BAYDANA OF DIAK (CLERK) IVAN G.VYRODKOV

Ownership of the baydana – chainmail armor made of flat rings – had been determined by the property inscription on the rings: "Ivan Grigoryev Vyrodkov." In addition to the name of the owner on the rings are embossed two more inscriptions of prayers: "The God is with us no one is Against" and "Mother of God Be with us."
Ivan G.Vyrodkov (? - no later than 1565), the clerk of the Razryadny Prikaz (Grade department), the Governor, the military engineer – "the city Builder". During the Kazan campaign of Ivan the Terrible in 1551 had built the Sviyazhsk fortress, which became a foothold for capture of Kazan by Russian troops. The wooden fortress was assembled in Uglich, then dismantled and rafted down the Volga river to the mouth of the Sviyaga river some 30 km from Kazan and reassembled in just 28 days. During the siege of Kazan in 1552 under his supervision was built a 13-meter tall tower at the foot of the walls of the city, the fire from which at city streets played an important role during the assault.
Later Ivan Vyrodkov participated in the Livonian war. In 1564, during a campaign against Orsha, the Russian army was suddenly attacked by Lithuanians, who managed to capture a large convoy with weapons and munitions, where, most likely, was also an armor of the Governor. Baydana was found in Orsha in an enclosed brick niche during the alterations in the monastery.