The influence of polish-lithuanian commonwealth on the krainian elite in the late XVIIth century

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The influence of polish-lithuanian commonwealth on the krainian elite in the late XVII^th century

O. Perevertanyi a 3^rdyear student, Faculty of History, Department of Ukrainian History I.I. Mechnikov Odessa National University

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the research of Ukrainian elite influenced by the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late XVIIh century. This period starts with the rule of Bohdan Khmelnytsky who created the first Ukrainian government and provided the Cossacks with an appropriate status which gradually turned them into elite. The article reveals how difficult this transition was which yielded complex internal political processes inside the country. The driving factor was the formation of Ukrainian elite under the influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After all, the very Ukrainian elite acted as a carrier of the national idea at the time when Ukrainian culture reached its peak, i.e. during Ukrainian baroque period.

Статья посвящена исследованию украинской элиты, сформировавшейся под влиянием Речи Посполитой в конце XVII-го века. Этот период начинается с правления Богдана Хмельницкого, который создал первое украинское правительство и предоставил козакам соответствующий статус, постепенно превращающий их в элиту. Статья показывает каким трудным был этот переход, который в результате привел к сложным внутренним политическим процессы. Движущим фактором стало формирование украинской элиты под влиянием Речи Посполитой. В итоге сама украинская элита выступала в качестве носителя национальной идеи в то время, когда украинская культура достигла своего пика, т.е. в период украинского барокко.

Стаття присвячена дослідженню української еліти, сформованої під впливом Річі Посполитої у кінці XVII-го століття. Цей період починається з правління Богдана Хмельницького, який створив перший український уряд та надав козакам відповідний статус, який поступово перетворював їх в еліту. Статті показує яким важким був цей перехід, який призвів до складних внутрішніх політичних процесів у країни. Рушійним фактором стало формування української еліти під впливом Річі Посполитої. Зрештою, сама українська еліта виступала в якості носія національної ідеї саме у той час, коли українська культура досягла свого пікую

Ключові слова: національна ідея, українська еліта і культура, козаками, Співдружність.

ukrainian government cossack elite

The present political situation in Ukraine shows us that patriotic education of the youth is a very important aspect in preserving state sovereignty and collegiality. Therefore, this requires deep and meaningful knowledge of our country's history. The existing conditions of civil society's formation in Ukraine make the research of its political culture somehow problematic. But the research of social development processes is impossible without analyzing similar phenomena in historical perspective. Thus, rises the question concerning the Cossack Hetmanate's political culture of the late XVII century, as it was this period to show especially vividly the exact formation of the Ukrainian government of Cossack Hetmanate and its transformation into a new stratum of the society, Ukrainian elite, which is ready to take responsibility for state building processes in the country.

This problem is quite important in the present geopolitical space as thorough investigation of ancestral generations' experience allows avoiding global state problems which appear in the new wording. The purpose of this work is the research of the Influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth onto the Ukrainian Elite's formation in the late XVII^th century, namely its traditions and culture regarding the state affairs of the government and its members.

Research tasks are as following: 1) to inspect the influence of Zboriv Treaty (1649) between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Zaporozhian Army led by hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky onto the legalization of Ukrainian Cossacks self-government within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; 2) to single out similar state structures of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Hetmanate; 3) to concern Ukrainian elite's formation and its consciousness of self-esteem within the society under the influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on Hetmanate territory in the late XVII^th century.

In 1648, the Ukrainian War of Liberation against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth broke out. Zboriv Treaty of 1649 summed up its first phase and legalized Cossacks' self-government within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth territory. This embodied Cossack state formation called Zaporozhian Army, or Cossack Hetmanate. The state had its own land, newly formed Cossack government headed by the hetman which was executive branch, General Military Council - legislative branch, General Court - judiciary one, and army. The state included three former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth provinces of Chernihiv, Bratslav and Kyiv: “As the grand duke his majesty Vyshnevetsky despite his royal majesty such a grand force of Cossacks bred that even we ourselves cannot give it a count, starting with Dnister, Berlyntsi, Bar to the Old Kostyantyniv, to the Sluch and beyond the Sluch, that flows into the Prypyat', to the Dnipro, from Lyubech to Starodub afar to the Moscovian border with Trubetsky; we'll make the census ourselves to appoint to his royal majesty service only the dignified and able fine young men. And in these towns of our Army, no baner, either foreign or Polish, should have any rights or dare to take any duties”. The first hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky insisted that Polish szlachta (officials) leave the land of Zaporozhian Army. It is absolutely a legible fact of hetman power, as hetman being state's sovereignty and integrity guarantee aspires the territory to be solely Ukrainian, where Cossack customary law is in power.

All the government offices in Hetmanate were occupied exclusively by orthodox szhlachta (Greek rite), it was a necessary requirement for any self-governing person pretending to occupy a rank: “Any provincial, municipal or civic rank in every province and every royal secular or spiritual settlements, beginning with Kyiv to Bila Tserkva, to the Tatar boundary in Zadniprovya and to Chernihiv province, should give his royal majesty's people Greek rite, not Roman ...” This was conditioned by the fact that BohdanKhmelnytsky built the state on the Orthodox basis, and only an Orthodox should have been in power in government structures.

During this historical process complicated for Ukrainian lands, the government gradually becomes the defender of the law and transforms into a new stratum, Ukrainian elite. After Zboriv Treaty of 1649, Hadiach Treaty of 1658 became the next step of transforming the Cossacks' officials into the true elite. It enhanced hetman's power against the background of the Polish royal power even more. According to Hadiach Treaty, the legislative power in the new state (later to be called the Great Duchy of Rus) belonged to the deputies from every land of the Duchy - to the tribunal with Ukrainian records management; finances including coinage should also be self-governed. The army should 30 thousand of Cossacks and 10 thousand of mercenaries. The hetman should provide the King of Poland with a roster of 100 Cossacks from each regiment for ennoblement (becoming szlachta). Ennoblement itself became a key point of the Treaty, as the King had such a rule before singlehandedly, but hetman widens his rights after signing the Treaty: “.especially useful for attracting to his royal majesty's service, those whom hetman of the Rus Army would promote as deserving would be with no difficulties ennobled including all szlachta rights, yet deciding in such a way that there would be a hundred ennobled men of each regiment.” [2: 33-46].

The longing of the Ukrainian elite to maximal political subjectivity embodied into the striving for sovereignty. The components of it were hetman's embranchment as ultimate power within the Hetmanate, spreading of his power onto every social subject with no exclusion; usage of solely own rules of law with independent judiciary system; admission of the foreign policy duties in the mutual military and political activity alone; law enforcement within own society concerning its members solely with the help of own public administration forces; collegiality. The Cossack Hetmanate was very similar to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the point of view of polity. Such a process was quite logical as the whole state structure developed under under the auspices of the Commonwealth. Thus, there were some state institutions straightly borrowed from the Commonwealth and transformed into own original Cossack structures.

The hetman institution in Cossack Ukraine in the late XVII^th century was concerned in the way that it centered the power in its own hands as a guarantee of social and political stability. The legitimacy of hetman power was founded on such rational reasons as solving the urgent problems and issues within the country and taking certain decisions. Such decisions were the universals issued by hetmans, and universal publications directed to the people on solving certain problems. The hetman institution itself spread onto the foreign policy too, thus to be concerned as a component of Ukrainian territorial safety. According to this fact, the government and the hetman were seen as guarantees of Zaporozhian Army's state integrity [8: 49-58]. Hetman Petro Doroshenko also emphasized the meaning of hetman and government integrity: “Without a head, all is destined to go into pieces” [3].

The legitimacy of hetman election brings us to the thought that this rank is absolutely similar to the king's rank in Poland, as the representatives were elected only from certain stratum and of certain status. But of course the similarity cannot be absolute, as the meaning of the rank was formed according to the national culture and religion of the corresponding territory. The army institution existed both in Hetmanate and in the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the Hetmanate the main part of the army consisted of common Cossacks, and Bunchukovy comrades had special status. Bunchukovyi comrade was the highest rank of the Great military camaraderie of the Hetmanate in XVII^th - XVin^th centuries. The honorable dignity of the Bunchukovy comrades appeared during the rule of hetman Ivan Samoylovych (1672-1687) who wanted to create a peculiar knight stratum out of the members of Cossacks' nobility. Hetman chose the warriors to this regiment from the most recognized Cossack families. The privileges of the Bunchukovy comrade as a person to obtain “special hetman's protection” consisted in being liberated from the local court and being judged in the General court. The Cossack Council and the Polish Sejm in Warsaw are also the state institutions to have certain similarity in structure. The Cossack Council is a general military Cossack council, the superior authority of Cossack self-government. Here the most important issues were solved: those concerning war and peace, and the election of a new hetman [9: 420]. It is clear now that the Cossack Council had legislative power and was tightly connected with the hetman election.

The Polish Sejm is a central public and estate's institution which consisted of the representatives of the same szlachta rank. The Polish Sejm, in its turn, represents the legislative branch of power to influence the electivity of the Polish King. As we can see, the hetman of Cossack Ukraine started to take some functions of the Polish king, which, therefore, caused the government similarity. Thus, it becomes obvious that within the late XVII^th century general historical process, the integrity of the Hetmanate and the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth was caused by the fact that almost the whole state organization of Cossack Ukraine was borrowed, though, in its turn, moved and transformed into a distinctive state structure. The new stratum in the Hetmanate, Ukrainian elite, starts to acknowledge its meaningfulness in the historical process and state structure formation. The views of the nobility were formed under the influence of the general European ideas about the division of the society into strata. It was caused by the Orthodox szlachta's penetration into Cossack nobility, natural historical social labor division between different strata of the society, and Christian ideas about heavenly hierarchy [7: 33].

As a result of these factors' influence, came up the formation of the views onto the division of the society into “inferior and superior” or “elder and younger camaraderie”. Such a division was quickly entrenched by the psychosocial mechanisms of the nobility getting used to their leading role. Singling out the causes of social and political stability by the nobility was an illustrative example of such addiction: preserving distinct social division, non-admission of the excessive growth of the Cossack stratum, and providing exclusive own right of ruling the society [7:14]. The nobility didn't concern their leading role and place in the political management solely pragmatically, though willing, of course, to make use of all social and economical privileges provided by power. The representatives of the elite concerned their existence as the pledge of existence of the society and state themselves. Such a self-perception connected with a need of nobility performing general social functions formed a demand of subordination of personal interest to social good inside their political and cultural complex. This was the criterion by which the activity of any nobility's representative was judged. As a consequence, appeared such self-consciousness as “national politics” which had the duties of defending such general social foundations as territorial integrity and constitutional order [8: 49-58].

As the nobility being political elite had to take care of social interest, the realization of which became possible only provided by mobilization of every stratum of the society; their guides had to care about the coordination of every stratum and status interest. As a consequence, the ideal of social cohabitation was included to the nobility's orientation, according to which every stratum had to be provided with the necessary conditions for performing its social functions. This led to the formation of social responsibility for the inferior strata members inside the noble society. This feeling found its incarnation in two aspects: responsibility for accepted political resolutions and responsibility for preserving the unity within the environment of the leading stratum itself. Such a perception caused the orientation onto the consolidation. It was concerned as a guarantee for overcoming all the difficulties and destructive factors, and, from the other point of view, a guarantee for realization all the desired intentions, solving the most difficult social and political tasks. The consolidation is connected with ethnical unity empowering each other reciprocally.

Thus, we can see that the Cossack nobility's realization as a new state of Ukrainian elite made them to take care of the Hetmanate people, of their safety and confidence in the future; all these factors were undeniably connected with the political influence of Western European countries, especially with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Therefore, the influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth onto Ukrainian elite in the late XVII^th century is obvious, as it is traced even in the similarity of the state institutions: hetman - the king of Poland, Cossack Council - Polish Sejm, and the concerning of hetman as the guarantee of sovereignty and integrity of the Hetmanate.

And the main thing is the Cossacks' nobility self-conscience as Ukraine's defender against the external enemies, the organization to enforce the law and to take responsibility for the accepted political resolution and the preserving the integrity of the leading stratum of Cossack state.

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