The emergence of the Cossacks: How alien nomads Cherkasy created the Zaporozhye Sich

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The mysterious Cherkassians are considered the progenitors of the Cossacks. According to most historians, the Cossacks simply could not have appeared without their original culture of the steppe people. They had a colossal influence on the Slavs, to the point that many Ukrainian and Russian surnames today are somehow related to the Cherkasy. As well as the names of major cities and towns.

Warlike nomads: how the Cherkassians became Cossacks

The origin of the word "Cherkasy" is not fully understood. According to one of the versions, it comes from the Türkic chiri kishi or chiri kisi, which can be translated as “people of the army” or “people of power”. In other words, a militant or armed people who inspired respect for neighbors and enemies. Some believe that "Cherkasy" is one of the names of the Khazars, someone considered them the descendants of Tatars or non-Slavic tribes.

Be that as it may, Cherkasy (there are also variants of Circassians and Circassians) in the 16th – 18th centuries occupied a firm place on the historical scene, and individual mentions of them can be found much earlier. From the second half of the 16th century, the Cossacks who settled in the Black Sea region began to be called Cherkas, and these concepts became interchangeable synonyms.

It is the Cherkasy (according to the most common version) that the city of Cherkassy owes its name, in the place of which there were once Cossack settlements. In the annals you can also find references to the "Circassians" who made up the personal squad of Mstislav the Udal, Prince of Tmutarakansky and Chernigov. Tatishchev considered the first Cossacks to be from the Caucasus, descendants of the "mountain Circassians", Karamzin traced their origin to the Turkic tribes of the Torks and Berendeys (who in turn were considered the heirs of the disappeared Scythians). In his opinion, the Russian settlers, who fled in search of freedom to the south, mixed with the local population, forming, in fact, a new people, "which became completely Russian."

Indeed, in the period of the XIV-XV centuries, as a result of mass migrations, there is an active settlement of lands along the Dnieper, as a result of which this region even receives the name Cherkasy (or Circassia, in another spelling). A kind of freemen that arose here attracted people due to the absence of dependence on any particular ruler, free order and the possibility of military campaigns in the Crimea or even Turkey.

Karamzin described the Cherkass Cossacks living here as “people who speak our language, profess our faith, and in their person they represent a mixture of European and Asian features; people indefatigable in military affairs, natural horsemen and riders, sometimes stubborn, headstrong, predatory, but by exploits of zeal and valor, blotted out their guilt. " Cossack fortified settlements in the lower reaches of the Dnieper were called kosh (the word “kosh” is of Turkic origin and means a camp site, the word “nomad” of similar origin), their inhabitants were engaged in such trades as hunting and fishing, and also bred bees. The Cossacks call themselves the "Zaporozhian Army", and the Zaporozhian Sich becomes the capital of this army.

Christian Republic on the banks of the Dnieper

The Zaporizhzhya Sich existed for about two and a half centuries, and in total historians count up to 8 successive "Sich", which were its centers at different times. In fact, this aggregate of fortified settlements was a military republic, and a Christian republic in the first place. The main occupation of the Cossacks was and remained the defense of the southern lands from the Tatars and Turks, the opposition to the expansion of the Crimean Khanate. And if the ethnic composition of the Cossacks remained rather variegated (nationality did not play a role in admission to the army, moreover, the Cossacks often married women captured on campaigns), the Orthodox faith was just as necessary for the Zaporozhian as the ability to wield a weapon.

The capital of the Cossack republic was surrounded by a high rampart with a palisade and log towers on which cannons were installed. It is curious that the word "Sich" has the same root as "carve", "notch", that is, it means a wooden defensive structure. In the center of the settlement there was a square on which there was a church, a market, a school, military and outbuildings, as well as the house of the foreman were located nearby. Church schools were at all the functioning churches of the Sich, and the study of the Holy Scriptures was compulsory.

It is noteworthy that there was a kind of unofficial set of requirements that had to be met by anyone who wanted to be accepted into the ranks of the Cossacks. The candidate was required to:

- to be free and unmarried. The origin and social position did not play a role, but personally not free people (for example, slaves) were denied the way to the Cossacks. - Orthodox faith and knowledge of prayers. The Cossacks even accepted the Turks, Tatars and Jews, but with the condition to be baptized into the Orthodox faith. - the ability to speak "Cossack language." - possession of military skills and appropriate training.

As a rule, newcomers were given "Cossack" nicknames (for example, Lisitsya, Ne-piy-beer, etc.), which later became surnames.

The Zaporozhye Cossacks continued to be called "Little Russian Cherkassians" until the 18th century (later the actual name "Cossacks" was used). The root "Cherkas" or "Circassian" can still be found in many Russian and Ukrainian surnames (Cherkasov, Cherkashchenko, Cherkalin, etc., as well as the princely family of the Cherkasskys), in numerous settlements on the territory of both states; in the Kremlin there was a Cherkassky courtyard (or the Cherkassky courtyard, by the names of the owners), you can also recall the Bolshoi and Maly Cherkassky lanes of Moscow … The list will turn out to be very impressive. And the Circassian coat brought from the Caucasus attracted not only the Cossacks: it was worn with pleasure by the Russian military in general. Baron Wrangel, who was called the "black baron" during the Civil War, owes this nickname to his everyday black Circassian coat.

To the service of the Russian Empire

The Russian Empire has always appreciated the Cossacks for their high military qualities. The Zaporozhye Cossacks took part in the Russian-Turkish war as part of the army of Rumyantsev, and after the liquidation of the Zaporozhye Sich in 1775, by order of Catherine II, Prince Potemkin was directly involved in their fate. Having favored the Cossacks since the Crimean campaigns, he is seeking from the empress the creation of a new military formation - the Troops of the Faithful Zaporozhians (as opposed to the Transdanubian Sich, created after the dissolution of the Zaporozhye in Turkey and formally subordinate to the Turkish sultan). Cossack units under one name or another participated in almost all the wars waged by the Russian Empire, Cossack regiments existed in the Russian guard, and His Imperial Majesty's Own Convoy, which guarded the tsar, was also Cossack.

Continuing the topic - who were taken as wives by the free Cossacks, from whom came a strong and distinctive people.