New Book on Baturyn - Capital of Cossack Hetman Ukraine

Zenon Kohut et al., eds. Baturyns’ka starovyna: Zbirnyk naukovykh prats’, prysviachenyi 300-littiu Baturyns’koï trahediï (Antiquities of Baturyn: A Collection of Scholarly Articles Commemorating the 300^th Anniversary of the Baturyn Tragedy. Kyiv: Olena Teliha Press, 2008, 512 pp. Illustrated, black and white and colour plates. 

   The town of Baturyn, located in the Chernihiv oblast of Ukraine, was one of the capitals of the Ukrainian Cossack State (or  Hetmanate), notably during the rule of Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1687–1708). In 1708, it became the centre of Mazepa’s insurrection against Moscow’s control of Left-Bank Ukraine and was subsequently destroyed by Russian troops, who annihilated its military garrison and civilian population (11,000–14,000 people altogether).

On the basis of new archaeological data and hitherto little-known written sources, the authors of this collection examine the development of Baturyn in the context of the history and culture of Kyivan Rus’ and the Hetmanate. Ukrainian, Canadian, American, Russian, Swedish, and Italian archaeologists, historians, architectural or art historians, and other scholars have contributed to this important publication.

Prior to Ukraine's independence in 1991, any research into this town was politically taboo because of its association with the rebellious Mazepa, who had been anathematised by the tsarist regime, and the ideological bias of the Communist Soviet authorities against the Ukrainian Cossack polity. In 1995–97, an archaeological expedition from Chernihiv State University began excavations at Baturyn. These were successfully continued by a Canada-Ukraine expedition from 2001 to 2008. The Baturyn archaeological project has been sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), particularly its Kowalsky Program for the Study of Eastern Ukraine, the Shevchenko Scientific Society of America, and the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, Canada, since 2001. The project has been led by Professor Zenon Kohut, the director of CIUS and a renowned historian of the Hetmanate. This book explores and evaluates the findings of more than a decade of extensive excavations in Baturyn. 

Antiquities of Baturyn is the largest collection of articles published to date examining the town’s origin, its development, and the zenith of its prosperity and significance during the time in which it served as the capital of the Cossack State (1669–1708). It includes articles from various disciplines: archaeological studies of Baturyn’s topography, fortifications, architecture, planning, social structure, crafts, commerce, arts, and international ties are complemented by essays on its political, military, ecclesiastical and intellectual history.  

The archaeological evidence yielded by the Canada-Ukraine expedition has corroborated and supplemented the historical records and oral accounts about the courageous defence and subsequent razing of the hetman’s capital. The collection, dedicated to the 300^th anniversary of the Baturyn tragedy of 1708, has been published to commemorate this sad event in Ukrainian history and increase worldwide awareness of it. It also represents a major contribution to the multidisciplinary study of this once prominent Ukrainian town, as well as to the history and culture of the Cossack Hetman State in general. The articles are mainly in Ukrainian, with some in Russian and in English.

Baturyns’ka starovyna is available in a hardcover edition for $59.95 (plus taxes and shipping; outside Canada, prices are in U.S. Dollars). Orders can be placed via the secure on-line ordering system of CIUS Press at www.utoronto.ca/cius or by contacting CIUS Press, 430 Pembina Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2H8; tel.: (780) 492-2973; fax: (780) 492-4967; e-mail: cius@ualberta.ca.

Volodymyr Mezentsev, Ph. D. (CIUS)