Myklashevsky, Mykhailo A.

Myklashevsky, Mykhailo A. [Миклашевський, Михайло; Myklaševs’kyj, Myxajlo], b in the 1640s, d 30 March 1706 in Niasvizh, Belarus. Cossack statesman. An adjutant (1671) and close adviser to Hetman Demian Mnohohrishny (1672), after the 1672 Baturyn revolt against Mnohohrishny he served in the governments of Hetmans Ivan Samoilovych and Ivan Mazepa and became town otaman of Hlukhiv (1675) and osaul of Nizhyn regiment (1679–82). He participated in the Chyhyryn campaigns, 1677–8, and served on various diplomatic missions, particularly to Moscow. As general flag-bearer (1682) and general osaul of the Hetman state (1683–90) and colonel of Starodub regiment (1689–1706) he owned large estates, glassworks, and iron-ore mines in Starodub and Nizhyn regiments. A benefactor of Ukrainian art, churches, and monasteries, he funded the construction of Saint George's Cathedral at the Vydubychi Monastery in Kyiv. Myklashevsky opposed the pro-Muscovite policy of Mazepa's government. In 1703 he conducted secret negotiations with Polish and Lithuanian magnates with the aim of uniting Ukraine with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on the basis of the provisions of the 1658 Treaty of Hadiach and thereby creating a Great Ruthenian principality. He was killed during the Swedish siege of Niasvizh.

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