The thesis is the first study in the Ukrainian historiography, in which the systematic research of historical songs and dumas in records of the pre-Soviet period in the context of the coverage of popular perception of the socio-political processes and armed struggle in the Hetmanate in the middle of the XVII – 60-ies of the XVIII century was conducted. For the first time, in the study of poetic folklore the Hetmanate was distinguished as a separate territorial segment; the periodization of events and phenomena of that time through the prism of Ukrainian poetic folklore in comparison with the current historiography has been clarified; it has been shown that many storylines of historical songs and dumas through the popular perception reproduce the multi-vector nature of the social and political life of Ukrainians; on the basis of these storylines, the opinion that the population of the Hetmanate developed in line with European tendencies and at the same time acquired many peculiar features due to the influence of the Cossacks and Chumaks as two specific national phenomena was justified.
It has been found that historical songs and dumas contain a number of alternative judgments, evaluations and characteristics concerning the events in the Hetmanate in the middle of the XVII – 60-ies of the XVIII century, if compared with the available research evaluations in historiography. In particular, this concerns the general periodization of the Hetmanate, the character of Khmelnychchyna. It is revealed that the reflection of events of Khmelnychchyna in historical songs and dumas has mostly profound and true roots.
It has been proved that in general in the historical songs and dumas there are the convincingly objective characteristics of the civil opposition in the Hetmanate after the death of B. Khmelnytsky and before the election of Hetman I. Mazepa. The extremely negative economic and political consequences of that time for Ukrainians were emotionally narrated. At the same time this period, defined in modern historiography as civil wars, is not distinguished in the general history of the region, and it has never been called the «Ruin», despite the existence of this title in the documents and its usage in the daily life of that time.
In the framework of the study in many aspects the subtext of the National Revolution was interpreted in a new way in the context of the confrontation between the two worlds – Orthodox and Muslim – through the prism of the people’s vision. In particular, the militant attitude of Ukrainians towards the aggressive policy of the Ottoman Empire against the population of the Hetmanate is clearly traced.
It was revealed that especially colourful are historical songs and dumas devoted to the struggle of the Hetmanate’s population for national-religious independence in the late XVII – 60-ies of the XVIII century. They are saturated with a large number of facts and descriptions of events that have actually occurred. They were dominated by storylines of allegiance to the Orthodox identity and the homeland in the fight against aggressive enemies, protests against social and national oppression. Sometimes there were the appeals to unite the forces of Ukrainians and Russians against the external enemy. However, there was also dissatisfaction with the policy of Moscow regarding the population of the region, especially with the brazen behaviour, the violence of the Tsar’s soldiers, and so on.
In the context of the socio-economic relations of the main characters in poetic folklore, the following statements have been substantiated: firstly, in the storylines the status of all the estates of society of that time – the prosperous Cossacks and gentry, ordinary Cossacks and peasantry, even townspeople and workers, beggars, elders, moneylenders, and tenants were covered. Among them Ukrainians, Jews, Russians, Poles, Turks, Tatars, Moldovans, and to a lesser extent – Swedes and Hungarians were depicted. Secondly, not only the types, but also the specific amount of obligations of individuals to the landowner and the state in general are accurately described.
It has been proved that the analysed historical songs and dumas are deeply realistic pieces of folk art. The realism, as a method of the true depiction of social life, is completely manifested in them. At the same time, in the second half of the XVII–XVIII century they were created primarily on the basis of «spontaneous» realism.
The materials of the thesis enable to form a more comprehensive vision of the history of this region, as well as the activities of its outstanding personalities.
