Constitution Pylyp Orlyk

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The first page of the constitution. Latin version presumably signed by Pylyp Orlyks. The original is in Riksarkivet in Stockholm.

The constitution of pylyp orlyk or legal covenants and statutes of the laws and liberties of Zaporozhye Cossacks Army ( Ukrainian Конституція Пилипа Орлика . (Scientific transliteration Konstytucija Pylypa Orlyka); Ruthenian : Договоры и постаnовлεnѧ правъ и волностεй войскыхъ ... (scientific transliteration. Dogovory i postanovlenja prav 'i volnostej vojskych '…) , Latin Pacta et Constitutiones Legum Libertatumque Exercitus Zaporoviensis ) is a draft constitution made and declared simultaneously in Ruthenian and Latin by Pylyp Orlyk on the occasion of his election surrender in 1710 . In it, the state powers are separated from the legislative , executive and judicial branches and thus democratic standards were created even before Montesquieu's work, Vom Geist der Gesetz (The Spirit of Laws ). The executive power of the hetman , who was elected by the democratically elected general assembly of the Cossacks, was restricted. This draft is one of the first European constitutions of exemplary importance. Ukrainians refer to him in their justifications and formations of their own democratic statehood in the 20th century.

history

Charles XII. and Iwan Masepa on the Dnepr .

After the battle of Poltava in the summer of 1709, when that of King Charles XII. Armies led by Sweden and Hetman Iwan Masepa were defeated by Peter I of Russia , Pylyp Orlyk remained on Masepa's side. Both generals withdrew to the city of Bendera , which belonged to the Ottoman Empire . The army of the Zaporozhian Cossacks also settled here.

After Ivan Masepa's death on September 22, 1709, Pylyp Orlyk was elected hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossacks in Bendera in the Easter week of 1710. On election day, the legal alliances and statutes of the laws and freedoms of the Zaporozhian Cossack army were publicly declared.

Constitutional article

As usual, the text consists of a preamble and 16 articles.

preamble

The preamble sums up the history of the Cossacks, the rise and fall of the Zaporozhian Cossacks: uprising under Bohdan Khmelnyzkyj against the Polish-Lithuanian Empire, annexation to the Russian Empire, restriction and annulment of the rights and freedoms of the Cossacks by the Russians. Subsequent alliances and politics in communion with Charles XII. under Ivan Masepa. Establishing the independence of the new state from the Russians as the goal of the alliance with the Swedes in the new constitution.

items

Articles one to three deal with more general characteristics of "Ukraine": Orthodoxy as the predominant faith, independent of the Patriarch of Moscow . The definition of the border between the Slutsch River and Poland. An outlook on a necessary alliance with the Khanate of Crimea against the Russians.

Articles four to five fix the interests of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who made up the majority of the local residents. The hetman is asked:

  1. with the help of Charles XII. to drive the Russians out of the Zaporozhian regions
  2. to expand and maintain the town of Terechtemirov as a care station for the disabled and old residents, and
  3. To keep strangers away from the territories of the Zaporozhian Sitsch

Articles 6–10 limit the hetman's power by setting up a Cossack parliament and an expanded officers' council with three meetings per year. Recognized experts from the regiments are called in to the general Cossack parliament.

Articles eleven to sixteen protect the rights of the cities, limit the tax burden on peasants and poor Cossacks, and regulate restaurants. Solid state budget management, fair market taxation and the guarantee of functioning postal and commercial traffic are required.

The Swedish King Charles XII, who was present at the inauguration. testified to the articles as "protector of Ukraine".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ PACTA ET CONSTITUTIONESLEGUM LIBERTATUMQUEExercitus Zaporoviensis , litopys.org.ua (Latin)
  2. ↑ 300th anniversary of first Ukrainian constitution written by Pylyp Orlyk being celebrated ( April 7, 2010 memento in the Internet Archive ), Kyiv Post (April 5, 2010).

literature

  • Dogovor i postanovlenie meždu Get'manom Orlikom i voiskom Zaporožskim v 1710 g. In: Čtenija v Imperatorskom obščestve istorii i drevnostej rossijskich . (Moskva 1858)
  • Krup'nyc'kyi, B. Het'man Pylyp Orlyk i joho polityčna dijal'nist '(1672-1742) . (Warszawa 1938)
  • Vasylenko, M. The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk . In: AUA, 6, nos 3-4 (1958) 1260-1295
  • Slyusarenko, AH; Tomenko, MV Istorija Ukrains'koï Konstytyciï . In: Znannija . (Kyïv 1993), ISBN 5-7770-0600-0
  • Smolij, VA (ed.). Pakty i konstytuciï Ukraïns'koï kozac'koï deržavy . Verlag Svit, L'viv 2011, ISBN 978-966-603-692-9 (Contains the Ruthenian and Latin versions as facsimile with copies, 2 translations into Ukrainian (by M. Trofymuk from 2006 and by OP Burkat et al 1991), others into English (from B. Budurovyč / O. Kuprijevyč / Ju. Kudinova), German (from C. Weise), Russian (from T. Taïrova-Jakovleva, T. Tkačenko) and French (from V. Stepankivs 'kyj), further documents, commentary essays and a detailed bibliography as well as a final word index on the Ruthenian text)
  • Legal alliances and statutes of the laws and freedoms of the Zaporozhian Cossack army, translated from Latin by Chr. Weise, from the aforementioned publication as a digital copy [1]

Web links

Commons : Constitution Pylyp Orlyks  - collection of images, videos and audio files