Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky

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Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky (Ukrainian: Григорій Гуляницький) (died in 1679), was a Ukrainian Cossack, polkovnyk, a skilled warrior and a shrewd politician.

Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky was born to a family of small Ukrainian gentry in the town of Korsun, (now Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, Cherkasy Oblast). His date of birth and earlier period of life is unknown.

During the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648-54, Hulyanytsky was sent by hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky's as envoy to Muscovy. He went to Moscow on two occasions in 1649 and in 1654 to help negotiate the terms of the Treaty of Pereyaslav.

Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky was appointed polkovnyk of Nizhyn in (1655 – 1659), and polkovnyk of Korsun regiments in (1662-1664).

With the onset of the period of Ukrainian history known as the Ruin and during the civil war that followed, Hryhory Hulyanytsky was an ardent supporter of hetman Ivan Vyhovsky and his pro-Polish policies. In particular, his participation was instrumental in defeat of pro-Moscow adversaries of Vyhovsky Martyn Pushkar and Iakiv Barabash in 1657-1658.

During the civil war and the Muscovite invasion in 1658-1659 he made several daring attacks against invading forces and Moscow's supporters. Hylyanytsky was also among several prominent Cossacks, who wrote a famous letter to Ivan Bezpalyi - the then appointed hetman by Moscow - not to betray his country and Vyhovsky [1].

Hulyanytsky's most noted exploit during the Muscovite invasion was the defence of Konotop. Hulyanytsky and his men (estimated to be around 4,000) held the fortress for seventy days against 150,000 strong army of Prince Trubetskoy. Hryhoriy Hylyanytsky's stubborn defence of Konotop was instrumental in defeating the invaders, when Ivan Vyhovsky in alliance with Crimean Tatars and Poles routed the Muscovite army by Konotop on June 29, 1659.

However, with the downfall of Vyhovsky that followed, Hulyanytsky was removed from his office by the new hetman. In 1659, Hulyanytsky allied himself with another hetman, Yurii Khmelnytsky. An ardent opponent of Moscow, Hulyanytsky was of one several Cossacks, who on behalf of the hetman negotiated the conditions of new Chudnivsky Treaty with the Poles [2]. The new treaty was similar in form to the Treaty of Hadiach of 1658 but with far worse conditions for Ukraine. Signing of this treaty by the hetman provoked a new round of civil war.

With the downfall and removal from the office of Yurii Khmelnytsky, Hulyanytsky served with another hetman Pavlo Teteria (1663–1665). As hetman's envoy to Warsaw, he persuaded the Polish King Jan Kazimierz to march on Ukraine together with Teteria in 1663-1664, which further inflamed the civil war without yielding any results.

The fate of Hryhory Hulyanytsky seem to resemble that of Ivan Vyhovsky in that even though he was an ardent supporter of Poland, just like Vyhovsky he was also killed by the Poles. In 1679 he was accused by Poles of treason, jailed and then executed.