Ivan Skoropadsky (1646 – 3 July 1722)
was a Hetman of
Zaporizhian Host, and the successor to the famous Hetman Ivan Mazepa.
Born into a
noble Cossack family in Uman, Ukraine in 1646, Skoropadsky was educated in Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In 1675 he joined Cossack military service under Hetman Ivan Samoylovych and
distinguished himself in Russo-Turkish
War of 1676–1681 and once again in the Crimean
expedition against the Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate in 1688.
#Ivan_Skoropadsky
was briefly an ambassador representing Cossack Hetmanate in
negotiations with the Russian Tsar Peter the Great. During the Great Northern War Skoropadsky was a Cossack colonel of the Ukrainian Starodub regiment
and after Swedish army crossed into Ukraine in 1708, refused to join Ivan
Mazepa who decided to switch sides and fight against Russia. Only about 3,000
Cossacks, mostly Zaporozhians, followed Mazepa, while others remained loyal to the Tsar.
With Mazepa
disposed, Ivan Skoropadsky was elected as new Hetman on 11 November 1708. The
fear of other reprisals and suspicion of Mazepa's newfound Swedish ally Charles XII prevented most of Ukraine's population from siding with the rebels.
Ivan Skoropadsky
moved the capital of the Cossack Hetmanate from Baturyn which was
razed by the Russian army for Mazepa's rebellion, to the town of Hlukhiv. Following
Mazepa's defeat in the Battle of Poltava, Skoropadsky thought to regain Peter I's trust and yet negotiate greater
autonomy for the Hetmanate and greater rights for the Cossack nobility, often
resisting Peter the Great's policy of incorporation of the Hetmanate lands into
the Russian Empire. His careful
negotiations allowed him to achieve both, and the Hetmanate regained much of
its lost prominence.
In 1718 his
daughter married Count Pyotr Pyotrovich Tolstoy, the son of Pyotr
Andreyevich Tolstoy (a prominent Russian statesman) and Ivan
Skoropadsky was granted numerous estates in Ukraine becoming its largest
land-owner. The Hetman had no male children but Pavlo Skoropadsky, a descendant
of his brother, briefly ruled Ukraine 200 years later, and also carried
the title of Hetman in his Hetmanate-influenced government.
Related post: Pavlo Polubotok (Acting Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine)
No comments:
Post a Comment