Komput

Komput (from the Latin computo: to calculate, reckon). A register of names that defined the social position of an individual within Cossack society. Komputy were introduced while Ukraine was under Polish rule. After 1648 the register also contained information regarding a Cossack's military service and his property. Compiled by regimental clerks, the komput had judicial authority and was the basis for deciding who had official Cossack status. It was abolished in Slobidska Ukraine in 1765 and in Left-Bank Ukraine in the 1780s, when Ukrainian autonomy was eliminated by the tsarist state. The register constitutes an important historical source for the social and economic history of Ukraine of the 17th and 18th centuries. (See also Registered Cossacks.)

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]