment of taxes and taking a census in 1259. He died at Gordodets monastery on the journey back from a visit to the Mongol capital Sarai. He was the subject of a hagiographic biography to which Metropolitan Kirill, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church during Aleksandr's reign, largely contributed. m firstly (Toropets 1239) PARASKEVIYA [Aleksandra] Bryacheslavna of Polotsk, daughter of BRYACHESLAV Vasilkovich Prince of Polotsk and Vitebsk & his wife --- (-[1261/62]). Her marriage is referred to in the Novgorod Chronicle, which names her father but does not give her own first name. m secondly ([1262/63]) VASILISA, daughter of Unknown. Aleksandr & his first wife had five children, Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod, Eudoxia Aleksandrovna, Dmitry of Pereslavl, Andrey of Gorodets, Daniel of Moscow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky, 30 May 1220 – 14 November 1263, proclaimed "Saint"of the Russian Orthodox Church by Metropolite Macariy in 1547. was the Prince of Novgorod and Grand Duke of Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the city's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Rus, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military victories over the German and Swedish invaders while employing collaborationist policies towards the powerful Golden Horde.

Great victories

From Tales of the Life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince Alexander found in the Second Pskovian Chronicle, circa 1260–1280, comes one of the first known references to the Great Prince:
"By the will of God, prince Alexander was born from the charitable, people-loving, and meek the Great Prince Yaroslav, and his mother was Theodosia. As it was told by the prophet Isaiah: 'Thus sayeth the Lord: I appoint the princes because they are sacred and I direct them.' "... He was taller than others and his voice reached the people as a trumpet, and his face was like the face of Joseph, whom the Egyptian Pharaoh placed as next to the king after him of Egypt. His power was a part of the power of Samson and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon ... this Prince Alexander: he used to defeat but was never defeated ..."

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,German and Muslim invaders. After the Swedish army had landed at the confluence of the rivers Izhora and Neva, Alexander and his small army suddenly attacked the Swedes on 15 July 1240 and defeated them. The Neva battle of 1240 saved Rus' from a full-scale enemy invasion from the North. Because of this battle, 19-year-old Alexander was given the sobriquet "Nevsky" (which means of Neva). This victory, coming just three years after the disastrous Mongol invasion of Rus, 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 Pskov had been invaded by the crusading Livonian 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 faced the Livonian heavy cavalry led by the master of the Order, Hermann, brother of Albert of Buxhoeveden. Nevsky faced the enemy on the ice of the Lake Peipus and defeated the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights during the Battle of the Ice on 5 April 1242. Alexander’s victory was a significant event in the history of the Middle Ages. Foot soldiers of Novgorod had surrounded and defeated an army of knights, mounted on horseback and clad in thick armour, long before Western Europeans learned how foot soldiers could prevail over mounted knights. Nevsky's great victory against the Livonian Brothers 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 by smaller margins than is seen in contemporary conflicts. Strategic considerations aside, Alexander's victory was an important milestone in the development of Muscovite Russia.

Politician

After the Livonian 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 Russia 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 the Roman Curia’s attempts to cause war between Russia and the Golden Horde, because he understood the uselessness of such war with the Tatars at a time when 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 thought 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 is also argued that he intentionally kept Russia as a vassal to the Mongols in order to preserve his own status and counted on the befriended Horde in case someone challenged his authority (he forced the citizens of Novgorod to pay tribute). Nevsky tried to strengthen his authority at the expense of the boyars and at the same time suppress any anti-Muscovite uprisings in the country (Novgorod uprising of 1259).
According to the most plausible version, Alexander’s intentions were to prevent scattered principalities of what would become Russia from repeated invasions by 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. The fact that the Muscovite state was still no match for the Army of the Golden Horde (Mongols) must be taken into account when Alexander's actions vis-à-vis the Horde are considered. Some historians see Alexander's choice of subordination to the Golden Horde and refusal of co-operating with western countries and church as an important turn to the east for the Russians.

Grand Prince of Vladimir

Thanks to his friendship with Sartaq Khan, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252. A decade later, Alexander died in the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. Prior to his death, he took monastic vows and was given the religious name of Alexis.
From the Second Pskovian Chronicle: "Returning from the Golden Horde, the Great Prince Alexander, reached the city of Nizhniy Novgorod, and remained there for several days in good health, but when he reached the city of Gorodets he fell ill ... Great Prince Alexander, who was always firm in his faith in God, gave up this worldly kingdom ... And then he gave up his soul to God and died in peace on 12 November, [1263] on the day when the Holy Apostle Philip is remembered ...At this burial Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril said, 'My children, you should know that the sun of the Suzdalian land has set. There will never be another prince like him in the Suzdalian land.' And the priests and deacons and monks, the poor and the wealthy, and all the people said: 'It is our end.' " Though he died in Gorodets, Alexander was laid to rest in the city of Vladimir, in the Great Abbey at The Church of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God.

Marriage and children

According to the Novgorod First Chronicle, Alexander married first a daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, in 1239. Her name is not given in the chronicle. Genealogies name her as Paraskeviya or Alexandra. Possibly birth and marital names respectively. They had at least five children:
Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod (c. 1239–1271). He was betrothed to Princess Kristina of Norway in 1251. The marriage contact was broken. Kristina went on to marry Felipe of Castile, a son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen. Eudoxia Aleksandrovna. Married Konstantin Rostislavich, Prince of Smolensk. Dmitry of Pereslavl (c. 1250–1294). Andrey of Gorodets (c. 1255 – 27 July 1304 Daniel of Moscow (1261 – 4 March/5 March 1303). He married a second wife named Vasilisa shortly before his death. They had no known children.

Alexander's legacy

Some of Alexander's policies on the Western border were continued by his grandson-in-law, Daumantas of Pskov, who was also beatified in the 16th century.
In the late 13th century, a chronicle was compiled called the Life of Alexander Nevsky (Житие Александра Невского), in which he is depicted as an ideal prince-soldier and defender of Russia. Veneration of Alexander Nevsky as a saint began soon after his death. The remains of the prince were uncovered in response to a vision, before the Battle of Kulikovo in the year 1380, and found to be incorrupt. He was glorified (canonized) by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. His principal feast day is 23 November. By order of Peter the Great, Nevsky’s relics were transported to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg where they remain to this day. A second feast day was instituted on 30 August in commemoration of this event. He is also commemorated in common with other saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl on 23 May.

Military Order

On 21 May 1725, the empress Catherine I introduced the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky as one of the highest decorations in the land. During the Great Patriotic War, on 29 July 1942, the Soviet authorities introduced an Order of Alexander Nevsky to revive the memory of Alexander's struggle with the Germans. There was also a Bulgarian Order dedicated to Saint Alexander which was founded on 25 December 1881 and then ceased to exist when a People's Republic was declared on 16 September 1946.

In 1938, Sergei Eisenstein made one of his most acclaimed films, Alexander Nevsky, on Alexander's victory over the Teutonic Knights. The soundtrack for the film was written by Sergei Prokofiev, who also reworked the score into a concert cantata. At Joseph Stalin's insistence,[citation needed] the film was rushed into theaters and the resulting sound recording was notably disappointing, while the visual images were quite impressive, especially the spectacular battle on the ice.
Alexander's phrase "Whoever will come to us with a sword, from a sword will perish," has become a slogan of Russian patriots. There is a long tradition of Russian naval vessels bearing Nevsky's name, such as the nineteenth century screw frigate Alexander Neuski and a nuclear submarine currently being built for the Russian Navy. Alexander Nevsky's fame has spread beyond the borders of Russia, and numerous churches are dedicated to him, including the Patriarchal Cathedral at Sofia, Bulgaria; the Cathedral church in Tallinn, Estonia; a church in Belgrade, Serbia; and a church in Tbilisi, Georgia. On 24 September 2008, Alexander Nevsky was declared the main hero of Russia’s history by popular vote, as reported by the Kommersant Newspaper. In December 2008, Alexander was voted the greatest Russian in the Name of Russia television poll.

______________________________________________________

Venerated in Eastern Orthodox Church

Canonized 1547 by Russian Orthodox Church

Major shrine Vladimir; Pereslavl-Zalessky

Feast November 23 (Repose)

May 23 (Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl

August 30 (Translation of relics)

Attributes Robed as a Russian Great Prince, often wearing armor.

Patronage Soldiers, Borders of Russia

Saint Alexander Nevsky listen (help·info) (Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский in Russian; transliteration: Aleksandr Yaroslavich Nevskij) (May 30, 1220? – November 14, 1263) was the Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the country's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Russia, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military victories over the German invaders while employing shrewd conciliatory policies towards the powerful Golden Horde.

Contents

1 Great victories

2 Politician

3 Grand Prince of Vladimir

4 Marriage and children

5 Alexander's legacy

6 Music Influences

7 See also

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Great victories

From Tales of the Life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince Alexander found in the Second Pskovian Chronicle, circa 1260-1280, comes one of the first known references to the Great Prince:

"By the will of God, prince Alexander was born from the charitable, people-loving, and meek the Great Prince Yaroslav, and his mother was Theodosia. As it was told by the prophet Isaiah: 'Thus sayeth the Lord: I appoint the princes because they are sacred and I direct them.' "...He was taller than others and his voice reached the people as a trumpet, and his face was like the face of Joseph, whom the Egyptian Pharaoh placed as next to the king after him of Egypt. His power was a part of the power of Samson and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon...this Prince Alexander: he used to defeat but was never defeated..."[1]

Monument in Ust-Izhora, traditional site of the Battle of the Neva.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 the 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. Because of this battle, 19-year-old Alexander was given the name of "Nevsky" (which means of Neva). This victory, coming just a year after the disastrous Mongol invasion of Russia, 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 Pskov had been invaded by the crusading Livonian 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 faced the Livonian heavy cavalry led by the Magister of the Order, Hermann, brother of Albert of Buxhoeveden. Nevsky faced the enemy on the ice of the Lake Peipus and defeated the Livonian Knights during the Battle of the Ice on April 5, 1242.

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 Western Europeans learned how foot soldiers could prevail over mounted knights. Nevsky's great victory against the Livonian Brothers 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 by smaller margins than is seen in contemporary conflicts. Strategic considerations aside, Alexander's victory was an important milestone in the development of Muscovite Russia.

Politician

Bust of Alexander Nevsky in Pereslavl, in front of the Transfiguration of the Saviour Cathedral in which he was baptised.After the Livonian 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 Russia 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.[1]

Nevsky proved to be a cautious and far-sighted politician. He dismissed the Roman 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 thought 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 is also argued that he intentionally kept Russia as a vassal to the Mongols in order to preserve his own status and counted on the befriended Horde in case someone challenged his authority (he forced the citizens of Novgorod to pay tribute). Nevsky tried to strengthen his authority at the expense of the boyars and at the same time suppress any anti-Muscovite uprisings in the country (Novgorod uprising of 1259).

According to the most plausible version, Alexander’s intentions were to prevent scattered principalities of what would become Russia from repeated invasions by 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. The fact that the Muscovite state was still no match for the Army of the Golden Horde (Mongols) must be considered when Alexander's actions vis-à-vis the Horde are considered.

Grand Prince of Vladimir

Thanks to his friendship with Sartaq Khan, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252. A decade later, Alexander died in the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. Prior to his death, he took monastic vows and was given the religious name of Alexis.

From the Second Pskovian Chronicle:

"Returning from the Golden Horde, the Great Prince Alexander, reached the city of Nizhney Novgorod, and remained there for several days in good health, but when he reached the city of Gorodets he fell ill... Great Prince Alexander,who was always firm in his faith in God, gave up this worldly kingdom...And then he gave up his soul to God and died in peace on November 12, [1263] on the day when the Holy Apostle Philip is remembered... At this burial Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril said, 'My children, you should know that the sun of the Suzdalian land has set. There will never be another prince like him in the Suzdalian land.' And the priests and deacons and monks, the poor and the wealthy, and all the people said: 'It is our end.' "[2]

Though he died in Gorodets, Alexander was laid to rest in the city of Vladimir, in the Great Abbey at The Church of the Navitity of the Holy Mother of God.

Marriage and children

Alexander Nevsky by Vasiliy Shebuev, 1836According to the Novgorod First Chronicle, Alexander married first a daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, in 1239. Her name is not given in the chronicle. Genealogies name her as Paraskeviya or Alexandra. Possibly birth and marital names respectively. They had at least five children:

Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod (c. 1239 - 1271). He was betrothed to Princess Kristina of Norway in 1251. The marriage contact was broken. Kristina went on to marry Felipe of Castile, a son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen.

Eudoxia Aleksandrovna. Married Konstantin Rostislavich, Prince of Smolensk.

Dmitry of Pereslavl (c. 1250 - 1294).

Andrey of Gorodets (c. 1255 - 27 July 1304

Daniel of Moscow (1261 - 4 March/5 March 1303).

He married a second wife named Vasilisa shortly before his death. They had no known children.

Alexander's legacy

Decoration of the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky.Some of Alexander's policies on the Western border were continued by his grandson-in-law, Daumantas of Pskov, who was also beatified in the 16th century.

In the late 13th century, a chronicle was compiled called the Life of Alexander Nevsky (Житие Александра Невского), in which he is depicted as an ideal prince-soldier and defender of Russia.

Veneration of Alexander Nevsky as a saint began soon after his death. The remains of prince were uncovered in response to a vision, before the Battle of Kulikovo in the year 1380, and found to be incorrupt. He was glorified (canonized) by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. His principal feast day is November 23. By order of Peter the Great, Nevsky’s relics were transported to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg where they remain to this day. A second feast day was instituted on August 30 in commemoration of this event. He is also commemorated in common with other saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl on May 23.

On May 21, 1725, the empress Catherine I introduced the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky as one of the highest decorations in the land. During the Great Patriotic War (July 29, 1942) the Soviet authorities introduced an Order of Alexander Nevsky to revive the memory of Alexander's struggle with the Germans. There was also a Bulgarian Order dedicated to Saint Alexander which was founded on 25th December, 1881 and then ceased to exist when a People's Republic was declared on 16th September, 1946.

Sergei Eisenstein's envisioning of Alexander Nevsky forms the background of this Soviet poster from World War II.In 1938, 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. At Stalin's insistence, the film was rushed into theaters and the resulting sound recording was notably disappointing, while the visual images were quite impressive, especially in the spectacular battle on the ice.

Alexander's phrase "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, shall perish by the sword"—Matthew 26:52) has become a slogan of Russian patriots. There is a long tradition of Russian naval vessels bearing Nevsky's name, such as the nineteenth century screw frigate Alexander Neuski and a nuclear submarine currently being built for the Russian Navy.

Alexander Nevsky's fame has spread beyond the borders of Russia, and numerous churches are dedicated to him, including the Patriarchal Cathedral at Sofia, Bulgaria; the Cathedral church in Tallinn, Estonia; and a church in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Music Influences

In the year of 2003, the Israeli\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\Russian band "Arafel" made an whole album called "The way of Defender" about Nevsky’s life, and his famous battles.

Eisenstein's film about Nevsky was famously enhanced by a score written by one of the 20th century's most important composers, Sergei Prokofiev. Although the original film score was poorly recorded, Prokofiev recast it as a blazingly original and dramatic cantata, of which there are many fine recordings.

See also

Rulers of Russia family tree

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral — an incomplete listing of Eastern Orthodox cathedrals which bear his name.

Famous military commanders

References

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008)

^ Begunov,K., translator, Second Pskovian Chronicle, ("Isbornik", Moscow, 1955)p.11-15

^ Ibid. #1

Further reading

Isoaho, Mari. The Image of Aleksandr Nevskiy in Medieval Russia: Warrior and Saint (The Northern World; 21). Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 90-04-15101-X).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Alexander NevskyRepose of St Alexander Nevsky Orthodox icon and synaxarion (November 23)

Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl (May 23)

Translation of the relics of St Alexander Nevsky (August 30)

Alexander Nevsky's listing in Medieval Lands by Charles Cawley.

Preceded by

Andrew II Grand Prince of Vladimir Succeeded by

Yaroslav III

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Nevsky"

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Alexander Nevsky

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Alexander Nevsky listen (help·info) (Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский in Russian; transliteration: Aleksandr Yaroslavich Nevskij) (May 30, 1220? – November 14, 1263) was the Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the country's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Russia, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military victories over the German invaders while employing shrewd conciliatory policies towards the powerful Golden Horde.

Great Victories

From Tales of the Life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince Alexander found in the Second Pskovian Chronicle, circa 1260-1280, comes one of the first known references to the Great Prince:

"By the will of God, prince Alexander was born from the charitable, people-loving, and meek the Great Prince Yaroslav, and his mother was Theodosia. As it was told by the prophet Isaiah: 'Thus sayeth the Lord: I appoint the princes because they are sacred and I direct them.' "...He was taller than others and his voice reached the people as a trumpet, and his face was like the face of Joseph, whom the Egyptian Pharaoh placed as next to the king after him of Egypt. His power was a part of the power of Samson and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon...this Prince Alexander: he used to defeat but was never defeated..."[1]

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 the 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. Because of this battle, 19-year-old Alexander was given the name of "Nevsky" (which means of Neva). This victory, coming just a year after the disastrous Mongol invasion of Russia, 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 Pskov had been invaded by the crusading Livonian 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 faced the Livonian heavy cavalry led by the Magister of the Order, Hermann, brother of Albert of Buxhoeveden. Nevsky faced the enemy on the ice of the Lake Peipus and defeated the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights during the Battle of the Ice on April 5, 1242.

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 Western Europeans learned how foot soldiers could prevail over mounted knights. Nevsky's great victory against the Livonian Brothers 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 by smaller margins than is seen in contemporary conflicts. Strategic considerations aside, Alexander's victory was an important milestone in the development of Muscovite Russia.

[edit]Politician

After the Livonian 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 Russia 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.[1]

Nevsky proved to be a cautious and far-sighted politician. He dismissed the Roman Curia’s attempts to cause war between Russia and the Golden Horde, because he understood the uselessness of such war with Tatars at a time when 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 thought 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 is also argued that he intentionally kept Russia as a vassal to the Mongols in order to preserve his own status and counted on the befriended Horde in case someone challenged his authority (he forced the citizens of Novgorod to pay tribute). Nevsky tried to strengthen his authority at the expense of the boyars and at the same time suppress any anti-Muscovite uprisings in the country (Novgorod uprising of 1259).

According to the most plausible version, Alexander’s intentions were to prevent scattered principalities of what would become Russia from repeated invasions by 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. The fact that the Muscovite state was still no match for the Army of the Golden Horde (Mongols) must be considered when Alexander's actions vis-à-vis the Horde are considered.

Some historians see Alexander's choice of subordinating to the Golden Horde and refusal of co-operating with western countries and church as an important turn to the east for the Russians.[2]

[edit]Grand Prince of Vladimir

Thanks to his friendship with Sartaq Khan, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252. A decade later, Alexander died in the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. Prior to his death, he took monastic vows and was given the religious name of Alexis.

From the Second Pskovian Chronicle:

"Returning from the Golden Horde, the Great Prince Alexander, reached the city of Nizhney Novgorod, and remained there for several days in good health, but when he reached the city of Gorodets he fell ill... Great Prince Alexander,who was always firm in his faith in God, gave up this worldly kingdom...And then he gave up his soul to God and died in peace on November 12, [1263] on the day when the Holy Apostle Philip is remembered... At this burial Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril said, 'My children, you should know that the sun of the Suzdalian land has set. There will never be another prince like him in the Suzdalian land.' And the priests and deacons and monks, the poor and the wealthy, and all the people said: 'It is our end.' "[1]

Though he died in Gorodets, Alexander was laid to rest in the city of Vladimir, in the Great Abbey at The Church of the Navitity of the Holy Mother of God.

[edit]Marriage and children

According to the Novgorod First Chronicle, Alexander married first a daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, in 1239. Her name is not given in the chronicle. Genealogies name her as Paraskeviya or Alexandra. Possibly birth and marital names respectively. They had at least five children:

Vasily Aleksandrovich, Prince of Novgorod (c. 1239 - 1271). He was betrothed to Princess Kristina of Norway in 1251. The marriage contact was broken. Kristina went on to marry Felipe of Castile, a son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen.

Eudoxia Aleksandrovna. Married Konstantin Rostislavich, Prince of Smolensk.

Dmitry of Pereslavl (c. 1250 - 1294).

Andrey of Gorodets (c. 1255 - 27 July 1304

Daniel of Moscow (1261 - 4 March/5 March 1303).

He married a second wife named Vasilisa shortly before his death. They had no known children.

[edit]Alexander's legacy

Some of Alexander's policies on the Western border were continued by his grandson-in-law, Daumantas of Pskov, who was also beatified in the 16th century.

In the late 13th century, a chronicle was compiled called the Life of Alexander Nevsky (Житие Александра Невского), in which he is depicted as an ideal prince-soldier and defender of Russia.

Veneration of Alexander Nevsky as a saint began soon after his death. The remains of prince were uncovered in response to a vision, before the Battle of Kulikovo in the year 1380, and found to be incorrupt. He was glorified (canonized) by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. His principal feast day is November 23. By order of Peter the Great, Nevsky’s relics were transported to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg where they remain to this day. A second feast day was instituted on August 30 in commemoration of this event. He is also commemorated in common with other saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl on May 23.

On May 21, 1725, the empress Catherine I introduced the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky as one of the highest decorations in the land. During the Great Patriotic War (July 29, 1942) the Soviet authorities introduced an Order of Alexander Nevsky to revive the memory of Alexander's struggle with the Germans. There was also a Bulgarian Order dedicated to Saint Alexander which was founded on 25 December, 1881 and then ceased to exist when a People's Republic was declared on 16 September, 1946.

In 1938, Sergei Eisenstein made one of his most acclaimed films, Alexander Nevsky, on Alexander's victory over the Teutonic Knights. The soundtrack for the film was written by Sergei Prokofiev, who also reworked the score into a concert cantata. At Stalin's insistence[citation needed], the film was rushed into theaters and the resulting sound recording was notably disappointing, while the visual images were quite impressive, especially in the spectacular battle on the ice.

Alexander's phrase "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, shall perish by the sword"—Matthew 26:52) has become a slogan of Russian patriots. There is a long tradition of Russian naval vessels bearing Nevsky's name, such as the nineteenth century screw frigate Alexander Neuski and a nuclear submarine currently being built for the Russian Navy.

Alexander Nevsky's fame has spread beyond the borders of Russia, and numerous churches are dedicated to him, including the Patriarchal Cathedral at Sofia, Bulgaria; the Cathedral church in Tallinn, Estonia; a church in Belgrade, Serbia; and a church in Tbilisi, Georgia.

On September 24, 2008, Alexander Nevsky was declared the main hero of Russia’s history by popular vote, as reported by Kommersant Newspaper.

In December 2008, Alexander was voted the greatest Russian in the Name of Russia television poll.[3]

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http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D...

http://www.hrono.info/biograf/nevski.html

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Saint Alexander Nevsky, Russian Aleksandr Nevsky, original name Aleksandr Yaroslavich (born c. 1220, Vladimir, Grand Principality of Vladimir—died Nov. 14, 1263, Gorodets; canonized in Russian Church 1547; feast days November 23, August 30), prince of Novgorod (1236–52) and of Kiev (1246–52) and grand prince of Vladimir (1252–63), who halted the eastward drive of the Germans and Swedes but collaborated with the Mongols in imposing their rule on Russia. By defeating a Swedish invasion force at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva (1240), he won the name Nevsky, “of the Neva.”

Alexander was the son of Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich, grand prince of Vladimir, the foremost among the Russian rulers. In 1236 Alexander was elected prince—a figure who functioned as little more than military commander—of the city of Novgorod. In 1239 he married the daughter of the Prince of Polotsk.

When in 1240 the Swedes invaded Russia to punish the Novgorodians for encroaching on Finnish tribes and to bar Russia’s access to the sea, Alexander defeated the Swedes at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva. His standing enhanced by his victory, he apparently began to intervene in the affairs of the city and was expelled a few months later.

When, urged by Pope Gregory IX to “Christianize” the Baltic region, the Teutonic Knights shortly thereafter invaded Russia, Novgorod invited Alexander to return. After a number of battles, Alexander decisively defeated the Germans in the famous “massacre on the ice” in April 1242 on a narrow channel between Lakes Chud (Peipus) and Pskov. Alexander, who continued to fight both the Swedes and Germans and eventually stopped their eastward expansion, also won many victories over the pagan Lithuanians and the Finnic peoples.

In the east, however, Mongol armies were conquering most of the politically fragmented Russian lands. Alexander’s father, the grand prince Yaroslav, agreed to serve the new rulers of Russia but died in September 1246 of poisoning after his return from a visit to the Great Khan in Mongolia. When, in the ensuing struggle for the grand princely throne, Alexander and his younger brother Andrew appealed to Khan Batu of the Mongol Golden Horde, he sent them to the Great Khan. Violating Russian customs of seniority, the Great Khan appointed Andrew grand prince of Vladimir and Alexander prince of Kiev—probably because Alexander was Batu’s favourite and Batu was in disfavour with the Great Khan. When Andrew began to conspire against the Mongol overlords with other Russian princes and western nations, Alexander went to Saray on the Volga and denounced his brother to Sartak, Batu’s son, who sent an army to depose Andrew and installed Alexander as grand prince. Henceforth, for over a century, no northeastern Russian prince challenged the Mongol conquest. Alexander proceeded to restore Russia by building fortifications and churches and promulgating laws. As grand prince, he continued to rule Novgorod through his son Vasily, thus changing the constitutional basis of rule in Novgorod from personal sovereignty by invitation to institutional sovereignty by the principal Russian ruler. When, in 1255, Novgorod, tiring of grand princely rule, expelled Vasily and invited an opponent of Mongol hegemony, Alexander assembled an army and reinstalled his son.

In 1257 the Mongols, in order to levy taxes, took a census in most of Russia. It encountered little opposition, but when news of the impending enumeration reached Novgorod an uprising broke out. In 1258 Alexander, fearing that the Mongols would punish all of Russia for the Novgorodian revolt, helped force Novgorod to submit to the census and to Mongol taxation. This completed the process of imposing the Mongol yoke on northern Russia.

In 1262 uprisings broke out in many towns against the Muslim tax farmers of the Golden Horde, and Alexander made a fourth journey to Saray to avert reprisals. He succeeded in his mission, as well as in obtaining exemption for Russians from a draft of men for a planned invasion of Iran. Returning home, Alexander died on Nov. 14, 1263, in Gorodets on the Volga. After his death Russia once more disintegrated into many feuding principalities. His personal power, based upon support of the princes, boyars, and clergy, as well as the fear of Mongols, could not be transmitted to any other man, including his weak sons.

Whether Alexander was a quisling in his dealings with the Mongol conquerors is a question seldom posed by Russian historians, because some Russian princes had for centuries concluded alliances with Turkic steppe nomads in order to gain advantage in domestic rivalries. Because Alexander was a willing collaborator, he may have reduced the common people’s suffering by interceding for them with the Khan. He was supported by the church, which thrived under Mongol protection and tax exemption and feared the anti-Mongol princes who negotiated with the papacy. For these reasons, Alexander by 1381 was elevated to the status of a local saint and was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. Alexander’s son Daniel founded the house of Moscow, which subsequently reunited the northern Russian lands and ruled until 1598. Alexander was one of the great military commanders of his time, who protected Russia’s western frontier against invasion by Swedes or Germans. This image of him was popular in northwestern Russia and has in succeeding centuries been adduced for propaganda purposes. Thus, after the conclusion of the war with Sweden, the Order of Alexander Nevsky was created in 1725, and during World War II (in July 1942), when Germany had deeply penetrated into the Soviet Union, Stalin pronounced Alexander Nevsky a national hero and established a military order in his name.

Richard Hellie

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Prince of Novgorod (1236-1240, 1241-1252 and 1257-1259), Grand Prince of Kiev (1249-1263), Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252-1263), the famous Russian commander.

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Honored in Eastern Orthodox Church

Canonized 1547 by Metropolite Macarius

from wikipedia: Thanks to his friendship with Sartaq Khan, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252. A decade later, Alexander died in the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. Prior to his death, he took monastic vows and was given the religious name of Alexis. From the Second Pskovian Chronicle: "Returning from the Golden Horde, the Great Prince Alexander, reached the city of Nizhniy Novgorod, and remained there for several days in good health, but when he reached the city of Gorodets he fell ill ... Great Prince Alexander, who was always firm in his faith in God, gave up this worldly kingdom ... And then he gave up his soul to God and died in peace on 12 November, [1263] on the day when the Holy Apostle Philip is remembered At this burial Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril said, 'My children, you should know that the sun of the Suzdalian land has set. There will never be another prince like him in the Suzdalian land.' And the priests and deacons and monks, the poor and the wealthy, and all the people said: 'It is our end.' "[2] Though he died in Gorodets, Alexander was laid to rest in the city of Vladimir, in the Great Abbey at The Church of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God.

He married a second wife named Vasilisa shortly before his death. They had no known children

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Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский); 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) served as Prince of Novgorod (1236–52), Grand Prince of Kiev (1236-52) and Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252–63) during some of the most difficult times in Kievan Rus' history.

Commonly regarded as a key figure of medieval Rus', Alexander - the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest - rose to legendary status on account of his military victories over German and Swedish invaders while agreeing to pay tribute to the powerful Golden Horde. He was canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church by Metropolite Macarius in 1547.

According to the Novgorod First Chronicle, Alexander married first a daughter of Bryacheslav Vasilkovich, Prince of Polatsk and Vitebsk, in 1239. Her name is not given in the chronicle. Genealogies name her as Paraskeviya or Alexandra (possibly birth and marital names respectively). They had five children:

Vasily Alexandrovich, Prince of Novgorod (c. 1239–1271). He was betrothed to Princess Kristina of Norway in 1251. The marriage contract was broken. Kristina went on to marry Felipe of Castile, a son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen.

Eudoxia Alexandrovna. Married Konstantin Rostislavich, Prince of Smolensk.

Dmitry of Pereslavl (c. 1250–1294).

Andrey of Gorodets (c. 1255 – 27 July 1304).

Daniel of Moscow (1261 – 4 March/5 March 1303).

He married a second wife named Vasilisa or Vassa shortly before his death. They had no known children.

Князь Новгородский (1236-1249 годы), Великий Князь Киевский (1249-1252), Великий Князь Владимирский (1252-1263), от Рюрика XI колено.

Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский (1220 (или 1221), Переславль-Залесский — 1263, Городец) — князь Новгородский (1236—1240, 1241—1252 и 1257—1263), князь Киевский (1241—1252), Великий князь Владимирский (1252—1263).

Канонизирован Русской православной церковью, как благоверный, при митрополите Макарии на Московском Соборе 1547 года.

Молодые годы

Второй сын переяславльского (позже великого князя киевского и владимирского) Ярослава Всеволодовича, от второго брака с Ростиславой-Феодосией Мстиславовной (в иночестве Евфросиния), дочерью князя новгородского и галицкого Мстислава Удалого. Какое то время, актуально было предположение генеалога Н. А. Баумгартена высказанное 1908 году, что матерью Александра была Феодосия — дочь рязанского князя Игоря Глебовича, умершего в 1195 году, в настоящее время эта гипотеза не находит своего подтверждения.

Родился Александр Ярославич в Переяславле-Залесском в 1220 году. Последние исследования уточняют эту дату до 13 мая 1221 года.

В 1225 году Ярослав «учинил сыновьям княжеский постриг» — обряд посвящения в воины, который совершил в Спасо-Преображенском соборе Переяславля-Залесского епископ Суздальский святитель Симон. Затем княжичей стал обучать ратному делу опытный воевода, боярин Фёдор Данилович.

В 1228 году Александр вместе со старшим братом Фёдором были оставлены отцом в Новгороде под присмотром Фёдора Даниловича и тиуна Якима, вместе с Переяславльским войском собиравшимся летом в поход на Ригу, но во время голода, наступившего зимой этого года, Фёдор Данилович и тиун Якима, недождавшись ответа Ярослава о просьбе новгородцев об отмене забожничья, в феврале 1229 года сбежали с малолетними княжичами из города, опасаясь расправы восставшими новгородцами. В 1230 году, когда новгородцы призвали великого князя Ярослава, он побыв две недели в Новгороде, посадил на княжение в Новгородской земле Фёдора и Александа, однако три года спустя, в тринадцатилетнем возрасте, Фёдор умер. В 1234 году состоялся первый поход Александра (под отцовским стягом) на ливонских немцев.

Отражение агрессии с запада

В 1236 Ярослав уехал из Переяславля княжить в Киев. С этого времени начинается самостоятельность Александра. Юный князь должен был оборонять Новгородскую землю от шведов, ливонцев и Литвы — исконных врагов Новгородской земли. Борьба с ливонцами и со шведами являлась, вместе с тем, борьбой православного Востока с католическим Западом. В 1237 году — разрозненные силы ливонцев — тевтонского ордена и меченосцев — объединились против русских, а с востока пришли татаро-монголы. Однако до Новгорода они не дошли, повернув на юг.

В 1239 году Александр женился на Александре, дочери Брячислава Полоцкого, приступил к укреплению западной границы Новгородской земли по реке Шелони. В следующем году немцы подступили к Пскову, а шведы, двинулись на Новгород, согласно русским источникам, под предводительством самого правителя страны, королевского зятя Биргера (в шведских источниках упоминания об этой битве и, тем более, участии в ней Биргера отсутствуют). Согласно русским источникам, Биргер прислал Александру объявление войны, гордое и надменное: «Если можешь, сопротивляйся, знай, что я уже здесь и пленю землю твою». Новгород был предоставлен самому себе. Разгромленная татарами Русь не могла оказать ему никакой поддержки. С сравнительно небольшой дружиною новгородцев и ладожан Александр ночью 15 июля 1240 года врасплох напал на шведов Биргера, когда они при устье Ижоры, на Неве, остановились лагерем для отдыха, и нанёс им полное поражение. Сам сражаясь в первых рядах, Александр «неверному кралю их (Биргеру) возложил остриём меча печать на челе». Победа в этой битве дала ему прозвание Невского и сразу в глазах современников поставила на пьедестал великой славы. Впечатление от победы было тем сильнее, что она произошла в тяжёлый период нашествия. В глазах народа на Александре и Новгородской земле проявлялась особая благодать Божия. Автор летописного сказания о житии и подвигах Александра отмечает, что в эту битву «обретоша много множьство избьеных (врагов) от ангела Господня». Появилось сказание о явлении Пелгусию князей-мучеников Бориса и Глеба, шедших на помощь своему «сроднику Александру». Само сражение историки назвали Невская битва.

Тем не менее, новгородцы, всегда ревнивые к своим вольностям, в том же году успели рассориться с Александром, и он удалился к отцу, который дал ему на княжество Переславль-Залесский. Между тем на Новгород надвигались ливонские немцы, чудь и литва. Они повоевали и обложили данью вожан, построили крепость в Копорье, взяли город Тёсов, разграбили земли по реке Луге и стали грабить новгородских купцов в 30 верстах от Новгорода. Новгородцы обратились к Ярославу за князем; он дал им второго своего сына, Андрея. Это не удовлетворило их. Они отправили второе посольство просить Александра. В 1241 году Александр явился в Новгород и очистил его область от врагов, а в следующем году вместе с Андреем двинулся на помощь Пскову, где сидели немецкие наместники. Псков был освобождён, и Александр направился в Чудскую землю, во владения ордена.

5 апреля 1242 года произошла битва на Чудском озере. Сражение это известно как Ледовое побоище. Перед битвой князь Александр велел своим дружинникам снять железные доспехи. Хитрым манёвром (враг был пропущен сквозь русский заслон) закованных в железо вражеских воинов заманили на лёд. Согласно новгородской летописи русские 7 вёрст гнали немцев по льду. По данным ливонской хроники потери ордена составили 20 убитых и 6 пленных рыцарей, что хорошо согласуется с Новгородской летописью, которая сообщает, что ливонский орден потерял 400—500 «немец» убитыми и 50 пленными — «и паде Чюди бещисла, а Немець 400, а 50 руками яша и приведоша в Новгородъ». Учитывая, что на каждого полноправного рыцаря приходилось 10-15 воинов более низкого ранга, можно считать, что данные Ливонской хроники и данные Новгородской летописи хорошо подтверждают друг друга.

Магистр ордена испугался похода Невского на Ригу и обратился за помощью к датскому королю. Но Александру нужно было покончить ещё с набегами Литвы. Целым рядом побед в 1242 и 1245 годах он, по сказанию летописца, такой страх нагнал на литовцев, что они стали «блюстися имени его». Шестилетняя победоносная защита Александром северной Руси привела к тому, что немцы, по мирному договору, отказались от всех недавних завоеваний и уступили ему часть Летголии. Есть известие, что папа Иннокентий IV в 1251 году прислал к Александру Невскому двух кардиналов с буллой, написанной в 1248 году. Папа, обещая помощь ливонцев в борьбе с татарами, убеждал Александра пойти по примеру отца, согласившегося будто бы подчиниться римскому престолу. По рассказу летописца, Невский, посоветовавшись с мудрыми людьми, изложил всю историю Руси и в заключение сказал: «си вся съведаем добре, а от вас учения не приимаем».

В 1256 году на Нарову пришли шведы, Емь, Сумь и другие (вероятно или предки финнов, см. также Нарова (народность)) или датчане) и начали ставить город (вероятно речь идёт о уже заложенной в 1223 году крепости Нарва). Новгородцы просили помощи у Александра, который и ходил, с низовскими (из Суздальского княжества) и новгородскими полками, на Емь, воевал поморье и много вреда учинил неприятельской стране. Возвратившись из похода, он оставил князем за себя в Новгороде сына Василия, а сам уехал во Владимир.

Политика в отношении татар и Новгорода

Совсем другую политику проводил Александр по отношению к Золотой Орде, с которой стремился всячески поддерживать дружественные отношения.

Похоронив отца в 1246 году, он, по требованию Батыя, в первый раз поехал поклониться хану 1247 году. Батый отправил его, вместе с братом Андреем, ранее прибывшим в Орду, к великому хану в Монголию. Два года потребовалось им на это путешествие. В их отсутствие брат их, Михаил Хороборит Московский (четвёртый сын великого князя Ярослава), отнял у дяди Святослава Всеволодовича владимирское великое княжение в 1248 году, но в том же году погиб в походе на Литву в битве на реке Протве.

По устранении Святослава Александр и Андрей явились старейшими в роде, кроме Владимира углицкого, умершего в 1249 году. Будучи сильнее Владимира, Ярославичи могли соперничать только друг с другом. И летописец отмечает, что у них была «пря велия о великом княжении». Хан княжеством владимирским пожаловал Андрея, а Невскому дал Киев и Новгород (1249). Киев после татарского разорения потерял всякое значение; поэтому Александр поселился в Новгороде (есть известие, что князь все же собирался уехать в Киев, но новгородцы «удержали его татар ради»). Возможно, он понял, что покорность завоевателю может доставить такие выгоды князьям, каких они не имели прежде.

По версии мнению, Льва Гумилёва, он был побратимом сына хана Батыя — Сартака, который принял крещение.

В 1252 году против Андрея были двинуты татарские полчища под предводительством царевича Неврюя. Андрей, в союзе с братом, Ярославом Тверским, сразился с татарами, но был разбит и через Новгород бежал в Швецию. Это была первая попытка открытого противодействия татарам в северной Руси, закончившаяся неудачей. Одновременно была послана рать и на Даниила Галиицкого, но тому удалось отбиться. Согласно версии историка Татищева, нашествие Неврюя было спровоцировано Невским, ездившего в 1252 году в Орду и будто бы говорившего там, что Андрей «выходы и тамгы платит не сполна»

Известный историк Иван Беляев обвиняет в наведении татар на Русь князя Святослава Всеволодовича, ездившего в Орду в 1250 году). Третье мнение: Андрей был женат на дочери Даниила Галицкого и мог искать союза с западными державами против татар. Мнение это подтверждает факт, что рати на Суздальщину и в Галицко-Волынскую Русь были посланы одновременно. И нашествие на галицко-волынские земли никаких выгод ни Александру, ни Святославу не сулило.

После бегства Андрея великое княжение владимирское, по воле хана, перешло к Невскому. Чувствуя своё никем не оспариваемое старейшинство и силу, имея поддержку в Орде, Александр проявил себя князем самовластным и жестоким.

В 1255 году новгородцы изгнали от себя его (Невского) старшего сына Василия и призвали Ярослава Ярославича Тверского. Невский же силою заставил их снова принять Василия и неугодного ему посадника Анания, поборника новгородской вольности, заменил услужливым Михалкой Степановичем. В 1257 году в Новгороде произошли волнения вследствие требования ханом поголовной переписи и дани с непокорённой им Новгородской земли, как с земель покорённых — Суздальской, Муромской и Рязанской. Большие люди, с посадником Михалкой, уговаривали новгородцев покориться воле хана, но меньшие и слышать о том не хотели. Михалко был убит. Князь Василий, разделяя чувства меньших, но не желая ссориться с отцом, ушёл в Псков. В Новгород явился сам Александр Невский с татарскими послами, выгнал сына в «Низ», то есть Суздальскую землю, советчиков его схватил и наказал («овому носа урезаша, а иному очи выимаша») и посадил князем к ним второго своего сына, Дмитрия. Влияние и авторитет Невского были столь велики, что даже после его смерти старший в роду Василий не получил сколь-либо значимого удела и, по-видимому, даже не пытался бороться за свои права (в отличие, например, от Константина Всеволодича, великого князя Владимирского, которого отец, Всеволод Большое Гнездо, тоже в свое время лишил старшинства из-за отказа отдать брату Юрию Ростов в обмен на стольный Владимир).

В 1258 году Невский ездил в Орду «чтить» ханского наместника Улавчия, а в 1259 году, угрожая татарским погромом, добился от новгородцев согласия на перепись населения и на поголовную дань. Своей покорностью Александр спас русскую землю от разгрома даже и тогда, когда в 1262 году во Владимире, Суздале, Ростове, Переяславле, Ярославле и других городах были перебиты татарские откупщики дани. Сарайский хан Берке в 1262 г. потребовал произвести военный набор среди жителей Руси, поскольку возникла угроза его владениям со стороны иранского правителя Хулагу. Александр Невский отправился в Орду, где хан Берке задержал его на несколько месяцев. Там Александр заболел. Уже будучи больным, он выехал на Русь. Приняв схиму под именем Алексия, он 14 ноября 1263 года скончался в Городце волжском. Митрополит Кирилл возвестил народу во Владимире о его смерти словами: «Чада моя милая, разумейте, яко заиде солнце Русской земли», и все с плачем воскликнули: «уже погибаем». Помня заслуги Невского, народ забыл его обиды и несправедливости в отдельных случаях. «Соблюдение Русской земли, — говорит знаменитый историк Сергей Соловьёв, — от беды на востоке, знаменитые подвиги за веру и землю на западе доставили Александру славную память на Руси и сделали его самым видным историческим лицом в древней истории от Мономаха до Донского». Александр сделался любимым князем духовенства. В дошедшем до нас летописном сказании о подвигах его говорится, что он «Богом рожен». Побеждая везде, он никем не был побеждён. Рыцарь, пришедший с запада посмотреть Невского, рассказывал, что он прошёл много стран и народов, но нигде не видал такого «ни в царях царя, ни в князьях князя». Такой же отзыв будто бы дал о нём и сам хан татарский, а женщины татарские его именем пугали детей.

Историки высказывают как положительные, так и отрицательные оценки деятельности Александра Невского.

Семья

Супруга — Александра, дочь Брячислава Полоцкого.

Сыновья:

Василий (до 1245—1271) — новгородский князь;

Дмитрий (1250—1294) — Князь Новгородский (1260—1263), князь переславский, великий князь владимирский в 1276—1281 и 1283—1293;

Андрей (ок. 1255—1304) — князь костромской в (1276—1293), (1296—1304), великий князь владимирский (1281—1284, 1292—1304), князь новгородский в (1281—1285, 1292—1304), князь городецкий в (1264—1304);

Даниил (1261—1303) — первый князь московский (1263—1303).

Память об Александре Невском

Церковь причислила его к лику святых. Дни празднования святого Александра Невского:

23 мая (5 июня по нов. ст.) - Собор Ростово-Ярославских святых

30 августа (10 сентября по нов. ст.) - день перенесения мощей в Санкт-Петербург (1724) - главный

14 ноября (27 ноября по нов. ст.) - день кончины в Городце (1263) - отменён

23 ноября (6 декабря по нов. ст.) - день погребения во Владимире, в схиме Алексия (1263)

Невский был погребён в монастыре Рождества Богородицы во Владимире и до середины XVI века Рождественский монастырь считался первым монастырём на Руси, «архимандритьей великой». В 1380 году во Владимире открыты его мощи, которые в 1724 году, по повелению Петра Великого, перенесены в Санкт-Петербург в Александро-Невскую лавру, где почивают и ныне в Лавровском соборе, в серебряной раке, пожертвованной императрицей Елизаветой Петровной.

В 2007 году по благословению патриарха Московского и всея Руси Алексия II мощи святого в течение месяца перевозили по городам России и Латвии. 20 сентября святые мощи были принесены в московский храм Христа Спасителя, через неделю 27 сентября раку перевезли в Калининград (27-29 сентября) и далее – в Ригу (29 сентября – 3 октября), Псков (3-5 октября), Великий Новгород (5-7 октября), Ярославль (7-10 октября), Владимир (7-10 октября), Нижний Новгород, Екатеринбург. 20 октября мощи вернулись в Лавру.

Большинство регионов связаны с именем святого Александра Невского — на Ярославской земле благоверный князь родился, Новгород и Псков освобождал от захватчиков, являясь князем Новгородским; во Владимире княжил, начиная с 1252 года. На Нижегородской земле Александр Невский завершил свой земной путь, приняв перед кончиной монашеский постриг в схиму с именем Алексий.

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