Severyn Nalyvaiko
Encyclopedia
Severyn Nalyvaiko (died April 21, 1597) was a leader of the Ukrainian
Cossacks who became a hero of Ukrainian folklore
. He led the Nalyvaiko Uprising
. The Decembrist poet Kondraty Ryleyev
wrote a poem about him.
near Ternopil
into a furrier's family. After the killing of his father by the servants of the magnate Kalinowski he moved with his mother to Ostroh
where his elder brother was a seminary student. He later served with the registered Cossacks under Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrogsky
in the Lithuania
n army. In 1593 he fought against the rebellious Zaporozhian Cossacks led by Krzysztof Kosiński
during the Kosiński Uprising
. He left the service in 1594, and organized a paramilitary unit of unregistered cossacks in the vicinity of Bratslav
, and raided several Moldavian and Hungarian
towns. The following year, Nalivaiko's Cossacks were joined by many run-away Ukrainian peasants and captured the town of Lutsk
where his men massacred Polish nobility
, Catholic clergy and local Greek-Catholics. From Volhynia
Nalivaiko's Cossacks moved into Belarus
, where they pillaged Mogilev.
Nalivaiko eventually offered peace to the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa
, conditioned that the Poles cede the lands between Southern Buh and Dniester
rivers south of Bratslav
to the Cossacks in exchange for their military service and loyalty to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
. Having refused these terms, the king recalled Stanisław Żółkiewski from Moldavia to quell the Nalivaiko Uprising, which had engulfed most of Polish crown lands in Ukraine
and Belarus
(that time called Ruthenia
) by 1596.
Nalivaiko joined his forces with the Cossack Hetman
Hryhory Loboda
(Polish: Hryhor Łoboda) but was forced to retreat to the Left-bank Ukraine
. In May of 1596 the Cossack tabor was surrounded by Poles near the town of Lubny
. The Cossacks fought for two weeks before running out of food and water. Thereupon they handed over Severyn Nalivaiko to the Poles in exchange for their own lives, only to be treacherously slaughtered by the Poles immediatedly after Nalivaiko's surrender. Nalivaiko was brought to Warsaw
in a cage and publicly quartered. There were contemporary stories about him being crowned with a white-hot iron crown or boiled alive in a copper cauldron, but they are not verified by factual evidence.
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...
Cossacks who became a hero of Ukrainian folklore
Ukrainian literature
Ukrainian literature is literature written in the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian literature had a difficult development because, due to constant foreign domination over Ukrainian territories, there was often a significant difference between the spoken and written language...
. He led the Nalyvaiko Uprising
Nalyvaiko Uprising
The Nalyvaiko Uprising was a failed Cossack rebellion against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Headed by Severyn Nalyvaiko, it lasted from 1594 to 1596...
. The Decembrist poet Kondraty Ryleyev
Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleyev
Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleyev, also spelled Kondraty Feodorovich Ryleev , 1795 - July 25 , 1826) was a Russian poet, publisher, and a leader of the Decembrist Revolt, that attempted to overthrow the Russian monarchy in 1825.-Early life:...
wrote a poem about him.
Biography
Nalyvaiko was born in the town of HusiatynHusiatyn
Husiatyn is a town in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. Alternate spellings include Gusyatin, Husyatin, and Hsiatyn. Husiatyn is the administrative center of the Husiatyn Raion , and is located on the west bank of the Zbruch River...
near Ternopil
Ternopil
Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
into a furrier's family. After the killing of his father by the servants of the magnate Kalinowski he moved with his mother to Ostroh
Ostroh
Ostroh is a historic city located in Rivne Oblast of western Ukraine, located on the Horyn River. Ostroh is the administrative center of the Ostroh Raion and is itself designated as a special administrative subordination within the oblast...
where his elder brother was a seminary student. He later served with the registered Cossacks under Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrogsky
Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski
Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski was a Lithuanian prince, starost of Volodymyr-Volynskyi, marshal of Volhynia and voivode of the Kiev Voivodeship, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He got married on January 1553 in Tarnów...
in the Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
n army. In 1593 he fought against the rebellious Zaporozhian Cossacks led by Krzysztof Kosiński
Krzysztof Kosinski
Krzysztof Kosiński was a Polish noble from the Podlaskie region. He was a colonel of the Registered Cossacks and self-proclaimed Hetman of Ukraine. He led two consecutive rebellions against local Ruthenian nobility, known as the Kosiński Uprising....
during the Kosiński Uprising
Kosinski Uprising
Kosiński Uprising is a name applied to two rebellions in Ukraine organised by Krzysztof Kosiński against the local Ruthenian nobility and magnates....
. He left the service in 1594, and organized a paramilitary unit of unregistered cossacks in the vicinity of Bratslav
Bratslav
Bratslav |Breslov]] as the name of a Hasidic group, which originated from this town) is a townlet in Ukraine, located in the Nemyriv Raion of Vinnytsia Oblast, by the Southern Bug river. It is a medieval European city having dramatically lost its importance during 19th-20th centuries...
, and raided several Moldavian and Hungarian
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
towns. The following year, Nalivaiko's Cossacks were joined by many run-away Ukrainian peasants and captured the town of Lutsk
Lutsk
Lutsk is a city located by the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of the surrounding Lutskyi Raion within the oblast...
where his men massacred Polish nobility
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...
, Catholic clergy and local Greek-Catholics. From Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
Nalivaiko's Cossacks moved into Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, where they pillaged Mogilev.
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
, conditioned that the Poles cede the lands between Southern Buh and Dniester
Dniester
The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...
rivers south of Bratslav
Bratslav
Bratslav |Breslov]] as the name of a Hasidic group, which originated from this town) is a townlet in Ukraine, located in the Nemyriv Raion of Vinnytsia Oblast, by the Southern Bug river. It is a medieval European city having dramatically lost its importance during 19th-20th centuries...
to the Cossacks in exchange for their military service and loyalty to 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...
. Having refused these terms, the king recalled Stanisław Żółkiewski from Moldavia to quell the Nalivaiko Uprising, which had engulfed most of Polish crown lands in 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 Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
(that time called Ruthenia
Ruthenia
Ruthenia is the Latin word used onwards from the 13th century, describing lands of the Ancient Rus in European manuscripts. Its geographic and culturo-ethnic name at that time was applied to the parts of Eastern Europe. Essentially, the word is a false Latin rendering of the ancient place name Rus...
) by 1596.
Nalivaiko joined his forces with the Cossack 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....
Hryhory Loboda
Hryhory Loboda
Hryhory Loboda , was a Kosh Otaman of the Zaporizhian Host of Romanian descent. In 1594 and 1595 he and Severyn Nalyvaiko took part in the anti-Turkish campaign in Moldavia as allies of Rudolf II...
(Polish: Hryhor Łoboda) but was forced to retreat to the Left-bank Ukraine
Left-bank Ukraine
Left-bank Ukraine is a historic name of the part of Ukraine on the left bank of the Dnieper River, comprising the modern-day oblasts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Sumy as well as the eastern parts of the Kiev and Cherkasy....
. In May of 1596 the Cossack tabor was surrounded by Poles near the town of Lubny
Lubny
Lubny is a city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Lubensky Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...
. The Cossacks fought for two weeks before running out of food and water. Thereupon they handed over Severyn Nalivaiko to the Poles in exchange for their own lives, only to be treacherously slaughtered by the Poles immediatedly after Nalivaiko's surrender. Nalivaiko was brought to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
in a cage and publicly quartered. There were contemporary stories about him being crowned with a white-hot iron crown or boiled alive in a copper cauldron, but they are not verified by factual evidence.