Treasures of the robber Kudeyar. The countless treasures of the robber Kudeyar Legends of the Kudeyar Cave

Moscow received the Patriarch of the great city of Antioch and the countries of Cilicia, Iberia, Syria, Arabia and the entire East, Cyrus Macarius.

The first of the Antiochian patriarchs to visit Russia in 1586 was Cyrus Joachim.

He arrived in a country where the shadow of the formidable Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich still lay. They received the patriarch as Ivan the Terrible himself would have received him. His Holiness was showered with gifts, flattered, given feasts in his honor, and amazed by the splendor of church services. And with all his desire, secret and obvious, let him pray for the deceased Tsar, let him love Russia with his soul and, returning to his eastern countries, encourage the ecumenical patriarchs to establish the Moscow Patriarchate.

Seventy years later, Joachim’s zealous intercession was gratefully remembered. The time of his arrival among his descendants merged with the times of Tsar Ivan. Great was the terrible, radiantly shining, wretched in beggarly holy humility, in pride, overthrowing and trampling, crimson and blue, black and white glory of the great-grandfather. Therefore, the Tsar of All Rus' Alexei Mikhailovich ordered that honors be given to Patriarch Cyrus Macarius, doubly in contrast to those that were given to Patriarch Cyrus Joachim.

They announced to the guest: upon arrival, the sovereign would receive him not in a week, as he receives the highest persons, pleasant to the royal heart, but on the third day.

This day coincided with the blessed and solemn holiday of the birth of Alexei Alekseevich, the joyful son of a happy father and king.

Trouble, heart palpitations and fear began for the Arab monks.

Dragomans - experts in foreign languages ​​- were assigned to the patriarch and his people to teach the wise Russian rules, how to bow to the tsar and how to speak to him, where it is quiet, where it is loud.

Archdeacon Paul of Aleppo, son of Patriarch Macarius, received the dragoman George, a fair-haired, handsome man with intelligent, quick eyes. His face would be completely angelic, his mouth compressed with authority, and his gaze that caresses and caresses everything, and then suddenly freezes, how it drills, inquiring into everything and being immensely saddened by everything... They whispered to Pavel of Aleppo: this dragoman is the best. Six months had not passed since he was accepted into the Ambassadorial Prikaz, and already all the authorities noticed him and greeted him. He knows many languages: Tatar, Polish, German, English, Wallachian, Greek, Swedish and Latin. He himself is a Russian man, but he lived all the time in a foreign land. He has been to Arabia, worshiped the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, perhaps he has been to Aleppo, but he does not know Arabic. The Moscow Tsar has seventy translators, but there was no one who knew Arabic.

After the lesson, Pavel of Aleppo, seeking friendship, said to the dragoman:

What an amazing, pious sovereign you have! How his people love and honor him! We have traveled through many countries, but have never seen anything like this anywhere.

Our sovereign is young,” answered the dragoman, looking into the eyes of the archdeacon, “over the years his piety will increase, his good deeds will increase.” Our sovereign loves to distribute his generous alms to our countless beggars, and his glory will be great among those who love God, and especially among those who serve him.

The archdeacon was confused by the dragoman's words. They were laudatory, correct, but they were frightening.

Patriarch Macarius prays for Russia, said the archdeacon. - Your state has suffered a great misfortune: the plague has claimed many people...

The Emperor cried as he entered Moscow. He himself was hiding from a pestilence in the city of Vyazma. Meanwhile, Moscow was dying, but, thank God, it didn’t all die out.

The head of the closest adviser to the Patriarch of Antioch, the writer of descriptions of his affairs and roads, ached from tension. Who is this dragoman? Why does he speak so boldly? A tempter who discovers the moods and thoughts of foreigners, or just an intelligent, highly educated person?

So what about you, dragoman? To push you away or to win you over? There are many informers around, but no friends. To get to know a foreign country, to understand how it lives, you need friends.

For your efforts, George, I want to give you a gift,” the archdeacon said to the dragoman. - Take this precious ivory box for yourself. It contains Aleppo soap.

Thank you,” George bowed, “this is truly a precious gift.” I didn't deserve it. If the Holy Father wants to please his humble servant, give me the sign of the sun. I accidentally saw it on your table - a disk with a flaming crown around it.

But this is not gold! The disc is only lightly gilded. It's made of bronze. And the writing on it is meaningless. This is a pagan talisman. I bought it in Istanbul.

I love unnecessary, mysterious things. I have never seen such a talisman before. And he's great. I will sew it on my shirt, and it will protect my heart from an insidious blow.

Would you tell me, Georgy, in detail about the Tsar’s entry into Moscow? We saw the procession from the window. It was beautiful and majestic, but I want to know the details. I will tell the whole world about this great event.

“I agree,” replied the dragoman.

They spoke in Greek.

The sovereign entered his capital city solemnly and mournfully.

The entry, like all other Russian affairs, was carried out with delays, with hesitation, with caution, but thoroughly and surely. On Saturday, February 3rd, Patriarch Nikon arrived in Moscow. He, along with the queen, the princesses and the baby prince, escaped from the plague in the forests, then came to Alexei Mikhailovich in Vyazma to strengthen the young sovereign in himself, with prayers to ward off trouble from the Muscovite kingdom. Exhausted by fears, always grateful in advance, ready to reward for any, even the most insignificant help, the king anointed his friend with the title that he himself bore.

From now on, the Great Sovereign, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Nikon, out of caution, was not yet named sovereign, but everyone who addressed him with letters did not forget about the new title of patriarch. However, can this really be the case? - the petitioners did not soften up, they wrote the patriarch as sovereign by mistake, in the old fashioned way: Patriarch Filaret bore this high title. True, he was the father of Tsar Michael...

The great sovereign and patriarch arrived in Moscow first in order to give Alexei Mikhailovich firmness and convince him by example that the terrible danger had passed.

On the ninth day of February, Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna came to the Kremlin palace.

The king rode with her, but then decided to pray in the monastery of Andrew Stratelates. The monastery was only five miles from Moscow, and the next day all Moscow churches rang their bells joyfully, announcing to the people that the sovereign was coming to take the throne, the trouble had passed for those who did not die, life goes on.

The priests and boyars met the Tsar at Zemlyanoy Val. The tsar's train moved through the thinning crowd to Red Square to the sound of bells.

In front they carried the banner of the Dormition of the Lady, then a miraculous image in honor of the Robe of the Lord, preserved in Moscow. Next in order they carried banners with images of St. George the Victorious, Dmitry of Thessaloniki, and Michael the Archangel. Slightly towering above the banners, as if shadowing the procession with wings, floated the royal coat of arms - a double-headed eagle. The coat of arms was guarded by cavalry. Behind the cavalry is the priesthood with crosses. Next are the warriors in honor of the Trinity in three rows. Dressed in the colors of the regimental banners.

Near the churches, the army and those greeting the sovereign prayed. There were many churches along the road.

Alexey Mikhailovich walked the whole way, taking off his hat and crying. Moscow was empty after the pestilence.

As soon as the royal train appeared on Red Square, archers came out with brooms and diligently swept the path.

We entered the Kremlin. And again the king cried.

He cried, turning to the ugly Spasskaya Tower. On Christmas Day, the wooden beams inside the clock burned down. The tower collapsed, crushing two brick vaults. The statues were crushed and smashed, a large bell fell to the ground, the copper-voiced nightingale fell silent, but it could be heard ten miles away.

(Don't forget to listen to this ballad performed by Chaliapin, and only him!!!)

ABOUT TWO GREAT SINNERS

Let us pray to the Lord God,
Let's proclaim the ancient story,
He told it to me in Solovki
Monk, Father Pitirim.

There were twelve thieves
There was Kudeyar-ataman,
Many robbers prol or
The blood of honest Christians,

They stole a lot of wealth
We lived in a dense forest,
Leader Kudeyar from near Kyiv
He took out a beautiful girl.

I amused myself with my lover during the day,
At night he made raids,
Suddenly the fierce robber
God awakened my conscience.

The dream flew away; disgusted
Drunkenness, murder, robbery,
The shadows of the slain are
A whole army - you can't count it!

I fought and resisted for a long time
Lord the beast is man.
Blown off his lover's head
And he spotted Esaul.

The villain's conscience overcame him,
He disbanded his gang,
He distributed property to the church,
I buried the knife under the willow tree.

And atone for sins
He goes to the Holy Sepulchre,
Wanders, prays, repents,
It doesn't get any easier for him.

An old man, in monastic clothes,
The sinner has returned home
Lived under the canopy of the oldest
Oak, in a forest slum.

Day and night of the Almighty
He prays: forgive your sins!
Submit your body to torture.
Just let me save my soul!

God took pity on salvation
The schema-monk showed the way:
Elder in prayer vigil
A certain saint appeared

Rek: “Not without God’s providence
You chose an age-old oak tree,
With the same knife that he robbed,
Cut it off with the same hand!

There will be great work
There will be a reward for labor;
The tree has just fallen -
The chains of sin will fall."

The hermit measured the monster:
Oak - three girths all around!
I went to work with prayer,
Cuts with a damask knife.

Cuts resilient wood
Sings glory to the Lord,
As the years go by, it gets better
Slowly things move forward.

What can one do with a giant?
A frail, sick person?
We need iron forces here,
We don't need senility!

Doubt creeps into the heart,
Cuts and hears the words:
"Hey old man, what are you doing?"
Crossed himself first.

I looked and Pan Glukhovsky
He sees on a greyhound horse,
Sir rich, noble,
The first one in that direction.

A lot of cruel, scary
The old man heard about the master
And as a lesson to the sinner
He told his secret.

Pan grinned: “Salvation
I haven't had tea for a long time,
In the world I honor only a woman,
Gold, honor and wine.

You have to live, old man, in my opinion:
How many slaves do I destroy?
I torment, torture and hang,
I wish I could see how I’m sleeping!”

A miracle happened to the hermit:
I felt furious anger
He rushed to Pan Glukhovsky,
The knife stuck into his heart!

Just now pan bloody
I fell my head on the saddle,
A huge tree collapsed,
The echo shook the whole forest.

The tree collapsed and rolled down
The monk is off the burden of sins!..
Let us pray to the Lord God:
Have mercy on us, dark slaves!
/Option:
The tree collapsed and rolled down
The monk is off the burden of sins!..
Glory to the omnipresent creator
Today and forever and ever!

Nekrasov "Who Lives Well in Rus'"
Many people write that this is a folk song - and indeed, there are several options. But precisely this ballad by Nekrasov. Personally, I heard it performed by Chaliapin on a record while still at school - and since then any other performance seems insufficient to me, to put it mildly.

The tale of Kudeyar-Ataman is contained in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Nekrasov died on January 8 (new style) 1878, leaving the poem unfinished. The author did not know what the ending should be, and could not find an answer to the question of who should live well in Rus'.

The prototype of Pan Glukhovsky could be the real Smolensk landowner of the mid-19th century, Glukhovsky, who pinned a peasant to death, as reported by Herzen’s “Bell” on October 1, 1859.

The seriously ill Nekrasov tried to publish the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” in Otechestvennye zapiski for November 1876, and then for January 1877, but both times he was refused by the censor. The chapter was published posthumously in the illegal edition of the St. Petersburg Free Printing House in 1879. In 1881, a distorted and truncated version was published in the February issue of Otechestvennye zapiski.

The release of the chapter coincided with the peak of the Narodnaya Volya terror, which culminated in March 1881 with the murder of Alexander II.

KUDEYAR'S GOLD

On one fine April day in 1881 in St. Petersburg, on Liteiny Prospekt, a bell rang above the door of a jewelry store.

The plump owner of the shop, with a gray goatee, came out to meet the visitor.

In the doorway stood a black-mustachioed, stocky man, clearly a provincial, with a small package in his hands.
- What do you want? - asked the jeweler.
“I heard that you are buying antique jewelry,” the newcomer said hesitantly.
- Do you want to offer me something?
- Yes... Here, if you please, take a look.

The visitor placed the package on the counter and unwrapped it. The jeweler gasped. On the counter lay a massive hammered gold ladle of ancient work, decorated with semi-precious stones, and several gold and silver rings with enamel, rubies and turquoise.

“These are very ancient things,” the jeweler said half-questioningly, half-affirmatively, looking at the visitor over the glasses of his pince-nez.

Yes. These are things from a treasure that was found on my land. I am a landowner, from the Kursk province, I have a small dacha there, more than two hundred dessiatines. They say this is Kudeyar's gold...

Kudeyar's gold... Truly, of all the legends about “enchanted treasures”, this is the biggest mystery that has not yet been resolved. Everything is unclear here. Who is Kudeyar? When and where did he live? How many treasures did he have and where are they?

Where and how did he end his life of robbery? There is not a single reliable evidence, not a single reliable document, there is nothing.

Only legends and numerous Kudeyarov “towns” scattered from the Dnieper to the Volga, ravines, mounds, stones, forests, tracts... And - treasures.

Treasures full of countless treasures that are still hidden somewhere throughout the entire space of the former Wild Field...

Kudeyar remembered that he was a Christian and made a vow to atone for serious sins. He let all his fellows go and was left alone. He closed all the passages into his underground dwelling and began to live alone under the mountain, atone for his own and other people’s sins before the Lord.

The robber Kudeyar is one of the most popular characters in folklore. Legends about him are recorded in all southern and central provinces of Russia - from Smolensk to Saratov:

“And then there was Kudeyar - this one didn’t rob anywhere! And in Kaluga, and in Tula, and to Ryazan, and to Yelets, and to Voronezh, and to Smolensk - he visited everywhere, set up his camps everywhere and buried many treasures in the ground, but all with curses: he was a terrible sorcerer. And what filthy power he wielded: he would spread out his fur coat or retinue on the banks of a river, lake, or whatever stream, and go to bed; sleeps with one eye, watches with the other: is there a chase somewhere; the right eye has fallen asleep - the left one is watching, and there - the left is sleeping, the right is watching - so in alternation; and when he sees the detectives somewhere, he jumps to his feet, throws the sheepskin coat he was sleeping on into the water, and that sheepskin coat becomes not a sheepskin coat, but a boat with oars; Kudeyar will get into that boat - remember his name...

And so he died his own death - they couldn’t catch him, no matter how hard they tried.”

This is just one of the short biographies of Kudeyar that circulated among the people. What real historical character is hidden behind this name? Many hypotheses have already been expressed on this score, but, alas, none of them sheds light on the mystery of Kudeyar.

When did Kudeyar live? Here the opinions are basically the same: in the middle of the 16th century. He was a contemporary of Ivan the Terrible. This is partly confirmed by documents. So, in 1640, in response to a request from Moscow, the Tula governor wrote that “old people told him about Kudeyar a long time ago, about forty years ago.”

WHAT DO THE LEGENDS SAY ABOUT...

Most historians also agree that the name Kudeyar (Khudoyar) is of Tatar origin.

Karamzin mentions the Crimean Murza Kudoyar, who in 1509 treated the Russian ambassador Morozov very rudely, calling him a “servant.” The Crimean and Astrakhan ambassadors are known with the same name. But, as often happened in the past, this name could have been adopted by the Russians from the Tatars.

Many legends directly call Kudeyar a Tatar. According to legends recorded in the Saratov and Voronezh provinces, Kudeyar was a Tatar who knew Russian and a man of enormous stature.

He was a baskak - the khan's tax collector. Having plundered the villages near Moscow and returning with great wealth to the Horde, to the Saratov steppes, Kudeyar decided on the way to hide the tribute taken from the khan and settled in the Voronezh lands, where he began to engage in robbery. Here he married a Russian girl - a rare beauty, whom he took away by force.

In Ryazan and some areas of the Voronezh province they said that Kudeyar was a disgraced guardsman who stole livestock from local residents, robbed and killed Moscow merchants. And in the Sevsky district of the Oryol province, Kudeyar was generally considered not a person, but an unclean spirit - a “storekeeper” who guards enchanted treasures.

Historical documents dating back to the time of Ivan the Terrible mention the son of a boyar from the city of Belev, Kudeyar Tishenkov, a traitor who defected to the Crimean Khan and helped him take control of Moscow in 1571.

Then Kudeyar Tishenkov left with the Tatars for Crimea. Talking with the Crimean ambassador two years later, Ivan the Terrible complained that the khan managed to take Moscow with the help of the traitor boyars and the “robber Kudeyar Tishenkov,” who led the Tatars to Moscow. However, nothing indicates that Kudeyar Tishenkov is the legendary robber Kudeyar.

A very popular fascinating hypothesis is that Kudeyar is none other than the elder brother of Ivan the Terrible, a contender for the Russian throne. The basis for such statements was the following historical events.

The first wife of Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich, father of Ivan the Terrible, Solomonia Saburova was childless. After much waiting, it became clear that the prince would have no heirs. Then Solomonia Saburova, in violation of all church canons, was forcibly tonsured into a monastery, and the prince remarried Elena Glinskaya, who bore him two sons - Ivan and George (Yuri).

Meanwhile, the nun Solomonia Saburova, imprisoned in a monastery... also had a son! The newborn soon died and was buried in the Suzdal Intercession Monastery. However, excavations of his grave in 1934 showed that a doll dressed as a boy was buried. There is an assumption that the child was hidden, fearing assassins sent by his second wife, Elena Glinskaya, and secretly transported to the Crimean Khan. There he grew up, and under the Tatar name Kudeyar came to Rus' as a contender for the throne. Having failed to achieve success, Kudeyar took up robbery.

As you can see, almost all of the above hypotheses connect Kudeyar with the Crimean Khanate. And the places where, according to legend, Kudeyar robbed, despite their geographical dispersion, are united by one common feature: ancient trade and embassy routes from Crimea to Moscow Rus' passed here. On these roads, robbers tracked down rich booty, and then hid it in secret places near their camps and settlements.

About a hundred Kudeyarov towns, where, according to legend, the robbers' treasures are buried, are known in Southern Russia. There were especially many such towns within the Voronezh province. Thus, in the Thorn Forest near the village of Livenki in Pavlovsky district, there were the remains of Kudeyar’s “lair,” which included a house, storerooms and stables. Many legends about the robberies of the terrible chieftain are associated with this place.

A secluded place called Kudeyarov Log was pointed out in the Zadonsk district - it is located six miles from the village of Belokolodskoye, on the road to Lipetsk. This deep ravine is surrounded by steep, almost vertical slopes, which made it a safe refuge.

An embankment settlement, clearly made by human hands, called Kudeyarov Priton, was known in Bobrovsky district. The settlement is in the form of a large quadrangle, surrounded by ramparts and a ditch, surrounded on all sides by swamps and bushes. Here, as legends say, Kudeyar’s first headquarters was located.

In the Lipetsk region, on the Don, opposite the village of Dolgoye, there rises a mountain called Cherny Yar, or Gorodok. On it lies a very large stone of a bluish color. According to legend, the Kudeyarov fortress was located here. The stone lying on the mountain was considered to be Kudeyar’s enchanted, petrified horse, which received a bluish color because it was scorched by fire. They say that Kudeyar, together with his comrades Boldyr and the robber Anna, hiding in the Don forests, robbed the caravans of merchants going down the Don. The Don Cossacks, interested in the safety of the route, took up arms against Kudeyar. First they defeated the stakes of Boldyr and Anna, then they reached Kudeyar’s refuge.

They besieged the Kudeyar fortress for a long time, then they decided to cover it with brushwood and set it on fire from all sides. Then Kudeyar buried all his treasures in the ground, placed his favorite horse over them, turning it into stone so that it would not burn, and he himself fled into the forest. But the Cossacks chased him, captured him by cunning, shackled him and threw him from the Black Yar to the Don.

WHY DO WE SAY THIS? (folk St. Petersburg legend)
...and they threw the glorious ataman Kudeyar into the prison castle of Kresty, so that he could await the tsar’s reprisal and other investigative actions there. And in those Crosses the commandant-voivode, a selfish soul, only thinks about how to lay his raking paw on Kudeyarov’s hidden treasures.

While the Tsar's court and the sovereign's case were there, he began to torture the ataman

“Answer,” the enemy’s son yells, where did he bury the loot?!!!

- Isn’t hoo-hoo ho-ho? – that’s all Kudeyar said and showed with his shackled hands.

The governor became furious, pulled out a saber and in one fell swoop cut off the head of the riotous ataman.

And suddenly he hears the royal privets shouting at the Gate of the Crosses:

- The villain Kudeyar-ataman was ordered to present himself before the bright eyes of His Majesty!!!

The commandant-voivode was frightened, and nothing could be fixed, or even buried or hidden. All he had time to do was grab the chieftain’s head by the curls and throw him over the prison walls into the nearest weeds.

And the messenger is already on the threshold:

- Well, where is your sovereign’s especially important prisoner??

- So... - the governor hesitated, - how can I tell you....

He hesitated, but did not dare to lie to the Tsar’s envoy:

- The chest is in the Crosses, and the head is in the bushes. (Dubious and funny version)

Not far away, in the former Pronsky district, near the villages of Chulkovo and Abakumovo, there is the Kamennye Kresttsy tract. According to legend, one of Kudeyar’s main headquarters was located here. They say that in the 18th century a stone with the name Kudeyar was found here.

On the Neruch River in the Oryol province, three versts from the village of Zatishye, there are two “Kudeyar pits” - three fathoms deep, connected by an underground passage to the Neruch River. Here, as they say, Kudeyar was hiding. Many of Kudeyar’s treasures are associated with the Bryansk forests and, in general, with the entire forested part of the former Oryol province.

http://new-burassity.3dn.ru/publ/1-1-0-3

KUDEYAROVO GORODISHE

In the Tula and Kaluga provinces, legends tell of Kudeyar’s treasures buried in various “wells”, “tops”, “yars”, and in some places “treasury records” of Kudeyar’s treasures were preserved.

At the end of the last century, one of these records was owned by a monk of Optina Pustyn, after whose death the manuscript ended up in the monastery library. It contained extensive information about the treasures buried by Kudeyar in the vicinity of Kozelsk and Likhvin (now Chekalin).

As one of the places where Kudeyar's treasures were hidden, the manuscript named Devil's Settlement, or Shutova Gora, which is 18 miles from the Optina Pustyn monastery, not far from the ancient road from Kozelsk to Likhvin, on which it was so convenient to rob passing merchants.

On a high hill overgrown with forest, dominating the surrounding area, almost at its very top, a huge block of grayish sandstone, furrowed with cracks and overgrown with moss, rises from the ground with three sheer walls. Because of these clear edges, Devil's Settlement was sometimes also called Granny Hill. The fourth side of the Settlement, dilapidated by time and overgrown with grass, is almost level with the platform at the top of the hillock, forming a “courtyard”.

According to legend, Kudeyar’s “castle” was located here, built for him by evil spirits. As if in one night the demons built a two-story stone house, a gate, and dug a pond on the site of the Settlement... However, they did not have time to finish the construction before dawn - the rooster crowed, and the evil spirits fled. And, according to witnesses, for a long time later, until the beginning of the 19th century, an unfinished building could be seen on Gorodishche - “a monument of demonic architecture,” which then began to quickly collapse.

Traces of the pond dug by the “demons” were noticeable back in the 80s of the last century; Numerous stone fragments scattered around the Settlement seemed to indicate some kind of buildings that had once been here.

And on one of the stones that lay at the foot of the Settlement, a hundred years ago the trace of the “paw” of the unclean was clearly visible. Several caves are hidden in the thickness of the sandstone from which the Settlement is made. The main cave, called the “entrance to the lower floor,” could comfortably accommodate several people. From it two narrow holes go deep into the mountain...

They say that the evil spirits that built the castle are now preserving Kudeyar’s treasures buried on Gorodishche, in the surrounding ravines and forest tracts. But at night the ghost of Kudeyar’s daughter Lyubusha appears on the Settlement, cursed by her father and forever imprisoned in the depths of the Devil’s Settlement. It’s as if she goes out onto the mountain, sits on the stones and cries, asking: “It’s hard for me! Give me the cross! In former times, the monks of Optina Pustyn erected a cross on the Settlement twice. Not far from the Settlement is the Kudeyarov well, in which, according to legend, “12 barrels of gold” are hidden.

Very interesting are the testimonies about the Kudeyarov Town on Mount Bogatyrka (Krutse), in the Saratov province. Here, in the ruins of a dugout, in which, according to legend, , Kudeyar lived, human bones, daggers, pike tips, reeds, fragments of chain mail, Tatar coins, rings, rings, etc. were found. Such finds invariably aroused interest in the legendary treasures of Kudeyar, and there were a great many hunters to find them...

Kudeyarovo Settlement, located in the wilds of the Usman Forest, was of particular interest to treasure hunters. It is surrounded by a high rampart with traces of a gate and surrounded by a wide ditch. Once upon a time, in the 40s of the last century, one of the peasant women of the village of Studenki was lucky enough to find a massive gold antique ring here.

Since then, every spring, hordes of treasure hunters from all surrounding places regularly rushed into the Usman forest, dug up the forest with holes and trenches. They said that the treasures were hidden at the bottom of the nearby Clear Lake. One landowner even tried to drain the lake through a specially dug canal, but it didn’t work out. There was a lot of talk about a chest allegedly found in the forest that “went into the ground,” and all sorts of little things were found, but Kudeyar’s main treasures have not yet been discovered.

But in other places, treasure hunters had better luck. It cannot be said that treasure finds were widespread, but at least four cases are known when treasures of silver coins and a few gold objects were found precisely in the Kudeyarov tracts.

Did these treasures belong to the legendary robber? Unknown. And in general, it’s hard to believe that one person could “populate” vast expanses of the steppe. The opinion has long been expressed that several different people could be hiding under the name Kudeyar - like under the names of Tsarevich Dmitry or Peter III. Or maybe, from the personal name of some particularly daring Russian or Tatar robber, the name Kudeyar turned into a common noun for every leader of a bandit gang and became synonymous with the word “robber”?

That is why the versions about the origin, life and death of Kudeyar vary so much. That’s why we have so many kudeyars - for whatever reason, but from time immemorial there has been no shortage of robbers in Rus'. And already at the end of the 18th century, legends began to take shape about how “in the old, old years, seven Kudeyar brothers lived in Spassky places...”

http://www.vokrugsveta.com/S4/proshloe/kudiyar.htm