THE UNION OF HADYACH Paul Robert Magocsi Excerpts from the book ”History of Ukraine”, Toronto / 1996
	The original treaty was signed on 6 September 1658 near Hadiach by two commissioners of the king and commonwealth, and by Ivan Vyhovs'kyi, het- man of the Zaporozhian armies. The text was subsequently emended and rati¬fied by the Polish-Lithuanian Diet in May 1659, although it continued to carry the original date. The following excerpts are based on an unpublished transla¬tion by Andrew Pernal of the emended text. The Zaporozhian Army, being burdened by various oppression, took up its defense not out of its own free will, but out of necessity; since His Majesty [the king of Poland] has forgiven with His Fatherly Heart all that which took place during the turmoil and calls for unity, they [the Zaporozhians]... take part in this Commission and afterwards in common counsel to achieve a sincere agreement. That the Old Greek [Orthodox] religion, the same one with which the Old Rus' joined the Crown of Poland, be retained by its own prerogatives and free exercise of church services, as far as the language of the Ruthenian nation extends. To this Greek religion is granted the authority of freely erecting new churches, chapels, and monasteries as well as maintaining and repairing the old ones. With regard to the churches formerly founded for and properties [formerly donated to] the church of the Old Greek religion, these shall be retained by the Old Greeks, the Orthodox, and restored [to them], ... The [Orthodox] metropolitan of Kiev, the present one and his successors in the future, [together] with the four Orthodox bishops [from the Crown], [those] of Luts'k, L'viv, Przemysl, and Chelm, and the fifth from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, [that] of Mstsislau, [and their successors in the future] shall sit in the Senate, according to their own order [of seniority], with such privileges and free vote as are enjoyed in the Senate by the Most Reverend Spiritual Lords of the Roman rite.... In the Palatinate of Kiev, senatorial dignities shall be conferred only upon nobles of the Greek rite; whereas, in the palatinates of Bratslav and Chernihiv, senatorial honors shall be conferred by alteration; thus, after the death of a senator of the Greek rite, he is succeeded by a senator of the Roman rite.... Also, in order that mutual affection may spread within the towns of the crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, wherever churches of the Greek rite are to be found, the Roman [Catholic] burghers shall enjoy, equally with those of the Greek religion, common liberties and freedoms. ... His Majesty and the estates of the crown grant permission for the building of an academy in Kiev, which is granted the same prerogatives and liberties as the academy of Cracow, only ... that there be no professors, masters, [or] students of the Unitarian, Calvinist, [or] Lutheran sects. In order that [in the future] there be no occasion for altercation among the students, His Majesty shall command that all other schools which were [established] hitherto in Kiev be transferred else¬where. His Majesty, Our Gracious Lord, and the estates of the crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also consent to [the establishment of] another academy, wherever a suitable place for it shall be found, which shall enjoy the same rights and liberties as the Kievan [academy]. ... Wherever this academy shall be set up, no other schools shall be founded there for all times. Grammar schools, colleges, [other] schools, and printing houses, as many as will be necessary, shall be permitted to be established without difficulty. ... Since the honorable Hetman and the Zaporozhian Army, [hitherto] separated from the commonwealth, are returning and renouncing all foreign protection. ... security shall be provided [by an amnesty] to persons of ail social positions, from the lowest to the highest [rank] and excluding no one; ... in short, all those who served or are serving in any capacity under the honorable hetmans, both the former one and the one at present. ... The entire commonwealth of the Polish, grand ducal Lithuanian, and Ruthenian nations, as well as the provinces belonging to them shall be restored as they existed before the war [of 1648]; that is, these three nations shall retain, as before the war, their own intact boundaries and liberties, and in accordance to the stipulation of the law, [their right to participate] in the councils, the courts, and the free elections of their lords, the kings of Poland and the grand dukes of Lithuania and Rus'. If, as a result of war with foreign states any agreement be reached that is detrimental to the boundaries or liberties of these nations, the above-named nations shall stand by their liberties as a commonwealth one and indivisible, without discord among themselves over the [differences between the two] faiths, ... The Zaporozhian Army shall number ten thousand [men], or whatever [figure] the honorable Zaporozhian hetman shall enter in the register. The mercenary army shall number thirty thousand [men], which just as the Zaporozhian [Army] shall remain under the command of this same Hetman. [The funds] appropriated for these troops shall come from the taxes voted at the Diet by the commonwealth [and levied] in the palatinates of Kiev, Bratslav, Chernihiv, and others. The quarters for the Zaporozhian Army are assigned in the [same] palatinates and estates in which they were stationed before the war [of 1648]. All of the liber¬ties granted to this Army by the charters of the most illustrious kings of Poland are confirmed: they [the Cossacks] shall retain their former liberties and practices. ... No tenant of the estates of His Majesty or prefect, nor any hereditary or annuitant lord, nor their sub-prefects, officials, or any other servants shall collect, for whatever pretext, any taxes from Cossack farms, villages, towns, or homes. As [befits a] knightly people, [the Cossacks] shall be exempt from the heaviest and the lightest burdens [of taxation], including duties and tolls throughout the crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Also, they shall be free [from the jurisdiction] of various courts of the prefects, tenants, lords, and [those of] their deputies, and be subject only to the jurisdiction of their own hetman of the Ruthenian armies. Moreover, the Cossacks shall be permitted to retain [such rights as the making of] all kinds of beverages, hunting on the land, fishing in the rivers, and other benefits according to [their] old customs.... The honorable Hetman of the Ruthenian armies shall recommend to His Majesty as being worthy of [having conferred upon them] the coats of arms of nobility; all without difficulty shall be ennobled and accorded all the liberties [enjoyed] by the nobility [of the commonwealth],... one hundred [persons] shall be ennobled from each regiment. No one shall lead any Polish, Lithuanian, or foreign armies [without the consent of the hetman] into the palatinates of Kiev, Bratslav, and Chernihiv. The mercenary troops, being under the command of the hetman of the Ruthenian armies, shall be supplied with provisions from the royal and church lands in the said palatinates, according to an ordinance [to be issued] by this same Ruthenian Hetman.... The three united nations shall endeavour, by all possible means, that there be free navigation on the Black Sea for the commonwealth. Should His Tsarist Majesty [of Muscovy] refuse to return to the commonwealth the provinces [He occupied], and [should He] invade the commonwealth, then all the forces of the crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as the Ruthenian Zaporozhian armies under the command of their Hetman, shall unite and wage war [against the tsar]. Real estates, personal properties, crown lands, and sums of money confiscated from the nobles of the Ruthenian territories, even [from those] who served in the Zaporozhian Army and who at present are rejoining the fatherland, shall be returned [to them]. ... [The hetman] shall not receive any legations from foreign states, and if any should arrive, he shall send them on to His Majesty. To all property owners from both sides shall be afforded the possibility of safe return to and repossession of [their former holdings], including the [right of the secular] Roman-rite clergy to the bishoprics, parishes, canonries, rectories, and properties belonging to them that are located in the palatinates of Kiev, Bratslav, Chernihiv, and Podolta, as well as in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in Belarus, and Severia. ... Since the hetman, the Zaporozhian Army, and the [hitherto] separated palatinates [from the commonwealth] are repudiating all protection of other foreign nations and are returning of their own free will as freemen to freemen, equals to equals, and honorable to honorable; therefore, for better security and for more certainty that this current agreement be adhered to, His Majesty and the common\wealth shall permit the Rus' nation their own chancellors, marshals, and treasurers, with the rank of senator. Stanislaw Kazimierz Bieniewski, Castellan of Volhynia, Prefect of Bohuslav, Commissioner Ludwik Kazimierz Jewtaszewski, Castellan of Smolensk, Commissioner Ivan Vyhovs'ki, Hetman of the Zaporozhian armies, by his own hand, in the name of the entire army The proposed arms and territorial organization of the Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian-Ruthenian Commonwealth, as per the Treaty of Hadiach (Click on the map for better resolution)