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Theodosia Boresky Woman’s Role In The History O f Ukraine In reading some of the earliest an nals of Ukraine's history it was pleas ing to discover that in the beloved land of our forefathers the women right from the very beginning of. its1 history have always held equal place, equal rights and equal responsibility shoulder to shoulder with their men. Never in Ukraine's history have the women been forced to suffer the hu miliating imposition of guardians ap pointed over them to manage their' property and personal wealth. On the contrary, the Real and Personal Prop erty of each woman remained exclus ively her own even when she married. She used the seal of her father's house and signed her maiden name to all legal documents when disposing of her property. She was under no obli gation to ask anyone's permission to use her wealth and property as her reason dictated. (Note: It was not un til the later centuries when woman became the chattel or personal prop erty of man did she begin to lose her personal identity and freedom of ac tion as an.individual). As a result of the many rights and privileges enjoyed, there grew also heavy responsibilities which these in dependent, emancipated women of Ukraine, centuries ago, met admirably well without its seeming to detract anything from their efficiency as wives, mothers and home-makers. The influence of the Ukrainian wo man in her communal national life was of so great an importance that there are many references to these accomplishments in the earliest chron icles. The first of these prominent women leaders was queen Olga, wife of Ihor. The chronicle discloses that as succes sor to her husband's throne she was not content to remain merely a pup pet ruler but by her many acts of. astute diplomacy and military skill succeeded in intelligently directing her country’s destiny in the national wars of the Poliani tribe (to whom the term “Rus" or Rutheni was applied and whose state was described as lo cated in the basin of the Dnieper riv er), carried on against the Derewlani, to one of victory. Anna, beautiful daughter of Yaro- slaw The Wise, who married king Henry of France held an influential position in the political life of her country long after her husband's death. The mother of prince Danilo, wid ow of Roman and ruler of Haiich, displayed great proficiency in handr ling the affairs of state. At her hus band's death she held conferences with her ministers and representatives of the provinces, organized an army and putting herself in command of it, courageously defended the holdings of the kingdom for her sons. There were queens who- in the ab sence or illness of their husbands managed-. the, affairs. of state so suc cessfully'occupied such an influential role in tftfc political life of the* times;, battled so skillfully and boldly in the defense of their country, that they be came as inspected entities of the-state or government as their husbands. It is related that king Sviatoslav during his many vfrars with Rostislav invari ably gave consideration to the counsel of his wife over and above that of his most trusted ministers. The wife of Volodimir during his illness attended to all his royal duties taking upon herself full responsibility for making important decisions and signing royal documents, treaties and trade agreements. Nastia Chahrova, common-law wife of Yaroslaw of Haiich, captained a band of warriors with whose help she controlled one of the major political parties of the principality. The wives of many of the byoars (feudal lords) also took an active in terest in the political and national life of their time although the stories of their accomplishments are not as many. Outstanding among them was the widow of Nizdela, who unfortun ately interested herself in the politics of the Carpathian region of Haiich to the detriment of the Ukrainians. She was so shrewd a diplomat that she persuaded her son-in-law Danilo to relinquish the city of Yaroslav to the Magyars in 1232 although this was both against the will of the people of the ciiy and the Kozaks who followed him. Another aspect of the life of the nation in which women deeply inter ested themselves was the church. Here the women played indeed a most significant role, organizing, establish ing, building and heading various re ligious bodies. The most noteworthy of these women was Ivonne (Yanka) daughter of Vsevoloda Yaroslavich. Their ambitions rose to the extent of coveting the seat of the bishopric. Friends of queen Verkhoslava, wife of Rostislav, planned to place her in the coveted chair promising a wide following of churches. As a matter of fact, during the first one hundred years of Christianity in Ukraine it was really the women who assumed the greatest part of the task of organ izing its various religious bodies such as the convents, schools and hospitals. Helen Chartoriyska, scholar and theo logian, held an imposing position as abbess of a famous nunnery in which she invested a large portion of her es tate. Another noblewoman, Helena Hstylevich, well-known in Kiev religi ous circles, willed all her extensive property to the church, including ;her villa in Kiev> for the purpose of spreading the teachings of Christian ity. Not to be forgotten was a Ukrain ian princess Sophia Chartoriyska who translated all the sermons for every Sunday and holiday in the entire year from the church Slavonic into the Uk rainian vernacular. No less in import ance was the mother of Hetman Ivan Mazeppa, Maria Mazeppa, who head ed One of .the most famous Kievan cloisters and who greatly influenced her son's life. He came often to take counsel of his -learned mother con cerning his political affairs. At the time of the Lutheran influ ence'in Europe the protestant-religion also had some success ariipng the w6-. men of Ukraine. Princess Hanna Ko- retska was one of the first to adopt this new faith. Later, changes to the Latin rite became more widespread among the women than the men. Re sistance to the new change resulted in fierce persecutions of the Orthodox adherents. Anna Aloyza Khodkevich a fanatical Jesuit adherent in 1636 went so far as to remove her famous fath er's body from the vaults of the Or thodox church to the cathedral built in her honor. The women, during the chaotic pe riod of the invasions of barbaric hordes into Ukraine, capably managed their husbands' holdings while they were away at war, successfully de fended their kingdoms from the Turks and Tatars and the neighboring tribes. This was the period in which the heroism of the Ukrainian women made itself most apparent for they had every opportunity when they led their armies at war to learn how to handle proficiently all the arms at their disposal. In 1505-1506 queen Anastasia not only effectively repelled the Tatar in vasion of her lortified kingdom but adroitly outwitted an attack by the superior Lithuanian forces of king Michael Hlinsky who wanted to^force her against her will into a marriage with him. There were also women warriors who like the Kozaks made continuous raids upon neighboring tribes. The most frequently mentioned was Anna Borzobohata Kracenko who travelled everywhere with an' armed force of followers with whom she delighted in breaking down fortifications and raid ing the cities of the neighboring feud al holdings. With her aged husband’s wealth, her dividends from church property and her personal property she did just about as she pleased. Nor would she heed anyone's advice, daring to battle even against the king’s own armies. It seems that the only effective punishment for the behavior of this woman was to permanently exile her from her native land. Sophia Ryzin- ska was another fearless woman war rior who in 1600 stormed and con quered the fortified kingdom of the hated Koretskis.' Other women of the ruling class who did not have the energy or per haps the military skill necessary to settle the interests of their holdings by armed force took thfjr disputes to the courts of law. Apparently they were well-versed in all the intricacies of the laws of those times for they defended their rights boldly and with eloquent wisdom in the highest tribunals of the land. During the revolutionary Kozak period when Hetman Khmelnitsky ruled Ukraine the women were in their greatest glory. More than ever they were, given opportunities to prove their mettle and to gain per sonal glory. In 1654 under the leader ship of the wife of Captain Zavesney during the siege of Byshi by the Pol ish armies of Charnetsky the women fought together with the men to their last breath. Once they became aware of impending defeat the wife of the captain, Mdme. Zavesna, preferring death to capture, lit a barrel of gun powder and jumped into its flames. Other women followed her example and threw themselves and their chil-; (fren4ntO' the river.' Seventy-women • who sought rettge in a cave on the outskirts of their city defended them* selves until the enemy flooded it where the heroines preferredS. to drown rath er than suffer ignominious capture by the enemy. (There is a famous paint ing by Staretsky called “The Siege of Byshi" in which Midme. Zavesna is portrayed not as the wife but as the brave young daughter of the captain). The most celebrated heroine in song and historical duma of the time was Helen of Vedmekivka who earned her right to fame during a Turkish inva sion into Ukraine during Hetman Peter Doroshenko's rule, 1667-1668. When the Turks approached the city of Vedmedivka, Helen organized and armed its occupants and led them in a surprise attack on the Turkish en campment just outside the city's gates. She died in the battle but her courage so heartened the citizenry that they bested te Turks, demoralized their ranks and thus prevented the seizure of the city and its citizens from being taken away as prisoners to be sold in Crimean market as slaves. A song written about Helen says, “The priest’s daughter of Vedmedivka felled seven hundred Turks from horses." Not any less renowned were those women taken prisoners during the many Turkish and Tatar invasions in to Ukrainian territory who became wives, concubines and handmaidens of the Khans and the Sultans and who were so skillful in gaining favor in the eyes of their masters that they at tained positions of great prominence in Crimea. Worthy of remembrance from among them was Marusia Bo- huslavka whose adventures have be come immortalized in historicc dumas and in literary masterpieces of which the poem “Marusia Bohuslavka" writ ten by Ponteleymon Kulish in collab oration with his famous author-wife, Hanna Barvinok, is the greatest. Equally favored by historic chron icles and in Kobzar dumas was Rox- anna exquisitely beautiful priest's daughter from Rohatin, a city in the province of Haiich who became the wife of Sultan Suleyman II (1495- 1566), and who exercised a powerful inbuence over his life and consequent ly through him the political life of his people. There is also a story about an other girl from Ukraine, wife of the Crimean Khan Islam Gerei, whom she induced to aid Bohdan Khmelnits ky. It is reported that she finally pois oned her husband because he had de ceived Khmelnitsky at the battle of Zvantsem by taking many of the Ko zaks prisoners and carrying off the army's supplies as booty from Uk raine. Although life during this period of Ukraine's history was marked by un rest and fraught with danger for the women who foughfciwith and led their armies their ^cutarat .development did not seem to suffer to any appreciable extent. The Syrian monk, Paul Alepo, who visited Ukraine in 1654, writes that the vast majority of Ukrainian women were literate. He states that he was surprised at the ease with which they could carry on intelligent discussions on philosophy and theol ogy. At the same time; that Ukraine was gaining ever increasing independence under Kozak rule her women shared correspondingly, increasing responsibi- (Coatiiiaedon -Pagerfc) Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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