Hetman Ivan Sirko

Ivan Sirko (1610–1680) was a Cossack military leader, Koshovyi Otaman of the Zaporozhian Host and putative co-author of the famous semi-legendary Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. It is believed that he was harakternyk.

Harakternyk - name mages and healer, spiritual teacher in Zaporizhzhian Sich, who was involved not only in witchcraft or divination, but also treatment of the wounded Cossacks, their psychological and physical education, what they say different eyewitness accounts, Ukrainian folk legends and paraphrase. According to the Ukrainian mythology characterniki possessed magical powers, which they used for the needs of Cossacks.

As a young man Ivan Sirko  served in Cossack regiments in France and participated in the siege of Dunkirk. He changed his political orientation several times. In 1654 he came to Zaporozhian Sich became polkovnyk (colonel) and in 1659 together with Russian prince Aleksei Trubetskoi fought against the Crimean Khanate. Although Sirko opposed the alliance with Moscow during the Pereyaslav Rada after he became Koshovyi Otaman of the Zaporozhian Host in 1663 he won several battles against Poles, Tatars and hetman Petro Doroshenko in alliance with Muscovy. In 1664, he was one of the inspirators of an uprising in Right-bank Ukraine against Poland which is known from his letter to the Czar.

 He was the first Cossack ataman to accept Kalmyks into his army. Despite his pro-Moscow orientation he distrusted and hated pro-Russian hetman Ivan Briukhovetsky, but at the same time married his son Roman to Briukhovetsky's daughter. In 1668 this rivalry even forced Ivan Sirko to switch sides again and briefly join Petro Doroshenko in his fight against “Muscovite boyars and Voivodes”, but in 1670 once again Sirko pledged loyalty to Russian tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Afterwards he captured Turkish stronghold Ochakiv and besieged Ismail which he failed to capture.

Following the death of Demian Mnohohrishny in 1672 Sirko entered the struggle for the hetman title, but instead was sent by the Russian tsar to Tobolsk, Siberia. In 1673 he returned to Ukraine and once again fought against Tatars and Turk.

In 1675 Zaporozhian Cossacks defeated Ottoman Turkish forces in a major battle, however, the Sultan of Turkey Mehmed IV still demanded that the Cossacks submit to Turkish rule. The Cossacks led by Ivan Sirko replied in an uncharacteristic manner: they wrote a letter, replete with insults and profanities. After his death, Ivan Sirko — one of the most popular otamans in Ukrainian history - was remembered as a legendary Cossack and became a hero of many myths, folk songs and poems.

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