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TheTreaty of Hadiach (Polish:Unia hadziacka;Ukrainian:Гадяцький договір,romanized: Hadyatsʹkyy dohovir) was atreaty signed on 16 September 1658 inHadiach,Cossack Hetmanate (present-dayUkraine) between representatives of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Stanisław Kazimierz Bieniewski [pl] representing Poland andKazimieras Liudvikas Jevlaševskis [lt] representing Lithuania) andZaporozhian Cossacks (represented byHetmanIvan Vyhovsky andstarshinaYuri Nemyrych, the architect of the treaty, andPavlo Teteria).
It was designed to elevate the Cossacks andRuthenians to a position equal to that of Poland and Lithuania in thePolish–Lithuanian union and in fact transforming the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth into aPolish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth (Polish:Rzeczpospolita Trojga Narodów,lit. 'Republic of Three Nations';Lithuanian:Trijų Tautų Respublika;Belarusian:Рэч Паспалітая трох народаў,romanized: Reč Paspalitaja troch narodaŭ;Ukrainian:Річ Посполита Трьох Народів,romanized: Rich Pospolyta Trʹokh Narodiv).
A way to establish aGrand Principality of Ruthenia was considered by the UkrainianhetmanBohdan Khmelnytsky at various times,[1] particularly during the 1648Cossack insurrection againstPolish rule in the mainly ethnically-Ukrainian territories (seeKhmelnytsky Uprising).
The list of points and humble requests that are submitted at his mercy by SereneHetman of Zaporizhian Host along with the whole Zaporizhian Host and Ruthenian people to his royal mercy and the wholeRzeczpospolita:[2][3]
In May 1659 the Polish Diet (theSejm) ratified the treaty with an amended text.[5] The plan, as envisioned byYuri Nemyrych, would have ennobled some Cossacks, who would then run theGrand Principality of Ruthenia (1658). HetmanIvan Vyhovsky could not get enough Cossacks to agree to keeping theUniate Church, which the Catholic church refused to liquidate, but many Cossacks strongly opposed the idea.[6]
The plan meant an annulment of thePereiaslav Agreement's arrangements and thus renewed hostilities between the Commonwealth and theTsardom of Russia.[1]
The Treaty of Hadiach (Polish:ugoda hadziacka,Ukrainian:гадяцький договір) was atreaty signed on 16 September 1658 inHadiach between the representatives of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and theCossack Hetmanate. Its main goal was to create an equal position ofPoles,Lithuanians andRuthenians through the creation of the Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth, a country of three nations.[7]
This decision, however, divided the Ukrainian Cossacks into pro-Russian and pro-Polish parties and led tothe Ruin (Ukrainian history).
The concept of reconciliation between the Cossack Hetmanate and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was based on the principle of the confederal system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth implemented at the Lublin Sejm in 1569.
According to the conditions proposed by the hetmanVyhovsky, Ukraine as an independent state called the Grand Duchy of Ruthenia was to join the confederation on equal terms with Poland and Lithuania. The territory of the Grand Duchy of Ruthenia consisted of theKyiv,Bratslav andChernihiv Voivodeships. The highest legislative power belonged to the national assembly of deputies, who were elected from all lands of the principality. Executive power was exercised by the hetman, who was elected for life and approved by the king. The selection of candidates for hetman was to be carried out jointly by all levels of Ukrainian society — the Cossacks, the nobility, and the clergy. The hetman headed the armed forces of Ukraine. In the Grand Duchy of Ruthenia, the state positions of chancellor, marshal, sub-treasury and the highest judicial tribunal were established.[7]
All paperwork was to be conducted in theRuthenian language. In Kyiv or in another city, it was supposed to create a mint for minting one's own coin.
The Ukrainian army was to consist of 30,000 Cossacks and 10,000 troops hired by the hetman. The troops of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were forbidden to stay on the territory of the principality. In the event of hostilities in Ukraine, the troops of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which were on its territory, came under the command of the hetman. The rights and privileges of Cossacks were guaranteed. At the request of the hetman, one hundred Cossacks from each regiment were to be admitted to the nobility every year.
Orthodox believers were equal in rights with Catholics. TheGreek Catholic Church was preserved, but could not spread to new territories. The Orthodox Metropolitan of Kyiv and five Orthodox bishops were to be given the right to sit in the common senate of the Commonwealth.[7]
The agreement provided for the consolidation of the academic status of theKyiv–Mohyla Academy and equalization of its rights with theUniversity of Kraków. On the territory of the principality, it was planned to establish another Orthodox academy and secondary educational institutions — collegiums, as well as to fund the required number of primary schools and printing houses.[7]
Generally speaking, the treaty was unsuccessful. From the point of view of the politics of theCossack Hetmanate, the terms of the treaty drafted by the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were a step back compared to the terms offered to the Cossacks by Moscow four years ago. Instead of a de facto independent state under the protection of a foreign ruler, the Cossack state, now called the Duchy of Ruthenia, became a component of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, integrated into its administrative and territorial system. Its territory was divided into three voivodeships. The hetman had no right to diplomatic relations with foreign rulers. The Ukrainian Cossack army was reduced from 60 to 30 thousand. The Cossacks lost the right to elect the hetman, which now passed to the foreman. Moreover, the granting of nobility to a limited circle of Cossack elders deprived the common Cossacks of their own elite. Such conditions were significantly inferior to the proposed and largely implemented conditions of theTreaty of Pereiaslav in 1654.
After theRusso–Polish War (1654–1667), Ukraine was divided into theRight Bank, which remained part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until itsSecond Partition in 1793, and theLeft Bank, which, together with Kyiv on the Right Bank, became part of theTsardom of Russia.[8]
The idea of a Ruthenian Duchy within the Commonwealth was completely abandoned in 1659 after thesecond Agreement.[1][9] The Canadian historianPaul Robert Magocsi believes that happened because of the divisions among theCossacks and because of theRussian invasion.[10] However, those events were much earlier than the signing of the Treaty of Hadiach. The Russian historian Tairova-Yakovleva regards the resistance of Polish society and papal pressure as the reasons for the failure in ratification.
The historianAndrew Wilson has called it "one of the great 'What-ifs?' of Ukrainian and East European history". He notes:
"If it had been successfully implemented, the Commonwealth would finally have become a loose confederation of Poles, Lithuanians and Ruthenians. The missing Ukrainian buffer state would have come into being as the Commonwealth's eastern pillar. Russian expansion might have been checked and Poland spared the agonies of the Partitions or, perhaps just as likely, it might have struggled on longer as the 'Sick man of Europe'" (p. 65).
In spite of considerable opposition by the Roman Catholic clergy, the Treaty of Hadiach was approved by Polish king and theSejm on 22 May 1659 but with an amended text.[11] The idea of a Ruthenian Duchy within the Commonwealth was completely abandoned.[12] It was a Commonwealth attempt to regain influence over the Ukrainian territories, which had been lost after the series of Cossack uprisings (like theKhmelnytsky Uprising) and growing influence of Russia over the Cossacks (like the 1654Pereiaslav Agreement).
Hetman Vyhovsky supported the negotiations with the Commonwealth, especially after he suppressed a revolt led by the colonel of Poltava,Martyn Pushkar, and severed relations withTsardom of Russia for its violations of the Pereiaslav Agreement of 1654.[13] The Treaty of Hadiach was, however, viewed by many Cossacks as "too little, too late", and they especially opposed the agreement to return the land property to the szlachta. After the 1648 revolt, the Commonwealth was very unpopular with ordinary Cossacks. Rank-and-file Cossacks saw the Orthodox Tsardom of Russia as their natural ally and did not care for an alliance with the overwhelmingly-Catholic Commonwealth[citation needed]. Furthermore, Hadiach was too much a deal that merely benefited the elite of the Cossacks, the starshyna, who wanted to be recognized as equal to the Polish nobility. Thus, while some Cossacks, among them the hetmanIvan Vyhovsky supported the Commonwealth, many opposed it, and Cossack unrest continued in Ukraine.[14][failed verification]
The Commonwealth position was further weakened by a string of losses in theRusso-Polish War (1654–1667). The Tsar felt threatened by the Treaty of Hadiach, which weakened his hold on Cossacks. The Russians saw the treaty as an act of war and, even before its ratification, sent an army into Ukraine. Although Polish-Lithuanian forces underStefan Czarniecki dealt a defeat to Russian forces at theBattle of Polonka and recapturedVilnius in 1660, the lack of other Commonwealth military successes, especially in Ukraine, further undermined Cossack support of the Commonwealth. Vyhovsky's early success at theBattle of Konotop in June 1659 was not decisive enough and was followed by a series of defeats. The Russian garrisons in Ukraine continued to hold out; a Zaporozhian attack on theCrimean Khanate forced Vyhovsky'sTatar allies to return home, and unrest broke out in thePoltava region. Finally, several pro-Russian colonels rebelled and accused Vyhovsky of "selling Ukraine out to the Poles".
Unable to continue the war, Vyhovsky resigned in October 1659 and retired to Poland. The situation was further complicated by theOttoman Empire, which tried to gain control of the disputed region and played all factions against one another. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth was weakened byLubomirski's rebellion. The treaty was mostly repeated in the 1660Treaty of Chudnov.
In the end, Russia was victorious, as seen in the 1667Truce of Andrusovo and theTreaty of Perpetual Peace (1686). Ukrainian Cossacks fell under the Russian sphere of influence, with much fewer privileges under theHetmanate than would have been granted under the Treaty of Hadiach. By the late 18th century, Cossack political influence was almost destroyed by theRussian Empire.
In the aftermath of theNovember Uprising in 1831, there was an attempt to recreate the Treaty of Hadiach to form a Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth to throw off thepartitions of Poland. It was then that thecoat of arms of the proposed Commonwealth was created. The planned convention in Hadiach was declared illegal by the Russians, who stationed close to 2,000 soldiers there to ensure that no meetings or demonstrations took place, and they blocked passage through nearby bridges. Despite the precautions, a mass and a celebration involving 15–20,000 people and over 200 priests (both Catholic and Orthodox) took place near Hadiach.
The idea of a Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth revived during theJanuary Uprising when a patriotic demonstration took place atHorodło in 1861. The so-called SecondUnion of Horodło was announced there by theszlachta ofCongress Poland of the formerGrand Duchy of Lithuania ofVolhynia and ofPodolia. The New Commonwealth, based on the Second Union of Horodło, was to be based on the three nations, and its proposedcoat of arms included thePolish eagle, the LithuanianPahonia, and thepatron saint of Ruthenia, theArchangel Michael.
