2020-09-24
28
The Cossacks can be divided into three major groups: the Zaporozhians (unregistered Cossacks who stayed in the Sich or lived in nearby areas); the registered Cossacks, who were paid for their service by the Polish government and had a number of privileges; the nadvirni Cossacks who were hired by the szlachta[24] to serve in their private armies to protect their estates from Tatar raids and put down peasant uprisings. The wealthiest group of these was the registered Cossacks. They were paid by the king, owned property (sometimes quite large), and did not pay taxes. The registered Cossacks’ hetman and colonels were not elected but appointed by the king. Registered Cossacks usually received good education of high European standards in Catholic or Orthodox collegiums and formed the Cossack aristocracy. Having families made them vulnerable in wars compared to the fearless Zaporozhians (who had nothing to loose). The registered Cossacks tended to compromises and cautious behavior in military campaigns as they had what to loose. The registered Cossacks were used by the Polish government to protect Ukraine’s borders and to take part in wars against enemies of the Rzeczpospolita. They were also used by the Polish government in wars against the Zaporozhians. But it was difficult to force all registered Cossacks to fight against the Zaporozhians in such conflicts. In Cossack-Polish wars the registered Cossacks as well as the nadvirni Cossacks often fought on both sides; part of them supporting the Polish-Lithuanian government and the other part - the rebellious Zaporozhians. In big military campaigns the Polish government usually mobilized all three types of Cossacks to fight against Poland’s enemies.
Evaluation of Cossackdom
The Ukrainian Cossackdom is quite a complicated phenomenon. No wonder that historians give different assessments of it.
Many prominent Russian historians (S. Soloviov, V. Kliuchevskii, and others) usually gave negative evaluation of Cossackdom. They wrote that the Cossacks were anarchical people who wanted to live at the expense of the others (by plundering their neighbors).
Polish historians and writers (Yablonowski, H. Sienkiewicz, etc) usually associated Cossackdom with bloody mass killings. They wrote that the Cossacks were lazy and cruel drunkards who were preventing the spread of civilization over Ukrainian lands. Polish historians usually deny the existence of patriotic feelings among Ukrainian Cossacks. They stress that the Cossacks put their own interests over those of Ukraine, fought against each other, invited the Tatars and paid them with Ukrainian peasants.
In contrast to Ukrainian patriotic historians who describe the Sich as an organization of a democratic kind and the Cossacks as builders of Ukrainian statehood, their Russian and Polish colleagues say that the Sich was a typical ochlocracy (the rule of mob) and the Cossacks were against statehood as they did not want to be under control.
Turkish historians write about the Cossacks as cruel people who often attacked, robbed, and killed the peaceful population of Turkey’s coastal line. They also stress the fact that Turkey did not attack Ukraine (it was the Crimean Tatars who did it) but the Cossack preferred to make raids against Turkey since the Ottoman Empire was richer than the Crimean Khanate. Turkish and Polish historians consider Cossack sea raids on Crimea and Turkey as acts of piracy since the aim of those raids was booty.
Most Ukrainian historians justify the Cossacks’ activity. They say that Cossackdom was a protest against national and religious oppression. In their opinion the Cossacks defended Ukraine from Tatar raids and from the spread of Catholicism. They also try to prove that the Cossacks created the foundations of Ukrainian statehood which had a democratic character. The most famous Ukrainian historian M. Hrushevskyi, however, also wrote about some negative aspects of Cossackdom. He said, for example, that Cossacks considered war their profession and were ready to sell their services to those who paid more (Tatars, Turks, Moldavians, Russians, Austrians, etc). Thus, they were not reliable allies.
The famous Ukrainian writer and public figure P. Kulish at first wrote about the Cossacks as real knights who defended Ukraine. Later he changed his opinion and said that Cossackdom was a revelation of the darkest and wildest instincts of the Ukrainian people. The Sich was not a democracy but rather a kind of anarchy. Thus the Cossacks were unable to create statehood. He wrote that the Cossacks ruined the culture and economy of Ukraine. Poland, in his opinion, was a positive force which wanted to harness the Cossacks to let the economy to develop. He criticized Ukrainian patriotic writers for idealization of the Cossacks: “we created for ourselves the heroes of honor from bandits” („Ми з розбишак наробили собі героїв честі”). Kulish believed that most of the Cossacks were not patriots but adventurous people who preferred exciting though dangerous life of the Cossacks to the peaceful but hardworking life of the peasants.
Thus, as before mentioned opinions indicate, it is difficult to give a fare assessment to Cossackdom. Ukrainian historians usually praise the Cossacks while foreign historians criticize them. But we can assume that the Cossacks had positive (defense of Ukraine and its Orthodox faith and liberation of captives) and negative (cruel raids against peaceful people and taking captives) traits. Cossackdom has been also a symbol of freedom for many generations of Ukrainians. According to numerous records of foreign contemporaries, the Cossacks valued freedom most of everything else on earth and were ready to sacrifice their lives for it. The history of Cossackdom inspired generations of Ukrainian patriots to struggle for independence.
Questions
1. What caused the unification of Lithuanian tribes?
2. What can you tell about Lithuania’s cultural policy in Ukraine?
3. How did the Union of Krevo influence the cultural life of Lithuania?
4. Why did Ukrainian and Lithuanian szlachta want a union with Poland and not with Russia?
5. Tell about positive and negative sides of Poland’s cultural policy in Ukraine.
6. What was the aim of bratstva?
7. What do you know about collegiums in Ostrih and Kyiv? Why did the Polish government refuse to give the Kyivan-Mohyla Collegium a status of academy?
8. What role did the Jews play in Ukrainian cultural and economic life?
9. What were the reasons for the Union of Brest? Tell about positive and negative sides of the division of Ukraine along religious lines.
10. How is the word ‘Cossack’ translated by different historians?
11. Did the Cossacks have constant allies and constant enemies?
12. What was the aim of Cossack military raids against Crimea, Turkey, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and other lands?
13. What were the differences between Zaporozhian, Registered, and Nadvirni Cossacks?
14. How historians in different countries evaluate Cossacks? What are in your opinion positive and negative sides of Cossackdom?
WORDS AND WORD COMBINATIONS TO TOPIC 2
Backward - відсталий
Tribes - племена
Pagan - язичницький
Worship - поклонятись
Grass-snake - вуж
Illiterate – неписьменний
Crusader - хрестоносець
Spread - розповсюджувати
Defeat – поразка, завдавати поразки
Conquer - захопити
Principality - князівство
Inferior – нижчої якості
Fortifications – захисні споруди, фортифікації
Fortress - фортеця
Castle - замок
Invasion - вторгнення
Statehood - державність
Commodity - товар
Prosper - процвітати
Subdue - підкоряти
Recognition - визнання
Convert into Catholicism – навернути до католицизму
Take advantage of smth – скористатись чимось
Defensive union – оборонний союз
Retain control over/of – зберегти контроль над
Decline – занепад, занепадати
Nobility – знать, дворянство
Legal protection – юридичний захист
Religious tolerance – релігійна терпимість
Estate - помістя
Raise taxes – піднімати податки
Troops - війська
Noble – шляхтич, дворянин
Burgher – міський мешканець
Make emphasis on – робити наголос на
Decay – занепад, занепадати
Descendant- нащадок
Curriculum – учбовий розклад
At the request of – на прохання
Assess - оцінювати
Elective system – виборча система
Uniqueness - унікальність
Persecute - переслідувати
On a mass scale - масово
Middlemen - посередники
Craftsmen - ремісники
Tailor - кравець
Faithful - вірний
Split - розкол
Tension - напруга
Priest - священик
Reconcile - примирити
Clergy - духовенство
Retain - зберегти
Traitor - зрадник
Invade - вторгнутись
Peninsula - півострів
Subjugate - підкорити
Internal policy – внутрішня політика
Captives - полонені
Detachments - загони
Fertile – родючий, плодоносний
Settlements - поселення
Booty - здобич
Origin - походження
Evolve - розвиватись
Make military raids – робити військові рейди (набіги)
Burn to cinder – спалити до попелу
Inhabitants – мешканці, жителі
Infants - немовлята
Lucrative - вигідний
Hindrance – перешкода
Depose - усунути
Murderer - вбивця
Victim - жертва
Impale – посадити на палю
Shallow - мілкий
Loot - грабувати
Mosque - мечеть
Rape - ґвалтувати
Immortalize - увічнити
Devastate - спустошити
Captivity - полон
Income - дохід
Galley - галера
Impregnable - неприступний
Sack - грабувати
Plunder - грабувати
Outskirts – околиці, передмістя
Harbor - гавань
Escape – утекти, уникнути
Liberate - звільняти
To be in great demand – бути у великому попиті
Deteriorate - погіршуватись
Furious - шалений
Vanish – зникати
Envoy - посланець
Retaliation - відплата
Justify - виправдати
Reluctant – неохочий
Social composition – соціальний склад
Colonel - полковник
Appoint – назначати (на посаду)
Vulnerable - уразливий
Rebellious - бунтівний
Evaluation - оцінка
Assessment - оцінка
At the expense of sb – за рахунок когось
Statehood - державність
Reliable - надійний
Allies - союзники
Revelation - виявлення
Harness - приборкати
Assume - припустити
Sacrifice – приносити в жертву
Inspire - надихати
[1] The Lithuanians made up only about 1/10 of the principality’s population.
[2] Salt was used not only for cooking but also for preservation of food.
[3] He failed to do it however and was forced to pay tribute to the khan.
[4] Other western parts of the former Kyivan Rus were attached to Hungary in the 12th -13th centuries (Transcarpathia /Закарпаття); and to Moldavia in 1359 (Bukovyna).
[5] After the death of Iadwiga at age 24, he married again three times.
[6] It was signed in the city of Lublin in Poland.
[7] Poland thus became an elective monarchy, where the szlachta (nobility) played a dominant role.
[8] The union was in a form of federation between the two countries. Lithuania retained its own laws, its own administration, and its own army.
[9] The Sejm was made up of two chambers. Senators served in the upper chamber.
[10]Iurii Drohobych, for example, became rector of the famous Bologna University.
[11] Collegium was a type of advanced-secondary school.
[12] This church was also widely known under the name of Uniate church (уніатська церква).
[13] The Gregorian calendar (named after Pope Gregory XIII) was officially adopted in the Commonwealth.
[14] There are some impressive remains of these fortresses in present-day Crimea. The most popular with tourists is the Genoese fortress in Sudak.
[15] Dashkevych was also famous for military raids against the Tatars. In 1532 the angry Tatar khan tried to destroy the town of Cherkassy as punishment for the Cossack raids but failed to capture it.
[16] In 1563 Vyshnevetsky at the head of Cossacks troops tried to capture Moldova and become king of that country. Turks helped Moldavians to defeat the Cossacks. Vyshnevetsky was brought to Istanbul and executed there.
[17] The laws were not codified in any document and were transmitted orally from generation to generation.
[18] This word apparently comes from Turkish ‘Sayka’, Italian ‘Saicca’ or Bulgarian ‘шайка’ which means a ‘pirate ship.’
[19] There was a popular saying, “If he was not in a sea raid he cannot be called a Cossack.” („Не козак той, хто не був у морському поході”).
[20] In this battle Bohdan Khmelnytskyii’s father was killed; Bohdan himself was taken prisoner.
[21] Foreign travelers wrote that drinking competitions were especially popular with the Cossacks.
[22]„ Козацька здобиченька марно пропадає. Тиждень козак заробляє, за один день пропиває”.
[23] Many Cossacks ended their lives in Orthodox monasteries, begging God for forgiveness.
[24] Polish word for nobility.
