Who Was Ivan Bohun?

Ivan Bohun, the colonel of the Kalnitsky regiment, was one of the most outstanding and effective Cossack commanders in Ukraine. Following the calamity at Berestechko where as act­ing hetman Bohun saved the Ukrainian army from total destruc­tion, he was often entrusted by Bohdan Khmelnitskywith key border guard duties against the invading Polish armies.

Yet, who was Ivan Bohun? To this day we know nothing of his early life, where and when he was born, or of his family background, something which is unusual for a man of his po­sition and fame. Well educated and versed in martial affairs, he was most certainly of noble birth. His point of entry into the Cossack movement is also unknown. He may have taken part in the unsuccessful Cossack-peasant revolt of 1637-38, but this is not certain. He first becomes known in the Zaporozhian and Don Cossack defense of the captured Turkish fortress of Azov during 1637-42, where he commanded a Cossack troop that was covering the Borivsky ford across the northern Donets River. After the Cossacks abandoned and destroyed Azov, Bohun (it seems) became a registered Cossack—we don’t know at what rank—and took part in the regular anti-Tatar expedi­tions and fighting.

Bohun joined Khmelnitsky s revolt in 1648 and a year later he is counted as a member of the Chyhyryn regiment. By 1650 Bohun is appointed as colonel of the Kalnitsky regiment, evi­dently for his military leadership and organizational ability. His crowning glory came during the Berestechko battle in 1651 when the Ukrainian peasant and Cossack army was facing a cat­astrophic defeat.

Table 14.1. The total number of Dutch ships passing through the Sound into the Baltic Sea (adapted by Romano, R., 1978)

Years: 1576-80 1581-5 1586-90 1591-5 1596-1600 1601-05 1606-10 1611-15 1616-20 1621-5 1626-30

Ships: 13,501 11,810 16,072 19,616 18,009 13,167 16,732 16,877 19,455 13,852 9,110

The mystery behind Ivan Bohuns identity deepens when we note that the surname “Bohun” was unknown in Ukraine or Eastern Europe, but was of some renown on the opposite end of the continent in England and Scotland. OfNorman French origin, the de Bohuns (Bohons) arrived in England during or shortly after the conquest, taking their name from a village in the Contentin, between Cautances and the estuary of the Vire River. The third Baron de Bohun and his eldest son remained loyal to King Henry II (1154-89) during the revolts which were led against him by his sons, and were rewarded when the eldest son was made Earl of Hereford.

King William was taken prisoner, Prince Henry was for­given by his father, and Humphrey s son Robert fled to Scot­land. One of Humphrey’s sons married King William s sister Margaret but Sir Robert de Bohun never returned to England and lived on his Scottish estate, becoming a highly respected manorial lord known as “Le Bon” (“The Good”). The English branch remained with the kings of England, and Humphrey VIII de Bohun followed King Edward to Bannockburn where he was taken prisoner and later exchanged for Robert Bruces wife. The conjecture would be that Ivan (Ian) Bohun was a de­scendant of the Scottish branch of the family. As already noted, Scotsmen were not strangers to the Baltic region, trading and carrying on business as, for example, he who became the Cos­sack Colonel Krivonos. Also, thousands fought on the Protes­tant side during the Thirty Years’ War, and some taken prisoner may have escaped to join the Zaporozhian Brotherhood, where their military training and battle experience would have been welcomed.

Following Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky’s death, Bohun served under both hetmans Vyhovsky and the young Khmel­nitsky. He was imprisoned for unknown reason(s) by the Poles in Malborg castle in Ducal Prussia but released by KingJan Casimir on the following year, on a promise he would serve in the invasion of left-bank Ukraine. He was “arrested” again on the left bank by the Poles, accused of plotting with Hetman Briukhovetsky and the Muscovite authorities, and was shot without a trial by a firing squad on 17 February 1664 near Novhorod-Siversk. He was unmarried and did not leave any descendants, but only an undying fame and a memory among the Ukrainian people:

And the kobzars played Touching the strings softly, Bohdan and Bohun they praised....”³⁶