Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra
Part of Polish-Muscovite War (1605-1618)
Orthodox monks led by the chronicler Avraamy Palitsyn bravely defended the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra against the Polish aggressors from September 1609 to January 1611.
Date 1608 to 1610 Location near Dobrynichi, Russia Result Russian victory
Combatants
Poland Lithuania	Russia
Commanders
Jan Piotr Sapieha Aleksander Lisowski	Grigory Dolgorukov Aleksey Golokhvastov
Strength
15,000	2,400
Casualties
?	?

Polish-Muscovite War (1605–1618)
Bely • Dobrynichi • Trinity Monastery • Smolensk • Tsaryovo Zaimishche • Klushino • Mozhaysk • 1st Moscow • 2nd Moscow

The Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra (Троицкая осада, Троицкое сидение in Russian) was an abortive attempt of the Polish-Lithuanian irregular army supporting False Dmitri II to capture the Trinity Monastery. The siege lasted for 16 months, from September 23, 1608 until January 12, 1610.

In September of 1608, the Polish-Lithuanian army of some 15,000 men (led by Jan Piotr Sapieha and Aleksander Lisowski) laid siege to the fortress of the Trinity monastery (Russian: Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra), which had been protecting the northern approaches to Moscow. The Russian garrison (estimated at between 2,200 and 2,400 men) consisted of dvoryane, streltsy, monastic servants, monks, and peasants, led by the voyevodas Prince Grigory Dolgorukov and Aleksey Golokhvastov.

In the early October of 1608, the attackers began shelling and sapping the monastery. Numerous assaults in October and November were repelled by the Russians and resulted in heavy losses for the Polish-Lithuanian army. The besieged were undertaking frequent sallies, one of which (November 9) would end with an explosion of a sap under a monastery tower and destruction of an enemy battery on the Red Mountain, with two peasants - Shipov and Sloba - losing their lives during this sally.

There had been no significant military activity from the late November of 1608 until May of 1609, but the besieged garrison suffered many casualties due to an outbreak of scurvy. In May-July of 1609, the Russians repelled a number of enemy attacks. On October 19, 1609, and January 4, 1610, auxiliary detachments under the command of David Zherebtsov (900 men) and Grigory Voluyev (500 men) managed to make their way into the fortress. Under the threat of the approaching Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky's army, the Polish-Lithuanian forces raised the siege on January 12 of 1610 and retreated to Dmitrov.