Extension:Ex-1.5.3: Difference between revisions
Edited via Kirby Panel: ilialurie@yahoo.com |
Edited via Kirby Panel: ilialurie@yahoo.com |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Extension | {{Extension | ||
|HasExtensionID=Ex-1.5.3 | |HasExtensionID=Ex-1.5.3 | ||
|HasTitle= | |HasTitle=Semen Vysochan: The Galician Khmelnytskyi | ||
|HasAuthor=Judith Kalik | |HasAuthor=Judith Kalik | ||
}} | }} | ||
Latest revision as of 19:20, 11 October 2026
The Cossack rebellion of 1648 under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and his successful advance westward towards Red Ruthenia provoked numerous local peasants’ uprisings throughout Ukraine. Semen Vysochan was the leader of one such uprising in Sub-Carpathian Red Ruthenia. Semen was a son of Ihnat Vysocha, who was of obscure origin: he either belonged to the Ruthenian noble family of Wysoczański,[1] or had peasant roots.[2] In any case, Ihnat Vysochan had his own small, armed force later inherited by his son Semen, which was engaged in skirmishes with Tatars and attacked estates of local nobles. Most likely, this was one of the gangs of robbers typical of the Sub-Carpathian area, where they were called opryszky (thugs).[3]
Local peasants’ uprisings began simultaneously in several Sub-Carpathian villages in summer 1648. Their leaders were mostly Orthodox priests: Ivan Hrabivski in the Kalush region, Litus in the Obertyn region, Andrii Zabolotiv in the Delyatyn region, and the Cossack Yarema Popovich (“the priest’s son”) in the Tovmach region. Semen Vysochan united these rebels under his command, raising his armed force to 15,000 combatants. Vysochan established his headquarters in the town of Otynia, from which he conducted military operations throughout Sub-Carpathian Red Ruthenia. Many Ruthenian nobles joined the rebels, and one of them, Les’ Berezovski became Vysochan’s chief of staff. The rebels organized their army on the Cossack model, dividing it into centuries (sotnia) and regiments (polk), whose commanders (including priests) held the titles of centurion and colonel. By the autumn of 1648, Vysochan’s forces conquered the fortified castles of Obertyn, Zabolotiv, Horodenka, and Pechenizhyn. The highlight of Vysochan’s activity was the capture of the fortress of Pniv on the outskirts of Nadvirna, where many Poles fleeing from the areas affected by the uprising had gathered. After several weeks of siege, Vysochan captured the Pniv castle despite fierce resistance. At the end of 1648, most of Sub-Carpathian Red Ruthenia was under the rule of Semen Vysochan - with the exception of the cities of Halych, Kolomyia, and Solotvyn, where large Polish troops gathered.
In 1648, throughout Ukraine, rebels habitually killed Polish nobles, Catholic priests, and Jews, and looted their property. Anti-Jewish violence was also one of the components of the peasants’ uprising of Semen Vysochan and his associates in Sub-Carpathian Red Ruthenia. When rebels led by the priest Ivan Hrabivski took Kalush, they looted Jewish houses.[4] In the villages of Tsvitova and Luka near Voinyliv, peasants beat and injured two Jewish women and killed two Jewish refugees from Pechenizhyn, “according to the Cossack custom” (more Cosacorum).[5] In a village of Krekhovychi near Dolyna [6] rebel peasants beat a Jewish innkeeper, killed his two sons, and robbed 170 złoty. Real massacres took place twice: in Sukhodil, rebels killed 46 Jews who escaped there from Dolina,[7] and peasants under the leadership of Vasyl Lankovich in villages near Drohobych killed 120 Jews.[8]
After the retreat of Khmelnytskyi in November 1648, Polish troops soon overpowered Vysochan’s forces and reconquered Sub-Carpathian Red Ruthenia. Vysochan retreated to Podolia, where he served under the command of Ivan Bohut. In 1659, he fled to left-bank Ukraine, which was under Russian rule. Hetman Ivan Briukhovetskyi appointed him a Cossack colonel, but in 1666 Vysochan was arrested by Russian authorities, and his fate is unknown.
Select Bibliography
Budzynovsʹkyĭ, Vʹiacheslav. Khmelʹnychchyna v Halychyni: na pidstavi materiialu zibranoho i obroblenoho d-rom St. Tomashivsʹkym. Lʹviv: Nakladom ukraïnsʹko-rusʹkoï vydavnychoï spilky, 1906
Czołowski, Aleksander. Z dziejów Chmielniczyzny na Podkarpaciu. Lwów: Pierwsza Związkowa Drukarnia, 1931Hrabovetsʹkyĭ, Volodymyr. Semen Vysochan. Ivano-Frankivsʹk, 1995
Tomashivsʹkyĭ, Stepan. Narodni rukhy v Halytsʹkiĭ Rusy 1648 r. Zapysky Naukovoho tovarystva im. Shevchenka 23–24 (1898)
- ↑ Viacheslav Lypynsky,Uchastʹ shliakhty u Velykomu ukrainsʹkomu povstanni pid provodom Bohdana Khmelʹnytsʹkoho. (Philadelphia: Lypynsky East European Research Institute, 1980), 459-460 (n. 284).
- ↑ Władysław Łoziński, Prawem i lewem: obyczaje na Czerwonej Rusi w pierwszej połowie XVII wieku, vol. 1, Lwów 1904, 387-389.
- ↑ Maurycy Horn, Walka chłopów czrwonoruskich z wyzyskiem feudalnym w latach 1600-1648, vol. 1 Zbiegstwo i zbójnictwo karpackie, Opole 1974, 66-86.
- ↑ Aleksander Czołowski, Z dziejów Chmielniczyzny na Podkarpaciu, Lwów 1931, 5.
- ↑ Aleksander Czołowski, Z dziejów Chmielniczyzny na Podkarpaciu, Lwów 1931, 10
- ↑ Stepan Tomashivsʹkyĭ, Narodni rukhy v Halytsʹkiĭ Rusy 1648 r., Zapysky Naukovoho tovarystva im. Shevchenka 23–24 (1898), 50-51
- ↑ Władysław Łoziński, Prawem i lewem: obyczaje na Czerwonej Rusi w pierwszej połowie XVII wieku, vol. 1, Lwów 1904, 407.
- ↑ Władysław Łoziński, Prawem i lewem: obyczaje na Czerwonej Rusi w pierwszej połowie XVII wieku, vol. 1, Lwów 1904, 410.