Hetmans of Ukrainian Cossacks



Hetman of Ukrainian Cossacks as a title was not officially recognized internationally until the creation of the Ukrainian Hetmanate. With the creation of Registered Cossacks units their leaders were unofficially referred to as hetmans, however officially the title was known as the "Senior (Starshy) of His Royal Mercy of Zaporishian Host". Therefore before 1648 and the establishment of Cossack Hetmanate there were numerous regional hetmans across the Dnieper Ukraine, who usually were starostas or voivodes.

The first widely recognized hetman of Zaporizhia was Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, however later several Polish starostas were added to the Hetman registry such as Lyantskoronsky and Dashkevych who also led their own cossack formations. According to Hrushevsky they were not really considered as hetman, at least by their contemporaries. Among other such starostas were Karpo Maslo from Cherkasy, Yatsko Bilous (Pereyaslav), Andrushko (Bratslav), and many others. Even Princes Konstanty Ostrogski and Bohdan Hlinski were conducting Cossack raids on Tatar uluses (districts).

The commanders of Zaporozhian Host (the Kosh) often considered as hetmans in fact carried a title of Kosh Otaman. As from 1572 hetman was unofficially name commanders of the Registered Cossack Army (Реєстрове козацьке військо) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the 1648 Bohdan Khmelnytsky uprising, Hetman was the title of the head of the Cossack state, the Cossack Hetmanate. Cossack hetmans had very broad powers and acted as supreme military commanders and executive leader (by issuing administrative decrees).

After the split of the territory of Ukraine along the Dnieper River by the Polish-Russian Treaty of Andrusovo 1667, there was an introduction of dual leadership for each bank of Dnieper Ukraine (left and right).

Eventually the state powers of Cossack Hetmans were gradually diminished in 18th century, and finally abolished by Catherine II of Russia in 1764.

Cossack leaders

 * Predslav Lyantskoronsky (1506–1512), not an actual hetman, he was a starosta of Khmilnyk
 * Ostap Dashkevych (1506–1536), not an actual hetman, he was a starosta in charge of a defense force approved by the Sejm near Cherkasy. Dashkevych offered to create a defense force on the banks of the Lower Dnieper
 * Dmytro Vyshnevetsky (1550–1564), the first recorded Hetman of Zaporizhia, first who created a Cossack garrison at the Nyz Dnieprovski (Lower Dnieper) on the island of Khortytsia in 1552
 * Bohdan Ruzhynsky, member of Volhynia princedom, a leader who was sponsored by Moscow
 * Ivan Svirgovsky (1567–1574)
 * Ivan Pidkova (1577–1578), leader
 * Ivan Orishevsky (1579–1591)
 * Bogdan Mikoshinsky (1586–1594)
 * Kryshtof Kosynsky (1591–1593), otaman led the 1590 uprising after Janusz Ostrogski confiscated his lands near Bila Tserkva that were awarded to him by the Sejm
 * Hryhory Loboda (1593–1596), Hetman of Zaporizhia
 * Severyn Nalyvaiko (1596), an Ostrogski recruit who fought against the Kosiński Uprising, led his own uprising in Podolie and Volhynia independent from Hryhory Loboda
 * Lubny massacre, a massacre that was conducted by the Polish army led by Hetman Zolkiewski. After that battle cossack movement was greatly reduced within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
 * Krempski, Hetman of Zaporizhia, was elected during the siege near Lubny and later managed to escape with a small number of other cossacks
 * Vasylevych, Hetman of Zaporizhia
 * Nechkovsky, Hetman of Zaporizhia
 * Tykhin Baybuza (1597–1598), Hetman of Zaporizhia
 * Samiylo Kishka (1599–1601), Hetman of Zaporizhia, managed to reinstate the rights of cossacks in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
 * Petro Konashevych (Sahaidachny) led successful campaigns against the Tatars and the Turks, aided the Polish army at Moscow in 1618 and at the Battle of Khotyn in 1621. He also saw Cossack interests in the independence of Ukraine from Poland.
 * Mykhailo Doroshenko (1623–1628)
 * Hryhoriy Chorny (1628–1630), elected by Registered Cossacks
 * Taras Fedorovych (1629–1630), elected by unregistered Cossacks
 * Ivan Sulyma (1630–1635)
 * Ivan Petrizhitsky-Kulaga (1631–1632)
 * Tomilenko (1635–1637)
 * Savva Kononovych (1637), former Pereyaslav polkovnyk
 * Pavel Mikhnovych, better known as Pavel Pavluk, the leader of 1637 uprising
 * Karp Skydan, Pavlyuk's assistant, headed the 1637 uprising while Pavlyuk returned to Zaporizhia
 * Battle between Moshny and Ros on 6 December 1637
 * Ilyash Karaimovych (1637), Mykola Potocki's appointee of Registered Cossacks, Bohdan Khmelnytsky was appointed a pysar of Karaimovych.
 * Dmytro Hunia (1638), leader in Zaporizhia

Hetmans of Cossack Hetmanate
In 1657 Ivan Vyhovsky being a regent to young Yuriy Khmelnytsky was officially elected as the Hetman for the next three years. He surrendered the title in 1659 due to a public pressure.

In 1669 Petro Doroshenko received a title of Sanjak-bey from Mehmed IV. The Appointed Hetman Mykhailo Khanenko was elected the Hetman of Ukraine by a council of Sukhoviy's Cossacks in Uman to depose Doroshenko. In 1675 John III Sobieski awarded the title to some Ostap Hohol (died in 1679). Same thing happened in 1683 when John III Sobieski awarded the title to Stefan Kunicki and in 1684 to Andriy Mohyla. Those awards were given during the Great Turkish War.

Moscow's appointed hetmans
In support of the Poltava regiment uprising (Barabash-Pushkar Mutiny), Grigory Romadanovsky awarded the title of Appointed Hetman to Ivan Bezpaly. In 1663 in the city of Nizhyn a big cossack council was set up to elect the new Hetman of Ukraine, after which the winner of the elections Ivan Briukhovetsky slain his main rival Yakym Somko.

Vouched by Charles Marie François Olier, marquis de Nointel, Yuriy Khmelnytsky was freed from the Ottoman captivity, appointed and along with Pasha Ibragim was sent to Ukraine fight the Moscow forces of Samoilovych and Romadanovsky. In 1681 Mehmed IV appointed George Ducas the Hetman of Ukraine, replacing Khmelnytsky.

Following the anathema on Mazepa and the election of Ivan Skoropadsky, Cossack Hetmanate was included into the Russian Government of Kiev in December 1708. Upon the death of Skoropadsky, the Hetman elections were disrupted and were awarded as a gift and a type of princely titles, first to Moldavian nobleman and later to the Russian Empress favorite.

On 5 April 1710 the council of cossacks, veterans of the battle at Poltava, elected Pylyp Orlyk as the Hetman of Ukraine in exile. Orlyk waged a guerrilla warfare at the southern borders of the Russian Empire with the support from Ottoman and Swedish empires.