By Aleksandr Malov.

[From Tseikhgauz No. 14, 2/2001. Pages 2-7.] 

The command and control organization of new-style regiments, including the select soldier regiments [soldatskie vybornye polki], was rather complicated and up to now not fully investigated by historians. In examining the office [prikaz] system, a modern researcher who measures it against later standards of regulated full responsibility and sharply defined delimitation of functions must inevitably see the system as a complex tangle. It is more appropriate to think of the new-style regiments’ command and control as several links.

            Firstly, the command and control of regiments included the prikazy in which these regiments were administered. For example, for most of the new-style regiments these were the Foreign [Inozemskii] and Cavalry [Reitarskii] prikazy. Except for their immediate organization and control, a number of regiments were taken care of by the Prikaz for the Sovereign’s Privy Affairs [prikaz Gosudarevykh Tainykh del]—the personal chancellery of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. A whole network of prikazy was used for supplying and supporting regiments. Mobilization questions were decided with the participation of local administrators from those towns and districts where the officers, hussars, lancers, reitar cavalrymen, dragoons, and soldiers lived and were recruited. Finally, overall control of regiments in a theater of military operations was exercised by the Razryadnyi prikaz [central office of military affairs in Muscovy – M.C.]. We briefly outlined the prikaz command system for the select regiment in the previous article (Tseikhgauz No. 13).

            Regiments were connected to prikazy through a regimental administration organized by a regimental clerk [polkovoi pisar’] or scribe [pod”yachii] with the help of company clerks and carried out in the assembly court [s”ezzhii dvor] (in the assembly house [s”ezzhaya izba]) of a given regiment. Colonels and other officers took part in the regimental administration. The paperwork at the assembly house formally documented various questions in the regiment’s internal and external administration.

            The immediate internal administration of a new-style regiment was in the person of the regimental commander. Usually he held the rank of colonel, but generals and in some cases even lieutenant colonels also headed regiments. A high degree of concentration of power in the hands of the commander was a necessity in military management. At the same time it demanded much from his personal capabilities. A commander carried out the administration of the regiment entrusted to him with the help of his officers and non-commissioned officers [nachal’nye lyudi i uryadniki]. Along with the colonel, immediate regimental command was executed by “leaders of senior rank” [“nachal’nye lyudi starshego china”]: lieutenant colonels (polupolkovniki, polkovye porutchiki) and majors (maeory, storozhestavtsy). In a wider sense regimental command can be though of as the entire chain of command: all sub-unit commanders and their deputies beginning with a company commander’s second-in-command—by regulation a lieutenant’s duty.

            Select soldiers’ regiments, as all military units in 17th-century Russia, were principally named after their commanders. A change in commanders immediately changed the name of a hussar, lancer, reitar cavalry, dragoon, or soldatskii soldier regiment, as well as of a streltsy prikaz (regiment).[1] Only at the end of the century did calling regiments by number appear as well as by garrison location or the place the unit was formed. The history of any military unit during this era can only be done through a scrupulous determination of the names and chronological sequence of all commanders of a new-style regiment or streltsy prikaz. However, in regard to the commanders of the select regiments previous historiography has many mistakes and inaccuracies. Therefore, in the present article we eliminate errors and present an exact and verified listing.

            The first attempt to enumerate select regiments’ commanders was undertaken by the German military historian H.O.R. Brix in 1867. For sources he used Ch. Manstein’s memoirs and Khronika Rossiiskoi Imperatorskoi armii, compiled by S. N. Dolgorukov at orders from Paul I. Referring to these, Brix wrote that after being formed in 1642 the First Select Regiment (1. Elite-regiment) in 1648 was under the command of General W. Drummond, or Dromont.[2] It must be said that Brix’s citations from the Khronika cannot be confirmed. In 255 short regimental entries compiled by Prince Dolgorukov, the select regiments are not mentioned at all. The oldest regiments in the Khronika are the Preobrazhenskii and Semenovskii guards.[3] And in addition, the attribution of such an ancient lineage to Peter’s poteshnyye “play” regiments was convincingly dismissed by P.O. Bobrovskii.[4] After General W. Dromont, according to Brix, up to 1665 the First Select Regiment was commanded by “General der Soldaten-ordnung” A. A. Shepelev. In the 1675 and 1679 campaigns against the Crimean khan the regiment was commanded by Francis Lefort, who became an admiral and general in 1692 and also led the regiment at the capture of Azov in 1696 as part of Peter I’s newly formed army.

            With some small alterations this list was accepted and published by the military historian P.O. Bobrovskii and then by M.D. Rabinovich. Bobrovskii followed Brix’s position completely, including in the number of the “founders” and “first commanders” of the select regiments the generals Dalyell, Alciel, Drummond, and Crawfuird.[5] Citing Manstein, like Brix he repeated the thesis of a supposedly preserved personnel register of the First Select Regiment from 1648, when it was commanded by General Drummond.[6] Although he was not specifically examining the list of select regiments’ commanders, in his 1949 dissertation A.V. Chernov made a substantial step forward. He had no doubt that the continuous commander of the First Select Regiment in the period 1656-1682 was Aggei Alekseevich Shepelev.[7] Unfortunately, the political situation did not allow A.V. Chernov to publish the results of his research at that time. Therefore it is no surprise that M.D. Rabinovich in 1977 put in his outline of the regiments of the Petrine army the same listing as Brix and Bobrovskii, only slightly corrected but at the same time making a mistake in regard to the number of select regiments.[8]

            Brix’s listing, so tenaciously repeated in historiography, demands a commentary so that its true information may be separated from that which is false. William Dromont did indeed serve in the Russian army as a general officer and is mentioned in documents relating to the formation of the First Select Regiment. In December of 7165 (1656), boyar I.B. Miloslavskii selected 215 men from Dromont’s regiment for transfer into Shepelev’s. But from this it does not at all follow that Dromont himself was the commander of the select regiment. To the contrary, the document definitely shows Dromont as the commander of a normal soldiers’ regiment of foot that gave some of its personnel to the formation of the First Select Regiment. According to documents, William Dromont never commanded any of the select regiments. Two other commanders named by Brix did lead the First Select Regiment, but the dates of their command require correction.

            The very first commander of the First Select Regiment was actually Aggei Alekseev syn Shepelev. The Shepelev family, settled in the Belozersk region, served in Odoev.[9] According to genealogical legend, the Shepelev’s had their origins in a certain Shel who emigrated from Sweden in the 14th century to serve in “in Poland under King Olgerd,” and from that monarch came to Grand Duke Dmitrii Ivanovich Donskoi in Russia.[10] In August of 1644 the name of Aggei Shepelev was mentioned in a petition of Belozersk landowners on service in Odoev regarding release from service due to the distance from their estates, the impassability of the roads, and the poor billets [mesta ispomeshcheniya].[11] A. Shepelev’s name was written second on the list of petitioners. In 1646-1649 he was on service in Yablonov, where in particular he “was engaged building ramparts” [“vedal valovoe delo”], i.e. he directed the building of the Yablonov section of the new Belgorod fortified line outside the settled region.[12] From March 1653 through April 1655 Shepelev carried out the duties of a government official [prikazchik] in charge of the Starodub court villages of the Murom district.[13] Even before being named commander of the First Select Regiment, in 1652 Shepelev succeeded in adding the abandoned Vynorka land in the Moscow district to his family lands around Belozersk as well as acquire the villages of Kuznetsovo and Romanovo in the Vologda district “which were the uncultivated and abandoned Borodino lands.”[14]

            While not having the requisite military experience, Aggei Shepelev was still able to demonstrate that uncommon organizational talent which, it must be supposed, enabled the success of his career. Shepelev rose to the rank of duma general [dumnyi general]. He received this rank when his regiment was already being administered by the Foreign Prikaz, i.e. not earlier than 1680. He had become a major general during the period his regiment was under the Streltsy Prikaz—according to documents, not earlier than 7182 (1673-74) and not later than 7185 (1676-77). In any case, Shepelev undoubtedly already held the rank of colonel during the struggle with Raznishchina. In the rank of duma general, Aggei Shepelev led the men of his regiment in Grand Dukes Ivan and Petr Alekseevich’s march to the village of Vozdvizhenskoe and to the Troits-Sergiev Monastery in September-October 1682,[15] and on 13 October 1686 Shepelev also received the court rank of okol’nichii.[16] Duma General Aggei Alekseevich Shepelev led the First Select Regiment in the first Crimean campaign in V.V. Golitsyn’s army in 1687, for which a State order of 30 December of that same year gave him a government reward: gold caftan and silver and gilt box “with cover,” weighing 2 pounds 46 zolotnikov.[17] The First Select Regiment took part in the second Crimean campaign of 1689 but this time without its commander. This is confirmed by a list from 1689 of non-commissioned officers [uryadniki] and soldiers of both select regiments who received awards for the second Crimean campaign. In this list the Second Select Regiment is named after its commander, but the First is only referred to by number, accompanied by this regiment’s six lieutenant colonels: Ivan Zakharov, Mikita Borisov, Ivan Kishkin, Aleksei Botyagovskii, Aleksei Chaplin, and Yurii Lim.[18]

            From October-March of 7200 (1691-92) there is mentioned “the Moscow First Select Regiment of Colonel Grigorii Andreevich Yankovskii.”[19] We known that on 4 January 1678, newly promoted Captain Grigorii Andreev syn Yankovskii was discharged from Don service with a salary of 650 cheti[20] and 41 roubles specie and sent from the Ambassadors’ Prikaz [Posol’skii prikaz], which dealt with all Don affairs, to the Foreign Prikaz for further service.[21] We meet him already in February of that same year with the rank of major in newly promoted Colonel Grigorii Ivanov syn Shishkov’s reitar cavalry regiment when it was sent on the Chigirin campaign, and in December of 1678 he is again mentioned in connection with the Sovereign’s distribution of awards “for the Chigirin service and the withdrawal in year 186,” in which campaign this regiment took part as part of the force of duma general and voevod [skhodnyi voevod] Venedikt Andreevich Zmeev.[22] In 1691-92 Colonel G. A. Yankovskii naturally could not be the actual commander of the First Select Regiment since at that time its status and size meant that only a general officer could be named its commander. Apparently, Colonel Yankovskii, named the senior colonel, was for some time only carrying out the responsibilities of commander.

            However, the mention of Yankovskii pushes forward the time of Francis [Frants Yakovlevich] Lefort’s command of the First Select Regiment. On 18 May 1676, the foreign captain Francis Lefort had a letter from the Sovereign, written 28 October 1675, sealed for him in the Stamp Prikaz [Pechatny prikaz], this document releasing him for half a year to go to Imperial [Holy Roman] territory [Tsesarskaya zemlya] “for goods” left after the death of his father.[23] When an order of 3 January 1686 announced an upcoming campaign and included a list of voevod regiments as the forces to take part, the division of Prince V.V. Golitsyn (assistant to skhodnyi voevod and okol’cnichii V.A. Zmeev) included the 2nd Yelets Regiment (a soldatskii unit) with, among its colonels, Frants Yakovlevich Lefort.[24] So far the first mention in documents of Lefort as a general and commander of the First Select Regiment is only from the year 7201 (1692/93).[25] He held this position until his death in 1699.

            Similarly to the First Select Regiment, the list of commanders of the Second Moscow Select (Butyrskii) Regiment in the 17th century, long established in the literature, also turns out to be unreliable. H.O.R. Brix, citing the same sources as for the First Select Regiment, maintained that the first commander of the Second Select Regiment was Colonel Alciel in 1642. He was afterwards replaced by Lieutenant General M.O. Krovkov, who commanded the regiment right up to the streltsy mutiny in 1682, when Krovkov was followed by R. Zhdanov. Later, in 1685, according to Brix, the regiment was under the command of Colonel A. Byust, from whom in his turn General Peter Gordon took command in 7195 (1686/87).[26] P.O. Bobrovskii fully repeated Brix after creatively developing the latter’s suppositions.[27] M.D. Rabinovich only somewhat corrected the given listing when he put it in his work.[28]

            The first commander in this list, a certain Alciel [Al’tsil’, Alkiel’] has not been found by us so far in the documents we have gone through from the Razryadnyi, Foreign, Ustyug, Sovereign’s Privy Affairs, Stables, Treasury, Stamp, Reitar cavalry, and Streltsy prikazy, as well as the Office for Weaponry [Oruzheinaya palata]. This gives us some confidence that this figure is either a product of imagination, or his name has been altered so far as to be unrecognizable. At the same time, the documents unequivocally show the name of the actual first commander who formed the Second Select Regiment. It is Yakov Maksimov syn Kolyubakin (Kulyubakin). According to N.V. Myatlev, the genealogy of the Kolyubakins, compiled in the 1680’s, was not turned in to the Office of Genealogical Affairs [Palata Rodoslovnykh del].[29] We do know that Yakov Kolyubakin was settled at Aleksin, where he is mentioned in 1650 in connection with judicial business when bringing a case against Petr Muraleev syn Lodyzhenskii for a dishonor committed against his father, Maksim Kolyubakin.[30] In December of 1652 Yakov Kolyubakin is mentioned as of zhiletskii rank.[31] In April of 1656 the widow Natal’ya Kuz’mina Kolyubakin gave up her allotted widow’s estate of the village of Izvoli in the Ymbol’sk Subdistrict of Aleksin District, encompassing 100 acres, in favor of her nephew zhil’tets Yakov Maksimov syn Kulyubakin.[32] In the following year of 1657, we encounter Ya.M. Kolyubakin already in the rank of colonel of the soldatskii-style Court Regiment [Dvortsovyi polk].

            Ya.M. Kolyubakin was the first true commander of the Butyrsk Regiment, but his career as colonel was tragically cut short in 1661. At this time a detachment of a thousand men from the Second Select Regiment organized in dragoon fashion with the colonel at its head was operating in the territory of the Grand Duke of Lithuania as part of the voevod division of duma noble A.L. Ordin-Nashchokin, in turn a part of the Novgorod army under the command of boyar and voevod Prince I.A. Khovanskii. In the beginning of October, I.A. Khovanskii marched out of Polotsk and on 8 October when about 7 miles from the Desna River met the Lithuanian host of Marshal Zheromskii at the village of Kushlikovo (Kushnikovo). In the battle that ensued on the Kushlikovo hills the Lithuanians were defeated. Withdrawing, they entered into negotiations with I.A. Khovanskii, delaying in expectation of the approach of King Jan Casimir with the royal host. In this first battle on the Kushlikovo hills, victorious for the Russians, the commander of the Second Select Regiment, Colonel Yakov Kolyubakin, fell along with two other officers of his regiment and eight select dragoons.[33] The colonel’s body was escorted to Moscow by six select dragoons. It was the fate of the rest of the dragoons, however, to experience the full weight of defeat.

            On 25 October the crown host came to Zheromskii’s aid under the command of Stefan Charnetskii, sent on ahead by the king. The Polish army possessed an overwhelming superiority and did not allow Khovanskii to withdraw during the night. At daybreak their entire might fell upon his force. In the battle on the Kushlikovo hills on 25 October the Second Select Regiment lost 3 officers killed, while in regard to non-commissioned officers and soldiers there were 215 missing after the battle—being dragoons killed, taken prisoner, or run away. Major Ivan Korotnev, in spite of being wounded “by a ball in the leg,” took over the regiment after the death of Kolyubakin and commanded the select dragoons during the retreat. Along with the remaining officers he:

“…kept the regiment in order and in a great fierce battle used their muskets and pole-axes [berdyshi] to cause great loss to the Poles and Lithuanians. By this well-ordered and fierce fighting Ivan’s dragoon regiment gloriously opened a way out. Many companies in both the crown and Lithuanian hosts came at Ivan in turn. But Ivan freed himself using musket fire and with the dragoons and last remaining men withdrew and came to Polotsk.”[34]

After the retreat there remained present in the ranks 13 officers and 627 select dragoons. It appears that Major I. Korotnev’s wound became inflamed and confined him to his sickbed until May 1662 when the Second Select Regiment already had acquired its new commander.

            On 29 December 1661 the following entry was made in the journal [Dneval’nye zapiski] of the Privy Affairs Prikaz:

“The Grand Sovereign [Velikii Gosudar’]… after eating at table at 6 o’clock early… deigned to go to the settlement at Butyrki and hear the evening service. And after evening service the Grand Sovereign awarded Matvei Krovkov with a promotion from major to colonel of foot soldiers of the soldatskii discipline, replacing Yakov Kulyubakin in his regiment. The Sovereign’s award of a colonelcy was related to him, and the flag of that regiment given to him, by boyar Semen Luk’yanovich Streshnev. Afterwards he was also given a printed book on military units [ratnoe opolchenie] which would enable him to understand and practice the foot soldatskii discipline.”[35]

It only remains to add that this extract is well known in historiography. It was repeatedly cited by historians because it appears to be almost the only documentary evidence of actual army use of the earliest printed regulations, Uchenie i khitrost’ ratnogo stroeniya pekhotnykh lyudei [Science and art of military formations for infantry], published by the synodal printing office in 1647.

            Rightly named by Brix, Bobrovskii, and Rabinovich as the second commander of the Butyrskii Regiment, Matvei Osipovich Krovkov has one more myth attached to his name, one seized upon by Brix and propagated by P.O. Bobrovskii. Bobrovskii calls Matvei Osipovich the “Dane, Kraffgof.” Whether or not the Krovkov family originated with “German immigrants”, which was fashionable to claim at that time, we do not know because their genealogical tree has not yet been found. But it is known that at the end of the 17th century such a document was given to the Office of Genealogical Affairs [Palata rodoslovnykh del] by Russian nobles from Murom named Krovkov (Kravkov).[36] Even before then Matvei Osipovich himself was in service as a colonel, according to a list of zhil’tsy from 1647.[37] In 1654, as a streltsy commander [golova], he transported alcoholic spirits to Astrakhan, and at this time M. Krokov was already referred to with the court rank of counselor [stryapchii][38] In April 1657 he is found going to Kazan on legal business for his father Iosif, the abbot [starets] of the Murom Monastery of the Savior and Transfiguration.[39] From April 1657 to September 1658 he served as voevod in Kokshaisk.[40] Even before being named commander of a select regiment, Matvei Krovkov had added to his family’s lands in Murom District further estates in Vologda, Vladimir, and Kashinsk districts. As a counselor and former voevod and streltsy commander, he could not possibly have been enrolled in the Moscow Select Soldiers Regiments in a rank lower than major. This assignment, it appears, happened no earlier than the fall of 1658.

            M.O. Krovkov commanded the Second Select Regiment for twenty years. His removal from that position only took place during the streltsy revolt of 1682. At that time on 30 April, pursuant to a petition by soldiers of the Second Select Regiment who were taking part in the mutiny, General Matvei Osipovich Krovkov was put into prison and all his lands were confiscated. Lieutenant Colonel Rodion Zhdanov was assigned in his place and promoted to the next higher rank.[41] Judging from available evidence, after the mutiny was put down and Krovkov released from prison, the command of the Second Select Regiment was not returned to him in spite of his being awarded the rank of duma general. In 1686 he went to Yakutsk to take charge of the province, and apparently even outlived Ageei Shepelev.

            We accept M.D. Rabinovich’s correction of P.S. Bobrovskii’s information regarding the dates when Patrick Gordon held command in so much as the latter left a detailed diary, the first academically edited edition of which finally appears in our time.[42] Our research allows us to establish with a high degree of certainty a list of the actual persons who commanded the Second Select Regiment in the 17th century and determine the dates of their tenures.

(To be continued.)

[ILLUSTRATIONS.]

Page 2: Movements in handling a firearm, according to Uchenie i khitrost’ ratnogo stroeniya pekhotnykh lyudei [Science and art of military formations for infantry]. It is known that these instructions were used to train the select regiments.

Page 3: Exercising a company in moving in march order [pokhodnyi stroi], according to the instructions of Colonel Isak van Bukoven, issued in 1651 to the head of the Foreign Prikaz [Inozemnyi prikaz], boyar I.D. Miloslavskii.

The position of officers and non-commissioned officers in march order was:

Captain – at the head of the company; lieutenant – behind the company, closing the formation; ensign – in front of the pikemen; sergeants – on both sides of the formation; corporals – in the first rank of their corporal’s command [kapral’stvo], on the right; drummers – between the third and fourth ranks of musketeers. [Artist Igor Dzys.]

Page 4: Newly recruited soldat from the court peasantry [dvortsovye krest’yane]. He is still dressed in peasant clothing but for training in “the soldier discipline” the government has issued him “a soldier’s set of service equipment” bought in Holland: the most recent model of matchlock musket, a bandoleer and sword on a crossbelt of “red leather from a dry cow [yalovochnaya kozha],” made by Russian craftsmen.

Page 5: Teaching a company of new recruits (80 men) how to fire according to Uchenie i khitrost’ (1647) and the instructions of Colonel I. van Bukowen (1651).

[INSET]

COMMANDERS OF THE FIRST MOSCOW SELECT REGIMENT (LEFORT’S) OF THE SOLDATSKII DISCIPLINE.

List of commanders according to H.O.R. Brix, P.O. Bobrovskii, and M.D. Rabinovich:

1642-1660 – General William Dremont (Drummond, Dromat).

To 1665 – Dumnoi general Aggei Shepelev.

1669-1699 – Francis Yakovlevich Lefort.

True list of commanders:

Dec. 1656-1687 – Colonel, Major General, General, and Duma General A.A. Shepelev.

1689-1691 – the regiment was without a commander.

1691-1692 – Colonel Grigorii Andreevich Yankovskii.

1692-1699 – General F.Ya. Lefort.

Page 6: F.Ya. Lefort, commander of the First Select Regiment. Colored engraving by A. Schonbeck, 1698.

[INSET]

COMMANDERS OF THE SECOND MOSCOW SELECT (BUTYRSKII) REGIMENT OF THE SOLDATSKII DISCIPLINE.

List of commanders according to P.O. Bobrovskii:

From 1642 – foreign Colonel Alciel.

1662-1682 – Danish Colonel, later General, M. O. Krovkov.

1682-1687 – Colonel Rodion Zhdanov.

1685-1687 – Government Official [stolnik] and Colonel Aleksei Byust.

1687-1699 – Scottish General P.I. Gordon.

List of commanders according to M.D. Rabinovich:

From 1642 – Alciel.

To 1682 – Matvei Kravkov.

From 1682 – Zhdanov.

1685 – Byust.

1686-1699 – Patrick (Peter) Ivanovich Gordon.

True list of commanders:

1657-1661 – Colonel Yakov Maksimov syn Kolyubakin.

1661 (December)-1682 (April) – Colonel, General, Matvei Osipovich Krovkov.

1682 (April)-1686 – Colonel Rodion Zhdanov.

1686-1699 – General Peter (Patrick) Ivanovich Gordon.

Page 7: The capture of Azov in 1696. A detail from A. Schonbek’s 1699 engraving. In Tsar Peter’s suite are both commanders of the select regiments. In a sumptuous European coat with his back to the viewer is Francis Lefort. To the left in profile is depicted Patrick Gordon, who raises his right arm to explain something to the corpulent boyar Fedor Golovin.