Kuzma Minin

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Monument to Kuzma Minin in Nizhny Novgorod

Kuzma Minich Minin (Russian: Кузьма Минич Минин ) (? – 1616) was a merchant from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, who, together with Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, became a national hero for his role in defending the country against the Polish invasion in the early-17th century.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

A native of Balakhna, Minin was a prosperous butcher (meat trader) in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. When the popular patriotic movement^[6] to organize volunteer corps in his native city was formed, the city merchants chose Minin, a trusted and respected member of the guild, to oversee the handling of the public funds donated by them to raise and equip the Second Volunteer Army (Второе народное ополчение).^[7]

The army led by prince Pozharsky was credited for clearing the Moscow Kremlin from Polish-Lithuanian forces on November 1, 1612. Minin distinguished himself as a skilled commander and was made a nobleman and member of the Boyar Duma under the newly elected Tsar Michael Romanov. He died in 1616 and was interred in the Archangel Cathedral of Nizhny Novgorod. A central square of that city is named after him.

[edit] See also

Jan Kiliński

[edit] References

Inline

^ [...]Sigismund, changing his mind, demanded direct personal control of Russia and continued the Polish invasion (autumn 1610). This finally stimulated the Russians to rally and unite against the invader."
from: "Troubles, Time of." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 12 June 2006 (accentuation added)
^ During the “Time of Troubles” (1598–1613), [Pozharsky] fought against the Poles, who, taking advantage of unstable political conditions, had invaded Russia. In 1611 he took command of a national militia formed on the initiative of the merchant Kuzma Minin of Nizhny Novgorod. With his improvised army he marched on Moscow (1612) and drove out the Poles, ending the effort of King Sigismund III to subjugate Russia.
"Pozharski, Dmitri Mikhailovich, Prince", Columbia Encyclopedia, (accentuation added)
^ "Minin Kusma (?-1616) was a leader of the national liberating struggle of Russian people against the Poland-Lithuania invaders, one of the leaders of the second volunteer corps (1611-1612) and a national hero."
"Kuzma Minin" at "History of Yaroslavl" by Yaroslavl State University
^ "Kuzma Minin was a Russian national hero. A butcher by trade, he was a key figure, together with Prince Dmitrii Pozharsky in the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow in 1612."
Editorial note to Maksim Gorky, Maksim Gorky Selected Letters, p. 40, translated and edited by Andrew Barrat and Barry P. Scherr , Oxford University Press , ISBN 0-19-815175-6
^ "Dmitri Pozharski and Kuzma Minin are national heroes for their part in defending the Russian state from Polish interventionists in the early 17th century"
editorial footnote in John Freedman, "The Major Plays of Nikolai Erdman", p. 112, Routledge (UK), 1995, ISBN 3-7186-5582-9
^ Chester S L Dunning, Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty, p. 434 Penn State Press, 2001, ISBN 0-271-02074-1
^ (Russian) "The ancient heroes of the Russian people's militia", Kommersant-Den'gi, November 5, 2002