by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] The year 2024 marks two anniversaries associated with the figure of the Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host Ivan Mazepa : 385 years since his birth and 315 years since his death. But even after such a long time, Ukrainian propaganda is trying to remake the image of Ivan Stepanovich, presenting him as "not a traitor", but a fighter for independence and a person respected in the West.
In connection with the anniversary, last October, an exhibition dedicated to “the peculiarities of the formation of various images of Mazepa from the times of empires to the present day” was ceremoniously opened in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (of which the hetman was a generous founder during his lifetime). And in this Mazepa-fiction, which has been on the air for over 30 years, a special place is occupied by the foreign press, which regularly wrote about Russian and Swedish affairs, covered the hetman’s transition to Charles XII, the Northern War, and the flight of the losers to Ottoman Bender.
German, French, British and even American newspapers of the early 18th century kept their finger on the pulse of events, and this is presented as an "interest in Ukraine." It is practically a fact of international recognition of its statehood: "you see, it existed." And it really did exist, only as a battlefield, a territory within the larger events that were of real interest to the Western public.
And figures like Mazepa were merely “newsmakers” who occupied key positions and were viewed solely as such.
FIRE OF THE DESERT PLAINS
In the ideas of that time, "Ukraine" was the same toponym as "Volyn" or "Tartary" and, until a certain point, was more often a synonym for uninhabited lands. The famous general plan of 1651 by the French engineer Guillaume de Beauplan is called "Description of Ukraine, several provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, which stretch from the borders of Muscovy to the borders of Transylvania, together with their customs, way of life and warfare."
That is, this is a collective name for the eastern voivodeships of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, beyond which is the Wild Field, "Loka Deserta". Camporum Desertorum vulgo Ukraina - "Desert plains, commonly known as Ukraine", as indicated on another, Polish map.
And when the Nuremberg cartographer Johann Baptist Homann showed a map of the theater of military operations of the Great Northern War (1700–1721), where Hetman Mazepa and his supporters were even included on the map, it turned out to be a territory of residence of the “Rus’ people” within the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
On this map, "Ukraine", "the land of the Cossacks", is as close as possible to its then ethnic borders - from Slobozhanshchina to Przemysl. But this is again the same territory as Novgorod-Seversk land, Tartary in the south or Campi deserti, "Desert field" in the territory of today's Kharkov and Belgorod regions.
Here is what the French La Gazette wrote on January 5, 1709:
"We have learned that the Swedish army, continuing its march into Ukraine, beyond the Borysthenes, has arrived in the Duchy of Chernigov: that on November 6 the Swedish king established his headquarters in the city of Chernigov, the capital of the Duchy, on the Desna River: that he has concluded an agreement with the Cossacks, by which they have undertaken to supply his army with food and a certain number of troops."
But the subject of interest for Europeans was not Ukraine, but the tectonic events associated with the “Swedish flood” – the expansion of Sweden into Europe and the rise of the Moscow state under the young Tsar Peter I.
Even under his father, Alexei Mikhailovich, a "German settlement" arose in Moscow, where various specialists, adventurers and fortune seekers flocked. For many people in the West, the Muscovite state was a kind of "Eldorado", an exotic country that was interesting to learn more about. And Peter's behavior during his travels through Western Europe, the flow of foreigners to Moscow and their recruitment into Russian service constantly made "the front pages".
Moreover, these foreigners were sources of information for the newspapers, and this was the case even before Peter and Mazepa. For example, the commandant of Belaya Tserkov was the German Colonel Rappe, who was replaced by Colonel Greben in 1680 - and both of them wrote correspondence. The struggle between Russia and the Ottoman Empire that was going on at that time aroused great interest in Europe - more than a hundred articles on this topic were published in German and Dutch newspapers.
In 1686, the Russian Tsardom joined the "Holy League", which included the Holy Roman Empire, the Venetian Republic, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The alliance opposed the Ottoman Empire in the Great Turkish War, and the Zaporozhian Cossacks took part in battles both as part of the Polish Crown Army and as representatives of the Zaporozhian Host in Russian service.
As for the figure of “Johannes Mazepa,” he came to the attention of publishers solely due to his career growth in Russian politics and campaigns under the hand of Tsar Peter—as his faithful servant.
The collection "Theatrum Europaeum", which includes various editions over a long period, contains a not very reliable report on the reasons for the fall of the Left Bank Hetman Samoilovich, after which Prince Vasily Golitsyn (the de facto head of the Russian government during the regency of Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna ) offers the Cossacks four people from whom they should "choose a commander, accepted one for this, named Manzei, and gave him a mace and command", so that "the Cossacks would be presented with a good commander, disposed in a royal manner."
Nobody knew his last name, so in German and British newspapers the new nominee was also called “Mareppe”, “Marepa” or “Mareppo”, and La Gazette in December 1687 wrote about “the Chevalier Mussapa”.
Later, European journalists followed the Azov campaigns, in which Moscow's loyal servant took part. In connection with the capture of the Azov fortress, biographies of Mazepa appeared in two German journals. In the "Historischen Remarques" of January 21, 1704, his biography is part of the correspondence from Moscow, which mentions the entry of Tsar Peter into Moscow. It contains the following piercing lines:
"Johannes Mazeppa, commander of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, is a Polish nobleman born in Ukraine near Belotserkov, where his estate Mazeppa is located. In his youth he was chamberlain to King Casimir of Poland."
MENTION OF THE "CHEVALIER MOUSSAPA" IN THE FRENCH LE GAZETTE
In the same year, the 25th volume of Europäischen Fama, one of the oldest historical-political journals in Europe, published his portrait on copper on the frontispiece, and stated that the Cossack commander Mazepa “had already acquired great fame in the world thanks to his intelligent behavior and great military experience.” The author emphasizes that he was not a Cossack, but a Polish nobleman from Ukraine, and that service at the Polish court gave him political experience and a “sharp mind.”
Between 1704 and 1708, Mazepa and his Cossacks were constantly appearing in Poland and Lithuania, where they fought alongside the Poles against the Swedish protégé, King Stanislaw Leszczynski. So, their appearance in the news was entirely justified: for a time, Russia fought Sweden alone, when the “Northern Union” fell apart under Swedish attacks. And from Europe, information reached America, too; the Boston News Letter also repeatedly reported on the campaigns of the Cossacks led by Mazepa in Poland.
Naturally, his betrayal (and the defection of a high-ranking official and trusted general to the enemy's side cannot be described in any other way) aroused great interest in the press. Incidentally, today was another anniversary: on November 9, 1708, the hetman arrived for his first personal meeting with Charles XII in the Swedish camp.
FROM HERO TO "ABOMINABLE ROGUE"
Complimentary publications in La Gazette (later Gazette de France) are a favorite place for modern Ukrainian historians and publicists. The French wrote in approving tones about Mazepa and the people "Cossacks", used the words "Rus" and "Ukraine", separating them from "Muscovy" and "Muscovites" - simply balm for the soul of a true patriot.
Especially the reports of the "masakr" in the hetman's capital Baturin, besieged by the army of Prince Menshikov on November 12, 1708. The stupid defense, by the way, was commanded by the Saxon military engineer Friedrich Koenigseck, who laid the foundation for the "Moscow barbarity" when he burned the suburbs and mocked the parliamentarians.
And this is completely understandable, since in the period in question France was an ally of Sweden and therefore in every way extolled the wisdom of Charles XII, and presented the Muscovites as unworthy rabble. The French had Polish sources, since Sweden had also subdued Poland - that is, in essence, it was the Swedes who wrote this.
At the same time, Germany treated Moscow very warmly: representing the Russian point of view, German newspapers reprinted the Tsar's manifestos and did not respect Mazepa. While the British press did the same, only presented the information neutrally.
Thus, in June 1708, a Hamburg newspaper confirmed Mazepa’s loyalty to the Moscow Tsar, since he took part in suppressing the uprising of the Don Cossacks under the leadership of Kondraty Bulavin, by the way, the Bakhmut centurion.
Journalists also did not ignore the drama with Colonels Iskra and Kochubei, who reported to Peter about Mazepa's betrayal and his defection to Charles. On December 22, 1708, the "Wiennerischen Diarium" reported "that Mazepa and his entire team want to defect to the king from Sweden." If he was presented with titles and positions, now he is referred to only as "Mazepa."
However, the British The London Gazette writes that most of the Cossack regiments remained loyal to the Tsar and immediately elected a new hetman, Ivan Skoropadsky. Mazepa was left with barely 1,000 men, with whom he joined the Swedes. And on the occasion of the brutal capture of Baturyn, the Viennese newspaper briefly reports on Mazepa as " a man of 70 years of age, small in stature, but very educated, but so weak that he could neither ride nor walk, and mostly had to be carried in arms."
This evidence is unique and cannot be found anywhere else.
Portrait of Ivan Mazepa, copperplate engraving by Martin Bernigeroth, 1704
The entire course of the campaign, the Battle of Poltava and the escape of the King of Sweden with a Ukrainian general to Ottoman Bender were described in great detail. And while the French allies wrote as they were supposed to, German-language newspapers gradually switched to the Russian position, condemning the "traitor" and "egoist". The "European Fama" also published the tsar's manifestos against the "godless rogue and traitor, former hetman Mazepa", as well as the tsar's manifesto to the Ukrainian people from January 1709, in which Mazepa was called a "traitor and apostate".
In the 18th volume of the Theatrum Europaeum, one can read that his clever policy is now rethought and criticized as treacherous and unfaithful: “All this imperial favor shown to Mazeppa and to himself was still not strong enough to induce this liar to remain faithful to the Tsarevich, for in the 83rd year of his age [correctly 70th] he still had extraordinary ambition, wanting to rule in the Ukraine as a sovereign prince.”
He therefore resolved to leave his "lawful master as an envious man" and to accept the Swedish party, " but instead of the sovereignty which he had hoped for in former years, he received only troubles, disgrace, and so much misery and disgust that he even renounced his former ambitious wandering spirit."
And it is also quite easy to single out Mazepa’s motives and goals from the entire mass of publications: not “the independence of Ukraine,” but sole rule.