Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk

File:Filip_Orliks_konstitution_front_1-crop.tif Constitution (Latin-language version, National Archives of Sweden). The tile reads: {{langx|la|Contenta Pactorum inter Ducem et Exercitum Zaporoviensem conventorum, in Compendium brevi Stylo collecta}}]]

The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk ({{langx|uk|Конституція Пилипа Орлика|Konstytutsiia Pylypa Orlyka}}) or the Bender Constitution,{{efn|In the historiography it was variously called as "Договір", "Хартія", "Угода", "Акт", "Конституція", "Державна конституція", "Конституція Пилипа Орлика", "Бендерська конституція", "Козацька конституція", "Конституція Української гетьманської держави", "Перша конституція України", "Конституція Війська Запорозького", "Українська конституція", etc.[http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=Pakty_i_Konstytutsiia_prav_i_volnostej_Vijska_Zaporozkoho_1710 ПАКТИ ТА КОНСТИТУЦІЇ ЗАКОНІВ І ВОЛЬНОСТЕЙ ВІЙСЬКА ЗАПОРОЗЬКОГО 1710], Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine}} formally titled as The Treaties and Resolutions of the Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporozhian Host ({{langx|la|Pacta et Constitutiones legum libertatumque Exercitus Zaporoviensis}}, {{langx|uk|Договори і Постановлення Прав і вольностей Війська Запорозького|Dohovory i Postanovlennia Prav i volʹnostei Viisʹka Zaporozʹkoho}}), is a constitutional document written by the Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host, Pylyp Orlyk,[https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/sweden-sends-ukraine-copies-of-pylyp-orlyks-constitution-on-constitution-day.html "Sweden sends Ukraine copies of Pylyp Orlyk’s Constitution on Constitution Day"], Kyiv Post, (June 28, 2021) the Cossack elders and the Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Army on the 5 April 1710 in the city of Bender (Tighina) in the Principality of Moldavia. It is sometimes called the first constitution of Ukraine.[https://www.husj.harvard.edu/articles/the-first-constitution-of-ukraine-5-april-1710 "The First Constitution of Ukraine (5 April 1710)"], Harvard Ukrainian Studies{{cite book |last1=Carpentier |first1=Jean |last2=Co-operation |first2=Council of Europe Council for Cultural |title=The Emergence of Human Rights in Europe: An Anthology |date=1 January 2001 |publisher=Council of Europe |isbn=978-92-871-4514-7 |page=211 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gyIgwz_lDGkC |language=en}}

It established the principle of the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches well before the publication of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws.{{cn|date=January 2025}} The document limited the executive authority of the hetman, and established a Cossack parliament called the {{ill|General Council (Ukrainian Cossacks)|lt=General Council|uk|Генеральна військова рада}} (General Rada).

The Old Ukrainian-language original, signed by Orlyk, accompanied by a diploma signed by King Charles XII of Sweden, was found in 2008 by Ukrainian researchers in the {{ill|Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts|ru|Российский государственный архив древних актов}}, Moscow.[https://old.archives.gov.ua/Publicat/AU/AU_3_4_2010/14.pdf Конституція Пилипа Орлика: оригінал та його історія. Підготувала Вовк О. Б.], Архіви України (Archives of Ukraine), 2010. issue 3-4 (269), pp. 145—166] The Latin-language original is kept in the National Archives of Sweden.

History

File:Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk (original, Old Ukrainian).pdf

After the Battle of Poltava, when Charles XII of Sweden's and Hetman Ivan Mazepa's armies were defeated by Peter I of Russia, Pylyp Orlyk remained with Mazepa. Together, Orlyk, Mazepa, and their Cossack forces retreated to the city of Bender (Tighina) in Bessarabia (now the city is in Moldova, then in the Ottoman Empire). The Zaporizhian Cossack Army also settled in this area.

After Mazepa died, on 5 April 1710 Pylyp Orlyk was elected as the Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host. On the same day, he issued the Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host. Orlyk's Constitution is sometimes referred to by the city of its proclamation, the Bender Constitution.

Articles of the Constitution

The Ukrainian-language title reads: "Договори і постанови прав і свобод військових між Ясновельможним Його Милості паном Пилипом Орликом, новообраним гетьманом Війська Запорізького, і між генеральними особами, полковниками і тим же Військом Запорізьким з повною згодою з обох сторін"{{Cite web | url = http://gska2.rada.gov.ua/site/const/istoriya/1710.html | title = КОНСТИТУЦІЯ ПИЛИПА ОРЛИКА | publisher = The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine | access-date = June 5, 2022 | archive-date = March 24, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220324190241/http://gska2.rada.gov.ua/site/const/istoriya/1710.html | url-status = dead }}

The document is made up of a preamble{{cite web

| last = Mahrytska

| first = Iryna

| authorlink =

| title = Hetman Pylyp Orlyk and Ukraine's First Constitution

| work = Eastern Ukrainian National University of V. Dalya

| publisher = Jurisprudentia/Slovo Prosvity

| date = 2005-06-24

| url = http://www.lawyer.org.ua/?w=r&i=&d=601

| format =

| doi =

| accessdate = 2006-08-17

| archive-date = 2006-01-18

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060118110505/http://www.lawyer.org.ua/?w=r&i=&d=601

| url-status = dead

}}

and 16 articles.

{{cite encyclopedia |title=Bendery, Constitution of |encyclopedia=The Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies |id= |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages\B\E\BenderyConstitutionof.htm |date= |volume= |pages=}}

=Preamble=

The preamble briefly discusses Cossack history, their Khazar and Roxolani origin mythos, the rise of the Zaporizhian Sich and its downfall when after under Bohdan Khmelnytsky it rebelled against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and ended up serving Imperial Russia. According to the introduction, using all available means, Moscow limited and nullified rights and freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host and eventually subjugated the free Cossack nation. Ivan Mazepa's politics and alliance with Charles XII of Sweden are explained as logical and inevitable, mandated by the need to free the homeland. The independence of the new state from Russia is given as the primary goal of the Bender Constitution. File:Video of a conservator paging through the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk.webm

= Articles 1–5 =

Articles 1–3 dealt with general Ukrainian affairs. They proclaimed the Eastern Orthodox faith to be the faith of Ukraine, and to further the independence from Moscow, the Kyiv Patriarchate must acquire the direct subordination to the Apostolic Capital of Constantinople. The residence of people proselytizing other faiths, such as Catholicism, Islam and Judaism, must be forbidden. The Sluch River was designated as the boundary between Ukraine and Poland. The articles also recognized the need for an anti-Russian alliance between Ukraine and the Crimean Khanate.

Articles 4–5 reflected the interests of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who constituted the overwhelming majority of the Bender emigration. The Hetman was obligated:Image:Pylyp Orlyk 3.jpg Pylyp Orlyk]]

to expel, with the help of Charles XII, the Russians from Zaporozhian territories

to grant the town of Trakhtemyriv to the Zaporozhians to serve as a hospital, and

to disallow non-Zaporozhians to own anything in Zaporozhian territories

= Articles 6–16 =

Articles 6–10 limited the powers of the hetman and established a Cossack parliament, similar to an extended council of officers, which was to meet three times a year. The General Council was to consist not only of the general staff and the regimental colonels, but also of "an outstanding and worthy individual from each regiment."

Articles 11–16 protected the rights of towns, limited the taxation of peasants and poor Cossacks, and restricted the innkeepers. Charles XII, king of Sweden and "the protector of Ukraine," happened to be in Bender at the time, and confirmed these articles.

Memory

File:Bender Fortress. SE corner 02.JPG]]

On 9 April 2010, the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Constitution, a monument was dedicated in Bender. The monument is in the form of a book with engraved information about the history of the writing of the Constitution and its full name in Ukrainian and Latin.{{Cite web |title=Конституція Пилипа Орлика — UKR.md |date=5 April 2020 |url=https://ukr.md/2020/04/konstitucziya-pilipa-orlika/ |access-date=2023-06-29 |language=uk}}

Notes

References

External links

[http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/B/E/BenderyConstitutionof.htm Encyclopedia of Ukraine]
{{in lang|uk}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20220324190241/http://gska2.rada.gov.ua/site/const/istoriya/1710.html Text of the Pylyp Orlik Constitution]
{{in lang|en}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20180419170120/https://mfa.gov.ua/en/news-feeds/foreign-offices-news/48775-deny-konstituciji-ukrajini Information about the Constitution]
{{in lang|la}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20220409212611/https://www.syniepolska.com/orlik.html#latin Transcript of Pylyp Orlyk's autograph Contenta Pactorum - Brief Latin version]

Category:Political history of Ukraine

Category:Defunct constitutions

Category:Constitutions of Ukraine

Category:Legal history of Ukraine

Category:Government of the Cossack Hetmanate

Category:1710s in Ukraine

Category:18th century in the Zaporozhian Host

Category:Bender, Moldova

Category:1710 works