Fleeting Triumph of Hetman Vyhovsky

"A horse, A horse, My kingdom for a horse!" – Richard III's last words from Shakespeare's tragedy could easily become an epigraph for the biography of Ivan Vyhovsky, a Ukrainian hetman, the leader of the self-proclaimed "Grand Duchy of Ruthenia." With a different meaning, though. Because Vyhovsky indeed received personal freedom and consequently the future hetmanship in exchange for a horse. Bohdan Khmelnytsky exchanged a Basque stallion for a captive taken by his Crimean allies in the Battle of Zhovti Vody in 1648. The leader of the "Cossack revolution" was in dire need of skilled administrators and diplomats. In Vyhovsky, he saw exactly that kind of person. And he was not mistaken in his choice.

Ivan Vyhovsky hailed from a noble, even boyar, family, whose "nest" was Vyhiv near Ovruch—today in the Zhytomyr region. The future hetman's father belonged to the circle of Metropolitan Petro Mohyla's associates; his signature stood under the charter for the establishment of the Kyiv Collegium. It's no wonder Ivan received an excellent education. He had a particular talent for... calligraphy. Perhaps it was through this skill that he became a scribe for the government commissioner over the Zaporozhian Host, thus encountering Khmelnytsky.

Photo: Petro Mohyla. Source: Wikipedia.

Their paths soon diverged. Vyhovsky encountered the beginning of the Cossack uprising already as a rotmistr of the royal army and ultimately ended up in Crimean captivity.

Photo: Meeting of Bohdan Khmelnytsky with the leader of the Crimean army, Tuhay-Bey. Source: Wikipedia.

Upon freeing his acquaintance, Khmelnytsky appointed him as his personal secretary. And during the siege of Lviv, he dispatched Vyhovsky with a diplomatic mission to the Prince of Transylvania. Negotiations were successful, and within a few months, Vyhovsky became the chief scribe (or chancellor) of the Zaporozhian Host.

Photo: Signature of Ivan Vyhovsky. Source: Wikipedia.

In 1649, he compiled a register—a list of Cossacks who, by agreement with the king, received official recognition under Polish rule. Upon the hetman's instructions, Vyhovsky not only composed the texts of his proclamations but practically established, from scratch, all the government services of the new state—including diplomatic and intelligence.

Photo: Title page of the 1649 registry. Source: Wikipedia.

The chief scribe was Khmelnytsky's closest confidant, sincerely sharing his views and intentions, achieving successes, and making mistakes alongside him. Like the hetman, he supported an alliance with Moscow, hoping thereby to protect the independence of Ukraine. And when the Tsar concluded the separate Vilnius Treaty with the king in 1656, he fostered relations with other allies—primarily the Swedes and the aforementioned Transylvanians.

Photo: Death of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Source: Wikipedia.

It's no wonder that after the death of Khmelnytsky in 1657, the chief scribe was appointed guardian to the still underage son and heir of the deceased, Yuri. However, Yuri was weak and dependent, so eventually, he was sent away, and during this time, Vyhovsky himself was elected as the new hetman.

Hadiach Union

The change of hetmans, though following a fairly traditional procedure, caused dissatisfaction in Moscow. There, they preferred that the leader of Ukraine be chosen only with their sanction. Even more outrage was caused by the decision to appoint Yuri Nemyrych, a professional soldier and diplomat known for his anti-Moscow convictions, as the new chief scribe.

Photo: Yuri Nemyrych (later sketch from an old portrait) and his autograph. Source: Wikipedia.

The Russians decided to remove Vyhovsky. But not by their own hands, rather through opposition-minded Cossacks, primarily the less affluent. Colonel Martyn Pushkar and Otaman Yakiv Barabash led the uprising.

Photo: Yakiv Barabash. Source: Wikipedia.

The hetman tried to resolve the matter through negotiations, pleading with neighbors to rein in their puppets. But when he realized that this was not helping, he formed an alliance with the Crimeans and, with the help of hired soldiers, crushed the rebels near Poltava, restoring order in the state.

Photo: Map of Ukraine in the mid-17th century. Source: Wikipedia.

Ties with Moscow were finally severed. However, if the Tsar hoped for the isolation of Ukraine, he was mistaken. Vyhovsky and Nemyrych initiated negotiations with recent enemies—the Poles. They proposed restoring the unity of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on new terms. If the nations within it were equal and formed a free federation of three states—the Kingdom of Poland, the Duchy of Lithuania, and Rus-Ukraine.

Such a model, which in some features resembles the future European Union, was approved by an agreement signed in 1658 by Ukrainian and Polish representatives in Hadiach—an agreement that entered history as the Hadiach Union.

Photo: Seal of Ivan Vyhovsky as the hetman of the Grand Duchy of Rus'. Source: Wikipedia.

Without waiting for the Sejm's ratification of the treaty, Vyhovsky began to implement it—taking the lead of the Grand Duchy of Rus' with the title of hetman.

Defeat of the Russians

Realizing that Ukraine was slipping from Moscow's influence, the Tsar dared to launch a massive invasion. Leading the first army was Grigory Romodanovsky. He captured Myrhorod, Lubny, and Pyriatyn, declaring Ivan Bezpalyy, the chief judge, as the "alternative" hetman, who agreed to collaborate. Moscow's soldiers ruthlessly looted local residents, further fueling hatred toward the occupiers.

Photo: Muscovite boyars—only they could be commanders in the Tsar's army. Source: Wikipedia.

In the spring of 1658, another army invaded Ukraine, led by Alexei Trubetskoy. On its path lay the fortress of Konotop.

Photo: Konotop on a 17th-century map. Source: Wikipedia.

Its Ukrainian name translates to "a place where horses drown"—which should have at least alerted the invaders. But no—they besieged Konotop and attempted to capture it for over two months. Unsuccessfully—the garrison led by Nizhyn colonel Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky heroically repelled all attacks.

Photo: Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky. Source: Wikipedia.

While the defense of Konotop tied up the attackers, Vyhovsky mobilized his own army, supplemented it with Moldovan and Serbian soldiers, and formed an alliance with Crimea. Polish volunteers also joined the Ukrainians. With all these forces, the hetman set off to confront the Russians.

Photo: Battle of Konotop. Source: Wikipedia.

To prevent the Ukrainians from breaking the siege of Konotop, some Russians, led by Semen Pozharsky, tried to hold Vyhovsky near Sosnivka but fell into a trap. The vanguard of Cossacks flanked them and dammed the river, turning it into a swamp. Pozharsky attempted to attack the main Ukrainian forces but faced a counterattack from two directions. The Russians couldn't withstand the pressure, started to retreat, and fell into the marsh. Their horses got stuck and drowned, dragging their riders down. The defeat was complete.

Photo: Monument on the Konotop battlefield. Source: Wikipedia.

Learning of Pozharsky's defeat, Trubetskoy hastily ordered other Russian detachments to retreat. But he himself came under attack, losing all artillery. For the Russians, it was a true catastrophe. The war was lost; their best and strongest army was defeated. In Moscow, they immediately recalled Sagaidachny's campaign, spreading rumors that the Tsar had fled beyond the Volga... Vyhovsky stood at the peak of not only political but also military glory.

Betrayed Twice

However, the triumph turned out to be fleeting. At the time when the Cossacks were defeating the Russians at Konotop, the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while ratifying the Hadiach Treaty, struck out its most crucial points. Without them, the treaty essentially lost its meaning. The Zaporozhian Cossacks, led by Hetman Ivan Sirko, soon attacked Crimea, forcing the Khan to return home and end the alliance with Hetmanate. Within Ukraine itself, a new revolt erupted led by Vasyl Zolotarenko, the son-in-law of the former hetman. The conspirators assassinated Nemyrych.

Photo: King's oath on the Halytskyi Agreement. Source: Wikipedia.

Unwilling to prolong the bloodshed, Vyhovsky resigned from his hetman duties at a Cossack council convened in Hermanivka. In his place, they elected Yuri Khmelnytsky, who hurried to negotiate a new agreement with Moscow. Ukraine plunged into the abyss of a civil war, later known as the Ruin.

Photo: Reven Hill above Hermanivka – the site of the Cossack council. Source: Oleksii Mustafin.

Disillusioned, Vyhovsky headed to Volyn. The King, feeling obliged to the now former hetman, attempted to compensate him by appointing him as a senator, the starosta of Bar, and the voivode of Kyiv. However, these gestures only sparked envy among the Cossack elders and nobility.

Photo: Death of Ivan Vyhovsky. Source: Wikipedia.

Eventually, when another Cossack uprising erupted in Right-Bank Ukraine, Vyhovsky's detractors seized him, accusing him... of organizing the turmoil. He was denied a fair trial. Appeals to the monarch were rejected. He was sentenced to death and hastily executed by firing squad. His wife claimed his body, burying him in one of the monasteries in Galicia. However, the exact location remains disputed among researchers to this day.