Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny

Infobox_President
name=Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny
Петро Конашевич-Сагайдачний
nationality=


order= Hetman of Ukraine
term_start=1614
term_end=1622
predecessor=Severyn Nalyvaiko
successor=Mykhailo Doroshenko
birth_date=1595
birth_place=Kulchyntsi, Ukraine
death_date=death date|1622|3|20|mf=y
death_place=Kiev, Ukraine
spouse=
brothers=
political party=
religion=Eastern Orthodox

|

Petro (Kononovych) Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi, Kononovych by his father's namecite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages%5CK%5CO%5CKonashevych6SahaidachnyPetro.htm |title=Konashevych-Sahaidachny, Petro |accessdate= |accessmonthday= |accessyear= |author= |last=Wynar |first=L. |authorlink= |coauthors=Zhukovsky, A |work=Encyclopedia of Ukraine ] ( _uk. Петро (Кононович) Конашевич-Сагайдачний; _pl. Piotr Konaszewicz-Sahajdaczny; _ru. Пётр (Кононович) Конашевич-Сагайдачный; 1570 in Kulchyntsi–March 20, 1622 in Kiev), was a Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host from 1614–1622, an organizer of the Ukrainian Cossack armies, and political and civic leader. His troops played a significant role in the battle of Khotyn against the Turks in 1621. While being a Cossack Hetman, he transformed the Cossack Host into a regular military formation and imparted a statist character to the whole Cossack movement.

Early life

Petro Konashevych was born in the village of Kulchyntsi, Galicia ("now in Lvivska Oblast, Ukraine") into a Ukrainian szlachta family. He was given the nickname Sahaidachny, which was a Cossack military rank equivalent to field hetman in 15th century. He started school at the Ostroh Academy in Volhynia with Meletyi Smotrytskyi, author of the "Hramatyka" book, by which many generations of Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians learned the Slavic language. With the years, Sahaidachny moved to Lviv, and later Kiev, where he was a tutor. Also while in Kiev, Sahaidachny worked for the Kievan judge I. Aksak.

Major campaigns

By the end of the 16th century, Sahaidachny traveled to Zaporizhia, where in 1605, he was named the Koshovyi Otaman of the Zaporozhian Host. Under his control, the host participated in campaigns against the Crimean Tatars and the Turks. The Zaporozhian Host captured a Turkish fortress, "Varnu", burned and destroyed a 10,000 men Turkish navy, and freed a mass of enprisoned Christians, in the city of Kefe (Theodosia).

In 1618, Sahaidachny joined the Anti-Turkish Holy League.cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages%5CK%5CO%5CKonashevych6SahaidachnyPetro.htm |title=Konashevych-Sahaidachny, Petro |accessdate= |accessmonthday= |accessyear= |author= |last=Wynar |first=L. |authorlink= |coauthors=Zhukovsky, A |work=Encyclopedia of Ukraine ] While his battles with the Tatars and the Turks, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was at war with Russia and was at times searching for Sahaidachny; they wanted him to provide Władysław IV Vasa, the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with 20,000 Cossacks near Moscow. Sahaidachny did, and seized the forts in the cities of Livny and Yelets. He returned to Zaporizhia, and did not only become a Koshovyi Otaman, but was practically the Hetman of Ukraine. In order to avoid conflict with the Poles, Sahaidachny agreed to lower the Cossack register to 300 men, forbade unauthorized sea raides, and had accepted the Polish king's right to confirm Sahaidachny's choice for Cossack officers.cite book | title=Ukraine: A History | author=Subtelny, Orest | publisher=University of Toronto Press | year=2000 | id=ISBN 0-8020-8390-0 | pages=116]

Kievan Brotherhood

Not only did Sahaidachny fight for control, he also fought for the religious and cultural rights of the Ukrainian people. In 1620, he registered himself and his entire Zaporozhian Host as students into the Kiev Epiphany Brotherhood School, that preceded the current Kyiv Mohyla Academy. It was done in order to protect the school from conversion from an Orthodox school into a Roman Catholic Jesuit Collegium. He also contributed to the establishment of a cultural center in Kiev and sought to unite the Cossack military with the Ukrainian clergy and nobility.

In 1620, Sahaidachny convinced the Patriarch Teophanes III of Jerusalem, who recently returned from Moscow, to reconstruct the Orthodox hierarchy, that was almost destroyed by the creation of the Greek-Catholic Church. The patriarch appointed Iov Boretsky as a Kievan Metropolitan bishop and five other bishops at the same time.cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages%5CK%5CO%5CKonashevych6SahaidachnyPetro.htm |title=Konashevych-Sahaidachny, Petro |accessdate= |accessmonthday= |accessyear= |author= |last=Wynar |first=L. |authorlink= |coauthors=Zhukovsky, A |work=Encyclopedia of Ukraine ] Because the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had threatened to arrest Teophanes III as a spy, Sahaidachny was guaranteed his protection by the patriarch. After the new metropoliten and bishops were installed, Sahaidachny escorted the patriarch to the Ottoman border with a 3,000 men Cossack army.cite book | title=Ukraine: A History | author=Subtelny, Orest | publisher=University of Toronto Press | year=2000 | id=ISBN 0-8020-8390-0 | pages=116]

Later life and death

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth accepted the appointment, because it wanted to keep close contacts with Sahaidachny after the Turks defeated the Polish army at the Battle of Ţuţora.

Because of Sahaidachny's moderate policies towards Poland, he provoked dissatisfaction among the Cossacks, and in 1620, they briefly elected Yatsko Borodavka as hetman.cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages%5CK%5CO%5CKonashevych6SahaidachnyPetro.htm |title=Konashevych-Sahaidachny, Petro |accessdate= |accessmonthday= |accessyear= |author= |last=Wynar |first=L. |authorlink= |coauthors=Zhukovsky, A |work=Encyclopedia of Ukraine ] In 1621, the famous Battle of Khotyn had occurred, where Sahaidachny's 30,000-40,000 men Cossack army, together with hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz Commonwealth army of similar size, held Turkish sultan, Osman II, at bay for a whole month, until the first snow of Autumn compelled Osman to withdraw his weakened forces. Sahaidachny's and his army played a significant role in the battle, forcing the Turks to sign an unfavorable peace treaty.

During the battle, Sahaidachny was seriously wounded. After the battle, the Polish king rewarded Sahaidachny and his army for the service at the Polish cause.

On March 20, 1622, Sahaidachny died in Kiev due to the wounds he suffered at the Battle of Khotyn. He was later buried in the Bratsky Monastery of Kiev. [cite book | title=Issledovanie o getmane Petre Konasheviche S | author=Maksimovich, M.A. | publisher= | year= | id= | pages=] He left his assets to the brotherhood schools in Kiev and Lviv for church causes.cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages%5CK%5CO%5CKonashevych6SahaidachnyPetro.htm |title=Konashevych-Sahaidachny, Petro |accessdate= |accessmonthday= |accessyear= |author= |last=Wynar |first=L. |authorlink= |coauthors=Zhukovsky, A |work=Encyclopedia of Ukraine ] His legacy was so great, that most of the population of Kiev attended his funeral "en masse".cite book | title=Ukraine: A History | author=Subtelny, Orest | publisher=University of Toronto Press | year=2000 | id=ISBN 0-8020-8390-0 | pages=116] Sahaidachny's work, "About Unia", was highly regarded by the Lithuanian Kanclerz Lew Sapieha. [cite book | title=Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary | author= | publisher= | year=1906 | id= | pages=] In 1646, John III Sobieski, a monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, had said the following about Sahaidachny:

References

:Inline::Further reading:
*
*
*
*

External links

* [http://www.kinasevych.ca/?p=54 Orest's Digital Journal] — Petro Konashevych Sahaidachny
* [http://www.ukrop.com/ua/encyclopaedia/100names/6101.html Petro Kononovych Sahaydachnyi] at the [http://www.ukrop.com UKROP encyclopedia] uk icon
* [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Petro_Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi Wikimedia Commons] — Media on Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi