Hetmans of Ukrainian Cossacks

Hetmans Of Ukrainian Cossacks

Hetman of Ukrainian Cossacks as a title was not officially recognized internationally until the creation of the Ukrainian Hetmanate. With the creation of Registered Cossacks units their leaders were unofficially referred to as hetmans, however officially the title was known as the "Senior (Starshy) of His Royal Mercy of Zaporishian Host". Therefore before 1648 and the establishment of Cossack Hetmanate there were numerous regional hetmans across the Dnieper Ukraine, who usually were starostas or voivodes.

The first widely recognized hetman of Zaporizhia was Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, however later several Polish starostas were added to the Hetman registry such as Lyantskoronsky and Dashkevych who also led their own cossack formations. According to Hrushevsky they were not really considered as hetman, at least by their contemporaries. Among other such starostas were Karpo Maslo from Cherkasy, Yatsko Bilous (Pereyaslav), Andrushko (Bratslav), and many others. Even Princes Konstanty Ostrogski and Bohdan Hlinski were conducting Cossack raids on Tatar uluses (districts).

The commanders of Zaporozhian Host (the Kosh) often considered as hetmans in fact carried a title of Kosh Otaman. As from 1572 hetman was unofficially name commanders of the Registered Cossack Army (Ukrainian: Реєстрове козацьке військо) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the 1648 Bohdan Khmelnytsky uprising, Hetman was the title of the head of the Cossack state, the Cossack Hetmanate. Cossack hetmans had very broad powers and acted as supreme military commanders and executive leader (by issuing administrative decrees).

After the split of the territory of Ukraine along the Dnieper River by the Polish-Russian Treaty of Andrusovo 1667, there was an introduction of dual leadership for each bank of Dnieper Ukraine (left and right).

Eventually the state powers of Cossack Hetmans were gradually diminished in 18th century, and finally abolished by Catherine II of Russia in 1764.