Minin, Kuzma

Minin, Kuz’ma

 

Date of birth unknown; died in mid-1616. One of the organizers and leaders of the second militia during the Polish and Swedish invasion in the early 17th century.

Minin belonged to the Nizhny Novgorod posad (merchant and artisan community). On Sept. 1, 1611, he was elected a community elder. He directed the collection of money for the people’s militia and helped organize it. On Minin’s advice military leadership was entrusted to Prince D. M. Pozharskii. Prior to the convocation of the Zemskii Sobor (National Assembly) in 1613, Minin was a member of the Council of the Land, which had been formed in early 1612 in laroslavP to exercise the functions of government. He played an important role in the battle for Moscow on Aug. 22–24, 1612, during which he showed great courage. In 1613, Minin joined the Boyar Duma, receiving the rank of Duma nobleman. Minin is one of the Russian people’s most popular heroes. In 1818, a monument to Minin and Pozharskii by the sculptor I. P. Martos was erected in Red Square in Moscow.