FEDIR DANYLOVYCH OF OSTROH: RUS’ DUKE, DESCENDANT OF THE ROMANOVYCHI DYNASTY AND HUSSIAN HETMAN IN THE CZECH

Abstract

The article considers the participation of duke Fedir Danylovych of Ostroh in the vortex of the Hussite Wars. It is noted that this issue remains poorly studied and debatable, and there is no clear answer as to whether Fedir Danylovych was mentioned in the sources of the time as «Friedrich von Ostrog». It is taken into account that such an important stage of the duke, as his participation in the events of the Hussite Wars, is often underestimated and denied. However, assumptions were made and arguments were given that it was Fedir Danylovych who had every reason to fight on the side of the Hussites. The hypothesis was supported that the knight and politician, who was Fedir Danylovych, could indeed take part in the Hussite Wars, later managed to support Svidrigiello, and only after 1437, after his 70th birthday, accept the monk. Based on the analysis of the previous political activity of duke Fedir Ostrohsky, it is noted that on the eve of the events in the Czech, the duke most likely participated in the Rus’ delegation to the XVI Ecumenical Council of Konstanz in 1414-1418th relied precisely on the dynastic tradition of sovereign statehood, the bearer of which he was as a descendant of Monomahovychi-Romanovychi. It is taken into account that the Czech economic, cultural, and political contacts with Rus’ began long before the Hussite Wars. Examples of such Rus’-Czech relations are given, and what parallels and bases they had for a new round of communication. The course of Fedir Danylovych's participation in the campaigns and battles of the Hussite times in the Czech and Slovakia is described. Attention is drawn to the debatable aspect of the prince's possible allied relations with the Hungarian King Sigismund I of Luxembourg, the main opponent of the Hussites. It has been suggested that such relations may have been due to a meeting of the parties to the Bratislava conflict in April 1429 and an international congress of rulers in Lutsk in 1429, at which Sigismund could decide on the coronation of Vytautas and the establishment of the Kingdom of Lithuania. It is stated that such an eventful course could be of interest to the Ostroh duke, who sought to expand and strengthen his ancestral heritage. The assumption that Fedir Danylovych served only the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło all his life was rejected. It is concluded that one of the main reasons for duke Fedir Danylovych's participation in the Hussite Wars was that he was looking for ways to restore his own rights to hereditary possessions. It was emphasized that as a man of war, it was natural for duke Ostroh to fight alongside the Hussites almost to the end of his life.