Ivan Mazepa biography

Іван Мазепа

Contributed by Olga Kovalevska

Milestone dates of Ivan Mazepa life and activity

March 20, 1639		I. Mazepa date of birth

1646—1656		studies at Kyiv-Mohyla College

1657—1659		studies abroad

1659/60—1663		service to King of Poland John Casimir (Jan Kazimierz)

1668		marriage with Hanna Frydkevych

1669—1674		service to the Right-bank Ukraine’s hetman P. Doroshenko

1674		change to service to the Left-bank Ukraine’s hetman І. Samoylovych

1682		election to the post of the General Osaul (Cossack’s captain)

July 25, 1687		election as the Hetman at the military council on the river Kolomak

1689		journey to Moscow

1690		participation in the first campaign to Kyzykermen fortress

1691—1692		Petryk uprising

1693—1694		participation in military campaigns to the south

1695		seizure of Kyzykermen fortress by І. Mazepa troops

1696		participation in Azov campaigns and seizure of Azov fortress

February 8, 1700		conferment of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called

1701		І. Mazepa campaign to Livland, restitution of Pereyaslavs’ka episcopacy and Trahtemyrivs’kyi monastery on the Right-bank Ukraine, granting academy status to Kyiv-Mohyla College

1702—1704		uprising at the Right-bank Ukraine

1703		construction of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy building

1705		hetman’s campaign to Poland, seizure of Zamość

1707		awarding of the Order of the White Eagle (Order Orła Białego)

September 1, 1707		pursuant to the order of the Emperor of Austria Joseph І, І. Mazepa was honourably titled as the Duke of the Holy Roman Empire

November 2, 1708		downfall of Baturyn

November 5, 1708		forfeiture of the Order of St. Andrew

June 27, 1709		Poltava disaster

September 22, 1709		death of hetman in the village Varnytsya near Bendery

October 1709		making of so-called “Judas order” in order to execrate hetman as “betrayer and venal mercenary”

March 18, 1710		re-interment of hetman in Galatz (Romania)

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In the news of Ivan Mazepa Name

08.08.2025

Article about Baturyn and Mazepa in the popular American archaeological magazine

Findings of the archaeologists in Baturyn have attracted the attention of the Archaeological Institute of America in New York (web.: archaeology.org). In 2023, the popular Archaeology magazine of this Institute published a nicely illustrated article about Baturyn and the tragic destruction of this capital of the Cossack state and the residence of the distinguished Hetman Ivan Mazepa by Russian troops in 1708, as well as the impressive archaeological findings there titled “Excavating Ukraine’s Lost Capital… a Bastion of Cossack Independence and Culture”. Mr. Daniel Weiss, executive editor of Archaeology, has prepared this article using the extensive consultations with Prof. Zenon Kohut, eminent historian of the Cossack polity and ex-director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta, and Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev of this Institute, executive director of the Canada-Ukraine Baturyn Research Project at CIUS and the associate leader of the excavations in Mazepa’s capital in 2001-13. Mezentsev’s photos of selected archaeological finds were published in the article. This highly reputable American magazine provides a broad publicity for the Baturyn history and culture and its study in the West. Article

07.08.2025

Architecture and decor of Mazepa’s palace in Baturyn and Western analogies

This article summarizes the architectural and archaeological research of the remnants of Hetman Ivan Mazepa’s principal residence in Baturyn, the capital of the Cossack state or Hetmanate, 17^th-18^th centuries. It compares its design and exterior decorations with similar early modern palaces and monastic buildings in the Polish Kingdom and Western Europe. The comparative analysis is based on Western publications, Internet resources, as well as firsthand on-site explorations and photos of the structures in Ostroh, Volhynia, and Warsaw by Volodymyr Mezentsev in 2013-2015. He attributes Mazepa’s headquarter to the Central European baroque architecture and shows its distinction from the known mansions (“kam’ianytsi”) of the Cossack elite of the folk tradition. This work highlights the introduction of the advanced Western baroque palatial art to Baturyn by this hetman. It is illustrated with the colour hypothetical computer graphic reconstruction of his main residence before its destruction by Russian forces in 1708, as well as drawings and photographs of comparable early modern edifices in Poland. This article was published in the “Ukrainian Echo”, the English-language section of the popular Ukrainian Canadian newspaper “Homin Ukrainy” (Vol. LXXVII, No. 23, Toronto, June 17, 2025). Article

27.03.2025

League of Ukrainian Canadians supports “Ivan Mazepa’s Name” website in 2025

In March of this year, the Ucrainica Research Institute and the League of Ukrainian Canadians in Toronto donated their next subsidy to support our website "Ivan Mazepa Name". These institutions also rendered similar subsidies in 2017-2024. We acknowledge this annual financial support from Canada, which helps us to maintain the site and update it with new materials, thus continuing to popularize the life and deeds of Hetman Ivan Mazepa and his era, as well as the recent publications on these topics of Ukrainian history. We kindly thank Orest Steciw, M.A., President of the Ucrainica Research Institute and the Executive Director of the League of Ukrainian Canadians, and hope for further cooperation.

26.03.2025

League of Ukrainian Canadians supports “Ivan Mazepa’s Name” website in 2025

This year, the Ucrainica Research Institute and the League of Ukrainian Canadians in Toronto donated their subsidies to support our website "Ivan Mazepa Name". These institutions also rendered similar subsidies in 2017-2024. We acknowledge this annual financial support from Canada, which helps us to maintain the site and update it with new materials, thus continuing to popularize the life and deeds of Hetman Ivan Mazepa and his era, as well as the recent publications on these topics of Ukrainian history. We kindly thank Orest Steciw, M.A., President of the Ucrainica Research Institute and the Executive Director of the League of Ukrainian Canadians, and hope for further cooperation.

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