Hetman

Last updated March 21, 2024

Hetman is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century, it was the title of the second-highest military commander after the king in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 16th to 18th centuries. Throughout much of the history of Romania and the Moldavia, hetmans were the second-highest army rank. In the modern Czech Republic, the title is used for regional governors.

Etymology

The term hetman was a Polish borrowing, most likely stemming via Czech from the Turkic title ataman (literally 'father of horsemen'),^[1]^[2] however it could also come from the German Hauptmann – captain.^[3] Since hetman as a title first appeared in Czechia in the 15th century, assuming it stems from a Turkic language, it is possible it was introduced to Czechs by the Cumans.

Hetmans of Poland and Lithuania

The Polish title Grand Crown Hetman (Polish : hetman wielki koronny) dates from 1505. The title of Hetman was given to the leader of the Polish Army. Until 1581 the hetman position existed only during specific campaigns and wars. After that, it became a permanent title, as were all the titles in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At any given time the Commonwealth had four hetmans – a Great Hetman and Field (deputy) Hetman for each of both Poland and Lithuania.

From 1585, the title could not be taken away without a proven charge of treachery, thus most hetmans served for life, as illustrated by the case of Jan Karol Chodkiewicz literally commanding the army from his deathbed (1621). Hetmans were not paid for their job by the royal treasury. Hetmans were the main commanders of the military forces, second only to the monarch in the army's chain of command. The fact that they could not be removed by the monarch made them very independent, and thus often able to pursue independent policies.

This system worked well when a hetman had great ability and the monarch was weak, but sometimes produced disastrous results in the opposite case. The security of the position notably contrasted with that of military leaders in states bordering the commonwealth, where sovereigns could dismiss their army commanders at any time. In 1648 the Zaporizhian Host (the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth subject) elected a hetman of their own, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, igniting the Ukrainian struggle for independence.

The military reform of 1776 limited the powers of the hetmans. The Hetman office was abolished after the Third Partition of Poland (1795).

Hetman Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł
Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz wearing a traditional costume of Polish magnates
Janusz Radziwiłł, one of the most powerful people in the Commonwealth at the time

Hetmans of the Zaporozhian Host and Ukraine

Ukrainian Hetman Bohdan Zinoviy Khmelnytsky BChmielnicki.jpg — Ukrainian Hetman Bohdan Zinoviy Khmelnytsky

At the end of the sixteenth century, the commanders of the Zaporizhian Cossacks were titled Koshovyi Otaman or Hetman; Christof Kosynsky was the first Zaporizhian hetman. In 1572, a hetman was a commander of the Registered Cossack Army (Ukrainian : Реєстрове козацьке військо) of the Commonwealth, too. From 1648, the start of Bohdan Khmelnytsky's uprising, a hetman was the head of the whole Ukrainian State — Hetmanshchyna. Although they were elected, Ukrainian hetmans had very broad powers and acted as heads of the Cossack state, they were supreme military commanders, and top legislators (by issuing administrative decrees).

After the split of Ukraine along the Dnieper River by the 1667 Polish–Russian Treaty of Andrusovo, Ukrainian Cossacks (and Cossack hetmans) became known as Left-bank Cossacks (of the Cossack Hetmanate) and Right-bank Cossacks.

In the Russian Empire, the office of Cossack Hetman was abolished by Catherine II of Russia in 1764. The last Hetman of the Zaporozhian Army (the formal title of the hetman of Ukraine) was Kyrylo Rozumovsky, who reigned from 1751 until 1764.

The title was revived in Ukraine during the revolution of 1917 to 1920. In early 1918, a conservative German-supported coup overthrew the radical socialist Ukrainian Central Rada and its Ukrainian People's Republic, establishing a hetmanate monarchy headed by Pavlo Skoropadskyi, who claimed the title Hetman of Ukraine . This regime lasted until late 1918, when it was overthrown by a new Directorate of Ukraine, of a re-established Ukrainian People's Republic.

Hetmans of Bohemia, Romania, and Moldavia

Used by the Czechs in Bohemia from the Hussite Wars (15th century) onward, hejtman is today the term for the elected governor of a Czech region (kraj).

For much of the history of Romania and the Principality of Moldavia, hetmans were second in rank in the army, after the ruling prince, who held the position of voivode.

Other uses

Hetman has often been used figuratively to mean 'commander' or simply 'leader'. Examples:

"They say there was a whole band of them, and that this bearded man was their elder, the hetman." — Maxim Gorky, Mother (1906)^[4]

Queen (chess piece) is called hetman in Polish and coded as H in the algebraic notation.

Related Research Articles

Bohdan Zynoviy Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky was a Ruthenian nobleman and military commander of Ukrainian Cossacks as Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host, which was then under the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates (1648–1654) that resulted in the creation of an independent Cossack state in Ukraine. In 1654, he concluded the Treaty of Pereiaslav with the Russian Tsar and allied the Cossack Hetmanate with Tsardom of Russia, thus placing central Ukraine under Russian protection. During the uprising the Cossacks led a massacre of thousands of Poles and Jews during 1648–1649 as one of the most traumatic events in the history of the Jews in Ukraine and Ukrainian nationalism.

Ataman was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukrainian version of the same word is hetman. Otaman in Ukrainian Cossack forces was a position of a lower rank.

The Pereiaslav Agreement or Pereyaslav Agreement was an official meeting that convened for a ceremonial pledge of allegiance by Cossacks to the Tsar of Russia in the town of Pereiaslav, in central Ukraine, in January 1654. The ceremony took place concurrently with ongoing negotiations that started on the initiative of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky to address the issue of the Cossack Hetmanate with the ongoing Khmelnytsky Uprising against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and which concluded the Treaty of Pereiaslav. The treaty itself was finalized in Moscow in April 1654.

The bulava or buława is a ceremonial mace or baton or sceptre.

Hetman of Zaporizhian Cossacks is a historical term that has multiple meanings.

Ivan Vyhovsky, a Ukrainian military and political figure and statesman, served as hetman of the Zaporizhian Host and of the Cossack Hetmanate for three years (1657–1659) during the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667). He succeeded the famous hetman and rebel leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky. His time as hetman was characterized by his generally pro-Polish policies, which led to his defeat by pro-Russian elements among the Cossacks.

Chyhyryn is a city in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located on Tiasmyn river not far where it enters Dnieper.

Registered Cossacks comprised special Cossack units of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth army in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Cossack Hetmanate, officially the Zaporozhian Host or Army of Zaporozhia, is a historical term for the 17th-18th centuries Ukrainian Cossack state located in central Ukraine. It existed between 1649 and 1764, although its administrative-judicial system persisted until 1782.

Yurii Khmelnytsky, younger son of the famous Ukrainian Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and brother of Tymofiy Khmelnytsky, was a Zaporozhian Cossack political and military leader. Although he spent half of his adult life as a monk and archimandrite, he also was Hetman of Ukraine on several occasions — in 1659-1660 and 1678–1681 and starost of Hadiach, becoming one of the most well-known Ukrainian politicians of the "Ruin" period for the Cossack Hetmanate.

The Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667, also called the Thirteen Years' War, Muscovite War of 1654-1667 and the First Northern War, was a major conflict between the Tsardom of Russia and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Between 1655 and 1660, the Swedish invasion was also fought in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and so the period became known in Poland as "The Deluge" or Swedish Deluge.

The Battle of Batih was fought between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Near the site of the present-day village of Chetvertynivka in Ukraine, a forces of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars under the command of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Otaman Tymofiy Khmelnytsky and Colonel Ivan Bohun attacked and completely defeated the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s forces under the command of Hetman Marcin Kalinowski, Noblemans Marek Sobieski and Zygmunt Przyjemski, all of them was killed in the battle. Meanwhile, after that the Polish–Lithuanian prisoners, who were captured in the battle, was slain and brutally killed by the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars in the Batih massacre in 3–4 June 1652 as a revenge for the Battle of Berestechko in 28 June — 10 July, 1651.

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The Battle of Bila Tserkva was fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate as a part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Near the site of the present-day city of Bila Tserkva in Ukraine.

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The Battle of Kopychyntsi was fought between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Near the site of the present-day city of Kopychyntsi in Ukraine, a forces of the Zaporozhian Cossacks under the command of Osavul Demko Lyzovets, Colonels Fylon Dzhalaliy and Semen Savych was defeated by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s forces under the command of Hetman Marcin Kalinowski, Noblemans Marek Sobieski and Aleksander Koniecpolski.

The Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host was the head of state of the Cossack Hetmanate in what is now Ukraine. The office was abolished by the Russian government in 1764.

The Truce of Zamość was signed on November 20, 1648 during the siege of Zamość between the King of Poland John II Casimir of Poland and the Hetman of Zaporizhian Host Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

The Moldavian campaign of Tymofiy Khmelnytsky in 1653 was a military campaign in Moldavia and Wallachia by the Cossack-Moldavian army of the voivode Vasyl Lupul and the hetman in charge, Tymofiy Khmelnytsky, against the pretender to the Moldavian throne, George Stefan, and the Wallachian troops of prince Matviy Basarab, supported by mercenaries from Transylvania, Poland, and Serbia. The Cossack-Moldavian army was defeated, and Tymofiy himself was killed, which put an end to Bohdan Khmelnytskyi's attempts to include Moldavia in the sphere of influence of the Zaporozhian Army, as well as to Lupu's attempt to take the throne of Wallachia and his power in Moldavia.

References

↑ "The Cossacks: A super-ethnos in Russia's ribs". The Economist . December 21, 1996.
↑ "Ataman". Cossackweb.narod.ru. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
↑ Stevenson, Angus; Waite, Maurice, eds. (2011). Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Luxury Edition (12 ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 669. ISBN 9780199601080.
↑ Gorky, Maxim (1906). Mother. New York/London: D. Appleton–Century Company. p. 372 – via Internet Archive. They say there was a whole band of them, and that this bearded man was their elder, the hetman.

External links

Media related to Hetmans at Wikimedia Commons
"Hetman" . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 13 (11th ed.). 1911.

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[1] "The Cossacks: A super-ethnos in Russia's ribs". The Economist . December 21, 1996.

[2] "Ataman". Cossackweb.narod.ru. Retrieved July 6, 2012.

[3] Stevenson, Angus; Waite, Maurice, eds. (2011). Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Luxury Edition (12 ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 669. ISBN 9780199601080.

[4] Gorky, Maxim (1906). Mother. New York/London: D. Appleton–Century Company. p. 372 – via Internet Archive. They say there was a whole band of them, and that this bearded man was their elder, the hetman.

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