Ivan Mazepa

Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa (30 March [O.S. 20 March] 1639 – 2 October [O.S. 21 September] 1709) was a Ukrainian military, political, and civic leader who served as hetman of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1687–1709. His long and stable rule was marked by economical and political recovery from the the Ruin. A loyal vassal of Moscow during most of his rule, Mazepa's close relationship with Tsar Peter I deteriorated as a result of the latter's administrative reforms, which increasingly deprived Mazepa and the Hetmanate of their autonomy. In 1708, Mazepa abandoned his alliance with Peter I and sided with Charles XII of Sweden after the Tsar refused to protect the Hetmanate against the advancing Swedes, instead ordering that much of Ukraine be burned to prevent the Swedes from gaining access to supplies and winter quarters.

After the Swedes were defeated at the Battle of Poltava in 1709, Mazepa went into exile in Moldavia and died there later that year. The political consequences and interpretation of his defection have resonated in the national histories of both Ukraine and Russia. The historical events of Mazepa's life have inspired many literary, artistic and musical works, and the hetman himself was famous as a patron of the arts.

The Russian Orthodox Church laid an anathema (excommunication) on Mazepa's name in 1708 and still refuses to revoke it. The anathema was not recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which considers it uncanonical and imposed with political motives as a means of political and ideological repression, with no religious, theological or canonical reasons. Pro-independence and anti-Russian elements in Ukraine from the 18th century onwards were derogatorily referred to as Mazepintsy (Russian: Мазепинцы, lit. 'Mazepists'). The alienation of Mazepa from Ukrainian historiography continued during the Soviet period, but post-1991 in independent Ukraine Mazepa's image has been gradually rehabilitated. The Ukrainian corvette Hetman Ivan Mazepa of the Ukrainian Navy is named after him.