Editing Hetman

{{Short description|Historical political and military title in Central and Eastern Europe}}
{{Other uses}}
{{distinguish|Hitman}}
[[File:Jan Amor Tarnowski.PNG|thumb|Grand Crown Hetman [[Jan Amor Tarnowski]] by [[Marcello Bacciarelli]], 1781]]
'''''Hetman''''' is a political title from [[Central and Eastern Europe]], historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a [[field marshal]] or imperial marshal in the [[Holy Roman Empire]]). First used by the [[Czechs]] in [[Bohemia]] in the 15th century, it was the title of the second-highest military commander after the king in the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland]] and the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] from the 16th to 18th centuries. Hetman was also the title of the head of the [[Cossack Hetmanate|Cossack state]] in [[Ukraine]] after  the [[Khmelnytsky Uprising]] of 1648.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hetman|url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CH%5CE%5CHetman.htm|website=[[Encyclopedia of Ukraine]]|access-date=2025-05-15}}</ref> Throughout much of the history of [[Romania]] and the [[Principality of Moldavia|Moldavia]], hetmans were the second-highest army rank. In the modern [[Czech Republic]], the title is used for regional [[governors]].

==Etymology==
The term ''hetman'' was a [[Polish language|Polish]] borrowing, most likely stemming via Czech from the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] title ''[[ataman]]'' (literally 'father of horsemen'),<ref>{{cite news |title=The Cossacks: A super-ethnos in Russia's ribs |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=December 21, 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.cossackweb.narod.ru/cossacks/ataman.htm |title=Ataman |work=Cossackweb.narod.ru |access-date=July 6, 2012}}</ref>{{rs?|date=June 2024}} however it could also come from the German {{lang|de|[[Hauptmann]]}} – captain.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Stevenson |editor1-first=Angus |editor2-last=Waite |editor2-first=Maurice |title=Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Luxury Edition |date=2011 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780199601080 |page=669 |edition=12}}</ref> Since hetman as a title first appeared in Czechia in the 15th century, assuming it stems from a Turkic language, it is possible it was introduced to Czechs by the [[Cumans]].{{cn|date=June 2024}}

==Hetmans of Poland and Lithuania==
{{Main|Hetmans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth}}
{{Multiimage
|total-width=400px
|image1=Mikałaj Radzivił Rudy. Мікалай Радзівіл Руды.jpg
|caption1=Hetman [[Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł]]
|image2=Jan Karal Chadkievič. Ян Караль Хадкевіч (XVII) (6).jpg
|caption2=Hetman [[Jan Karol Chodkiewicz]] wearing a traditional costume of Polish magnates
|image3=Januš Radzivił. Януш Радзівіл (B. Strobel, 1634).jpg
|caption3=[[Janusz Radziwiłł (1612–1655)|Janusz Radziwiłł]], one of the most powerful people in the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Commonwealth]] at the time
}}

The Polish title ''Grand Crown Hetman'' ({{langx|pl|hetman wielki koronny}}) dates from 1505. The title of ''Hetman'' was given to the leader of the [[Polish Army]]. Until 1581 the hetman position existed only during specific campaigns and wars. After that, it became a permanent title, as were all the titles in the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland]] and the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. At any given time the Commonwealth had four hetmans – a ''Great Hetman'' and ''Field'' (deputy) ''Hetman'' each for both Poland and Lithuania.

From 1585, the title could not be taken away without a proven charge of treachery, so most hetmans served for life. [[Jan Karol Chodkiewicz]] literally commanded the army from his deathbed (1621).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CPpEAAAQBAJ |page=209 |title=The Khotyn Campaign of 1621: Polish, Lithuanian and Cossack Armies versus Might of the Ottoman Empire |volume=107 |series=Century of the Soldier |first1=Micha |last1= Paradowski |publisher=Helion and Company |year=2023 |isbn=978-1804514993}}</ref><!-- covers  date but not deathbed. But he was killed in the campaign --> Hetmans were not paid by the royal treasury. Hetmans were the main commanders of the military forces, second only to the monarch in the army's [[chain of command]]. The fact that they could not be removed by the monarch made them very independent, and thus often able to pursue independent policies.

This system worked well when a hetman had great ability and the monarch was weak, but sometimes produced disastrous results in the opposite case. The security of the position notably contrasted with that of military leaders in states bordering the commonwealth, where sovereigns could dismiss their army commanders at any time. In 1648 the [[Cossack Hetmanate|Zaporizhian Host]] (a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth subject) elected a hetman of its own, [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cossacks and Religion in Early Modern Ukraine | url=https://academic.oup.com/book/6208/chapter-abstract/149830224?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false# |chapter=A Hetman Sent by God |first1=Serhii |last1=Plokhy |publisher=Oxford Academic |date = November 2001}}</ref> igniting the [[Khmelnytsky Uprising|Ukrainian struggle]] for independence.

The military reform of 1776 curtailed the powers of the hetmans. The Hetman office was abolished after the [[Third Partition of Poland]] (1795).

==Hetmans of the Cossack Hetmanate in Ukraine==
{{Cossacks}}

{{Multiimage
|align=center
|image1=BChmielnicki.jpg
|caption1=Ukrainian Hetman [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky|Bohdan Zinoviy Khmelnytsky]]
|image2=Partition of Ukraine after the Truce of Andrusovo (1667).jpg
|caption2=In 1667, the Russo-Polish war ended with the Treaty of Andrusovo, which split the Cossack Hetmanate along the Dnieper River: Left-bank Ukraine to the Tsardom of Russia, while Right-bank Ukraine remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth}}

{{Main|Hetmans of Ukrainian Cossacks}}
At the end of the sixteenth century, the commanders of the [[Zaporozhian Host|Zaporizhian]] [[Cossacks]] were titled {{lang|uk-Latn|[[Koshovyi Otaman]]}} or ''Hetman''; [[Krzysztof Kosiński|Christof Kosynsky]] was the first [[Zaporizhian Cossacks|Zaporizhian hetman]]. In 1572, a hetman was a commander of the [[Registered Cossacks|Registered Cossack Army]] ({{langx|uk|Реєстрове козацьке військо}}) of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Commonwealth]]. From 1648, the start of [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky]]'s [[Khmelnytsky Uprising|uprising]], a hetman was the head of the whole [[Ukrainian State]] — {{lang|uk-Latn|Hetmanshchyna}} and heads of the [[Cossack Hetmanate]]. As supreme military commanders and lawmakers (by administrative decree), they had very broad powers, although they were elected.

After the split of [[Ukraine]] along the [[Dnieper River]] by the 1667 [[Poland|Polish]]–[[Russia]]n [[Treaty of Andrusovo]], Ukrainian Cossacks (and Cossack hetmans) became known as Left-bank Cossacks (of the [[Cossack Hetmanate]]) and Right-bank Cossacks.

In the [[Russian Empire]], the office of Cossack Hetman was abolished by [[Catherine II of Russia]] in 1764. The last Hetman of the Zaporozhian Army (the formal title of the hetman of Ukraine) was [[Kyrylo Rozumovsky]], who reigned from 1751 until 1764.<ref>{{cite book|page=14 |chapter=The early history of Kiev |publisher=Princeton University Press |year= 1993 |title=Kiev |doi=10.1515/9781400851515-004 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781400851515-004/html?lang=en}}alternate url=https://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/s5285.pdf</ref>

The title was revived in Ukraine during the revolution of 1917 to 1921. In early 1918, a conservative German-supported [[Coup d'etat|coup]] overthrew the radical socialist Ukrainian [[Central Council of Ukraine|Central Rada]] and its [[Ukrainian People's Republic]], establishing a hetmanate monarchy headed by [[Pavlo Skoropadskyi]], who claimed the title ''[[Hetman of Ukraine]]''. This regime lasted until late 1918, when it was overthrown by a new [[Directorate of Ukraine]], of a re-established Ukrainian People's Republic.

==Hetmans of Bohemia, Romania, and Moldavia==
Used by the [[Czechs]] in [[Bohemia]] from the [[Hussite Wars]] (15th century) onward, {{lang|cs|hejtman}} is today the term for the elected governor of a [[regions of the Czech Republic|Czech region]] ({{lang|cs|kraj}}).<ref>{{cite web| url=https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/czechia/main-executive-and-legislative-bodies |title=Czechia |date= April 3, 2024 |publisher=European Commission}}</ref>

For much of the history of [[Romania]] and the [[Principality of Moldavia]], hetmans were second in rank in the army, after the ruling prince, who held the position of [[voivode]].

==Other uses==
''Hetman'' has often been used figuratively to mean 'commander' or simply 'leader'.  Examples:
* "They say there was a whole band of them, and that this bearded man was their elder, the hetman." —&thinsp;[[Maxim Gorky]], ''[[Mother (Gorky novel)|Mother]]'' (1906)<ref>{{cite book |first=Maxim |last=Gorky |author-link=Maxim Gorky |title=Mother |date=1906 |publisher=D. Appleton–Century Company |location=New York/London |page=[https://archive.org/details/mother00gorkgoog/page/n410 372] |via=Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/mother00gorkgoog |quote=They say there was a whole band of them, and that this bearded man was their elder, the hetman. |translator=<!--Not applicable; this was first published in English.-->}}</ref>
[[Queen (chess)|Queen (chess piece)]] is called ''hetman'' in Polish and coded as '''H''' in the [[Algebraic notation (chess)|algebraic notation]].

==See also==
* [[Acting hetman]]<!--Integrate a summary of this into the article.-->
* [[Ataman]]
* [[Bulawa]]
* [[Hetman's sign]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|hetman}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Hetmans}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Hetman |volume=13 |short=x}}

{{Highest Military Ranks}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hetmans| ]]
[[Category:Military ranks of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Military organization of Cossacks]]
[[Category:Military history of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Ukrainian noble titles]]
[[Category:Polish titles]]
[[Category:Military ranks of Poland]]
[[Category:Military ranks of Lithuania]]
[[Category:Lithuanian titles]]
[[Category:Czech titles]]
[[Category:Slavic titles]]
[[Category:Military ranks of Belarus]]
[[Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership]]