Registered Cossacks comprised special Cossack units of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth army in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Registered Cossacks became a military formation of the Commonwealth army beginning in 1572 soon after the Union of Lublin (1569), when most of the territory of modern Ukraine passed to the Crown of Poland. Registered Cossack formations were based on the Zaporozhian Cossacks who already lived on the lower reaches of the Dnieper River amidst the Pontic steppes as well as on self-defense formations within settlements in the region of modern Central and Southern Ukraine.
Following the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 the majority of Registered Cossacks joined the rebels, contributing to the Polish defeat. The term "Registered Cossacks" largely went out of use after the 1660s, as various Cossack troops were integrated into the military of the Cossack Hetmanate, a vassal state of the Tsardom of Russia and, later, the Russian Empire.
History
Origins
thumb|right|Registered Cossack's attire
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;margin-left:1em;float:right;width:30%;"
|+ Seniors of the Registered Cossacks
|-
| align="center"| Year
| align="center"| Hetman
| align="center"| Notes
|-
| 1572
| style="text-align:left;"| Jan Badowski
| align="center"|
|-
| 1575
| style="text-align:left;"| Bohdan Ruzhynsky
| align="center"|
|-
| 1578
| style="text-align:left;"| Michał Wiśniowiecki
In the Cossack Hetmanate
According to the Treaty of Zboriv, signed on August 17, 1649, the number of Registered Cossacks increased up to forty thousand.
:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;margin-left:1em;float:right;width:21%;"
|+The Regiments of Registered Cossacks in 1649.
|-
! # !!Headquarters !! Number of Registered Cossacks
|-
| 1 || Bila Tserkva || 2990
|-
| 2 || Bratslav || 2662
|-
| 3 || Cherkasy || 2990
|-
| 4 || Chernihiv || 998
|-
| 5 || Chyhyryn || 3220
|-
| 6 || Kalnyk || 2050
|-
| 7 || Kaniv || 3167
|-
| 8 || Kyiv || 2002
|-
| 9 || Korsun || 3470
|-
| 10 || Kropyvna || 1993
|-
| 11 || Myrhorod || 3009
|-
| 12 || Nizhyn || 991
|-
| 13 || Pereyaslav || 2986
|-
| 14 || Poltava || 2970
|-
| 15 || Pryluky || 1996
|-
| 16 || Uman || 2977
|}
According to the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav, Khmelnytsky's Cossacks, so as to destroy the Russian-Polish alliance against them, pledged their loyalty to the Russian Tsar, who guaranteed their protection, the recognition of their starshyna (officer-nobility) and their property and autonomy under his rule, freeing the Cossacks from the Polish sphere of influence in favor of Russian hegemony.
Under the rule of hetmans between the mid-17th and late 18th centuries, Registered Cossacks became part of the class of Town Cossacks (). They were the largest group of "service people" in the Hetmanate and were recruited on a hereditary basis. According to the hetmans' agreements with the tsars, Town Cossacks received the right to inherit property, were freed of taxation and could engage in various activities including trade, crafts, hunting, fishing and sale of alcohol. They were subject to a separate jurisdiction and could only be judged by a Cossack military tribunal headed by the hetman and members of Cossack starshyna.
Most of the Town Cossacks served as cavalry. Their numbers in Left-bank Ukraine rose from 20,000 during the 1660s to 30,000 in 1687 and 55,240 in 1723. During the hetmanship of Ivan Skoropadsky and Danylo Apostol in the 1720s additional duties were introduced for Town Cossacks, including quartering of dragoons, payment of general taxes and participation in public works. According to a 1735 decree by the tsarist government, only Elected Cossacks retained their old rights. During that period numerous Town Cossacks entered into dependence from landowners. After the introduction of serfdom in Left-bank Ukraine in 1783, most of them received equal status with state peasants.
See also
- Elected Cossacks – Ukrainian Cossacks officially recognized under Russian imperial rule.
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
- Registered Cossacks at Encyclopedia of Ukraine.