Wzlot i upadek białoruskich pułkownikó

ENThe subject of this work is the profiles of three Belarusian colonels: Konstantin Poklonskiy, Ivan Nechai and Denis Murashka, whose activities took place during the Khmelnytsky Uprising and the Commonwealth’s war with Moscow and Sweden 1648–1667. The colonels are credited with pushing for the autonomy of White Ruthenia. The name “White Ruthenia” was adopted in the late 16th century to designate the Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mstislavl provinces. In the first half of the 17th century, it also encompassed the Smolensk province and the Left-bank (of the Dnieper) area of the Minsk province. In colloquial perceptions, “White Ruthenia” became a country separate from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From the point of view of geopolitics, it lay in a “crumple zone” between Lithuania and Moscow, and after the outbreak of Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s Uprising also the Cossack Ukraine. Nobleman Konstantin Poklonski sided with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich at the beginning of the war. He persuaded Mogilev, the largest city in White Russia, to surrender and assumed the title of Belarusian colonel. Constant disputes with Moscow and Ukrainian commanders caused Poklonskiy to return to the side of the Commonwealth.His place in 1656 was taken by Ivan Nechai, who received his appointment as a Belarusian colonel from Khmelnytsky. Simultaneously, the title of Belarusian colonel was assumed by Denis Murashka, a Mogilev bourgeois who joined the Cossacks. Murashka sparked a peasant uprising against the nobility, which recognized the supremacy of the Moscow tsar. In 1658, Nechai went over to the side of the Commonwealth. Nechai’s uprising covered almost all of White Russia, but was suppressed by Moscow troops. All three Belarusian colonels received landed estates from the Polish King John Casimir, and Murashka also received a title of nobility. The price of these rewards was to turn their backs on those ideals in the name of which they had taken up arms against the Commonwealth.