Dmytro Ivanovych Vyshnevetsky (; ; ) was a Ruthenian

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. He established the Zaporozhian Cossack stronghold on the Small Khortytsia Island. He was also known as ''Baida'' () in Ukrainian folk songs.

Biography

Dmytro Vyshnevetsky was born into the powerful family of Ruthenian

(?-1542) (part of

Gediminids The House of Gediminas (), or simply the Gediminids, were a dynasty of monarchs in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. A cadet branch of this family, known as the Jagiellonian dynasty, reigned also in th ...

bloodline and the youngest son of Michał Zbaraski) and Nastazja Olizarowicz (?-1536), daughter of . At first Dmytro Vyshnevetsky lived in the town of Vyshnivets of the

Kremenets Kremenets (, ; ; ) is a city in Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kremenets Raion, and lies north-east of the Pochaiv Lavra. The city is situated in the historic region of Volhynia and features the 12th-c ...

Powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

(

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

). In 1550–1553, Vyshnevetsky became a

starosta Starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', ) is a community elder in some Slavic lands. The Slavic root of "starost" translates as "senior". Since the Middle Ages, it has designated an official in a leadersh ...

of the

Cherkasy Cherkasy (, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre ...

and the Kaniv Powiats. Vyshnevetsky has been called the first Cossack

Hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

, although he is not mentioned with this title in the 16th-century sources. Dmytro ''Baida'' Vyshnevetsky was an able leader, although somewhat of a reckless adventurer. He started organizing a

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

army in 1550 against the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

. Displeased with the king

Sigismund II Augustus Sigismund II Augustus (, ; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and t ...

's policy of Catholization and centralization of power, he was ready to go over to the Turks. However, he was appointed to fortify the island of Mala Khortytsia on the

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

beyond the rapids. According to Hrushevsky, Vyshnevetsky built the fortress out of his own pocket as both

and Devlet I Giray refused to provide any assistance. Eventually he managed to develop it to the point that khan Devlet I Giray could not take it, and he deflected the khan's efforts to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. In 1556 in service to

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

he helped lead two raids of Ukrainian Cossacks and Russians against the

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

around

Ochakiv Ochakiv (, ), also known as Ochakov (; ; or, archaically, ) and Alektor (), is a small city in Mykolaiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast (region) of southern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Ochakiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. ...

. In 1558 he raided around Perekop. In 1559 he raided down the

Donets The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets (), is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv ...

and Don. With the start of the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

, Ivan turned his attention west and Vyshnevetsky, returned to the Lithuanian service with a great number of his Adyghe warriors. His Pyatigorsky detachments became the major military force of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in centuries to come. In 1561, at the request of the Lithuanian prince, he went back to fortifying Khortytsia. In 1563 he was involved in Moldavian affairs, perhaps hoping to obtain the throne of

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

, but was defeated by the Turks, taken prisoner, and tortured to death in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Vyshnevetsky's fortifications on Khortytsia, called sich, served as a prototype for later fortifications of the

Zaporizhian Sich The Zaporozhian Sich (, , ; also ) was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of Zaporozhian Cossacks that existed between the 16th to 18th centuries, for the latter part of that period as an autonomous stratocratic state within the Cossa ...

In popular culture

Dmytro Vyshnevetsky Commemorative Hryvnia

He appears as an antagonist in The Ringed Castle, a 1971 novel by

Dorothy Dunnett Dorothy, Lady Dunnett (née Halliday, 25 August 1923 – 9 November 2001) was a Scottish novelist best known for her historical fiction. Dunnett is most famous for her six novel series set during the 16th century, which concern the fictiti ...

. In the film Propala Hramota (The lost letter, 1972), a fragment of the famous old Ukrainian folk song about Baida was sung by Ivan Mykolaychuk: 12th Operational Brigade of the

National Guard of Ukraine The National Guard of Ukraine (NGU; , ; /NHU ) is the Ukrainian national gendarmerie and internal military force. It is part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, responsible for public security. Originally created as an agency under the dire ...

was given his Honorary name to honour his legacy.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* Arkadii Zhukovsky
Vyshnevetsky, Dmytro in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vyshnevetsky, Dmytro Hetmans of the Zaporozhian Cossacks Zaporozhian Cossacks

Dmytro Dmytro (, ) is a Ukrainian name, derived from the Greek Demetrios. Nicknames Nicknames of the name Dmytro include: * Dima (; most common) *Dimochka (Дімочка) *Dimulia (Дімуля) *Dimusha (Дімуша) *Dimusia (Дімуся) *Dmyt ...

Year of birth unknown 1563 deaths People from Ternopil Oblast Zaporozhian Cossack nobility Ruthenian nobility 16th-century Ukrainian people 16th-century military officers Ukrainian military leaders Ukrainian folklore Ukrainian legends

Biography

In popular culture

See also

References

Bibliography

External links