Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Irpen (talk | contribs) at 07:49, 24 November 2006 (more). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Taras Fedorovych (Template:Lang-uk, Template:Lang-pl) (dates of birth/death unknown) was a prominent leader of the Dnieper Cossacks.

In 1620s he was the Cossack Polkovnyk (Colonel). In 1629, after the pro-Polish Hetman Mykhailo Doroshenko was killed in the Crimean campaign, the non-registered Cossacks elected Fedorovych into Hetmanship and he led them into a next campaign into the Crimea. In 1630 Fedorovych became the leader of Cossack and peasant uprising against Poland ignited by ever increasing enserfement and exploitation of Ukrainian peasantry by szlachta (nobility) as well as the Polish enroachment of Catholicism on the unwilling Ukrainians who were traditionally Eastern Orthodox.

The rebels defeated a large army led by Stanisław Koniecpolski which was sent by Poland to quash the uprising in the battles at Korsun and Pereiaslav. The military successes of Fedorovych forced Poland to negotiate with the Cossack leadership concluding the 1630 Treaty of Pereiaslav where many of the demands of the non-registered Cossacks and Fedorovych, their leader, where discarded by other Cossack Starshyna. The main demand of Fedorovych and his supporters, that the Cossack privilleges routinely guaranteed to the limited number of registered Cossacks being granted to all runaway peasants who claimed the Cossackdom was rejected and, according to a narrow compromise, the Cossack register was enlarged from six to eight thousand. In return Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski demanded Fedorovych to be turned over to Poland. Fedorovych, being uncertain of the decision that would have been reached by the "compromising" faction of Cossack leadership over his head, left Pereiaslav along with other Cossacks unsatisfied with the agreement, heading towards the Zaporizhian Sich, the Cossack stronglod. In the meanwhile, the Cossack leadership faction inclined to a compromise with Poland elected Timofiy Orendarenko and his Hetmanship was confirmed by Koniecpolski. Fedorovych, unhappy with such a turn of events, tried to raise the Cossacks masses to start a new uprising but his movement did not get traction.

Fedorovych fought on the Russian side in the Smolensk War against Poland (1632-1634). In the winter of 1634-1635 he yet again tried to convince the Cossacks to turn against the Poles at the Kaniv Council but also without success. In 1635 he negotiated with Moscow about resettlement of 700 Cossacks to Russian-leaning Sloboda territories, and, in 1636, about creating a pro-Russian Cossack regiment. His propositions were discarded by the Russians who did not want to antagonize their relations with the Commownealth after their recently concluded Treaty of Polyanovka.

Details of his later life are unknown.

References

• Volodymyr Kubiyovych, Zenon Kuzelia, Енциклопедія українознавства (Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies), articles: "Fedorovych, Taras" and "Fedorovych Uprising", 3-volumes, Kiev, 1994, ISBN 5-7702-0554-7
• Dovidnyk z istoriï Ukraïny, 3-Volumes, articles: "Fedorovych, Taras", "Fedorovych Uprising", "Treaty of Pereyaslav, 1630", Kiev, 1993-1999, ISBN 5-7707-5190-8 (t. 1), ISBN 5-7707-8552-7 (t. 2), ISBN 966-504-237-8 (t. 3).

• Hetmans of Ukrainian Cossacks
• 17th century deaths