Ostryanyn Uprising
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The Ostryanyn uprising () was a 1638
Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...
uprising against the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
. It was sparked by an act of the
Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...
(legislature) passed the same year that declared that non-
Registered Cossacks Registered Cossacks (, ) comprised special Cossack units of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth army in the 16th and 17th centuries. Registered Cossacks became a military formation of the Commonwealth army beginning in 1572 soon after the ...
were equal to ordinary peasants in their rights, and hence were subjected to enserfment. The uprising was initially led by Cossack
Hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...
Yakiv Ostryanyn Yakov Stepanovich Iskra of the Kopacz coat of arms,И ...
() but was eventually crushed.


Course

According to a chronicle of 1864 written by Samiylo Velychko, Ostryanyn, who had just been elected Hetman, issued an address to the Ruthenian people on the eve of the campaign in March 1638. He declared that he would "go with his army to the Ukraine in order to liberate the Orthodox people from the yoke of oppression and torment of the Polish tyranny and claim vengeance for grievances, ruin and torturous abuse... suffered by the entire Ruthenian populace, living on both sides of the
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
."ЗАПОРОЗЬКЕ КОЗАЦТВО ПІД ЧАС ПОВСТАННЯ 1637 — 1638 РОКІВ
Ostryanyn also called on the people of Ukraine to join the insurgency and to beware of the Registered Cossacks. His leaflets were spread across Ukraine, reaching as far as
Pokuttya Pokuttia, also known as Pokuttya or Pokutia, (; ; ) is an historical area of East-Central Europe, situated between the Dniester and Cheremosh rivers and Carpathian Mountains, in the southwestern part of modern Ukraine. Although the historic hear ...
. His appeal was carried and distributed by the Cossack elders,
bandurist A bandurist () is a person who plays the Ruthenian plucked string instrument known as the bandura. Types of performers There are a number of different types of bandurist who differ in their particular choice of instrument, the specific reperto ...
s, youth, and according to Ostryanyn, even Orthodox monks. People began to prepare for an uprising, some going to Zaporozhye, while others sent food, money, and gunpowder. The rebels left Zaporozhye and divided themselves into three detachments. The first, moving down the left bank of the
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
, was led by Ostryanyn himself. His force took
Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...
and moved on to Khorol and Omelnyk. The second body of troops, consisting of a
flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same cla ...
led by Hunia, took the river crossings in
Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...
, Maksymivka, Buzhyn and
Chyhyryn Chyhyryn ( ; ) is a city in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located on Tiasmyn river not far where it enters Dnieper. From 1648 to 1669, the city served as the residence of the hetman of the Zaporizhian Host. After a f ...
. The third force occupied the right bank of the Dnieper.


Defeat

Ostryanyn's force was defeated at the Battle of Zhovnyn, near Zhovnyn in the
Kiev Voivodeship The Kiev Voivodeship (; ; ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1471 until 1569 and of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1793, as part of Lesser Poland Province of ...
. Subsequently, the Cossacks elected a new Hetman in the person of
Dmytro Hunia Dmytro Hunia (; ) was elected hetman of the Zaporozhian Host in 1638. He was one of the leaders of the Ostryanyn Uprising, a 1638 Cossack uprising against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The rebellion was sparked by the Sejm act of the same ...
. However, soon the uprising was quelled by Polish–Lithuanian forces led by
Jeremi Wiśniowiecki Prince Jeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, nicknamed ''Hammer on the Cossacks'' (), was a notable member of the aristocracy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince of Vyshnivets, Lubny and Khorol in the Crown of the Kingdom of Pola ...
and
Mikołaj Potocki Mikołaj "Bearpaw" Potocki (; 1595 – 20 November 1651) was a Polish nobleman, magnate and Field Crown Hetman of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1637 to 1646, Grand Hetman of the Crown from 1646 to 1651, governor of Bracław Voivo ...
. After a series of further skirmishes, the Cossacks capitulated at the Starzec river. Hunia and some other Cossacks managed to flee to the
Tsardom of Muscovy The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, 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 the Great in 1721. From 1550 to 1700, ...
(see
Chuhuiv Chuhuiv () or Chuguev () is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. The city is the Capital (political), administrative center of Chuhuiv Raion (district). It hosts the administration of Chuhuiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population ...
).


In literature

The uprising was described in detail by Szymon Okolski, a well-known
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...
historian, theologian, and specialist in
heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...
. He witnessed and directly participated in the uprisings, and his field diaries became a valuable information source for historians and novelists. The uprising forms part of the plot of the romanticized historical novel ''
Taras Bulba ''Taras Bulba'' (; ) is a romanticized historical novella set in the first half of the 17th century, written by Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852). It features elderly Zaporozhian Cossack Taras Bulba and his sons Andriy and Ostap. The sons study at th ...
'', written in 1834 by
Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...
, a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist. The book tells the story of an old
Zaporozhian Cossack The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossac ...
, Taras Bulba, and his two sons, Andriy and Ostap. The three men set out on an epic journey to join other Cossacks and participate in the
Zaporozhia Cossack uprisings Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a population of ...
including the Ostryanyn Uprising.


References


External links


"Dyaryusz transactiey wojennej między wojskiem koronnem i zaporoskiem w r. 1637 miesiąca Grudnia przez Mikołaja Potockiego zaczętej i dokończonej"
(Zamość, 1638) - field diary concerning the 1637 Cossack rebellion; *''Kontynuacya dyaryusza wojennego etc.'' (Kraków, 1639) - continuation of Okolski's field notes of the Cossacks neutralization. In 1738 both diaries were translated to Russian by historian Stephan Lukomski {{Zaporozhian Cossack uprisings Cossack uprisings 17th century in the Zaporozhian Host Rebellions in Ukraine Conflicts in 1638 1638 in Europe 1630s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 17th-century rebellions