The word "Cossack" is of Tatar origin and it was for the first time
mentioned in dictionary of Kipchak language - Codex Cumanicus - from
year 1303. At that time this word meant a guardian or a vanguard. This
term was also used during the 1300s and the 1400s to describe steppe
brigands, who often served as pirates for Genoese cities in Crimean
Peninsula. Most of them were ethnic Tatars. They cannot be considered as
ancestors of Ukrainian Cossacks. The name "Cossacks" was later applied
to brand new free communities which spontaneously formed themselves in
areas of South-Eastern Ukraine, and which had no connection to old Tatar
"Cossacks".
In the 1400s the southern boundary of settled territories was in the
neighbourhood of Bratslav and Cherkasy, while to to the south of that
area - up to the coastal area of the Black Sea - there were uninhabited
(except for small groups of Tatars) steppes known as the Wild Fields or
as Zaporozhye (the latter name derived from rock steps along the Dnieper
River known as porohy). Very sparsely populated and deprived of strong
administration of any state those territories were attracting fugitives,
runaways, vagabonds and criminals, who established their communities
there.
Over time, due to the constant danger posed by plundering raids
organized by the Crimean Khanate, those newly and spontaneously
established communities started to organize themselves into large
groups, electing their leaders (atamans) and developing a sort of
military organization.
The ethnic composition of Cossacks in the 1500s is difficult to precise -
most certainly the Ruthenian element was dominant, but there were also
many ethnic Poles, Russians, Moldavians, Hungarians and Tatars among
them, and even some Greeks, Germans, Spaniards, Italians and Jews. Also
the social composition was not homogenous - people who escaped to
Zaporozhye and formed new settlements there were both peasants, nobles
and townsmen. Also religious composition of those settlers was not
homogenous, even though Orthodox element was dominant.
Initially very small, number of Cossacks started to gradually increase
during the 16th century. In year 1534 the total number of male Cossacks
was estimated as 2,000, in 1553 there were already 3,000 of them, in
1563 more than 5,000 and in 1600 their number was over 20,000. During
the first half of the 17th century the number of Cossacks further
increased and reached over 50,000 men.
Already during the first half of the 17th century Cossacks started to be
used by Poland-Lithuania as auxiliaries supporting Polish-Lithuanian
armies in defending Ukraine against raids of Tatars from the Crimean
Khanate. Soon after that also Cossacks themselves started to organize
plundering raids against Crimean Khanate's and Ottoman Empire's
territories (scale of those Cossack invasions became huge after 1600).
The earliest mention of military use of Cossacks in Polish-Lithuanian
service is from years 1523/1524 when the Grand Duke of Lithuania (and at
the same time also the King of Poland) Zygmunt I Stary ordered Semen
Polzowicz and Krzysztof Kmitycz to carry out recruitment of soldiers
from among the Cossack community and then to organize a raid against
Tatar territories with use of that previously recruited force. In 1532
the Starost (Governor) of Cherkasy - Ostafi Daszkowicz - commanding a
force of Cossack soldiers repulsed an invasion of Crimean Khan himself
in 1532, and in revenge plundered many settlements of Crimean Tatars.
But the "Golden Age" of Cossack anti-Turkish piracy were years 1605 -
1625.
Another notable 16th century commander of Cossack units - Starosta of
Bar Jakub Pretficz - won 70 skirmishes and battles against the Crimean
Horde. But the most famous of all 16th century Cossack leaders was
Prince Dymitr Wiśniowiecki. Prince Dymitr Wiśniowiecki became a Cossack
around year 1550, when he abandoned his estates and travelled to
Zaporozhye. In one of Lower Dnieper River isles - island known in Polish
as Mała Chortyca (Small Chortyca) - Wiśniowiecki founded a fortified
wooden city and stronghold, which became known as Zaporizhian Sich.
The original founder of Cossack Zaporizhian Sich - Prince Dymitr "Bajda" Wiśniowiecki (born 1516, died 1563):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmytro_VyshnevetskyIn the map below I marked (with thick red lines) the boundaries of settled territories in year ca. 1454:
That was along the line: Bratslaw, Zvenyhorodka, Cherkasy, Pereyaslavl,
to the south of Chernihiv, Glinsk (at the Sula River), Putyvl, Rilsk,
Kursk.
The other line was along the coast of the Black Sea up to the Dnieper
River, because permanent settlements existed only in the coastal
region.
Everything in between these two lines, was extremely sparsely populated
steppe known as the "Wild Fields" ("Dzikie Pola") at that time:
I also marked the fortified city of Sich (Zaporizhian Sich), founded
after year 1550 by Prince Dymitr Wiśniowiecki, who became a Cossack:
Place marked as "1399" and two swords, is the place where the battle of the Vorskla River took place in 1399:
Full size of the map:
http://postimg.org/image/urkb0c11t/full/
Edited by Domen - 11-Feb-2014 at 17:14