General osaul

General osaul (heneralnyi osaul). Title of a senior officer in the Cossack army and, after 1648, of a member of the General Officer Staff in the Hetman state. As a rule, there were two general osauls. Their primary role was military: supervising the army's condition, commanding large detachments in wartime, managing muster rolls, directing the army engineers, commanding mercenary troops, and occasionally serving as acting hetman. They also served as the hetman's envoys, supervised matters of internal security (including reconnaissance and the suppression of mutinies), and conducted annual regimental musters and inspections. Four hetmans were former general osauls: Petro Doroshenko (1663–4), Demian Mnohohrishny (1668), Ivan Mazepa (1682–7), and Ivan Skoropadsky (1701–6).