ABRIDGED
HISTORY OF UKRAINE - PART THREE.
Loosely translated and abridged by George Skoryk from "HISTORY OF
UKRAINE"
by Mykhaylo Hrushevs'kyi
III. PERIOD OF LITHUANIAN AND POLISH RULE (1360-1599).
Grand Duke
Vytautas the Great
The Lithuanian princes were reasonable rulers. In some cases they
were assimilated where they adopted the local customs, language
and religion. People did not resist them and appreciated their
protection from Poland, Moscow and the Tatars. However, under
Polish rule, western Ukraine was subjected to exploitation and
colonization by an influx of people from Poland and Germany, who
were taking over the property and offices from local boyars.
During the period of 1393-1430 the Grand Dutch of Lithuania was
ruled by the Grand Duke Vytautas, who also is named Vytautas the
Great for all the political and military achievements he brought
to Lithuania. During his reign, the push eastward by the German
Order was broken. In 1410 Vytautas, along with his cousin Yahaylo
the King of Poland, won the Battle of Grunwald (Germany), against
the might of the Order that way finishing almost 200 years of war.
He also brought the Christianity to the pagan Lithuania. At the
end of his era, Lithuania became one of the strongest states in
Europe, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.
In 1400 Lithuania, together with its Ukrainian principalities,
separated under king Vytautas- Yahaylo's cousin. Yahaylo’s younger
brother, Svytryhaylo, opposed this arrangement. Ukrainian
principalities under Vytautas were loosing their national
character and independence to Polish influences.
In 1413 a decision was made to allow only Catholics to occupy
important government positions ("Horodlo Privilege"). Wide-spread
discrimination against the Orthodox population followed. Nearly
all Ukrainians in those days were Orthodox, therefore Ukrainian
princes and boyars ended up helping Svytryhaylo in his fight with
Vytautas. After Vytautas died in 1430, Svytryhaylo defended
himself from Poles, but by the year 1440 his sphere of influence
was reduced to the Volynj principality.
There was a period of hostilities between Lithuania and Moscow,
when about 1480 Moscow annexed several principalities in eastern
Ukraine. Also several popular uprisings took place. In 1490, a
rebellion under Mukha, occurred in western Ukraine. Mukha sought
help from neighboring Moldova. In 1500 in eastern Ukraine, there
was an uprising under Prince Mykhaylo Hlynskiy, who expected help
from Moscow and the Tatars. However Poland and Lithuania, at that
time, were very strong and all uprisings were squashed.
Meanwhile, in the South, marauding Tatar hordes converted a large
area of the country into wilderness, without any law or order. It
was a very rich part of Ukraine with productive soil, wild animals
and rivers full of fish. It attracted many adventurous people, who
although they had to fight the Tatars there, would be free from
suppression by the Polish and Lithuanian overlords. They began to
organize under Hetmans, thus originating Cossack society.
To defend themselves from the Tatars, they constructed forts
called "Sitch" and amalgamated them into a sort of union, with
Zaporizhia as a centre. It was downstream of the Dnipro river
cascades.
In 1552, one of Ukrainian princes, Dmytro Wyshnevetskyi, being
among the Cossacks, built a castle on the island Khortytsya. From
there, the Cossacks conducted raids on Crimean towns sometimes
with help from Moscow. Dmytro wanted to develop Zaporizhia, with
help from Lithuania and Moscow, into a powerful fortress against
Tatars and Turks. Being unable to achieve this goal, he left
Zaporizhia in 1561, became involved in a war in Moldova and was
captured and executed by the Turks in 1563.
In 1569, with the Union of Lublin, the dynastic link between
Poland and Lithuania was transformed into a constitutional union
of the two States as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most of
Ukraine became part of Poland. The settlement of Polish nationals
followed and Polish laws and customs became dominant.
Polish nobles replaced most of Ukrainian princes and boyars,
except for a few—notably Ostrozkyis and Wyshnevetskyis. Peasants
lost their land ownership and civil rights and gradually became
serfs, exploited as manpower in agriculture and forestry, by the
new landowners. Suppression of the Orthodox Church retarded the
development of Ukrainian literature, arts and education.
Preferential treatment of Catholics inhibited the economic and
political advancement of Ukrainians.
In spite of that there was a modest revival of Ukrainian culture
later in 16th century. Church schools and seminaries were set up,
based at first on the properties of Ukrainian magnate Hryhoriy
Khodkovych and later on the holdings of Ostrozkyi princes. A
printing industry began, culminating in the publication of the
Bible in a print shop ran by Ivan Fedorovych. Trade and church
brotherhoods sprang up. Schools were established and hospitals
became centers of defense of the Orthodox Church and the fight for
justice and equality.
Such a situation was the main cause, which multiplied the influx
of people to Cossack territory, increasing the Cossack’s strength.
The Tatars were pushed out into Crimea and the Cossacks became
more daring in their raids on Turkish cities.
While Ukrainian Cossacks defended not only Ukraine, but also the
whole of eastern Europe from the Turks and Tatar hordes, they were
causing diplomatic problems for Poland because Turkey used Cossack
situation as an excuse for wars against Poland. When Cossack
leader, Ivan Pidkova, conquered Moldova in 1577, the Poles
captured and executed him in order to appease the Turks. They
tried to control the Cossacks by recruiting some of them into the
Polish military system as, so called, Registered Cossacks, but
they could never really tame them.
With decreasing danger from the Tatars, Polish nobles and
Ukrainian princes loyal to the king, were granted possessions in
territory controlled by the Cossacks and began to introduce their
freedom limiting, unpopular laws. Dissatisfied with such treatment
Cossacks, under Kryshtof Kosynskyi, rebelled about 1590, and by
year 1593 controlled most of eastern Ukraine. After Kosynskyi,
Hryhoriy Loboda became Cossack Hetman in 1593.
Another section of Cossacks, numbering about 12000, under Semeryn
Nalyvayko, were recruited by the Pope and the German Kaiser for
war against theTurks. They conquered Moldova and in 1595 returned
to Ukraine to fight against Polish rulers and to defend the
Orthodox population from the Jesuits, who were instigating
amalgamation with the Catholic Church. In 1596 at a synod of
Brest, the Kyivan metropolitan and the majority of bishops signed
an act of union with Rome. The Uniate church thus formed
recognized supremacy of the pope but retained the Eastern rites
and the Slavonic liturgical language.
Also in year 1596 Polish king, Sigismund III Vasa, ordered Field
Marshal Stanislav Zholkewski to subjugate the Cossack forces.
After several months of fighting, Zholkewski surrounded Cossacks,
led by Nalyvayko, Loboda and Shaula, at river Solonytsya near
Lubny. There were about 6000 Cossack fighters and just as many
women and children facing a much more superior force. The
prolonged siege, lack of food and fodder, internal squabbles (Loboda
was killed in one the fights between sections of Cossacks) and
intensive cannon fire destroyed defenders' capacity to resist. In
order to save their families, Cossacks agreed to Zholkewski's
terms to let them go free in exchange for handing over their
leaders. However, after surrender, the Poles did not keep their
word; they attacked and started to massacre defenseless and
disoriented Cossacks. Only a section under leadership of Krempskyi
broke through and joined with troops of Pidvysotskyi, who were
coming to the rescue of the besieged Cossacks.
Zholkewski, exhausted by prolonged fighting, decided to abandon
the idea to conquer the Cossacks. He returned to Poland, where he
tortured and
executed the
captured Cossack leaders. The most severe punishment was handed to
Nalyvayko, who was tortured for about a year prior to a brutal
execution.
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