Batourin, a town founded by Stephen Batory, king of Poland. In 1664, John Casimir here concentrated his formidable forces, ere he marched against the Cossacks, who then threw themselves into the arms of Moscovy. Prince Menzikoff took this town by assault, in the time of Peter the Great, in 1709; and after having destroyed the magazines of provisions which Mazeppa had there amassed for the use of Charles XII., he put all the Cossacks to the sword, as accomplices of the latter, and set fire to the town.
Jeremiof ka, formerly belonging to Prince Jeremiasz Wisniowiecki.
Pereaslaw, upon the Trubitza, a town formerly flourishing, which contained a college of Jesuits, founded by Zolkiewski, nephew of the renowned general of that name. The Cossacks under Khmielnitski pillaged it, committing every kind of excess.
Nizyn, on the Ostrza, which formerly separated the palatinate of Kiow from that of Czernichow, and the most eastern of the possessions of ancient Poland.
We now turn to the palatinate of Czernichow (pronounced Tchernikhof), the territories of which were at first governed by the Eussic dukes descended from Vladimir the Great; but the grand duke of Lithuania, Gedymin, having annihilated their army on the banks of the Pierna, incorporated in his own states, in 1320, the towns and fortresses of Kiow, Bialogrod, Slepowrat, Kaniow, Czerkassy, Bransk, Pereaslaw, and the duchy of Severia, even to Puty vel, with all their dependencies. About the year 1394, Vladislaus Jagellon, king of Poland, confided to his brother Korybut, the government of Severia and of Czernichow; but Korybut, wishing to make himself independent of the grand duke of Lithuania, Vitold assembled an army, marched against him, gave him battle, routed him completely near Niedokodow, took possession of his states, made him prisoner with all his family, and sent him under a strong escort to Vilno; he then established starosties in this palatinate.
Subsequently, Korybut was restored to liberty by the intercession of the duke of Kazan; and obtained the castles of Bratslaw and Vinnista, in Volhynla, with all their dependencies. He then founded Zbaraz and Visnioviatz, whence the powerful families of princes Zbaraski and Visniovietski derived their origin. To the latter of these families belonged Michael Korybut Wisniowiecki, (pronounced Visniovietski) elected king of Poland, before Sobieski. These families have been long extinct. Towards the close of the reign of Casimir the Jagellon, in 1490, the dukes who governed Severia repaired to Vilno, to do homage to the king of Poland; but as one of the servants of the castle, in opening the gate, accidentally broke the finger of one of these dukes, this exasperated them so much that, without delay, they quitted Vilno, and threw themselves into the arms of Russia; becoming subject to that power, till the year 1684, when the victories of the Poles over the Czar Michael Federovitch, brought about the glorious peace of Wiazma. By the treaty then made, Smolensk, Severia, and Tchernigovia reverted to the power of the mother country, and were included in the palatinate of Czernichow, divided into three districts by the decision of the diet of 1635. They again, by the truce of Andruszow, fell, together with all the Transdnieperian territory, into the power of Russia.
The principal towns and boroughs of the ancient palatinate of Czernichow are: — Czernihow, a flourishing town upon the Desna, at the present day chief town of the government of the same name in Russia. — Novogrod Sieverski, formerly the residence of the dukes.
now the chief town of the district. — Bransk, a town memorable for the victory of the hetman Pac over the Russians. The illustrious Polish family of Tryzna were the possessors of estates here situated. — Konotop, memorable also for a celebrated victory gained by the Poles over the Russians in 1664. — Glinsk, anciently the property of the family of the princes Glinski, one of whose members betrayed his country, and delivered up to the Russians, the fortress of Smolensk in 1548. This traitor afterwards met with condign punishment; his eyes were put out by the czar, and he perished in a dungeon. This family is extinct. — Putywell, an ancient fortress, adjacent to an immense forest, scarcely inferior in extent to that of Bialovieza.
In concluding this short geographical view of the Ukraine, it may be interesting to give a description of its inhabitants, particularly those of Polish TJki-aine.