“The Muscovite Baselessly Claims the Capital City of Ukraine Kyiv, Trying to Separate It Away From Ukraine»: The Scheme of Cossack History in The Report on Kyiv And in the Preamble to The Constitution by P.Orlyk

Abstract

The article aims at thorough commenting on the Latin-language treatise The Report on Kyiv. The author contextualizes the key ideas of The Report… and compares them to those expressed in The Constitution of the Hetman Pylyp Orlyk, and in the little-explored texts preserved in the Cosacica collection of the National Archives of Sweden, which are authored by the other followers of the Hetman Ivan Mazepa. It was specifically important to suggest an explanation, why the single copy of The Report… has been preserved in the very same document as the preamble of the mentioned The Constitution, which is separated from its major text.

The methodology of the present scholarship combines the text-critical and narratological approaches to commenting on the text, and also methodology of the history of ideas.

The research novelty of the article is that it introduces little-known sources to the scholarly community, and suggests new conceptual approaches to the interpretation of P.Orlyk’s.

Conclusions. The preamble of The Constitution by P.Orlyk demonstrates that the claims for the independence of the “Cossack nation” are justified by its origin, history, and the principles of the natural law. The Report on Kyiv is closely linked to the preamble of The Constitution, and its purpose is to substantiate the historical rights of the Cossacks for Kyiv, and the “entire Ukraine”, which territory should be indivisible. In the same time, the historical arguments in the document argue that the “Cossack nation” is separate from the Muscovites and their rulers. Both the texts (the preamble and The Report…) attempt to reconsider the Cossack origene gentum as the sources of the “separate history” and demonstrates the breach with the dominating narrative of The Synopsis. Up to that time, the so called Khazars myth has never been interpreted as the evidence that the Cossacks are the politically separate community. Such an original interpretation was exactly the contribution of the Hetman P.Orlyk and the other followers of the former Hetman I.Mazepa. After the dramatic developments of 1708–1709, they urgently needed new ideological justification of the military struggle with the Muscovite tsar. The article also points out that The Report… together with the preamble to The Constitution could both serve during the negotiations of the P.Orlyk’s representatives with the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul in December 1712. The arguments expressed in these documents could be used to justify the Cossack struggle with the Muscovite tsar, and the exclusive rights of the Cossacks for the both banks of the Dnipro river including the city of Kyiv.