Ukrainian Culture under Poland-Lithuania

Poland was a Catholic country and it was interested in spreading Catholic faith and culture. Many Ukrainian nobles and wealthy burghers gave up their Orthodox religion and adopted a more prestigious Catholic faith. Besides, switching to Catholicism opened great opportunities for their career growth. Polish culture was much more developed than Ukrainian culture as it was part of European Catholic culture. Polish university in Krakow (founded in 1364) was one of the most prestigious in Europe.¹⁶ Polish science, art, and literature were of high European standards. No wonder wealthy Ukrainians were eager to receive education in Polish schools. A number of Ukrainians continued their study in Krakow and other prestigious European universities. Some of them became noted professors.¹⁷ Polish schools gave excellent education (a language of instruction, along with Polish, was Latin and that opened the way for graduates to continue their studies in any European university¹⁸), but they also Polonized and Catholicized Ukrainians who studied there.

Not all Ukrainian nobles and wealthy burghers changed their Orthodoxy for Catholicism. Some of them did not want Ukraine to be Catholicized. To protect Orthodox faith they established organizations called bratstva (brotherhoods) at Orthodox churches. The brotherhoods were designed after similar Protestant organizations that appeared in Central and Eastern Europe (including Rzeczpospolita) in the 16^th century with the aim of protecting Protestantism. Bratstva published Ukrainian religious books, financially supported Orthodox churches, monasteries and hospitals, opened schools, and tried to defend Orthodoxy and the rights of Orthodox believers by any legal means. Their schools gave good secondary education (their curriculum was designed according to European educational standards) and soon became competitors of Polish secondary schools. Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox schools competed with each other. They constantly wor­ked at improving their quality to attract students and thus contributed to the raising of educational level in Ukraine.

Unfortunately for the bratstva schools, they were gradually losing competition with the Catholic schools. It happened because, for ideological reasons, the bratstva schools made emphasis on studying Orthodox languages (Greek and Church Slavonic) instead of Latin (the official language of the Catholic Church). It was a mistake since Latin was not only the official language of the Catholic Church, but also the language of government, science, education, and diplomacy all around Europe. Thus, studying in a Catholic school was more practical for making a career in the future. Nevertheless, bratstva played a very important role in protecting Ukrainian culture. Since religion was the basis of culture, protection of religion meant protection of culture.

One of the most prominent Ukrainian Orthodox schools of advanced leaning was the so-called Ostroh Academy,¹⁹ founded by Prince Kostiantyn Ostrozky in 1576. It was the first institution of higher education in Ukraine, similar in many respects to Western European higher education institutions of the time. K. Ostrozky was the wealthiest magnate of the Commonwealth. He possessed 100 towns and 13,000 villages and was often called the uncrowned king of the Rzeczpospolita. (He could not be king because of his Orthodox beliefs). The school taught three languages (Greek, Church-Slavonic, and Latin), theology and philosophy, grammar, mathematics, astronomy, rhetoric, logic, etc. One of the most famous graduates of the school was popular Cossack hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny. There was a publishing house in Ostroh where the first Ukrainian Bible (known as the Ostroh Bible) was published in 1581 by Ivan Fedorov. After the death of its founder – Prince Kostiantyn Ostrozky (1608), the Academy decayed and was transformed into a Catholic school (1620) by his Catholicized descendants.

Another famous Ukrainian Orthodox school of advanced learning was the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium founded in Kyiv by metropolitan Petro Mohyla²⁰ in 1632. Its curriculum was based on European standards, so the collegium attracted students from Ukraine and other Orthodox countries (Russia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Walachia). In fact, it became the only Orthodox institution of higher education in Eastern Europe. Latin was a language of instruction. The collegium also had its own publishing house and published books on various subjects. In 1658 under the terms of the Treaty of Hadiach it was recognized by the Polish king as an academy (university). The status of an academy was confirmed by the decrees of the Russian tsar in 1694 and 1701.²¹

The first Catholic university on Ukrainian territory was established in 1661 in Lviv, when the King John II Casimir of Poland issued the diploma granting the city’s Jesuit Collegium, founded in 1608, “the honor of the Academy and the title of the University.” In general, at the end of the 16^th – beginning of 17^th centuries there were about a dozen institutions of higher education (collegiums) on Ukrainian lands established by Catholic religious orders (Jesuits and Dominicans).

In general, many Ukrainian historians assess the influence of Polish culture on Ukrainian culture positively. Poland was a developed European country and through it major cultural European currents (such as the Renaissance and the Reformation) penetrated into Ukraine and stimulated its cultural development. Ukraine was turned into an ordinary Polish province and enjoyed practically the same rights as other Polish provinces. Important cities had the so-called Magdeburg law (democratic self-government and court on the basis of an elective system)²² which contributed to the development of democratic traditions in Ukraine and stimulated the economy. In contrast to Russia, Ukrainian cities had multiethnic character and thus were notable for their tolerance. City-dwellers usually were made up of Poles, Germans, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, and Ukrainians (who were often minority). The nobility could enjoy broad political freedoms. Though Poland promoted the dominant Catholic faith it could also boast of religious tolerance: there were Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Greek Catholic (a mixture of Catholic and Orthodox), and Armenian churches, as well as Jewish synagogues. In contrast to Ukraine, Russia at the time was a backward and closed society with a very limited number of educated people. Russians did not have secondary schools at the time and traveling abroad was not welcomed. Religious and cultural intolerance in Russia also led to centralization and despotism.

Some historians, however, evaluate Polish rule negatively. They place much emphasis on Poland’s attempts to eradicate Ukrainian culture and religion and say that Poland tried to turn Ukraine into an ordinary Polish province by means of Catholization and Polonization. Thus, Ukrainian culture and uniqueness was under serious threat.

All in all we can assume that Polish rule had two sides: 1) it brought European culture and civilization to Ukraine; 2) it started denationa­lization of Ukraine by means of Catholization and Polonization.

An important role in Ukrainian history of the Polish-Lithuanian period was played by the Jews. Jews were persecuted in Spain, Portugal, Germany, England, Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic), Hungary, and other European lands. This persecution forced them to move into Poland-Lithuania on a mass scale. The Rzeczpospolita became an important centre of Jewish cultural and economic life. Since the szlachta regarded trade and financial operations as “dirty things,” not appropriate for noblemen, they hired Jews to serve as financial middlemen between the peasants and the szlachta. Jews usually served as traders, usurers (money-lenders) and leaseholders (those who rented the estates of noblemen). Many Jews also worked as craftsmen, especially tailors.