Ivan Mazepa

Ivan Stepanovich Mazepa (Іван Степанович Мазепа in Ukrainian; Иван Степанович Мазепа in Russian) (circa 1640 — August 28, 1709), Cossack Hetman (Ataman) of the Left-bank Ukraine in 1687—1708.

Mazepa was born into a noble family and educated first in the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, then in a Jesuit collage in Warsaw and abroad. From 1659 he served at the court of the Polish king John II Casimir. In 1669-1673, he served under Hetman Petro Doroshenko, and in 1674-1681 - under Hetman Ivan Samoylovich. In 1682-1686, he served as a General Yesaul (also Osaul). In 1687, Ivan Mazepa became the Hetman of the Left-bank Ukraine and one of the biggest land owners. Nurturing ideas of a Ukraine independent of Muscovy,later known as "Russia" (but eternally loyal to the Swedish king), Mazepa secretly negotiated with the Polish king Stanislaus Leszczynski, and later with Charles XII of Sweden. His decision was based, he claimed, in part, upon the Tsar's refusal to honor security guarantees, which Mazepa saw as a revocation of the Treaty of Pereyaslav. During the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, Ivan Mazepa openly sided with Charles XII in October of 1708. After the Swedish defeat in the Battle of Poltava of 1709, Mazepa fled to the Turkish fortress of Bendery together with Charles XII.

Some Historians point to selfish motives for Mazepa's actions. Namely, that he hoped to continue to rule Ukraine, and in siding with the Swedes he simply hoped to retain his position when Russia was defeated, as he assumed it would be. His status as a nationalist hero is threatened by the fact that he swore allegience to the Swedish King, meaning that the status of Ukraine would not change, only the Monarch would be different. It is also pointed out that his movement was far from popular, only one half of one battalion followed him in defection, the rest of the Cossacks and Ukrainians remained loyal to the Tsar, and fought against their former Hetman.

The historical events of Mazepa's life have inspired such romantic writers as Lord Byron, Juliusz Slowacki, Alexander Pushkin as well as Ferenc Liszt, recently they were the subject of a recent Ukrainian-language film loosely based on historical fact, called "A Prayer for Mazeppa" [1].