p Alexander Yaroslavich, who conquered the Swedish feudal lords on the Neva River and the Teutonic knights on the ice of Lake Chudskoye, was a very popular figure. After his death in 1263 it appears likely that a vita was written. D. S. Likhachev  [164•1  has shown that its author was from Galich-Volhynian Rus and had moved, together with Metropolitan Kirill III, to Vladimir.

p The Life was designed to glorify the prince’s courage and to create a portrait of an ideal Christian soldier, a defender of the Russian land. It focuses on the battles of the Neva River and the battle on the ice of Lake Chudskoye.

p It explains the Swedish invasion of Rus somewhat naively: after learning of the miraculous height and courage of Alexander, the Swedish king decided to capture Alexander’s land.

p With a small druzhina Alexander marches against enemy forces that are far superior to his own. The battle is described in detail with much attention given to the exploits of Alexander and six of his warriors. Alexander himself shows extraordinary courage and fearlessness in battle, “leaving a mark on the face (of the Swedish king) with his sharp spear”. His men were no less heroic: Gavrilo Aleksich rode his horse up a plank onto an enemy ship and killed innumerable men; he was pushed overboard, but swam to safety; young Savva of Novgorod cut the pole of the Swedish king’s gold-roofed tent and the collapse of the tent made the Russian camp rejoice; in the infantry Ratmir waged a heroic struggle against the enemy and died of his wounds of the field; Sbyslav Yakunovich hacked at the enemy with an axe, “with no fear in his heart”. The prince’s harbourer Yakov Polochanin rode with his sword into the regiment. Misha, together with his infantrymen, destroyed three “Romish ships”. The author notes that their lord Alexander 165 Nevsky told of his men’s heroic feats.

p The Battle on Lake Chudskoye against the Teutonic knights is depicted in traditional phrases from the military tale: “It was Saturday, and when the sun rose, both sides advanced; and there was a fierce battle and the crack of breaking spears and ring of swords sounded as though the frozen lake was moving; the ice was invisible, for it was covered with blood.”

p In this battle Alexander revealed his military genius, for he anticipated the enemy’s tactics (Soviet divers and archeologists have established the site of the historic battle). He entered Pskov in triumph, leading prisoners.

p Alexander also vanquished the Lithuanians who repeatedly invaded Rus. He was obliged to go to the Horde and pay his respects to Batu. His Life tells us that Tatars frightened their children with Alexander’s name, saying “Alexander is coming! " (cf. The Tale of the Ruin of the Russian Land where the Polovtsy frighten their children in cradles with the name of Vladimir Monomakh).

p Batu honours the Russian prince and sends him to Suzdal, where Alexander put an end to the abuses of the Tatar official Nevrui. He held talks with the emissaries of the Pope, who offered Western help to Rus if the country would adopt Catholicism. Alexander categorically rejected this proposal, which the author views as a triumph of the national policies of the Russian prince.

p Thus The Life of Prince Alexander is composed basically of secular elements; it has, however, many religious stylistic elements as well.

p A small introduction is written in the tradition of the vita where the author speaks of himself as a “miserable, sinful and unworthy" person who will write about Alexander because he was personally acquainted with the prince, and not only on the basis of tales told by “my father”. Alexander’s descent from a pious family is stressed: his father was the humble Prince Yaroslav who loved the poor, and his mother the pious Feodosia.

p In portraying the hero, the Life likens him to Biblical figures: he is as handsome as Joseph, as wise as King Solomon, as strong as Samson and as brave as the 166 Roman Emperor Vespasian.

p Fantastic religious images are introduced into the battle scenes. On the eve of the Neva battle one of Alexander’s men, the elder from Izhora, has a vision at dawn: SS Boris and Gleb hurry to Alexander’s aid. After the battle, on the other side of the Izhora river, countless enemy corpses were found. During the “Battle on the Ice" a heavenly host that was invisible vanquished Alexander’s enemies.

p In his discussion with the Pope’s emissaries, Alexander backs up his arguments with quotations from the Holy Scriptures, from Adam to the Seventh Ecumenical Council.

p Alexander’s pious end is also written in the vita style. In his address, Metropolitan Kirill proclaimed: “My sons, heed me, for the sun of the land of Suzdal has already set! " “Then we are done for,” answer the people around him. They grieve for their beloved prince so loudly that “it was as if the earth shook”. Then a miracle occurs: when Metropolitan Kirill wanted to place a testament in the coffin, Alexander stretched out his hand, as though alive, and took the testament himself. In traditional hagiographical style posthumous miracles are described.

p The Life of Prince Alexander Nevsky combines elements of both the military tale and the vita. Scholars have shown that it is also related to The Deeds of Digcnis, the Galician Chronicle, Josephus Flavius’ History of the Jewish War, on the one hand, and to the Tale of SS Boris and Gleb and parimiyny readings on Boris and Gleb, on the other hand.

In turn, The Life of Prince Alexander Nevsky became a model for lives of later princes, including The Life of Dmitry Donskoi. Alexander Nevsky was extremely popular in Muscovy. As the patron of the Russian land he helped Dmitry Donskoi to conquer the Mongol-Tatars and Ivan the Terrible in the seige of Kazan. Peter the Great made Alexander Nevsky the patron of Russia’s new capital: St. Petersburg.

Sources

p 1. Yu. K. Begunov, “Pamyatnik russkoi literatury XIII veka ’Slovo o pogibeli Russkoi zemli’" (’Russian Literary 167 Monument of the Thirteenth Century’, The Tale of the Ruin of the Russian Land"), TODRL, vol. 12, 1965.

p 2. Voinskie povesti Drevnei Rusi (Military Tales of Old Rus) M.-L., 1948.

p 3. N. K. Gudzy, “O ’Slove o pogibeli Russkoi zemli’" (“The Tale of the Ruin of the Russian Land”), TODRL, vol 12, 1956.

p 4. D. S. Likhachev, “Galitskaya literaturnaya traditsiya v Zhitii Aleksandra Nevskogo" (“Galich Literary Traditions in The Life of Alexander Nevsky”), TODRL, vol. 5, 1947.

5. Khrestomatiya po drevnei russkoi literature XI-XVII vekov (Anthology of Old Russian Literature from the Eleventh to the Seventeeth Centuries). Compiled by N. K. Gudzy, 8th edition, M., 1973.