The Culture of the Cossack Elite at Mazepa’s Court
By Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev
CIUS, Toronto
Since 2001, Canadian and Ukrainian archaeologists and historians have cooperated in exploring the antiquities of Baturyn in Chernihiv oblast, Ukraine. Excavations in the town and the dissemination of their findings have been sponsored by the Kowalsky Program for the Study of Eastern Ukraine at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), University of Alberta, the Shevchenko Scientific Society of America, the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto, and the Ucrainica Research Institute in Toronto. The leading historian of the Hetmanate, ex-director of CIUS and present director of the Kowalsky Program, Prof. Zenon Kohut, heads this undertaking. The late poetess Volodymyra Wasylyszyn and her husband, the artist Roman Wasylyszyn of Philadelphia, have been generous patrons of the historical and archaeological research on Baturyn. The Baturyn Canada-Ukraine archaeological expedition is based at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Chernihiv.
Archaeologists have established that this settlement emerged in the late 11th century as a border fortress of the Chernihiv principality. From 1669 to 1708, Baturyn was the capital of the Hetmanate, where the hetmans resided with their military forces and the households of Cossack officers (starshyna) and state officials as well as government institutions were located. The town flourished during the reign of the eminent Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1687-1709).
In 1708, the residents of Baturyn supported Mazepa’s uprising for the independence of the Cossack state from Moscow and vigorously defended their fortified town against the army of Tsar Peter I. Suffering heavy casualties themselves, the Russian troops nevertheless seized the hetman capital and sacked and burned it to the ground. In order to punish the insurgents, tsarist troops massacred the captive Cossacks, municipal officials, and the entire civilian population—up to 14,000 people in total.
The decade-long excavations in Baturyn, together with the reconstruction of the citadel, churches, the military treasury house, the court hall, and hetmans’ palaces on the basis of our archaeological and architectural investigations, have created an image of the destroyed capital of the Cossack realm. Thanks to the work of our expedition, this town has become the only one of several capitals of the Hetmanate where annual systematic field explorations have been carried out for 13 years. These are vital to the study of the hitherto little-known culture and lifestyle of the Cossack elite.
A recent publication on this subject is the richly illustrated booklet by Zenon Kohut, Volodymyr Mezentsev, Yurii Sytyi, and Viacheslav Skorokhod, Rozkopky u Baturyni 2012 r. Kul’tura kozats’koi elity Mazepynoho dvoru (Excavations at Baturyn in 2012: The Culture of the Cossack Elite at Mazepa’s Court), Toronto: Ukrainian Echo, 2013, 24 pp. in Ukrainian, 56 colour illustrations on glossy paper. The publication of this historical and archaeological study, designed for a general readership, has been sponsored by CIUS and the Ucrainica Research Institute.
The booklet outlines the work of Canadian and Ukrainian researchers of Baturyn and acknowledges the sponsors, benefactors, and other supporters of this project in North America. It provides a concise historical overview of the town during the Princely and Cossack eras, focusing on Mazepa’s distinguished reign, the total ruination of Baturyn in 1708, the rebuilding of the town by the last hetman of Left-Bank Ukraine, Kyrylo Rozumovsky (1750-64), and its subsequent decline in the 19th and 20th centuries. The razing of Mazepa’s capital and the barbaric tortures and murder of all of its inhabitants are presented on the basis of heretofore little-known 1734 chronicle by the Cossack officer Yakiv Radkevych, which was published in Kyiv in 2012.
The authors examine materials of the 2012-13 excavations of the remnants of the burned-out palace, the church, and the spacious service structure located at Mazepa’s manor in the Baturyn suburb of Honcharivka. The investigation of debris from this palace is of great importance to the study of local and the Kyivan construction and decorative techniques as well as Western influences on Ukrainian baroque architecture and art. The numerous artifacts unearthed at the site of the service building provide valuable insight into the prosperity, enlightenment, intellectual pursuits, and cultural interests of Cossack officers, adjutants (pokoievi), and scribes/clerks (pysari, kantseliarysty) working in the hetman’s private quarter, chancellery, archives, and library at Mazepa’s palace. An analysis of these finds has revealed that the residents of this structure played chess and read illustrated books borrowed probably from Mazepa’s rich palace library. Archaeological research testifies to the high level of craftsmanship in the hetman capital and penetration of European literature and art into it as well as the broad trade connections of Baturyn with the West, Russia, and Turkey. Historical sources also inform us about secret diplomatic relations between Mazepa and the Turkish sultan and the presence of his portrait in the hall of the Honcharivka palace.
The booklet describes the excavations of graves of the casualties of the Muscovite onslaught which were discovered near the Rozumovsky palace. It discusses recent Ukrainian and English articles (in print and on the Internet) by archaeologists investigating the fall of Baturyn and graves of the victims of the 1708 massacre. There is a review of the latest results of physico-anthropological analysis of the remains of 17th-18th-century townsfolk exhumed by our expedition.
The publication is illustrated with portraits, photos of selected archaeological finds, the excavated remnants of edifices, exteriors and interiors of restored hetman palaces, churches, and the citadel in Baturyn, its aerial views, and computer reconstructions of the architecture and adornment of Mazepa’s principal residence in Honcharivka and of articles of Cossack officers’ accoutrement. Photos of the public commemoration of anniversaries of the Baturyn tragedy in 2012 and 2013 are also included. References to the relevant scholarly literature are provided at the end.
The booklet is of interest to the general public and scholars alike. It is available for $8.95 and can be purchased from CIUS Press in a number of ways: online by credit card via a secure Internet connection (http://www.ciuspress.com/catalogue/history/333/kul%27tura-kozats%27koyi-ieliti-maziepinogheo-devoru), by e-mail (cius@ualberta.ca), by telephone (780) 492–2973, by fax (780) 492–4967, or by regular mail: CIUS Press, 4-30 Pembina Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2H8. Outside Canada, prices are in US dollars.
This summer, our Canada-Ukraine expedition will resume excavating the sites of Mazepa’s villa and the hetman fortress, as well as searching for new archaeological evidence about the 1708 tragedy in Baturyn. Because of the current crises in Ukraine, the Ukrainian government has suspended its previous support of our excavations. The continuation of the Baturyn project this year depends fully on funding from sponsors and donors in North America.
Benefactors who wish to support the historical and archaeological research of Baturyn and the publication of its results are kindly invited to send donations to: Professor Zenon Kohut, Director, Kowalsky Program, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 4-30 Pembina Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2H8. Canadian residents should make cheques payable to: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, memo: Baturyn Project. American donors are advised to issue cheques payable to: University of Alberta Foundation USA Inc., memo: CIUS Baturyn Project. Tax receipts will be sent to all residents in Canada and the United States, and donors will be gratefully acknowledged in related publications and public lectures.
For more information about the research on Baturyn, readers in North America may contact Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev, executive director of the project in Toronto (tel.: 416–766–1408, e-mail: v.mezentsev@utoronto.ca). In Ukraine, questions may be directed to Yurii Sytyi, leader of the Baturyn archaeological expedition at Chernihiv University (tel.: (46–2) 774–296, e-mail: yurisytyi@gmail.com).