Libmonster ID: UA-12942
Author(s) of the publication: V. A. GOLOBUTSKY

1. In the Pan captivity

Zaporozhye Cossacks left a bright mark in history. This explains the huge interest in it. When and under what circumstances did the Zaporozhye Cossacks appear on the public arena? To answer this question, let's turn to the events of the XV-XVI centuries. At that time, important changes were taking place in Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which then comprised most of the Ukrainian lands. The social division of labor deepened, and as a result, cities grew, commodity-money relations developed. The feudal economy was increasingly drawn into market relations. Now it was easier to sell village produce in the city market and use the money to buy local handicrafts, as well as foreign goods. Under the influence of the growing economic ties between the village and the city, long-held tastes and habits began to change. The life of the Polish and Lithuanian lords was gradually rebuilt. They sought to replace the mansions built by village carpenters with spacious and beautiful houses and palaces, to furnish them with expensive furniture, to decorate them with carpets and mirrors. The lords began to wear expensive clothes, buy expensive weapons, silver and gold dishes. Hungarian wines and oriental spices appeared on the master's table.

Money was needed to meet these increased needs. And you could get them only by increasing your income. Therefore, the feudal lords raised their natural dues and sold the resulting products of their own and peasant farms. The monetary rent also grew (or was introduced where it had not been before), which forced the peasants to also sell part of their products on the market. But it wasn't enough. Feudal lords began to change the forms of farming. Folvark (the feudal lord's own farm) is becoming increasingly important. Folwarks were given the best land, usually taken away from the peasants. Gradually, folwarks turned into multi-industry farms, where cattle breeding, various crafts, and processing of agricultural products developed next to agriculture. With the advent of folwarks, the methods of exploitation of peasants changed, and corvee farming grew. The peasants were forced to work at the folwark, most often during the cold season, several days a week. At the same time, peasant allotments were reduced. Increased exploitation of the peasants provoked protest on their part. The feudal lords, in order to keep their subjects in subjection, tried to expand their power over them. Serfdom's oppression grew steadily.

In addition to corvee and dues, the peasants bore the burden of state duties and taxes related to the hiring and maintenance of troops, the construction and repair of fortresses and bridges. All of this put them in a very difficult position. The German diplomat and traveler S. Herberstein, who visited Poland and Lithuania in the early 16th century, wrote: "From the time of Vytautas up to the present day, they (the peasants ) are so severely enslaved that if any of them is accidentally sentenced to death, he is obliged to execute himself by order of the master... If he accidentally refuses to do so, he will be severely flogged... and yet they will hang you." Nuncio Ruggieri, who wrote a "Description of Poland" for the Vatican (mid-16th century),

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also noticed: "We can safely say that in the whole world there is no slave more unhappy than the Polish kmet (peasant-V. G.)" 1 .

The expansion of folwarks at the expense of peasant land and the increased exploitation of peasants, as well as the involvement of the peasant economy in market relations, deepened property inequality in rural areas. More and more often there were peasants who were partially or completely deprived of their allotments - zagorodniki, komorniki. At the same time, there was a small stratum of rich peasants who began to exploit their ruined fellow villagers.

Social oppression also increased in the cities. Most of the cities belonged to secular and ecclesiastical feudal lords, in whose favor the burghers bore numerous duties, often no different from those of the peasants. The burghers of the royal and grand ducal cities were in a similar position. Dissatisfied with their situation, the townspeople fought for the liberation of the feudal lords from power, for self-government.

The severe social oppression suffered by the Ukrainian peasants and broad sections of the middle class was compounded by national oppression and religious persecution. All this was supplemented by the feudal anarchy that prevailed in Poland and Lithuania, the arbitrariness of magnates. They were not only fighting each other, but also the royal power. Large feudal lords opposed the creation of a strong standing army subordinate to the king, which not only weakened his power, but also the defense of the state. The southeastern regions of Poland and Lithuania, i.e. Ukraine, remained unprotected. Invasions by the Tatar hordes supported by Turkey have become commonplace and have become a terrible disaster for the Ukrainian people. Thousands of captives were taken to the slave markets in the Crimea. Witnesses of one of the raids (mid-16th century) described the massacre of the local population: "We saw them killed, beheaded, their severed limbs and heads scattered; a cruel enemy threw their fluttering hearts into the fire, tore out their lungs and exposed their entrails" 2 .

The growth of serfdom and national oppression met with a courageous rebuff from the popular masses of Ukraine. A well-known Polish publicist, contemporary of the events, A. Fritsch-Modzhevsky, with good reason, noted:: "As many subjects as the nobles have, so many enemies do they have." 3 The resistance of the peasants resulted in uprisings that covered entire districts. In 1490, the terrible Mucha revolt broke out near the Moldavian border and then spread throughout Galicia. To suppress it, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was convened and military detachments from Prussia were called up. One of the most common forms of peasant protest was flight. Peasants, as well as burghers in groups, and sometimes even whole villages, went to the then almost deserted eastern and south-eastern outskirts of Lodolia, Bratslav region, and Kiev region. The flight, which took on noticeable proportions already in the second half of the XV century and in the XVI century, began to cause serious concern among the feudal lords.

2. The emergence of the Cossacks

Individual feudal lords and state authorities made great efforts to stop the flight. Since the second half of the 15th century, laws against fugitives have followed one another. According to the Court Book of Grand Duke Casimir Jagiellon of 1467, those who incited peasants to flee were subject to the death penalty by hanging. The flight, however, not only did not stop, but increased even more. In new places, the fugitives declared themselves free people-Cossacks. Later, the Polish chronicler S. Grondsky (XVII century) described this phenomenon as follows:: "Those of the Russian people who... they did not want to drag out the yoke and tolerate the power of local lords, they went to distant lands, which by that time were not yet inhabited, and appropriated the right to freedom... they founded new colonies and, in order to distinguish themselves from the subjects who belonged to them... Panamanians began to call themselves Cossacks. " 4
1 P. Herberstein. Notes on Muscovite Affairs, St. Petersburg, 1908, p. 173; "Relacye nuncyuszow apostolskich i innych osob о Polsce od roku 1548 do 1690". T. I. В. - Poznan. 1864, str. 128 - 129.

2 "Memoirs related to the history of Southern Russia". Issue I. Kiev, 1890, p. 22.

3 "Polish Thinkers of the Renaissance", Moscow, 1960.

4 S. Grondski. Historia belli cosacco-poionici. Pestini. 1789, p. 15.

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In the second half of the XV century and in the first half of the XVI century on the Dnieper Right Bank - in the upper reaches of the Southern Bug, along the Sob, Sinyukha, Royok, Tyasmin, as well as on the left bank of the Dnieper - along Trubezh, Sula, Pel and in other places, many Cossack settlements and farms appeared. Speaking about the colonization of the Ukrainian borderlands by runaway peasants, contemporaries of the events noted that the once populous towns and villages of the middle regions of the country were completely deserted, and previously uninhabited spaces were filled with inhabitants to the indescribable harm of their former owners. Approximately around the same time, the Cossacks appear on the Don, Yaik and in other areas. There is information about the Cossacks in Podolia already from the 80s of the XV century. The famous Polish chronicler Martin Wielsky, describing the campaign of Jan Albrecht, son of Casimir IV, in Eastern Podolia in 1489, undertaken against the Tatars, came to the conclusion that the Polish army could successfully advance in the Podolian steppes only because its guides were local Cossacks who knew their places well .5 Until other data can be found, this mention should be considered the first documentary news about the Ukrainian Cossacks. The earliest information about the Cossacks in the Kiev region dates back to 1492, and then, and more expressive, to 14996 . Although the first written records of the Cossacks date back only to the end of the 15th century, the Cossacks naturally emerged earlier.

The Cossack colonization of the southern Ukrainian steppes was of great economic importance. At the cost of huge efforts, the Cossacks won back its gifts from nature: they plowed virgin lands overgrown with giant tarsa and blackthorn, paved roads, built bridges, founded settlements, and planted gardens. The Cossacks not only laid the foundation for agriculture in the steppe region. Cattle breeding, crafts (fishing, hunting, saltpeter production), crafts, and trade began to develop successfully in the Cossack areas. Later, the Frenchman Beauplan, who lived in Ukraine in the first half of the 17th century, described the significance of Cossack colonization as follows: "Local population ...it has pushed its borders so far back and put so much effort into cultivating the desert lands ... that at present their extraordinary fertility is the main source of income... states " 7 . Cossack settlements and farms were distinguished by a certain prosperity in comparison with the villages of serfs. This is understandable: the free villager was more interested in increasing the productivity of his labor than the servile person. The memory of the first Cossack settlements, which did not know the power of serfs over themselves, was also reflected in folk songs.

Of course, many songs capture not so much the real reality as the desire to see it as such. In fact, not all Cossacks were in the same position. Economic inequality among the Cossacks appeared simultaneously with its appearance. The fact is that elements of different social status fled to the Cossacks. Along with the poor people, peasants and artisans who had the means to conduct an independent economy also moved to new places with their property. Finally, there were many well-to-do and rich people among the fugitives. S. Grondsky wrote about them: "The wealthiest of the peasants, even the fathers of families, having accumulated a certain amount of property, wiped it out and, without asking permission from their lords, rushed to the Cossacks, from where it was impossible to return them"8 . Moreover, rich peasants and artisans often fled with their hires. In the new places, economic inequality not only persisted, but also deepened. Here, too, the rich exploited the poor. The presence of hired laborers among the Cossacks in the first half of the 16th century is noted in more than one document. 9 The Cossacks had their own origi-

5 "Kronika Marcina Bie'skiego". T. II. Sanok. 1856, str. 882.

6 "Which Cossacks in the top of the Dnieper and from our sides go by water to the bottom as far as Cherkas and daley and shto there zdobudut, with that from all over the voivode of Kiev give the tenth mati", - we read in the letter of 1499 of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander. "Acts relating to the history of Western Russia, collected and published by the Archeographic Commission", Vol. I. St. Petersburg, 1846, p. 170.

7 "Memoirs related to the history of Southern Russia". Issue II. Kiev, 1896, p. 295.

8 S. Grondski. Op. cit., p. 21.

9 See" Archive of South-Western Russia, published by the Provisional Commission for the analysis of ancient Acts " (hereinafter referred to as the AYUZR). Part VI. Vol. I Kiev. 1876, pp. 45-47; part VII. Vol. II. Kiev, 1890, p. 368.

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a local social organization. Each Cossack, a member of a Cossack community, formally had an equal right to use both arable land and other land, as well as the right to participate in councils (gatherings). At such councils, all the most important cases were decided and the foreman was chosen - atamans, judges, clerks. Rich Cossacks, relying on their economic superiority and influence, seized senior positions and power in the Cossack communities from the very beginning.

The constant danger that threatened the Cossacks from both Polish and Lithuanian feudal lords, as well as Tatars, forced them to always keep their weapons in their hands. Being a Cossack meant not only running a farm on free land; each Cossack had to perform military service at his own expense: guard the village, participate in campaigns. Thus, the social organization of the Cossacks was based on the following principles: the denial of serfdom; formal equality in the right to use economic land belonging to the community; the right to participate in self-government bodies. The appearance of the Cossacks in Ukraine was of great political importance. The presence in the country of such a stratum of the population as the Cossacks, who by the very fact of their existence demonstrated the possibility of doing without feudal lords, had a revolutionizing effect on the oppressed masses, especially on the enslaved or enslaved peasantry. Hence the hatred with which the feudal lords and the feudal state rushed to destroy the Cossacks is also understandable. Not the least role in this, of course, was played by the desire, prompted by the needs of the developing folvarochny economy, to seize the lands developed by the Cossacks.

Feudal lords rushed to the steppes, following on the heels of the Cossacks. And the governments of Lithuania and Poland, encouraging pan-colonization, legalized it with salary certificates issued to magnates. Under the onslaught of the gentry, part of the Cossacks retreated to the south, to the lower reaches of the Dnieper tributaries of the Rosi and Tyasmin. Here, in the vicinity of Korsun, Kanev, Cherkasy, the Cossack population began to increase dramatically. In the view of many contemporaries, this part of Ukraine begins to act as a real Cossack land. Being a Cossack has come to mean living somewhere in the Cherkasy region. Yes, and the Cossacks themselves, and then the population of Eastern Ukraine in general, in official and unofficial Russian speech, are beginning to be called Circassians, or Cherkassans. Occupying the south-eastern and southern outskirts of Ukraine, the Cossacks, like a living wall, defended Lithuania and Poland from the predatory raids of the Turkish-Tatar invaders. And in this respect, his merits are especially great. The onslaught of the gentry was so strong that already in the first half of the 16th century a significant part of the Cossacks lost their freedom, or found themselves in the position of feudal-dependent (or semi-dependent) rural and urban populations, or formed detachments of pansy "service workers", or carried out guard duty in the grand-ducal border fortresses. The other, most free-loving part of the Cossacks retreated to the south, beyond the famous Dnieper rapids. Of course, all this took place in the context of a fierce class struggle. In 1536, for example, a violent uprising broke out in Cherkasy, which was brutally suppressed by the Lithuanian authorities. After that, many Cossacks left the borders of Cherkasy and Kaniv starost, some of them - to the Russian border, others-beyond the Dnieper rapids. Fighting against the Cossacks, the elders forbade both the passage of the population over the thresholds, and the exit from there "to the volosts" - the state territory of Lithuania.

3. Formation of Zaporozhye Sich

Beyond the rapids lay a land rich in fertile soil, rich pastures, fish, animals, birds, and salt. At the same time, the colonization of these places was extremely difficult. On the one hand, the Dnieper floodplains were a hotbed of dangerous fever, harmful midges, on the other-the colonists found themselves face to face with the hostile nomadic Tatar population. In addition, this area was almost cut off from the rest of Ukraine: it was difficult to move through the steppe due to the lack of roads and fear of becoming prey to nomads, and the way along the Dnieper was no less dangerous because of the rapids. Despite the unfavorable conditions of colonization, a Cossack population appeared beyond the thresholds already at the beginning of the XVI century (and perhaps even earlier). Thus, in 1527, Khan Sahib-Giray complained to the Lithuanian government about the Kanev and Cherkasy Cossacks,

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which "become" along the Dnieper at the very Tatar nomads. In these places, "caregivers" are established - crafts: fish, hunting, apiaries, places of salt extraction 10 . Commercial products - fish, furs and other goods-were exported to the "volosts".11 . The feudal lords looked with undisguised lust at the rich lands developed by the Cossacks beyond the rapids. Here, then, as before in the Middle Dnieper region, two colonization streams collided: the gentry in the person of magnates, mainly prefects of the south-eastern border, and the people, represented by grassroots, or Zaporozhye, Cossacks. Especially energetic claims to these places were shown by the administration of neighboring elders. Kaniv and Cherkassk starostates turned into a kind of springboard for the offensive on. Zaporozhye. In the 1930s, Prince M. A. Vishnevetsky, one of the largest landowners in Lithuania, was entrusted with their management. Under him, the offensive on Zaporozhye intensified. However, the Cossacks successfully repelled the attempts of the nobles to establish themselves in their possessions. They failed to lure the Cossacks out of Zaporozhye and various promises.

No less was the other danger that constantly threatened the Cossacks-the attacks of the Turks and Tatars. The latter constantly ruined the "departures" and took the Cossacks prisoner. Naturally, the Cossacks did not remain in debt: clashes did not stop on the border. The danger that lay in wait for the Cossacks from both sides forced them from the very beginning to take care of the construction of fortifications - "towns", or sichs. The first mention of the existence of Cossack fortifications beyond the rapids was left by Martin Velsky. "These people," he wrote in his chronicle, " are constantly busy catching fish at the bottom (on the Dnieper and its tributaries - V. G.), where they also dry it in the sun without salt." After spending the summer here, the Cossacks " disperse for the winter to the nearest cities, such as Kiev, Cherkasy, etc., leaving on the island, in a safe place, on the Dnieper, boats and several hundred people on the kosh (pa korzeniu), as they say, when shooting, since they also have guns taken from Turkish fortresses and recaptured from the Tatars " 12 . Based on the fact that the section "About the Cossacks" is placed in the chronicle of M. Velsky after the description of the events of 1574, some historians refer this message to the 70s of the XVI century. One cannot agree with this. The fact is that the section "About the Cossacks" is included by the author in the chronicle as an independent essay and stands outside the chronological sequence of the narrative: it combines events related to different periods. Proof of this can be found in the fact that the Cossacks, as Velsky says, return from the "bottom" to Kiev in winter. Cherkasy and other cities. Meanwhile, the free return of the Cossacks to the starostvo can only be said in relation to the period preceding the uprising in Cherkassy in 1536. After the uprising, a regime was established in the Cherkasy and Kaniv starosts, which excluded free entry from Zaporozhye. It also follows that somewhere in the fourth decade of the sixteenth century, at least before the Cherkassy uprising, an organization represented by Kosh already existed outside the city. The Cossacks who remained on the Kosh formed a garrison with guns and boats.

The foundation of the "kosh" beyond the thresholds should be considered nothing more than the formation of the Zaporozhye Sich. Of course, this did not happen immediately. Before forming a single Sich, the Cossacks resisted the enemy in separate groups tied to various "towns" or sichs. There were such small sichs in various places, including, very likely, on Khortytsia, which occupied an important position for defense at the last threshold. Velsky not only reports the existence of a Cossack "kosh" beyond the rapids, but also indicates the place where it was located. To the south of the island of Khortytsia, he says, is another island, "called Tomakovka, on which there is a small island of the same name."-

10 The inventory of the Cherkassy castle from 1552, in addition to the "caregivers" located at the thresholds, also names" caregivers " beyond the thresholds - at Tomakovka, Bazavluk, Argachik and even Tavani. Cossacks " ustavichne (constantly) there they live on meat, on fish, on honey from apiaries, sapets (fisheries) and feed themselves honey there, as if at home." AYUZR. Ch. II. T. I. Kiev, 1861, doc. 15, page 103.

11 " And when they go out to take care of them, the headman takes an eighth part of their spoils: fish, tallow, meat, skins, and everything else." Same place, doc. N 14, p. 83, etc.

12 "Kronika Marcina Biclskiego". Vol. III. Sanok. 1856, str. 1358. Some authors translate the expression "na korzeniu "with the words"in kuren".

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Rum is most often inhabited by low-level Cossacks and serves them, in fact, as the strongest fortress on the Dnieper " 13 . Tomakovka Island (near the town of Marganets, Dnipropetrovsk region), later called Butsky, or Gorodishche, was located slightly below Khortytsia and dominated the surrounding area. Tomakovka was a beautiful natural fortification. Tomakovka Island can be considered the place where the Zaporozhye Sich was founded as an organization of the Cossacks who lived beyond the rapids.

With the formation of the Zaporozhye Sich, the Ukrainian people gained a powerful support in the struggle against serfdom, national oppression, and the invasions of the Turks and Tatars. It aroused his protest against various forms of oppression. With the formation of the Zaporozhye Sich, Karl Marx wrote, "the spirit of the Cossacks spread throughout Ukraine." 14 The formation of the Zaporozhye Sich was a terrible warning for the feudal lords of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1533, Cherkassy starosta Ye. Dashkevich presented to the Petrkov Sejm a project for the construction of fortresses on the Dnieper Islands. If, on the one hand, these fortresses were supposed to serve as outposts in the fight against Turkish-Tatar invasions, on the other hand, their garrisons were supposed to oppose the Cossacks, as well as ensure the pan - colonization of the areas near the Dnieper rapids. However, the Grand ducal treasury did not have the funds to build such fortresses. Therefore, the struggle for possession of the borderlands was waged by magnates. The princes of Yazlovetsky, Bischnevetsky, Proisky and many others with their detachments undertook expeditions deep into the steppe territories. Often such detachments reached Ochakov itself. The magnates ' offensive on Zaporizhia was further intensified in the 40-50s of the XVI century. In 1541, the Kaniv and Cherkassk starosts were transferred to the son of M. A. Vishnevetsky Ivan, and after Ivan's death-to his eldest son Dmitry.

Political activity of Prince Dm. Vishnevetsky and the circumstances under which he died, received considerable resonance in the historical literature. Prominent representatives of bourgeois historiography, such as N. I. Kostomarov and many others, considered the Dm to be the most important factor in the history of the Soviet Union. Vishnevetsky was the founder of the Zaporozhye Sich. At the same time, more and more often the version that Dm. Vishnevetsky and the hero of the famous Ukrainian People's Duma, Cossack Vayda, are one and the same person. M. S. Hrushevsky, in an article specifically dedicated to Dm. Vishnevetsky, wrote: "The Ukrainian magnate, prince, heir to the Old Russian traditions of the princely druzhin order, becomes the spiritual father of the new Plebeian Ukrainian Republic (Sich. - V. G.)". M. S. Hrushevsky declared Dm. Vishnevetsky is an implacable enemy of " the ruling and the haves... who... he built a new Ukraine without a clap and without a pan " 15 .

Who was Dm really? Vishnevetsky? The answer to this question is given by his biography. Less than two years after Vishnevetsky received the Cherkasy and Kaniv starosts, he left Lithuania in the summer of 1553 and went to Turkey, to Sultan Suleiman II. What was Vishnevetsky's goal when he went to Istanbul, and what were the results of his trip? From sources it is only known that Vishnevetsky was in Turkey for about six months, where, as he himself said,the Sultan favorably received him and gave him generously. This gives rise to the following assumption: Vishnevetsky, well aware of the threat that the Sultan and the Crimean Khan saw in the Zaporozhye Cossacks, could offer them himself as a person who is able to curb the Cossacks, put an end to their campaigns on the Turkish and Crimean possessions. This assumption is confirmed by a letter from Sigismund II Augustus dated May 2, 1557, sent to the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray. The king wrote that Vishnevetsky "will be more shilen by your people and will not allow the Cossacks of Skoda chiniti to be the ulus and shepherd of the Caesar of his Grace the Turkish, having known the caress and salary (from him)" 16 . Having returned to Lithuania in 1554, Vishnevetsky again became the Cherkasy and Kaniv prefects.

Two years later, in March 1556, on the territory of the Cherkassk starostvo, a new monastery was established.

13 "Kronika Marcina Bielskiego". T. Ill, str. 1359.

14 K. Marx. Stenka Razin. Molodaya Gvardiya, 1926, No. 1, p. 107.

15 M. Grushevsky. Байда-Вишневецький в поезі;ї; и і;сторі;ї;. "Записки" украі;нського наукового товариства в Киэви Киї;в. 1909, стор. 139.

16 " The Embassy Book. Metrica of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania", vol. I. M. 1843, doc. 88, p. 139.

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a Russian military detachment under the command of deacon Rzhevsky, who was supposed to conduct a deep reconnaissance in the area of Tatar nomads. Vishnevetsky added to Rzhevsky a detachment of his service workers under the command of ataman Mlinsky (he is Lei Mina). Rzhevsky and Vishnevetsky's men not only advanced into the depths of the Tatar nomads, but also reached Ochakov and took it by storm. After that, Rzhevsky returned to the borders of the Russian state, and Vishnevetsky's service books-to Cherkasy. What should explain this seemingly very inconsistent approach to Crimea (a vassal of Turkey)? Vishnevetsky's step? The fact is that Vishnevetsky, wanting to settle on the Zaporozhye lands, hoped for the help of the Crimea and its powerful suzerain. But there was no such help. Therefore, he began to consider himself free from obligations towards the Tatars and their patrons, the Turks. By his service to Rzhevsky, he placed himself in the position of an ally of the Russian state.

In the summer of 1556, Vishnevetsky and a detachment of service workers went beyond the rapids and built a castle on Malaya Khortytsia. In September of the same year, he informed the Russian government that the fortress on Khortytsia had been built, and at the same time asked Ivan IV to "grant him, order him to serve". In response to this, the boyar children O. Shchepotev and P. Rtishchev were immediately sent from Moscow to Khortytsia "with a dangerous (secret. - V. G.) letter and a small salary." At the same time, Vishnevetsky informed Sigismund II Augustus that the tsar intended to build castles both near the Crimean possessions and on the Dnieper, at the mouth of the Pela River, in order to push him, Vishnevetsky. He asked the Grand Duke of Lithuania to send him service books and cannons, and also to allow him to come to the capital. Sigismund II Augustus received with satisfaction the news of the appearance of a fortress on Khortytsia, which was to play a role in the fight against the Tatars. But its main purpose was to fight the Zaporozhye Sich. This last point was emphasized by the king in his correspondence with the Crimean khan (1557). Vishnevetsky's task, the king wrote, is to "punish the Cossacks (pacify them-V. G.), but not allow shkoditi" 17 . While approving the construction of the Khortytsia Castle, Sigismund II Augustus did not allow Vishnevetsky to come to the capital and did not send him any guns or men.

Then Vishnevetsky decided to act at his own risk. On October 1, 1556, his servants (whether Vishnevetsky personally participated in this campaign is unknown) suddenly attacked Islam-Kermen (in the lower reaches of the Dnieper), broke into the fortress, captured several cannons and took them to Khortytsia. The attack on Islam-Kermen provoked a strong reaction in Crimea. With the onset of spring in 1557. Devlet Giray with a huge army approached Khortytsia. However, all efforts to take the castle were in vain. The Khan was forced to lift the siege and return to the Crimea. But soon Vishnevetsky's situation changed dramatically for the worse. When the Khan and his army reappeared at Khortytsia at the end of the summer, Vishnevetsky went to Cherkassy. The Tatars completely destroyed the Khortytsky castle. From Cherkasy, Vishnevetsky sent a letter to Ivan the Terrible. He asked to be allowed to come to Moscow. Permission was granted, and in the autumn of the same 1557 Vishnevetsky was already in the Russian state. Ivan IV collected Vishnevetsky "with his great salary": Mr. Belev gave him a lot of villages near Moscow, 10 thousand rubles (about 500 thousand rubles in gold at the exchange rate of 1913) "for arrival", not to mention an expensive dress. During his stay in the Russian state, Dm. Vishnevetsky made a number of campaigns against the Turks and Tatars 18 . These campaigns threatened to complicate Russo-Turkish relations and lead to a Turkish war against Russia. Meanwhile, as early as January 1558, the war between Russia and Livonia, which was in a military alliance with Lithuania, began. In Lithuania, preparations were underway for an offensive against the Russian state. In this situation, Vishnevetsky decided to return to Lithuania. On September 5, 1561, Sigismund II Augustus issued a letter of protection authorizing Dm. Vishnevetsky to return to Cherkasy. In this letter, it was reported that Vishnevetsky was returning from the Russian state, "having found out the truth", that is, having collected secret documents there.

17 Ibid., p. 40.

18 Ch. Leracrcie r-Quelquejay Un condottiere lithuanien du XVIe siecle. "Cahiers du monde Russe et Sovietique". Vol. X. 2e cahier. P. 1969. This interesting article is based on documents recently extracted by the author from the state archives of Turkey.

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information 19 . At this time, the eyes of Lithuanian and Polish nobles were turned to Moldavia, where the dynastic struggle was going on. One of the contenders for the Moldavian throne, Heraclides, turned to the magnate Laski for help, and the latter, in turn, entered into an agreement with Dm. Vishnevetsky. Having recruited troops, Laekiy and Vishnevetsky came to Moldavia. Soon, however, Vishnevetsky, seduced by Heraclides ' opponent Timsha (Timsha promised to put him on the throne himself), left Heraclides and fell into a trap. His squad was destroyed by Timsha, and he was captured and sent to Istanbul for execution. In the autumn of 1563, the Sultan ordered Vishnevetsky to be put to a painful execution. This is the political face of Dm. Vishnevetsky, who can not be recognized as the founder of the Sich and the leader of the Zaporozhye Cossacks 20 .

4. The social system of the Sich

In the sixteenth century, the Ukrainian Cossacks, which had emerged in Podolia, Kiev, Cherkassy, and the Left Bank, failed to create a state-type political organization. Such an organization arose only beyond the Dnieper rapids with the appearance of the Zaporozhye Sich 21 . At the same time, the Zaporozhye Sich was fundamentally different from the feudal-serf states. Among the social institutions that formed the basis of the Sich, there was neither feudal land ownership, nor serfdom, nor class division. True, trends towards the establishment of feudal orders also appeared in Zaporozhye. But this happened only later, in the eighteenth century, when the Sich lost its independence and was strongly influenced by the feudal-serf relations that prevailed in Russia at that time. In social relations in Zaporozhye, feudal coercion was replaced by the principle of hiring. Exploitation, of course, remained. Zaporozhye Sich has never been a society of socially and economically equal people, much less a military monastic order with collective ownership of all the main types of property, as many noble and bourgeois historians have claimed. The social structure of Zaporozhye society was quite complex, especially towards the end of the Sich's existence. The dominant stratum in Zaporozhye was the rich Cossacks - "owners of boats" (according to the testimony of the Austrian Ambassador, E. A. Kolesnikov). Lyasot), fishing, rich pastoralists, merchants, and later, with the development of agriculture and other economic sectors, owners of large " winter houses "(farms), watermills, chumatsky wagons.

The rich Cossacks were opposed by the seroma, or Golota, the poor, deprived of all property and shelter. Seroma earned her living by working for the rich or serving in the Sich garrison. Between these two polar opposite class groups-the rich and the seroma-there was a layer of small proprietors, which was especially differentiated in the last period, in the New Sich (1734 - 1775). From among the rich Cossacks, the ruling elite - the foreman-stood out. In her hands were the administration, the court, the army, and finances. She also represented the Zaporozhye Sich in foreign relations. Zaporozhye Sich was characterized by a pronounced democracy: all the elders were elective, and in elections, in general, all the Cossacks could take part in the activities of the military council. The interests of different social groups of the Cossacks usually collided at councils, which gave such meetings a stormy character. Noting the democratic features of the Zaporozhye Cossacks 'political organization, Karl Marx called the Sich a" Cossack republic. " 22
Having emerged in the midst of a fierce struggle with Lithuanian, Polish, and Ukrainian feudal lords, as well as with Tatars and Turks, the Zaporozhye Sich long defended its independence and sovereignty. The Lithuanian and Polish Governments, and later

19 AYUZR. Vol. II. SPB. 1865, dokl. 142, pp. 155-156.

20 Interesting in this respect is the conclusion reached by Sh. Lemercier - Kielkierz. "It seems," he writes, " that... There were no or very few Zaporozhye Cossacks in Vnshnevetsky's army" (Ch. Lemercie Quelquejay. Op. cit, p. 279).

21. This question, applied mainly to the Russian Cossack regions, is covered in the article by I. G. Rozner "Anti-feudal state formations in Russia and Ukraine in the XVI-XVIII centuries". "Voprosy istorii", 1970, N 8.

22 "Archive of Marx and Engels", Vol. VIII, p. 154.

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the government of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, unable to destroy the Sich, defiantly refused to legally recognize it. Nevertheless, in difficult circumstances, they not only entered into official relations with the Sich, but also turned to it for help. The Sich also sought help from European governments. So, in 1594, the Austrian ambassador Erich Lyasota arrived in the Sich. The Austrian Emperor Rudolf I sought to conclude a military alliance with the Sich against Turkey. There are numerous visits to the Sich by representatives of the Russian government, which considered the Sich (mainly before 1654) as an independent party. Diplomatic ties with the Sich were maintained by the Crimean, Turkish and other governments.

Continuous wars with the Tatars and Turks, as well as the Polish government's desire to isolate Zaporozhye from the central regions of Ukraine, prevented the popular colonization of these rich places. Zaporozhye in the XVI-XVII centuries. it remained a sparsely populated region. There usually lived only a few thousand, sometimes several tens of thousands of Cossacks. Their main economic occupation was fishing and cattle breeding. However, neither the small population of the territory nor the relatively undeveloped economic base prevented the Zaporozhye Sich from becoming a state-type political organization. This was due to a number of reasons, first of all, the need for the rich Cossacks to suppress the class protest of the Seroma, in general, the labor Cossacks, and the need to fight the growing serfdom and national oppression in the Ukraine, as well as the Tatar-Turkish aggression. The peculiarity of this "Cossack republic" was that it did not develop all the institutions typical of the states of that time. In the Zaporozhye Sich, for example, there was no written law.

The growing struggle of the popular masses of Ukraine and the strengthening of the magnates after the Union of Lublin in 1569 (the act of merging the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland into one state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) prompted the royal power to look for a new support. It was decided to create an army in Eastern Ukraine, but one that the treasury would not spend money on maintaining. With his help, the king hoped to solve several tasks at once: to suppress popular movements, including the actions of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, to restrain the willfulness of magnates and to protect the borders of the state from the southeast. In 1572, Sigismund II Augustus ordered the formation of a Cossack detachment of 300 people. These Cossacks were entered in a special register (list). They recruited mainly well-to-do peasants of royal estates and small Ukrainian gentry into the register. Registered Cossacks were released from serving their duties, received the right to land ownership and the so-called "award", that is, the right to have their own court and be governed by their own foreman. For these benefits, they had to serve at their own expense. As a reward, the government sometimes sent them small sums of money and cloth. In 1578, under King Stefan Batory, the register was increased to 500 people.

After the organization of the registered army, the government began to recognize as a Cossack only those who were entered in the register. For all the others, the authorities did not recognize not only the Cossack rights, but also the very name "Cossack". Registry officers were required to serve in the Southern Dnieper region, mainly beyond the rapids. Then, on the border, they were obliged to put up a pledge (garrison). The registered army became known in official acts as the "Zaporozhye Army". The Polish government, by naming the Registriers in this way, wanted to emphasize that it did not recognize any other Cossacks, primarily those belonging to the Zaporozhye Sich. Thus, since that time there were two troops, each of which was called "Zaporozhye". Contemporaries, in order to avoid confusion, began to refer to the free Cossacks beyond the thresholds as the "Zaporozhye grassroots Army". Although registered Cossacks were considered a class group, for which the law assigned certain rights and advantages, in reality this was not always the case. The Starostin administration and the local gentry did not recognize their Cossack rights, forced them to serve various duties, pay all sorts of fees, took away their property, subjected them to the same harassment and humiliation as their subjects. The rights of the Cossack elders were often violated, which the elders and nobles ignored in every possible way, and their economic interests were infringed: they were restricted in the right to trade, to keep crafts, inns. As for the government, it has always adhered to one policy: when will the government appear?-

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When there was a need for an army, it called on peasants to join the register, and when such a need disappeared, it excluded new Cossacks from the lists.

All attempts by the Polish government to use the registered Cossacks against their own people were unsuccessful. "To fight as a Cossack (against the Ukrainian people - V. G.) is like plowing a wolf," said contemporaries. During the peasant uprisings of the end of the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, the peasants were always supported not only by the Cossacks, but also by the main mass of the register. For their part, speaking out against the oppressors, the peasants demanded that they recognize the rights of registered Cossacks. The registered Cossacks themselves also fought for the expansion of the register. Already at the beginning of the 17th century, several thousand Cossacks were actually registered in the register. Attempts by the Polish government to turn the register into a tool for fighting the Zaporozhian Sich were also unsuccessful. Registered Cossacks who served their border service beyond the rapids (often at the last of them, on the island of Khortytsia), were in constant communication with the Cossacks, and undertook joint campaigns against the Tatars and Turks.

5. Military life of the Cossacks

Everything in Zaporozhye, especially in the early period of the Sich, served defense purposes. To begin with, the Sich itself was primarily a fortress. The central fortifications of the Sich, which originally appeared on Tomakovka Island, were then repeatedly moved. The Old Sich and the New Sich existed for the longest time. The Old Sich, destroyed in 1709, was located on the island of Bazavluke, located in the place where (before the construction of the Kakhovskaya dam) three of its tributaries - Chertomlyk, Podpolnaya and Skarbnaya-flowed into the Dnieper, near the modern village of Kapulovka, Dnipropetrovsk region. Basavduk resembled a right triangle, the sides of which were about two kilometers long.

Sich fortifications consisted of an earthen rampart with a wooden front garden at the top. In winter, to turn the island into an impregnable one, ice holes were made on the river. When they were covered with a thin layer of ice, they were covered with snow. The enemy, who tried to approach the island on the ice, was waiting here for inevitable death. The rampart and palisade with towers were, in fact, a fortress. From its loopholes the muzzles of cannons glared menacingly. Novaya Sich, which was located on the Underground River, three kilometers from the Old Sich, and differed from it in that it did not stand on an island, but had a bell tower above the entrance. In the middle of the fortress stretched the square where the military council gathered. Around the square were located military institutions-chancelleries, pushkarnya (also known as the prison), houses of foremen, blacksmiths and other workshops, cellars, warehouses, stables. On the square there were kettledrums (a kind of tambourine) and a pole at which criminals were punished. Finally, on the edges of the square, in a circle, there were low oblong buildings made of mud-coated wattles and covered with reeds - kureni (later kureni were built of logs). The Cossacks who made up the Sich garrison, and sometimes the fugitives who had just arrived in the Sich, lived in Kureny.

The approaches to the Sich were guarded by watchtowers extended far into the steppe. The Cossack, standing on the tower, was peering intently into the distance before him. When he saw an enemy, he would light a pile of dry grass or brushwood, jump on a saddled horse standing below, and rush to the nearest similar observation post. Such posts in the XVIII century were called beketov (pickets). The flames and the towering column of smoke were heralds of approaching danger. This sign was passed from tower to tower, and soon the entire population learned about the appearance of the enemy. To the south-west of Bazavluk, the Dnieper riverbed expanded sharply (up to 7 km). At this point, the Dnieper was dotted with many large and small islands, swampy, covered with dense thickets of reeds. The numerous winding passages between them were a veritable maze, dangerous for any enemy. Cannons hidden in the reeds were waiting for the enemy. Cossack patrols were also scurrying around on boats. This whole archipelago, together with the fortifications built on the islands, was called "Military Skarbnitsa". A military flotilla was stationed in Skarbnitz. Here, according to legend, the Cossacks hid the military treasury (belongings) and other valuables. Access to skarbnitsa was closed to outsiders. Boplan wrote: "They say that in the Military skarbnica hidden by the Cossacks in the canals a lot of guns, and none of the Poles

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they do not know this place, because they never come here, and the Cossacks, in turn, keep it a secret that only a few of them know." Many enemy ships found their graves in Military Skarbnica. There, according to Boplan, " many Turkish galleys were lost, which... lost among the islands, they could not find their way, while the Cossacks in their boats fired reeds at them with impunity. Since that time, galleys do not enter the Dnieper beyond 4-5 miles from the mouth. " 23
The Zaporozhye grassroots army was divided into kureni, the number of which increased as the Cossacks themselves grew. During the New Sich period, there were thirty-eight of them. The names of the kuren villages suggest that in the early days of the settlement of this area, each kuren united people from the same area. This is quite natural. A fugitive who found himself in a new environment, looked for fellow countrymen and joined them. As a result, such names of kurens as Kanevsky, Korsun, Umansky, Pereyaslavsky, Poltava, Baturinsky, Dinskoy (Donskoy) and others appeared. Kuren was primarily a military administrative unit. Each Cossack could be assigned to the kuren to which he wished, regardless of the place of residence. All the duties associated with serving military service, the Cossack performed from his kuren. The Kurennoy ataman appointed the Cossack to the "queue", determined his place and type of service both in peacetime and in wartime. Kuren enjoyed a well-known self-government: the Cossacks elected a kuren ataman. He combined in his person the power of a military commander, a judge, an administrator of property and a custodian of the treasury. Local self-government: the Cossacks elected the kurenny ataman. He combined in his person buildings for rent for shops and workshops, from the royal salary, grain and money, which began to be issued to the army after the reunification of Ukraine with Russia, from the spoils of war (it played a certain role only in the early period of the Sich's existence).

The Cossacks lived in sich kurens, which were low and dark oblong buildings, a kind of barracks. No less squalid was their internal environment. In the middle was a long unpainted table with narrow benches on either side, and along the walls was a plank platform on which many people slept in groups. According to S. Myshetsky, the usual food in kuren was salamata. It was cooked " from rye flour with water thickly... on kvass or fish soup." If the Cossacks wanted to improve their table, they had to buy meat or fish at the market in a fold. "Ordinary baked bread," Myshetsky added, "is never found in kuren houses." 24 Depicting the everyday life of the kuren Cossacks, the contemporaries of the New Sich paid attention to such a detail: in each kuren there was a friendly pipe. It was a large vessel, decorated with plaques, with a series of holes. Anyone who wanted to enjoy smoking tobacco would go to the pipe and insert a long stem into the hole.

Some Cossacks served in the Sich itself, others guarded the borders of "Liberties", others served in the military flotilla, etc.A Cossack had to come to the service with his own weapons, equipment, clothing and food supply (at least for the first time). All this required certain expenses, which were only possible for the Cossacks who had their own farm. The Cossack infantry was unable to serve at its own expense. But the rich Cossacks also tried to avoid service in every possible way. Thus arose a phenomenon very characteristic of the later period of the Sich's history: wealthy Cossacks sent mercenaries to serve in their place. The owner had to supply such a hired Cossack with everything necessary, as well as pay him in money. Although the rich, like everyone else, were also interested in protecting Zaporozhye, self-interest, however, prevailed: they tried to minimize the cost of paying and maintaining mercenaries, sent the Cossack to serve on unsuitable horses, with poor weapons, in dilapidated clothes.

The weapons of the Zaporozhye Cossacks were extremely diverse. Until about the middle of the XVII century, onions were still used, but already from the XVI century. it is being replaced by samopal, which has been improving all the time. The Cossacks were excellent marksmen. Contemporaries testified that "they shoot without a miss." Each Cossack had a spear as a cold weapon, and the horseman, in addition, had a sub-

23 "Memoirs related to the history of Southern Russia". Issue II, pp. 318-319.

24 P. Myshetsky. History of the Cossacks of Zaporozhye, Moscow, 1847, p. 15 sl.

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la. It was tied to the waist with two narrow belts. Battle knives, daggers, and kelepas (a kind of warhammer) were also common. Spears were used when crossing swampy places. In these cases, they were formed in the form of a grid, on which they made a flooring from a wide variety of objects that were at hand. Battle armor in the form of a helmet and shell, common in the XVI-XVII centuries in European armies, was rarely used by the Cossacks. Gunpowder and bullets were carried in leather bags or bandoliers.

The struggle against serfdom and national oppression, difficult living conditions, and constant military danger developed certain moral and physical qualities among the Cossacks. The Cossacks were distinguished by their love of freedom, courage, fearlessness, perseverance, endurance, resourcefulness, and the ability to sacrifice themselves. Father Okolsky (first half of the 17th century), who cannot be suspected of sympathizing with the Cossacks, noted: "Although there are no princes, senators, or voivodes among the Cossacks... on the other hand, there are men who, if the laws drawn up against the Plebeians had not prevented this, would have found among them worthy to be called the equal of Cincinnatus in courage... or Themistocles." Another contemporary, Boplan, wrote: "The Cossacks are smart and shrewd, resourceful and generous, do not seek great riches, but most of all value their freedom, without which life is unthinkable for them." According to Boplan, all Cossacks are "tall, strong and healthy", "very rarely die of illness, except in extreme old age; most of them end up on the battlefield" 25 . The Cossacks easily endured hunger and thirst, heat and cold. They could stay underwater for a long time, holding a hollow reed in their mouth.

During the war, the Cossacks were often content only with breadcrumbs and salamata. Drinking alcohol on a camping trip was considered a major crime. "The Cossacks are distinguished by great sobriety during campaigns and military expeditions... - Boplan testified, - if a drunken man happens between them, the chief orders (we are talking about sea trips - V. G.) to throw him overboard " 26 . The courage of the Cossacks surprised contemporaries and aroused respect even among their enemies. The Turkish chronicler Naima (XVII century) spoke about the Cossacks in this way:"We can confidently say that there are no more courageous people on earth who would care so little about their lives and fear death so little." Persistent infantrymen, dashing horsemen, skilled gunners, fearless sailors, Zaporozhye Cossacks created an original military art. The Cossacks were distinguished by their ability to build field fortifications. Going on a hike, says a contemporary Ya. Sobieski, they took axes, shovels, ropes and so on. The usual fortifications were trenches (trenches) with high earthen ramparts. When conditions did not allow digging trenches, the Cossacks set up a camp of wagons. In this case, overturned carts, tied or chained them, turning the shafts in the direction of the enemy " like a slingshot in order to prevent... [the enemy] to the wagons themselves." During a long siege, the wagons were covered with earth. Sitting behind such a "shaft", the Cossacks fought off the attacking enemy. According to Boplan, in such a camp a hundred Cossacks could resist the onslaught of a thousand warriors .27
The Zaporozhtzi were very inventive in military affairs, they used various tricks. Having staged, for example, an escape from the camp, they waited for the enemy to rush to plunder the property they left behind, and then suddenly attacked them. Often around the camp were arranged various kinds of hiding places and "wolf pits", in the bottom of which they drove stakes with sharp ends facing up. Okolsky noted that the Polish nobles, looking around the Cossack camp in 1638 (after the conclusion of peace), could not be surprised at what "military tricks, ambushes, hiding places and traps"were invented there. Struck by the indefatigability of the Cossacks, they remarked how great is the difference between a soldier who takes up the sword from the plow and plough and one who has never been engaged in manual labor; the former are not only indefatigable in work , but become even more capable of harder work by hard work, while the latter

25 "Memoirs related to the history of Southern Russia". Vol. II, pp. 243-244, 302-303.

26 Ibid., p. 304.

27 Ibid., pp. 230, 303.

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immediately "exhausted". The rich combat experience of the Zaporozhye Cossacks served for the masses of Ukraine as a spring from which they drew high examples of military art.

6. In the struggle for freedom

By the end of the 16th century, serfdom and national-religious oppression in Ukraine had increased dramatically. The danger from the Turks and Tatars also increased. One of the most important strongholds of the Polish magnates in Eastern Ukraine was at that time the White Church. This fortress, far advanced into the steppe, was supposed to prevent the flight of discontented people to the Zaporozhye Sich and the exit of the Cossacks "to the parish" (the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). During the Christmas holidays of 1591, a small detachment of Zaporozhye and registered Cossacks unexpectedly attacked the White Church. The detachment was led by Kryshtof Kosinsky, who was elected hetman by the Cossacks. With the support of the peasants and townspeople, the Cossacks captured the fortress. Its fall stirred up the surrounding population. The peasants drove out the nobles and stewards, declared themselves free-Cossacks - and armed themselves without exception. The flames of rebellion flared rapidly. After the White Church, Trypillia fell, then Remade. In 1592, the uprising already covered a significant part of the Left Bank and Volhynia. Alarmed by the events in Ukraine, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began to frantically gather forces to defeat the rebels. They were opposed by the Kiev voivode Prince V. K. Ostrozhsky.

At the beginning of 1593, a large cavalry of the gentry, supported by hired infantry, moved to the Cossack camp near Ostropol. It was a harsh winter. The rebels - mostly infantry-suffered from severe frosts, lack of food, and lack of weapons. It was difficult to dig trenches in the deep frozen ground. Nevertheless, the rebels showed exceptional courage and resilience. This was also shown by the bloody battle in early February 1593 near the town of Pyatka, which lasted for a whole week. Heavy losses forced Ostrogsky to enter into negotiations. The treaty concluded on February 10, 1593, obliged the registered Cossacks to remove Kosinsky from the hetmanate, maintain a permanent garrison in Zaporozhye (to fight the Cossacks and Tatars), return the weapons captured there to the fortresses, exclude from the register all those who joined the Cossacks during the uprising, and so on. it was signed by Kosinsky, on the issue of which the nobles so stubbornly insisted. This testified to their fear of the Cossacks. The rebels, for their part, agreed to the agreement because of the difficult conditions in which they found themselves. In addition, Kosinsky hoped that the cessation of hostilities would allow him to withdraw his main forces to Zaporozhye in order to prepare for a new offensive there.

Indeed, having retreated to Zaporozhye, the Cossacks began to prepare for a new campaign. Their plans were broader now. Some Polish contemporaries claimed that Kosinsky and his army asked the tsar to accept the Ukrainian lands under Russian rule, and that money and supplies were sent from Moscow to the Sich, which the Cossacks were in dire need of.

In the summer of 1593, a Cossack army led by Kosinsky set out from the Sich and soon besieged Cherkasy. The headman A. Vishnevetsky with the army and the nobles who had fled to the city were locked up in the fortress. Meanwhile, with the appearance of the Cossacks in the "volost", the uprising began to grow again. Fearing to fall into the hands of the rebels, A. Vishnevetsky entered into negotiations with them. He hoped to treacherously kill Kosinsky and thereby decapitate the uprising. And so it turned out. Kosinsky, who arrived for negotiations in Cherkasy, was treacherously killed. This weakened the rebellion, but by no means stopped it. In the autumn of the same year, a wave of insurrection swept almost the entire Dnieper region. Rebel detachments approached Kiev. The nobles in a panic began to run away from the city, "not wanting," in the ironic expression of the Kiev bishop Vereshchinsky, " to drink with the Kiev authorities the beer they had brewed." The rebels besieged Kiev. It was at this time that news of the Tatar attack on the Sich was received. The Polish government has long been inciting the Crimean Khan to march on Zaporozhye. Now, taking advantage of the departure of the Cossacks to the "volost", the Tatars rushed to

page 105
The Sich. A small Cossack garrison made a courageous resistance, but was forced to retreat. Having boarded boats at night, the Cossacks sailed up the Dnieper. The Tatars destroyed all the Sich fortifications. The news of this forced the Cossacks to lift the siege of Kiev and hurry to Zaporozhye. Soon after, the uprising was brutally suppressed. However, the peace of mind that the blood flow magnates had won, as further events proved, was deceptive.

Zaporozhye Cossacks took an active part in the popular uprisings of the XVI - XVIII centuries, directed against serfdom and national oppression. Noting the outstanding role of Zaporozhye in the centuries-old heroic struggle of the Ukrainian people for freedom, N. V. Gogol wrote: "So here it is, the Sich! This is the nest from which all those proud and strong as lions fly out! This is where Volya and the Cossacks spread to the whole of Ukraine. " 28 Indeed, it is difficult to name any significant action of the popular masses of Ukraine, the skirmisher or participant of which would not be the Cossacks.

In the spring of 1594, news of an impending Tatar attack spread across Ukraine. It was reported that a large Tatar army would soon enter Podolia, then go to Moldavia by order of the Sultan. The attack of the Tatar hordes threatened the masses with incalculable calamities. The magnate and gentry circles were also alarmed. The largest Eastern Ukrainian magnate, Prince K. V. Ostrozhsky, was also concerned. Only a large army could contain and repel the onslaught of the Tatars, and it was not possible to assemble it in a short time. During these anxious days, the courageous and resolute centurion of the Prince's household Cossacks, Severin Nalyvaiko, addressed his patron with the following proposal:"Gather as much company as possible (from Cossacks, peasants, and burghers) and go with him to the place where it will be most needed."
Ostrogsky readily agreed. The gathering of troops was more than successful. In April, Nalyvaiko notified the prince: "By the grace of the fellowship of God, there are already many people who are used to sacrificing not only their time, but also their lives."29 Nalyvaiko placed his Cossacks-there were about 2-2,5 thousand people, recruited mostly from the rural and urban poor-on the estates of the Bratslav gentry. Of course, the gentry could not like it. However, the danger from the Tatars forced her to put up with the presence of the Cossacks for the time being. At the beginning of summer, Tatar detachments appeared in Podolia, but, meeting with the Cossacks of Nalyvaiko, they hurriedly turned to Moldavia. The Cossacks pursued them and among other trophies captured about 4 thousand horses. Rumors of the defeat of the Tatar army reached Moldavia and Wallachia, where popular uprisings against Turkish rule began.

(The ending follows.)

28 N. V. Gogol. Soch. Vol. II. Moscow, 1951, p. 70.

29 "Listy St. Zolkiewskiego (1584 - 1620)". Krakow. 1868, str. 64, 65.

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