The Ukrainian Hetmanate during the years of Danylo Apostol's rule: review of archival collections of documents and materials of St. Petersburg

Abstract

Analysis of documents and a brief description of funds of the historical archives and manuscripts department in St. Petersburg's libraries allow to expand and significantly contribute to the sources on the Hetmanate of the Hetman Danylo Apostol times. On their basis one can clarify historical information about the events of the symptomatic personalities of Ukrainian Hetmanate in the Russian Empire. This would contribute to disclosing of the peculiarities of Cossacks' autonomy social stratification under the political domination of the newly formed Russian Empire in 1720s-1730s. With the help of this documents (imperial and hetman decrees, charters, universals, letters, books of records, cossack's chronicles, cartographical and other materials) also can be reconstructed not well-known historical stories, which reveals the place and role of autonomy of Zaporozian Host in the integrational model of the Russian Empire, the questions of imperial and hetman governance, opposition to the Hetman from the side of the colonels and church hierarchs, everyday life practices during the so-called ...brief respite... in the period of elimination, when Ukrainian rights and liberties were reformulated entirely in St. Petersburg. So, the Ukrainian Hetmanate of Danylo Apostol's times in comparison to the previous period of repression against Mazepians and activity of First Collegium of Little Russia in Hetmanate, was kind of short Renaissance of Cossack's autonomy under conditions of intense transformation of the previous kingdom into powerful Russian Empire. Hetman did everything possible to save autonomous Cossack's state as independent subject in the difficult and contradictory Ukrainian-Russian political relations at the level centre - periphery. However, strong in its insistence imperative of absolute power deprived it of this opportunity every year more and more. Planed and based in Russia, ...well-regulated... absolutist state, which rapidly increased its political ambitions after victory in the Northern War, despite the period of palace overturns, rapidly came into its imperial power and on this way, since the reign of Anna Ioannovna, started to gradually eliminate political autonomy of Ukrainian Hetmanate. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]