«THE THIEVISH CHERKASY»: DEATH SENTENCE TO IVAN BOHUN

«Thievish Cherkasy» is the term used in official documents of the Moscovy from late 16th to the first half of the 17th century with regard the residents of the frontiers of Ukraine (Zaporozhians, Registered Cossacks and Stepps), who came to Russian borderlands from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Usually they came to «pursure over the Tatars», but they often attacked embassy exchanges and even Russian villages and towns. The article examines the reasons for the hostile attitude of Russian border governors towards «Thievish Cherkasy», in particular, the involvement of Cossacks in the Time of Troubles, the Moscow campaign of 1618 and the Smolensk war. The main attention is paid to the foreign policy. On the basis of wide archival material for the first time it is demonstrated that during the years 1643–1647 the issue of punishing «thethievish Cherkasy» became central in the Russian-Polish negotiations on the ratification of the Polyanovo Treaty and demarcation of the border. It is shown that the victory of the magnate groups of Coomonwealth, who opposed the Cossacks, coincides with the aspirations of the Russian authorities to punish the «thievish Cherkas». On the eve of Bohdan Khmelnitsky’s uprising the relevant agreement was reached between the states. The article provides unique data for the biography of Ataman Ivan Bohun, soon to become a famous colonel, who was sentenced to death by both the Russian tsar and the Polish king.

Cossacks, Rzeczpospolita, Moscovy, «thievish Cherkasy», colonization, land surveying, «Wild Field», borderlands