Проблеми історії українського козацтва в науковій спадщині Омеляна Пріцака

Abstract

У статті зроблена спроба, спираючись на матеріали особового архіву Омеляна Пріцака, який зберігається в бібліотеці Києво-Могилянській Академії, матеріалів вченого в Українському Науковому Інституті Гарвардського університету, низки надрукованих праць науковця, відтворити його бачення українського козацтва взагалі, та процес перетворення козацтва з побутового у суспільно-політичне явище. Автори досліджують концепцію вченого щодо українського козацтва на основі розгортання творчості науковця з цього питання протягом основних періодів дослідницької кар’єри видатного історика: німецького, американського та українського.

The Outline of the Problem. In the article, the authors seek to perform the first analysis of the research heritage of a prominent scholar Professor Omeljan Pritsak regarding the issues related to Ukrainian Cossacks. This problem in the framework of Omeljan Pritsak’s research analysis was never investigated in Ukrainian and Global historical science. Methods of Research. In terms of general historiosophical vision the authors elaborates a new complex approach to the analysis of the research problem. This approach is caused by the presence of essentially distinct discursive practices toward creative implementation of such phenomenon as the concept of mentality. Making the comparative analysis of the research legacy of Omeljan Pritsak, borrowed from different periods of his life, the authors also methodologically used the Karl Mannheim term about necessity to add in the framework of research analysis the additional materials and own comments of the reflection of cossack’s problem in Omeljan Pritsak’s research heritage. Survey of the Results. Having highlighted the major periods of scholar’s life and work; the authors researched those questions that Pritsak considered essential to distinguish during each period. While during the German period the prominent scholar dwells upon certain aspects of Cossacks’ history and their relationship with the Ottoman Porte in the Turkish sources of the seventeenth century, during the American period, he touches upon much wider issues of the history of Cossacks. They include the process of creating by Ukrainian hetmans of intellectual security of Ukraine, and the transformation of Cossacks from a domestic to a socio-political phenomenon, as well as the introduction of the scheme of relations between Cossacks and the Polish government. Apart from that, during this period the scholar speculates upon the issue of the derivation of the word hetman and the features of the development of the rank of hierarchy by Cossacks in their society, as well as the origins of two basic concepts in the mentality of Cossacks during Khmelnytskyi’s rule - Zaporizhian Army and Rus Princedom. In the Ukrainian period, Omeljan Pritsak explores the problem of the union of two elites who created Hetman statehood, namely Cossacks and the gentry, as well as the question of verification of the sources concerning the history of Ukrainian Cossacks prior to 1708. The latest work of the researcher on Cossack issues was the study of the identity of hetman’s son Hryhor Orlyk as a French general and diplomat of the Ukrainian origin and the problems of the 1710 Constitution written by the exiled Hetman of the Zaporizhian Army Pylyp Orlyk. Hryhor worked in France from 1730; he soon became a general of Louis XV and served as a special adviser in the East European section of the French Foreign Ministry. In particular, Omeljan Pritsak dwells upon the peculiarities of Hryhor Orlyk’s work on the text of the constitution as the heir to the ideas of his father and upon the assessment of the Constitution’s significance as the embodiment of the right of Ukrainian Cossacks to the legacy of the Eastern Empire in comparison with the ghostly "rights" of the Russian Empress Elizabeth. Conclusions. The authors conclude that Omeljan Pritsak’s research legacy concerning Ukrainian Cossacks is important for Ukrainian and world historical studies, primarily because the outstanding scholar managed to distinguish and to explore the comprehensive aspects of the conceptual study of this complex and multidimensional phenomenon in the history of Eastern Europe.