(1587-1632), who was an obedient pupil of the Jesuits. The feeling against the Jews spread very rapidly from Poland into the Ukraine in the reign of Sigismund III. In ballads of Little Russia reference is made to a colonel named Matvi Borochovich (1647), who, as his family name (meaning "son of Baruch") indicates, was probably also of Jewish origin. In 1637 a certain Ilyash (Elijah) Karaimovich (the name indicates a Karaite origin) was one of the officers of the registered Cossacks, and became their "starosta" (elder) after the execution of Pavlyuk (Kostomarov, l.c. In the responsa of Joel Särkes mention is made of "Berakah the Hero," who fought in the ranks ofthe Cossacks and fell in battle against the Muscovites (1601 Harkavy, "Yevrei-Kazaki," in "Russki Yevrei," 1880, p. Piasaczinski replied stating that the Cossacks were not subjects of the Polish king, and that he therefore could not be held responsible for the acts of uncontrollable rovers of the desert for while there were some Poles, there were also Muscovites, Wallachians, Turks, Tatars, Jews, etc., among them (Kostomarov, l.c.
In 1681 Aḥmad Kalga, chief councilor of the Khan of the Crimea, complained to the Polish ambassador, Piasaczinski, that the Cossacks of the Lower Dnieper had made attacks on the Crimea. It may be mentioned here that Jews also served in the ranks of the Cossacks. These Cossacks were joined by Little Russian peasants of the Greek faith who had broken away from their Polish Catholic landlords, by fugitives from justice, and by adventurers. This fortress with its garrison was known as the "Zaporogian Syech" (the fortified camp beyond the rapids). About that time the Ukrainian lord Wishnewetzki (Polish, "Wisniowiecki") built on an island in the River Dnieper the fortress of Khortitza, and placed Cossacks there for protection against the invasions of the Crimean Tatars ("Akty Yuzhnoi i Zapadnoi Rossii," ii. When Poland and Lithuania were merged by King Sigismund Augustus into one commonwealth (1569), the provinces of Volhynia, Podolia, and the Ukraine were separated from Lithuania and came under the immediate rule of Poland. Their organizations bore some resemblance to those of the order of knighthood, for they announced themselves as the champions of Christendom. Soon after the Ukraine Cossacks became conspicuous. The peasants of the Greek faith thus became the serfs of the landlords.
#COSSACKS UKRAINE FREE#
The free cities, towns, and villages being distributed among the nobility, the ancient system of self-government was abolished, and the first step taken toward the forced adoption of Polish customs and methods by the Russian nobility. When King Casimir Jagellon transformed the principality of Kiev into a Polish waywodeship (1476), the Russian nobles of the Ukraine received equal rights with the Polish nobility (Kostomarov, "Bogdan Chmielnicki," i. Of the different branches of Cossacks, only those of the Ukraine (Little Russia) are considered here. Later there appear groups of Cossack agriculturists, Cossack settlements, and Cossack villages. Becoming permanent settlers, they retained their military and social organizations. For the sake of mutual protection they organized themselves into armed bands, led by hetmans, or atamans. The Cossacks originally appeared as traveling merchants, pursuing their vocation generally in the steppes of South Russia, beyond the limits of their own country. Since the fifteenth century, semi-military bands of Cossacks have been scattered over the steppes of southern and southeastern Russia, and have materially influenced the history of the Jews in that region.