In the articles about Stepan Razin and Kondraty Bulavin, a little was said about the Don Cossacks. In some of these articles, Zaporozhye Cossacks were also mentioned. But when and how did these people appear in the southern steppes on the outskirts of the Russian state?
Some believe that the Cossacks are descended from the Brodniks, whose voivode, Ploskinya, after the battle on Kalka, on behalf of the Mongols, negotiated with the Kiev prince Mstislav and kissed the cross, promising: the victors "will not shed your blood."
Others talk about the possible origin of the Cossacks from the vassals of the Kiev princes of the nomads of the tribes of the black hoods.
Still others are from the Kasog tribe.
Grigory Grabyanka, who at the beginning of the 18th century tried to write the history of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, believed that they were descended from the Khazars.
However, none of the above had the slightest chance to stay on this territory until the time when historical sources record the appearance here of "real" Cossacks familiar to us.
The vast territory of the Great Steppe from the Volga to the Dnieper was a corridor of the Great Migration of Peoples, through which many tribes passed that shook the empires and kingdoms of the West: Huns, Avars, Magyars, Mongols. These invasions swept away or carried away the tribes that had previously roamed here. But even without the Huns or Magyars going to the west, living on these lands was uneasy. And for a fairly significant part of the time, the Great Steppe of Europe was an uncontrolled "wild field". That is why organized groups of free people could appear here. However, the rulers of the Jochi ulus, better known as the Golden Horde, managed for some time to restore order in this territory, eliminating all mobs and communities independent of the authorities. Only after the catastrophic defeat of the state of Tokhtamysh by the troops of Timur in 1391 and 1395. these territories again became a no-man's land, and here again conditions appeared for the emergence of specific groups of the population that could become the progenitors of the Cossacks.
Versions of the origin of the word "Cossack" and the first Cossacks
The very word "Cossack" probably still has a Turkic origin. It is translated by various authors as “free man”, “exile”, and even “robber”. It is suggested that the Cossacks (or rather, a consonant word) were initially called mercenaries entering the temporary service - in contrast to the soldiers of the permanent army of the khan ("oglans") and his subjects, called up in case of war ("sarbazy").
Then the Cossacks began to call the members of the robber detachments that were not subordinate to anyone. A. Storozhenko, for example, argued:
“The Cossack craft developed especially among the Tatars who settled in the Crimea. If a Horde … abandoned the peaceful life of a shepherd, alone or in a company of the like … went deep into the steppes, robbed merchant caravans, made his way to Russia and Poland to capture prisoners, whom he then sold at a profit in the bazaars, then such a vagabond and robber was called in Tatar " Cossack "".
However, there is also a version about the North Caucasian origin of the Cossacks. Some authors believe that they descended from the tribe "Kasogs", whose representatives were called kasakh by the ancestors of the Ossetians, and the Mingrelians - kachak. His supporters consider the self-designation of the Cossacks - Cherkasy - as an argument in favor of this assumption. Although, you must admit that it would be more logical if the Don Cossacks called themselves that, because they lived much closer to the Caucasus.
Later the name "Cossacks" was transferred to independent communities of people who, for various reasons, fled to the territory of the Wild Steppe.
The appearance of the Cossacks was not unique in world history. Similar communities constantly emerged at the junctions of hostile civilizations. Thus, on the frontier between the two empires, the Ottoman and the Holy Roman Germanic nation, one could meet Yunaks, whom many considered to be similar to the "free Cossacks". And on the so-called Military Border - along the Sava, Tissa and Danube rivers, lived the border guards, who resembled the Cossacks of the Caucasian line.
The national composition of the first Cossacks was unusually variegated and diverse. These could be small detachments of deserters from the army of some khan, but there were also bands of fugitives from the Russian principalities. At first, all these small communities were mono-national, and, probably, were at enmity with each other, but gradually the process of their merger and unification began. They were replenished mainly by people forced for some reason to flee from their homes. Nationality and religion were no longer of decisive importance - members of the proto-Cossack communities were renegades who lived by their own laws. The downside of such a free life was complete lack of rights - these ancestors of the Cossacks were outcasts who could not count on the protection of some prince or khan. But for many fugitives, such a life seemed attractive. Among them there were people who were organically incapable of monotonous and monotonous work. Some were just robbers who fled from justice. But the majority was driven to despair by the extortions and arbitrariness of the local authorities, and dreamed of “going to the Cossacks” in order to live freely, hunting and fishing, and to rob some baggage train was also a good prospect.
Such a life attracted even residents of more remote regions - they went to the Cossacks from Lithuania and Poland. And not only "claps", but also impoverished gentry, who were called "banits". Information about them is contained, for example, in the "History of the Khotyn campaign of 1621" by Yakov Sobessky, who reports:
"They renounced their former surnames and adopted common nicknames, although some of them belonged earlier to noble families."
He also claims that there were people of other nationalities among the Cossacks:
"There are many Germans, French, Italians, Spaniards and others who are forced to leave their homeland as a result of the atrocities and crimes committed there."
And in the second half of the 16th century, among the Zaporozhye Cossacks, one could also meet Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats, Bulgarians and immigrants from Wallachia. The constant influx of all these people led to the fact that in the previously mainly Turkic-speaking Cossack gangs, the Slavs began to prevail, in whose speech there were many words borrowed from their neighbors. As an example of such borrowings, we can cite the words ataman, esaul, kuren, kosh, bunchuk, maidan, which are now familiar and familiar to everyone. And it was not Slavic beshmet and chekmen that became popular clothes. Alexander Rigelman wrote in the 18th century that the Cossacks “wear almost completely Tatar dress”.
Historical centers of the Cossacks
Historically, initially there were two centers of the Cossacks. The Don Cossacks settled near the Don and its tributaries, on the territory of the present Rostov, Volgograd and Voronezh regions of the Russian Federation, as well as the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine. At the beginning of the 17th century, they united into the Don Army.
Don Army Map
On the territory of modern Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk and Kherson regions of Ukraine, Zaporozhye Cossacks appeared.
In historical documents, the Don is mentioned a little earlier. In 1471 - in the Moscow "Grebenskaya Chronicle". It tells about the famous icon of the Donskoy Mother of God, which it was the Cossacks who allegedly brought Dmitry Donskoy to the Kulikovo field.
The Cossacks were first mentioned in 1489. In 1492, the Polish chronicler Marcin Belsky reported about the fortified camp of the Cossacks beyond the Dnieper rapids.
However, even earlier, Ryazan Cossacks appear in the annals, who in 1444 "came on skis, with sulitsy, with a cudgel, and together with the Mordovians joined Vasily's squads." In 1494, the Horde Cossacks "who plundered at Aleksin" are mentioned, in 1497 - "Yaponcha Saltan, the Crimean Tsar's son with his Cossacks", and in 1499 the Horde Azov Cossacks were driven away from Kozelsk.
Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks were not isolated groups, quite often they coordinated their actions, arranging joint campaigns. In 1707-1708. in the Sich Kondraty Bulavin took refuge, and, despite the opposition of the koshevoy ataman, some of the ordinary Zaporozhians then went with him to the Don. But it was impossible to confuse the Donets and the Cossacks with each other. They differed both in their way of life and even outwardly.
Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks
The descriptions of appearance left by many contemporaries allow us to say that the Zaporozhian people, apparently, had more Turkic blood: they, as a rule, were dark-skinned and dark-haired. Donetsk people are usually described as typical Slavs, noting their fair faces and blond hair.
The Zaporozhians also looked more exotic: they had shaved heads, notorious Oseledtsy, long pendulous mustaches, "wide trousers as wide as the Black Sea."
Folk painting "Crimean Zaporozhets" ("Cossack Mamai"). Late 18th - early 19th century
However, it must be said that harem pants from the Cossacks appeared only in the 18th century, and they borrowed them from the Turks.
It is less known that from the middle of the 17th century, pocket watches became fashionable among the Cossacks, which were considered a sign of wealth and success.
Don Cossacks dressed less flashy and wore beards, which was uncharacteristic for the Cossacks. Currently, the appearance of the Donets seems to many to be typical Cossack and does not cause surprise, while the appearance of the Cossacks is often perceived as too folklore, deliberate and even theatrical. It is interesting that the Kuban (former Black Sea) Cossacks, direct and legal heirs of the Cossacks, have long looked quite traditional.
E. Korneev. "Black Sea Cossack", 1809
Dangling mustaches and donkeys can now be seen only among the mummers of the Cossacks of modern Ukraine.
Don Cossacks were divided into grassroots and horsemen. Sometimes the middle members were also singled out. The grassroots lived in places that later became the Cherkassky and First Don districts, in which the southern and eastern influence was more noticeable - both in clothing and in borrowed words, brunettes were more common. It was they who founded the first Cossack cities on the Don and went on sea voyages. The grassroots lived richer than the Verkhovtsy. From the message of the ambassador at the headquarters of the Trans-Volga Nogai Murza Izmail Turgenev, it is known that in 1551 the Nizovites imposed a tribute on the Azov.
Riding Cossacks occupied lands in the Khopersky and Ust-Medveditsky districts and had many similarities with the population of the neighboring Russian districts. On campaigns "for zipuns" they went to the Volga and the Caspian Sea.
A. Rigelman. Cossacks riding (left) and grassroots (right) villages
In the second half of the 17th century, a thieves 'town Ryga (Riga) appeared near the Volga-Don perevoloka, the Cossacks of which in 1659 "until the winter of the merchants from the Don Rus' did not let a single Budar through." It was defeated by the grassroots Cossacks, who wanted to put the headstrong leaders under their control.
The grassroots and horseback Cossacks disliked each other: the grassroots put themselves in the first place and the Verkhovtsy were called muzhiks and chiga (the meaning of the word is unclear). There were differences in worldview and psychology, which was reflected in two versions of the same proverb: the grassroots Cossacks said “even the life of a dog, but the glory of the Cossack”, and the horsemen - “even the glory of the Cossack, but the life of a dog”.
Militarily, the Donets turned out to be more advanced than the Cossacks, as they managed to organize their own artillery.
The religion of the Don Cossacks was Orthodoxy, traditionally the influence of the Old Believers was strong, many of whom were forced to flee to the Don.
But among the Cossacks there were Catholics, Muslims, and even (unexpectedly) Jews.
The Donets necessarily wore body crosses, while among the Cossacks they appeared only in later times - under Russian influence. And the first church in the Zaporizhzhya Sich (Bazavlukskaya) was built in the 18th century, before that they did without temples. So Gogol somewhat exaggerated the degree of devotion of the Cossacks in the story "Taras Bulba". But still A. Toynbee later called the Cossacks "border guards of Russian Orthodoxy."
There were differences in the preparation of food: the usual food of the Zaporozhians was kulesh, a soup made of flour (grouse), dumplings and dumplings, the Don people loved fish soup, cabbage soup and porridge.
Passion for borscht
In this place, it is probably impossible not to remember the notorious borscht. The Ukrainians have already convinced themselves that this is their national dish, and all other borscht is "fake." Now they are trying to convince the whole world of this.
Actually, soup with cabbage and beets has been known for a very long time, in Crimea, for example, at the beginning of the new era it was called "Thracian soup". It is believed that the main difference between borscht and its predecessor soups is the initial roasting of the beets. There are two versions of the appearance of traditional borscht. According to the first, which is insisted in Ukraine, in 1683, during the war with the Turks, the Cossacks, allied to the Austrians, were in the vicinity of Vienna, where they found large fields planted with beets. By itself, it seemed tasteless to them, but they had to eat something - they had to experiment. First, they tried to fry it in lard, and then began to cook the fried beets with other vegetables.
According to another version, borscht was invented even earlier - by the Don Cossacks during the siege of the Turkish fortress Azak (Azov).
However, there are earlier references to borscht - in documents of the 16th century, in particular, in the Novgorod Yamsk books and in Domostroy. Historians are also familiar with the "Decree on the meals of Troitskov Sergiev and the Tikhvin monasteries", dated 1590, where it is recommended to serve "wrestling and lumpy with pepper" for the "Forefeast of Christ's Nativity".
True, some people believe that not beets were used in those borscht, but the herbaceous plant hogweed.
But even if it is the Ukrainian version of the invention of borscht that is recognized as correct, it turns out that this dish was first prepared outside Ukraine - in Austria. And it was not the Ukrainians who prepared it, but the Cossacks - the people about whom Johann-Gotgilf Fokkerodt wrote: “Runaway from everywhere, a robber rabble” (“Russia under Peter the Great”).
Christoph Hermann Manstein, who served in the Russian army under Anna Ioannovna, in his "Notes on Russia" called the Cossacks "a mixture of every people."
Voltaire in his "History of Charles XII" describes the Cossacks as "a gang of Russians, Poles and Tatars, professing something like Christianity and engaged in robbery."
V. Klyuchevsky also incorrectly called them “rabble and wandering masses”.
In 1775, after the liquidation of the last Sich (Pidpilnyanskaya), the Cossacks left the territory of Ukraine altogether. Some of them went to Turkish possessions. Others in 1787 formed the Black Sea Cossack army, to which on June 30, 1792 lands were granted from the right bank of the Kuban to the Yeisk town. The payment for such a valuable gift was the service of Russia and the rejection of the old way of life. So the Cossacks turned into the Black Sea, and then into the Kuban Cossacks. In 1860, other descendants of the last Sich Cossacks were resettled to the Kuban. These were the descendants of the Trans-Danube Zaporozhians who went over to the side of Russia in 1828, who first formed the Azov Cossack army, located between Mariupol and Berdyansk. That is, the direct descendants and heirs of the Zaporozhye Cossacks live in Russia. And, following the logic of the Ukrainian version of the invention of borscht by the Cossacks, it should be admitted that the Kuban should be declared a real classic borscht. The only problem is that in the Kuban, as well as in Ukraine, there is no single canonical recipe for borscht, but there is a saying “every house has its own borscht”. Therefore, borscht should be recognized as a common dish of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians and not try to give the recipes for its preparation a political color. Moreover, in the composition of the Cossack army near Vienna there was also a certain number of specially invited Don Cossacks. And it is impossible to know for certain who first came up with the idea to put beets fried in lard in the pot with stew - the bottom or the Zaporozhets.
Let's say a few words at the same time about the famous naval borscht. According to the canonical version, its recipe was created by order of the commander of the Kronstadt military port S. O. Makarov.
Admiral Makarov S. O.
To exchange experience, Dr. Novikov visited Sevastopol (a city that was originally and always Russian, not Ukrainian), after which he formulated recommendations for laying meat, cereals and vegetables. He suggested laying the meat already cut (and not cutting it into portions after being cooked), to improve the taste, he recommended adding tomatoes. The peculiarities of the naval borscht recipe were the way of cutting cabbage "checkered" (not shavings) and the addition of smoked meats. And on May 1, 1901, Makarov issued an order on a new method of cooking "command cabbage soup".
The way of life of the Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks
But back to comparing the Don Cossacks with the Zaporozhye Cossacks.
In fact, the difference was even more significant. Don Cossacks lived in the villages, got married and started a farm. In 1690, the Russian authorities tried to ban them from farming, but this order was sabotaged by them. And then government officials were smart enough not to insist on its strict implementation. But the Cossacks lived in kurens, the focus of which was the Sich.
The Ukrainian word "sich" is related to the Russian "zaseka" and means a defensive fortification built with the use of trees felled towards the enemy. But then the word "Sich" began to mean the capital of the Zaporozhye Cossack region and even the entire region beyond the Dnieper rapids. The government of this peculiar republic (the Cossack foreman) consisted of four people, elected for a year: the kosh chieftain, a military judge, a military chieftain, and a military clerk.
Glad in the Zaporizhzhya Sich. In the background are large smoking houses. From an engraving of the 18th century
For the Don Cossacks, an analogue of the Rada was a military circle, on which a military ataman, two esauls, a military clerk (clerk), a military interpreter and a podtolmach were selected. When going to war, field chieftains and colonels were elected. After resigning from office, these people passed into the category of "military foreman".
Cossack military circle on the Don. 17th century engraving
Unlike the Don Cossacks, the seches did not have wives and they considered it beneath their dignity to engage in any kind of work: from their point of view, money should have been obtained exclusively in military campaigns - in order to immediately walk and drink the booty and very soon set off on a new expedition. Moreover, these campaigns could be directed in any direction: the nationality and religion of potential victims were of interest to the Cossacks in the last place. Here are some examples of such "illegibility".
The Belarusian priest Fyodor Filippovich in the "Barkulabovskaya Chronicle" (late 16th - early 17th centuries), for example, reports:
“The Zaporozhians repaired the great Skoda, and the glorious place of Vitebsk was conquered, they took a lot of gold and silver, they chopped down the courteous townspeople … Bitter than evil enemies, Albo evil Tatars.”
The same author writes about the rape of a 6-year-old girl by the Cossacks.
In 1595, the Cossacks of Severin Nalivaiko plundered Mogilev and burned 500 houses in this city.
Both Vitebsk and Mogilev are cities of the Commonwealth.
Krishtof Kosinsky, himself a nobleman, at the head of the Cossacks also burned and plundered the territory of this state.
In 1575, Zaporozhye detachments under the command of Bogdan Ruzhinsky ("Bogdanko") and the military captain Nechai, taking the fortress of Or-Kapy, invaded the Crimea, plundered many cities, gouging out the eyes of men and cutting off the breasts of women.
Kafa, besieged by Ruzhinsky from the land, Nechai - from the sea, "was taken by storm in a short time, plundered the city and massacred the inhabitants, except for 500 prisoners of both sexes."
In 1606, the Cossacks plundered and burned the Christian (Bulgarian) city of Varna - this is the territory of the Ottoman Empire. We are not even talking about the numerous Muslim cities burned and plundered by the Cossacks (often in alliance with the Don people).
The Cossacks of Hetman Peter Sagaidachny in 1618 plundered the Russian cities of Putivl, Livny, Yelets, Lebyadin, Dankov, Skopin, and Ryazhsk. They were repulsed from Moscow by the troops of D. Pozharsky.
In general, the Cossacks did not forget to beat and plunder any of the neighbors at the opportunity.
Sometimes they, according to the Pole L. Piaseczyński, "were an opus misericordiae" (a model of mercy): in 1602, having seized a merchant ship, the Cossacks exterminated the Turks, and the Greeks were simply "robbed naked and given life."
The Donets, according to Dortelli, killed the Turks without mercy, but the captured Christians of the Ottoman Empire were offered to ransom, “unless they themselves bought slaves; in this case, they are killed mercilessly, as was the case last year (1633) with many Armenians."
It should be said that the same Greeks in the Ottoman Empire did not deserve much sympathy, since they actively participated in the trade in Slavic slaves, and they themselves did not disdain to have co-religionists. Pavel Aleppsky in the 1650s reported about the Greeks of Sinop:
"Over a thousand Christian families live in this place, and in each family there are five or six captive men and women, or even more."
Yuri Krizhanich in the 60s. XVI century wrote:
“The Greeks, wishing to say about a slave, a slave, a slave or a seafarer, call him by the name of our people“sklavos”, a Slav:“this is my Slav,”that is,“this is my slave”. Instead of “enslave”, they say “slavonit”, that is, “slavish”.
To avoid accusations of bias and bias, let us inform you that the Don Cossacks also committed many atrocities in the war. For example, having taken the fortress of Azov, they "did not spare … there is no man of age in it, neither old nor young … they whipped every one of them."
Russian envoys to the Crimean Khan Zhukov and Pashin in 1657 report on the actions of the Don people, who during their mission staged a raid on the coast between Kafa and Kerch: “Tatars, and their jones, and all children are chopped off”.
At the same time, the Don people often showed touching concern for the "fodder base", agreeing in advance: to burn the Crimean villages to the ground, or not to beat "all Crimean people without a trace"? If they planned to return to the same places in a couple of years, they were not ruined to the ground.
These rules did not apply when they took revenge for a raid or defeat, and during the war of the Krymchaks and Turks with Russia.
Cruelty in those days did not surprise anyone, it was easier to surprise with mercy. So the peculiarity of the Cossacks was not the prohibitive level of cruelty, but the aforementioned "promiscuity" and readiness to rob everyone in a row, whom they could reach and where they did not expect to meet an overly strong enemy.
The Zaporozhians themselves understood that they were not angels, not at all complexing about this and calmly calling things by their proper names. When the Russian authorities demanded to extradite Kondraty Bulavin, who had fled to the Sich, the Cossacks replied:
"This has never happened, so that such people, rebels or robbers, were given out."
The word "robber" did not offend the Sich. A legend widespread among them explains the need for a traditional long forelock (a sedentary): a hardened Cossack commits so many sins in his life that he will certainly go to hell, but God will be able to pull him out of there for a sedentary. Why and on what basis God is obliged to rescue the Cossacks from the underworld is not explained: there is a sinful hardened Cossack, there is a forelock - all the conditions are met, come on, Lord, pull it out.
In general, it can be assumed that people of different temperaments and attitudes rushed to the Don and Dnieper. If a peasant who fled from near Tula, Kaluga or Smolensk did not exclude the possibility of working freely in a new place, even with interruptions for war, campaigns for zipuns and robberies, he made his way to the Don. And if he wanted to live freely and cheerfully for several years (or months, as he was lucky), he had to go to the Sich, which needed a constant supply of cannon fodder. It was possible, of course, to hire a farm laborer for bread and shelter to some winter Zaporozhye Cossack - these could get married and start a farm, periodically joining the seches during their campaigns (we will talk about them later, in the next article). But was it worth fleeing to Zaporozhye to become there a powerless, non-claiming "golutva"?
It is unlikely that just such a fate dreamed of both the fugitive peasants and the "dashing people" persecuted by the law.
Of course, on the Don, too, one had to start from scratch, but at the first stages of colonization it was still possible to find free land along the tributaries of the Cossack river. It was only necessary to be able to master and protect it. And it was very difficult. It is known that in 1646 the tsarist authorities sent 3037 people of "eager people" to settle on the Don, after a year only 600 of them remained, the rest fled - not to the Don, but from the Don! It is possible to draw conclusions about what kind of people settled there voluntarily.
But soon the free lands on the Don ended, and new fugitives here could only count on the place of a laborer. Among them were many fugitives from the Polish-controlled regions of Ukraine, to whom even such a life seemed better than the previous one. Those of them who worked for the elders, who became nobles, were made serfs in 1796. And those who labored in the villages near the simple donors were ranked among the Cossacks in 1811.
The mistake in the choice could be corrected: it happened that the Don Cossacks went to the Sich, and, on the contrary, the Seches moved to the Don. In 1626, tsarist officials reported to Moscow:
“All of them (Cherkas) are on the Don with 1000 people. And there are also many Don Cossacks in the Zaporozhi."
Once, “1000 Cherkasians, with wives and children, and with them 80 carts of all kinds of junk” came to the Don at once “to live” (these were the winter Cossacks, we are talking about later, and the sechests who decided to settle down). And some names clearly indicate who exactly originally settled in these places. An example is the town of Cherkassky, founded in 1570.
Political connections of the Don Cossacks and Zaporozhians
The Don Cossacks quickly found themselves among the clients of the Moscow tsars. The first agreement with them was concluded under Ivan the Terrible, the Don people participated in his campaigns to Kazan and Astrakhan. From 1570 the Donets began to pay salaries from Moscow - in money, gunpowder, cloth, bread and wine. In 1584 the Don Army took the oath to Fyodor Ioannovich.
Since the time of Peter I, relations with the Don Cossacks were no longer in charge of the Ambassadorial Order, but the Military Collegium.
Since 1709, the Don people were forbidden to choose the ataman on the circle themselves - this is how the order atamans appeared on the Don. In 1754, foremen were appointed by the authorities as well. Finally, in 1768 the Don elders were granted the Russian nobility.
And the Cossacks fell under the influence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But in 1569, after the conclusion of the Union of Lublin and the formation of the Commonwealth, the Sich became part of the new state. The worst of all then was for the Orthodox Ukrainian peasants, whom the new Roman Catholics did not even consider as people. And the number of fugitives in the Sich increased dramatically.
The formal subordination of the Cossacks to the new authorities did not prevent them from claiming independence: they often made their campaigns without consulting Warsaw and without informing the king and his officials.
In general, the Cossacks easily entered into various alliances - if this promised benefits.
The already quoted Johann-Gotgilf Fokkerodt reports: “Until now, they (the Cossacks) were hired indiscriminately for the Poles and Turks” (“Russia under Peter the Great”).
Indeed, in 1624The Cossacks fought even as part of the army of the Crimean Khan Mehmed III Gerai against the Turkish troops and, together with the Crimeans, won a victory at Karasubazar (now Belogorsk).
In 1628, the Cossacks recaptured the troops of the Mirza of the Budjak Horde, Kan Temir, from the Chufut-Kale fortress, who besieged the rebellious brothers Mehmed III and Shahin Geraev there. True, everything ended badly: reinforcements came from Turkey, and the Gerays, together with the Cossacks, had to flee to Zaporozhye.
The same Sahaidachny, just a year and a half after the campaign against Russia, when the Poles once again deprived him of the hetman's mace, sent an embassy to Moscow with the lowest request to accept the Zaporozhian Army into Russian service and welcome yesterday's robbers "like their servants." The Russian government refused such subjects. Cared for by Peter I, Mazepa betrayed his benefactor, as soon as the troops of Charles XII entered the territory of Little Russia. And, discovering that the Swedes' affairs were not at all as rosy as he had expected, he entered into negotiations with Peter, promising him to seize and bring Karl and with the Poles promising to return the territories subject to him to the Commonwealth.
The Moscow authorities traditionally distrusted the Cossacks (Cherkasy) and sought to limit their contacts with the Don Cossacks. They also did not encourage the resettlement of the Cossacks to the Don. In this decree, the ban is motivated by the need to maintain peace with Crimea and Turkey:
"You are not ordered to accept the Zaporozhye Cherkas, because they come to you according to the teachings of the Polish king in order to cause a quarrel between us and the Turks sultan and the Crimean king."
This brings to mind the events of the Time of Troubles:
"Cherkasy came to the Russian state to the sovereign Ukrainian cities and places they fought, and much peasant (Christian) blood was shed, and the churches of God were cursed."
Finally, the Don people are reminded that the Cossacks belong to a different camp:
"You yourself know that the Zaporozhye Cherkasy serve the Polish king, and the Polish king is our enemy, and he is plotting any evil against our state."
But the relationship between the Donets and the Cossacks as a whole was still friendly, as we will see in the next article. And since the time of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, as you know, the Cossacks came under Russian jurisdiction.
Soon we will continue our story about the Zaporozhye and Don Cossacks.
