Katya says that she is a Kazak. Pyotr responds, "'A Cossack?'" (p. 355)
Her people were armed against Tatar and Turk.
The war has thrown her together with Little Russians.
"'Mazeppa welcomed the Great Russians in...'" (p. 356)
Men who rode with Chmeilnicki hanged Catholic and Uniate priests.
There are more references, of course, but those were the eight that I thought worth googling. We know a word like "Cossack," of course, but what are the details? And do whatever vague impressions that we already have correspond to the reality?
Now I really must do something about the here and now. I hope to visit Andrea above the Old Pier Bookshop tomorrow which will mean several hours away from the computer but maybe something interesting to report back.
8 comments:
Poles ruled a lot of Ukraine in the 16th and 17th centuries and they made themselves -really unpopular-. That lapped over onto their religion.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Too true! The Poles should have played on the resentment many Orthodox Ukrainians had for Muscovite domination--and thus been more tolerant of the Orthodox. Then those Uniate/Latin rite Catholic priests would not have been hanged.
Ad astra! Sean
I learned of the term "Little Russia" from one name for Tchaikovsky's 2nd symphony.
I see the Wikipedia article confirms my impression that the term 'Little Russia' eventually acquired a pejorative connotation.
Kaor, Jim!
I checked too, "Little Russia" originally had only ecclesiastical meanings.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: the thing is, the Poles weren't going to do 'realpolitik' with religion because they were, for the most part, extremely sincere believers -- and they'd been radicalized by conflicts with Protestants by then.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree! I also believe you can be ardently sincere in what you believe without feeling the need to bash non-believers over the head about their differences. Yes, I agree anti-Catholic bigotry by Protestants would radicalize the Poles.
Still, some realpolitik would have helped the Poles both then and later.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Poles don't have a reputation for realism. Guts yes, realism... not so much.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
The last 150 years of pre-Partition Poland, in which the Poles managed to paralyze to impotence both the Crown and their parliament proves that!
Ad astra! Sean
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