Bohdan Khmelnytsky
Zynoviy Bohdan Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky of the Abdank coat of arms was a Ruthenian nobleman and military commander of Zaporozhian Cossacks as Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host, which was then under the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He led the Cossacks to victory in a successful uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates that resulted in the creation of an independent Cossack state in Ukraine.
In 1648–1649, the Cossacks under Khmelnytskyi's leadership massacred tens of thousands of Poles and Jews, with more handed over as yasir to his Crimean Tatar allies, one of the most traumatic events in Polish and Jewish history. Under his rule of the newly-established Cossack state, the massacres continued until at least 1652 and possibly led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, with the goal of eradicating non-Orthodox Ruthenian populations. In 1654, Khmelnytsky concluded the Treaty of Pereiaslav with the Russian Tsar and allied the Cossack Hetmanate with Tsardom of Russia, thus placing Ukraine under Russian protection.
Khmelnytsky's uprising permanently changed the balance of powers in Europe and would play a significant role in the development of Ukrainian nationalism. In the Western Europe, Khmelnytsky was compared to his rebel contemporary, Oliver Cromwell. Among Ukrainians, Khmelnytsky has been lauded as a folk hero and defender of the Orthodox faith, as well as a fighter for Ukrainian independence and founder of the first Ukrainian state; Russian imperial and Soviet propaganda meanwhile promoted him as a "unifier" of Ukraine with Russia. However, even among his compatriots Khmelnytskyi's image remained controversial due to his questionable alliances and harsh policies, which caused the death and enslavement of numerous people.
Early life
Although there is no definite proof of the date of Khmelnytsky's birth, Ukrainian-born historian Mykhailo Maksymovych suggests that it is likely 27 December 1595 Julian. As was the custom in the Orthodox Church, he was baptized with one of his middle names, Theodore, translated into Ukrainian as Bohdan. A biography of Khmelnytsky by Smoliy and Stepankov, however, suggests that it is more likely he was born on 9 November and was baptized on 11 November. In the work of Paul of Aleppo, "the Travels of Macarius: Patriarch of Antioch", Khmelnytsky is called as the Khatman Zenobius Akhmil.Khmelnytsky was probably born in the village of Subotiv, near Chyhyryn in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland at the estate of his father Mykhailo Khmelnytsky. He was born into Ukrainian lesser nobility. His father was a courtier of Great Crown Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, but later joined the court of his son-in-law Jan Daniłowicz, who in 1597 became starosta of Korsuń and Chyhyryn and appointed Mykhailo as his deputy in Chyhyryn. For his service, he was granted a strip of land near the town, where Mykhailo set up a khutor Subotiv.
According to the 18th century History of Ruthenians, Khmelnytsky's mother was a daughter of Cossack Hetman Bohdan Różyński from a princely Ruthenian-Lithuanian family.
There has been controversy as to whether Bohdan and his father belonged to the Szlachta. Some sources state that in 1590, his father, Mykhailo, was appointed as a sotnyk for the Korsun-Chyhyryn starosta Jan Daniłowicz, who continued to colonize the new Ukrainian lands near the Dnieper river.
Registered Cossack
Upon completion of his studies in 1617, Khmelnytsky entered into service with the Cossacks. As early as 1619, he was sent together with his father to Moldavia, when the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth entered into war against the Ottoman Empire. During the battle of Cecora on 17 September 1620, his father was killed, and young Khmelnytsky, among many others including future hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski, was captured by the Turks. He spent the next two years in captivity in Constantinople as a prisoner of an Ottoman Kapudan Pasha. Other sources claim that he spent his slavery in Ottoman Navy on galleys as an oarsman, where he picked up a knowledge of Turkic languages.While there is no concrete evidence as to his return to Ukraine, most historians believe Khmelnytsky either escaped or was ransomed. Sources vary as to his benefactor – his mother, friends, the Polish king – but perhaps by Krzysztof Zbaraski, ambassador of the Commonwealth to the Ottomans. In 1622 he paid 30,000 thalers in ransom for all prisoners of war captured at the Battle of Cecora. Upon return to Subotiv, Khmelnytsky took over operating his father's estate and became a registered Cossack in the Chyhyryn Regiment.
Some historians suggest he took part in the Pavliuk uprising. Others believe he most likely did not take part in any of the Cossack uprisings that broke out in Ukraine at that time. His loyal service earned him the rank of military clerk of the registered Cossacks in 1637. It happened after the capitulation of the Pavliuk uprising in the town Borowica on 24 December 1637, when field hetman Mikołaj Potocki appointed new Cossack eldership. He had to do it because some of the elders either joined Pavliuk or were killed by him. Because of his new position Khmelnytsky was the one who prepared and signed an act of capitulation. Fighting didn't stop in Borowica, rebel Cossacks rose up again under the new command of Ostryanyn and Hunia in the spring next year. Mikołaj Potocki was successful again and after a six week long siege, the rebel Cossacks were forced to capitulate on 3 August 1638. Like the year before, some registered Cossacks joined the rebels, while some of them remained loyal. Unlike the last time, Potocki decided not to punish the rebel Cossacks, but forced all of them to swear loyalty to the king and the state and swear not to seek revenge against each other. The Hetman also agreed to their request to send emissaries to the king to seek royal grace and preserve Cossack rights. They were elected on a council on 9 September 1638 in Kiev. Bohdan Khmelnytsky was one of them; the other three were Iwan Bojaryn, colonel of Kaniów, Roman Połowiec and Jan Wołczenko.
The emissaries didn't achieve much, mostly because all decisions were already made by the Sejm earlier this year, when deputies accepted the project presented by the grand Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski. Cossacks were forced to accept harsh new terms at the next council in Masłowy Staw, at the Ros river. According to one of the articles of the Ordynacya Woyska Zaporowskiego, registered Cossacks lost the right to elect their own officers and a commander, called elder or commissar. From now on, the elder was to be nominated by the Sejm, from the Grand Hetman's recommendation. The Grand Hetman also got the right to appoint all officers. Commissars, colonels, and osauls had to be noblemen, while sotniks and atamans had to be Cossacks, who were "distinguished in a service for Us and the Commonwealth". Khmelnytsky became one of the sotniks of the Chyhryn regiment.
In 1663 in Paris, Pierre Chevalier published a book about Cossack uprising called Histoire de la guerre des Cosaques contre la Pologne, which he dedicated to Nicolas Léonor de Flesselles, count de Brégy, who was an ambassador to Poland in 1645. In the dedication he described the meeting de Brégy had with Khmelnytsky in France, and group of Cossacks he brought to France to fight against Spain in Flanders. Chevalier also claimed that he himself commanded Cossacks in Flanders. Although in distant parts of the book Chevalier doesn't mention either Cossacks or Khmelnytsky even once. In his other writing, Relation des Cosaques , published the same year, which also contains a biography of Khmelnytsky, there is no mention about his or any other Cossacks' stay in France or Flanders. Moreover, first Chevalier book is the only source that mention such an event, there is not trace of it even in correspondence of count de Brègy. Although it is true that he was conducting a recruitment of soldiers in Poland for French army in years 1646–1648. In fact he succeeded and about 3,000 of them travelled via Gdańsk to Flanders and took part in fights around Dunkirk. French sources describe them as infanterie tout Poulonnois qu'Allemand. They were commanded by colonels Krzysztof Przyjemski, Andrzej Przyjemski and Georges Cabray. The second recruitment that shipped off in 1647 were commanded by Jan Pleitner, Dutch military engineer in service of Władysław IV and Jan Denhoff, colonel of Royal Guard. 17th century French historian Jean-François Sarasіn in his Histoire de siège de Dunkerque when describing participation of Polish mercenaries in fights over Dunkirk, notes that they were commanded by some "Sirot". Some historians identify him as Ivan Sirko, legenary Cossack Kosh Otaman.
Some Ukrainian historians support claims that Khmelnytsky and Cossacks were actually in France, while others and mostly Polish scholarship finds it unlikely.
Czapliński Affair
Upon the death of magnate Stanisław Koniecpolski, his successor, Aleksander, redrew the maps of his possessions. He laid claim to Khmelnytsky's estate, claiming it as his. Trying to find protection from this grab by the powerful magnate, Khmelnytsky wrote numerous appeals and letters to different representatives of the Polish crown, but to no avail. At the end of 1645, the Chyhyryn starosta Daniel Czapliński officially received authority from Koniecpolski to seize Khmelnytsky's Subotiv estate.File:Anonymous Bohdan Khmelnytsky.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the District Museum in Tarnów. Khmelnytsky obtained ready-made garments from the East. According to a 1651 message, Sultan Mehmed IV sent to him "a samite caftan, one of his honorable royal caftans."
In the summer of 1646, Khmelnytsky arranged an audience with King Władysław IV to plead his case, as he had a favourable standing at the court. Władysław, who wanted Cossacks on his side in the wars he planned, gave Khmelnytsky a royal charter, protecting his rights to the Subotiv estate. But, because of the structure of the Commonwealth at that time and the lawlessness of Ukraine, even the King was not able to prevent a confrontation with local magnates. At the beginning of 1647, Daniel Czapliński started to harass Khmelnytsky in order to force him off the land. On two occasions the magnate had Subotiv raided: considerable property damage was done and Khmelnytsky's son Yuriy was badly beaten. Finally, in April 1647, Czapliński succeeded in evicting Khmelnytsky from the land, and he was forced to move with his large family to a relative's house in Chyhyryn.
In May 1647, Khmelnytsky arranged a second audience with the king to plead his case, but found him unwilling to confront a powerful magnate. In addition to losing the estate, Khmelnytsky suffered the loss of his wife Hanna, and he was left alone with their children. During that time, he planned to marry Motrona, the so-called "Helen of the steppe", reportedly an orphan from a Polish noble family who found refuge at Khmelnytsky's estate. However, in the same year Motrona was abducted and forcibly married to Czapliński during a raid on Khmelnytsky's property. Khmelnytsky was unable to regain the land and property of his estate or financial compensation for it. During this time, he met several higher Polish officials to discuss the Cossacks' war with the Tatars, and used this occasion again to plead his case with Czapliński, still unsuccessfully.
While Khmelnytsky found no support from the Polish officials, he found it in his Cossack friends and subordinates. His Chyhyryn regiment and others were on his side. All through the autumn of 1647 Khmelnytsky travelled from one regiment to another, and had numerous consultations with Cossack leaders throughout Ukraine. His activity raised suspicion among the local Polish authorities, already used to Cossack revolts; he was promptly arrested. Koniecpolski issued an order for his execution, but the Chyhyryn Cossack polkovnyk, who held Khmelnytsky, was persuaded to release him. Not willing to tempt fate any further, Khmelnytsky headed for the Zaporozhian Sich with a group of his supporters.