Cossack Hetmanate

The Hetmanate (Гетьманщина, Het’manshchyna) or Zaporizhian Host (Військо Запорозьке, Viys’kо Zaporoz’kе) was the Ukrainian  Cossack state in Central Ukraine between 1649 and 1764. The Hetmanate was founded by Ukrainian hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1657).

In 1654 it pledged its allegiance to Muscovy during the Council of Pereyaslav, while being a constituency of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Later the documents of the treaty (articles) were rewritten numerous times for reorganization purposes at every election of the new hetman. A regional referendum concluded the fall of the region under the protection of the Russian monarchy that guaranteed sovereignty of the region in fight against the Polish Crown. The Treaty of Andrusovo of 1667, however, was conducted without any representation from the Cossack Hetmanate and concluded the borders between Polish and Russian states, dividing the Hetmanate in half along the Dnieper. This division caused a civil war in Ukraine between various parties of Cossacks that lasted till the end of the 17th century. Already in December of 1662 the government of Russia established the Little Russian prikaz as part a department of the Polish prikaz.

In the 18th century the territory of the Hetmanate was limited to Left-bank Ukraine with its capital in Baturyn. Russian forces sacked Baturyn during the Great Northern War and redesignated the new hetman residence to Hlukhiv, while the whole area was included into the Government of Kiev. Catherine II of Russia officially abolished the autonomy of the Cossack state in 1764. The Cossack Hetmanate was subsequently split between the Governments of Kiev and Malorossiya.

The Hetmanate consisted of the territory of modern-day central Ukraine and a small part of Russia (former Starodub region of Chernigov Governorate). Specifically, its territory included provinces of Chernihiv, Poltava, and Sumy (without the southeastern portion), the left-bank territories of Kiev and Cherkasy, as well as the western portion of Bryansk Oblast of Russia. The lands of the Zaporizhian Host had a certain degree of self-government with its own administration.

Name
The official name of the Cossack Hetmanate was Zaporizhian Host (Військо Запорозьке, Viys’kо Zaporoz’kе). Its inhabitants referred to it in Ukrainian as "Ukraine" or "Vkraine". In Russian diplomatic correspondence it was called Little Russia (Малоросія, Malorosia); in Polish, Ottoman, and Arab sources - as Ukraine or Cossakia. The historiographic term Hetmanate (Гетьманщина, Het’manshchyna) was coined in the late 19th century. It derives from the word hetman, the title of the general of the Zaporizhian Army.

The founder of the state, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, declared himself as the ruler of the Rus' state to the Polish representative Adam Kysil in February 1649. He also called the Hetmanate as the Russian state (Государство Російське, Hosudarstvo Rosiyske) in his letter to the Tsar on February 17, 1654. His contemporary Metropolitan Sylvestr Kosiv recognized him as the leader and the commander of our land. In his letter to C. Şerban (1657) he referred to himself as Clementiae divinae Generalis Dux Exercituum Zaporoviensium.

Establishment


After many successful military campaigns against the Poles, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky made a triumphant entry into Kiev on Christmas 1648 where he was hailed liberator of the people from Polish captivity. In February 1649, during negotiations in Pereiaslav with a Polish delegation, Khmelnytsky had made it clear to the Poles that he was the Knyaz of Ruthenia that stretches all the way to Lviv, Chelm, Halych, and build with the Tatar's help. He warned them about his intention to resume his military campaign.

When the returned delegation informed John II Casimir of Khmelnytsky's new campaign the king called for all szliachta volunteer army, while sending the regular troops against cossacks to the southern Volyn. However after obtaining an intelligence report of the superior cossack forces, the Polish troops retreated to Zbarazh to set a defense. The forces of Jeremi Wiśniowiecki reinforced the Zbarazh defenders while he took the lead of all Polish forces. Khmelnytsky besieged the city wearing down through series of random attacks and firing at it. The king while rushing to help Wisznewecki was ambushed with his newly gathered forces. Khmelnytsky leaving part of his army with Ivan Cherniata near Zbarazh moved together with İslâm III Giray to intercept the Polish reinforcements and block their way at a river crossing near Zboriv. Caught be some degree of surprise John Casimir started negotiations with the Tatar's khan. Bringing khan on his side they forced Khmelnytsky to start peace negotiations. Khmelnytsky signed the Treaty of Zboriv in August 1649 and was somewhat less than the cossack leader has anticipated from his campaign.

As ruler of the Hetmanate, Khmelnytsky engaged in state-building across multiple spheres: in the military, administration, finance, economics, and culture. He invested the Zaporozhian Host under the leadership of its hetman with supreme power in the new Ruthenian state, and he unified all the spheres of Ukrainian society under his authority. This would involve building a government system and a developed military and civilian administrators out of Cossack officers and Ruthenian nobles, as well as the establishment of an elite within the Cossack Hetman state.

The Hetmanate used Polish currency, and Polish as an administrative language and a language of command.

Moscow Protectorate
After the Crimean Tatars betrayed the Cossacks for the third time in 1653, Khmelnytsky realized he could no longer rely on the Ottoman support against Poland, the hetman was forced to turn to Muscovy for help. Negotiations began in January 1654 in Pereiaslav between Khmelnytsky, numerous cossacks and on the Muscovite side led Vasily Buturlin, and concluded in April in Moscow by the Ruthenians Samiilo Bohdanovych-Zarudny, and Pavlo Teteria and by Aleksey Trubetskoy, Vasilii Buturlin, and other Muscovite boyars.

As a result of the treaty, the Zaporozhian Host became a suzerainty of Muscovy, and was split in two; the Cossack Hetmanate with its capital at Chyhyryn, and Zaporizhia, centered around the fortress of the Zaporozhian Sich. The treaty also led to the Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667.

The Ruin


The period in Hetmanate history, known as "the Ruin," which lasted from 1657 to 1687, was marked by constant civil wars throughout the state. At the end of Bohdan Khmelnytsky's life, his son Yuri Khmelnytsky was elected to be his successor. However, at the time of his father's death, sixteen-year-old Khmelnystky Jr. was not only too young and inexperienced, but also clearly lacked the charisma and the leadership qualities of his father.

In response, Ivan Vyhovsky, the general scribe (pysar) of the Hetmanate and an adviser to Bohdan Khmelnytsky was elected hetman in 1657 by the Starshyna council. Vyhosky's election by the Starshyna Council caused widespread discontent among other regiments and Zaporizhian Host who sent their runners to Moscow with complaints. Because of that, new elections were called that same year at which Vyhovsky was once again reelected at the General Military Council. His election was also confirmed by Moscow's authorities who were informed according to the Pereyaslav's acts. Moscow continued to accept runners from the regions of Cossack Hetmanate completely disregarding the authority of hetman and spreading rumors that in truth Moscow does not support candidacy of Vyhovsky. Vyhovsky witnessing the situation run out of his control, went on to extinguish the revolt led by the Zaporozhian Kosh Otaman Yakiv Barabash and Poltava Colonel Martyn Pushkar. In the spring of 1658 Vyhovsky crossed Dnieper and confronted mutineers near Poltava with the help of Tatars. During the battle Pushkar was killed and replaced with a new colonel while the leaders of the uprising were strictly repressed.

After this, Vyhovsky and the General Starshyna considered the relationship with Muscovy to be broken. The newly elected Metropolitan Dionisi Balaban was transferred to Chyhyryn away from Kiev. An agitation against Moscow was conducted where the Ukrainian government informed the population of possible national repressions, similar to those being conducted in the neighboring lands of Belarus that were recently secured by Muscovy in the its conflict with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A manifest of nullifying the union with Moscow was sent throughout Europe, mainly because it was conducting friendly relationships with Poland and supporting internal opposition within Hetmanate. Due to negotiations with Sweden have frozen, while having a military support from the Crimean Khanate Vyhovsky decided to renegotiate with Poland with whom talks continued for quite some time.

On September 16, 1658 in Hadyach an official document was signed between representatives of the Cossack Hetmanate and Poland. Under the conditions of the treaty, Ukraine would become a third and autonomous component of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, under the ultimate sovereignty of the King of Poland, but with its own military, courts, and treasury. But the treaty, although ratified by the Diet in May 1659, was never implemented because it was unpopular among the lower classes of the Ruthenian society where more rebellions occurred. Eventually Vyhovsky surrendered the office of hetman, and fled to Poland. The newly installed Yurii Khmelnytsky signed the newly composed Pereyaslav Articles that were increasingly unfavorable for the Hetmanate and later led to introduction of the serfdom rights.

During the Ruin in 1667, the Russo-Polish war ended with the Treaty of Andrusovo which split the Cossack Hetmanate along the Dnieper River into Left-bank Ukraine, enjoyed a degree of autonomy within the Tsardom of Russia, and Right-bank Ukraine remained part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, temporarily occupied by the Ottoman Empire (the Treaty of Buchach, the Treaty of Karlowitz) in the period of 1672-1699. For a short time, Petro Doroshenko became the hetman of both banks. Finally, the right-bank Ukraine, except for the city of Kiev, was reincorporated back into their respective voivodeships of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth while all the Hetmanate administration was abolished, between 1699 and 1704.

The Mazepa era


The period of the Ruin was effectively over when Ivan Mazepa was elected hetman, and brought stability to the state. Mazepa was hetman of the Hetmanate from 1687 to 1708. He united Ukraine which, once again, was under the rule of one hetman. The Hetmanate flourished under his rule, particularly in literature, and architecture. The architectural style that developed during his reign was called the Cossack Baroque style.

During his reign, the Great Northern War broke out between Russia and Sweden. And Mazepa's alliance with Peter I caused heavy losses of cossacks, and Russian interference in the Hetmanate's internal affairs. When the Tsar refused to defend Ukraine against the Polish King Stanislaus Leszczynski, an ally of Charles XII of Sweden, Mazepa and the Zaporozhian Cossacks allied themselves with the Swedes on October 28, 1708. The decisive battle took place in June 1709 in Poltava where it was won by Russia, which put an end to Mazepa's goal of independence, promised in an earlier treaty with Sweden independence.

Following the Battle of Poltava, the Hetmanate's autonomy became nominal and the governorate of Kiev was established. The Russian Empire also began to purge all suspected allies of Mazepa, culminating in the executions of Cossacks in Lebedin. This resulted in the death of over 900 cossack officials, accused of treason.

End of the Zaporozhian Host
During the reign of Catherine II of Russia, the Cossack Hetmanate's autonomy was progressively destroyed. After several earlier attempts, the office of hetman was finally abolished by the Russian government in 1764, and his functions were assumed by the Little Russian Collegium, thus fully incorporating the Hetmanate into the Russian Empire.

On May 7, 1775, from a direct order from the Empress Catherine II, the Zaporozhian Sich was to be destroyed. On June 5, 1775, Russian artillery and infantry surrounded the Sich, and razed it to the ground. The Russian troops disarmed the Cossacks, the treasury archives were confiscated. And the Koshovyi Otaman Petro Kalnyshevsky was arrested and exiled to the Solovki. This brought the end of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.

Culture
The Hetmanate coincided with a period of cultural flowering in Ukraine, particularly during the reign of hetman Ivan Mazepa.

Education
Visitors from abroad commented on the high level of literacy, even among commoners, in the Hetmanate. There was a higher number of elementary schools per population in the Hetmanate than in either neighboring Muscovy or Poland. In the 1740s, of 1,099 settlements within seven regimental districts, as many as 866 had primary schools. The German vistitor to the Hetmanate, writing in 1720, commented on how the son of Hetman Danylo Apostol, who had never left Ukraine, was fluent in the Latin, Italian, French, German, Polish and Russian languages  Under Mazepa, the Kiev collegium  was transformed into an Academy and attracted some of the leading scholars of the Orthodox world. It was the largest educational institution in lands ruled by Moscow. Mazepa established another Collegium in Chernihiv. These schools largely used the Polish and Latin languages and provided a classic western education to their students. Many of those trained in Kiev, such as Feofan Prokopovich would later move to Moscow, so that Ivan Mazepa's patronage not only raised the level of culture in Ukraine but also in Moscow itself. A musical academy was established in 1737 in the Hetmanate's then-capital of Hlukhiv. Among its graduates were Maksym Berezovsky, the first composer from the Russian Empire to be recognized in Europe, and Dmitry Bortniansky.

In addition to traditional printing presses in Kiev, new printing shops were established in Novhorod-Siverskyi and Chernihiv. Most of the books published were religious in nature, such as the Peternik, a book about the lives of the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk monasatary. Books on local history were compiled. In a book written by Inokentiy Gizel in 1674, the theory that Moscow was the heir of ancient Kiev was developed and elaborated for the first time

Religion
In 1686 the Orthodox Church in Ukraine changed from being under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch in Constantinople to being under the authority of the Moscow. Nevertheless, before and after this date local Church leaders pursued a policy of independence. Hetman Ivan Mazepa established very close relations with Metropilitan Varlaam Iasynsky (reigned 1690–1707). Mazepa provided donations of land, money and entire villages to the Church. He also financed the building of numerous churches in Kiev, including the Church of the Epiphany and the cathedral of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, and restoration of older churches such as Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev which had deteriorated to a state of near ruin by the mid-17th century, in a style known as Ukrainian Baroque.

Society
The social structure of the Hetmanate consisted of five groups: the nobility, the Cossacks, the clergy, the townspeople, and the peasants.

Nobles
As had been the case under Poland, the nobility continued to be the dominant social class during the Hetmanate, although its composition and source of legitimacy within the new society had changed radically. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising the Polish nobles and Polonized Ruthenian magnates fled the territory of the Hetmanate. As a result, the noble estate now consisted of a merger between the nobility that had stayed in the territory of the Hetmanate (old noble families that did not succumb to Polonization and lesser nobles who had participated in the uprising on the side of the Cossacks against Poland) with members of the emergent Cossack officer class. Unlike the Polish nobles whose lands were redistributed, the nobles loyal to the Hetmanate retained their privileges, their lands, and the services of the peasants. Together, the old nobles and the new Cossack officers became known as the Distinguished Military Fellows (Znachni Viiskovi Tovaryshi). Thus, the nature of noble status was fundamentally changed. It no longer depended on ancient heredity, but instead on loyalty to the Cossack state. Over time, however, Cossack officer lands and privileges too became hereditary and the Cossack noble and officer class acquired huge landed estates comparable to those of the Polish magnates whom they had replaced and emulated.

Cossacks
Most Cossacks failed to enter the noble estate and continued their role as free soldiers. The lower rank Cossacks often resented their wealthier brethren and were responsible for frequent rebellions, particularly during the Ruin, a period of instability and civil war in the 17th century. These resentments were frequently exploited by Moscow. The Zaporizhian Sich served as a refuge for Cossacks fleeing the Hetmanate as it had been prior to Khmelnytsky's uprising.

Clergy
During the Hetmanate, the Roman Catholic Church and Uniate Clergy were driven from Ukraine. The Black, or monastic, Orthodox clergy enjoyed a very high status in the Hetmanate, controlling 17% of the Hetmanate's land. Monasteries were exempt from taxes and at no times were peasants bound to monasteries allowed to forgo their duties. The Orthodox hierarchy became as wealthy and powerful as the most powerful nobles. The white, or married, Orthodox clergy were also exempt from paying taxes. Priests' sons often entered the clergy or the Cossack civil service. It was not uncommon for nobles or Cossacks to become priests and vice versa.

Townspeople
Twelve cities within the Hetmanate enjoyed Magdeburg rights, in which they were self-governing and controlled their own courts, finances and taxes. Wealthy townsmen were able to hold office within the Hetmanate or even to buy titles of nobility. Because the towns were generally small (the largest towns of Kiev and Nizhyn had no more than 15,000 inhabitants) this social group was not very significant relative to other social groups.

Peasants
Peasants comprised the majority of the Hetmanate's population. Although the institution of forced labor by the peasants was reduced significantly by the Khmelnytsky Uprising, in which the Polish landlords and magnates were expelled from the territory controlled by the Hetman, those nobles loyal to the Hetman as well as the Orthodox Church expected the peasants under their control to continue to provide their services. Thus as a result of the Uprising, approximately 50% of the territory consisted of lands given to Cossack officers or free self-governing villages controlled by the peasants, 33% of the land was owned by Cossack officers and nobles, and 17% of the land was owned by the Church. With time, the amount of territory owned by the nobles and officers gradually grew at the expense of the lands owned by peasants and rank-and-file Cossacks, and the peasants were forced to work increasingly more days for their landlords. Nevertheless, their obligations remained lighter than they had been prior to the Uprising and until the end of the Hetmanate peasants were never fully enserfed and retained the right to move.

Administration
The Hetmanate was divided into military-administrative districts known as regimental districts (polki) whose number fluctuated with the size of the Hetmanate's territory. In 1649, when the Hetmanate controlled the Right and the Left Banks, it included 16 such districts. After the loss of the Right Bank, this number was reduced to ten. The regimental districts were further divided into companies (sotnias), which were administered by captains (sotnyk). Companies were named either by a toponym of their origin or their leader and greatly varied in numbers up to 16.

It is known that the first who introduced the regimental division was Prince Ostafiy Ruzhynsky in 1515. Initially created 20 regiments consisting of 2,000 Cossacks each, were reduced by the King of Poland Stephen Báthory in 1576 to 10.

List of regiments
The first regimental districts were confirmed by the Treaty of Kurukove in 1625 among which were Bila Tserkva Regiment, Kaniv Regiment, Korsun Regiment, Kiev Regiment, Pereyaslav Regiment, Cherkasy Regiment. All of them were situated within the Kiev Voivodship. According to the Treaty of Zboriv there were 23 regiments. In 1667 the signing of Truce of Andrusovo between the Muscovy and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth secured 10 regiments of the Left-bank Ukraine for Muscovy including Kiev, while the other six stayed at the Right-bank Ukraine as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The capital was the city of Chyhyryn. After the Treaty of Andrusovo, in 1669 the capital was transferred to Baturyn as Chyhyryn became part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (locate at the Right-bank Ukraine). After the Baturyn's tragedy of 1708 conducted by the Russian army of Aleksandr Menshikov the area was incorporated into the Kiev Governorate the city of Hlukhiv nominally served as the residence of Hetman.

Within the Hetmanate Polish was frequently used as the language of administration and even of command.

Leadership
The state supreme power belonged to the General Cossack (Military) Council, while the office of head of state was presided by the Hetman. There also was an important advising body Council of Officers (Starshyna). The hetman was initially chosen by the General Council, consisting of all cossacks, townspeople, clergy and even peasants. By the end of the 17th century, however, its role became more ceremonial as the hetman came to be chosen by the Council of Officers and the Hetmanate itself was turning into an authoritarian state. After 1709, the Battle of Poltava, hetman nomination was to be confirmed by the Tsar. Hetman presided until he either died or was forced out by the General Cossack Council. The office of hetman had complete power over the administration, the judiciary, the finances, and the army. His cabinet functioned simultaneously as both the General Staff and as the Cabinet of Ministers. The Hetman also had the right to conduct foreign policy, although this right was increasingly limited by Moscow in the 18th century.

Each of the regimental districts making up the Hetmanate was administered by a colonel who had dual roles as supreme military and civil authority on his territory. Initially elected by that regimental district's Cossacks, by the 18th century the colonels were appointed by the Hetman. After 1709, the colonels were frequently chosen by Moscow. Each colonel's staff consisted of a quartermaster (second-in-command), judge, chancellor, aide-de-camp, and flag-bearer.



Throughout the 18th century, local autonomy was gradually eroded within the Hetmanate. After the Baturyn's tragedy the autonomy was abolished, incorporating it into the Kiev Governorate. After the Battle of Poltava, hetmans elected by the Council of Officers were to be confirmed by the tsar. They served more as a military administrators and have little influence over the domestic policies. The tsar also frequently appointed the colonels of each regimental district.

First Little Russian Collegiate
In 1722 the governmental branch responsible for the Hetmanate was changed from the College of Foreign Affairs to the imperial Senate. That same year, the hetman's authority was undermined by the establishment of the Little Russian Collegium. It was appointed in Moscow and consisted of six Russian military officers stationed in the Hetmanate who acted as a parallel government. Its duty was ostensibly to protect the rights of rank-and-file Cossacks peasants against repression at the hands of the Cossack officers. The president of the collegiate was Brigadier Stepan Veliaminov. When the Cossacks responded by electing as Hetman Pavlo Polubotok, opposed to these reforms, he was arrested and died in prison without having been confirmed by the tsar. The Little Russian Collegium then ruled the Hetmanate until 1727, when it was abolished and a new Hetman, Danylo Apostol, was elected.

A code consisting of twenty-eight articles was adopted that regulated the relationship between the Hetmanate and Russia. It continued to be in force until the Hetmanate's dissolution. With election of the new Hetman new set of "Pereyaslav Articles" was signed by Danylo Apostol. The new document, known as the 28 Authoritative Ordinances, stipulated that:


 * The Hetmanate would not conduct its own foreign relations, although it could deal directly with Poland, the Crimean Khanate, and the Ottoman Empire about border problems as long as these agreements did not contradict Russian treaties


 * The Hetmanate continued to control ten regiments, although it was limited to three mercenary regiments


 * During war, the Cossacks were required to serve under the resident Russian commander


 * A court was established consisting of three Cossacks and three government appointees


 * Russians and other non-local landlords were allowed to remain in the Hetmate, but no new peasants from the North could be brought in

Second Little Russian Collegiate
In 1764, the office of Hetman was abolished by Catherine II and its authority replaced by the second Little Russian Collegiate that was transformed out of the Little-Russia Prikaz (Office of Ukrainian Affairs) subordinated to the Ambassadorial Office of the Russian Tsardom. The collegiate consisted of four Russian appointees and four Cossack representatives headed by a president, Count Peter Rumyantsev, who proceeded to cautiously but firmly eliminate the vestiges of local autonomy. In 1781, the regimental system was dismantled and the Little Russian Collegiate abolished. Two years later, peasants' freedom of movement was restricted and the process of enserfment was completed. Cossack soldiers were integrated into the Russian army, while the Cossack officers were granted status as Russian nobles. As had previously been the practice elsewhere in the Russian Empire, lands were confiscated from the Church (during the times of the Hetmanate monasteries alone controlled 17% of the region's lands ) and distributed to the nobility. The territory of the Hetmanate was reorganized into three Russian provinces (governorates) whose administration was no different from that of any other provinces within the Russian Empire.