Paskevych

Paskevych [Paskevyč] (Russian: Paskevich). A family of nobility from the Poltava region. The first to use the name was the Cossack Ivan Paskevych, the grandson of Fedir Tsalenko, a notable military fellow (1698) in Poltava regiment. In the second half of the 18th century some members of the family studied at German universities. One of them, Petro (1738–91), became a fellow of the standard in 1787 and founded the first bookstore in Poltava. Several family members attained high Russian imperial ranks. Ivan's grandson, Fedir (d 26 April 1832 in Kharkiv), was chairman of the Supreme Land Court of Voznesensk gubernia (see Land courts) and a collegial adviser. Fedir's son Ivan (b 20 May 1782 in Poltava, d 13 February 1856 in Warsaw) was a brigadier from 1811, a division commander from 1814, commander of the First Army Corps from 1821, and adjutant general from 1825. Appointed commander in chief of the Russian forces in Poland in 1831, for his role in suppressing the Polish Insurrection of 1830–1 he received the title of prince of Warsaw and until the 1850s served as vicegerent of the Congress Kingdom of Poland, where he governed by martial law and imposed Russification. He commanded the Russian army that suppressed the 1849 revolution in Hungary (see Revolution of 1848–9 in the Habsburg monarchy). Ivan's brother Stepan (b 1785, d 21 April 1840) was a colonel from 1816 and served as vice-governor of Slobidska Ukraine (1827–31), governor of Tambov (1831–2), Kursk (1834–5), and Vladimir (1835–6) gubernias, and a member of the Council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (1837–40). Their brother, Yosyf (1784–1844), attained the rank of major general. Ivan's son, Fedir (1823–1903), was a lieutenant general from 1854. Another Paskevych, Kostiantyn (1790–1836), was a colonel from 1828.

Arkadii Zhukovsky

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]