Yeletsky gorodnichy Egor Alexandrovich Kholodovich and the study of antiquities in the province in the middle of the XIX century

Tropin Nikolai Aleksandrovich ORCID: 0000-0001-6287-2785 Doctor of History Head of the Laboratory; I.A. Bunin Yelets State University 399771, Russia, Lipetsk region, Yelets, Ordzhonikidze str., 49, sq. 41 tropin2003@list.ru Other publications by this author

The name of E.A. Kholodovich is almost unknown in modern Yelets regional studies. He is not mentioned in the works of his younger contemporaries, the leader of the Yelets county nobility M.A. Stakhovich and Yelets police chief N.A. Ridinger, who published the first books about Yelets in the middle of the XIX century. However, it is precisely E.A. Kholodovich who should have the right to remain in the history of Yelets local lore as the first publisher of information about the antiquities of Yelets in the Oryol Provincial Gazette for 1840. Who is E.A. Kholodovich?

In the State Archive of the Orel region, it was possible to find two of his formulary lists from 1835 ^{[1, l. 1095 vol.-1098]} and 1847 ^{[2, l. 993-1000]}. Egor Alexandrovich Kholodovich was born in 1798, from the nobility. He began his service in 1819 as a cadet in the 6th Jaeger Regiment, served in the Tambov and Ryazan infantry regiments. He was a senior adjutant to the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Lieutenant General Krasovsky. He rose to the rank of captain. In the battles during the siege of the fortress of Silistria, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th century with a bow (1829) and during the battle near the fortress of Shumlo with the Order of St. Vladimir. Anna 3 art. with a bow (1829), had a silver medal for the Turkish war. In 1832, he was dismissed from the service due to injuries (concussion at Shumley). Since December 1833, he was appointed police chief in Glukhov, and since 1835 – in Yelets. As Yelets mayor, he was awarded the Orders of St. Nicholas. Stanislaus 2 st (1841), St. Anna 2 st (1847), the insignia of immaculate service for XX years (1844).

His children were born in Yelets: Ivan (born in 1841), Stefanida (born in 1836), Elizabeth (born in 1837), Anna (born in 1838), Julia (born in 1840). He had an acquired estate in Chernihiv province: 70 souls of peasants and 900 dessiatines of land; in Yelets county – 100 des of land.

He served in Yelets E.A. Kholodovich until the spring of 1849. He was the only mayor who served so long in Yelets (14 years) during the first half to the middle of the XIX century. His successor, V.V. Zubkovsky, served for 13 years, and his predecessors, as a rule, for several years. It is strange that the name of E.A. Kholodovich did not remain imprinted in the historiography of Yelets. Perhaps we will find the answer in the scandalous case explaining his dismissal from the service in 1849 ^[3].

In November 1848, the mayor, merchant Sergei Rusanov, informed the mayor of his suspicion that the soldier Fekla Kostennikova, who was in his servants, had secretly been born of pregnancy. A search was carried out in the Rusanovs' country house, where the corpse of a baby was found in a latrine. F. Kostennikova confessed to the crime and was arrested. There were rumors that Fekla had "worked up" from Dmitry, the son of Yeletsky's head. The mayor and bailiff Mitrofanov seized on these rumors while conducting an investigation. The investigators wanted (it is not clear why) Kostennikova to admit this. To this end, a criminal was placed in her cell, who was promised release. The offended S. Rusanov filed a complaint with the Yelets magistrate and the governor, accusing the Yelets city government of "harassment and insulting actions to his family ^{[4, l. 1-1 vol.]}. An investigation began, which ended with the dismissal of E.A. Kholodovich from service ^{[5, l. 1]}, and Mitrofanov was put on trial ^{[6, l. 103]}. It is very likely that such behavior of E.A. Kholodovich was condemned in society, and his name was not accepted to be publicly pronounced in the future.

The appearance of E.A. Kholodovich in the Orel province coincided with the establishment of the Orel Statistical Committee in 1835. Its first chairman was the Orel civil governor A.V. Kochubey (1790-1878). However, the daily work of the statistical committee was carried out by the deputy chairman. In 1836, Pyotr Andreevich Azbukin (1804-1880) was appointed to this position.

By this time, P.A. Azbukin had become a prominent figure in the provincial town of Orel. His biography has been well studied according to various archival documents by the Orel researcher E.N. Ashikhmina ^{[7; 8]}. Pyotr Andreevich Azbukin was born in 1804, he came "from the rank of chief officer." In 1818, he entered the 2nd grade of the Orel provincial Gymnasium and, after graduating from it, studied in 1821-1824 at the Moscow University at the moral and political department. After graduating from an educational institution with the rank of a full student, he began serving as a literature teacher at the Orel Gymnasium (from 1825), continued at the Orel School for children of clerical servants (from 1829). Since 1839, P.A. Azbukin has been an inspector of the gymnasium. He retired in 1847.

E.N. Ashikhmina notes the diverse interests and extraordinary efficiency of P.A. Azbukin. For many years at the gymnasium, he served on a voluntary basis as a clerk, accountant, librarian. P.A. Azbukin edited the newspaper Oryol Provincial Vedomosti. He is also known as the first full member of the Russian Geographical Society of the first composition in the Oryol province, the first researcher of archeology and museum worker in the Oryol region. After retiring, Azbukin was engaged in meteorological observations at his estate in the village of Prilepy, Mtsensk district.

In 1838, he published a "Historical and statistical description of the cities of the Orel province" ^[9]. In 1840, the Orel Provincial Gazette began to be published, where those who wish to print interesting materials from the past of the Orel province are invited.

In the newspaper for 1840 (No. 7), under the heading "Historical and statistical information about the Orel province", signed by E.A. Kholodovich, a small note appears "On the antiquities of the city of Yelets" ^[10], indicating that documents related to the statistical description of Yelets of the previous time were stored in the Archive of the city administration.

Structurally, the note consisted of a preface and six small sections, each of which corresponded to the description of the object – antiquities: 1) The Icon of the Kazan Mother of God; 2) The Image of the Appearance of the Mother of God to Tamerlane; 3) The Holy Gospel; 4) A chapel and a stone pillar with icons; 5) Talim Prison; 6) Six cast-iron cannons; 7) An underground passage.

The preface talks about the ancient history of Yelets, which was mentioned even under Dmitry Donskoy with his appanage Prince Fedor. The author refers to the work of N.M. Karamzin.

The section on the icon of the Kazan Mother of God begins with the story of the icon's location. The icon was moved to Yelets in 1395 from the Talitsa prison (mistakenly written "Talim"). Until 1768, it was located in the Yelets Trinity Monastery, which burned down. It was moved to the St. Nicholas Cathedral Church. The author reports that a few years ago there was a tradition of a procession from Yelets to Talitsa in memory of 1395. However, when the inhabitants of the village of Talitsa set out to return the icon to themselves, the Yelets archpriest John Orlovsky replaced the procession to Talitsa with a procession to the Kazan cemetery church. The residents of Talitsa received only a list from the icon of B.M.

The second relic of Yelets is associated with the image of the appearance of the Mother of God to Tamerlane, kept in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas Church. The author notes that this is a copy from the icon and updated in 1779. He quotes an extensive record on the icon about the salvation of Russia from Tamerlane and indicates that the icon was painted in 1735 under Yelets voivode Nashchokin. The plot reflected on the icon is connected with Tamerlane's dream, when B.M. appeared to him surrounded by the army.

The author mentions very briefly the third relic, the Gospel of 1640, kept in the Cathedral Church. To date, several Gospels of the XVII- early XVIII centuries have been preserved in the funds of the Yelets City Museum of Local Lore, described by D.A. Lyapin ^[11]. However, these relics did not come to the attention of E.A. Kholodovich.

The fourth group of relics is associated with five chapels. The author connects them with memorial objects in memory of those who died from Tamerlane: at the Cathedral, on Shchepnaya Square, on the banks of the Sosna River, in the garden of merchant Khrennikov, in the courtyard of merchant Deev. The chapel on the banks of the Sosna River is associated with the stay of Metropolitan Alexy.

The fifth group of relics is associated with the village of Talitsa (Talim prison). The author reports on the icon of the Kazan B.M., which has been located in Talitsa since ancient times. A temple of the Kazan B.M. was built on the site of the prison.

The sixth group of relics are six cast-iron cannons lying near the Cathedral. According to the author, this is a weapon against Tamerlane, whose camp was located, on the contrary, on the high Argamach mountain. The author cites a legend about how a Tatar horseman crashed from the heights of Argamachi mountain.

The seventh Yelets relic is connected with an underground passage. The author reports that an underground passage lined with an oak forest is recorded in a washed-out ravine located to the southeast of the Cathedral.

The article does not have a conclusion or generalization of conclusions.

This is the only publication of E.A. Kholodovich known to us, which appeared, most likely, on the initiative of P.A. Azbukin. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to find systematic local materials of statistical descriptions of Yelets in the 1820s and early 1830s in the archives. As a result, the author of the information used by E.A. Kholodovich remains unknown.

E.A. Kholodovich was among the few residents of Yelets who stood at the origins of his research. Let's try to outline the cultural environment of society, where the prerequisites of scientific knowledge were formed.

It is known that by the middle of the XVIII century, the formation of national historical science was taking place. According to the observation of A.A. Sevastyanova, historical thought in Russia experienced a rise in the second half of the XVIII century, especially during Catherine's reign, when a whole complex of historical writings appeared, although diverse, but united by themes, approaches, techniques and worldview positions ^{[12, pp. 7, 11]}.

At that time, academic researchers and topographers showed interest in the history of Yelets and its district against the vast historical and geographical background of the Russian Empire, the effectiveness of whose work further influenced the formation of scientific historical consciousness of society in the province. In the XVIII- early XIX centuries. The Academy of Sciences has repeatedly organized scientific expeditions to the Russian province in order to study geography, ethnography, archeology, and natural resources. So, in 1751, a student M. Kovrin, on the instructions of the St. Petersburg (Academic) University, whose rector was G.F. Miller, conducted archaeological excavations in the Cheremushny forest of the Yelets District ^{[13, pp. 47-48]}. Presumably, this place can be correlated with the modern Izmalkovsky district of the Lipetsk region, where this toponym is known.

In September 1768, during a scientific expedition to the south of Russia, Yelets was visited by a young academician S. Gmelin. Apparently, he stayed in the city for at least five days. On September 25, he sends a report about the city of Yelets to the Academy of Sciences ^{[14, p. 98]}. In 1781-1782, Academician V.F. Zuev visited Yelets, who made a scientific trip from St. Petersburg to Kherson [15. pp. 21-22]. In 1809-1810 . Yelets was visited by K.M. Borozdin, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and A.I. Ermolaev, an archaeographer. In their scientific reports, they included, among other things, information about local history from local residents – old-timers. It is very likely that the enrichment of information occurred mutually.

At the same time, general surveying took place regularly, during which statistical description, compilation of historical information, and economic notes on provinces were carried out. A clear example of proof that a copy of such descriptions remained in the province and could be used by educated residents is the postscript on the title to the topographic description of the Orel governorate, which we drew attention to in the RGVIA: "copied from a book from Peter Ivanovich Novosiltsev, received in 1787"

^{[16; 17, pp.83-85P.I. Novosiltsev was the vice-governor of the Oryol governorate. There is a well-known circle of Yelets old-timers who left their records. The earliest of them date back to the end of the XVIII century. Their authors are not known. However, they are associated with the administrative apparatus of the city administration, were priests or merchants. Their records were published in the journal "Russian Archive" [18]} and are called by us: "Yelets old–timer I", with records from 1782-1831, and "Yelets old-timer II", with records from 1779 - early 1780s^[19].

Among the famous names of the old-timers of the older generation, we note the Yelets merchant Ivan Ivanovich Isaev, whose notes were brought to 1830, and Ivan Vasilyevich Nikitin with information from the XVIII century. Their recordings were published at the end of the XIX century by E.I. Nazarov ^{[20; 21]}.

From the book of M.A. Stakhovich, the names of other Yelets old-timers are known, whose works he used and is grateful to them. These are the deacon of the Transfiguration Church Ivan Kutepov, landowner Ivan Alekseevich Soymanov, merchants Alexander Yakovlevich Bakulin and Ivan Kononovich Kozhukhov ^{[22, p.51]}. It is possible that some of them were contemporaries of E.A. Kholodovich.

A reliable contemporary of E.A. Kholodovich should be called the merchant Ivan Ivanovich Uklein (1794-1852), who wrote the essay "A brief historical information about the city of Yelets, compiled by the Yelets merchant I.I. Uklein in 1846 and 1847" ^[23]. His work, previously known to some Yelchans in typewritten manuscripts, was published by Yelets local historian V.P. Gorlov ^{[24, pp. 24-25]}. The basis for the publication was a typewritten text stored in the Yelets City Local History Archive. The author's manuscript, presented to the Oryol governor, has been preserved in the funds of the GAOO. In the text of the manuscript, there is a borrowing from the work of I.I. Isaev in terms of describing the urban life of the Yelchans.

The following signs are characteristic of the notes of old-timers: the lack of a clear structure and internal logic of presentation, which often leads to repetitions in the text; the lack of references to the works of historians, which most likely indicates ignorance of historical research; the desire to record any noteworthy information on the history of Yelets; the use of some statistical materials on the city. According to our observations, the records of old-timers combine the characteristics of city chroniclers, including family and church chronicles, as well as author's historical and local history writings. Such a combination of different narrative techniques is no exception ^{[25, p.26]}.

The topic of antiquities in the notes of old-timers is considered through the prism of a detailed description of the remains of the fortress and underground passages in the perception of the memory of the second half of the XVIII century, customs, the history of monasteries and temples, brief historical legends. The main object of legends is Mount Argamach, where the remains of an ancient fortification and a stone cliff where the battle with the Tatars took place are located. Comparing the surviving records of old-timers with the article by E.A. Kholodovich, we do not observe borrowings of texts from "Yelets old-timer I", "Yelets old-timer II", I.I. Isaev, I.I. Uklein.

Under E.A. Kholodovich, another statistical description of Yelets and the county began in 1847. A document dated 1.05.1847 has been preserved under his signature, containing brief information about the population and buildings of the city ^{[26, l. 4-4 vol.]}. The description will be completed in the early 1850s under the mayor V.V. Zubkovsky ^{[27, l. 314-322 vol., 331]}.

These Yelets antiquities became a textbook for further researchers, in whose works they acquired new additional information. The book by M.A. Stakhovich, published in 1858, contains a small compact section "Monuments. Legends", including information about chapels, the icon of the Kazan B.M., about Tamerlane's camp on Argamach ^{[28, pp. 14-16]}. He states the fact of the folk tradition linking chapels with memorials of those who died from Tamerlane, speaks of the need for scientific study of them. M.A. Stakhovich cites two versions of the legends associated with Argamachi. Telling about the icon of the Kazan B.M., in the work of M.A. Stakhovich, one can guess a certain written source of information, which he comments on. By the way, these texts of Stakhovich and Kholodovich partially coincide, which indicates a possible protograph. Attention should also be paid to the presence in the book of M.A. Stakhovich of a separate section "Monuments. Legends." Is it a coincidence?

Let us assume that M.A. Stakhovich borrowed this text from I. Kutepov, about whom he remembers especially with gratitude: "This and other news from the chronicles of Karamzin's "History" and legends were collected by the hardworking collector of news about the city of Yelets, deacon of the Transfiguration Church Ivan Kutepov. All this collection was in my possession and I recently delivered it to the official of special assignments of Mr. Oryol civil governor A.A. Snopov to compile historical notes about the cities of the Oryol province" ^{[29, pp. 52-53]}. It is very likely that E.A. Kholodovich also used this text to publish his article. Unfortunately, I. Kutepov's manuscript remains undiscovered so far.

The book by N.A. Ridinger, published in 1865, does not contain a single section on ancient monuments. The information is scattered throughout the text ^{[30, pp. 17, 47, 52]}. He reports on six old guns from the time of the Troubles, which were lying on the ground near the prison and which, probably, he put on the carriages at the old Cathedral in 1862. N.A. Ridinger is skeptical about the connection of the chapels with the times of Tamerlane's ruin. He links the mention of ancient icons to certain temples.

A comparative analysis of the texts of the works of M.A. Stakhovich and N.A. Ridinger shows that the article by E.A. Kholodovich was not known to them, they used other or similar records, probably already in the 1847-1850s.

The presented material clearly demonstrates the influence of the state policy on the conduct of provincial statistical descriptions on the formation of local history studies in the province. It fell on the fertile soil of that part of the inhabitants who were educated, inquisitive and kept records of local history.