«...Where Khmelnychenok Lies» (On the Question of the Last Years of Yu.Khmelnytskyi’s Life and Burial Place)

Abstract

Yu.Khmelnytskyi is one of the most controversial figures in Ukrainian history. As a rule, in historical literature it is presented in a more negative light than positive. There are reasons to assert the dominance of many myths related to the son of B.Khmelnytskyi in scientific works. Nevertheless, detailed studies of the hetman’s biography have not yet been created. Many aspects of his political activity, as well as the last years of his life, remain unexplained or erroneous. The place of his burial is also a mystery. Today, there are no less than ten versions concerning the death of Yu.Khmelnytskyi, and none of them are true. Documentary sources known today allow us to reconstruct in more detail the last period of the hetman’s life and to express and substantiate the idea about his actual burial place.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the existing versions regarding the last years of the life, death and burial place of the Ukrainian Hetman Yu.Khmelnytskyi and to try to determine the most real of them.

The research methodology is based on the application of the principles of historicism, systematicity, scientificity, and interdisciplinary. The following general historical methods were used: historiographical, historicalgenetic and comparative analysis.

Scientific novelty consists in the actualization in scientific circulation of some historical sources that were previously not taken into account by historians. Based on them, an attempt was made to determine the likely place of death and burial of Yu.Khmelnytskyi.

Conclusions. Today, it is safe to say that almost all the versions regarding the last years of the life and death of the Ukrainian hetman Yu.Khmelnytskyi turned out to be false and unfounded. Detailed analysis of a number of sources, including little known to historians, allows us to assert that his life after his resignation in 1681 ended peacefully, in the sleigh of a monk and, most likely, he was buried in the city of Gelibolu on the Gallipoli peninsula.