Mythology and realities of the battle of Nevel, 1562

Abstract

The Author considers the sources about the battle of Nevel in 1562. The battle of Nevel was in the August, 1562, between the Russian troops (commander was the Prince Andrej Kurbsky) and Polish and Lithuianian troops. There was no the fi ghting as such a great battle, but were some small affairs. Russians had taken prisoners, but couldn't shatter the enemies. But one year later, at the Sejm in Warsaw in the November, 1563, this shooting incident was represented as a grandiose victory of Poles over Muscovites. The Myth about such victory was necessary for the rise of fighting spirit of Polish and Lithuanian troops, which had been lost after the loss of Polotsk in 1563. This Myth was developed in the main Polish Chronicles about Livonian War (M. Stryjkovsky, M. Belsky) and another narrative. From these texts it gets to a place in the historiography. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]