The Siege of Nizhny Novgorod (1505) was a military assault on the city by the combined forces of Muhammad-Amin and a mirza of the Nogai Horde, the khan's brother-in-law. The event became one of the episodes of the long confrontation between the Muscovite state and the Khanate of Kazan and left its mark in the city's legends associated with the towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.
Course of the siege
According to historical tradition, in 1505 Khan Muhammad-Amin of Kazan gathered an army of Tatars and Nogais and advanced on Nizhny Novgorod. According to legend, the lifting of the siege was linked to the death of the Nogai mirza: a shot fired by a captive Lithuanian gunner from the Ivanovskaya Tower of the Kremlin struck the commander of the allied army, after which the siege was lifted.
Legends of the gunner
Two versions of the legend of the Lithuanian gunner are associated with the events of the siege. According to one, a gunner named Fedya Litvich volunteered to fire a cannon at the enemy from the Kremlin walls; further details of this version of the legend are linked to the corner Severnaya (Zelenskaya, Ilyinskaya) Tower. Another version of the tradition, preserved in connection with the Ivanovskaya Tower, names the shooter as a captive Lithuanian gunner whose shot killed the Nogai mirza and thereby forced the besiegers to retreat.
Significance for the Kremlin's topography
The legend of the siege is woven into the history of The Kremlin: the Ivanovskaya Tower, from which the decisive shot was reportedly fired, is dated to around 1500 and is considered by researchers to be one of the first stone towers of the new Kremlin. The tower's strategic location — it covered the part of the city with the trading quarter and the wharves — confirms its key role in the city's defense in the early 16th century.
Sources
Materials used from articles (2)
Northern Tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, Ivanskaya Tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin