0 listach Bohdana Chmielnickiego.

Abstract

The study deals with several hundred letters of Bohdan Chmielnicki from the years
1648-1657. They come from the most active period of the Hetman of the Zaporozhye army
and they both testify to his excellent diplomatic sense as the chief of Zaporozhye, and they are
a source enabling researchers to reconstruct his Outlook on life, system of values, manner of
exercising power and conducting foreign atfairs.
The preserved letters are in Polish, Russian and Latin. The exchange with Polish officials
was conducted exclusively in Polish, which clearly indicates the Cossack s close links with
Polish culture. Although the letters are not markedly artistic in their style, they expose
Chmielnicki as the author conversant with the convention of ars epistolandi. Thus paradoxically,
the Polish language of majority of the great chief s letters allows for their author s inclusion
in the group of Old Polish authors.