Gheorghe Duca Hospodar of Moldavia and Hetman of the Ukraine, 1678-1684
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Abstract
Chronicles, annals, eyewittness accounts point out the fact that the Moldavian Hospodar Gheorghe Duca was appointed by the Turks to take over
the responsibility of administration and colonization of the conquered and
ruined part of the Right Bank Ukraine in 1681 with the new title of “Lord of
Moldavia and the Land of the Ukraine”. The Turkish choice was not a pure coincidence. The Romanian principality of Moldavia enjoyed friendly relations with its neighbour the Russian Borderland of the Ukraine and its freedom-loving Cossacks for a long time. It is a well known fact that they shared the same Eastern Orthodox religion and used the same Slavic (Cyrillic) alphabet. A traditional close cooperation between the two close neighbours
contributed to their common struggle against the military imperialism of the
Turkish Ottoman Empire, the Tatars, Poland, and Hungary, who sometimes
tried to impose their control and religion. The appointment of Hospodar
Duca was also an effort by the Sublime Porte in Constantinople to counterbalance the growing prestige and influence of the Russian Czardom as the champion and protector of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the Russian
Borderlands of the Ukraine, the Romanian principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, and the numerous Christian nationalities of the Balkans.
Hospodar Duca was used by the Turks to secure a diplomatic neutrality of
the Russian Czardom during the second siege of Vienna in 1683. When Duca
tried secretly to obtain the protection and even possible suzerainty of the
Kingdom of Poland or the Russian Czardom, he was threatened with the loss
of the autonomy of Moldavia under Turkish suzerainty and its possible
change into a Turkish Pashalik (Turkish province). The balancing act of
Hospodar Duca is amazing. Facts are established by critical evaluation and
appraisal of all possible evidence available: synthesizing and integrating these
facts into a thorough study of these historical events in seventeenth century
Eastern Europe.
the responsibility of administration and colonization of the conquered and
ruined part of the Right Bank Ukraine in 1681 with the new title of “Lord of
Moldavia and the Land of the Ukraine”. The Turkish choice was not a pure coincidence. The Romanian principality of Moldavia enjoyed friendly relations with its neighbour the Russian Borderland of the Ukraine and its freedom-loving Cossacks for a long time. It is a well known fact that they shared the same Eastern Orthodox religion and used the same Slavic (Cyrillic) alphabet. A traditional close cooperation between the two close neighbours
contributed to their common struggle against the military imperialism of the
Turkish Ottoman Empire, the Tatars, Poland, and Hungary, who sometimes
tried to impose their control and religion. The appointment of Hospodar
Duca was also an effort by the Sublime Porte in Constantinople to counterbalance the growing prestige and influence of the Russian Czardom as the champion and protector of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the Russian
Borderlands of the Ukraine, the Romanian principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, and the numerous Christian nationalities of the Balkans.
Hospodar Duca was used by the Turks to secure a diplomatic neutrality of
the Russian Czardom during the second siege of Vienna in 1683. When Duca
tried secretly to obtain the protection and even possible suzerainty of the
Kingdom of Poland or the Russian Czardom, he was threatened with the loss
of the autonomy of Moldavia under Turkish suzerainty and its possible
change into a Turkish Pashalik (Turkish province). The balancing act of
Hospodar Duca is amazing. Facts are established by critical evaluation and
appraisal of all possible evidence available: synthesizing and integrating these
facts into a thorough study of these historical events in seventeenth century
Eastern Europe.
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