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Bohdan Fedorovych Hlynskyi

Prince Bohdan Fedorovych Hlynskyi (d. 1512) — a Ukrainian-Lithuanian magnate from the Mamai-Hlynskyi clan, voivode of Cherkasy (1488–1495) and of Putyvl, one of the first organizers of Ukrainian Cossacks, known in folk tradition as "Cossack Mamay".

Overview

Prince Bohdan Hlynskyi descended from a line of descendants of the Horde tumen-bashi Mamai, who settled in Poltava region and founded the Hlynskyi Principality. Upon assuming the office of voivode of Cherkasy in 1488, Bohdan Hlynskyi began forming combat-ready units on the steppe frontier from the local population and the sevriuky, becoming one of the founders of the early Ukrainian Cossacks.

In 1493, under the leadership of Bohdan Hlynskyi, Cherkasy Cossacks carried out a bold campaign against the newly built Crimean fortress of Ochakiv at the mouth of the Dnipro and took it. This victory became the baptism of the Ukrainian Cossacks, after which the name "Cossack" gained renown far beyond Ukraine, and the prince himself, who signed with the surname Mamay, became the prototype of the folk warrior-protector — the Cossack Mamay.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Lineage: a representative of the princely Hlynskyi clan (descendants of Mansur-Kiyat, the son of tumen-bashi Mamai); until the mid-16th century, members of the clan continued to use the family surname Mamay.
  • Organization of the Cossacks: in the office of voivode of Cherkasy (1488–1495), he rallied the frontier inhabitants of the Hlynskyi Principality and of the Dnipro borderland into the first regular Cossack units.
  • The taking of Ochakiv in 1493: he led the Cossack campaign and destroyed the newly built fortress of Ochakiv, which became the first large-scale military victory of the Ukrainian Cossacks recorded in international sources.
  • The image of the Cossack Mamay: the figure of Bohdan Mamai-Hlynskyi made a significant contribution to the formation of the folk-poetic and pictorial canon of the Cossack Mamay.
  • Poltava Region and Crimea. Two Histories of Ukrainian Statehood — an article by Oleksandr Dziuba in the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia" (2017, issue No. 2); the main source of this page.
  • Mamai — a Horde tumen-bashi, great-grandfather of Bohdan Hlynskyi.
  • Hlynskyi Principality — an appanage principality in Poltava region, from which the Hlynskyi clan originated.
  • Cossack Mamay — a folk painting and archetype of the warrior, associated with Bohdan Mamai-Hlynskyi.
  • Bernard Pretvych — starosta of Bar, involved in the later preemptive campaigns of the Cossacks against Ochakiv and in the development of the Cossacks.