Stepan Razin

Open rebellion

In 1671, Stepan and his brother Frol Razin were captured at Kagalnik Fortress (Кагальницкий городок) by Cossack elders. They were given over to Tsarist officials in Moscow, and on 16 June 1671, following the announcement of the verdict against him, Stepan Razin was quartered on the scaffold on Red Square. A sentence of death was read aloud: Razin listened to this calmly, then turned to the church, bowed in three directions, passing the Kremlin and the tsar and said: "Forgive me." The executioner then proceeded to first cut off his right hand to his elbow, then his left foot to the knee. His brother Frol, witnessing Stepan's torment, shouted out: "I know the word and the matter of the sovereign!" (that is, "I am willing to inform upon those disloyal to the tsar"). Stepan shouted back, "Shut up, dog!" These were his last words; after them the executioner hurriedly cut off his head. Razin's hands, legs, and head, according to the testimony of the Englishman Thomas Hebdon, were stuck on five specially-placed stakes. The confession helped Frol to postpone his own execution, although five years later, in 1676, he was executed too.