Grégoire Orlyk, also Hryhor Orlyk (; November 5, 1702,

Baturyn Baturyn (, ) is a historic city in Chernihiv Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. It is located in Nizhyn Raion (district) on the banks of the Seym River. It hosts the administration of Baturyn urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. P ...

– November 14, 1759,

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

), was a French military commander, special envoy and member of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

secret intelligence service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...

. Grégoire Orlyk was born in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, the son of Ukrainian

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, ...

in exile

Pylyp Orlyk Pylyp Stepanovych Orlyk (; ; – May 26, 1742) was a Zaporozhian Cossacks, Zaporozhian Cossack statesman, diplomat and member of Cossack starshyna who served as the Hetman of Zaporizhian Cossacks, hetman in exile from 1710 to 1742. He was a cl ...

and

Hanna Hertsyk Hanna Hertsyk (died around 1752на основі знахідки Барвінського Богдана), known in Europe as Anna d'Orlik, was a Ukrainian Hetmana by marriage to Pylyp Orlyk, Hetman of Ukraine (r. 1708–1742). She is known for ...

. He received a good education in Sweden, served in Poland and

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, and participated in the secret efforts of France to restore

Stanisław Leszczyński Stanisław I Leszczyński (Stanisław Bogusław; 20 October 1677 – 23 February 1766), also Anglicized and Latinized as Stanislaus I, was twice King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and at various times Prince of Deux-Ponts, Duk ...

to the Polish throne. He later commanded the king's regiment of '' Royal suédois''. For his intelligence work and military exploits he was given the title of '' comte'' and promoted to the general's rank of

Maréchal de camp ''Maréchal de camp'' (sometimes incorrectly translated as field marshal) was a general officer rank used by the French Army until 1848. The rank originated from the older rank of sergeant major general ( French: ''sergent-major général'') ...

. Grégoire Orlyk was an acquaintance of the French philosopher

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

, and championed the Ukrainian cause in France and other countries.

Background

Hryhor Orlyk was born on November 5, 1702, in

, the capital of

Cossack Hetmanate The Cossack Hetmanate (; Cossack Hetmanate#Name, see other names), officially the Zaporozhian Host (; ), was a Ukrainian Cossacks, Cossack state. Its territory was located mostly in central Ukraine, as well as in parts of Belarus and southwest ...

in the family of Cossacks' ''General scribe''

. The family was very well connected with the then hetman

Ivan Mazepa Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa (; ; ) was the Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host and the Left-bank Ukraine in 1687–1708. The historical events of Mazepa's life have inspired Cultural legacy of Mazeppa, many literary, artistic and musical works. He was ...

, who became Hryhor's godfather. After Mazepa's defeat at Poltava in 1709, he and his allies, including the family of Pylyp Orlyk, fled Ukraine for Ottoman territory:

Bendery Bender (, ) or Bendery (, ; ), also known as Tighina ( mo-Cyrl, Тигина, links=no), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under ''de facto'' control of the unrecognized Transnistria, Pridnestrovian Moldavian Rep ...

(present-day

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

), where Orlyk and his family lived for five years, together with other Ukrainian émigrés and the defeated Swedish king

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

. Upon Mazepa's death, Pylyp Orlyk was proclaimed the hetman of Ukraine in exile and by agreement between

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1714, Charles XII and his allies were allowed safe passage to Sweden.

Zerkalo Nedeli ''Dzerkalo Tyzhnia'' (, ), usually referred to in English as the ''Mirror of the week'', is a Ukrainian online newspaper; it was one of Ukraine's most influential analytical weekly-publisher newspapers, founded in 1994.Orlyk's son.
№ 43 (418) 9 — 15 November 2002 (Ukrainian) In Sweden the young Orlyk was signed up in the Swedish royal guard until 1716, when he began his studies at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

. There he spent two years and received a good education: he studied music (and became a proficient

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

player),

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

, and became fluent in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and several other European languages. After two more years in the king's service, his father moved to Germany in 1720 and took his son with him. There with the help of his father in 1721 he received a lieutenant's post in the cavalry guard of Saxony. His service there didn't last long, as in 1726 Russia demanded his extradition from Saxony, and the young officer moved first to Austria and then to Poland, where he became an adjutant of the crown hetman. Eventually Orlyk allied himself with the pro-French party within the court that was trying to restore

to the Polish throne. Orlyk acted as a secret liaison between Joseph Poniatowski and the French ambassador in Warsaw.

In the French secret service

In 1729, Orlyk was entrusted with the mission to bring the exiled former king

from France to Poland upon the death of king

August II Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...

. For this mission, he was issued false travel documents and went to Paris, disguised as a Swedish officer Gustav Bartel. In

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

he met Leszczyński and obtained a promise from him to restore his father

as hetman of Ukraine in exchange for his services. In Paris he also met Cardinal Fleury, the first minister of Louis XV, with whom he discussed the prospects for Stanisław Leszczyński's restoration in Poland. In 1730 he entered into French diplomatic service and was sent on a secret mission to Istanbul to set up an anti-Russian coalition with the Turks and the Crimean Tatars. Two years later he was again dispatched to Istanbul and from there to the Crimean khan

Qaplan I Giray Qaplan I Giray Crimean Tatar, Ottoman Turkish and was three times khan of the Crimean Khanate. He was the son of Selim I Giray and thus one of the six brothers who ruled for most of the period from 1699 to 1743. During his first reign he was de ...

, before whom he urged the Tatars to attack Russia and help him in his cause. After the death of Polish King August

in 1733, as per his agreement with the French, Stanisław Leszczyński was brought from Paris to Warsaw along with a million

florins The Florentine florin was a gold coin (in Italian ''Fiorino d'oro'') struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains () of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a pu ...

necessary to secure Leszczyński's election with bribes. On Orlyk's return to Paris, Louis XV rewarded him with a diamond ring, while Queen Marie – the daughter of Stanisław Leszczyński – gave him her portrait adorned with precious stones. However, in less than 3 years, Leszczyński lost the throne of Poland and had to flee to

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

, from where Grégoire Orlyk brought him back to France. In 1734 and 1735 Orlyk made further trips to Turkey and to Crimea and in 1737 to Sweden, fostering an anti-Russian alliance that did not materialize, despite his efforts. Louis XV contemplated appointing him French ambassador to Turkey, but under pressure from St. Petersburg he changed his mind. In 1740s Grégoire Orlyk proposed to the king an ambitious plan of resettling Ukrainian Cossacks in the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

region under French protection; however, this too was dropped because of Turkey's objections. Later on, Orlyk belonged to the special intelligence service of Louis XV – the '' Secret du Roi'' – and went on clandestine missions to many European countries, for which he received praise from numerous quarters, including the highest decorations from France, Poland and Sweden.Dniprova Khvylya, Borys Krupnytsk
Hetman Pylyp Orlyk - His life and destiny.
Munich, 1956 (Ukrainian)

Military leader

In 1747 through marriage, Grégoire Orlyk acquired substantial wealth and bought a colonel's commission in the king's '' Royal suédois'' regiment. He fought in the Seven Years' War in Europe, distinguishing himself in the battle of Rosbach and the siege of

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

. For his exploits in battle, he was given the title of '' comte'' and was promoted to the junior general's rank of ''

''. In 1759 he commanded an army corps under the marshal of France the comte de Broglie, and was further promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. On November 14, 1759, at the battle near the German town of Minden, he was fatally wounded in the chest and died on the same day.Bertil Haggma
L’hetman Pylyp Orlyk et son gouvernement en exil en Suède.
retrieved 19 July 2008 (French)

Legacy

Upon the death of his father

, Grégoire Orlyk had become the unofficial leader of Ukrainian émigrés in Europe. While in France, he met with

several times and advised Voltaire on his work ''History of Charles XII, King of Sweden (1731)''. The first biography of Grégoire Orlyk was by the historian Elie Borschak, who published ''Hryhor Orlyk, France's Cossack General'' in 1956. This biography contained many interesting and new discoveries about Orlyk. However, this book made the erroneous claim that the

Orly Orly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name of Orly came from Latin ''Aureliacum'', "the villa of Aurelius". Orly Airport partially lies on the territory of the c ...

commune near Paris was named after Grégoire Orlyk, who had his estate in the area. This is false as the name derives from ''Aureliacum'' and has been in use at least since the 8th century CE.

Ernest Nègre Ernest Angély Séraphin Nègre (, 11 October 1907 – 15 April 2000) was a French toponymist. He was born in Saint-Julien-Gaulène (Tarn) and died in Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefe ...

, '' Toponymie générale de la France'' : ''étymologie de 35000 noms de lieux'', volume I, , No. 6866, Genève, Droz, 1990. In 2006 voluminous records of Orlyk's clandestine correspondence with Louis XV within the ''Secret du Roi'' were discovered in the French archives and are being studied.

Literature

* Iryna Dmytrychyn. ''Grégoire Orlyk – Un Cosaque ukrainien au service de Louis XV''. L'Harmattan, Paris. * Orest Subtelny. ''Ukraine. A history''. University of Toronto press. 1994. . * Borschak Е. ''Hryhor Orlyk, France's Cossack General'', Toronto, 1956

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orlyk, Gregoire French people of Ukrainian descent French people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent 18th-century French military personnel 18th-century Ukrainian people Gregoire 1702 births 1759 deaths People from Chernihiv Oblast People from the Cossack Hetmanate Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)