The Treaty of the Lutsk was a secret agreement signed in

Lutsk Lutsk ( uk, Луцьк, translit=Lutsk}, ; pl, Łuck ; yi, לוצק, Lutzk) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast (province) and the administrative center of the surrounding Luts ...

, Poland-Lithuania (now in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

), between the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I i ...

and the Ottoman Protectorate of Moldavia on 13 April 1711, shortly after the outbreak of the Russo-Ottoman War of 1710–11. The Ottoman Protectorate of Kara Bogdan (Moldavia) supported Russia in its war against the Ottomans with troops and by allowing the Russian army to cross its territory and to place garrisons in Moldavian fortresses. The Moldavians were represented by the

Metropolitan of Moldavia The Metropolis of Moldavia and Bucovina, in Iași, Romania, is a metropolis of the Romanian Orthodox Church. History The Metropolis of Moldavia was set up in 1386, and recognized in 1401, by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It th ...

Ghedeon. The text of the treaty was elaborated entirely by Moldavian Hospodar

Dimitrie Cantemir Dimitrie or Demetrius Cantemir (, russian: Дмитрий Кантемир; 26 October 1673 – 21 August 1723), also known by other spellings, was a Romanian prince, statesman, and man of letters, regarded as one of the most significant e ...

, who broke his oath to the Sultan and promised to become the vassal of the Russian tsar.

Terms

In the preamble and in Article I, Dimitrie Cantemir worships the

tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

, receiving in return protection from

Peter I Peter I may refer to: Religious hierarchs * Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–88 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus * Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint * Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholico ...

for himself and for all the people of

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

. It is provided that the lord of Moldavia "with all the great boyars and her nobles and with the inhabitants of any state of the glorious Moldavian people" should henceforth be under the protection of the tsar and will take an oath of obedience at first in secret, until at the entry of the Russian armies into the principality and then, the voivode will carry his faith secretly "by correspondence and other means". Article II makes the lord of Moldovia join the army of the Russian army. Articles III to V provide that the heirs of the Russian throne do not have the right to rule in Moldovia or in the Wallachian land. In Moldovia, the reign is to be hereditary in the Cantemir family. Article VI provides, "According to the old Moldovan custom, all power should be with the lord".P. P. Panaitescu, ''Dimitrie Cantemir. Viața și opera''. Biblioteca Istorică III. Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Române, București, 1958, p.107 The tsar cannot interfere in the internal affairs of Moldovia. Article XI provides that the borders of the principality, according to its ancient rights, are those described with the

Dniester River The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

, Camenețu, Bender, with all of

Budjak Budjak or Budzhak (Bulgarian and Ukrainian: Буджак; ro, Bugeac; Gagauz and Turkish: ''Bucak''), historically part of Bessarabia until 1812, is a historical region in Ukraine and Moldova. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube ...

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...

, the Grand Duchy of Transylvania and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. According to Articles XII to XV, Russian protection over Moldovia is to be maintained after the conclusion of the peace in the sense that Peter is not to leave Moldovia under the domination of the

Gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...

. Articles XVI and XVII contain the oaths of Peter I and Dimitrie Cantemir.

Links

Enciclopedia României — Tratatul de la Lutsk

References

{{Great Northern War treaties History of Moldavia History of the foreign relations of Romania Russo-Turkish wars Lutsk, Treaty of 1711 treaties 1711 in Europe

Treaties of the Great Northern War Bilateral treaties of Russia