Ivan Mazepa
Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host and head of the Cossack state on the Left Bank (1687–1704) and across Dnipro Ukraine (1704–1709). Born on 20 (30) March 1639 in Mazepyntsi in the Kyiv region — by other accounts on 29 August 1639 in Bila Tserkva — into the noble Mazepa-Koledynsky family of the Kurcz coat of arms.
Elected hetman in 1687, he spent more than twenty years building up the Hetmanate: restoring the authority of the hetman's office, strengthening the economy of the Left Bank and, above all, supporting the church, education and the arts. Dozens of churches in Kyiv and across the Hetmanate were built or rebuilt at his expense, and it is this patronage that made him the principal sponsor of the Ukrainian Baroque.
He received the Order of St Andrew in 1700, the Polish Order of the White Eagle in 1703, and held the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire from 1707 to 1709. For years he backed Muscovy in the Great Northern War, but on seeing Peter I's intent to abolish Cossack liberties and the Hetmanate he went over to Charles XII of Sweden in 1708. After the defeat at Poltava in 1709 he withdrew to the Principality of Moldavia and died on the night of 22 September (3 October) 1709 at Varnytsia near Bender.
After the anathema of 1708 his likenesses were destroyed on Peter I's orders — only a handful of engravings and portraits made in his lifetime survive.Collection1