Turning the pages back... May 3, 1653 (05/02/99)

Turning the pages back...

May 3, 1653

Adam Kysil was among the most complex figures in Ukraine's Kozak era. Born in the year 1600, into a family of Volynian Orthodox noblemen, he studied at the Zamostia Academy. At the academy, Kysil was tutored by the Orthodox polemicist Kasiyan Sakovych, but also befriended Tomasz Zamoyski, the son of the school's Catholic founder. This duality (and Zamoyski's patronage) played a crucial role in Kysil's life.

From the age of 17, Kysil served in the Polish Commonwealth's military. He fought in battles against the Tatars and Turks, as well as a number against Muscovy and Sweden. He carried particular distinction at the Battle of Khotyn (1621). He witnessed powerful Zaporozhian Kozak armies, led by Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny, fight against Moscow and the Ottomans. Rising quickly through the ranks of the army and into the commonwealth's diplomatic service, Kysil earned a reputation as a skillful negotiator. In 1629 he was sent by King Zygmunt III to the Kyiv Church Synod called to reconcile the Orthodox and Uniate Churches that nonetheless ended in failure.

In 1636 he strove to head off a brewing Kozak insurrection caused (in part) by four years' of wage arrears. His Polish superiors would not heed his warnings. Kysil negotiated a truce with the rebellion's leader, Pavlo But (a.k.a. Pavliuk), but Count Stanislaw Koniecpolski and Field Hetman Mikolaj Potocki forced a bloody confrontation.

In the 1640s, as the depredations of the regime he served continued, Kysil argued that "the Ruthenian provinces and principalities had joined the Commonwealth freely" and should be treated with great respect. Kysil, again, was not heeded.

In 1643, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky's grand revolt began and, within a year, Kysil was thrust into the center of the conflict, often entrusted with the most sensitive negotiations. He led the so-called Pereiaslav Peace Commission of January 1649, and negotiated the Treaty of Bila Tserkva in September 1651, following the Battle of Berestechko, that gave Poland the upper hand.

A senator from 1645, made castellan of Kyiv and Bratslav in 1646, in 1651 he was appointed voivode of Kyiv. In effect, he was vice-regent in Ukraine.

The last two years of his life were full of strife. Khmelnytsky refused to be bowed, and the Poles refused to allow the hetman and the Kozak Host dignity. In May 1652 Khmelnytsky scored a major victory at Batih, and Kysil was forced to flee Kyiv.

Kysil retreated to his estate in Nyzkynychi, and died there on May 3, 1653.

Source: "Kysil, Adam," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 2 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988); Frank Sysyn, "Between Poland and the Ukraine, 1600-1653" (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985).

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