Ivan Samoilovych

Ivan Samoylovych or Samoilovych (Old Ukrainian: Іванъ Самуйлович / Иванъ (Іоан(н)ъ) Самойловичъ; , , ; died 1690) was the Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine from 1672 to 1687. His term in office was marked by further incorporation of the Cossack Hetmanate into the Tsardom of Russia and by attempts to win Right-bank Ukraine from Poland–Lithuania.

Biography Early years Ivan Samoilovych was born into a priest's family in Khodorkiv near Skvyra. He studied at the Kyiv Mohyla Collegium and later moved to Left-bank Ukraine together with his father. There Samoilovych served as a sotnia scribe in Pryluky Regiment, and was eventually promoted to the position of sotnyk in Vepryk, Hadiach Regiment. In 1663 he took part in a dilomatic mission to Moscow, and in 1665 was appointed colonel by hetman Ivan Briukhovetsky.

Following Briukhovetsky's revolt against the Tsardom of Russia, Samoilovych supported Demian Mnohohrishny as a new hetman and swore allegiance to the Russian Tsar. In 1668-1669 he served as Chernihiv colonel, and in 1669-1672 took the position of General Judge. Under his rule Baturyn received the status of the only administrative centre of the Ukrainian Cossack state.

In domestic policies, the hetman paid great attention to the Metropolitanate of Kyiv, which was the center of fostering of the national idea of the Ukrainian state, and the center of unity for the Ukrainian people. Ivan Samoilovych maintained close relations with the leaders of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, received assistance from them in resolving various state issues. The hetman also sought support for the Ukrainian state among the centers of world Orthodoxy. For example, Samoilovych was one of the first Ukrainian rulers who provided charitable assistance for the construction of the monastery of Zograf (Bulgarian monastery) on Mount Athos. Furthermore, Samoilovych initiated active church building in the Ukrainian lands. With his support, the construction of the Trinity Cathedral, the main church of the Hetman's capital, was completed in Baturyn. Grandiose church construction at this time was also carried out in other cities of Ukraine, such as Hlukhiv, Poltava, Lubny and Chernihiv. Samoilovych also financed the expansion of Mhar Monastery. At the same time, his rule saw the ultimate subordination of Ukrainian Church to the Patriarchate of Moscow.

In 1681 Hetman Samoilovych became one of the initiators of the Treaty of Bakhchisarai between the Turkish sultan and the Crimean Khanate on the one hand and the Moscow State on the other. According to the treaty, lands of the Right-bank Ukraine remained under control of the Ottomans, but their parts adjoining the Dnieper river were to remain unsettled. In order to accommodate refugees from those territories, Samoilovych petitioned the tsar to provide him control over Sloboda Ukraine or newly annexed southern areas. The tsarist government agreed to settle the refugees on the Siversky Donets river, but refused to administratively subordinate those lands to the hetman, leaving them under control of Russian voivodes. The Ivan Samoilovych Street in Zaporizhzhia.