Pylyp Orlyk

Pylyp Orlyk Пилип Орлик
Hetman in exile
In office April 5, 1708 – May 24, 1742
Preceded by	Ivan Mazepa
Personal details
Born	October 11, 1672 Kosuta, Grand Duchy of Lithuania (today Vileyka Raion, Belarus)
Died	May 26, 1742(1742-05-26) Jassy, Principality of Moldavia (today Iaşi, Romania)
Spouse(s)	Hanna Hertsyk

Pylyp Stepanovych Orlyk (Ukrainian: Пилип Степанович Орлик, Polish: Filip Orlik) (born on October 11, 1672 in Kosuta, Ashmyany county, Grand Duchy of Lithuania (today in Vileyka Raion, Belarus), died on May 26, 1742 in Jassy, Principality of Moldavia (today Iaşi, Romania) was a Zaporozhian Cossack starshyna, Hetman in exile, diplomat, secretary and close associate of Hetman Ivan Mazepa.

Biography

Pylyp Orlyk was born in the village of Kosuta, Ashmyany county, Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Vileyka district of modern day Belarus), in a family of Czech origin.^[1]

Orlyk first studied at the Jesuit college in Vilnius and until 1694 at Kyiv Mohyla Academy. In 1698 he was appointed secretary of the consistory of Kiev metropolia. In 1699 he became a senior member of Hetman Ivan Mazepa's General Military Chancellery and 1706 was appointed general chancellor and at that position he was Mazepa's closest aide, facilitated Mazepa's secret correspondence with the Poles and Swedes, and assisted Mazepa in his efforts to form an anti-Russian coalition.^[2]

Hetman in exile

After the Battle of Poltava in 1709, he escaped together with Hetman Ivan Mazepa and king Charles XII of Sweden to Bender in the Principality of Moldavia, where Mazepa soon died. Pylyp Orlyk was then chosen as a Hetman in exile by the cossacks and the Swedish king Charles XII. While in Bender Orlyk wrote one of the first state constitutions in Europe. This Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk was confirmed by Charles XII and it also names him as the protector of Ukraine.

Between 1711 and 1714, together with Russian Empire. From there he went on to Thessaloniki and from the mid-1730s he is known to have lived in Budjak. He died 1742 in Jassy, Principality of Moldavia (today Iaşi, Romania).^[3]

Orlyk wrote numerous proclamations and essays about Ukraine including the 1710 Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk.^[4]

In his history of Salonica Mark Mazower says

Family

Coat of arms
Noble family	Orlyk

Pylyp Orlyk married Hanna Hertsyk in the mid-1690s. She was of Jewish descent, a daughter of the colonel Pavlo Semenovych Hertsyk (a close ally of Mazepa) of the Poltava regiment. Pylyp and Hanna had eight children. They were:^[6][7]

• Anastasiya Orlyk (1699 – 1728) – born in Poltava - married the Swedish nobleman and officer Johan Stenflycht (1681–1758) in 1723. They had two sons:
  • Carl Gustaf (1724 – 1758) – colonel in the French regiment Royal Pologne.
  • Filip (1726 – 1739) – died in Hamburg.
• Grégoire Orlyk (French: du Comte Grégoire Orlyk) (* November 5, 1702 — † November 14, 1759)- born in Baturyn, Ukraine. His godfather was Hetman Ivan Mazepa. He studied at Lund University (1717–1718). After leaving Sweden in 1720 he first lived with his mother in Kraków, Poland. He later became a Lieutenant General in France where he called himself Comte d'Orlik. Although he kept the contact with Sweden and in 1742 he also visited Stockholm. In 1747 he married a French noblewoman, but they didn't have any children. He was killed in 1759 at the Battle of Minden in Germany where he also is buried.
• Mykhailo Orlyk (1704 – ?) – born in Baturyn, Ukraine. His godfather was Hetman Ivan Mazepa.
• Varvara Orlyk – born in Baturyn, Ukraine. Her godfather was Hetman Ivan Mazepa.
• Yakiv Orlyk (1711 – ?) – born in Bender, Ottoman Empire. His godfather was king Charles XII of Sweden.
• Marta Orlyk (1713 -?) – born in Bender, Ottoman Empire. Her godfather was king Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland.
• Maryna Orlyk (1715 – ?) – born in Altefähr, Rügen, Swedish Pomerania. Her godparents were king Charles XII of Sweden's sister Ulrika Eleonora and king Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland.
• Kateryna Orlyk (November 5, 1718 – ?) – born in Kristianstad, Skåne, Sweden and probably died already in 1719.

See also

• Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk
• List of Ukrainian rulers

References

• (French) Jean-Benoit Scherer, Annales de la Petite-Russie, ou Histoire des Cosaques-Saporogues et des Cosaques de l'Ukraine (Adamant Media Corporation, 2001)

External links

• Minsk honors Ukrainian hetman, born in Belarus
• Taras Chuhlib, The Belarusian roots of hetman Pylyp Orlyk, Zerkalo Nedeli (Mirror Weekly), October 28 – November 3, 2006, in Russian and in Ukrainian.