30 «Молодий вчений» • № 1 (03) • січень, 2014 р. UDС 396 FOR QUESTIONS SYSTEMATIZATION HISTORY OF THE COSSACKS Erokhin I.Ur. Croydon College, London, U.K. History of the Cossacks is currently of great interest of researchers in Russia and Ukraine. Questions of history of the Cossacks are poorly structured in a global context. This article is an attempt to identify the key points to the genesis of the Cossack community. Key words: Cossacks, ethnicity, class, history, Russia, culture, traditions. veryone knows about the Cossacks, inde- Having appeared on the southern expanses of Ependently on the interest to the history. so called «Wild Field», the first communities of Cossacks appear on the pages of textbooks each free Cossacks were real democratic commune for- time when the major events of Russian State his- mations [2]. The basic principles of their inner or- tory are described. But what is known about them? ganization were personal freedom of all the partic- Where do they originate from? ipants, social equality, mutual respect, possibility The term «Cossack» was first mentioned in for every Cossack to express freely his point of the sources of the XIII century, in particular in view at the Kazachiy Krug, which was the upper «The Secret History of the Mongols» (1240) and power-administrative body of the Cossack com- according to different versions has Turkic, Mon- mune, to choose and be chosen as the supreme gol, Adighe – Abkhazian or Indo-European origin. official person, ataman, who was the leader among The meaning of the term which later became an the equals. ethnonym is also defined variously: a free man, The bright principles of liberty, equality and light-horseman, fugitive, lonely man an others [1]. brotherhood in the early Cossack commune for- The origin of the Cossacks and the time of its mations were universal notions, traditional and appearance on the historical arena is not fully self-evident. cleared out up to the present time. Researchers Another version tells that by the end of the have disputes even about the etymology (origina- XIV century two major groups who lived in the tion) of the word-term «Cossack». lower reaches of the rivers Don and Dnieper were There are a lot of numerous scientific theories formed. They were added by a great number of as to the Cossacks origin (only major ones num- east-Slavonic resettlers from the neighbor Moscow ber 18). All the theories of the Cossacks origin can and Lithuanian princedoms. These southern ter- be divided into two major groups: the theories of ritories were mainly settled by energetic people, runaway and migration, that is alien, and autoch- who lacked adventures. Later runaway peasants thonous, that is of local, native origination of the began coming there. There is a version telling that Cossacks. Each of these theories has its own evi- Turkic peoples also took part in forming Cossack dence base, different persuading or not fully per- detachments. suading scientific argumentation, advantages and This was profitable for both Moscow and War- disadvantages. saw as, firstly, those lands were extremely fer- According to the autochthonous theories the tile and, respectively, they got food from them; ancestors of the Cossacks lived in Kabarda and secondly, they protected the boundaries from were the ancestors of Caucasian Circassians (Cher- Crimean Tartars, who were backed up by almost kasy, Yasy), conglomeration of Circassians (Yasy), the most potential state of those times – Osman «black klobuks» (Pechenegs, Torks, Berendeys), Empire. The settlers of the lower reaches of Don brodniki (Yasy and the groups of Slavonic-Russian formed Don Cossacks and the settlers of the Left and nomadic peoples) and others [10]. bank of Don – Zaporozhian Cossacks. According to the migration theories the an- Orthodox Moscow Russia got along very well cestors of the Cossacks – freedom-loving Russian with Cossacks, which was not the case with Cath- НАУКИ people, who ran away across the boundaries of olic Rzeczpospolita. For sure, not only religious is- Russian and Polish-Lithuanian states due to nat- sues were important as both Don and Zaporozhian ural historical reasons (colonization theory) or in- Cossacks were the ancestors of Kyivska Rus habi- fluenced by social antagonisms (class war theory). tants and for sure remembered about this – west- The first trustworthy information about the ern part of the world in the face of Poland was Cossacks who lived in the Red Yar, apart from alien for them. ІСТОРИЧНІ scientifically disapproved evidences in the notes Finally, Zaporozhian Cossacks went along well of the Byzantine emperor Konstantin VII Por- with Moscow and helped it to conquer the whole phyrogenitus (the X century) are contained in the eastern part of Poland along with Kiev and then chronicles of the Donskoy monastery («Grebenska- gave the oath of allegiance to Moscow Tsar. ya chronicle», 1471), «Word known…by archiman- Textbooks, as a rule, suggest an idea of run- drite Antony», «Brief Moscow chronicle» – the away free-loving peasants, who were tortured by notes about Don Cossacks’ participation in the Ku- landlord serfdoms and who in the XVI-XVII cen- likov battle are contained in the chronicles of 1444. turies ran away from Russia to the south, to Don, © Ерохин И.Ю., 2014 «Young Scientist» • № 1 (03) • january, 2014 31 where they settled and finally became military faith and Lithuanian, which took in a lot of cath- people. olic truths. This people forgot about the past conflicts with Cossacks in the XIV century were a faith tol- Tsars and in the XIX-XX centuries became their erant formation; they had Christians of various reliable support. There are variants in such «Cos- denominations, Muslims and pagans among them. sack history». The essence is that instead of run- The rift in the faith touched yet only Christians. away free-loving peasants free robber murderers «The fact is also known that Don Cossacks in appear, who later got wives, households, settled 1380 gifted to Prince Dmitry Donskoy an icon of and instead of robberies started guarding the sate Theotokos before the Kulikov battle. Those and boundaries. other mentionings prove that already at those times However, there is another point of view on the was formed a community of people on Don, which origin of Cossacks, which is expressed particular- could have been a germ of Don Cossacks» [10]. ly by the famous historians Tatishev, Polev and How could Cossacks be on the side of the Mon- others. gols? Here comes a long quotation by Eremenko: Cossacks don’t have their history. Why this hap- «Cossack is not a Russian word. It came to us from pened? «Cossacks’ speeches (particularly, famous the steppe nomadic people, who from the imme- anti Roman speeches of Stepan Razin and Emelian morial times made attacks on the territories of east Pugachev) show their certain pretensions.» But if Slavs. The flows of steppe horse riders on their «pretensions» existed then the grounds for these way to rich cities and farm villages often encoun- pretensions – «rights» – also existed. However, the tered the same flows of east Slavs horse riders, data about Cossacks of the XVI-XVII centuries who guarded the southern boundaries of their was not fully recovered and most probably was lands. The fights were hot then…» [3] partly destroyed. In time, «steppe cossacks» made friendships «The question as to the Cossacks origination with Slavonic equestrian knights who were like is far not revealed in the world literature. Gra- them, they even made families with them and bianka, as well as Rigelman, originated Cossacks also called them cossacks. In the times of Tar- from Khazars; Yan Pototskiy regarded Cossacks tar-Mongol attack the boundary detachments of as the ancestors of those Kosogs who were settled Cossacks-Slavs couldn’t resist the conquerors… by the Great Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich in the Khan Golden Horde in the course of many further XI century in Chernihiv. According to Tatishev, years formed purposefully such flying horse de- there was a city of Cherlaz in Egypt (from this tachments from captured Russian and Ukrainian word Cossacks were later called Circasseans by young men and called them Cossacks. Russians).The citizens of this city later resettled As a rule, during their attacks on the east Slavs to Caucasus and were called Kosogi». Tatishev in territories the Hordes let the Cossacks’ detach- fact writes that Herodotus mentioned Circasseans ments go ahead and they were first to be killed and that «family of their princes, who came from in the fights with their own brothers. It couldn’t Egypt, where the city of Chirkas or Cirkas…» [10]. last long this way. The turning point in the mood This family that came was settled in Kuban re- of Cossacks-slaves happened in the course of the gion and was previously of Christian faith. And Kulikov battle. They refused to be advance guard further: «…Circassians speak Slavonic language, right at the crucial moment in the attack on the rather wrongly, but it is sooner a mixture of Tar- Russian troops, moved to the side and after the tar and Egyptian languages, so they can’t even defeat of Mamai the whole Kosh took the side of understand a Tartar man correctly, but, it seems the winners. According to treatment with Dmit- to me, they can understand Circassians from Mala- ry Donskoy, Cossacks remained a military camp ya Russia. They originate from Kabardian Circas- on Don and served as guarders of the southern sians on the 14-th place in the Kursk princedom, boundaries of Slavonic Rus» [4]. they joined to them various rabble being under From the point of view of foreignness of the the power of Tartars and settled the villages and Golden Horde such a view point of the author of robbed around.