Baturyn: historic capital of the Kozak Hetman state (01/19/03)

Baturyn: historic capital of the Kozak Hetman state

by Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev

TORONTO - Baturyn is located in the Chernihiv Oblast, northeast of Kyiv in central Ukraine. The town emerged as a fortress built on the high bank of the Seim River by the princes of the Chernihiv Principality in the 11th century.

From the beginning of the 17th century, this small provincial town, or "mistechko," grew substantially in significance. In 1648, during the rebellion led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky against Polish domination in Ukraine, the Kozaks wrested control of Baturyn from the Poles. In 1654 the town was granted to use Magdeburg law, providing it with municipal self-rule. Between 1669 and 1708, Baturyn was the official capital of the Kozak Hetman state in Left-Bank Ukraine.

The town flourished during the glorious reign of Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1687-1708), growing to an area of approximately 100 hectares with a population of about 20,000. Baturyn had 40 churches and private chapels, two monasteries, and a college for diplomats and government officials ("Kantseliarsky Kurin").

The town's development was disrupted in 1708 during the Northern War between Russia and Sweden. After Mazepa and his followers sided with the Swedes, the hetman capital was seized and ravaged by the Russian punitive troops under the command of Aleksandr Menshikov, the favorite of Tsar Peter I. The Kozak garrison of 8,000 and the bulk of the civilian population were massacred. Ukrainian scholars have estimated the number of Baturyn's victims at between 13,000 and 15,000. The figure of 21,000 casualties has also been cited.

As a result of this total destruction, Baturyn stood deserted for about 40 years, recovering by the mid-18th century. It briefly regained its prestigious status as the hetman capital during the reign of the last hetman, Kyrylo Rozumovsky (1750-1764) until the autonomous Kozak Hetman state was abolished and absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1764. Following Rozumovsky's death in 1803, Baturyn gradually declined. Now, it is a small semi-agrarian provincial town with a population of about 4,000.

Before the independent Ukrainian state was re-established in 1991, any research of Baturyn was impossible. In 1995-1997, an archaeological expedition from the University of Chernihiv began excavating in Baturyn. These field investigations, however, were halted after 1997 because of lack of funding.

Thanks to financial support from the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada and the United States, the excavations in Baturyn were renewed in 2001. This expedition, consisting of Ukrainian and Canadian archaeologists and historians, has been sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (Kowalsky Program for the Study of Eastern Ukraine), the Shevchenko Mediaeval Scientific Society of America, the University of Chernihiv and the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto.

Archaeologists have prepared a reconstructive plan of mediaeval and early modern Baturyn and its environs. They uncovered the remnants of the two Baroque masonry hetman palaces, churches, buildings of the townsfolk and Kozak households, town fortifications, traces of urban crafts and arts, Western trade imports and coins testifying to the international commercial contacts of the hetman capital in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The excavations have also yielded evidence of the massive devastation of the Hetman capital in 1708: the remnants of many burned or ruined structures and 26 skeletal remains, mainly of elderly men, women and children. Most were identified as victims of the attack on the town by the Russian army. Several of the skeletons bear the signs of a violent death, e.g., smashed or cut skulls, some with bullet holes or severed bones of limbs. They were often buried near their destroyed houses in shallow grave pits; some bodies probably remained unburied.

The results of the Baturyn excavations will be disseminated in public lectures, academic and popular scholarly articles in English and Ukrainian, in Canadian and American journals and newspapers, documentary video films, as well as on radio and TV programs.

Documentary videos are available

The Ukraine-Canada archaeological expedition has already made two professional documentary video films (25 and 28 minutes in length) in Ukrainian about the history and architectural monuments of Baturyn and its excavations in 2001 and 2002. These films have been highly praised by Ukrainian Canadian TV and were aired five times on the TV programs "Kontakt" and "Svitohliad" in Canada and the United States, as well as five times in Ukraine - on the central TV channel Inter and on the regional Chernihiv TV program in 2001-2002.

The English-language version of the second film is currently being prepared.

The production of these historical videos has been sponsored by the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies (Toronto), and the Shevchenko Scientific Society (New York).

The videos are available for purchase from their producer, Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev, who may be contacted at 100 High Park Ave., Apt. 2015, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6P 2S2; telephone (416) 766-1408; e-mail: [email protected].

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