szlachta
The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...
) were a
noble class
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...
of ethnic Ukrainians in what is now western Ukraine, that enjoyed certain legal and social privileges. Estimates of their numbers vary. According to one estimate, by the mid-nineteenth century there were approximately 32,000 Ukrainian nobles in the western Ukrainian territory of
Galicia (Eastern Europe)
Galicia ()"Galicia" ''Collins English Dictionary'' ( uk, Галичина, translit=Ha ...
, over 25% of whom lived in 21 villages near the town of
Sambir
Sambir ( uk, Самбір, pl, Sambor, yi, סאמבאָר, Sambor) is a city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sambir Raion (district) and is located close to the border with Poland. Sambir hosts t ...
. They comprised less than 2% of the ethnic Ukrainian population.John-Paul Himka. (1988). ''Galician Villagers and the Ukrainian National Movement in the Nineteenth Century.'' Edmonton: MacMillan Press in association with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta. pp. 213-215 Other estimates place the number of nobles at 67,000 people at the end of the 18th century and 260,000 by the end of the nineteenth century, or approximately 6% of the ethnic Ukrainian population.L. Slivka. (2004) УКРАЇНСЬКА ШЛЯХЕТСЬКА ЕЛІТА: ПРОЯВИ САМОСВІДОМОСТІ ДРІБНОЇ ШЛЯХТИ ГАЛИЧИНИ НАПРИКІНЦІ XVIII – НА ПОЧАТКУ ХХ ст. The Ukrainian Noble Elite: View of self-image of the Galician Petty Gentry from the end of the eighteenth until the beginning of the 20th centuries. (Ukrainian) Ivano-Frankivsk: Ivano-Frankivsk State Medical University. The nobles tended to live in compact settlements either in villages populated mostly by nobles or in particular areas of larger villages.
Unlike in the case of their ethnic Polish counterparts, the Ukrainian nobility in Galicia (Galician Rusyns) as a class played a marginal role in western Ukrainian society, which came to be dominated by Ukrainian
priestly families
Priestly is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Miranda Priestly, a character in ''The Devil Wears Prada''
* Paul Priestly, a character in ''EastEnders''
See also
* Priestley (disambiguation)
* Priestly source, one of the propos ...
, who formed a tight-knit hereditary caste that constituted the wealthiest and most highly educated group within the Ukrainian population. There was considerable overlap between priests and nobles however, with many priestly families also belonging to the nobility. During the late nineteenth century until the 1930s more than half of the Ukrainian priestly families in western Ukraine had noble origins.Шляхетська свідомість збереглася в багатьох галичан 2010 12-04. Interview with Liubov Slivka by Vazyl Moroz, newspaper ''Galicia'' (Ukrainian) Such families tended to identify themselves primarily as priests rather than as nobles. The focus of this article is on those ethnic Ukrainians in western Ukraine whose primary social orientation was as nobles.
History and Political Activity
Origins
The territory of western Ukraine was part of the medieval state of
Kievan Rus
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...
. After the collapse of Kieven Rus, the westernmost part of that state formed the independent Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia. By the end off the fourteenth century, this territory had become part of Poland. Over the following centuries, most of the wealthy native landowning nobility eventually adopted the dominant Polish nationality and Roman Catholic religion, and completely assimilated into Polish society.
The nobility in western Ukraine that retained its non-Polish identity was generally poorer and developed as a social class in the fourteenth century.
Ukrainian or East Slavic origins
According to mainstream Ukrainian historiography, the western Ukrainian nobility developed out of a mixture of three groups of people: poor Rus
boyars
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars were sec ...
(East Slavic aristocrats from the medieval era), descendants of princely retainers or
druzhina
In the medieval history of Kievan Rus' and Early Poland, a druzhina, drużyna, or družyna ( Slovak and cz, družina; pl, drużyna; ; , ''druzhýna'' literally a "fellowship") was a retinue in service of a Slavic chieftain, also called ''knyaz ...
(free soldiers in the service of the Rus' princes), and peasants who had been free during the times of the
Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia
, conventional_long_name = Principality of Galicia–VolhyniaKingdom of Galicia–Volhynia
, common_name = Galicia–Volhynia
, status = Vassal state of the Golden Horde (from 1246)
, era = Middle Ages
, year_start = 1199
, year_end = 1349
, ...
.Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Entry: Petty Gentry, written by Yaroslav Isaievych Volume 3 (1993). Published by University of Toronto. During the 12th and 13th centuries, fortified villages were built by
Kievan Rus
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...
and Galician princes in order to defend the local lucrative salt trade and the borders with Poland and Hungary. These villages were located southwest of
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
and
Przemyśl
Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...
in areas such as those surrounding
Sambir
Sambir ( uk, Самбір, pl, Sambor, yi, סאמבאָר, Sambor) is a city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sambir Raion (district) and is located close to the border with Poland. Sambir hosts t ...
, that in modern times have been the heartland for Ukrainian noble settlement. These villages were populated and defended by poor or minor boyars and druzhina. After the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia was absorbed by Poland in the fourteenth century, the noble status of these poor boyars and druzhina was confirmed in exchange for military service to the Polish crown; those poor boyars who failed to confirm their noble status were reduced to the level of serfs or, more frequently, town servants and assimilated into those social groups. The Ukrainian nobility's development thus involved a process of poor Rus
boyars
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars were sec ...
and
druzhina
In the medieval history of Kievan Rus' and Early Poland, a druzhina, drużyna, or družyna ( Slovak and cz, družina; pl, drużyna; ; , ''druzhýna'' literally a "fellowship") was a retinue in service of a Slavic chieftain, also called ''knyaz ...
changing their allegiance from the defunct East Slavic
Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
and its princes to that of the Polish Commonwealth, and becoming legally integrated into the Polish system as nobles.
Polish origins
In the 1930s the Polish government attempted to assimilate western Ukrainian nobles into Polish culture. At that time, Polish researchers claimed that the Ukrainian nobles were descended from poor Polish nobles who became assimilated into Ukrainian culture by adopting the Ukrainian language and Orthodox religion of the peasants among whom they lived. They noted that the period of Polish rule involved the settlement of newly acquired Ukrainian territories by Poles, and that the Ukrainian nobility's speech frequently used Polish words and expressions. The Polish historians also pointed out that in the early 19th century western Ukrainian nobles tended to ally themselves with Polish rather than East Slavic or Ukrainian causes politically. This was seen as a vestige of their originally Polish roots.
Contemporary Ukrainian historians write that while it is likely that some poor Polish nobles may have assimilated into Ukrainian culture in isolated instances, the number of Ukrainian nobles was simply too large to be accounted for by assimilated Polish nobles. They also point out that those arguing in favor the Polish origins, while writing about the Polonization of wealthy landowning
boyars
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars were sec ...
(nobles), completely ignore the documented existence of poor boyars and druzhina who inhabited western Ukraine prior to Polish rule and failed to account for what happened to this large group of people after western Ukrainian lands were absorbed by Poland. Furthermore, given that the Polish culture was dominant and that for centuries Poles controlled the local administration, it seems unrealistic that large numbers of Poles would assimilate to the subservient Ukrainian culture and to adopt the Ukrainian Orthodox or Greek Catholic faiths, which were at a disadvantage relative to the Polish Roman Catholic religion.L. Slivka. (2007) Етносоціальний розвиток дрібної шляхти в Галичині (1772 - 1914 рр.) Ethnosocial flowering of the petty gentry in Galicia, 1772-1914. Dissertation for the Completion of the doctoral Degree at the Prykarpattia National University of Vasyl Stefanyk in
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вськ, translit=Iváno-Frankívśk ), formerly Stanyslaviv ( pl, Stanisławów ; german: Stanislau), is a city located in Western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk O ...
. Moreover, some western Ukrainian nobles lived in villages populated exclusively by nobles. Such nobles had little contact with Ukrainian peasants and thus no means to be assimilated by them. In terms of political allegiance, although western Ukrainian nobles did side with Poles against Ukrainian peasants during much of the nineteenth century, the nobility's loyalty was exclusively political in nature and focused on the retention of their traditional privileges; there was little movement to adopt the Polish language or Roman Catholic religion by the Ukrainian nobles in spite of their political cooperation with the Poles.
During the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Western Ukrainian nobles enjoyed the legal rights and privileges of other nobles. They had their own court system and unlike Ukrainian peasants were not under the authority of the Polish landlords. Villages populated exclusively by nobles were typically self-governing, and nobles living in mixed towns were under the authority of their own governing bodies. The elected heads of self-governing Ukrainian noble communities were called
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect's ...
s. Noble villages tended to be older than other villages, and typically carried the names of the noble families associated with them, such as Kulchytsi (Kulchytsky family), Mokhnate (Mokhnatsky family), etc. Unlike many Polish nobles, western Ukrainian nobles did not own serfs and instead worked their own lands. Their relative poverty served as a barrier to assimilation with the wealthy Polish landowners and helped them to retain their East Slavic identity. Nobles usually lived in compact groups occupying entire villages or parts of villages. Although Ukrainian nobles were scattered throughout western Ukraine, two regions had particularly large concentrations of them: southern Galicia, north of the
Carpathian mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
and south-west of the city of
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
; and in the western parts of
Podolia
Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central ...
, to the east of Galicia in what is now the
Ternopil Oblast
Ternopil Oblast ( uk, Тернопі́льська о́бласть, translit=Ternopilska oblast; also referred to as Ternopilshchyna, uk, Терно́пільщина, label=none, or Ternopillia, uk, Тернопілля, label=none) is an obl ...
. The most commonly used coats of arms by western Ukrainian nobles were
Sas
SAS or Sas may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''SAS'' (novel series), a French book series by Gérard de Villiers
* ''Shimmer and Shine'', an American animated children's television series
* Southern All Stars, a Japanese rock ba ...
and Korczak.
Despite their obligation to serve the Polish crown, during the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries western Ukrainian nobles sometimes took part in anti-Polish uprisings. At this time, the Ukrainian nobles considered themselves honor-bound to defend the
Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church may refer to:
* Eastern Orthodox Church
* Oriental Orthodox Churches
* Orthodox Presbyterian Church
* Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand
* State church of the Roman Empire
* True Orthodox church
See also
* Orthodox (dis ...
. Due to their shared Orthodox faith, when the Moldavian
prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
Bogdan III the One-Eyed
Bogdan III the One-Eyed ( ro, Bogdan al III-lea cel Chior) or Bogdan III the Blind () (March 18, 1479 – April 20, 1517) was List of Moldavian rulers, Voivode of Moldavia from July 2, 1504, to 1517.
Family
Bogdan was born in Huşi as the son of ...
invaded Polish-controlled Galicia in 1509, the local Ukrainian nobles joined this invasion ''en masse.'' After the Polish victory over Moldavian forces in 1510, many of the Ukrainian nobles' lands were confiscated by the Polish authorities, although they were returned to them after the Ukrainian nobles claimed that they had been coerced into joining the Moldavians. In 1511, the Polish king declared that Ukrainian nobles were banned from participating in religious ceremonies in Moldavia.
Michael Hrushevsky
Mykhailo Serhiiovych Hrushevsky ( uk, Михайло Сергійович Грушевський, Chełm, – Kislovodsk, 24 November 1934) was a Ukrainian academician, politician, historian and statesman who was one of the most important figure ...
. (1908 Ukrainian nobility at the break of the 16th and 17th centuries A part of vol. 6 "History of Ukraine-Ruthenia", chapter 3 "Cultural and national relations: national composition and national element". Translation reviewed and corrected by the author (applies to Polish translation -sp). Printed in: History of Ukraine, Commemorative Volume, edited by W. Lipinski, Kiev Opposition from the western Ukrainian nobles delayed the implementation of the
Union of Brest
The Union of Brest (; ; ; ) was the 1595–96 decision of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church eparchies (dioceses) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to break relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church and to enter into communion with, and place i ...
, the recognition by the Orthodox Church in Ukraine of the Pope, by several decades in Galicia. Noble resistance resulted in Galicia being the last part of Polish-ruled Ukraine to accept the Union with Catholicism. A number of western Ukrainian nobles traveled east and joined the
Zaporozhian Cossacks
The Zaporozhian Cossacks, Zaporozhian Cossack Army, Zaporozhian Host, (, or uk, Військо Запорізьке, translit=Viisko Zaporizke, translit-std=ungegn, label=none) or simply Zaporozhians ( uk, Запорожці, translit=Zaporoz ...
. One of them,
Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny
Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny ( uk, Петро Конашевич-Сагайдачний; pl, Piotr Konaszewicz-Sahajdaczny; born about 1582 in Kulchytsi, today Sambir Raion – 20 April 1622 in Kyiv) was a Ukrainian Cossack political and ...
, became leader of the Cossacks in the early 17th century. He remained loyal to Poland.
During the times when western Ukraine was part of Poland, the nobles had a duty to defend the Polish state. Accordingly, they were obligated to participate in regular military reviews where they presented themselves and their weapons. The relative poverty of the Ukrainian nobility was evident in the fact that few owned armor, very few could afford to come on horseback, and they were typically armed only with sabers, muskets or even small caliber bird-hunting rifles.
Under Austria-Hungary and into the twentieth century
Abolition of serfdom and loss of status
In 1772, western Ukraine was annexed by Austria during the First Partition of Poland. The western Ukrainian nobility, whose self-image was centered on their function of militarily defending the kingdom, found themselves without a social role within the new political circumstances and from this point defined themselves largely by their differences from and superiority to the peasants. In 1848, serfdom was abolished. Prior to the abolishment of serfdom in 1848, the Ukrainian nobility enjoyed a lifestyle that was quite different from that of the Ukrainian peasants. Unlike Ukrainian peasants, Ukrainian nobles worked on their own lands and were not forced to work for the Polish nobility. They enjoyed their own court system and were not under the authority of local Polish-dominated courts. Unlike serfs, Ukrainian nobles were also not obligated to perform communal duty such as working on roads, which they considered to be humiliating.
In contrast to the Polish nobles who had owned serfs, the Ukrainian nobles did not experience economic losses when serfdom was abolished. Instead, they experienced a loss in social status and standing. The Ukrainian nobles lost all of their privileges, they were placed under the same legal authority and given the same obligations as the peasants. In 1860, noble self-government was abolished and noble and peasant elected bodies were integrated. The nobility attempted to continue to unofficially elect their own leaders, traditionally known as
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect's ...
s, despite official integration with the peasant community. Multiple appeals to the Austrian government in the 1860s seeking to obtain separate legal standings for themselves failed, with rare exceptions such as sometimes being able to avoid having to perform compulsory roadwork. Thus, in the mid nineteenth century the political and socioeconomic differences between the Ukrainian nobles and the Ukrainian peasants disappeared.
In one of the two regions with a large concentration of Ukrainian nobles, western Podilia, the loss of special noble legal privileges and elimination of peasant serfdom led to the assimilation of most of the western Ukrainian nobility into the Ukrainian peasantry and to the disappearance of the nobility as a social group. In contrast, nobles from southern Galicia would retain their distinct self-identity well into the twentieth century.
Evolution from class to national identity
Because the western Ukrainian nobles had not owned estates or serfs, unlike the Polish nobility they were not hated by the peasants. Conversely, because they themselves had never been enserfed, the Ukrainian nobility did not share the peasants' animosity towards the Polish nobility, and indeed felt a class solidarity with them.
Despite sharing the language and religion of their Ukrainian peasant neighbors, throughout the nineteenth century the Ukrainian nobles in western Ukraine tended to side with the Polish nobility during conflicts between the Polish and Ukrainian communities. In 1848, Ukrainian nobles volunteered for the Polish national guard and in 1863 they took up donations in support of Polish rebels in the Russian Empire. Villages populated mostly by the Ukrainian nobility tended to vote for Polish candidates and to oppose efforts to spread literacy among the peasants. The nobles were so politically preoccupied with trying to retain or win back their special rights as nobles that they did not engage in other forms of political activism. The alienation of the nobles from the Ukrainian national movement was not one-sided. The Ukrainian national movement was very peasant-focused and rejected the nobility, whose social background did not fit the nationalist narrative. The nobility were often treated as scapegoats and blamed for electoral failures; the press of the national movement accused them of greed and of selling their votes to the Poles.Andriy Zayarnyuk. (2011) The Greek Catholic Rustic Gentry and the Ukrainian National Movement in Habsburg-ruled Galicia Journal of Ukrainian Studies, vol. 35-35, pp.91-102 Almost none of the nineteenth century political activists seeking to alleviate the plight of Ukrainian peasants, or to spread literacy, or to encourage Ukrainization, or to limit economic exploitation, were nobles. The nobles' consistent indifference or opposition towards Ukrainian causes resulted in some rural Ukrainian activists claiming that the nobles were not even part of the Ukrainian nation.
Until the mid nineteenth century, because the Ukrainian nobles were oriented towards their class standing, they were opposed to the interests of the Ukrainian peasants. By the end of that century, however, the idea of the old multinational
Polish Commonwealth
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
gave way to competing modern Ukrainian and Polish nationalisms. This meant that national ideas eclipsed class loyalties. At that time, most of the Ukrainian nobility in western Ukraine linked itself to the Ukrainian national movement. The nobility was represented by the Association of the Ruthenian Gentry, which allied itself with the conservative and religious elements within the Ukrainian national movement. Despite their allegiance to the Ukrainian national cause, these nobles maintained their separation from the peasants. For example, rather than joining the peasants in reading clubs for cultural activities, nobles participated in their own "gentry casinos." This aroused some negative feelings by the peasants.
Russophiles
Russophilia (literally love of Russia or Russians) is admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), Russian history and Russian culture. The antonym is Russophobia. In the 19th Century, ...
attempted to exploit the differences between nobles and peasants, and there was a stronger tendency to support ideological Russophilia among the nobility than among the general Galician population. Indeed, the noble candidate from Sambir county in the elections of 1911, Ivan Kulchytsky, even declared ""now we have recovered our sight and shall not allow the bastards to trick us with Ukraine…. You should know that from now on we do not give a damn for Ukraine and have returned to the historical road. From now on we are Russians." In general, however, the nobles adopted a Ukrainian national orientation. By the beginning of the twentieth century, noble gatherings often concluded with singing of the Ukrainian national anthem,
Shche ne vmerla Ukraina
"" ( uk, Ще не вмерла України і слава, і воля, , lit=The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet perished), also known by its official title of "State Anthem of Ukraine" (, ') or by its shortened form "" (, ), is the ...
("Ukraine has not yet Died"). The 1912 commemoration of the 17th century Cossack leader
Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny
Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny ( uk, Петро Конашевич-Сагайдачний; pl, Piotr Konaszewicz-Sahajdaczny; born about 1582 in Kulchytsi, today Sambir Raion – 20 April 1622 in Kyiv) was a Ukrainian Cossack political and ...
, a member of the petty gentry from Galicia, in 1912 served to underscore the new affiliation of the Ukrainian gentry towards the Ukrainian national movement. During these celebrations the Cossacks were represented not only as peasant runaways but also as nobles defending the Ukrainian nation. In this way the nobles found a place for themselves within the Ukrainian national narrative.
During and After the First World War
On the eve of World War I, many Ukrainian nobles joined the
Ukrainian Sich Riflemen
Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (german: Ukrainische Sitschower Schützen; uk, Українські cічові стрільці (УСС), translit=Ukraïnski sichovi stril’tsi (USS)) was a Ukrainian unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army d ...
, a patriotic Ukrainian unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army.
Dmytro Vitovsky
Dmytro Vitovsky ( uk, Дмитро Вітовський) (8 November 1887 – 2 or 4 August 1919) was a Ukrainian politician and military leader.
Vitovsky was born into a family of gentry. in the village of Medukha in Galicia (today in Ivano-Fran ...
and
Myron Tarnavsky
Myron Tarnavsky ( uk, Мирон Тарнавський (August 29, 1869 in Baryliv, Galicia, Austria-Hungary now Ukraine – June 29, 1938 in Lviv), was a supreme commander of the Ukrainian Galician Army, the military of the West Ukrainian ...
, two of the supreme commanders of the
Ukrainian Galician Army
Ukrainian Galician Army ( uk, Українська Галицька Армія, translit=Ukrayins’ka Halyts’ka Armiya, UHA), was the Ukrainian military of the West Ukrainian National Republic during and after the Polish-Ukrainian War. It wa ...
which fought against Poland for Ukrainian independence after World War I, were noblemen.The Hero of the November ''Snatch'' Dmytro Vitovsky. Lvivska Hazeta. By Ihor Chornovil. /ref>
Yevhen Petrushevych
Yevhen Omelyanovych Petrushevych ( uk, Євге́н Омеля́нович Петруше́вич; June 3, 1863 in Busk, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Kronland of Austro-Hungary – August 29, 1940 in Berlin, Germany) was a Ukrainian law ...
, president of the
West Ukrainian People's Republic
The West Ukrainian People's Republic (WUPR) or West Ukrainian National Republic (WUNR), known for part of its existence as the Western Oblast of the Ukrainian People's Republic, was a short-lived polity that controlled most of Eastern Gali ...
was from a family of noble priests who traced their origins to Galician boyars. In a survey given to members of the Ukrainian National Council, the legislative body of the
Western Ukrainian People's Republic
The West Ukrainian People's Republic (WUPR) or West Ukrainian National Republic (WUNR), known for part of its existence as the Western Oblast of the Ukrainian People's Republic, was a short-lived polity that controlled most of Eastern Galic ...
, although 2.4% listed their primary social origin as nobility several of those who listed their origin as clergy also came from noble families.
During the period of Polish rule over Western Ukraine between the world wars, efforts by the Polish government in the 1930s to split the Ukrainian nobility from other Ukrainians (through the formation of ''Kola Szlacheckie'') were unsuccessful. Such efforts backfired, resulting in many nobles rejecting and even concealing their status as nobles in order to avoid possible association with the Polish nation and in order to emphasize their solidarity with the Ukrainian people, most of whom were the descendants of peasants.
In the early 21st century an attempt was made to revive the Association of Ruthenian Gentry. Based in the traditional heartland of western Ukrainian nobility, the town of
Sambir
Sambir ( uk, Самбір, pl, Sambor, yi, סאמבאָר, Sambor) is a city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sambir Raion (district) and is located close to the border with Poland. Sambir hosts t ...
, its first head was the priest Petro
Sas
SAS or Sas may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''SAS'' (novel series), a French book series by Gérard de Villiers
* ''Shimmer and Shine'', an American animated children's television series
* Southern All Stars, a Japanese rock ba ...
-Pohoretsky.
Culture
Speech and naming traditions
The earliest recorded observations noted that western Ukrainian nobles spoke the East Slavic Ukrainian (or Ruthenian) language, rather than Polish.Lubov Slivka. (2009). Галицька Дрібна Шляхта в Австро-Угорщині (Ukrainian: Galician Petty Nobility in Austria-Hungary) Ivano-Frankivsk, Golden Griffin series Although they spoke the same language as the Ukrainian peasants, they maintained their own particular traditions. Nobles tended to be more likely to be literate than were peasants. The nobility tended to use the literary Ukrainian language rather than local village dialects. Reflecting some exposure to education, noble speech was also differentiated from that of the peasants by the frequent use of Polish and Latin words and expressions.
The western Ukrainian nobility often used as surnames the names of the villages where they lived. For example, the nobles of Terlo adopted the name Terletsky, and those of Kulchytsi adopted the name Kulchytsky. Surnames ending in -ich (-ич) or -ik (-ик) were also used. They usually gave their children Ukrainian names but on occasion gave them Polish versions of Ukrainian names.
Lifestyle
Villages populated primarily by nobles generally had no central planning, with the nobles building their homes wherever they liked on their properties. Western Ukrainian nobles typically lived in small one or two room houses with straw roofs whose interiors were in most ways indistinguishable from those of the peasants. Noble homes differed from those of peasants primarily by their outward appearance. Noble homes had front porches, with columns, and larger windows than did peasant homes.Alexander Basianovich. (2008) ТРАДИЦІЙНО -ПОБУТОВА КУЛЬТУРА ГАЛИЦЬКОЇ ДРІБНОЇ ШЛЯХТИ ХІХ – ПОЧАТКУ ХХ С Т. У Т ВОРЧОСТІ АНДРІЯ ЧАЙКОВСЬКОГО НАРОДНА ТВОРЧІСТЬ ТА ЕТНОГРАФІЯ (Native Creations and Ethnography), Volume 5. pp.99-105
Those nobles who were not also priests usually worked as farmers and, after the abolition of serfdom in 1848, had lifestyles very similar to those of the Ukrainian peasants. When possible, the nobility sought to use common fields and forests that were different from those used by peasants. A minor difference between peasants and nobles was the peasants tended to use
oxen
An ox ( : oxen, ), also known as a bullock (in BrE
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer spec ...
for plowing, while the nobility favored the use of horses for such work. This tradition was likely a vestige of earlier times when the nobles' ancestors were obligated to occasionally use horses for military activities and as scouts.
The nobles amused themselves by dancing and visiting each other in their homes; they tended to segregate themselves from peasants when doing so. Among their favorite dances were the same ones beloved by non-noble Ukrainians, such as the
Kolomyjka
The kolomyika ( uk, кoлoмийкa, pl, kołomyjka; also spelled kolomeyka or kolomeike) is a Hutsuls, Hutsul (Ukraine, Ukrainian) music genre that combines a fast-paced folk dance and comedic rhymed verses. It includes a type of performance da ...
Mazurka
The mazurka (Polish: ''mazur'' Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and ''mazurek'' Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character de ...
, popular among Poles, was shunned by Ukrainian nobles.
Marriage and family
The nobility avoided marriage with non-nobles despite similar lifestyle to those of peasants. For example, in one village between 1785 and 1855 out of 216 marriages, 183 were between peasants, 19 were between nobles and only 3 were mixed marriages between nobles and peasants (although some unrecorded marriages could have been mixed).Yaroslav Hrytsak. (2006) Ivan Franko - Peasant son? Україна: культурна спадщина, національна свідомість, державність vol. 15 The status of nobility was conferred through the male line, so the children of noblewomen who married commoners were no longer considered to be nobles. In order to insure noble spouses, if there were few nobles in the immediate area marriages were sometimes arranged with noble families from distant villages, and as late as the nineteenth century there were recorded cases of people being married against their will. Even into the 1980s in some villages populated by noble families, the members of the nobility avoided marrying commoners. The few cases of marriage between nobles and commoners typically involved particularly poor nobles marrying prosperous non-nobles. The writer
Ivan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko (Ukrainian: Іван Якович Франко, pronounced ˈwɑn ˈjɑkowɪtʃ frɐnˈkɔ 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, ...
was the product of such a marriage.
The nobility were renowned for their elaborate wedding ceremonies, which by custom lasted from Saturday until Saturday and which attempted to recreate or maintain the old traditional grand celebrations of distant ancestors. Noble brides wore white for the wedding ceremony, unlike peasant brides who would wear embroidered costumes. Large numbers of noble guests were invited, including nobles from neighboring villages. The groom would arrive for the ceremony on horseback, while the bride would arrive on a carriage. Following the wedding ceremony, young noblemen would fire their pistols into the air as a way of saluting the new pair and wishing them a long life. Beer, wine and food were provided for an entire week of celebrations. The first three days of festivities were spent at the bride's house. Afterwards, the dowry (which could consist of items such as a cow, horse, cart, plow or land) was presented to the groom's family and the party shifted to the groom's house for the remaining four days.
Clothing
Clothing served a very important function for the nobles because after they lost their legal privileges in the early 19th century, manner of dressing was one of the few ways they could demonstrate that they were different from the peasants. The Ukrainian nobility retained particular forms of clothing that differentiated them from both Ukrainian peasants and from Polish nobility, although it was generally of the Ukrainian type. Nobles tended to decorate their clothes with black rather than red embroidery because the latter color was considered peasant-like. Indeed, they tended to avoid colors in general and mostly dressed in shades of black and gray. In some regions it was customary for men to wear blue cloaks with grey edges similar to Cossack zupans. Women wore coats with fox-fur collars. Nobles also wore vests with two rows instead of one row of buttons. The village nobility were often interested in wearing the same clothes that townsfolk wore. The men often wore collared shirts and even ties. Because many of the nobles were unable to afford to buy such clothes, they sewed approximations of them using the same materials that peasants used for their clothing. If a noble married a peasant, the noble was forbidden by other nobles from wearing clothes identifying themselves as a noble and if caught doing so, his or her "noble" clothes would be torn off.
Relationships with Ukrainian peasants
Despite having a similar lifestyle to the peasants, members of the nobility were noted for the proud way in which they distinguished themselves from them. The fact that their ancestors, unlike those of their peasant neighbors, had never been serfs was a source of pride for noble families. The nobles were fond of the Polish saying, "''Szlachcic na zagrodzie równy wojewodzie''" ("The noble behind his garden wall is the province governor's equal"). They typically added "nobilis" or "nobilis agrikola" (denoted their work as farmers) when signing their names, and it was said that even when herding livestock or trading in the markets they carried documents confirming their noble rank in their pockets. Members of the nobility, regardless of level of education, typically knew the distant history and exploits of their families and would pass these stories on to their children.
As late as the late nineteenth century, long after the legal distinctions between western Ukrainian nobles and peasants disappeared, certain customs maintaining noble social superiority over their peasant neighbors were retained. The nobility denigrated the peasants by referring to them as "nine-skinned" (''дев’ятьшкірними'') in reference to their supposed greater weight, and referred to peasant clothes as rags. Nobles of any age, even youths, typically addressed all peasants, even those older or wealthier then themselves, with the informal "you" (''ty,'') while even older and wealthier peasants addressed all nobles with the formal pronoun ''vy.'' In villages with noble populations, taverns had separate areas set aside for the nobles, whose tables were covered in tablecloths and who used chairs rather than the crude benches used by the peasants; in such towns nobles and peasants also had separate areas in the churches. The latter practice continues to survive in some western Ukrainian villages populated by the descendants of nobles. In some regions on Easter, nobles typically blessed their Easter baskets within the churches while peasants' baskets were blessed outside. In other regions, the nobles were granted the right to cut folding collars from shirts worn by peasants, because the peasants were deemed unworthy of wearing them. As late as the 1950s, on some collective farms in Soviet-ruled western Ukraine, nobles and peasants were assigned to separate work-groups.
The peasants had mixed feelings about the nobility. On the one hand, peasant songs mentioned noble laziness and shoddy workmanship. Despite nobles' feelings of superiority, during the late nineteenth century the western Ukrainian nobility had a reputation among the peasants of being poorer than peasants because they did not work as hard. Due to the nobility's material poverty, the peasants sometimes viewed the nobles' proclamations of their status and expressions of superiority as ridiculous. On the other hand, it was considered a great honor in a peasant household if someone married a noble.
In literature
The western Ukrainian poet
Ivan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko (Ukrainian: Іван Якович Франко, pronounced ˈwɑn ˈjɑkowɪtʃ frɐnˈkɔ 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, ...
, whose mother was a noblewoman, supported the peasants and in his writings frequently mocked the Ukrainian nobility's feelings of superiority.
A western Ukrainian nobleman serves as a protagonist in the story ''Der Don Juan von Kolomea'' (The Don Juan of Kolomiya) written by Austrian writer
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch (; 27 January 1836 – 9 March 1895) was an Austrian nobleman, writer and journalist, who gained renown for his romantic stories of Galician life. The term ''masochism'' is derived from his name, invented by h ...
, whose mother was from the western Ukrainian nobility.
Prominent western Ukrainians with noble backgrounds
*
Ivan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko (Ukrainian: Іван Якович Франко, pronounced ˈwɑn ˈjɑkowɪtʃ frɐnˈkɔ 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, ...
, Ukrainian poet. His father was a village blacksmith of German ethnic origin, but his mother was from the petty noble Kulchytsky family.
*
Jacques Hnizdovsky
Jacques Hnizdovsky ( uk, Яків Гніздовський,
pl, Jakub Gniazdowski, hr, Jakiv Hnizdovskij), (1915–1985) was a Ukrainian-American painter, printmaker, graphic
designer, illustrator and sculptor.
Biography
Jacques Hnizdovs ...
, Ukrainian artist.
*
Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny
Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny ( uk, Петро Конашевич-Сагайдачний; pl, Piotr Konaszewicz-Sahajdaczny; born about 1582 in Kulchytsi, today Sambir Raion – 20 April 1622 in Kyiv) was a Ukrainian Cossack political and ...
, sixteenth-seventeenth century Cossack leader, of noble origins from the Sambir region of Galicia.
*
Solomiya Krushelnytska
Solomiya Amvrosiivna KrushelnytskaHer name is sometimes spelt as Solomiya Ambrosiyivna Krushelnytska, Salomea Krusceniski, Krushel'nytska or Kruszelnicka. ( uk, Соломія Амвро́сіївна Крушельницька, links=no; Septem ...
, early twentieth-century opera singer, born into the family of a priest with noble origins.
*
Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki
Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki of the Sas coat of arms (german: Georg Franz Kolschitzky, uk, Юрій-Франц Кульчицький, translit=Yurii-Frants Kulchytskyi; 1640 – February 19, 1694) was a Polish nobleman, diplomat, and spy during t ...
, hero during the 1683
Battle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna; pl, odsiecz wiedeńska, lit=Relief of Vienna or ''bitwa pod Wiedniem''; ota, Beç Ḳalʿası Muḥāṣarası, lit=siege of Beç; tr, İkinci Viyana Kuşatması, lit=second siege of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mou ...
, allegedly the first person to open a coffee house in Vienna. Nobleman from Sambir region.
*
Soter Ortynsky
Stephen Soter Ortynsky Hentosh, O.S.B.M. ( uk, Сотер Ортинський; 29 January 1866 – 24 March 1916) was the first Bishop of all Greek Catholics in the United States.
Life
Soter Stephen Ortynsky de Labetz was born in , Lviv Oblast, ...
, first Ukrainian Catholic Bishop in the United States (1907–1916), a nobleman from Sambir region
*
Yevhen Petrushevych
Yevhen Omelyanovych Petrushevych ( uk, Євге́н Омеля́нович Петруше́вич; June 3, 1863 in Busk, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Kronland of Austro-Hungary – August 29, 1940 in Berlin, Germany) was a Ukrainian law ...
, president of the
West Ukrainian People's Republic
The West Ukrainian People's Republic (WUPR) or West Ukrainian National Republic (WUNR), known for part of its existence as the Western Oblast of the Ukrainian People's Republic, was a short-lived polity that controlled most of Eastern Gali ...
, from a priestly family who traced their descent to Galician boyars
*
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch (; 27 January 1836 – 9 March 1895) was an Austrian nobleman, writer and journalist, who gained renown for his romantic stories of Galician life. The term ''masochism'' is derived from his name, invented by h ...
, Austrian writer whose mother was from a Ukrainian noble family.The cultural legacy of Sacher-Masoch Nataliya Kosmolinska and Yury Okhrimenko
*
Julian Sas-Kuilovsky
Julian Sas-Kuilovsky ( uk, Куїловський Юліан; 1 May 1826 – 4 May 1900) was the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1899 until his death in 1900.
Life
Julian Sas-Kuilovsky was born on May 1, 1 ...
, head of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
, native_name_lang = uk
, caption_background =
, image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG
, imagewidth =
, type = Particular church (sui iuris)
, alt =
, caption = St. George's C ...
1899–1900; nobleman from Sambir region
*
Dmytro Vitovsky
Dmytro Vitovsky ( uk, Дмитро Вітовський) (8 November 1887 – 2 or 4 August 1919) was a Ukrainian politician and military leader.
Vitovsky was born into a family of gentry. in the village of Medukha in Galicia (today in Ivano-Fran ...
, first commander of the
Ukrainian Galician Army
Ukrainian Galician Army ( uk, Українська Галицька Армія, translit=Ukrayins’ka Halyts’ka Armiya, UHA), was the Ukrainian military of the West Ukrainian National Republic during and after the Polish-Ukrainian War. It wa ...
Halych
Halych ( uk, Га́лич ; ro, Halici; pl, Halicz; russian: Га́лич, Galich; german: Halytsch, ''Halitsch'' or ''Galitsch''; yi, העליטש) is a historic city on the Dniester River in western Ukraine. The city gave its name to the P ...
region .
*
Stefan Yavorsky
Stefan Yavorsky (russian: Стефа́н Яво́рский, uk, Стефа́н Яво́рський), born Simeon Ivanovich Yavorsky (russian: Симеон Иванович Яворский) (1658Most sources (including thGreat Soviet Encyclop ...
, first president of the
Most Holy Synod
The Most Holy Governing Synod (russian: Святѣйшій Правительствующій Сѵнодъ, Святейший Правительствующий Синод) was the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church betwee ...
of the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
; nobleman form Lviv region, heraldric sign Sas
*
Denis Zubrytsky
Denis Ivanovych Zubrytsky ( uk, Дени́с Іва́нович Зубри́цький, ; 1777 – January 16, 1862), was the first Ukrainian historian in Galicia and a major early figure in the Galician Russophile movement.Galician Russophile movement.Denys Zubrytsky, Encyclopedia of Ukraine (1993). Volume 5. Published by University of Toronto. Article written by Roman Senkus