In Defense of Cossack Rights

Not all of the Cossacks’ energy was directed towards wars with Tatars and the Ottoman Empire. Friction was developing with the newly formed Commonwealth, particularly between the growing power of the landed aristocracy on the one hand, and the increasing strength and influence of the Cossack move­ment on the other.

The Cossack movement had been strengthened by the in­flux ofprofessional fighting men. The Union of Lublin of 1569 placed the provinces of Rus under the Polish Crown, where the noble status of the simple “boyars” (knights) was not recog­nized. Manyjoined the Cossack movement where with other “knightly warriors” of the Zaporozhian army they took an active part in the many attacks on the Ottoman Empire. They were also beginning to find the Polish Crown increasingly alien and restrictive. Although the “rights and privileges” of the Cossacks as free fighting men had been established by King Zygmunt II following the Union of Lublin, these rights were usually ignored by the local authorities who continued to harass Cossacks with fees and taxes. Another major grievance was land ownership. Under the rules of the Polish-Lithuanian monarchies, only no­bles had the right to own land—a right also claimed by the town Cossacks and those possessing homesteads, often on prairie land granted by the king to the nobility. Although the vast ma­jority of Cossacks did not possess noble status, they never­theless performed similar military duties—even to a greater ex­tent than the nobility—and as a result claimed the same rights and privileges. In addition, there were irritants of a personal nature that most Cossacks found ridiculous, such as the rules and regulations imposed by the wealthy rulers of Gdansk on the rest of the citizens. These governed how many servants a citizen could hire, how many guests could be invited to one’s home, and what food and drink could be served at funerals, weddings and christenings. Onlythe Wealthypatricians of the city had the right to ride to church in a carriage and wear rich fabrics such as satin, damask, and brocade, while simple com­moners had to dress in simple cloth woven in the city.²

The Cossacks were also beginning to support the serfs’ opposition to the landed nobility due to the extremely oppres­sive conditions underwhich the peasants found themselves.

had given themselves the right to pass legal judgment on their peasants. The enserfed peasants were also obliged to use land­lords’ mills, celebrate in the lord’s tavern, and pay various fees— for example, a wedding fee, which many landlords were charg­ing and without which a wedding could not take place. By about the middle of the 16th century a great land rush was in progress in the Polish Commonwealth, and was reaching the fertile Ukrainian steppe as western Europe was undergoing price in­flation known as the Price Revolution.³ To take advantage of the price increases the Polish nobility had begun a steppe clear­ance movement to drive out the warlike frontiersmen, and re­settle Ukraine with docile serfs who could be forced to produce the highly profitable wheat. A similar movement some 150- 200 years later would clear the Scottish highlands of their tra­ditional warlike inhabitants, also held in contempt as violent savages by the landowning nobility, supported by a powerful English army.

Beauplan has left us with a vivid description of the nobil­ity’s exactions and the serfs’ deplorable living conditions:

The peasants there are very destitute (“miserable”), obliged to work three days a week with their horses and their hands for the landlord and to pay him depending on the land they hold, in quantities of grain, many capons, pullets, hens and goslings at Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. Cart wood for the said lord, and do thousands of other forced tasks (corvees) that they should not be doing. (This is) besides the money they demand from them, as also the tithe in sheep, swine, horses, and all sorts of fruit; and every third year a third of a steer. In short, they have to give their landlords what they demand so that it is no wonder that these wretches never lay anything aside (for themselves) being under such harsh conditions.

Besides the problems of land ownership, another land- related Cossackgrievance was the appropriation of land by the Polish Crown. To encourage the colonization of the Ukrainian frontier, Zygmunt III (Vasa) agreed to parcel out much of the northwestern territory to the wealthy magnates, who claimed that the Ukrainian frontier was "empty” since there was no agri­culture taking place there. This caused concern among both town Cossacks and those “Down Under” who viewed the "grants” as an incursion on their lands. A general and wide­spread discontent had built up in Ukraine and Belarus, and an event soon touched off the explosion of 1591, the first Cossack- peasant war in Eastern Europe. Similar uprisings had occurred in central and western Europe as well, for example the great German Peasants’ War of 1524-26, and the class conflicts began to move east where they would last for almost two centuries. The year before, a Cossack chieftain by the name of Kryshtof Kosynsky with other Cossacks of officially recognized noble birth had received a land grant from the King, for services ren­dered. Although he signed his name in Polish, Kosynskywas a minor nobleman of Greek Orthodox background from Pid- Iashia, and had been a member of the Zaporozhian Brotherhood for some time. His land grant was in the wilderness by the Rokyta River, a tributary of the Ros in the northern Kyiv prov­ince, and lay adjacent to lands claimed by the two most wealthy and powerful families of Rus—the Ostrohsky and the Wish- niowiecki clans. Before Kosynsky could lay claim to the land, it was taken over by the princes Alexander Wishniowiecki and Janush Ostrohsky. The former claimed he had bought the land from Kosynsky and subsequently sold it to Ostrohsky, while the latter claimed he bought the land from Kosynsky and then sold it to Wishniowiecki! Although the second transaction seemed to have been officially documented and confirmed, there was little evidence that Kosynskyhad sold his land grant.⁵ Once again, a minor noble had been robbed by wealthy mag­nates.

Instead of being able to settle down and develop his royal land grant, Kosynsky found himself once again amongst the Cossacks, this time seeking vengeance and justice. His call for war against princes Ostrohskyandwishniowieckiwas answered by both the town and Zaporozhian Cossacks. Many of them had still not been paid for their services in the Livonian war, and they harbored an additional grievance against the two princely families whose possessions lay along the route taken by Cossacks on their Moldavian expeditions. The Cossacks often found their access barred which prevented them from supplementing their incomes. Unlike the nobility, they could not tax the peasants and had to earn most of their livelihood either by military service or by the spoils of war. And those who hunted and fished found themselves being harassed by the local ""starostas.”

In December 1591 Kosynsky entered Bila Tserkva and Bo- huslav at the head of the Sich Cossacks and attacked the fortified town OfPykivwhere they captured artillery, weapons and sup­plies. Sending out a letter reminding other Cossacks that they were owed back-pay, Kosynsky was also joined by the town Cossacks. Prince Ostrohskylater claimed that Kosynsky entered Bila Tserkva with 5,000 Zaporozhian Cossacks, which is an ex­aggeration since we have a letter from the Moscow Tsar Boris Godunov to Kosynsky acknowledging the presence of 3,000 Cossacks in the entire Province of Kyiv.⁶ Although the uprising began as a personal vendetta it had by now gone beyond that, since we know that Kosynsky and his Cossacks had wider po­litical aspirations. Unlike the roaming bands of unpaid soldiers in Galicia, who restricted themselves to looting, Kosynsky de­manded an oath of loyalty from the local officials and nobility as Hetman of the Cossack army, and presumably of all Ukraine. Nobles who refused to swear were shot, and royal jurisdiction was replaced by Cossack rules and customs, intended to create an alternative socio-political order of free, self-regulating com­munities.

Other towns—Kaniv, Cherkassy, Pavoloch, Fastiv and Pereiaslavwere also quickly occupied and a local tax was imposed to support the Cossack army. All were a part of the Ostrohsky and Wishniowiecki domains, which were by far the largest in Ukraine. Only the burghers of Pereiaslav resisted, where Kos- tiantin Ostrohskys SonAlexanderwas the “starosta.” Theyhad already shown their hostility when the previous year they as­saulted and defeated a Cossack detachment of several hundred men. Now the enraged Cossacks stormed the city, killing most of the local officials and the nobility in the prince’s service. The Roman Catholic bishop OfKyivjosephVereshchynsky recorded that the Pereiaslavpeople had indeed caused the Cossacks some wrong—when they collected 100,000 pieces of gold as com­pensation for service, PrinceJanush Ostrohskyrefused to turn the money over to the Cossacks and kept it himself.

On hearing of the unrest in Ukraine, Zygmunt III Vasa ap­pointed a commission of local “starostas” which was charged with the task of gathering an armed force of the nobility and putting down “the Cossack willfulness.” Kosynsky had with­drawn from Bila Tserkva and had taken up a strong position at Tripoli, but lacking sufficient resources to attack him the com­mission contented itself with a vague face-saving promise of Cossack “obedience” and withdrew to a safer location. Kosynsky at the head of his Cossacks then proceeded to march into Volin where most of the Ostrohsky estates were located, and now for the first time the aging Prince sent out a strong force to intercept him. Ostrohsky s men were promptly defeated with some of his men joining the Cossacks. Now the unrest spread to Volin as well. Supported by Cossacks, the serfs began to attack the large estates; as stated in Polish records, those

... who call themselves Cossacks of the Lower Dnipro region... are capturing in enemy fashion castles and towns, both belonging to His Royal Majesty and those belonging to the nobility,... and are burning and devastating and forcing people to swear obedi­ence to them, urging them to obey the Cossacks.⁷

The records continue that the Cossacks had “conquered a con­siderable number of border castles, towns, and villages... and now they have come in considerable force with artillery...,” in what had become a conflict between the nobility of Ukraine and Belarus, on the one hand, and the peasantry backed by Cos­sack arms, on the other.

The Polish Commonwealth was staying clear of the con­flict. Zygmunt III Vasa had in the meantime, in 1592, also be­come King of Sweden and was busy establishing his authority in the new domain. Prince Ostrohskywas informed by Hetman Jan Zamoyski the commander of the Polish Commonwealth armed forces that he considered the conflict to be a private feud between Rusins, in which the Crown army would not be in­volved. Ostrohsky was also advised to end the conflict peace­fully and not cause a major war. Defeated by the Cossacks and left to their own devices, the great nobles of Ukraine and Belarus began to gather an army commanded byjanush Ostrohsky the old prince s son. Now alarmed by the events, King Zygmunt III also released a proclamation ordering the nobility of Kyiv, Brat- slav and Volin to report for military duty in Kostiantinovwith all their serving men, and Janush Ostrohskyproceeded to hire mercenary troops from Galicia, Poland and Hungary. Learning of the Prince s mobilization, Kosynsky withdrew east with the steppe at his back and dug in at a town called Piatky The fact the Cossacks took up defensive positions implies they lacked a strong cavalry, which would be a continuing weakness in Kosynsky s campaign.

The exact sizes of the opposing armies are not known. Pol­ish chronicles put Kosynsky s force at 5,000 men overall (but not necessarily those at Piatky), while Ostrohsky s army can be conjectured to be at least 4-5 thousand men, but probably more. As the nobles’ forces approached Piatky on 2 February Kosynsky decided to abandon the town and withdraw to the open steppe where he set up a more secure wagon-enclosed camp or “tabor,” defended by artillery and musket fire. Such a position was very difficult to take even by a superior force, as described by Beauplan: “here they show the most skill ( adresse^,) and valor is to fight in a tabor from under the cover of wagons where they unerringly shoot muskets which is their common weapon... it is true that IOO of these Cossacks in their tabors do not fear IOOO Poles or Tatars... ”⁸

Prince Ostrohskynevertheless decided to order an attack on the Cossack camp. The first assault was by the nobles’ cavalry, which was beaten back with several hundred killed and wounded; the infantry, which was following, began to waver. At this point Janush Ostrohsky charged the Cossack defenses with 600 of his best Galician cavalry, broke through the wall of fortified wagons and attacked the Cossack defenders. As pointed out by Beauplan this would have been an unusually successful attack and indicates the particular side of the tabor was defended by untrained and ill-equipped peasants who had joined the Cossacks. There was a famine during the winter of 1591-92 and many serfs had left the estates as they were per­mitted to do by an old law, if their lord could not feed them.⁹ Not able to hold the camp, the Cossacks broke out and began to head back towards Piatka, with heavy snow hampering their progress. Most were on foot and suffered heavy casualties from the enemy cavalry, which was pressing the attack. Led by Kosyn- sky, many of the Cossacks reached the town in good order and succeeded in setting up defensive positions.

Piatka, however, was now surrounded on all sides, and with most of the supplies and ammunition abandoned in the wagon tabor Kosynsky s men had little choice but to sue for peace, or face total destruction. Not wishing to suffer greater casualties, Prince Kostiantin Ostrohsky accepted a ceasefire and an agreement was signed on 10 February 1593, the first known document of its kind between Cossacks and the nobility. The Cossacks were to remove Kosynsky from overall command as Hetman, promise Ioyaltyto the king, agree to cease attacking the noble estates and “foreign lands,” and return most of the captured artillery and other spoils of war. As a particularly diffi­cult part of the settlement the Cossacks had to agree that all es­caped serfs who had joined them were to be handed over to their previous owners. This ran counter to a fundamental prin­ciple of never surrendering fugitives. No mention was made of Kosynsky s lost estate on the Rokytva River, which confirms that the conflict had gone beyond the private feud between Kosynsky and the Ostrohsky and Wishniowiecki families. A particularly humiliating part of the agreement came when Kosynsky and his officers had to kneel before the old Prince of Rus, Kostiantin Ostrohsky, and swear personal loyalty. The old Prince clearly wanted to teach the Cossacks a lesson, but it was the wrong lesson to teach.

All Cossacks were allowed to withdraw to their winter quarters in the towns and the Sich and Kosynsky remained as popular as ever. At a cost of personal humiliation he had saved his men from a possible bad defeat, to fight another day. When spring came in 1593 Kosynsky took 2,000 Zaporozhian Cos­sacks and this time set out against Prince Wishniowiecki, the second most powerful magnate in Ukraine.¹⁰ He was counting on local support from the town Cossacks since the Zaporo- zhians were becoming thinly spread out, with many setting out on sea and land expeditions against the Turks and Tatars. Ap­proaching Cherkassy, and taking a detachment of Cossacks, Kosynsky entered the town, attacked Wishniowiecki and forced him to seek refuge in the castle. An overconfident Kosynsky now let his guard down. Feeling safe in the largely Cossack town, he and his comrades decided to stop over in the local inn and began to party (“huliaty”) in typical Cossack fashion. Seeing his chance, Wishniowiecki quietly ordered a sortie from the castle, and taking the Cossacks by surprise attacked the inn. Overpowered by the enemy Kosynsky and forty of his comrades were killed in hand-to-hand combat and the remaining Cos­sacks were forced out of town. A ceasefire was arranged, after which the main Cossack force decided to sail to Kyiv and de­mand compensation for Kosynsky s death, as he was still rec­ognized as a nobleman. Most of the Kyiv officials fled, and after exacting 12,000 pieces of gold in damages the Cossacks with­drew to the Sich.

With the start of the Hapsburg-Ottoman war in 1593, the Zaporozhian Cossacks’ attention was diverted towards the Mus­lim enemy, and most military action against the Polish Com­monwealth ceased. In the same year the Tatars launched an at­tack that took them as far north as the Ostrohsky estates in Volin, reminding the Polish military commanders that the Cos­sacks were still needed to defend the frontier. However, encour­aged by Kosynsky s campaigns against the nobility, oppressed serfs backed by town Cossacks began to form armed bands and also raid towns and wealthy noble estates, as reported by the Polish second in command Field Hetman Zolkiewski: “There is such defiance and willfulness among them that they no longer mind either God or King.... This (takeover) must be prevented in advance lest something worse happens. As the Lord 'Starosta (of Bratslav) told me, their forces are weak, only their determi­nation is strong.”¹¹ Hired men in the service of the nobility also began to take part in raiding the estates. Anon-Cossackleader whose fame quickly spread throughout the land—a “second Kosynsky”—soon emerged by the name of Semery Nalyvaiko who had served as an officer in Prince Kostiantin Ostrohsky s private army.

Not much is known about Nalyvaiko or his family, except that he and his siblings were Prince Ostrohsky^,s loyal servants. His older brother Damian was Kostiantin Ostrohsky s personal chaplain, and Semery had fought against Kosynsky s Zaporo- zhian Cossacks in defense of the Princes estates. With the be­ginning of the Turkish war he led a force of some 4000 free­booters into Moldavia and attempted to engage the Tatars, as they were pillaging Galicia on their way to attack Hungary. Once at the head of his own independent force Nalyvaiko turned against the nobility. In need of supplies he entered Terebovlia and looted the town, confiscating food, weapons, and ammu­nition. It was now revealed that Nalyvaiko held a secret ven­detta against a certain wealthy magnate by the name of Marcin Kalinowski. Nalyvaiko invaded the magnate s estates at Husia- tyn (Galicia) and by a ruse captured the strongly defended castle, together with valuable booty in gold, silver and artillery pieces. All royal deeds to Kalinowskis properties also fell into Nalyvaiko s hands, who probably wished to examine them for authenticity. He knew that many wealthy Polish nobles had ob­tained and augmented their estates in Galicia by armed expul­sions of the local boyars, supporting their possessions by false deeds of ownership. As revealed by Nalyvaiko s moving letter to King Zygmunt, he was avenging his father s death at the hands ofKalinowski, who probably also stole his land.

The lord Kalinowski, for no reason, broke the ribs of my father, the only parent remaining to me, and this drove him to his grave. Unaware of legal ways, and as a poor man lacking the funds and resources for a trial, I decided admittedly to take revenge on him in a poor man’s way for that great injustice, perhaps as great as any that a person can suffer on earth.”¹²

Nalyvaikos vengeance was not to be, since Kalinowski managed to escape with some of his men. Nalyvaiko returned to Moldavia to fight the Turks, but suffered a bad defeat in Sep­tember 1594 when the Hospodar of Moldavia joined the Turks and attacked his force. Nalyvaiko needed support and decided to go to the Sich to plead forgiveness for his previous military action against the Zaporozhians. He had sworn Ioyaltyto Prince Oztrohsky, he pointed out, and as a man of honor he could not break his word; and if the “renowned knights” demanded pun­ishment he was ready to pay with his head. The apology was accepted, and with the pardon that followed Nalyvaiko became a Cossack. The Zaporozhian Brotherhood was under the com­mand of an experienced warrior named Hryhory Loboda, who had been a Zaporozhian Cossack most of his life. Born a minor noble, probably of a boyar family in the forested northern Kyiv province, he “owned” two villages, Soshnyki and Solkhiv, and had married a noblewoman. A giant of a man at seven feet tall and of some strength, he was also a good tactician.

The main reason Nalyvaiko had gone to the Sich was to form an alliance with the Zaporozhian Cossacks in order to support the anti-Ottoman coalition led by Emperor Rudolph, as was proposed by his envoy Lassota. Nalyvaiko set out first, and it was his men who destroyed the Ottoman settlements around Kilia and Tighina, although they lacked the strength to capture the castles themselves. After suffering a defeat by a com­bined Ottoman and Moldavian army Nalyvaiko was joined by Lobodas Cossacks in October 1594, and with a 12,000 strong army they took one of the most active parts in the fighting in Moldavia and Hungary. When Moldavia and Wallachia also turned against the Turks a Commonwealth force led by Hetman Zamosyski entered Moldavia and a boyar Ieremia Movila was established as Hospodar. He was recognized by the Sultan on condition that he remain his vassal; but Movila had become a puppet of the Polish government. With an agreement estab­lished between the Commonwealth and the Sultan, the Cos­sacks pulled out and in the autumn of 1594 returned to Ukraine.

Following their joint campaigns against the Turks, Naly- vaiko and Lobodabegan to coordinate activities in anticipation ofhostilities with Hetman Zamoiski. The Polish Sejm had passed an act in the previous year declaring Cossacks as “ene­mies of the state,” and relations between the two had sunk to all all-time low. A major point that would keep the conflict going was billeting. Commonwealth forces had the right to station themselves on private estates and exact supplies and provisions from the owners, during a war or other hostilities. Since the Cossacks were doing most of the fighting against the Muslims they demanded the same rights regarded by the nobility and the crown as being exclusively in their domain. On learning that Nalyvaiko had returned to Ukraine, the magnates began to gather their forces with the intention to suppress the upstarts, even though they were unwilling to do so during the Tatars’ rampage through Galicia. Nalyvaikos men had halted in Bratslav for a well-deserved rest, and noting that they had suffered heavy casualties the nobility decided to attack and nip another Kosyn- sky revolt in the bud. Bratslav had a sizeable population of town Cossacks who held pro-Nalyvaiko sympathies, and the nobil- itys plan to take him by surprise backfired. Alerted of their ad­vance, Nalyvaiko waited until nightfall and as a heavy Septem­ber rain began to fall his men quietly filed out of town and took up positions before the enemy camp. On a given signal they fell on the unsuspecting nobility and routed the entire force. The night battle in the rain was over before two Polish forces which were in the vicinity under lords Hulski and Potocki realized what had happened, but unwilling to confront Nalyvaikos men and the town Cossacks they withdrew from the area.

In November 1594 Loboda and his Zaporozhian Cossacks also decided to leave Moldavia and head towards Bar in Volin where Nalyvaiko had set up camp following his victory at Brat- slav. By February of the following year much of the provinces of Podilia, Bratslav, Kyiv and Volin were in the rebels’ hands. Not content to tax the local nobility, Nalyvaiko and Loboda began to follow Kosynsky s example by introducing popular rules and regulations to replace the oppressive laws of the Com­monwealth state. The Uprisingwas also spreading north to Be­larus, and to support the serfs Nalyvaiko took his men to Mogi­lev, one of the largest cities in Lithuania-Rus, capturing the city and its castle. A great fire broke out in the city, which, with the arrival of a large army led by the Lithuanian Hetman Krishtof Radzivil, forced Nalyvaiko to withdraw to Ukraine. The Polish Hetman Zamoiski, on the other hand, refused to confront Na- Iyvaiko and Loboda just as he had done during the Kosynsky uprising, preferring to keep his standing force of 2,250 men near the Carpathian Mountains to protect Poland proper. Zamoiski also knew that Nalyvaikos men would be more ef­fective in the case of the anticipated Tatar attack than the no­bilities’ private forces. The pressure eased when in February Loboda again went to fight in Moldavia while Nalyvaiko entered Hungary to confront the Turks.

By September 1595 both Loboda and Nalyvaiko were back in southern Rus and Ukraine which by this time were blazing with revolt. All crown administration had broken down, and left to their own devices the nobility was abandoning their es­tates in a great panic. The revolt had reached revolutionary pro­portions, and it was said in Warsaw that the Cossacks had an­nounced that they would defend from tyranny all poor and oppressed people who sought refuge with them.¹³ The rumors were beginning to worry Hetman Zamoyski, who started to re­alize that Poland was being threatened, particularly by Naly- vaiko’s radical peasant. A decision was made by the Polish Com­monwealth to destroy Nalyvaikos forces, and Hetman Zamoyski began to raise an army, even providing 10,000 pieces of gold of his own money. This would be the largest force which the Commonwealth had seen for some time; 5,000 men con­sisting of3,220 heavy hussar cavalry, 1,338 light “Cossack-type” cavalry, 800 Hungarian infantry and 1,244 other infantry, mainly Haiduks (“Haiduds”—marauders) as they were known in Turkish.¹⁴ Haiduks made up much of the Polish infantry and originally came from Hungarywhere they were landless peasant rebels, but by the time of the Cossack wars the best Haiduks were coming from the Carpathian mountains and Galicia.¹⁵ The whole force was turned over to StanislawJolkiewski; the Polish field hetman and Zamoyski s second in command, who could also rely on a standing Crown army of 2,000 men in Galicia. To support the 8,000 strong Polish force the Lithuanian het­man, Prince Radzivilwas advancing from Belarus with a 4,000 man army.

Nalyvaiko learned of the arrival of the Commonwealth troops in the winter of 1596 and began to retreat before the su­perior force. He was quickly followed by Jolkiewski s men, and the first encounter occurred on 28 February when Nalyvaiko halted for rest in what he knew was friendly territory. Jolkiewski, however, was not far behind and now launched a surprise attack on the village of Matsievichi, where two companies of Naly- vaiko’s men were billeted. The first assault was beaten back by heavy musket fire putting a halt to any further attacks, until the Polish commander realized straw thatched roofs of the Ukrain­ian village houses could be set on fire by flaming arrows. The rebels were caught in a trap and decided on a breakout. Covered by captain Markos musket fire, captain Tatarynets* infantry broke out of the encirclement, but as the Companywas heading to safety it was overtaken by Jolkiewski s cavalry, and refusing to surrender, they were cut down in the running battle. Captain Markos men who remained in the burning village also refused to surrender, and all perished to a man. Their sacrifice was not in vain. Alerted by the fighting, Nalyvaiko with about 1,000 of his remaining men moved out into the steppe with the wagons, where they would stand a better chance against the enemy cav­alry. Jolkiewski, however, had also suffered heavy casualties and decided not to pursue the rebels who retreated to Vinnitsia where they took up a strong defensive position.

Two other Cossack and peasant rebel detachments were also operating in Ukraine; Loboda in Korsun and Fedorovich around Kyiv, with the main Zaporozhian force and the artillery under Ataman Schaula still in Belarus. By September they had all united around Bila Tserka, held by Prince Ryzhinsky s Hun­garian infantry, which was attacked and driven out with heavy losses. The survivors, led by Ryzhinsky, sought refuge in the castle, and were soon relieved by the arrival of Jolkiewskis entire army, and the rebels withdrew to their wagon tabor to a location called Hostry Kamin (“Sharp Rock”). Now seeing an oppor­tunity to destroy the entire Cossack and rebel force in a single blow, the Field Hetman ordered an all-out assault on the fortified tabor. After several hours of fierce fighting with heavy Commonwealth CasualtiesJolkiewski called off the attack and during the night the rebels broke camp and began to withdraw towards Tripilia by the Dnipro River, intending to cross to the left bank. There, Moscow-controlled Ukraine was not far away and they could expect support from the Cossacks of Putivl and of the DonJolkiewski had lost many of his best men at “Hostry Karnin” and decided not to pursue the rebels until the arrival of fresh reinforcements. The rebels were also experiencing diffi­culties. They had suffered casualties in the fighting, in which Ataman Fedorovich was killed, and the Zaporozhian Cossacks were showing signs of indecision. Loboda was deposed as Het­man and replaced by Ataman Schaula, only to be reinstated when Schaula was wounded at “Hostry Karnin.”

The biggest problem was the rebels’ maneuverability being hampered by the large number of civilians accompanying them. Nalyvaiko s peasants had brought their wives and children with them, which was against Cossackrules and practice. The pres­ence of civilians not only put a strain on provisions but also slowed down the retreat and made the camp vulnerable to en­circlement. The pressure was eased Somewhatwhen many peas­ants deserted with their families, but this left no more than 2,000-3,000 effective fighters to face Jolkiewskis army of 5,000 troops who were mainly cavalry, with another 1,000 men of the nobility.¹⁶

Nalyvaiko and Loboda succeeded to cross the Dnipro be­fore Jolkiewskis arrival, taking all available craft with them. Their attempt to prevent Jolkiewski from crossing, however, failed as more boats were available upstream and an attempt by a Zaporozhian regiment stationed on the right bank in Kaniv to block their crossing was beaten back. While under fire the Commonwealth forces succeeded in crossing the Dnipro at two points, and to avoid encirclement Nalyvaiko and Loboda with­drew eastwards towards Lubnywhere they could set up defen­sive positions and perhaps receive reinforcements from the Putivl Cossacks.

Jolkiewskis orders from the Polish Sejm were clear: he was to completely destroy and wipe out “these traitors and en­emies of the fatherland.” He was not taking any chances, how­ever, and it was only when he was reinforced by Crown troops and units of Prince Radzivils army that Jolkiewski sent ahead cavalry commanded by lords Strus and Ryzhinsky to cut off the retreating rebels. Slowed down by the civilians, Nalyvaiko and Loboda were quickly surrounded but succeeded in taking up defensive positions on high ground on the edge of a swamp of the Solonitsia River, where they formed a tabor with wagons four deep behind a steep trench.

HetmanJolkiewski settled down to a siege, having learned from bitter experience not to attempt an outright assault on a Cossack tabor. His men, however, were constantly being ha­rassed by Cossack sorties, often several times a day, to under­mine enemy morale and to probe for weak spots. Another reason for the sorties was that during the fighting the rebels could take their horses outside of the camp to graze on prairie vegetation. Occasionally one-on-one duels broke out between the besiegers and Cossack swordsmen, usually following taunts and insults from one of the sides, and a number of nobles lost their lives. This was also an occasion for the Zaporozhians to demonstrate their well-honed talent for swearing, usually in­volving the recipients’ mothers and their sexual shortcomings and abnormalities. A major Cossack attack on 28 May caused great alarm in Jolkiewskis camp, when a detachment left the tabor and launched a reckless charge on the Polish positions. Jolkiewski s avant garde infantry units fled, and only the inter­vention of cavalry regiments forced the Cossacks to retreat back to the tabor. Jolkiewski had realized at the outset that the Cos­sack positions would be a hard nut to crack, and had sent for heavy siege guns with a longer range than the Zaporozhians’ lighter pieces. The guns arrived two weeks later and there was no time to lose. Two Zaporozhian regiments were sailing from the Sich, and town Cossacks under Kaspar Pidvysotsky who had been left behind to guard the boats were attempting to fight their way to Lubny towards the rebel positions. Blocked by strong Commonwealth forces they were unable to linkup with Nalyvaiko s and Lobodas men, and instead began to devastate Crown towns and villages in an attempt to draw away some of Jolkiewskis troops and deprive them of the food supplies.

The Polish army was beginning to run out of provisions and ammunition; but with the arrival of the artillery came sup­plies and reinforcements. The heavy siege guns began to pound the wagons of the tabor causing heavy damage, and open dis­sention and fighting broke out between the Cossacks and peas­ants, during which Loboda was killed. He may have been sus­pected of treachery, since the ShrewdJolkiewski was leading negotiations with Lobody only, refusing all communication with Nalyvaiko. Perhaps the peasants began to think that the Cossacks were negotiating free passage for themselves, while they would be handed over to the nobility. A new Cossack Het­man was elected and the rebels decided to ask Jolkiewski for new terms. Realizing that storming the camp would lead to se­rious casualties, and aware of fresh Cossackforces gathering to his rear the Polish hetman decided to offer conditions. More­over, the mercenaries and the soldiers of the Crown army had not been paid and were becoming unreliable. His terms were that the Cossacks would be allowed to disband, on condition they swore an oath not to defy the Crown or take up arms against it. In return, they were to hand over Nalyvaiko and his chief officers, together with the artillery, equipment and sup­plies as well as the treasury and all their battle flags, including those presented by Lassota on behalf of Emperor Rudolph II. Nalyvaikos own regiment refused to hand him over but out­numbered they were defeated in the fighting which followed and Nalyvaiko and his atamans Schaula and Shostakwith other officers were arrested and handed over. The rebels began to dis­arm, and once the camp was SecuredJolkiewski announced his hidden agenda: any peasant who was “recognized” by a noble to have been his serf was to be handed over to his claimed master. What happened next (as well as descriptions of the siege and the fighting) has come down to us from three sources, which don’t always agree.¹⁷ What is clear, however, is that the announcement provoked a violent reaction amongst the un­armed rebels, who were cut down by Jolkiewskis troops as they tried to recover their weapons. Only about 1500 Cossacks led by the newly elected hetman Krempsky managed to fight their way to safety. The arrested leaders were taken to Warsaw, tor­tured and executed. The last was Nalyvaiko, after an attempt to stage his escape failed. On 11 April 1597, he was beheaded, drawn and quartered, and parts of his body were hung through­out the city. A rare description of Nalyvaiko was left by Johan Kerkerbart, a trade agent from Gdanskwho witnessed the ex­ecution: “a handsome man in appearance, strong and slim, with an educated and an open face, and shows no weakness of spirit or fear.” His name would live on among future peasant rebels in Ukraine and Belarus, who became known as ^aNalyvaikos,” and Cossack leaders who assumed the name to gain greater prestige.

The Commonwealth armies had also suffered heavy ca­sualties, and unable to pursue the Cossacks to the Sich, Jol- Iciewskiwithdrewhis men for a rest in Galicia and Podilia. The Cossacks were promised leniency if they would “submit” and swear loyalty. All Cossack communal and private land and com­mercial property was nevertheless seized and handed over to the great landowners. Lesser nobles who had fought on the Solonitsia River also received confiscated property, with Jol- Idewski himself receiving all the lands of Batory s Trakhtomiriv grant. Peasant bands and Cossack detachments, however, con­tinued to raid the towns and villages of the nobility. Jolkiewski returned to Poland warning the government that many Cos­sacks had escaped to the Sich and most of their manpower, al­though disorganized, was still intact. In public he claimed much credit for what he described as a great victory, and organized many triumphal processions. He even claimed fraudulently to have defeated the Holy Roman Empire by showing off the two Hapsburg flags which Lassota had presented to the Zaporozhi­ans and which were captured at Solonitsia.

The Sejm of the nobility, alarmed at the continuing unrest, decided to crack down on the affected regions. Fines on run­away serfs were increased seven-fold, gatherings of six men or more were prohibited, and all commoners not serving the Crown or a noble’s estate were declared “idle” and could be ar­rested on sight; and those “causing trouble” were to be executed without trial. The repressive laws, however, had little effect. Six months after Nalyvaikos execution, the Polish Kingwas already admitting that “from the recently destroyed army of rebellious Cossacks some rebels are still pressing upon Our castles, towns and villages, and upon the villages of Our nobles, and without rendering service they are again collecting in large mobs and spreading threats....”¹⁸ Cossack strength and morale, however, had been undermined by the losses during the fighting and the defeat, and most of the hard core Zaporozhians turned to the Black Sea against Ottoman installations, and skirmishes with the Tatars continued. Others headed towards Muscovywhere the centralized, despotic system created by Ivan the Terrible was breaking dawn.