Stepan Razin

A Don Cossack leader whose Volga and Caspian campaigns preceded the major rebellion of 1670–1671. The movement drew support from Cossacks, peasants, townspeople and several peoples of the Volga region. Defeated near Simbirsk, Razin retreated to the Don, was handed over to the tsar’s government and executed in Moscow. Songs, literature and painting preserved his image, but folklore is not necessarily biographical evidence.