Dmytro Vyshnevetsky

Dmytro Vyshnevetsky Дмитро Вишневе́цький
Personal details
Born	1516 Vyshnivets
Died	1563 Constantinople
Religion	Eastern Orthodox
Signature

Dmytro Ivanovych Vyshnevetsky (Ukrainian: Дмитро Іванович Вишневе́цький; Russian: Дмитрий Иванович Вишневе́цкий; Polish: Dymitr Wiśniowiecki) was a Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks. He was also known as Baida in the Ukrainian folk songs.

Biography

Dmytro Vyshnevetsky was born into the powerful family of Ruthenian magnate Ivan Wiśniowiecki (?-1542) (part of Gediminids bloodline and the youngest son of Michal Zbaraski) and Anastasia Semenivna Olizarovychevna (?-1536).^[1] The Wiśniowiecki family takes its roots from the princely family of Novhorod-Siverskyi, through Dmitriy Korybut (see Kaributas) and Anastasia of Ryazan.

At first Dmytro Vyshnevetsky lived in the town of Vyshnivets of the Kremenets Powiat (county). In 1550–1553, Vyshnevetsky became a starosta of the Cherkasy and the Kaniv Powiats. He was the first true Cossack Hetman in history.

Dmytro Baida Vyshnevetsky was an able leader, although somewhat of a reckless adventurer. He started organizing a Cossack army in 1550 against the Crimean Khanate. Displeased with the king Sigismund II Augustus's policy of Catholization and centralization of power, he was ready to go over to the Turks. However, he was appointed to fortify the island of Mala Khortytsia on the Dnipro beyond the rapids. According to Hrushevsky, Vyshnevetsky built the fortress out of his own pocket as both Sigismund II Augustus and Devlet I Giray refused to provide any assistance. Eventually he managed to develop it to the point that khan Devlet I Giray could not take it, and he deflected the khan's efforts to Moskovia.

In 1556 in service to Ivan the Terrible he helped lead two raids of Ukrainian Cossacks and Russians against the Crimean Tatars around Ochakov. In 1558 he raided around Perekop. In 1559 he raided down the Donets and Don. With the start of the Livonian War, Ivan turned his attention west and Vyshnevetsky returned to the Polish service. In 1561, at the request of the Lithuanian prince, he went back to fortifying Khortytsia.

In 1563 he was involved in Moldavian affairs, perhaps hoping to obtain the throne of Moldavia, but was defeated by the Turks, taken prisoner, and tortured to death in Constantinople.

Vyshnevetsky's fortifications on Khortytsia, called sich, served as a prototype for later fortifications of the Zaporizhian Sich.

In popular culture

Probably not having any relationship to the situation, Vyshnevetsky's portrait is clearly featured in the epic-movie The Deluge by Jerzy Hoffman.

He also appears as an antagonist in The Ringed Castle, a 1971 novel by Dorothy Dunnett.

In the film Propala Hramota (The lost letter, 1972), a fragment of the above mentioned old Ukrainian folk song was sang by Ivan Mykolaychuk:

“

Ой як стрілив - царя вцілив, А царицю в потилицю...

”

The bigger version of it could also be found in Hrushevsky's History of Ukraine-Ruthenia.^[2]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Dmytro Vyshnevetsky

8. Vasili, Prince of Zbarazh

4. Michal Zbaraski

9. NN

2. Ivan Wisniowiecki

5. N Polubinska

1. Dmytro Vyshnevetsky

6. Semen Olizarowicz

3. Nastazja Olizarowiczowna

7. ?

See also

• List of Ukrainian rulers

Dmytro Vyshnevetsky House of Zbaraski-Wisniowiecki Born: 1527 Died: 1563

References

1. ^ Zbaraski-Wisniowiecki family
2. ^ Hrushevsky, M. Illustrated History of Ukraine. "BAO". Donetsk, 2003. ISBN 9665485717

Bibliography

• Dmytro Doroshenko (1975). A Survey of Ukrainian History. Winnipeg: Humeniuk Publication Foundation (Canada). 
• Haidai, L. (2000). Istoria Ukrainy v osobakh, terminakh, nazvakh i poniattiakh. Lutsk: Vezha. 
• Dovidnyk z istorii Ukrainy (1st Edition ed.). 1993. http://history.franko.lviv.ua/Iv.htm. Retrieved March 30, 2007. 
• "Zbaraski-Wiśniowiecki family". Genealogy.eu. http://genealogy.euweb.cz/poland/wisniow.html. Retrieved March 30 2007. 

Persondata
Name	Vyshnevetsky, Dmytro
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1516
Place of birth	Ukraine
Date of death	1563
Place of death	Ukraine