Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky[1] (Russian: Александр

Alexander Nevsky

Ярославич Невский; pronounced  [ɐlʲɪˈksandr jɪrɐˈsɫavʲɪtɕ

Александр Невский
ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj] ( listen); 13 May 1221[2] – 14 November 1263) served
as Prince of Novgorod (1236–40, 1241–56 and 1258–1259),
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

was a grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary
status on account of his military victories over German and
Swedish invaders. He preserved Russian statehood and Russian
Orthodoxy, agreeing to pay tribute to the powerful Golden Horde.
Metropolite Macarius canonized Alexander Nevsky as a saint of
the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547.[3]

Contents
Childhood and youth
Politician Icon of Alexander Nevsky
Grand Prince of Vladimir Prince of Novgorod
Marriage and children Reign 1236–1240

Sainthood Predecessor Yaroslav V

Relics Successor Andrey I

Legacy Reign 1241–1256 (second

time)
See also
Predecessor Andrey I
References
Successor Vasily I
Further reading
Reign 1258–1259 (third
External links
time)
Predecessor Vasily I
Childhood and youth Successor Dmitry I
Grand Prince of Vladimir
From Tales of the Life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince
Reign 1252–14 November
Alexander found in the Second Pskovian Chronicle, circa 1260–
1263
1280, comes one of the first known references to the Great Prince:
Predecessor Andrey II
Successor Yaroslav III
Grand Prince of Kiev
 "By the will of God, prince Alexander was born from Reign 1246–1263
the
charitable, people-loving, and meek the Great Predecessor Yaroslav III
Prince Yaroslav, and
his mother was Theodosia. As it
was told by the prophet Isaiah:
'Thus sayeth the Lord: Successor Yaroslav IV
I appoint the princes because they are
sacred and I
Born 13 May 1221
direct them.'
Pereslavl-Zalessky,
"... He was taller than others and his voice reached the Vladimir-Suzdal
people
as a trumpet, and his face was like the face of Died 14 November 1263
Joseph, whom
the Egyptian Pharaoh placed as next to (aged 42)
the king after him of
Egypt. His power was a part of
Gorodets, Vladimir-
the power of Samson and
God gave him the wisdom
Suzdal
of Solomon ... this Prince Alexander: he
used to
defeat but was never defeated ..."[4] Burial Alexander Nevsky
Lavra, Saint
Petersburg, Russia
Born in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Alexander was the second son of
Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and Feodosia Igorevna of Ryazan. Spouse Paraskeviya
His maternal grandfather was Igor Glebovich, the second son of (Alexandra) of
Gleb Rostislavich, Prince of Ryazan (d. 1178). His maternal Polotsk
grandmother was Agrafena of Kiev, daughter of Rostislav I of Vasilisa (Vassa)
Kiev. Alexander seemed to have no chance of claiming the throne Issue Vasily Alexandrovich
of Vladimir. In 1236, however, the Novgorodians summoned him Eudoxia
to become knyaz (or prince) of Novgorod and, as their military
Alexandrovna
leader, to defend their northwest lands from Swedish and German
invaders. Dmitry
Alexandrovich
According to the Novgorod Chronicle written in the 14th century Andrey
(more than a century after the events it recorded), the Swedish Alexandrovich
army had landed at the confluence of the rivers Izhora and Neva, Daniil Alexandrovich
Alexander and his small army suddenly attacked the Swedes on 15
House Rurikid
July 1240 and defeated them. Battle of the Neva saved Novgorod
from a full-scale invasion from the West. Because of this battle, 19- Father Yaroslav II of
year-old Alexander gained the sobriquet "Nevsky" (which means Vladimir
of Neva). This victory, coming just three years after the disastrous Mother Feodosia Igorevna
Mongol invasion of the Rus' lands of the North West, strengthened
of Ryazan
Alexander's political influence, but at the same time it worsened
his relations with the boyars. He would soon have to leave Religion Eastern Orthodoxy
Novgorod because of this conflict.
Saint
After crusading Catholic Germans and Estonians under the Alexander Nevsky

Livonian Order invaded Pskov, the Novgorod authorities sent for

Александр Невский
Alexander. In spring of 1241 he returned from exile, gathered an
army, and drove out the invaders. Alexander and his men faced the Grand Prince of Vladimir
Livonian heavy cavalry led by the bishop of Dorpat (Hermann, Venerated in Eastern Orthodox
brother of Albert of Buxhoeveden). The Rus's force met the Church
enemy on the ice of Lake Peipus and defeated the German knights
Canonized 1547 by Metropolite
and the Estonian infantry during the Battle of the Ice on 5 April
1242. Macarius
Major shrine Vladimir; Pereslavl-
Alexander's victory marked a significant event in the history of Zalessky, Saint
Russia. Foot soldiers of Novgorod had surrounded and defeated an Petersburg
army of knights, mounted on horseback and clad in thick armour.
 Feast 23 November
Politician
(Repose)
2 May (Synaxis of
After the Livonian invasion, Nevsky continued to strengthen
Russia's Northwest. He sent his envoys to Norway and, as a result, the Saints of Rosand
they signed a first peace treaty between Russia and Norway in Yaroslavl
1251. Alexander led his army to Finland and successfully routed 30 August
the Swedes, who had made another attempt to block the Baltic Sea (Translation of relics)
from the Russians in 1256.[5] Patronage Russian Ground
Forces and Russian
Nevsky proved to be a cautious and far-sighted politician. He
dismissed the Roman Curia's attempts to cause war between Naval Infantry
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 Slav religion and culture. It is also argued
that he intentionally kept the North Slav principalities and city
states as vassals 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).
Alexander tried to strengthen his authority at the expense of the
boyars and at the same time suppress any anti-Mongol uprisings in
the country (Novgorod Uprising of 1259). The Orthodox Church
also emphasizes tolerating present civil authority (see Romans 13 (h The envoys of the Roman Pope
ttps://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Romans%2013&version=nrsv)), attend Alexander Nevsky
which in this case would include accepting Mongol vassalage as
divine judgement.

According to one interpretation, Alexander's intentions were to protect scattered principalities of what
would become Muscovy 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.

Some historians see Alexander's choice of subordination to the Golden Horde and refusal of cooperation
with western countries and church as an important reaffirmation of East Slavs' Orthodox orientation (begun
under Duke Vladimir of Kiev and his mother Olga).[6]

Grand Prince of Vladimir

Upon the conquest of the Principality of Vladimir by the Mongols in 1238, its reigning Prince, Yuri II
Vsevolodovich, was killed in the Battle of the Sit River; his younger brother, Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich,
requested from, and received from, the Mongol khan installation as the new Prince. As Prince, he assigned
the duchy of Novgorod to his son Alexander. However, while traveling in 1245 to the Mongol capital
Karakorum in Central Asia, Yaroslav died. When in 1248 Alexander and his older brother Andrey II
Yaroslavich also traveled to Karakorum to attend upon the Great Khan, Andrei returned with the award of
the Grand Principality of Vladimir and Alexander the nominal lordship of Kiev. Once Möngke became the
new Great Khan in 1251, all the Russian princes were obliged to travel to Sarai on the Volga, the capital of
the Golden Horde, to be affirmed in their duchies, but Andrei refused to go. Thanks to his friendship with
Sartaq Khan, the subsequent invasion by the Mongol Golden Horde saw Andrei exiled to Sweden and
Alexander installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) in 1252.[7] Alexander
faithfully supported Mongol rule within his domains. In 1259 he led an army to the city of Novgorod and
forced it to pay tribute it had previously refused to the Golden Horde.[8] Returning in 1263 from one of his
frequent visits to the Horde, Alexander died in the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga on his way back from
Sarai. 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 Nizhny 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
Burial of Alexander Nevsky
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.' "[4]

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 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).

He married a second wife named Vasilisa or Vassa[9] shortly before his death. They had one son.

Daniel of Moscow (1261 – 4 March/5 March 1303).[10]

Sainthood
When Alexander foresaw his impending death he took most strict Orthodox Christian monastic vows,
called Great Schema. According to Orthodox tradition to give a person a new name after becoming a monk
he took the name Alexey. He was buried in Nativity Monastery in Vladimir. Alexander was canonized as a
saint of the Russian Orthodox Church by Metropolitan Macarius in 1547. In 1724 Peter The Great ordered
the transfer of his relics to a monastery especially built for this, Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Saint
Petersburg.

Relics
Nevsky was buried in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin monastery in
Vladimir. Veneration began almost immediately after a miracle at his burial,
when he reportedly extended his hand for the prayer of absolution.[11] 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. The relics
were then placed in a shrine in the church. He was glorified (canonized) by
the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. A new wooden reliquary was made
in Moscow in 1695 and the relics placed in it in 1697. By order of Peter the
Great the relics were then removed from Vladimir on 11 August 1723 and
transported to Shlisselburg, arriving there on 20 September.[11] There they
were kept until 1724, when they were brought to Saint Petersburg and
installed in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra on 30
August.[11] In 1753 a large silver shrine for the relics, made with 90 pounds
A statue of Alexander
of silver, was donated by Empress Elizabeth of Russia. With the completion
Nevsky in Gorodets
of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in 1790, the
shrine and relics were transferred there at its consecration on 30 August, one
of the saint's feast days.[11]

In May 1922, during the general confiscation of Russian Orthodox Church

Opening of relics of
Alexander Nevsky
property, the shrine was opened.[12] The elaborate silver shrine was
transferred to the Hermitage Museum, where it remains.[12] The relics were
put into storage at the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism,
before being returned to the Holy Trinity Cathedral in 1989.[12] His principal
feast day is 23 November. A second feast day was instituted on 30 August in
commemoration of the placing of his relics in the Annunciation Church. He
is also commemorated in common with other saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl
on 23 May.

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.

On 21 May 1725, the empress Catherine I introduced the Imperial Order of St.
Soviet order of
Alexander Nevsky as one of the highest decorations in the land. During the
Alexander Nevsky
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 an earlier Bulgarian Order dedicated to Saint Alexander which was
founded on 25 December 1881, which ceased to exist when the 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. Today the film is renowned for its extraordinary battle on ice
sequence, which has served as inspiration for countless other films. In the picture, Nevsky used a number
of Russian proverbs, tying Nevsky firmly to Russian tradition.[13] The famous proverbial phrase
(paraphrasing Matthew 26:52), "Whoever will come to us with a sword, from a sword will perish," that is
often attributed to Alexander Nevsky, was not in fact pronounced by him, but comes from Eisenstein's film,
where it was said by actor Nikolai Cherkasov.

There is a long tradition of Russian naval vessels bearing Nevsky's

name, such as the 19th-century propeller frigate Alexander Nevsky
and K-550 Alexander Nevsky, a nuclear powered ballistic missile
submarine currently in service with the Russian Navy.[14]

Alexander Nevsky's fame has spread beyond the borders of Russia,

and numerous cathedrals and churches are dedicated to him,
including the Patriarchal Cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria; the Cathedral
church in Tallinn, Estonia; the Cathedral church in Łódź, Poland. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia

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, he was voted the greatest Russian in the Name of Russia television poll.[15]

During the 2021 Moscow Victory Day Parade, a small historical

segment of the parade featured Russian soldiers dressed in
historical M1945 Red Army uniforms carrying out the soviet
combat banners which received the Order of Alexander Nevsky
during the war. This segment coincided with the 800th anniversary
since the birth of Alexander Nevsky in 1221 AD.[16]

See also
Russian Soldiers dressed in
Life of Alexander Nevsky (illuminated manuscript) historical Soviet parade uniforms
carrying the Red Army combat
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral—an incomplete listing of
Eastern Orthodox cathedrals which bear his name banners which received the Order of
Alexander Nevsky during the Second
Rulers of Russia family tree
World War.

References
1. "Благоверный князь Алекса́ндр (в схиме Алекси́й) Невский" (https://azbyka.ru/days/sv-al
eksandr-v-shime-aleksij-nevskij). azbyka.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 26 August 2021.
2. V.A. Kuchkin (1986). О дате рождения Александра Невского (https://web.archive.org/web/
20150222201904/http://www.maxknow.ru/images/upload/articles45/1160.htm) [About the
Birthdate of Alexander Nevsky]. Вопросы истории [Questions of History] (in Russian) (2):
174–176. Archived from the original (http://www.maxknow.ru/images/upload/articles45/1160.
htm) on 22 February 2015.
 3. "The Faithful Saint Prince Alexandr Nevsky" (http://www.abc-people.com/data/nevskiy/dat1
3.htm) (in Russian), article read on 4.11.2010.
4. Begunov, K., translator, Second Pskovian Chronicle, ("Isbornik", Moscow, 1955) pp.11–15.
5. The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016-1471 (https://books.google.com/books?
id=piIJAAAAIAAJ). Offices of the Society. 1914.
6. Tarkiainen, Kari (2008). Sveriges Österland. Från forntiden till Gustav Vasa (in Swedish).
Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-951-583-162-0.
7. Janet Martin, Medieval Russia, 980-1584, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks, Cambridge
University Press, 1995, pp. 158-161
8. Martin, op. cit., pp. 152-153.
9. Н. М. Карамзин. История государства Российского. Том 4. Глава 2 (http://magister.msk.ru/
library/history/karamzin/kar04_02.htm) Существование второй жены Александра у
историков вызывает сомнения. Некоторые полагают, что Васса — монашеское имя
Александры Брячиславовны. Подробнее по этому вопросу см. А. Карпов, Александр
Невский (ЖЗЛ), М.: Молодая гвардия, 2010. С. 89
ISBN 978-5-235-03312-2
10. " "History", St. Daniel Monastery, Moscow" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130524152613/ht
tp://msdm.ru/eng/index.htm). Archived from the original (http://msdm.ru/eng/index.htm) on 24
May 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
11. "Translation of the relics of St Alexander Nevsky" (https://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/08/30/10
2424-translation-of-the-relics-of-st-alexander-nevsky). The Orthodox Church in America.
Retrieved 23 April 2019.
12. "Aleksandro-Nevskaya Lavra" (https://rusmania.com/north-western/st-petersburg-federal-cit
y/st-petersburg/bezymyanny-island-and-the-south/around-nevsky-prospekt/aleksandro-nevs
kaya-lavra). rusmania.com. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
13. Kevin McKenna. 2009. "Proverbs and the Folk Tale in the Russian Cinema: The Case of
Sergei Eisenstein’s Film Classic Aleksandr Nevsky." The Proverbial «Pied Piper» A
Festschrift Volume of Essays in Honor of Wolfgang Mieder on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth
Birthday, ed. by Kevin McKenna, pp. 277-292. New York, Bern: Peter Lang.
14. The US Liberty ship the S.S. Henry W. Corbett, launched in 1943 in Portland, Oregon, US
was lent to the U.S.S.R. during WWII. After the war it was renamed by the Russian navy the
Alexander Nevsky.
15. "Stalin voted third-best Russian" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7802485.stm).
BBC. 28 December 2008.
16. "Подробнее : Министерство обороны Российской Федерации" (https://function.mil.ru/new
s_page/country/more.htm?id=12360555). function.mil.ru. Retrieved 22 May 2021.

Further reading
Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Alexander Nevsky, Saint"  (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_
Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Alexander_Nevsky,_Saint). Encyclopædia Britannica.
Vol. 1 (11th ed.). p. 556.
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).
"Tale of the Life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince Alexander [Nevsky]" in
Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales, ed. Serge Zenkovsky, 224-235 (New York:
Meridian, 1974)

External links
 Repose of Saint Alexander Nevsky (http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=
1&FSID=103377) Orthodox icon and synaxarion (23 November)
Alexander Nevsky: politics under Mongol domination. (http://www.day.kiev.ua/210140)
Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl (http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?S
ID=4&ID=1&FSID=101468) (23 May)
Translation of the relics of Saint Alexander Nevsky (http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.a
sp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=102424) (30 August)
Saint Alexander on Nevsky Prospekt. (https://web.archive.org/web/20171227090023/http://w
ww.nevsky-prospekt.com/stalex.html)
Cawley, Charles, Alexander Nevsky's listing in Medieval Lands by Charles Cawley. (http://f
mg.ac/Projects/MedLands/RUSSIA,%20Rurik.htm#AleksandrIaroslavichNevskydied1263B),
Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
Kommersant: Russia’s Hero is Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20081206072429/http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=-13283) (24 September 2008)
Interfax news agency: Orthodox believers found heaven guardians for Russian secret
service (http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=5184) (22 September 2008)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Nevsky&oldid=1100211844"

This page was last edited on 24 July 2022, at 19:21 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;

additional terms may apply. By
using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.