University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 1-1-1967 The role of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and the Kozaks in the Rusin struggle for independence from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: 1648--1649. Andrew B. Pernal University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Pernal, Andrew B., "The role of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and the Kozaks in the Rusin struggle for independence from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: 1648--1649." (1967). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 6490. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/6490 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). Under this license, works must always be attributed to the copyright holder (original author), cannot be used for any commercial purposes, and may not be altered. Any other use would require the permission of the copyright holder. Students may inquire about withdrawing their dissertation and/or thesis from this database. For additional inquiries, please contact the repository administrator via email ([email protected]) or by telephone at 519-253-3000ext. 3208. THE ROLE OF BOHDAN KHMELNYTSKYI AND OF THE KOZAKS IN THE RUSIN STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE FROM THE POLISH-LI'THUANIAN COMMONWEALTH: 1648-1649 by A ‘n d r e w B. Pernal, B. A. A Thesis Submitted to the Department of History of the University of Windsor in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Faculty of Graduate Studies 1967 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: EC52671 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform EC52671 Copyright 2008 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway PO Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. i APPROVED BY: 177173 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT By the beginning of the seventeenth century the Kozaks were established as an anomalous military class of freemen in the southeastern confines of the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth. These Kozaks were predominantly of the Rusin ethnic strain; Rusin being contemporary name for Ukrainians. To the Commonwealth these Kozaks were as useful as they were dangerous, and its government tried vigorously to subordinate them. Pressured by the ruling class to that end, the government finally resorted to f severe measures. Following the Kczak pogroms in 1637 and in 1638, it reduced the Kozaks to the status of serfs. The decade after 1638 was characterized by mounting crisis and great dissatisfaction, when the Kozaks experienced intoler­ able conditions of life. At the same time the Rusin people as a whole suffered religious persecution, economic exploitation and varying degrees of social and political oppression. Emerging as the leader of the Kozaks in 1648, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi provided a spark to this explosive combination ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of issues which set off the greatest of all the Kozak rebel- . lions in the Commonwealth. Initially Khmelnytskyi had no irredentist plans. He would have been satisfied with conces­ sions to the Kozaks and to the Orthodox Church, and with the establishment of an autonomous Kozak territory. But the Kozak victories moved the Rusin society into action. Thus, the Kozak rebellion soon became transformed into the national struggle of liberation against the Commonwealth. These deve­ lopments, combined with fresh military successes and the influence of the Rusin intellectual circles at Kiev., changed Khmelnytskyi1s aims and plans. He now visualized himself as the leader of the Rusin people and set before himself two main goals: to liberate all the Rusin people within the Common­ wealth; and to erect a Rusin state on the ruins of the medieval Kievan Rus. Khmelnytskyi next convinced himself that the ruling clsiss would not agree to any reforms. He could not hope to change the existing dual structure of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into a trialist state in which the Rusin segment would be guaranteed both equality and autonomy. He was there­ fore left with only one course of action: to establish an independent state by severing all ties with the Commonwealth. t iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Since Khmelnytskyi decided that he could not defeat it with his own resources, he resorted to the usual expedient of political manipulations. He played off the neighbouring powers against one another and formed alliances with those which he considered the least dangerous. In August 1649 Khmelnytskyi was abandoned by his Tatar allies, just when a victory was within his grasp. He then had to negotiate with King Jan Kazimierz and to conclude the Treaty of Zboriv. This treaty made great concessions to the Kozaks, but failed to satisfy the expectations of the Rusin people as a whole. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE In the third and in the fourth decades of the seven­ teenth century, the majority of the nobles of the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth boasted that the international posi­ tion of their state was extremely favourable. They pointed out, on the one hand, that the neighbouring states were either plagued by disastrous wars, or were weakened as the result of participation in these wars, or in general, were passing through crises in one form or another. The Holy Roman Empire was ruined by the Thirty Years War, which also greatly undermined the military strength of Sweden. Muscovy's scars were still visible from the anarchy of the Time of Troubles; moreover, it received fresh wounds during the 163 2-1634 war with the Commonwealth. Similarly, the Otto- a . man Empire was weakened by the recurrent dynastic uphevals, and its military strength was sapped bv the conflicts with Persia and Venice. The Commonwealth, on the other hand, enjoyed the times of "golden peace", stability and prosperity. That great religious war which engulfed Western Europe and the internal struggles within such countries as England, France and Spain, only reaffirmed the faith of these v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. nobles in the excellence of the political and the social institutions of the Commonwealth. It took the start of the terrible "Deluge" of wars in 1648 not only to expose to them the superficial strength of the Commonwealth, but also to convince them that its domestic affairs w&re not in good order. Some of these nobles began to realize that their chivalry, fighting spirit, prowess and even patriotism was corrupted by their wealth and egotism. The unexpected catas- trophies and calamities revealed to them the facts that their precious "golden liberties" rested on the deprivation of the rights of other classes of population? and that their flourishing parliamentarianism made the executive impotent and passed the real power to the hands of the magnates. Moreover, they also saw that they were poor examples of that "bastion of Christianity" against the enemies of the Church; that they were brought up in. the spirit of religious exclu­ siveness and intolerance; and that the harmony among the VEirious ethnic groups of the Commonwealth did not exist. Finally, as the Kozak "Hydra" reared its heads again in 1648, it became obvious to most of the gentry that repres­ sion and serfdom did not solve the overall Kozak problem in 1638. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In 1648 Bohdan Khmelnytskyi provided a spark to the explosive combination of issues, which first set off a Kozak rebellion and then spread rapidly into a great fire of national liberation of the Rusin people. The aim of this monograph is to give an all-sided description and analysis of events during this struggle within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in the period 1648-1649. The broad subject area of this monograph occupies a prominent — frequently controversial — position in Polish, Russian and Ukrainian historiography. But in the English- speaking world, this subject matter did not receive the « deserving attention of scholars. This monograph therefore also attempts to contribute to this relatively unexplored topic in the English language historiography. vii Reproduced with permission of the