Serbyn

Serbyn [Сербин]. The surname of a number of officials of the Cossack Hetman state during the 17th century. It denoted their Serbian ethnic or national origins; the persons so named were probably not related. Ivan Serbyn was colonel of Lubny regiment (1668–76, with interruptions) and the father-in-law of the Kish otaman Ivan Sirko. Ivan Serbyn (d 11 June 1665), a Serbian nobleman from Novyi Bazar and a relative of the Serbian metropolitan Gavrilo, was colonel of Bratslav regiment (1657–8, 1663–5). He had arrived in Ukraine from Serbia as a Serbian captain in 1653, and joined the Cossack armies in their struggle against Poland (see Cossack-Polish War). A supporter of Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky, he assisted in the suppression of the rebellion led by Martyn Pushkar and participated in Danylo Vyhovsky's attack on Kyiv (1658). He was captured and exiled to Muscovy, whence he returned in 1660. In 1664–5 he fought against Hetman Pavlo Teteria and the Poles, and he died in battle near Uman. Voitsa (also Vuitsa, Vuk, or Vuich) Serbyn was colonel of Pereiaslav regiment (1687) and a bitter enemy of Hetman Ivan Samoilovych. He became general osaul in 1687, after the Kolomak mutiny (see Kolomak Articles). He was among the Cossack starshyna who opposed Hetman Ivan Mazepa. Mazepa denounced him to the Muscovite tsar, and in 1688 he was discharged and exiled to Sevsk.

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