Historical Memory of Dmitry Donskoy in the Pre-Petrine Period

Abstract

The historical memory of Dmitry Donskoy in the first centuries after his death was primarily of a secular nature. His victory in the Kulikovo field determined the public perception of his image. Even during the life of Dmitry, there was a convergence between his image and the memory of Alexander Nevsky, but the question of church glorification of a victor over Mamai was not raised. The reason lay in Dmitry’s policy of active interference in the affairs of ecclesiastical authorities. Even a large-scale canonization of Russian saints, initiated by Metropolitan Macarius, left Dmitry Donskoy out. It can again be attributed to his difficult relationship with the church authorities. However, this didn’t prevent an increasing tendency of inclusion of the image of the Grand Duke as a talented military leader and conqueror of the Horde in the historical memory of his contemporaries and in the coordinate system of the ideology of the newly created unified Russian state. Ivan Grozny considered him one of the “historical models” for his own rule and emphasized his own descent from this glorious ancestor. In the 17th century, the nobles, constructing their genealogical history, tried to connect their origins with the boyars who went to the court of Dmitry Donskoy. The emerging “connection” of the historical image of Dmitry with Alexander Nevsky, canonized at the all-Russian level in 1547, was also preserved.