Ostap Dashkevych
Encyclopedia
Ovruch
Ovruch is a city in the Zhytomyr Oblast of northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Ovruch Raion . The current estimated population is around 17,000 . It is home to Ovruch air base....
- d. after 1535) was a commander of a Cossack defense force, approved by the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
. He held the position of starosta
Starosta
Starost is a title for an official or unofficial position of leadership that has been used in various contexts through most of Slavic history. It can be translated as "elder"...
of Cherkasy
Cherkasy
Cherkasy or Cherkassy , is a city in central Ukraine. It is the capital of the Cherkasy Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Cherkasky Raion within the oblast...
(1514-1535) in the early stages of the development of the cossacks, and is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a 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....
. Some sources as well as oral tradition claim that Dashkevych lived past the age of 80, at which he routed Tatars at Cherkasy.
Dashkevych was considered the highest authority in Lithuania on the Tatar question. His campaigns sometimes took him as far as the Crimea. However in 1515 and 1521, while in alliance with the Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
, he organized campaigns against the Grand Duchy
Grand Duchy of Moscow
The Grand Duchy of Moscow or Grand Principality of Moscow, also known in English simply as Muscovy , was a late medieval Rus' principality centered on Moscow, and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia....
to assist Lithuania.
He took part in the 1507 uprising of Michael Glinski
Michael Glinski
Michael Glinski was a noble from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of distant Tatar extraction who was also a tutor of his nephew, Ivan the Terrible. As a young man, Glinski served in the court of Emperor Maximilian I and earned distinction for his military service. Around 1498 he returned to Lithuania...
against King
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
Zygmunt I the Old. In 1514, he became the starosta
Starosta
Starost is a title for an official or unofficial position of leadership that has been used in various contexts through most of Slavic history. It can be translated as "elder"...
of both Kaniv
Kaniv
Kaniv is a city located in the Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine. The city rests on the Dnieper River, and is also one of the main inland river ports on the Dnieper...
and Cherkasy
Cherkasy
Cherkasy or Cherkassy , is a city in central Ukraine. It is the capital of the Cherkasy Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Cherkasky Raion within the oblast...
.
Dashkevych was an effective leader. He took a major role in not only organizing Cossack forces to defend 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...
, but also in organizing offensive campaigns against the Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
and Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
. In Piotrków
Piotrków
Piotrków may refer to the following places in Poland:*Piotrków Trybunalski, a city in Piotrków County, Łódź Voivodeship*Piotrków Kujawski, a city in Gmina Piotrków Kujawski in Radziejów County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship...
in 1533, he gave his plan to the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
, recommending that the government of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
organize the Cossacks as a standing military force for the defense of Ukraine, which at the time made up the southern border of the Commonwealth. His plan was approved, but the Commonwealth provided no assistance. In the end, Dashkevych's efforts greatly aided the rise of the Cossacks.
In literature
Dashkevych's successful rout of the Crimean Tatars' attempt to sack CherkasyCherkasy
Cherkasy or Cherkassy , is a city in central Ukraine. It is the capital of the Cherkasy Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Cherkasky Raion within the oblast...
is commemorated in Tomasz Padura
Tomasz Padura
Tomasz Padura - An influential Ukrainian-Polish Romantic poet of the so-called Ukrainian school , musician-torbanist, and composer-songwriter....
's ballad "Duma Rycerska".