Formation and service of Streltsy units of Terek at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries.

Tkhamokova Irina Khasanovna PhD in History Senior Research Associate, Institute of Research in the Humanities, Branch of the Kabardino-Balkaria Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences 360051, Russia, respublika Kabardino-Balkarskaya, g. Nal'chik, ul. Pushkina, 18 omarakana@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The Terek Streltsy played an important role in the history of the Caucasus of the XVI-XVIII centuries. Of particular importance in their history is the period of the end of the XVI – beginning of the XVII century, i.e. the first decades of the existence of the city of Turki. It was during this time that the Terek Streltsy took part in the largest military campaigns. The Streltsy also contributed to maintaining political ties with the peoples of the North Caucasus and with Georgia. Without studying the role of the Streltsy, both the history of the Caucasus and the history of Russia will be incomplete. However, there are no special scientific papers on this topic to date. Issues such as the history of the formation, the number and composition of the Terek Streltsy, their participation in military operations and other forms of their service require consideration: escorting ambassadors to Georgia, delivering letters, collecting information about the peoples of the Caucasus and neighboring states, etc.   

The main sources are documents of the XVI-XVII centuries: chronicles, Discharge books, royal letters addressed to the Terek voivodes, Georgian tsars, the Shah of Iran, Kabardian or Kumyk princes and murzas. These are also letters to the tsar from Terek or Astrakhan voivodes, from Georgian tsars, rulers of the North Caucasus, petitions of the Streltsy themselves. The messages of the ambassadors from Georgia are also important sources of information on the history of the Terek Streltsy. Some of these documents were published in the XIX century .^{[1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 9; 12; 28]}, some of them were in the XX centuries ^{[10; 26; 27]}, but some of them have not yet been introduced into scientific circulation.

In the second half of the XVI century. many new Russian cities appeared, especially in the border areas. In 1567, the first such city was founded in the Caucasus – at the confluence of the Sunzha with the Terek ^{[10, p. 13]}. This caused discontent and protests from the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire. Subsequently, this city was repeatedly abolished, and then restored again.

In 1588, the city was built in another place – in the Terek Delta, near the Caspian Sea (two days away from the old city) ^{[10; p. 52]}. It had several names – Terka, Terki, Tersky city or Tyumen city, Tyumen prison (after the name of the Tyumen River – the channels of the Terek) ^{[5, c. 182, 183, 202, 206, 222]}. Soon after, the prison was once again rebuilt at the mouth of the Sunzha. It became known as Sunzhensky ^{[5, p. 94, 514]}.

The Terek city represented the tsarist government in the Caucasus and had to strengthen its position in the region. To do this, a significant military garrison was needed to provide assistance to those rulers of the Caucasus who recognized the tsarist power, and to fight with those who opposed it. Moscow ambassadors told the Georgian tsar that the new city would protect him and his land from all enemies ^{[5, p. 16, 20, 21]}. The Kabardian princes were told that this city was put "for their defense" from Turkey and from the Crimean Khanate ^{[5, p. 18, 46]}. Military men made up the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Tersk city. At the same time, the village population, on the contrary, was almost nonexistent. Among the military people there were boyar children, Cossacks, and residents of the Caucasus (Circassians and Okochans), but Streltsy prevailed.

Initially, it was planned that the city would accommodate "two thousand sovereign people with a concave battle," and taking into account the gunners, zatinschikov, etc. – up to two and a half thousand (in any case, the Georgian tsar was told about this). If necessary, "military men" from other cities could come to their aid ^{[5, c. 23-24, 80, 129, 257]}. However, such a number could not be achieved. In 1589, shortly after the city was built, 800 Streltsy and Cossacks were to be sent there from Astrakhan, but the Astrakhan governor sent only 600 people ^{[5, p. 80]}.

Especially there was a lack of mounted archers. In 1589, the Terek voivodes complained to the tsar that "not a single person cleaned up the horse archers in their city", and it was not possible to recruit horse archers for the Terek city in Astrakhan ^{[5, p. 119]}. In the following years, this group still appeared: in 1601 there were 400 mounted archers in the city of Terki ^{[5, p. 351]}. What was the number of foot archers during this period – there is no exact information, but apparently there were more of them than mounted. Along with the Terek Archers, archers from Astrakhan, Kazan or other cities of the Volga region also temporarily served in the city.

The number of Streltsy varied depending on political conditions. During the Time of Troubles, it was significantly reduced. As the Streletsky head Vasily Khokhlov said in Moscow, in 1614 there were only 500 people (together with Kazan yearlings), and gunners, collars, etc. – 15 people ^{[5, p. 548]}. The Terek voivodes wrote in the same period that "there are few Terek military men on the Turk, and many were serving them, and the people were poor, owed great debts, were impoverished and not granted, naked, barefoot and hungry" ^{[10, p. 82]}.

During that period, the number of Streltsy in other cities also decreased. In 1616, in 8 Southern Russian cities, the number of Streltsy totaled only 1,393 people. However, there were many Cossacks in these cities – about twice as many as Streltsy ^{[7, p.81]}. The number of Terek Cossacks during this period is unknown, and in subsequent years it was small, significantly inferior to the number of Streltsy.

But already in 1615, the tsar ordered 500 Streltsy from Astrakhan to be sent to the Turks ^{[6, vol. 2, p. 404]}. By 1625, 370 mounted and 445 foot archers and Cossacks (with 4 centurions) served in the Turks, i.e. a total of 815 people. Judging by the number of centurions, there should have been a lot more foot archers, but, as it usually happened, there were not enough of them. In addition, 500 Astrakhan infantry archers on temporary service were also in the Turks ^{[12, stb. 1141]}. The contingent of Streltsy in the Tersk city was significantly smaller than in such large cities as Astrakhan or Kazan, but it could be compared with the garrisons of medium-sized cities (Alatyr, Cheboksary, Sviyazhsk, Tsivilsk) ^{[13, p. 102]}.

In the early years of the existence of the Terek city, the Streltsy there were people from different regions of the country who were "tidied up" for service in the new city. But already in 1620, a significant part of the Terek Streltsy were "Tyumen", i.e. natives of Tyumen (the second name of the city of Turki). Many of them, apparently, were the sons of the Streltsy, because it was the Streltsy who made up the majority of the inhabitants of the city.  But there were also migrants from other regions among the Streltsy: Moskvitin, Dedilovets, Pereslavets, Yaroslavets, Suzdalets, Shuyanin, Muromets, Tulyanin, Belevets, Yelchanin, Shatchanin, Kadomets, Galician, Pomorets, Ustyuzhanin, Nizhny Novgorod, Kurmyshenin, Astrakhan, Cheboksary, Arzamas, Alatorets, Kazanets, Kasimovets, etc. ^{[19, l. 17, 22; 24, l. 4, 7; 25, l. 5-7, 19-27]}. The geography of the Volga region and the central part of the country is widely represented in this list.

If ordinary Streltsy could inherit the social position of their father, then even more so it should have happened to those who occupied a higher position in the Streltsy army. In 1598, the centurion of Streletsky Matvey the Hunchback served in the Turks, and in 1619 – the centurion Rodion Matveyev, the son of the Hunchback ^{[6, vol. 2, p.1, vol. 3, p. 489]}, i.e., obviously, the son of the first centurion.

But the centurions, as well as ordinary Streltsy, could come from other social groups, for example, Cossacks. In 1614, the Cossack ataman Yakov Gusevsky lived in the "combs" on the Warm River, he had his own town there. Already two years later – in 1616 – documents speak about the Terek centurion of Streletsky Yakov Gusevsky ^{[5, p. 541; 16, l. 38]}.

 There were almost no "foreigners" among the Terek Archers. Only two such cases are known. One refers to a native of the "Mutyan" land (part of the territory of modern Romania). His name was  Luka Romanov son Voloshenin. He was captured by the Crimean Tatars, then lived with the Nogais, and finally with the Pyatigorsk Circassians. From them he left for the Tersk city. Here he served together with the "free" Cossacks, participated in the campaign of 1614 to Astrakhan, and then became a Sagittarius ^{[21, l. 1]}. According to Luka Voloshenin, the governor enrolled him in the Streltsy forcibly, although his father and grandfathers were not Streltsy in their homeland. Apparently, he believed that the status of Sagittarius should be inherited.

The second case is Fadey Ivanov, the son of Volosheninov, but he was not an ordinary Sagittarius. How and from where he got to the Caucasus is unknown, but in 1621 he was a centurion of Streletsky, and by 1625 he had become a Streletsky head ^{[20; 24, L. 6, 9]}.

Streltsy, like other military men, had to take part in military campaigns. The first of them were committed just a few months after the appearance of the Tersk city – in 1589 . One was directed against shamkhal, the ruler of a significant part of Dagestan. Georgian tsars constantly complained about his subjects who raided Georgia. But at the same time, military actions were taken in Kabarda against the "sovereign disobedient", i.e. princes who refused to swear an oath to the tsar or give out amanats, tried to maintain political ties with the Crimean Khanate and with the same shamkhal.

Not only Terek military men took part in these campaigns, but also Streltsy sent from other cities ^{[5, p. 141, 146]}. Only 750 people went to Kabarda. It is not known exactly how many Terek Streltsy were among them. Kabardian princes, supporters of the tsarist government, also acted together with them. During this campaign, more than 30 villages of the Kabardian Prince Sholokha were destroyed and burned. After that, he had to recognize the authority of the tsar and extradite the amanats, including his own son ^{[5, pp. 121-122, 182-183]}.

In the same year, 1589, the military men of Tersk (and other) cities opposed Shamkhal, occupied part of his lands, pushing him beyond the Koysu (Sulak) River. But after that, hostilities stopped for a while, because shamkhal sent "to beat his forehead" and promised to submit to the authority of the Russian tsar and reconcile with the Georgian tsar ^{[5, c. 181, 185, 189, 193, 202-203]}. But two years later the war resumed. The army under the command of the voivode Grigory Zasyekin defeated shamkhal, many of his people were killed, and he himself was wounded. The large plain aul of Andy (Andreevsky) and some other auls were captured and ravaged ^{[5, p. 253, 266; 6, vol. 1, p. 362, vol. 2, p. 48, 147; 10, p. 65]}.

In 1594, voivode Andrey Hvorostinin began a new campaign against Shamkhal "with many troops." The Georgian tsar Alexander was to join him. The campaign started successfully. On the Koysu River (Sulak) a city was built near the seashore, which later housed, according to some sources, 1,000 Streltsy and Cossacks ^{[5, p. 292; 11, p. 40]}. According to other sources, the actual size of the garrison was much smaller ^{[29, p. 11]}. A number of villages and even the town of Tarki, the residence of shamkhal, were captured. However, then the failures began. The Georgian king did not send his men, but shamkhal managed to gather a large army. In the battle that took place, "the sovereign's people were beaten." They lost three thousand people, the rest went to the Tersk city ^{[5, c. 261, 263, 273, 275; 6, vol. 1, p. 362; 15, p. 45-46]}, having left the occupied lands except for Koysu, where the Russian garrison remained.

In 1596, a new attempt was made to conclude a treaty with shamkhal and subordinate him to the tsarist power. In the presence of a representative of the Persian Shah, Shamkhal took an oath to serve the king. But when a boyar's son was sent to him from the Turks with an interpreter so that he could take the oath according to all the rules, he refused it, detained him for a long time and robbed the Terek envoys ^{[6, vol. 2, pp. 1-2, 44]}.

In the autumn of 1604, after repeated requests from the Georgian tsar Alexander, a new campaign against Shamkhal began under the command of voivode Ivan Buturlin. Thousands of Streltsy from Moscow, Kazan, Astrakhan arrived in the Caucasus. The Terek voivodes, Pyotr Golovin and Vladimir Mosalsky–Koltsov, together with the Terek warriors, also took part in the hostilities. The mounted Terek archers were commanded by the head Pavel Shirinosov, the foot soldiers were commanded by the head Solova Protasyev. Together with them, Astrakhan (Solovoy Protasyev was their head), Sviyazhsk and Cheboksary archers-"yearlings", as well as Terek Cossacks and Nogais also marched in the Turks ^{[9, p. 321-322]}. There is information about the participation in the campaign of Circassians and Okochans who lived near the Terek city ^{[5, p. 519; 10, p. 74, 402-403]}. The arrival of the Georgian army was expected ^{[5, p. 427, 430]}, but at that time the Georgian tsar took part in the war of the Persian Shah against Turkey.

In the autumn of 1604, Voivode Buturlin managed to achieve several important goals: the village of Andy was captured again, as were some other villages. The residence of shamkhal Tarki was also taken, a prison was built there. Russian fortresses were erected in several other places. Shamkhal and his supporters were defeated and suffered heavy losses. The survivors fled to the mountains, as well as to Derbent and Shamakhi, where Turkish troops were then stationed.

However, after that, the Terek military men, together with their voivodes, returned to their city, the Astrakhan Streltsy and Nogais left for Astrakhan. Buturlin had only a part of his troops left. At the same time, not only other rulers of Dagestan came to the aid of shamkhal, but also the Turkish "great army". Already in the spring of 1605 They besieged and began shelling the city of Koysu. The Terek voivodes sent Terek military men to help, so that they had no archers left even to guard the ambassadors returning from Georgia. However, this did not help to defend the city. The military men who defended him, led by voivode Vladimir Dolgoruky, left him and crossed to the Turks by sea.

Then the siege of the city of Tarki began, it was constantly shelled. Having lost hope of defending it, voivode Buturlin concluded an agreement with the Turkish pasha that the Russian army should be allowed to leave the city unhindered, but he broke his promise, which led to a heavy battle and heavy losses. The voivodes Buturlin, Pleshcheyev and Polev, as well as many Streltsy, were killed. Some of the soldiers were captured. In this campaign, the Russian army lost more than 7,000 people. The remnants of it managed to return to the Turks, but all the conquests in the land of Shamkhal were lost. The Sunzhensky prison, which was located quite far from the combat zone, was also abandoned and burned. The Terek voivodes feared that they would not have enough people to defend the Terek city, but Shamkhal and his allies did not besiege it ^{[4, p. 229; 5, c. 480, 481, 486, 513-514; 6, vol. 2, pp. 147-148; 9, pp. 321-323]}.

In the same period, the events of the Time of Troubles began, which also affected the Terek city. The Terek Cossacks even put forward their own impostor – "Tsarevich Peter" (Cossack Ileyka Muromets) and together with him many of them left the Caucasus. They visited many Russian cities, establishing their own rules there and cracking down on the boyars. In 1608, the Terek Cossacks, together with supporters of Ivan Bolotnikov, were besieged in Tula. After the city surrendered to the troops of Vasily Shuisky, Ileyka Muromets was executed ^{[3, p. 173-175]}.

The Terek city in 1605 recognized the authority of False Dmitry I ^{[5, p. 517]}. In 1606, the inhabitants of Terok, as well as Astrakhan, "stole, they did not kiss the cross to Tsar Vasily." At the same time, the head of Vasily Khokhlov was sent from Kazan to the Turks along with the Streltsy. He (like his Streltsy) had already sworn allegiance to Vasily Shuisky and tried to convince the Terek residents to do the same, but they not only did not listen to him, but also threw him into prison ^{[6, vol. 3, p. 56]}. The Kabardian prince Sunchaley, who lived in Turki, also recalled later that he tried to keep the Terek people from "stealing" and "did not tell the impostor to kiss the cross" ^{[10, p. 84]}. In 1607, both Astrakhan and the Graters "beat the forehead" to Tsar Vasily and kissed the cross to him ^{[3, p. 163]}.  However, after that, the turmoil in Astrakhan did not stop. Several impostors acted there at once, Astrakhan residents took part in clashes with government troops ^{[29, p. 17-18]}. Little information has been preserved about the situation in the Tersk city during this period. In 1608, after the defeat of Ileyka Muromets in Tula, Vasily Shuisky captured 8 Terek Cossacks and one Astrakhan Sagittarius there and sent his letters with them "to Astrakhan and to the Terek to all sorts of people" so that they would admit their guilt and hope for forgiveness. However, the envoys of Shuisky did not reach Terok, they were intercepted on the way by "thieves' Cossacks" ^{[1, p. 180]}. It can be concluded that unrest continued in the Turks during these years.  

In 1613, Ivan Zarutsky and Marina Mnishek fortified themselves in Astrakhan. The Astrakhan governor was killed. Messengers arrived from Astrakhan to the Turks, demanding that they be given the Terek voivode Pyotr Golovin. However, the Terek residents refused to do this ^{[2, p. 424]}. Zarutsky and Marina Mnishek also sent their man to Kabarda to ask for help from the Kabardian princes, but he was detained by the Terek residents. They learned from him that Zarutsky was going to go to the Turks to capture him, execute the governor and many other people.

The Terek inhabitants swore allegiance to Mikhail Romanov ^{[2, p. 431]}. And although by this time there were few Streltsy left in the city, voivode Golovin sent them on a campaign near Astrakhan. Together with the Cossacks, there were, according to some sources, about 500, and according to others – 700 people ^{[9, p. 361; 28, p. 97]}. They were commanded by the head Vasily Khokhlov. Then another detachment of Terek archers was sent there, but he did not have time for the start of hostilities and soon returned. In the Turks, the number of archers has decreased so much that there are almost no people left to guard the city. They had to stand guard "day and night, without going down, without change" ^{[2, p. 18]}.

During the same period, voivodes Ivan Odoevsky and Semyon Golovin, sent by the new tsar, moved from the north along the Volga to Astrakhan, along with Streltsy and boyar children from Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and other cities. One of the commanders of this detachment was the Tersky Streletsky head  Luka Vysheslavtsev. But Vasily Khokhlov's detachment approached Astrakhan earlier. Thousands of people came out of the city to him – opponents of Zarutsky, including military men "with a fiery battle." The Yurt Tatars, who were located near Astrakhan, also acted on his side. After a three-week standoff, Ivan Zarutsky and Marina Mnishek, along with their supporters, left the city. Vasily Khokhlov entered Astrakhan, and the locals swore an oath to the tsar. The next day, a battle took place on the Volga, in which the Terek and Astrakhan military men defeated Zarutsky. Of the 93 strugs he had, he had only 33 left. They retreated to the sea, and then headed for Yaik. When the voivodes Ivan Odoevsky and Semyon Golovin approached, their detachments continued to pursue Zarutsky. The Terek Streltsy and Cossacks, having received the tsar's salary, returned home, and Vasily Khokhlov went to Moscow, where he was awarded for the victory over the rebels ^{[2, c. 14-15, 27, 424, 431, 433, 436, 442-447; 5, pp. 546-547, 551-553; 6, vol.3, p. 54-56; 15, p. 134]}.  At the same time, his brother Ivan Khokhlov (who also served for some time in Turki) was in Persia, where he was sent by I. Zarutsky and Marina Mnishek, hoping to get help from Shah Abbas ^{[6, vol.3, pp. 56-57]}. Thanks to the merits of his brother, he managed to escape punishment later.

Military operations in the Caucasus continued both during the Time of Troubles and after its completion. For many years, the opponent of the Terek voivodes and Streltsy was one of the rulers of Dagestan – Sultan Mahmud. He owned the village of Andy, which they repeatedly ruined. This happened again in 1610 . After that, he had to move to the mountains, to the Okochans, but even after that the war continued. In 1612, the head Vasily Khokhlov, along with the Streltsy (as well as Prince Sunchaley and the Cossacks), opposed him. They captured and burned his villages, so he had to leave from there. After that, Sultan Mahmud was going to take the oath to the king and give amanats. The Terek voivode wrote to Moscow about this, but the royal decree had not yet been received when the Kumyk princes complained about Sultan Mahmud in 1615: he settled not far from them, attacked their villages, killed people and stole cattle, did not allow them to use the Kabardian and Michkiz roads. The voivodes sent 400 Terek archers, Cossacks, as well as the children of boyars, gunners and Okochans to Dagestan under the command of the Streletsky head Lukyan Vysheslavtsev ^{[5, p. 536, 26, p. 49-53; 27, p. 66-70]}. In the battle that took place, Sultan Mahmud was defeated and lost many people.

In 1616, the Terek voivode sent the same Vysheslavtsev together with another Streletsky head – Grigory Fedorchuk, as well as with centurions, Pentecostals, Streltsy and Cossacks (500 people in total) against the Kabardian Prince Sholokha (with whom they had already fought in 1589) and his son Good-Murza. They refused to obey the tsar, sent their men and Nogais under the Terek city to steal cattle and capture Terek service men. The Kumyk Prince Girey and his men joined the Streltsy detachment, as well as his brother Ildar Murza, Surkai Karabudakhkentsky, etc. ^{[16, L. 74, 77, 80; 8, p. 540]}.  Detailed information about this campaign has not been preserved, it is only known that the Streltsy and their allies returned home safely.

In addition to direct participation in military operations, the Streltsy, as well as the Cossacks, gunners and collars, also had to guard their city. They were on duty, for example, on city towers.  They also stood "at outposts" or on "departing guards": on the Kizlyar River (north of the city), on the Bystrica River (south of it), on a Dry Grater, on the seashore, as well as on the Astrakhan road to prevent the sudden appearance of enemies ^{[2, p. 18; 5, p. 292]}.

In addition, the Streltsy ensured order both in the city and in its surroundings. They guarded the Kabardian and Kumyk amanats who lived in the Terek city. In 1609, the Streltsy were sent in pursuit of Batai Murza, who had fled from the city of Terki. He managed to get away from them, but many of his people were returned to the Turks ^{[5, p. 525]}.

Terek Archers were also sent to protect some Kabardian princes: "... the sovereign voivodes from the Grater give 500 and 600 archers to Kabarda by the Prince of Cherkassy and murzam, who serve the sovereign, to protect them from their enemies for the winter..." ^{[5, p. 500]}.

Sometimes the Terek Archers also served the Georgian tsars. In 1604, the Moscow ambassadors placed at the disposal of Tsarevich Yuri a detachment of 40 archers led by the centurion of Streletsky Mikhail Semovsky. They took part in Yuri's battles with Turkish and Kumyk troops and contributed to his victory. The Georgian authorities asked to leave them a larger detachment, but the war with Shamkhal and the beginning of the Time of Troubles did not allow this to be done ^{[5, pp. 476-477, 507-508, 513-514]}.

The Terek Streltsy, like the Cossacks and the "boyar children", escorted the ambassadors to Georgia and met them on the way back to protect them from possible attacks ^{[5, c. 119, 242, 270, 294, 315, 350]}. In 1589, the tsarist ambassadors were accompanied to Georgia by 50 mounted and 200 foot Astrakhan archers, as well as Cossacks. Another 200 Terek Streltsy and Cossacks occupied river crossings to secure the passage of the embassy ^{[5, p. 119]}. In 1598, the tsarist ambassadors returning from Georgia, as well as Georgian ambassadors going to Moscow, were accompanied by 1300 people – Streltsy, Cossacks and Yurt Tatars ^{[5, p. 350]}. In other cases, there were fewer escorts, but always several hundred Archers went to see off or meet the ambassadors ^{[5, p. 422]}. In 1602, the ambassadors traveling from Georgia were met by Streltsy together with the children of boyars, New Baptists and Circassians – a total of 250 people ^{[5, p. 360]}.

In 1604, the ambassadors were escorted by 300 mounted archers led by Pavel Shironosov (not counting the boyar children, "novokreschen", Okochan and Circassian). In addition, 50 more Streltsy went with them, who were supposed to stay with the ambassadors in Georgia. The other Streltsy, having seen off the ambassadors, returned to the Turks. Another 200 Streltsy and Cossacks accompanied the ambassadors' belongings and the tsar's "treasury", intended for distribution in Georgia, sent along the Terek on ploughs to Sunzha ^{[5, p. 423, 449, 452]}. The Streltsy also escorted the ambassadors to Moscow. In 1618, together with the Georgian ambassadors, Boris Stanislavov, a Terek centurion of Streletsky, and an interpreter went to Moscow ^{[14, p. 36]}.

Sometimes the Streltsy also escorted the ambassadors to Persia, although the ambassadors often got there (and from there) by sea, without stopping at the Turks. Nevertheless, in 1598, the Terek voivodes sent the Terek centurion Matvey Gorbaty to Koysa to deliver the ambassador of Shah Abbas from there across the Caspian Sea on a plow. From the Turks to Astrakhan, this ambassador followed along with another centurion, Potap Gololobov ^{[6, vol. 2, p. 1-3]}.

In 1619, Ambassador Ivan Chicherin and deacon Mikhail Tyukhin had to return from Persia by land transport. After they had already passed the city of Tarki, the Tersk voivode sent seventy archers with a centurion Ivan Mikhailov to meet them, as well as four strugs together with another centurion Streletsky – Rodion Matveev, the son of the Hunchback. He obviously held the same position as his father 21 years before, and carried out similar assignments ^{[6, vol. 3, p. 489]}.  The ambassadors arrived safely by sea in the Terek city.

The Streltsy also played an important role in strengthening political ties with the peoples of the North Caucasus. After the construction of the Terek city, part of the Kabardian princes took an oath there ("shert") to be under the "royal hand" and serve the tsar together with his voivodes. However, the "unnamed" Circassians could not come to this city because they lived far from it. In order to bring them to the oath, to the mouth of the Sunzha ("to the old settlement") a detachment was sent, which included centurion Streletsky, Streltsy and Cossacks ^{[10, p. 59]}.

In 1610, the Terek Streltsy were present at the oath of several Kumyk princes ^{[5, pp. 533-534]}. In 1614, the Kumyk princes took a new oath – already to Tsar Mikhail Romanov. To do this, the Streletsky head Vasily Khokhlov went to them on the Fast River, and with him – Streletsky centurions Mikhail Semovsky, Ivan Volkov, Stepan Savin, Matvey Kudashev, as well as Pentecostals, foremen, Streltsy, Cossacks and other military people (Kabardian Prince Sunchaley, his uzden, novokrescheny and Okochans). All of them were present when Giray-murza swore "according to his Busorman faith" for himself and for his brother and for other Kumyk princes to serve the tsar, to be "in servitude relentless forever" ^{[26, p. 38]}.

Military men of high status – Sagittarius heads and centurions took part in the execution of such responsible assignments. It also required literate people who could read out the text of the oath and other documents. Some Streltsy played the role of clerks, like the Sagittarius of "Solovovsky by order of Protasyev" Ilya Petrov. In 1614, he, together with his son boyar Peter Smagin and an interpreter, went to Kabarda to bring Kabardian princes to swear in Mikhail Romanov ^{[18, l. 1]}. The chaplain of the mounted archers in the same period was "Posnichko" Seliverstov. Together with the interpreter, he took the letter to the Kumyk Giray Murza and was present at the oath of the Kumyk princes to the tsar ^{[5, pp. 531-533]}.

No less important was the role of interpreters, without whom it would have been impossible to negotiate with the peoples of the Caucasus. Among them was, for example, the equestrian sagittarius "Neustroko Interpreter". In 1602, the head of the Streltsy, Pavel Shironosov, sent him (along with another mounted archer) to Georgia to the ambassadors, to inform them that the Streltsy had already come to the mountains "to the Sonsky cracks". Here they were supposed to meet the ambassadors and escort them to the Turks. When the interpreter returned, he brought the ambassadors' reply and a letter from the Georgian tsar ^{[5, pp. 361-362]}. Another interpreter was the Sagittarius of the Solovov order of Protasyev "Ermosha Grigoriev", who went with a letter to the Kumyk Giray-murza ^{[5, p. 531-533]} together with the "Posnichk" Seliverstov and was present at the oath of the Kumyk princes. The same interpreter in 1615 accompanied the envoy of this Murza on a trip to Moscow, and a year before that – the Persian merchant Murtosa, sent by the shah to the tsar ^{[6, vol. 3, p. 11; 20, l. 6]}.

Sagittarius Ivan Nagaev was also an interpreter, he was sent to Georgia, Dagestan, and Kabarda ^{[5, p. 454; 6, vol. 2, p. 355]} with letters and "for news". In 1615 Ivan Nagaev, together with his son, the boyar Mosey Piminov, was sent to Kabarda with royal letters. When they were at Kazy Murza, he was attacked by another Kabardian murza – Khoroshai – together with a large Nogai army. Ivan Nagaev was wounded, captured by the Nogais, but soon he was ransomed, and he was able to return to the Tersk city ^{[16, L. 24, 73, 74]}.

The mounted Sagittarius interpreter "Gurka" Vasiliev traveled from the Terek city to Sunzha to negotiate with the Kumyk Giray Murza, he was also sent to Astrakhan and Moscow to accompany the Kabardian Prince Sunchalei and Okotsky Batai Murza, who were heading to the tsar in 1605 ^{[5, p. 517, 531-532]} In 1622 together with the same Prince Sunchalei, another Sagittarius, a "foreigner," went to Moscow  Luka Voloshenin, who could also be an interpreter, since he knew Circassian, Tatar and Kumyk languages ^{[23, l. 1-2]}. A year before that, another "foreigner" – Streletsky centurion Fadey Volosheninov, who also knew Tatar and Circassian languages, accompanied Okotsky Murza Kohostrov to Moscow. He was also an interpreter during the Streltsy campaigns ^{[20, l. 4-5; 25, l. 32]}.

The Streltsy, like the Terek Cossacks and the "boyar children", took letters to the ambassadors to Georgia and Persia, and returned letters were brought to the Turks and even to Moscow ^{[5, c. 195, 221-222, 290, 309, 482, 492-493; 6, vol. 2, p. 63]}. In 1616, the Terek voivode sent to Georgia with a letter from the centurion of mounted archers Vasily Nadobny, together with the clerk, interpreter and 6 archers. However, on the way they learned that the Persian Shah Abbas had defeated the Georgian king Teimuraz, and returned back ^{[14, pp. 33-34]}. In 1618, four archers accompanied the son of the boyar Lukin and the interpreter, who delivered to the tsarist ambassadors in Persia the replies of the Astrakhan and Terek voivodes about the conclusion of peace between the Moscow state and the Polish king ^{[6, vol. 3, p. 602; 21, l. 7]}.

With the help of the Streltsy, the Terek voivodes sent royal letters and their own letters or oral "instructions" to many rulers of the North Caucasus: Shamkhal, Kumyk princes, the "Uvar" (Avar) prince and his neighbor the "black" prince, Shikh-Murza Okotsky, Kabardian princes and others ^{[5, p. 75, 79-80, 116-118, 128, 136, 141, 144; 10, c. 56; 26, pp. 37-38]}. However, the task of these archers was not only the delivery of correspondence. They brought news about the events that took place among the peoples of the Caucasus to Turki and Moscow. For example, in 1589, Nikita Zinoviev, the centurion of Streletsky, "lived in Kabarda all winter and spring, ... served with the Shikha in Okoh and was sent to all Cherkassy." After that, he was sent to Moscow, because he could tell a lot about these peoples there ^{[5, p. 121]}.

In 1615, the Terek voivodes sent the Terek cavalry centurion of Streletsky Vasily Nadobny to Kabarda with the archers in order to scout out news about the proposed campaign of the Turkish army to the Caucasus ^{[10, p. 89]}.  In the same year, the centurion of Streletsky, Stepan Savin, took the royal charter to the Kumyk prince Giray, and the head of Lukyan Vysheslavtsev delivered the royal salary to him ^{[26, p. 54-55]}. Both of them also brought information about the events in Dagestan. Terek Streltsy also visited the towns of "free" Cossacks, such as the Terek centurion Boris Stanislavov in 1616. He learned there news about the future plans of the Nogais and about other incidents ^{[16, l. 72]}. In 1617, the Streletsky head of Luka Vysheslavtsev, together with his son Boyarsky, visited the Grebensky towns. They collected information about the preparation of the Crimean khan for the campaign against the Persian Shah Abbas ^{[8, p. 546]}.

The Streltsy also delivered to Astrakhan and Moscow letters of the Terek voivodes and petitions of the residents of the city ^{[2, p. 35; 5, p. 121, 127, 309; 6, vol. 2, p. 181, 183; 10, p. 82, 92, 94]}, and to the Turks – royal letters ^{[6, vol. 2, p. 63, 86]}. In 1614, the Terek cavalry centurion Vasily Smagin, together with the "head" Vasily Khokhlov, brought letters to Moscow with a message about the victory over Zarutsky near Astrakhan ^{[5, p. 552-553]}.

The exact amount of the salary of the Terek Archers is unknown. At the beginning of the XVII century, the Streltsy who served in the city of Koysu received 6 rubles a year as a monetary salary and oatmeal flour as a bread salary ^{[11, p. 40]}. Approximately the same, apparently, was the salary of the Terek Archers. In 1621, ordinary Terek Streltsy received 6 rubles a year and 10 pairs of rye and oats, and the Streltsy centurion Fadei Volosheninov received 15 rubles a year and 15 pairs of rye and oats ^{[20, L. 5]}. When the Streltsy came to Moscow "in bailiffs" with Caucasian princes, murzas or their ambassadors, then on the road they received a certain amount for food, and in Moscow – additional payments "for departure" ^{[20, L. 3, 6; 21, L. 10; 22, L. 6; 23, L. 7]}. In addition to money, it could also be fabrics for clothes.

The delivery of the "bread salary" from Astrakhan to the Graters was carried out by the Streltsy themselves, it was part of their service. It was delivered by sea, on ploughs, and the Terek Streltsy sent the same supplies to the city of Koysu ^{[5, p. 292]}. If the delivery of "bread wages" to the Graters stopped, as it was in the Time of Troubles, then the city granaries were empty, and the Streltsy were in poverty. In 1615, the serving people in the Graters were all "slack", many "starved to death" ^{[17, l. 4]}. And two years later, the situation has not improved: "there are few sovereign military men, and of course they are all poor, naked and barefoot and hungry, many people die of starvation, and others from hunger and from need wander madly" ^{[27, p. 79]}. The Streltsy could partially compensate for the lack of salary at the expense of their crafts, but this topic may be the subject of a separate study.

Non–payment of wages is one of the reasons that the number of Terek archers has always been lower than planned. Even in the 1620s, it was significantly less than 1,000 people (not counting "yearlings" from other cities). In 1614, there were about 500 Streltsy in the Turks (including "yearlings"). Despite such a small number, the Terek Streltsy played a significant role in the history of not only the Caucasus, but also Russia as a whole. In 1614, the campaign of the Terek Streltsy and Cossacks in Astrakhan, the defeat of I. Zarutsky contributed to the strengthening of the Romanovs' power, the restoration of the unity of the country. Of all the other military actions of the Terek Streltsy, the largest were two campaigns against Shamkhal Tarkovsky, in which thousands of Streltsy sent from several cities took part. Nevertheless, both campaigns ended in defeat.  

Other campaigns against the rulers of the Caucasus were more successful. With their help, the Terek voivodes managed to strengthen their power, especially in the flat part of the region. Kumyk and Kabardian princes and murzas took an oath ("shert") to obey the authority of the tsar. Those who refused were threatened with ruin. The Streltsy service also provided for the protection and protection of the city and its environs, military assistance to the tsar's supporters and servants from among the local rulers.

In addition to participating in military operations, the Streltsy provided an opportunity to maintain diplomatic relations with Georgia. They accompanied the ambassadors, protecting them from possible attacks. The Streltsy also contributed to strengthening contacts with the peoples of the Caucasus, delivering them royal letters, letters or oral messages from the Terek voivodes, and at the same time collecting and transmitting information about them. The correspondence of the Tersk city with Moscow was also carried out with the help of Streltsy. Georgian or Persian ambassadors and representatives of the peoples of the North Caucasus were often brought to Moscow by Streltsy, too. They played an active role in ensuring the possibility of political ties between the peoples of the region.