1.1 Early life of P. Sahaydachny
The history of life and political activity of Pyotr Sagaidachny (Konashevych-Sagaidachny) is in many respects consonant with the history of Ukraine in the first quarter of the 17th century, a time of complex, contradictory and still little researched. This is a period of severe social and national-religious oppression of the Ukrainian people, the rapid growth of anti-feudal struggle and liberation movement, the heroic campaigns of the Cossacks on the Turkish fortresses, new trends in the development of social and political thought, spiritual life, expansion of ties between the East Slavic peoples.
"Petro Sahaydachny, a controversial and controversial figure on the political horizon at the time, was a witness or even a direct participant in these events. No matter what epithets - sublime and humiliating, no matter how fair and biased the characteristics of Sagaidachny had to listen to in life. He became a hetman and again lost the hetman's club, met with the powerful and at the same time enjoyed authority among the broad strata of the Cossacks. His social policy was the focus of attention of chroniclers and historians, memoirists and poets. Once again, the ambiguity of assessments - from apology to direct denial of his role in the events of the first half of the XVII century"[5].
The sparse reports from sources provide an opportunity to reconstruct quite roughly the early period of Pyotr Sahaydachny's life. From the poem composed by the rector of the Kiev brotherly school, Kassian Sakovich, for the burial of the hetman, we learn that Peter was born near Peremyshl (obviously in the village of Kulchintsy near Sambor) in the family of an Orthodox nobleman.
The next milestone in the young man's life was studying at the famous Ostrog school "...then before Ostrog, for the uztivs' sciences..."[6]. Obviously, he took a full course of study or it is otherwise difficult to explain the words "...there is a lot of time for Konashevich's teds to live..."[7]. Taking into account the fact that the character of the Ostrozhskaya school traces the features of a higher-type school, we can assume that Sahaydachny received a good education within its walls. It is known that the "course of seven sciences" was studied here (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music).
- The teaching staff included Gerasim Smotritsky, Kirill Lukaris (who later became Patriarch of Constantinople) and others. From the walls of this educational institution came a galaxy of outstanding cultural, educational and socio-political figures, who enriched various spheres of spiritual life of the Ukrainian people. A circle of scientists was formed around the school, which included Gerasim Smotritsky, Vasily Surazhsky, Timofey Mikhailovich, brothers Nalyvayko and Ivan Fedorov. The atmosphere that prevailed in this school, the high level of teaching left an indelible mark in the receptive soul of the young man.
- Several subsequent years of Pyotr Sagaidachny's life are hidden from us by the shadow of time. We can only say with sovereignty that soon he began to serve in the Zaporizhzhya Army.
Clever, highly educated, well aware of people and the political situation, the young man quickly gained authority among the Cossacks. The contemporary gentleman noted that "...Pyotr Konashevich, the husband of rare wisdom and mature judgment in affairs, resourceful in words and deeds, although by origin, way of life and habits was a simple man, nevertheless, in the eyes of the later offspring he is worthy to become along with the most famous people of his time in Poland"[8]. About personal life of P. Sagaidachny it is known that he was married to Anastasia Povchenskaya. Relations between spouses can hardly be called idyllic. It is no coincidence that the widely known folk song says that he "crumpled a zhizhka on a tutyun ta cradle". This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that in his will, as Samoil Velichko writes, the hetman "disposed of his estate on the church, on the vestibule, on the school and the monastery, except his wife. However, Anastasia widowed for a short time - already in 1624 she married the nobleman Ivan Pionchin.
M.A. Melnichuk asserts that "...Sahaydachny became a hetman already in 1598..."[9]. However, it hardly corresponds to the reality (historians know several persons who had this highest rank of the Zaporozhye Army at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries). Most likely, he was elected a hetman in the early XVII century. In a kind of biography of Sagaidachny, compiled in a poetic form by K. Sakovich, it is reported that after studying at the Ostrog school, he "...shol to Zaporozoic glorious knighthood. The interiors of which are not small zhizyuchi, and the knightly divisions there prove it, Hetman then formed the army ..."[10]. From this time began the hard activity of Sagaidachny in the political field.