Ivan Sirko
Encyclopedia
Ivan Sirko 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
that inspired a major painting by the 19th-century artist Ilya Repin.
Merefa
near the city of Kharkiv
according to the local historian and archeologist Dmytro Yavornytsky
. Father Yuriy Mytsyik states that this could not be the case. In his book Otaman Ivan Sirko he writes that Merefa
was established only in 1658 which way after the birth of the otaman. The author also points out to the fact that Sirko later in his life did actually live in Merefa with his family in his own estate and according to some earlier local chronicles there even existed a small settlement Sirkivka. However, Mytsyik also points out that in 1658-1660 Sirko was a polkovnyk of the Kalnyk Polk (a military and administrative division of Cossack Hetmanate
) in Podilia, a position that usually was awarded to the representative of a local population. The author also gives a reference to the letter of Ivan Samiylovych to kniaz G.Romodanovsky
(the tsar's voyevoda) in which the hetman refers to Sirko as the one born in Polish lands instead of Sloboda Ukraine
as part of Moscovy. Mytsyik also recalls that another historian Volodymyr Borysenko allowed for the possibility that Sirko was born in Murafa near the city of Sharhorod
. The author explains the fact that it is possible during that time when people were fleeing the war (known as Ruin) to reestablish a similar town in Sloboda Ukraine
.
Further, Mytsyik in his book states that Sirko probably was not really of true cossack heritage, but rather of the Ukrainian (Ruthenian) Orthodox szlachta
justifying the fact with the local Podilian nobleman Wojciech Sirko that was married to some Olena Kozynska sometime in 1592. Also in official letters the Polish administration referred to him as urodzonim, implying that he is the Polish subject. The author also states that Sirko was about 174–176 cm and had a birth mark on the lower lip, right side, which Ilya Repin failed to depict in his artwork making a prototype of the otaman from General Dragomirov. Mytsyik also recalls the letter of the Field Hetman
of the Crown John III Sobieski
(later, the king of Poland) where he referred to Sirko as a very quite, noble, polite, and has a great trust among Cossacks.
As a young man he 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 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
. In 1668 this rivalry even forced Ivan Sirko to switch sides again and briefly join Petro Doroshenko in his fight against “Muscovite boyar
s 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 Demyan 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 captured fortresses Arslan and Ochakiv.
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 atamans in Ukrainian history — was remembered as a legendary Cossack and became a hero of many myths, folk songs and poems.
) on August 11 (1 according to the old style Julian calendar
), 1680. Next day he was buried near the Chortomlynska Sich. In 1709 the Russian Army totally destroyed the Sich and the grave of the otoman was not fixed until 1734. The Cossacks replaced the broken cross with a memorial rock that has survived to the present. The Cossacks erroneously marked that he died on May 4. In 1967 the Kakhovka Reservoir
was threatening the otaman's burial site forcing him to be reburied near the village of Kapulivka, Nikopol Raion, but without his skull. The skull of Sirko was sent to the Leningrad
laboratory for the plastic-archaeological reconstruction of the Ethnographic Institute of the Soviet Academy of Science. It was not until 1987 when writer Yuriy Mushketyk remembered about the beheaded Otaman and wrote a letter to the Association for Preservation of History and Culture of Ukraine. The journal Pamyatky Ukrainy (Attractions of Ukraine) responded to the call of the writer and after over 20 years with the help of anthropologist Serhiy Seheda the remains of Ivan Sirko were returned to his native land.
, Andrian Kaschenko, Volodymyr Malyk
, Mykola Zerov
, Borys Modzalevsky, and many others.
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
military leader, Koshovyi Otaman
Koshovyi Otaman
Kosh Otaman was the highest military rank of the Zaporizhian Cossacks in the 16-18th centuries.-Overview:The otaman was elected by elders of the Zaporozhian Host. The position contained the highest military, administrative, and judicial powers. Until the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate the...
of the Zaporozhian Host
Zaporozhian Host
The Zaporozhian Cossacks or simply Zaporozhians were Ukrainian Cossacks who lived beyond the rapids of the Dnieper river, the land also known as the Great Meadow in Central Ukraine...
and putative co-author of the famous semi-legendary Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks
Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks
Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire, also known as Cossacks of Saporog Are Drafting a Manifesto , is a painting by Russian artist Ilya Repin. The 2.03 m by 3.58 m canvas was started in 1880 and finished in 1891. Repin recorded the years of work along the...
that inspired a major painting by the 19th-century artist Ilya Repin.
Biography
Ivan Sirko was born in the stanitsaStanitsa
Stanitsa is a village inside a Cossack host . Stanitsas were the primary unit of Cossack hosts.Historically, the stanitsa was a unit of economic and political organisation of the Cossack peoples primarily in the southern regions of the Russian Empire.Much of the land was held in common by the...
Merefa
Merefa
Merefa is a city in eastern Ukraine. It is located in the Kharkivsky Raion of the Kharkiv Oblast .The current estimated population is around 23,679 ....
near the city of Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
according to the local historian and archeologist Dmytro Yavornytsky
Dmytro Yavornytsky
Dmytro Yavornytsky , was a noted Ukrainian historian, archeologist, ethnographer, folklorist, and lexicographer. He was one of the most prominent researchers of the Ukrainian Cossacks, especially the Zaporozhian Cossacks , and the author of their first general history...
. Father Yuriy Mytsyik states that this could not be the case. In his book Otaman Ivan Sirko he writes that Merefa
Merefa
Merefa is a city in eastern Ukraine. It is located in the Kharkivsky Raion of the Kharkiv Oblast .The current estimated population is around 23,679 ....
was established only in 1658 which way after the birth of the otaman. The author also points out to the fact that Sirko later in his life did actually live in Merefa with his family in his own estate and according to some earlier local chronicles there even existed a small settlement Sirkivka. However, Mytsyik also points out that in 1658-1660 Sirko was a polkovnyk of the Kalnyk Polk (a military and administrative division of Cossack Hetmanate
Cossack Hetmanate
The Hetmanate or Zaporizhian Host was the Ruthenian Cossack state in the Central Ukraine between 1649 and 1782.The Hetmanate was founded by first Ukrainian hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the Khmelnytsky Uprising . In 1654 it pledged its allegiance to Muscovy during the Council of Pereyaslav,...
) in Podilia, a position that usually was awarded to the representative of a local population. The author also gives a reference to the letter of Ivan Samiylovych to kniaz G.Romodanovsky
Grigory Romodanovsky
Prince Grigory Grigoryevich Romodanovsky was a leading Russian general of Tsar Alexis's reign who promoted the Tsar's interests in Ukraine.Romodanovsky belonged to the Rurikid clan of Romodanovsky...
(the tsar's voyevoda) in which the hetman refers to Sirko as the one born in Polish lands instead of Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine was a historical region which developed and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the southwestern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia....
as part of Moscovy. Mytsyik also recalls that another historian Volodymyr Borysenko allowed for the possibility that Sirko was born in Murafa near the city of Sharhorod
Sharhorod
Sharhorod is a city in Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. It is located at ....
. The author explains the fact that it is possible during that time when people were fleeing the war (known as Ruin) to reestablish a similar town in Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine was a historical region which developed and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the southwestern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia....
.
Further, Mytsyik in his book states that Sirko probably was not really of true cossack heritage, but rather of the Ukrainian (Ruthenian) Orthodox szlachta
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
justifying the fact with the local Podilian nobleman Wojciech Sirko that was married to some Olena Kozynska sometime in 1592. Also in official letters the Polish administration referred to him as urodzonim, implying that he is the Polish subject. The author also states that Sirko was about 174–176 cm and had a birth mark on the lower lip, right side, which Ilya Repin failed to depict in his artwork making a prototype of the otaman from General Dragomirov. Mytsyik also recalls the letter of the Field Hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
of the Crown John III Sobieski
John III Sobieski
John III Sobieski was one of the most notable monarchs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, from 1674 until his death King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Sobieski's 22-year-reign was marked by a period of the Commonwealth's stabilization, much needed after the turmoil of the Deluge and...
(later, the king of Poland) where he referred to Sirko as a very quite, noble, polite, and has a great trust among Cossacks.
As a young man he 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 Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
. 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
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
Petro Doroshenko
Petro Doroshenko
Petro Dorofeyevych Doroshenko was a Cossack political and military leader, Hetman of Right-bank Ukraine and a Russian voyevoda.-Earlier life:...
in alliance with Muscovy. In 1664, he was one of the inspirators of an uprising in Right-bank Ukraine
Right-bank Ukraine
Right-bank Ukraine , a historical name of a part of Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnieper River, corresponding with modern-day oblasts of Volyn, Rivne, Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad and Kiev, as well as part of Cherkasy and Ternopil...
against Poland which is known from his letter to the Czar.
He was the first Cossack ataman
Ataman
Ataman was a commander title of the Ukrainian People's Army, Cossack, and haidamak leaders, who were in essence the Cossacks...
to accept Kalmyks
Kalmyk people
Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...
into his army. Despite his pro-Moscow orientation he distrusted and hated pro-Russian hetman Ivan Briukhovetsky
Ivan Briukhovetsky
Ivan Briukhovetsky was a pro-Russian hetman of Left-Bank Ukraine from 1663 to 1668. For background see The Ruin...
. In 1668 this rivalry even forced Ivan Sirko to switch sides again and briefly join Petro Doroshenko in his fight against “Muscovite boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
s and Voivodes” , but in 1670 once again Sirko pledged loyalty to Russian tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
Alexei Mikhailovich
Alexis I of Russia
Aleksey Mikhailovich Romanov was the Tsar of Russia during some of the most eventful decades of the mid-17th century...
. Afterwards he captured Turkish stronghold Ochakiv
Ochakiv
Ochakiv is a city in the Mykolaiv Oblast of southern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Ochakivsky Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on a peninsula in the Black Sea, at the entrance to the Dnieper Rivers's estuary,...
and besieged Ismail
Ismail
Ismail may refer to:*Ismail , people with the name*Ishmael, the English name of Ismail*Ismael Village, in Sangcharak District at Sar-e Pol Province of Afghanistan...
which he failed to capture.
Following the death of Demyan Mnohohrishny in 1672 Sirko entered the struggle for the hetman title, but instead was sent by the Russian tsar to Tobolsk
Tobolsk
Tobolsk is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh Rivers. It is a historic capital of Siberia. Population: -History:...
, Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
.
In 1673 he returned to Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and once again fought against Tatars and Turk captured fortresses Arslan and Ochakiv.
In 1675 Zaporozhian Cossacks defeated Ottoman Turkish forces in a major battle, however, the Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
of Turkey Mehmed IV
Mehmed IV
Mehmed IV Modern Turkish Mehmet was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687...
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 atamans in Ukrainian history — was remembered as a legendary Cossack and became a hero of many myths, folk songs and poems.
Beheaded Otaman
Sirko died at his estate Hrushivka (today - Soloniansky Raion, Dnipropetrovsk OblastDnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is an oblast of central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. Its administrative center is Dnipropetrovsk....
) on August 11 (1 according to the old style Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
), 1680. Next day he was buried near the Chortomlynska Sich. In 1709 the Russian Army totally destroyed the Sich and the grave of the otoman was not fixed until 1734. The Cossacks replaced the broken cross with a memorial rock that has survived to the present. The Cossacks erroneously marked that he died on May 4. In 1967 the Kakhovka Reservoir
Kakhovka Reservoir
The Kakhovka Reservoir is a water reservoir located on the Dnieper River. It covers a total surface area of 2,155 square kilometres in the territories of the Kherson, Zaporizhia, and the Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts of Ukraine...
was threatening the otaman's burial site forcing him to be reburied near the village of Kapulivka, Nikopol Raion, but without his skull. The skull of Sirko was sent to the Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
laboratory for the plastic-archaeological reconstruction of the Ethnographic Institute of the Soviet Academy of Science. It was not until 1987 when writer Yuriy Mushketyk remembered about the beheaded Otaman and wrote a letter to the Association for Preservation of History and Culture of Ukraine. The journal Pamyatky Ukrainy (Attractions of Ukraine) responded to the call of the writer and after over 20 years with the help of anthropologist Serhiy Seheda the remains of Ivan Sirko were returned to his native land.
Legacy
The otaman is widely remembered in numerous literary works of Ivan Nechuy-LevytskyIvan Nechuy-Levytsky
-Bioghaphy:Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky was born on 25 November 1838 to a family of a peasant priest. In 1847 entered the Boguslav religious school. Upon graduating from the Kiev Theological Academy he taught Russian language, history, and geography in the Poltava Theological Seminary and, later, in the...
, Andrian Kaschenko, Volodymyr Malyk
Volodymyr Malyk
Volodymyr Malyk is a Soviet/Ukrainian writer.Particularly, he wrote the series of historical novels about the adventures of fictional Cossack hero Arsen Zvenyhora, also portraying some notable figures and events of 17th century Ukraine, Russia, Ottoman Empire and other countries...
, Mykola Zerov
Mykola Zerov
Mykola Zerov was perhaps the most talented of the Neoclassicist movement of poets in 1920's Ukraine. Despite the populist and propagandistic impulses of Communism, the neoclassical movement stressed the production of 'high art' to an educated and highly literate audience...
, Borys Modzalevsky, and many others.