Ivan Mazepa

Ivan Mazepa was hetman of the Cossack Hetmanate from 1687 to 1709. He allied with Charles XII of Sweden against Peter I during the Great Northern War.

Cossack Hetmanate: A Cossack polity in central Ukraine, governed by elected hetmans under changing degrees of Polish and Russian authority. Mazepa ruled this polity and sought to protect its autonomy.
Great Northern War: A 1700–1721 conflict in which Russia and its allies challenged Swedish power in northern and eastern Europe. Mazepa’s alliance unfolded during this wider war.
Pylyp Orlyk: A Cossack political leader who succeeded Mazepa in exile and issued a constitutional agreement in 1710. Orlyk carried forward the émigré Cossack cause after Mazepa’s death.
Mazepist: A Russian-language term historically used for a supporter of Mazepa or Ukrainian political autonomy. The label contrasts condemnations of Mazepa with traditions that treated his cause as patriotic.
Cossacks: Communities of frontier warriors and settlers who developed distinctive military and political institutions across Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Cossack communities formed the social and military base of Mazepa’s office.
Charles XII of Sweden: King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718, known for leading Sweden through the Great Northern War. Mazepa allied with Charles XII as Swedish forces advanced into Ukraine.
Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk: A 1710 political agreement outlining the rights and duties of the hetman and Cossack state institutions. It gave written form to Cossack political ideals pursued after Mazepa’s defeat.
Taras Shevchenko: A Ukrainian poet and artist whose nineteenth-century works addressed Cossack history and imperial rule. Shevchenko’s poem “The Heretic” helped make Mazepa a figure of Ukrainian resistance.
Treaty of Pereiaslav: A 1654 agreement through which Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s Cossack polity entered an alliance with the Tsardom of Russia. Its contested legacy shaped the relationship Mazepa inherited with Moscow.
Peter the Great: Tsar of Russia from 1682 and emperor from 1721, who expanded and reorganized the Russian state. Mazepa’s break with Peter I turned their wartime relationship into open conflict.

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