Рукописна та книжкова спадщина України (Jan 2024)
Devaluation of Pereyaslav Act and "March Articles" of 1654: historiographical discourse
Abstract
The purpose of the work: on the basis of scientific research by Ukrainian and foreign authors, to analyze various evaluative judgments about the events of the National Liberation War of the Ukrainian people of 1648-1657 led by Khmelnytskyi, the multi-vector nature of his foreign policy, the political and legal nature of the treaty, its short-term and distant consequences. Methodology. The Marxist methodology prevailing in Soviet times limited the researcher’s scientific horizons, but this does not mean that all achievements of those times should be rejected. In conditions of methodological pluralism, the basic principles of historical-philosophical methodology continue to function, since history does not exist without philosophy, just as philosophy also does not exist without history. Therefore, the principles of objectivity, dialectical logic, determinism, complex analysis, and terminological certainty are applied; in the arsenal of methods - comparative-historical, critical and interpretation. Scientific novelty. Historiographical analysis of the most famous publications on the given topic proves its debatable nature. One comes to understand that it is not so easy to deny or reject the scientific positions of some authors, or to agree with them, because everyone has the right to their own opinion. A new look at the historical events of that time will encourage scientists to return to this problem several times, taking into account the next devaluation of the vaguely formulated Pereyaslav Treaty of 1654, which existed virtually for centuries. Conclusions. The dilemmas of "reunification"-"accession", "protectorate"-"union", "incorporation"-"union" attract the attention of many Ukrainian and foreign researchers. Thanks to the scientific ef forts of historians and lawyers, the essence of the "March Articles" was analyzed as standardized preliminary agreements. It was found that among the proposed variants of their political and legal interpretation, preference is given to the term contract/agreement. which recorded the autonomous status of the Hetmanate, which meant its recognition at the international level. Its devaluation began as a result of the signing of the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667 between Moscovia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with the subsequent incorporation of Ukrainian lands into the Russian Empire.
