Petro Sahaidachny - Restorer of Ukraine

Four hundred years ago, on December 11, 1618, in the village of Deulino near the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra, a truce was signed between the Tsardom of Moscow and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The agreement concluded a twenty-year period known as the Time of Troubles – a time when, after the end of the old dynasty, Moscow experienced a deep internal crisis accompanied by unsuccessful wars with its neighbors.

The long-awaited peace is considered a Polish triumph, yet its terms were beneficial for the Russians too, although they usually don’t acknowledge this. Moscow retained not only all its ethnic territories but also parts of the conquests of the last tsars, including Novgorod the Great, Pskov, Kazan, and Astrakhan.

Photo:  Map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the mid-17th century. Source: Wikipedia.

From another perspective, Moscow conceded Belarusian and Ukrainian territories – Smolensk, Chernihiv, and Novgorod-Seversky. They agreed that their neighbors would no longer acknowledge their rulers with the title 'Tsar of All Rus.' Furthermore, the heir to the Polish-Lithuanian throne, Prince Vladislaus Vasa, continued to title himself as the Moscow Tsar.

March to Moscow

However, this treaty might not have happened if not for the Zaporozhian Cossacks and their then Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny. The fact remains that Vladislaus began his campaign against Moscow as early as April 1617 but got stalled near Vyazma. His army, forced to stay for the winter in enemy territory, was dwindling.

Photo: Vladislaus Vasa. Source: Wikipedia.

They urgently sought help from the Zaporozhians, with whom relations were quite tense at the time. Only after the king and representatives of the Sejm agreed to the Cossacks’ demands for expanding their privileges and rights for Ukrainians in general did Sahaidachny agree to participate in the war.

Photo:  Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny. Source: Wikipedia.

However, he did not dispatch units to Vyazma, where Vladislaus was stationed. The Cossacks went to Moscow by their own route – through Putivl and Rylsk. A 20,000-strong army armed with 17 light cannons moved extraordinarily quickly – capturing and burning cities along its path, almost without stopping. Within two months, they were near the walls of Mikhailov, near Ryazan.

The Tsar sent Prince Dmitry Pozharsky as the 'Liberator of Moscow' against them, but he was so frightened that he decided to 'fall ill' before the battle and passed the command to his deputy. The prince's premonitions were justified – after the initial clashes with the Cossacks on the banks of the Oka, the Russians fled.

In early October 1618, Sahaidachny halted near the Don Monastery (4 kilometers from the Moscow Kremlin). Before the ranks of soldiers, the hetman engaged in a duel with the Moscow commander Vasiliy Buturlin, disarmed him of his lance, and pulled him off his horse to the ground. After the Zaporozhians' strike, the Russian cavalry again rushed to flee.

Photo:  The Walls of the Don Monastery. Source: Wikipedia.
 

Having circumvented Moscow, the Cossacks joined forces with the Poles near Tushino and together marched to storm the Russian capital. They even managed to capture the Arbat gates when Vladislaus II ordered a retreat. The order was unexpected but understandable – the Poles needed not the city but the Tsar's agreement for negotiations. They immediately commenced, right by the Moscow walls, and later were transferred to Deulino.

Photo: Moscow before Petro Sahaidachny's Campaign. Source: Wikipedia.

Sahaidachny, among other things, was against reconciling with Moscow, apparently not trusting the tsar's word too much. However, he didn't make the decisions. Eventually, he even expedited negotiations – when the Cossacks unexpectedly attacked Kaluga, the Russian embassy became much more compliant.

Ukraine Returns to the European Stage

The Deulino truce also held significant importance for Ukraine. Because now almost all lands populated by Ukrainians were part of a single state – the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, this, of course, wasn't enough. Sahaidachny sought guarantees for the rights of his compatriots – both political and religious.

Photo: Petro Sahaidachny's Autograph. Source: Wikipedia

The thing is, after the 1596 Brest Church Union, the royal authority officially recognized only those hierarchs who acknowledged the spiritual authority of the Pope. But a considerable part of the Ukrainian nobility, burghers, and Cossacks who didn't accept it supported priests and monks adhering to the Orthodox faith and subordinated to the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Photo: Ostroh – fortress of Ukrainian Orthodoxy on the brink of the 16th - 17th centuries. Source: Wikipedia

Sahaidachny was a staunch defender of Orthodoxy. During his studies in Ostroh, he wrote the "Explanation of the Union" – a fervent yet thorough manifesto that impressed even state officials, particularly the Grand Lithuanian Chancellor, Lew Sapieha.

Photo: Lew Sapieha. Source: Wikipedia.

Leading the Cossacks, Sahaidachny continued to unite co-religionists, supported the Kiev Brotherhood, and became the patron of the Brotherhood School. And in 1616, he made an unexpected move by joining the Brotherhood along with the entire Zaporozhian Host. The Polish authority was caught off guard but could do nothing about it. This added to the hetman's audacity.

Photo: Complex of the Brotherhood Monastery in Kyiv. Source: Wikipedia.

After returning from the Moscow campaign, he, together with the Hegumen of the Mikhailovsky Monastery, Job Boretsky, decided to restore the Orthodox hierarchy in Ukraine. In 1620, the Cossacks organized a solemn reception in Kyiv for the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophanes III. And the hetman persuaded the patriarch to ordain Job Boretsky as the new Metropolitan of Kyiv and recognize bishops subordinate to him. Theophanes III later compared Sahaidachny to the apostles for this.

Photo: Theophanes III. Source: Wikipedia.

However, this step had not only religious significance. With his help, Ukraine regained its political subjectivity. Just as Sahaidachny's victories over the Muscovites, and before that, over the Turks and Crimeans, contributed to Ukraine's recognition.

Photo: Ukrainian Cossacks' conquest of Caffa in 1616. Source: Wikipedia.

Thanks to them, diplomatic relations with the Zaporozhian Host sought representation from both European monarchs and eastern rulers – including Kartli and Persia. And it was in this capacity as the "restorer of Ukraine" that Sahaidachny ultimately entered history.

Last Campaign of the Hetman

Notably, the restoration of Ukraine's subjectivity was sought by the hetman without opposing Kyiv to Warsaw. On the contrary, he aimed for understanding and cooperation with the royal authority. When the threat from the Ottoman Empire loomed over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth again, Sahaidachny convinced the Cossacks to provide assistance to the monarch. Although in negotiations with the king's representatives, he conditioned the alliance on the fulfillment of promises made to the Zaporozhians by him and the Sejm earlier.

Photo: Osman II and the Grand Vizier leading the Janissary procession. Source: Wikipedia.

Eventually, upon learning of the advance of a 150,000-strong Turkish army led by Sultan Osman II, the Cossacks set out on a campaign without waiting for the results of negotiations in Warsaw. Sahaidachny himself departed from the capital straight to Khotyn, where the Polish army awaited the Turks, led by his acquaintance, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (who also led the royal army under Moscow). Chodkiewicz welcomed him with joy, but since the Cossacks had not yet arrived, Sahaidachny went after them. He fell into a Turkish ambush and was wounded in the arm. Despite this, he managed to reach the Cossack camp and led the Zaporozhians to join forces with the Poles.

Photo: Jan Karol Chodkiewicz. Source: Wikipedia.

Osman II did not lose hope of defeating the opponents separately. Initially, he directed all his forces to storm the Cossack positions. But several days of attacks did not bring victory to the Turks. On the contrary, the Cossacks launched a counterattack. Then, the Ottomans shifted the direction of the main attack towards the Polish camp. However, they also did not succeed, aside from Chodkiewicz being mortally wounded. Hoping for chaos after the commander's death, the Sultan launched a third wave of attacks. However, these too eventually faltered. The Turks had to retreat.

Photo: Battle of Khotyn. Source: Wikipedia.

The victory at Khotyn is considered the most resounding in the biographies of both commanders – Chodkiewicz and Sahaidachny. But for both, it became their last. The Polish commander died on the battlefield, and Sahaidachny passed away after returning to Kyiv, from the wound sustained at Khotyn.

Photo: Death of Petro Sahaidachny. Source: Wikipedia.

The hetman did not witness the realization of his political dreams. Unfortunately, the warnings about the consequences of misunderstanding were confirmed. Within a few decades, Ukraine witnessed the uprising of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. And the paths of Kyiv and Warsaw diverged long-term. A tragedy for both nations.