Reshetylivka Articles of 1709

Reshetylivka Articles of 1709 [Решетилівські статті; Reshetylivski statti]. A 14-point petition submitted by Hetman Ivan Skoropadsky to Tsar Peter I in Reshetylivka (Poltava region) on 17 July 1709. Its aim was to obtain an elaboration of the rights and freedoms of the Ukrainian Hetman state that had been outlined in the tsar's manifesto of 1 November 1708, as well as to address certain issues related to contemporary events and circumstances. In reply Peter I issued an ukase on 31 July 1709 in Kyiv, in which he reiterated his guarantees of Hetman state autonomy and confirmed in principle the rights and freedoms and military order as set out in articles submitted by previous hetmans, most notably Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Nevertheless the provisions of the petition limited Ukraine's autonomy, in that Russian commanders were placed in key posts of the Cossack armies, Russian garrisons in Ukrainian cities were expanded, and Russians assumed control of the collection of taxes. The matter of the petition (not the ukase) was raised once again in 1710, but it was not resolved then or later. Peter I had decided to continue limiting the autonomy of the Hetman state and did not wish to be restricted by concrete promises or commitments.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]