The View From Here

A Prayer For Hetman Mazepa

By Walter Kish

Last fall, a new Ukrainian film called “A Prayer For Hetman Mazepa” generated a lot of controversy for its graphically surrealistic, racy and at times unflattering portrayal of one of Ukraine’s most famous Hetmans.The movie focuses primarily on Mazepa’s uneasy relationship with Russia’s ambitious and brutal Tsar Peter I, who is better known within popular history as “Peter the Great”.

As I sit writing this on a fine early summer’s day, I am reminded that it was on a such a day in July some 294 years ago in Poltava, that Hetman Mazepa, fighting alongside one of the most successful European military leaders of the time, the famous Charles XII of Sweden, was thoroughly defeated by Tsar Peter I in what has come to be recognized as one of the great military battles of all time.Broken by the defeat and the afflictions of old age, Mazepa fled southwards to Turkish occupied lands and died later that same year in Bendery in what is now Moldova.The defeat at Poltava was to have great consequences for the future of Ukraine, as it effectively spelled the end of what has been called the “Mazepa Renaissance” in what was then a vibrant Cossack state. From thereon in, Ukraine’s heartland would come under the increasingly oppressive domination of Muscovite rulers.

Mazepa is one of my favourite characters in Ukrainian history.Although to most Ukrainians, Mazepa ranks behind other more familiar and acknowledged historical figures such asShevchenko orKhmelnitsky, to the rest of Europe he is far better known than the latter two. His exploits have been celebrated in the literary works of Byron, Hugo, Brecht and Pushkin, as well as in the musical creations of composers such as Liszt and Tchaikovsky.He was probably the most educated, well-travelled, intelligent and competent Hetman that Ukraine ever had, and arguably one of the greatest military and political leaders it has ever produced.Unfortunately, as is common in much of Ukrainian history, he succumbed to external forces that were beyond his power to control or defeat.

He was born in 1639 in a small village called Mazepyntsi as the son of a Cossack “Starshyna”, his father being the Otaman of the BilaTserkva regiment.He received an excellent education and pursued higher studies at the MohylaAcademy in Kyiv as well as at a Jesuit college in Warsaw.While there, he was appointed as a page at the court of the Polish king Jan Casimir II.The king encouraged the young Mazepa and sent him for further studies to western Europe.Mazepa traveled widely and spent time in Holland, Germany,Italy, France and the Low Countries.Upon his return, the king employed Mazepa on a number of diplomatic missions toUkraine.

He eventually returned permanently to Ukraine to assist his ailing father and became increasingly involved in Cossack affairs, eventually becoming Chancellor to the then Hetman, PetroDoroshenko. He participated with distinction in a number of Doroshenko’s military campaigns against the Poles as well as serving on diplomatic missions to Crimea and Turkey.As a Cossack envoy to Moscow, he became acquainted with Tsar Peter I and succeeded in impressing him and gaining his confidence.In 1687 he was elected Hetman of all Ukraine by the Cossack Council.

InitiallyMazepa believed that the Cossack state could co-exist peacefully with Russia, and for many years he was a trusted ally of Peter the Great in his campaigns against the Swedes and the Turks.

During this period, Mazepa focused much of his efforts on uniting the numerous fractious Cossack elements and building up Ukraine’s industrial and economic infrastructure.He expanded the MohylaAcadamy in Kyiv and built a number of new schools and institutes.He fostered a literary, artistic and architectural renaissance and funded the building of many new churches.Above all, he sought to establish Ukraine as a strong autonomous and independent state.This brought him into direct conflict with Tsar Peter I, who preferred a much more subservient and controllable entity to his south.

Mazepa formed an ill-fated alliance with Charles XII of Sweden and the Polish king Stanislaus I Leszczynski in 1708, and conflict soon ensued.The war went badly from the start with Peter destroying Mazepa’s stronghold in Baturyn and massacring all its inhabitants. On July 8, 1709, Peter dealt the mortal blow to Mazepa’s aspirations with a brilliant and thorough victory at Poltava, and Ukraine entered a new dark age of Russian rule.

In an interesting and somewhat ironic footnote to the Mazepa story, I had the good fortune to meet an interesting lady in Ukraine in 1993 whose last name was also Mazepa.It turned out that she was a direct descendant of the famous Hetman.She also happened to be one of the managers of the state “dacha” and hunting lodge just outside of Kyiv used by President Krawchuk, the Ukrainian leader who finally managed to officially put an end to Russia’s long domination of Ukraine.