The Origin of Cossacks

Southern Ukraine was a deserted area because of constant danger of Tatar attacks. That is why it was called the Wild Field. At the same time it was a very fertile area filled with various kinds of animals and fish. Some brave people gathered into groups with the purpose of hunting and fishing in this dangerous area. When they could they attacked Tatar units which were returning back to Crimea from their military raids and took away booty. They also attacked traders²⁸ or Tatar settlements to get booty. These people were called the Cossacks.

The first mention of Ukrainian Cossacks dates back as early as 1492. That year the Crimean khan complained to the Lithuanian Grand Prince that the Cossacks attacked and robbed a Turkish trade ship. The Grand Prince promised to seek for the goods “among the Cossacks.”

The word “Cossack” is of Turkish origin and has several meanings. Ukrainian patriotic historians usually translate it as “free man” but Turkish, Polish, and some Russian historians tend to translate it as “bandit.” The first Cossacks lived on the Ukrainian steppe frontier and consisted of various social groups from runaway peasants to adventure-seeking noblemen. Although Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Russians, Moldavians, and even Tatars joined the ranks of the Cossacks, the overwhelming majority of them were Ukrainians. The thing that united these various people was their adventurous spirit. The life of the Cossack was often short but exciting. All Cossacks were also to be Orthodox. The Cossacks borrowed many words, clothes, weapons, and traditions from Turks and Tatars. For example, such words as кіш, курінь, шабля, осавул, булава, барабан, сурма, табір, майдан, ватага are borrowed from their Muslim neighbors. Magnates of the Rzeczpospolita who lived in southern Ukraine started to hire Cossacks to protect their territories and to launch armed raids on Crimea with the aim of getting booty. Cossacks were not only a Ukrainian phenomenon, a Russian variant of Cossackdom evolved father to the east, along the Don River. Sometimes Russian and Ukrainian Cossacks helped each other in their military raids against Muslims. On the other hand, the Cossacks along with Tatars made military raids against Russia. For example, in 1521 the Cossack -Tatar army under the leadership of Khan Mengli Giray and Hetman²⁹ Ostafii Dashkevych attacked Moscow.³⁰ Russians also made unions with Tatars from time to time. Ukraine, as part of Russia’s traditional enemy – Poland-Lithuania, suffered a lot as a result of such unions. For instance, in 1482 Crimean Tatars at the request of Tsar Ivan III, who promised to help the Crimeans in their struggle against the Golden Horde, attacked and destroyed Kyiv, an important city of Grand Principality of Lithuania.³¹ Cossacks, in their turn, as Poland-Lithuania’s subjects, regularly took part in the Commonwealth’s numerous wars against Russia. For example, in 1618, the Cossack army, under the leadership of Hetman Sahaidachny, burnt to cinder such Russian cities and towns as Livny, Yelets, Ryazhsk, Skopin, etc; all the inhabitants, including infants, were killed. On the other hand, the Cossacks in union with the Russians could be engaged in wars against Moldova, Crimea, Azerbaijan, and Turkey; or, in union with the Tatars, fight against Moscow or Turkey. So, we can assume that Cossacks did not have constant enemies or constant allies; all depended on circumstances and lucrative propositions from different countries.

By the mid-16^th century the Cossacks had developed a military organization which was called Zaporozhian Sich or Sich. The name comes from the military camp in the lands of the lower Dnieper. The Sich was founded by Prince Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, better known as baida (“baida” in Tatar means “carefree”). Baida-Vyshnevetsky was a very adventurous Cossack otaman (leader). He never married and spent all his life in military raids. His political orientation was not stable: he served the Polish king, Russian tsar, and Turkish sultan. In 1563 Vyshnevetsky at the head of Cossacks troops tried to capture Moldova and become king of that country. Turks helped Moldavians to defeat the Cossacks. Vyshnevetsky was brought to Istanbul and executed there.³²

Women and children, regarded as hindrance for an adventurous life, were not allowed to enter the Sich. All Zaporozhian Cossacks had equal rights and could elect and depose their leaders at their noisy councils (radas). The elections were far from democratic. The voices were not counted, so the side that shouted loudest was the winner. Radas often ended in severe fighting with a number of Cossacks killed. The elected leaders were called starshyna (officers) with otaman or hetman on the top. The deposed leaders were often killed on the spot.³³ The Sich leaders were usually obedient executors of Cossacks’ wishes and were often used by Cossacks as scapegoats in times of misfortunes. There was a humiliating practice of extraditions, when Cossacks gave out their leaders to Polish troops according to the formula ‘let your head save ours.’³⁴

The legal system of the Zaporozhian Cossacks was primitive but effective.³⁵ For example, a murderer was often tied to his victim for several days as punishment for the crime. No wonder some murderers went mad as a result of such punishment. The guilty could also be punished by being buried alive or left in the steppe, with their hands and legs tied, to be eaten to death by animals or insects. Some were impaled (usually homosexuals). The aim of such cruel punishments was to frighten other Cossacks. Cossacks were not afraid of death but the methods of killing could influence them. The most punishable crimes were murdering, stealing, and homosexuality.

Gradually, the number of Cossacks grew and many of them settled in frontier towns or villages, coming from time to time to the Sich to take part in adventurous military raids to Crimea, Moldova or Turkey. Military raids to these countries were arranged every year, not infrequently several times a year. Turkish historians stress the cruelty of Cossack raids on their territory. They write that Cossacks appeared on the coast unexpectedly (their boats were too shallow to be seen from distance). Local population of Turkish and Tatar coastal towns was looted, buildings and mosques burnt, many men killed and women raped (Cossacks were especially hungry for women as there were no women in the Sich).³⁶ The negative image of the Ukrainian Cossack is immortalized in Turkish folklore. Turkish mothers warned their children that a Cossack would take them if they behaved badly. It is to some extent similar to the image of Babai in Ukrainian folklore traditions.

Quite often the Cossacks, following the example of Crimean Tatars, took yasyr during their military raids. For example, Cossack otaman Nalyvaiko in 1594 burnt dozens of Turkish and Tatar settlements and took 4,000 captives as yasyr. In 1603 the Cossacks took thousands of women and children in Belarus (3-4 women and 3-4 children for each Cossack) in order to sell them later.³⁷ In 1595-96 the Cossacks under the leadership of Nalyvaiko devastated Volhynia (Lutsk saved itself by paying a large contribution) and Belarus (Slutsk, Bobruisk, and Mohiliv). In 1638 Turks liberated several hundred Turkish women and children from Cossack captivity on the island of Tender. In 1660 Cossacks, after capturing the town of Aslan, sold its Muslim inhabitants to traders in Ukrainian towns. Cossack otaman Ivan Sirko took into captivity 1,500 Tatar women and children in his Crimean raid in 1667 with the aim of selling them as yasyr. Thus, the Cossacks raids into Crimea, Turkey, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Russia or even some Ukrainian lands did not differ much from those of Tatars to Ukraine. The aim of these raids was booty.

The rich booty the Cossacks captured in Turkish, Moldavian and Tatar towns was the major part of their income. Most Cossack raids were carried out by sea. For this purpose, the Cossacks constructed flotillas of forty to eighty long, narrow, and shallow galleys called chaiky,³⁸ each of which could hold about sixty men. By their frequent sea raids in the 16^th – 17^th centuries against the Turks, the Cossacks gained great fame all over Europe as the Ottoman Empire was at the time the most powerful state in the world. The Austrian empire and Roman Pope established contacts with the Zaporizhian Cossacks as they considered them the “bravest warriors in the world,” and planned to use them against Muslim threat. Cossacks were not afraid of storming strong Turkish and Tatar fortresses. For example, in 1606 they captured the Ottoman (Turkish) fortress of Varna which had been considered impregnable before. In 1608 the Cossacks captured Perekop in the Crimea. In 1609, they sacked Kilia, Ismail, and Akkerman. In 1614 they destroyed Trapezund and Sinop in Asia Minor. In 1616, Kaffa, a powerful fortress and the center of the slave trade in Crimea, was taken and thousands of slaves were freed.³⁹ Practically every year or sometimes even several times a year the Cossacks attacked either Turkish territories or those of Turkey’s satellites (Crimea, Moldova, and Walachia). Turkish large military ships were often bravely attacked by small Cossack boats (chaikas). In describing Cossack military activity, Naima, a 17^th-century Turkish historian, noted: “There are no people on earth who care less about life and have less fear than they.” Besides regular raiding of Turkish coastal towns the Cossacks even dared to plunder several times the outskirts of the Turkish capital, burnt its harbor and made their escape within view of the angered sultan. Once the sultan had even to flee the capital not to be captured by Cossacks. In Italy, Germany, France and England a dozen of books were published at the time about Zaporozhian Cossacks’ military tactics.

In their military raids the Cossacks, besides looting Tatars and Turks, also liberated thousands of Ukrainian captives, though it was not the aim of their raids. That brought them gratitude from the Ukrainian people and was immortalized in many folk songs.

Cossacks were often hired by Poland-Lithuania’s local officials (starostas) to protect southern lands of the Rzeczpospolita against Tatar raids. Thus, the Cossacks played an important role in defending Ukraine. In 1572 the Polish king established a special Cossack force – the Registered Cossacks – who were paid by the king and were part of the Commonwealth’s regular army. The Polish king was interested in protecting Ukraine as this rich province gave the Commonwealth a significant part of income. Agricultural products produced in Ukraine were in great demand in Europe.

Cossack annual raids against the Ottoman Empire and its satellites (Crimea, Moldova, Walachia) had seriously deteriorated Polish-Ottoman relations. The sultan was furious at Cossacks and demanded from the Polish king to keep them from attacking Turkey and its satellites. Poland tried to forbid the Cossacks to attack the Ottoman territories but they refused to obey and continued their regular raids. If they had stopped them the Sich would have vanished as its economy was based on these raids.⁴⁰ The Polish king complained in parliament that the Cossacks “create difficulties for us and involve us in conflicts with our powerful neighbors… they ignore obligations… and threaten the life and property of innocent people.” The Zaporozhian Cossacks did not pay attention to peace treaties between Poland and Turkey or Crimea. In 1620, for instance, the Cossacks told the Muslim envoys that “the Polish king may have made peace with you, but we did not.” As Turkey was unable to punish Cossacks, it decided to punish Poland instead (Cossacks were considered Polish subjects and used Polish flags in their military campaigns). In fact, the Cossacks caused several serious conflicts between Poland and the Ottoman Empire, one of the most horrible for the Poles occurred in 1620, when the Turks completely destroyed a Polish army (with its Cossack units) at Tsetsora.⁴¹

The peaceful Ukrainian population sometimes paid very dearly for Cossack heroic attacks against Turkey and Crimea. As was already said, since Poland was often unable to punish the Cossacks, the Ottoman Turks and Crimean Tatars tried to punish the Rzeczpospolita instead. In 1615, for example, the Turks organized a Tatar raid on Ukraine as retaliation for the Cossack raid on Istanbul (Constantinople). About 200 towns and villages in Podillia and Volhynia were burnt and many thousands of people were taken into captivity. In 1616 Volhynia paid dearly for the Cossack attack on Trapezund. In 1589 the Tatar khan organized a huge “retaliation raid” on Galicia and Podillia. It took Poland a lot of energy to drive the Tatars back.

It is interesting to note that Ukrainian patriotic historians explain Cossack raids against Crimea or Turkey as preventive measures or retaliation for Muslim attacks on Ukraine, while Turkish historians say that Cossacks themselves caused a number of retaliating attacks on Ukraine. It is very difficult for Ukrainian historians to justify frequent Cossack raids on Turkey since it was the Crimean Tatars not the Ottoman Turks who made military raids against Ukraine. It is even more difficult to justify Cossack raids against their Christian (Orthodox) neighbors: Moldavians and Walachians, who did not threaten Ukraine at all. The Cossack raids against Poland’s neighbors were also a reason for a number of wars between Cossack and Polish troops (which tried to punish the Cossacks for their raids) at the end of the 16^th and the beginning of the 17^th centuries. On the other hand, Polish kings were reluctant to worsen relations with the Cossacks as they needed their military help in wars (Cossacks fought for the Polish interests in Livonia, Russia, Moldova, Walachia, Turkey, Crimea, Germany, Austria, and even France).

The Cossacks’ sea activity frequently disrupted trade on the Black Sea. Cossacks often attacked trade ships, looted them and then sank them with their passengers. It did not matter who owned the ship: a Christian or a Muslim. Thus, their sea activities often did not differ from those of ordinary pirates. The Turkish sultan and Crimean khan regularly complained to the Polish king of such events.

The Zaporozhian Cossacks considered themselves as the brotherhood of equals. Thus, the ideal Zaporozhian Cossack was supposed to despise the accumulation of wealth. According to the “code of behaving” of the “real Zaporozhian” („справжнього запорожця”) all his booty was to be drunk away in the Cossack community („на людях”).⁴² This stereotype is reflected in Ukrainian folk traditions.⁴³

The role of the Cossacks in Ukrainian life was not limited to protection of the country and military raids against their neighbors. As Orthodox believers they constantly defended the rights of their church. Thanks to the Cossacks, Ukraine was not completely converted into Greco-Catholicism. Since the Polish kings often needed Cossack military help, they guaranteed some rights to the Orthodox Church. Cossacks often frightened Greek Catholic priests by threatening to feed the fish in the Dnieper with their bodies if they would dare to settle in Kyiv.⁴⁴ The Cossacks also financially supported Orthodox churches, schools, printing houses, and monasteries.⁴⁵ Some historians say that since at that time the major sign of a nation was religion, the Cossacks by defending their faith in fact were defending their nation from extinction. Other historians, however, say that the Cossacks often used the slogan of defending the Orthodox faith as a cover for their marauding raids against Muslims, Catholics, and Jews.