Zemsky Sobors of the 17th century The change in the composition and significance of the Zemsky Sobors is one of the most important consequences of the Time of Troubles. To the cathedrals of the XVI century. officials, central and local government bodies were called. But already at the cathedrals of 1598 and 1605. the presence of elected officials and

11.10.2015 - 15:02

On October 1 (11), 1653, the Zemsky Sobor gathered in the Moscow Kremlin, which decided to reunite the Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia.

"Russian Spring" congratulates its readers on this significant date and expresses deep confidence that sooner or later people of the scale of Bohdan Khmelnitsky will come to power in Kiev to replace the American puppets and temporary workers, who will eliminate the annoying historical mistake of December 1991.

Taking this opportunity, we would like to remind you of the text of this historical document.

Decision of the Zemsky Sobor on the reunification of Ukraine with Russia

In the past, in the 161st year, on May 1, 25, by the decree of the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, the Autocrat spoke at cathedrals about Lithuanian and Circassian affairs.

And in the current year of October 162, on the 1st day of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, the Autocrat pointed out about the same Lithuanian and Circassian affairs to organize a council 2, and at the council to be the Great Sovereign, His Holiness Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, and the metropolitan, and the archbishop, and the bishop, and the black power, and the boyars, and the okolnichy, and the Duma people, and the steward, and the solicitors, and the Moscow nobles, and the clerks, and nobles, and boyar (elected) children from cities 3 , and guests, and commercial and all kinds of ranks to people. And the Sovereign instructed them to declare the Lithuanian King and the lords are glad of the past and present untruths, that on their part they are doing to the violation of the eternal end, and from the King and from the gentlemen, there was no correction in that. And so that those of their sovereigns of the Moscow state of all ranks should be known to the people of their lies. Also, the Zaporozhye hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky was sent to declare that they were beating a high hand under the sovereign's forehead into citizenship. And that now the king and the lords are happy with the sovereign's great ambassadors, according to the treaty, they did not commit correction and let them go idle.

Both the Tsar-Tsar and the Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, the Autocrat, who came from the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos for the crosses and being in the cathedral church, was in the Faceted Chamber for the cathedral. And at the cathedral were: the Great Sovereign, His Holiness Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan of Krutitsky Selivestr, Metropolitan of Serbia Mikhailo, archimandrites and abbots with the entire consecrated cathedral, boyars, entourage, people of the Duma, stewards and solicitors, and noblemen of Moscow , and noblemen from cities, and boyar children, guests and living rooms and cloth hundreds and black hundreds, and palace settlements, merchants and all other ranks, people and archers. And according to the sovereign Tsarev and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, the decree about the lies of Jan Kazimier, King of Poland, and the gentlemen are glad and the petition to the sovereign for the citizenship of Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire army of Zaporozhye was honored aloud to everyone:

In the final letters, the blessed memory of the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, the Autocrat and Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, it is written: connection. And the Great Sovereign of our Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, the Autocrat and his sovereign children and heirs to Vladislav the King, and forward to the future King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Pan Rada, and the entire Rzeczpospolita in all letters describe and name according to his state dignity and by the eternal end of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and the Grand Duke of All Russia, the Autocrat, with his full sovereign titles, according to his sovereign dignity. And how he, the Great Sovereign, describes himself according to the final letter from now and to the century and onward, motionless without any application. And Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the future King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania will write according to the old custom with their full titles according to the final letter. And to the Muscovite state Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his brothers, and children, and grandchildren, to have nothing to do with the Tsar and Grand Duke of all Russia, and the titles of the Muscovite state do not write and do not be named. And that eternal end on both sides, first the great ambassadors, and after that the Great Sovereigns themselves, with their sovereign souls, kissing the cross, confirmed with letters and seals that between them, both Great Sovereigns, I was indispensable for the eternal affirmation of being forever.

And from the side of Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania with him, Vladislav the King, the eternal end is violated: the blessed memory of the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, the Autocrat and the son of his sovereign, our Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia The autocrat, in the royal letters in many letters and border cities of the governors, and kashtelians, and elders, and captains, and sovereigns in the sovereign border cities to the governors in the sheets of their names and titles are not written according to eternal end, with many changes. And other villains in many sheets wrote with great dishonor and reproach, and the royal name was written by the royal name and many states by the sovereign and owner. And about those royal many not-truths sent from them, the sovereigns, to Poland and Lithuania to Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, their sovereigns great ambassadors and envoys. And they were ordered, being with the King at the embassy and from the master, they are happy in answers, to speak of the sovereign's honor, and the original capital sheets of the Kazati, and lists of dates from them, and to ask for executions and punishment for those people.

And in the 148th year, the King wrote to the Emperor Vladislav in his letters: which people, for his royal order, will learn the sovereign's name and title not according to their state approval, and those will be executed, but who wrote without caution, and those with the Sejm personally orders to execute, but in advance it will not be at all.

And in the response letter of the gentlemen, he is glad that in 153 the sovereign's grand ambassador was given to the boyar Prince Alexei Mikhailovich Lvov and his comrades, it is written that the King, while the right did not become, was not capable of repairing the quarantine. And now for those misdemeanors, after the right was put, the king ordered to the Diet, and the execution for their misdemeanor against their right will truly be carried out. And according to those royal charters, and according to the letters of reply, and according to the contracts of the gentlemen, under Vladislav the King, there was no correction of Nikakov.

And under the current Jan Casimir, the King of Poland taught to be even more than before: the blessed memory of the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia the Autocrat and his grandfather sovereign, the blessed memory of the Great Sovereign, Patriarch Philaret Nikitich of Moscow and All Russia, as well as about the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of all Russia the Autocrat in their books are printed evil dishonor, and reproach, and blasphemy. What is not only the Great Christian Sovereign, the anointed of God, and the common man cannot hear, and it is impossible to endure, and it is scary to think. Also, about the Moscow state about the boyars and about all ranks of people, many dishonors and evil reproaches are printed in those books, which in any state is not only after eternal end, and this does not happen in debauchery. And Vladislav the King was written by the abducted Grand Duke of Moscow, past the eternal end.

And in the past, in 158, according to the Tsar Tsarev and the Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, by decree, were sent to Poland and Lithuania to Jan Casimir, his sovereign ambassadors - the boyar and armorer and the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Grigory Gavrilovich Pushkin with comrades 4. And they were ordered to speak firmly about those royal and gentlemen, and for the honor of the state, according to the ambassadorial agreement on the guilty, they ask the death penalty for many untruths.

And according to the royal decree, the pans are glad to those great ambassadors of the Sudarev gave an agreement behind their hands and behind the seals, that those all about the sovereign's name and the title of the accused people, who are in the list from them, great in words, they, Pan's Rada, are written in Warsaw on the Sejm, according to the law of the Korun and Lithuanian and against the Seim Code of the Constitution of 1637 to be judged. And condemning them for their misdemeanor, and with death, whoever is worthy, execute them in the presence of sovereign ambassadors or in the presence of envoys. And in the constitution of 1637 5 years it is written: and on those who would dare to write, or diminish titles, or abolish, we will mortgage perduellionis, and in Russian that word is a death penalty and excommunication of the estate.

And according to the sovereign's decree, and according to the royal dispatch, the envoys Ophonasiy Pronchishchev and the clerk Almaz Ivanov were sent to the King to the Diet with capital sheets. according to the constitution, executions were requested; and stood firm about it. Both the King and the gentlemen are glad at that Diet, with the emissaries of the sovereign, not only that they did not make corrections under the contract, and they did not put many wine people to court, and did not show the truth in anything.

And after that the King sent his envoys to the Tsar, Jan Kazimir, Albrecht Petslavsky and Hryshtop Unikhovsky, and with them he sent from the Diet to those of his subjects, accused for the honor of the sovereign, people with a decree. And nothing is written in that decree for direct amendment. And many wine people were made free from their wines, not for business, but on whom the usual few people and wine was laid, and about those in the same decree it is written: where are they, whether they are alive or died, they themselves do not know about that. And according to the sovereign's decree, that decree was not adopted by them, the envoys, for such obvious wrongs. And it was told to them and in the reply letter it was written that the Emperor would send his sovereign great ambassadors to Jan Casimir King to accomplish those deeds.

And in the past, in 161, sent to him, to Jan Casimir the King, the sovereigns great and plenipotentiary ambassadors, the boyar and the governor of the Great Perm prince Boris Alexandrovich Repnin-Obolensky and his comrades, so that Jan Kazimir

The king, mindful of the eternal end, and the ambassadorial agreements, and his seim laws, the constitution, ordered a decent correction in those aforementioned matters. And those great ambassadors of the sovereign, being in answer, about the sovereign's honor about the correction of the accused people under the agreement of the Pan Rada spoke and stood about this by all sorts of measures. And Jan Kazimierz the King did not make any corrections in that matter. And the gentlemen are glad in the answers every now and then that they, the great ambassadors, spoke of the honor of the blessed memory of the Great Tsar-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, the Autocrat and his son's sovereign, the Great Tsar-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, the Autocrat, called a small business.

And those great ambassadors of the sovereign, they were glad to say that they, the gentlemen, are glad, that the initial and main thing, the state honor, they put in nothing and call it a small matter, not fearing God and not remembering the eternal end. And so our Great Sovereigns, the blessed memory of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, the Autocrat and his son, our Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, the Autocrat, dishonored.

And the gentlemen were glad to talk and pointed to their previous unjust judgment and decree that they would not judge and alter the matter, about their state honor, past the previous court and decree otherwise. And they really refused. And which sheets were written after that of their trial and decree, and about those sheets, the lady was glad to say that they will judge those people from whom the sheets were written in the same way as for the previous registrations. And they laughed at those words, but they did not do justice in that matter and put such a great thing into nothing.

But he, Jan Kazimir the King, forgetting the eternal end, plotting evil enemy plans over the Moscow state, often referred to a common Christian enemy with the Crimean Khan and contrived all sorts of inventions in order to jointly fight and ruin the Moscow state. Yes, he, Jan Kazimir the King, through his states let the common Christian enemy of the Crimean Khan through his states to the Queen of Sveisk, the Crimean Khan, an ambassador for a quarrel and war. And before that, that the Crimean ambassador through Poland and Lithuania to go to Sveya, it never happened.

Yes, from his own royal side, they taught to be in foreign places of great enthusiasm: when they come to the sovereign's side, their Polish and Lithuanian people of the sovereign border cities of noblemen and children of boyar estates and estates ruin, and their people and peasants are robbed and tortured with various torments, and abroad They take it out strongly, and do all sorts of anger to them. And the sergeants, according to the letter of the sovereign border commanders, do not repair reprisals in that. And for all those measures, many untruths were committed to the violation of the eternal end on the royal side.

And from the sovereign's side, the eternal end in every measure and place is restrained firmly and indestructible.

Yes, in past years, the Zaporozhye hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporozhye army sent their envoys to the Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, that the gentlemen are glad and the whole Rzeczpospolita to the Orthodox Christian faith of Greek law and to the holy persecution of the Eastern churches have done a lot. And they, the Zaporozhye Cherkas, from the true Orthodox Christian faith, in which they have long lived, were taught to excommunicate and enslave them to their Roman faith. And the churches of God were sealed, but in some they perpetrated union, and they repaired all kinds of persecutions, and outrages, and non-Christian anger against them, which they do not mend over heretics and Jews. And they, the Cherkassians, not even though the pious Christian faiths should depart and the holy churches of God see in the ruin and seeing themselves in such an evil persecution, involuntarily calling to themselves to help the Crimean Khan with the horde, taught for the Orthodox Christian faith and for the holy churches of God against their stand ... And they ask the Tsar's Majesty for mercy, so that he, the Great Christian Sovereign, W&LOI pious Orthodox Christian faiths and the holy churches of God and their, Orthodox Christians, innocent blood shedding, have mercy on them, ordered them to take a high hand under his royal majesty. And he inflicted them on the persecutors of the Christian faith and the Holy Churches of God, on the Poles, to help and sent his troops.

And in the past, in 161, he sent Zaporozhye hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky his envoys twice to the Tsar and the Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, which from the royal side, according to an agreement, on which they, the Zaporozhye Cherkasy, were reconciled, was not fulfilled , and the churches of God, which were written in the contract to give from the union, were not given, but which few were given, and those were turned back under the union. And although the Orthodox Christian faith should be eradicated and the holy churches of God destroyed to the end, the Coruna and Lithuanian troops gathered against them, and many cities and places, and in those cities and places, the holy churches of God desecrated, and cursed, and ravaged. And many Orthodox Christians of the spiritual and secular rank were innocently tortured with various evil torments, and they repaired any evil desecration, which we hear pitifully.

And they from the Tsar Majesty the Zaporizhzhya Cherkasy ask for mercy with many tearful petitions, so that he, the Great Sovereign, eradicate the Orthodox Christian faiths in the holy churches of God by ruining them as a persecutor and not giving an oath-breaker and had mercy on them, ordered Hetman Bogdan Khmel-Nitsky and all the army take a high hand under his sovereign. And if the Sovereign would not grant them, he would not be pleased to accept a high hand under his sovereign, and the Great Sovereign, His Imperial Majesty, for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God, interceded in them, ordered them to reconcile through his sovereign great ambassadors, so that the world would be reliable for them. ... And they do not want to reconcile themselves with the Poles, because the Poles do not stand up for their truth.

And according to the sovereign's decree, and according to the petition of the hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire army of Za-Porozhsky, his sovereign grand ambassador, boyar and governor of the Great Perm prince Boris Alexandrovich Repnin-Obolensky and his comrades, was commanded to talk about that world and about the mediation of the king and the Pan's Rada. And according to the sovereign's decree, his sovereign's great ambassadors, the boyar Prince Boris Alexandrovich and his comrades, in their answers, said that the king and the gentlemen would be glad to calm down that civil strife and make peace with the Cherkassians. And the Orthodox Christian faith was not persecuted by the Greek law, and the churches of God were not taken away, and they did not repair their bondage, but they used to create peace according to the Zborov treaty 7, and which churches were turned into union, and those used to give the churches back to them. And the king and the gentlemen will be glad to do something that they will make peace with the Zaporozhye Cherkasy, and in the faith they will not learn to fix bondage in advance, and the churches of God will give them as before, and the Great Sovereign His Royal Majesty for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God to his brother he will commit such an act to the royal majesty: to those people who, in his state name, have appeared in the registration, he orders them to give them their guilt.

And Jan Kazimierz the king and the lords are happy and they put that matter into nothing, and they refused peace from the Cherkasy, and although the Orthodox Christian faith was eradicated and the churches of God ruined, they went to war with them, the great ambassadors.

Yes, like the King and the gentry, in the past, in the 161st year, the Diet was in Brest of Lithuania, and at their Diet it was really sentenced that their Orthodox Christians of Greek law, who live in the Polish Korun and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, should be beaten also by the churches To discredit God, so that the faith of the Greek law will be rooted out.

And the sovereign's great ambassadors, seeing their much stubbornness, told them with great deduction in the ward and going to all the people out loud that the Great Sovereign His Imperial Majesty for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God, although to calm their civil strife, to those people who for their sovereign honor they were worthy of death, he wanted to give them their guilt. And if he, Yan Kozimir is the king, and they, the gentlemen are glad, they put in nothing and did not make corrections in anything, and the Great Sovereign His Imperial Majesty is such their evil dishonor and for the eternal end of the incorruptibility they will not tolerate this disease. And he does not teach his ambassadors and envoys about sending them ahead, but orders them to write about their non-truths and about the violation of the eternal end to all the neighboring states to the Great Sovereigns of Christianity and Busurmans. And for the Orthodox Christian faith, and for the saints of God, the churches, and for their state worthy honor will stand, how much the Merciful God will give help.

And the gentlemen are glad to no measure, and they did not show any similarities, and they did not make any corrections, and they refused everything, and those sovereign's great ambassadors were let go idle. And how Jan Kazimierz the king was elected to the kingdom and to be crowned, he swore an oath, and in his oath it is written between other matters, that he should not push, and protect, and no measures for faith himself, and would not allow anyone to do so. But he will not keep that oath of his own, and he will make his subjects free from all loyalty and obedience and will not ask anyone for that oath and will not accept.

And now he wrote to the Tsar-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, the Zaporozhye hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporozhye army with his envoy with Lavrin Kapusta, that the King with his troops was going to Ukraine. And they, not even though they would hand over monasteries and churches of God and Christians into torment, beat them with their foreheads so that the Emperor would grant him, they soon ordered to send their troops to them. And if he, the Great Sovereign, and now over them, the Orthodox Christians, will not take pity, as they cry for mercy from him, the Sovereign, and those of the Gentiles will ruin them something and bend to themselves, then they will repair their will out of need. And the Zaporozhye envoy Lavrin Kapusta said: Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky ordered him, and ordered the Emperor to beat him with his brow, so that the Emperor ordered to send his sovereign governors to Kiev and other cities, and with them military men, although with 3,000 people, and then for the same sovereign governors, but the hetman-de has a lot of people. Yes, the Crimean Khan with the horde wanted to be with him, and some of the Tartars had already come and stood under the White Church. Yes, he sent his messenger to the hetman w-de to the train in Borki, calling him into his citizenship. And the hetman, de he refused, and hopes for the sovereign's mercy. But the Emperor will not grant him, he will not order him to accept, and he will begin to testify before God that he asked a lot of mercy from him, the Emperor, but he, the Emperor, did not grant him, but with the king, they the world will by no means be, but taught to stand against it.

Yes, it was announced in the news that their Circassian people with the Polish people at the entrances twice converged and fought, and they were happy and they took many Poles' languages. And the Lithuanian hetman Radivil said: they will not do anything with the Zaporozhian army, and they will immediately make peace with them and go to the sovereign's land in war.

And after listening, the boyars were sentenced: for the blessed honor of the memory of the Great Tsar-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia and for the honor of his sovereign's son, the Great Tsar-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, there is a message of war against the Polish king. And you can’t endure it any longer, because for many years 8 in royal charters and in border sheets they wrote their sovereign names and titles, past the eternal end and ambassadorial agreement, with a lot of registration.

And according to the ambassadorial agreement, and according to the letters of reply, and according to their Diet constitution, for many years, no corrections were made, and seeing the royal subjects such inconsistency and the evil people for their inevitability did not cease from that, and from the border cities their captains and governors became sovereign foreign cities to the voivods in all years of the sovereign name and title were written with registration. And under the sovereign ambassadors, under the boyar, Prince Boris Alexandrovich Repnin and his comrades did not make corrections and called that business - the state honor - a small matter, and laughing, and put it in nothing, and released the sovereign ambassadors idle, and thus they violated the eternal end ...

And about the hetman about Bohdan Khmelnitsky and about the entire army of the Zaporozhye boyars and the Duma people said that the Great Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia would deign that hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and all the Zaporozhye army with their cities and lands to take under their state a high hand for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God, because the nobles are glad and the whole Rzeczpospolita to the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God have risen and want to eradicate them, and so that they, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky and all the Zaporozhye army , sent to the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich) of all Russia, beat with your brow a lot of thirst, so that he, the Great Sovereign, eradicate the Orthodox Christian faith and destroy the holy churches of God by their persecutor and the persecutor did not give and take pity on them, ordered them the state's high hand. And if the Emperor would not grant them, he would not be pleased to accept them under his sovereign's high hand, and the Great Emperor would intervene in them for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God, ordered them to reconcile through his great ambassadors, so that the world would be reliable for them.

And according to the sovereign's decree, and according to their petition, the sovereign's great ambassadors, in their answers, said that the King and the gentlemen would be glad to calm the civil strife, and they would reconcile with the Circassians, and the Orthodox Christian faith was not persecuted, and the churches of God were not taken away, and they would not be in bondage for anything not repaired, but used the peace under the Zboriv Treaty.

And the Great Sovereign His Imperial Majesty for the Orthodox Christian faith will make Jan Casimir the King such an act: to those people who, in his state name, appear in their registrations, he orders them to give them their guilt. And Jan Kazimierz King and the gentlemen are happy and they put that matter in nothing and in the world they refused from the Cherkasy. And that is why Jan Casimir King will have to take them in the oath, it is written that it is in the Christian faith that he is warned and protected, and that he will not be constrained by any measures for faith, and that he will not allow anyone to do so. But he will not keep that oath of his own, and he makes his subjects free from all loyalty and obedience.

And he, Jan Kazimir, did not keep that oath of his own, and rebelled against the Orthodox Christian faith of the Greek law, and ruined many churches of God, and in others he perpetrated union. And so as not to release them into citizenship of the Tursky Saltan or the Crimean Khan, because they have now become the free people of the royal oath.

And according to that, they sentenced Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky and all the Zaporozhye army with cities and lands to take over.

And stewards, and solicitors, and Moscow nobles, and clerks, and tenants, and nobles, and boyar children from cities, and shooter heads, and guests, and living rooms and cloth hundreds, and black hundreds and palace settlements, heavy people , and the archers about the state honor and the reception of hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the entire army of Zaporozhye were interrogated by rank separately.

And they said that for the honor of the blessed memory of the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia and for the honor of his sovereign's son, the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, to stand and wage war against the King of Lithuania. And they, serving people, for their state honor, will begin to beat up with the Lithuanian King, not sparing their heads, and for the sake of their state honor. And merchants of all ranks are people with help and for their state honor to die with their heads for the sake of their lives.

And Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God would have been granted by the Great Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia on their petition, ordered them to be accepted under his sovereign high hand.

TsGADA, f. 79, Relations between Russia and Poland, 1653, no. 8, ll. 1–44 (original).

It is quoted here from: Russia and its colonies. How Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltic States and Central Asia became part of Russia. M., 2007, p. 143-164. (Reprint from the book: Under the banner of Russia. Collection of archival documents / Comp., Notes. A. A. Sazonov, G. N. Gerasimov, O. A. Glushkov, S. N. Kistereva. M .: Russian book, 1992 ...

The femme fatale, whose beauty can lead to men destroying countries, is a topic that is more popular today than ever before. The image of a mysterious, seductive femininity seeks its own path, regardless of the consequences, and has captivated people for thousands of years.

Be it a goddess or an ordinary mortal woman, men will fight, die and tear apart the empire because of her, then blame her for everything, and often burn at the stake. The almost supernatural skill with which she captivates her victim makes men describe her in different ways, for some she is a demon, a witch, and for others even a vampire.

This legendary Spartan beauty is said to have been born after the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, descended from Olympus to seduce her mother Leda. At the age of 10, she was kidnapped by Theseus, but her brothers came to the rescue and rescued Elena. Tyndareus, her earthly father, made each of her princely suitors swear allegiance to the man whom he chose to marry her - Menelaus.

When Paris, the prince of Troy, kidnapped her, all the oath-bound princes went to war in support of Menelaus. The princes and their armies besieged Troy for 10 years, until Helen was freed and returned to Menelaus. After an attempt on her life, the god Apollo brought her to Olympus, where she became immortal.

This daughter of the Phoenician priest-king Ephbaal married the Jewish king Ahab and persuaded him to renounce the Jewish god Yahweh (Jehovah) in favor of Tyrion Baal. When, according to her instruction, the prophets of Yahweh were killed, the prophet Elijah predicted that a severe punishment awaited her, which would be divine retribution. Jezebel forced Elijah to flee to save her life. Elijah told her husband, Ahab, that he and his heirs would be destroyed, and Jezebel would be given to the dogs.

Having survived the death of her husband Ahab, Jezebel challenged the prophet Elijah, however, she lost and died, and most of her body was eaten by dogs. The name Jezebel still remains a symbol of a vicious and vile woman.

After she did not gain the throne after the death of her father, Cleopatra decided to reclaim her throne through seduction. In 48 BC, Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria, a year later she bore him a son and followed him to Rome, where he was killed. Returning to Egypt, she aided the Roman heroes (Augustus, Lepidus, and Mark Antony), influencing the latter so much that he abandoned Rome just to be with her. She bore him three children. When Antony was defeated by Augustus in a naval battle, he and Cleopatra fled together.

When rumors reached him that Cleopatra had died, the intoxicated Antony stabbed himself and died in her arms. Unable to seduce Augustus, she committed suicide by allowing the snake to bite her. She is considered by many to be an Egyptian queen, but she was actually Macedonian, like Alexander the Great. Nevertheless, the myth of Cleopatra, the queen of the Nile, whose beauty intoxicated great people, is eternal.

Samson was a mythical hero and leader of the Jews. Having received supernatural strength from God, the angel told his parents that he should never be cut and shaved, because the strength would be lost. Samson defeated the enemies of the Jews, the Philistines, several times, and even killed a lion with his bare hands. He seemed invincible, but, unfortunately for him, fell in love with a girl named Delilah.

At the direction of the king of the Philistines, Delilah cut Samson's hair while he slept, thereby depriving him of his strength. His enemies cut out his eyes, and Samson was forced to work as a slave. Although it is not known what became of her, to this day, each "Delilah" is considered a dangerous seductress.

The Gospel of Mark tells how John the Baptist died due to the deceit of Salome, daughter of Herodias, wife of Herod. Despite John's imprisonment because of the baptism of Christ, Herod respected and feared him. Herodias hated John because he called her marriage illegal, but Herod refused to harm him.

Herodias then asked Salome to dance in front of the king, which he liked so much that he promised to give her whatever she wanted. Mother instructed her to ask for the head of John, and Herod could not refuse her. The executioner, sent to behead John, returned with the prophet's head on a platter. Salome then handed the trophy to her mother.

The Dogomeric Greek ballad "The Argonauts" tells the story of Medea. King Eet's daughter Medea fell in love with Jason. When the king, betrayed by Jason and his Argonauts, sent an army to attack them, Medea used her magic to calm the warriors, she even killed her own brother to help her beloved escape.

She later deftly persuaded Pelias' daughters to dismember their father and boil him in a cauldron, hoping that by doing so she could preserve her withering youth. When Jason left her for the sake of another, she presented him with a dressing gown, which she put on burned in the fire, as did everyone present, including Medea's father. Medea's infamous anger even spread to her children, she took the lives of all 14 children who were associated with Jason.

Famous stories tell us that the sirens were the daughters of the river deity Achel. Their names meant - beautiful face, beautiful voice, white creature, beautiful music, charming face, etc. As you know, they challenged the musical muses, but were defeated, so they ended up in forest rivers on the rocky coastline of southern Italy, luring sailors who did not know that they were going to die with their songs and beauty.

When Odysseus left the sorceress Circe on his way home, she warned him to ask the members of his crew to put wax into their ears while sailing past the rocky shores where these creatures lived. Odysseus wished to hear the sirens singing, so he ordered his crew to tie him tightly to the mast, which was done. Although the sirens asked Odysseus to stop and come to them, they still managed to avoid the danger.

The embodiment of mystery, in Greek myth she is spoken of as the daughter of Orthus and Chimera. A mysterious monster, she possessed the head and chest of a woman, the body of a lion, the tail of a snake, the wings of an eagle and was sent by a Hero to punish the people of Thebes. She settled on Mount Fichum near the entrance to the city, where she asked a riddle to every passer-by, which was almost impossible to answer. If a person answered incorrectly, then the Sphinx ate him.

The ruler of Thebes, horrified by the number of killed citizens, offered his crown to anyone who could kill her. Oedipus, a very intelligent Greek traveler, took up this challenge. When he gave the correct answer to the riddle of the Sphinx, she, being defeated, left the city. Alternative ending of the story - The Sphinx ate itself.

This cruel Hindu goddess (her name means "black") is something very voluptuous, but at the same time terrible. We all know that nothing lasts forever, according to legend, this is because Kali destroys everything. Human blood drips from her three glowing eyes, her tongue strives to drink all the blood from her victims, snakes writhe on her neck, and her black body is adorned with chains of human skulls.

In each of her ten hands, she grips a weapon. During the ceremony in honor of her, people are sacrificed. She is an insidious killer who pays no attention to pleas for mercy. When her husband Shiva was among the victims, she beheaded him and danced on his body.

King Solomon, hunting in the Egyptian desert, met a beautiful naked woman who demanded an explanation from him why he was hunting on her land. When she announced that no man could overcome her, Solomon asked who could do it? She replied that only Archangel Michael could do it. Solomon summoned Michael, whose shining armor so frightened her that she instantly turned gray and aged, and appeared in the form of the terrible demon Karina.

The mother of dead children and the cause of animal diseases, her gaze allegedly prevented cows from becoming pregnant, sheep from raising their offspring, and crops from growing. It has even been suggested that her bright light even contributes to the male seed losing its strength.

Originally a human, she ate her children to gain magical power. Since then, she could only give birth to dead children, and any woman to whom she showed her bloody external genitals was waiting for the same fate. Any man who saw her was at least sick. “It was fate,” she told Solomon.

The femme fatale is a beauty and manipulator. Using beauty, intelligence and sexuality, she turns a man into a means to an end. Fatal - means determining fate. Femme fatale makes those who love her suffer, changes the fate of people and influences the course of history. Often, such a woman herself is a victim of circumstances or abuse.

Salome

Salome is considered the prototype of the femme fatale. The girl danced so beautifully at the birthday party of Herod Antipas that he promised to fulfill her every wish. At the instigation of her mother, Salome asked for the head of the prophet John the Baptist ... The plot that inspired many artists and poets may be a myth. The French historian Robert Ambrelin in his book "Jesus, or the deadly secret of the Templars" argues that Salome, the king's daughter, could not entertain guests like a vulgar dancer. Moreover, in 32 AD, Salome was 37 years old. She was married and had three sons. At that time, John the Baptist, by order of Herod, was imprisoned in the fortress of Macheron. His execution could have been a political murder, which was later covered up with a story of female deceit. In ancient texts, there is often a two-faced beauty - Delilah, who killed Samson; Judith, who cut off the head of Holofernes.

Elena the beautiful

In terms of the amount of damage, no one can compare with Elena the Beautiful. The young man Paris fell in love with the wife of King Menelaus and with the help of the goddess Aphrodite won her heart. Taking the royal treasures and his wife, Paris departed for Troy. King Menelaus gathered one hundred thousand soldiers and set off in pursuit of a thousand ships across the Aegean Sea. The careless Trojans did not return his wife, although Cassandra warned that it would not end well. The siege of Troy lasted ten years. Over the years, Hellas lost many glorious heroes, the spell of Aphrodite dissipated, Paris died, and his brother took Elena as his wife. Finally, thanks to the cunning of Odysseus with the wooden horse, Troy fell.

The unfaithful spouse was supposed to be executed, but the brave warriors did not raise a hand against her. Further - it is unclear. According to one version, Elena and her husband returned home. On the other, in order to avoid strife, Apollo turned Helen into a constellation. There is also a third final. Elena's friend Polixo, who lost her husband in the war, sent assassins to her. Herodotus wrote that a temple was erected at the site of Elena's death, and ugly girls, having made a sacrifice, acquired the gift of beauty. There is a lot of mythology and divine intervention in the Iliad, but the Trojan War is a historical fact. The city was destroyed in the 13th century BC, after three thousand years its ruins were discovered by the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann.

Cleopatra VII (69 BC - 30 BC)

Cleopatra VII became the queen of Egypt at the age of 17. A keen mind, encyclopedic knowledge and a strong character were useful to her in the struggle for the throne. Cleopatra turned to the Romans for help and became the mistress of Julius Caesar, who helped her seize the throne. By her order, her brother Ptolemy and sister Arsinoe were killed, to say nothing of mere mortals. The times were dark. For example, Cleopatra's half-sister Berenice on the third day after the wedding ordered her husband to be strangled, because he was a boor and rude, albeit a royal family. After the death of Caesar, Cleopatra became the mistress of the commander Mark Antony. Anthony himself and Roman historians left bad reviews about Cleopatra: she was lecherous, kept the harem of young men, took her life for a night of love. The history is known to be written by the winners.

Cleopatra was a wise and visionary ruler. Here is how Plutarch spoke about her: “... the appearance, combined with the rare convincingness of speeches, with a huge charm that shone through in every word, in every movement, firmly cut into the soul ... most often she herself talked with foreigners - Ethiopians, troglodytes, Jews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes, Parthians ... she also learned many languages, while the kings who ruled before her did not even know Egyptian. " After the defeat of Antony, Egypt became a Roman province. Cleopatra's reign - her gift as a strategist and politician - postponed this fate for 20 years. The queen took poison to avoid shame and not participate in the victor's triumphal procession.

Lou Salome (1861 - 1937)

Louise Gustavovna Salome is a writer, philosopher, psychotherapist. The woman who left a mark on the lives of Nietzsche, Freud and Rilke. At the age of 20, she shocked secular salons with her close friendship with the philosophers Paul Ree and Friedrich Nietzsche. Both were in love, made an offer to Lou, but were refused - she was attracted by spiritual closeness and intellectual conversations. Neither Ree nor Nietzsche ever married. Nietzsche called Lou a superwoman and used her traits in Zarathustra, a man of independent consciousness and free will. Lou later married a professor with "exotic charisma", with the same condition - no sex. Friedrich Karl Andreas became the most mysterious husband in history, having lived 43 years in a platonic marriage. At the age of 30, Lou had a love affair, but it was short-lived. Louise was always the first to throw men. Then the young poet Rainer Rilke became her lover and friend, owing much of his creative development to her. Throughout her life, she explored the relationship between a man and a woman, but shared love and sex.

At the age of 50, Lou Salome meets Sigmund Freud at a congress of psychoanalysts. Becomes his student and closest friend. Her book Erotica was a European bestseller. The correspondence with Freud consisted of over 200 letters. Once Freud's daughter confessed to Louise that her father was very afraid of death. Lou knew from experience that the fear of death was hidden behind the fear of love. Another woman from Russia, Sabina Spielrein, a former patient and lover of Jung, expressed the idea that a person is governed not only by sexual attraction, but also by a passion for the destruction of life. Many years later, Sigmund Freud put the idea of ​​love and death as equal forces of human nature as the basis of the latest version of his teaching. Lou Salomé believed that man and woman are fundamentally different creatures. A man is directed towards the outer world, seeks satisfaction in love, a woman - the inner world - does not exist outside of love at all. A man needs social success, and a woman needs self-disclosure. Shortly before her death, Lou wrote: “Whatever pain and suffering life brings, we should still welcome it. The sun and the moon, day and night, darkness and light, love and death - a person is always between them. He who is afraid of suffering is also afraid of joy. "

Maria Tarnovskaya (1877 - 1949)

A hundred years ago, the Ukrainian Countess Maria Tarnovskaya was better known than Mata Hari. The trial of "Koza Russo" in Venice brought together hundreds of journalists from all over the world. An aristocrat, a descendant of the ancient O'Rourke and Stewart clans, was accused of organizing the murder and bringing to suicide of 14 people. Maria at the age of 17 married the most fashionable groom in Kiev. Out of boredom, she corrupted his younger brother, the young man hanged himself. Her lovers abandoned their wives and children, gave her money, fought in a duel with her husband. When the lover ran out of funds (Maria lived, knowing nothing of refusal), she offered to insure her life in her favor and shoot herself. Among her victims are Count Pavel Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Tolstoy, Polish nobleman Stefan Borzhevsky, German baron Vladimir Stahl, nobleman, attorney at law Donat Prilukov, Count Komarovsky ...

Here is what Lev Lurie writes in the book “Predators”: “Tarnovskaya's undoubted success among men was undoubtedly associated with the then Victorian attitude towards sex. Wives and generally married “ladies of society” are airy creatures, as if asexual. There was no connection between marriage and eroticism ... Maria Tarnovskaya - Countess, Lady of the World, in whose veins Mary Stuart's blood flowed - a type unprecedented in Russia at that time: depraved, choosing a man herself, not inclined to lyrics. She was stunning. " Her portraits were published on the front pages of newspapers, poetry was dedicated to her, plays were written, but real success came when Annie Vivanti, based on an interview with Tarnovskaya, wrote the novel Circe. In 1917, a film was shot on it, in 1970 - a TV series. Five years later, 38-year-old Tarnovskaya was released from prison. An American officer in love transported her to Argentina, where she married a French count, ran a fabric store, and died in Santa Fe at the age of 72.

Mata Hari (1876 - 1917)

Margareta Gertrude Zelle was not particularly talented, but she was prone to hoaxes, knew how to strip in public and studied Indonesian dances. At the age of 28, left without funds and without a husband, she decided to try her luck in Paris. An oriental dancer performed under the pseudonym Mata Hari - Eye of the Day. Mata Hari was the first woman to undress on stage. At the beginning of the century, Europeans were fond of Eastern practices, eroticism, sexuality. At one time, Mata Hari was the highest paid dancer in the world. A sexy and uninhibited woman was in touch with the military and politicians.

Remaining a Dutch citizen, Mata Hari traveled freely throughout Europe during the First World War. The Germans recruited her first, and when the French counterintelligence declassified her, the spy offered her services to France. During the first mission, her message was intercepted. It is possible that the German side decided to get rid of the double agent. Margaret Zelle was tried in Paris. The courtesan met her death with rare dignity and fearlessness. The case materials are still classified, and so far there is no way to assess the real harm from her espionage activities. Perhaps the execution allowed high military officials to hide their connection with the dancer. Here are the words of the famous counterintelligence officer Orpesta Pinto: "If she had not been executed, she would not have been known as a martyr and no one would have even heard of her." But Mata Hari went down in history as an exotic dancer and founder of sex espionage.

Alexandra Kollontai (1872 -1952)

Secular beauty and revolutionary, an outstanding orator, the first woman minister in history. The "Valkyrie of the Revolution" left behind a train of broken hearts and destinies. She rejected the man and he shot himself. She got married against the will of her parents, got bored in marriage and was carried away by Marxism. Her connections were numerous, but first of all, men carried her ideas away. During the February Revolution, she met the sailor Pavel Dybenko. “We are young as long as we are loved,” said Kollontai. A semi-literate hero and a noblewoman (17 years older than her husband) entered into the first Soviet marriage (certificate No. 1). Both became people's commissars: he - for sea affairs, she - for the state charity. When Kollontai needed a room for the House of Invalids, she ordered the storming of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, surrounded by thousands of parishioners. The church anathematized her, Kollontai proposed to cancel the church marriage and wrote a decree on divorces. Later, Dybenko started an affair, Kollontai left him, and he shot himself.

After breaking up with Dybenko, Kollontai asked Stalin to send her abroad. For almost 15 years she was ambassador to Norway, Sweden and Mexico. Abroad, her love for high society, chic outfits, gourmet food and comfort - everything she fought against in her homeland - returned to her. In 1945, Alexandra Kollontai was the only surviving member of the Presidium of the Petrograd Soviet. “In a free society, satisfying the sexual urge will be as easy as drinking a glass of water,” she said. In The New Woman (1913), she proclaimed victory over emotions, rejection of jealousy, and open sexuality as traits of a progressive woman. The theorist of freedom of love, is considered the ancestor of the feminist movement.

"Women are created to be loved, not to be understood," said Oscar Wilde, who understood the female essence better than many men. The most famous women have written their names in history forever. And although some of them do not seem to us to be fatal beauties, and they really did not possess unearthly beauty, they have been remembered for centuries.

The Roman woman Valeria Messalina went down in history as the most dissolute mistress, while being the wife of the emperor, she became a symbol of lust and fornication. Messalina lived in the 1st century AD and died at the hand of her husband at the age of 23. She wanted to elevate her young lover Guy Celia to the throne. Historians also claim that at that time she was already seriously affected by syphilis, so that death at the hands of her husband became a beautiful - and rather successful - end to her dissolute life.

According to her contemporaries, she was much more dissolute than the emperor Nero, who was famous for wild orgies, children's harems and the imperial palace turned into a brothel ...

The Egyptian queen Cleopatra is one of the wisest mistresses, far from being beautiful in appearance. Cleopatra is arguably the most controversial character in the Ancient World. The night of love with the queen cost the man his life, nevertheless, those who wanted to experience all the passion of the fatal beauty did not diminish from this.

Each man was determined to conquer Cleopatra with his strength and skill, and in the morning not only stay alive, but also become her lawful husband and king of Egypt. But Cleopatra was uncompromising: she did not leave one of her lovers with life.

Egyptologists call Cleopatra not only an adherent of free love, but also an experienced fellatrix (fellatio from lat.fello - to suck), or, in other words, Cleopatra did an amazing blowjob. Perhaps it is for this reason that the ancient Greeks gave her the name Meriohana - translated from Greek. - "wide-mouthed", "the one that opens her mouth wide"; "Wide-mouthed"; "A woman with ten thousand mouths." Cleopatra was also called Haylon - "Fat-Lipped".

Despite the good inclinations of a real ruler, Cleopatra loved most of all to indulge her desires. And the desires of their heroic lovers. Cleopatra always knew perfectly well what a man wants from her, what he wants to see her. For Caesar, she was smart and modest, and for Mark-Antony - a frantic hunter for carnal pleasures.

The Greek hetaira Phryne was truly beautiful. She was a model, and Aphrodite was sculpted and painted from her. In the end, she was sentenced to death in Athens for "detrimental influence on the most enlightened citizens of the republic." But during the execution, when her clothes were torn off, both the judges and the public saw her perfect body, she was acquitted, because they considered that a dissolute soul could not dwell in such a divine body.

Thais of Athens is a daring heterosexual who seduced Alexander the Great. She went down in history as an unapproachable beauty, although she was a prostitute. She lured the Macedonian by the fact that she did not want to sell her body to him for any riches and gifts. "You will penetrate into the heart - you will conquer me and the whole world," she said to the great conqueror.

The Chinese Empress Wu Hu of the Tang Dynasty introduced the custom of “licking the lotus stamens” into court etiquette, which symbolized the coming of the era of female domination. Wu Hu demanded that all government officials and dignitaries who visited her show their special respect for Her Imperial Majesty through cunnilingus. So, old paintings depict the empress supporting her dress, and the dignitary, kneeling in front of her, kisses her genitals.

In the Chinese stories of the 18th-19th centuries, you can read about a romantic and comfortable chair. Large landowners used this device quite widely. It was a folding chair with automatic grippers for arms and legs, when a woman was seated in this chair, the grips worked and fixed her arms and legs, and the chair itself would unfold, turning into a miniature bed. Such chairs were banned during the rule of the Manchus.

Scheherazade became famous for her intelligence. After each act of love, she told her master a fairy tale, which she interrupted at the most interesting place. The sultan, initially wanted to send her to the lower harem, as a wife who no longer satisfies him, but he never did this, because she was a tireless storyteller, and no one could tell him such stories. Scheherazade and her book of fairy tales "A Thousand and One Nights" is a folk legend about the same brilliant dreamer who was the most coveted wife of the Sultan for exactly 1000 nights. What happened to her later is unknown. According to some sources, she died from some kind of infectious disease.

The bloody Countess Alzhbeta Bathory became the muse of the painter Caravaggio, his model and goddess. According to legend, she possessed an unearthly beauty and had the face of a young girl until her death, and all because she tortured and killed young girls, and then bathed in their blood. She killed about six hundred women, among whom were not only maidservants and peasant women, but also women of noble birth. Bathory is credited with making monstrous mechanisms. Among them is a metal coffin with thorns inside, the thorns do not penetrate deeply into the body, they only cause bleeding. In this case, the victim slowly dies from blood loss.

In the arsenal of the Bloody Countess there were several thousand painful tortures and devices. In 1611, at the age of 50, Alzhbeta Bathory was tried, and then an angry mob lynched the countess in the wall of her castle in the Small Carpathians. According to another version, the widow Bathory was slandered, because she was richer than the king, and he wanted to take her land and gold from her. Where her five children disappeared after her death is also unknown, but the immense wealth of the widow Bathory went to the royal family. She went down in history as the most beautiful woman in Europe with unfading youth, and in Hungary, to lure tourists, she is still called a vampire who is not inferior in the number of atrocities and cruelty to Vlad Tepes, the prototype of Count Dracula.

The voluptuous Marquise de Pompadour, the favorite of the French king Louis XV, is still considered one of the most tireless and skillful mistresses. The secret of her passion is in celery. Her daily menu included two of the strongest aphrodisiacs - chocolate and celery root. The lady in the morning drank a cup of hot chocolate with celery root powder, and during the day she ate a salad of celery, apples and walnuts. It is not known for certain whether she knew or she about the stimulating effect of these products, but she had sex five to ten times a day and with different partners. By the way, in many countries, peasants broadcast a bundle of celery at the head of the bed on their wedding night.

The Marquise de Pompadour (Jeanne Antoinette Poisson) predicted at the age of nine that she would have a relationship with the king himself. Its origin is not exactly known. According to one version, she was not at all from a wealthy family, but she was very lucky to find herself a patron in the person of a nobleman. Her meeting with King Louis XV took place at a masquerade. The king was intrigued by the behavior of the girl, who hid her face under a mask, and when she took it off, it finally defeated the monarch. Moving towards the goal further was not easy, but Jeanne nevertheless achieved her goal, becoming the official favorite of the king. She continued her vigorous activity - she was engaged in the development of art, becoming for many writers and artists of that time the greatest patron saint. Until her death, the Marquise de Pompadour remained for Louis not only a mistress, always brilliant and original, but also a friend, which is a great rarity.

Despite the fact that at the time of the meeting with Napoleon, Josephine was no longer young (she was over thirty), her appearance remained admirable. Being an imperious ruler for the rest, he gave all his most tender feelings to her. The secret of her success is that she was not just a beautiful woman, she was an excellent listener, and always approved of all Napoleon's actions, no matter what he did, she said that he made the right decision.