Alexander or Aleksandr Peresvet (; died 8 September 1380) was a

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

who fought in

single combat Single combat is a duel between two single combatants which takes place in the context of a battle between two army, armies. Instances of single combat are known from Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The champions were often combatants wh ...

with the Tatar champion Temir-Mirza, known in most Russian sources as Chelubey, at the opening of the

Battle of Kulikovo The Battle of Kulikovo () was fought between the forces of Mamai, a powerful Mongol military commander of the Golden Horde, and Russian forces led by Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy, Dmitry of Moscow. The battle took place on 8 September 1380, at Ku ...

on 8 September 1380. The two men killed each other.

Life

Peresvet is believed to have hailed from the

Bryansk Bryansk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), Desna River, southwest of Moscow. It has a population of 379,152 at the 2021 census. Bryans ...

area, and to have taken the monastic habit at the Monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb in Rostov. He moved to the monastery in

Pereslavl-Zalessky Pereslavl-Zalessky (, ), formerly known as Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, or simply Pereyaslavl, is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located on the main Moscow–Yaroslavl road and on the southeastern shore of Lake Pleshcheyevo at the mouth of the ...

, in the service of

Dmitry Donskoy Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (; 12 October 1350 – 19 May 1389) was Prince of Moscow from 1359 and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1363 until his death. He was the heir of Ivan II. He was the first prince of Moscow to openly challenge Mongol ...

. He later moved to the Trinity Lavra where he became a follower of Sergius of Radonezh. Alexander and his friend Rodion Oslyabya joined the Russian troops set out to fight the Tatars under the leadership of

Mamai Mamai (Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, Mongolian Cyrillic: Мамай, ; 1325?–1380/1381) was a powerful Turco-Mongol tradition, Turko-Mongol military commander in Beylerbey rank of the Golden Horde from Kiyat clan. Contrary to popular misconcep ...

. The

was opened by single combat between the two champions.The Russian champion was Alexander Peresvet. The champion of the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...

was Temir-Mirza, known in most Russian sources as Chelubey. The champions killed each other in the first charge. According to a Russian legend, Peresvet did not fall from the saddle, while Temir-Mirza did. In contrary, the epic ''

Zadonshchina ''Zadonshchina'' (; could be translated as "the region beyond the Don River, Russia, Don River") is a Russian literary monument of the late 14th century, which tells of the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. The text Redactions and the Prototext ' ...

'' described Alexander Peresvet as still being alive until the battle began, at least alive long enough for him to make one last speech. If Zadonshchina is accurate, it was unlikely that Alexander Peresvet survive Battle of Kulikovo, as no monastery or church record mentioned where else did he serve after the war. Even if Peresvet survived Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, he certainly died at some point before his brother-in-arms Rodion Oslyabya died in 1398, as the two men were buried together in Simonov Monastery.

Commemoration

* Pereswetoff-Morath, a bayor (Russo-Swedish nobility) family, have been claimed to be descendants of Peresvet. * ''Peresvet''-class battleships, including the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

''Peresvet'', ships of which saw action in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

* Russian landing ship ''Peresvet'', a Ropucha-class landing ship of the

Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...

, named ''Peresvet'' since 2006. * A Volga boat is named ''Alexander Peresvet'' * Armed patrol icebreaker ''Peresvet'' * The town of Peresvet near Moscow * A fast train running between Moscow and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

since 2003. * 33rd Special purpose unit of Internal Troops * Russian military laser ‘ Peresvet’ named so after a 2018 'name that weapon' vote

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Титов А. А. Предание о ростовских князьях. М., 1885 * Описание Свято-Димитриевского монастыря в г. Скопине. Издательство Свято-Димитриевского монастыря, 2000. * Рязанские епархиальные ведомости. 1891, No. 2, 3. * Лошиц Ю. М. Дмитрий Донской., М., 1996 * Розанов Н. П. История церкви Рождества Пресвятые Богородицы на Старом Симонове в Москве. К её пятисотолетию (1370—1870). М., 1870 * Благословение преподобного Сергия. Под редакцией В.Силовьева. Изд.совет РПЦ, 2005

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peresvet, Alexander Russian military leaders Bogatyrs Russian Orthodox monks Russian folklore characters 1380 deaths 14th-century births 14th-century Russian people Russian duellists