Stepan Timofeyevich Razin (Russian: Степан Тимофеевич Разин, pronounced [sʲtʲɪˈpan tʲɪmɐˈfʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈrazʲɪn]; c. 1630 – June 16 [O.S. June 6] 1671), known as Stenka Razin (Стенька [ˈsʲtʲenʲkə]), was a Don Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy in southern Russia from 1670 to 1671.
Early life Razin's father, Timofey Razya, supposedly came from a suburb of Voronezh, a city near Russia's steppe frontier, called the Wild Fields. Razin's uncle and grandmother still lived in the village of New Usman' or Usman' Sobakina, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) outside of Voronezh, until 1667. The identity of Razin's mother is debated. In one document, Razin was referred to as a tuma Cossack which means "half-blood", leading to a hypothesis that his mother was a captured "Turkish" (turchanka) or Crimean Tatar woman. However, this term was also used by "upper Cossacks" as a derogatory nickname towards all "lower Cossacks" regardless of origin. Another hypothesis draws on information about Razin's godmother Matrena Govorukha. According to tradition, a godmother should be related to a birthmother, and Stenka's godmother lived in the town of Tsarev-Borisov. Razin was first mentioned in historical sources in 1652, when he asked for permission to go on a long-distance pilgrimage to the great Solovetsky Monastery on the White Sea. In 1661, he was mentioned as part of a diplomatic mission from the Don Cossacks to the Kalmyks. After that, all trace of him was lost for six years, after which he reappeared as the leader of a robber community established at Panshinskoye, among the marshes between the Tishina and Ilovlya rivers, whence he levied tribute from all vessels passing up and down the Volga. In 1665, his elder brother, Ivan, was executed by order of Yuri Dolgorukov for unauthorized desertion from the war with the Poles. Protracted wars with Poland in 1654–1667 and the Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658) put a heavy burden upon the people of Russia. Taxes increased, as did conscription. Many peasants, hoping to escape these burdens, fled south and joined Razin's bands of Cossacks. They were also joined by many others who were disaffected with the Russian government, including people of the lower classes, as well as representatives of non-Russian ethnic groups such as Kalmyks, that were being oppressed at the time. Razin's first notable exploit was to destroy the great naval convoy consisting of the treasury barges and the barges of the Patriarch and the wealthy merchants of Moscow. Razin then sailed down the Volga with a fleet of 35 vessels, capturing the more important forts on his way and devastating the country. At the beginning of 1668, he defeated the voivode Yakov Bezobrazov, sent against him from Astrakhan, and in the spring embarked on a predatory expedition into Daghestan and Persia, which lasted for eighteen months.
Background
The Time of Troubles, which lasted from 1598 to 1613, had proven a difficult period for Russia. The direct male line of Rurik dynasty tsars died out in 1598, and the rule of the Romanov dynasty (which would eventually end with the February Revolution of 1917) began only in 1613. The reigns of Michael Romanov (tsar from 1613 to 1645) and of his son Alexis (tsar from 1645 to 1676) saw a strengthening of the power of the tsar with a view to stabilizing the Russian lands after the turmoil of the Time of Troubles. As a result, the Zemsky Sobor and the boyar council, two other bodies of government in Russia, slowly lost influence. The Russian population went from fifteen years of "near anarchy" to the reigns of strong, centralizing autocrats. In addition, a deep divide existed between the peasantry and the nobility in Russia. Changes in the treatment and legal standing of peasants, including the institutionalization of serfdom with the Law Code of 1649, contributed to unrest among the peasantry. The Don Cossacks, a largely lower-class group which lived independently near the Don River and which the tsar's government subsidized in exchange for defending Russia's southern borders, led Razin's rebellion. Historian Paul Avrich characterizes Razin's revolt as a "curious mixture of brigandage and revolt", similar to other popular uprisings of the period. Razin revolted against the "traitor-boyars" rather than against the tsar. Cossacks supported the tsar in that they worked for him as contracted military forces - just as they had previously served the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Departure from the Don
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