Presidential Library marking the National Unity Day

Russia will celebrate one of the most important state holidays - National Unity Day - on November 4, 2019.

The Presidential Library’s portal provides access to electronic copies of rare books of the XIX century, dedicated to the brightest pages of the history of the development of the Russian state.

At the turn of the XVI and XVII centuries, the state was de facto without a ruler, since Rurik dynasty ceased. The struggle for power between influential people began, attempts were made to seize territory by neighboring states, and riots broke out.

There was a need to unite all the forces of Russia in order to restore order in the country and free itself from interventionists. Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky stood at the head of the people's militia against the Polish-Lithuanian invaders.

The Presidential Library as part of the electronic collection Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky published historical editions: Eulogy to Prince Pozharsky (1811) and Nizhny Novgorod resident Kuzma Minin Sukhoruk elected by all lands and Nizhny Novgorod in 1611 (1911), giving an idea of ​​the origin of the leaders of the militia.

Two other collections of the Presidential Library feature other feats of Russian patriots: The House Romanov. The Zemsky Sobor of 1613 and Overcoming the Time of Troubles in Russia, which tells about the premises of the Time of Troubles, which spanned a decade and a half, from 1598 to 1613, and about the life of people of that time.

The Russian state during this time period was ruined by Polish interventionists. N. I. Kostomarov in his book The Tale of the Liberation of Moscow from the Poles in 1612 and the Election of Tsar Mikhail, describes these events as follows: “In addition to the Polish soldiers, Cherkesses and their Russians from the Muscovite state were atrocious. There was no power. That’s why a great licentiousness has come in the Russian people”.

M. M. Shcherbatov in his book The Chronicle of many rebellions and the ruin of the Moscow state...  (1771), available on the portal of the Presidential Library, also writes about the reaction of contemporaries to what is happening during the Time of Troubles.

The publications of foreigners about Russia are a real treasury of knowledge and curious sketches. State of the Russian Power and the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1606 by the French author Jacques Margeret, describes his correspondence with Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, who did not want to take a foreigner to Russian service after he managed to serve the Poles and one of the False Dmitry.

The book of M. K. Lyubavsky Lithuanian Chancellor Lev Sapega about the events of the Time of Troubles (1901), focuses on the Polish-Lithuanian trace in history and about the representatives of these countries who could not even dream that they would ever host in Moscow.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the Church’s contribution to the struggle against the invaders is narrated by the book of Vladimir Nazarevsky Patriarch Germogen, the people's militias Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin... (1911) and the essay by E. F. Volkova Patriarch Germogen (1913 ) It is known that the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Germogen, for refusing to worship foreigners was starved to death in the dungeon of the Chudov Monastery.

The church undoubtedly played a significant role in the preservation of the Russian state and people, therefore, probably, the date of November 4 is among religious holidays. In Orthodoxy, this day is dedicated to the Kazan icon of the Mother of God. It was this miraculous icon that was sent specially from Kazan, and with it on October 22, 1612 (November 4, according to a new style) princes Pozharsky and Trubetskoy entered Kitai Gorod, freeing it from the invaders.

And, of course, who did not hear about the feat of a simple Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin? For refusing to show the way to the place where young Mikhail Romanov is, this man was tortured to death, as described by the book of I. S. Remezov Kostroma Peasant Ivan Susanin (1882).

The results of the expulsion of the interventionists and the end of the Time of Troubles in Russia are featured in the publication The Time of Troubles: Essays and Stories (1903) by G. P. Georgievsky.

The historical description of the monument erected to citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky in the capital city of Moscow...  (1818) is dedicated to the memory of those distant events and, in particular, to the collection by the whole world of funds for the installation of the monument to Prince Pozharsky and citizen Minin on Red Square. For this purpose, “subscriptions” for voluntary offerings were opened, which lasted two years. In total, the relevant documents indicate more than 10 thousand benefactors from different provinces of a large country.