Poltava History

How old is Poltava ?

Until recent decades, we dated the Poltava origins back to Ltava (Old Russian annalistic name) which was mentioned in 12th century. But thanks to the research efforts of Kazan historian Fargata Gabdul-Hamitovitcha Nurutdinova, who had preserved, and in 90ies of 20th century, introduced into a scientific circulation, some part of old Bulgarian chronicles, we have information now, that our city is much older. As stated by F. Nurutdinov, the historical narrative “Baradj dastany” (“Saga about Barage”, 15th cent.) by Vasyl Kush, denotes the settlement's establishing at the territory of present-day Poltava in the Sarmats -Alansky period. “Saga” narrates, that: In year 150 A.D. a tribe led by Bushlay arrived from Atil, Volga region. By order of Boris Agardh, the king of the Atil dynasty (150-189 A.D), Bushlay had conquered this land for Atil, where he established a first settlement on the banks of the river which later was named Bariskul (Vorskla) in honour of Bar's (panther) year, the present-day territory of Poltava. This settlement was named after him - Bushlay. But soon afterwards his opponents, presumably from local tribes killed him and devastated the newly built settlement. Those spared survivors from Bushlay's tribe buried their founder in the vicinity of the settlement's ruins.

The left-bank Poltava belonged to Attila's brother Bleda, who had another name Bulut Shud, at the time of our lands being a part of Multi-tribal Hun Union. From 434, he together with his younger brother Attila had assumed power over Hun State. In the same year, Bleda established a city-fortress at the place of modern-day Poltava, where Bushlay had once established his settlement and where the latter had been killed. But as it is known Bleda had not survived long. In 445 A.D he was assassinated by his brother, who assumed absolute control over feudal multi-tribal Hun union state in its early period. The stronghold build by Bleda and whose name was Baltavar was completely destroyed.

From the first quarter of a VII century the ancient Bulgarian chronicles made mention of Baltavar as the headquarters of the elder brother of Bulgarian grand duke Alburi, Kurbat (Kubrat, in accordance with Byzantine's sources), who later on became the khan then kahan (king, emperor) of the Great Bulgaria.

In Gazi-Barage's chronicle (“Gazi-Barage tarichi” 1229-1246), we read the entry, written before 618. It is not unlikely that an error had occurred in translation of the chronicle from Old Bulgarian language-tyurki into Russian language, and this date has to be considered as year 619. Here we read:,, Elder son of Alburi – Kurbat, wandered at that time between samansky (polyansky. Annotated here and in the text below) aul (a kind of fortified village) Ascal (later Kiev) along Bur-Chai (Dnepr) and aul Har'ka (later Kharkov) to Axa and he had Baltavar as headquarters (present-day Poltava) (Bahshy Iman. Geahfar tarikhi. Book of Bulgarian chronicles. Year 1680. Orenburg: under the editorship of bulletin “Bulgaria”, 1993. vol. I – Pg.16). Probably Kubrat got attracted by the very advantageous strategic location, as well as by the picturesque surroundings – hills, forests, and rivers; where since olden times, not far away, some of Vorskla's tributaries had been running and flowing into the river, and which were later known by their modern names, - Ltava (or Ltavka), Poltavka (Tarapun'ka, Rud'ka), Kamyshovka with its tributary Cherna,Rogizna and several nameless streams.

The Ruler of Great Bulgaria, more than once visited his favourite headquarters Baltavar, riding from the other ones, called Khorisdan or Bativil (presently Putivl'), which was a very important trade center of a land trade between the East, the West, the South and among Northlands, at that time. When Kubrat was on his way from Baltavar, riding farther, towards the South of his land, “one-day” distance (one-day journey by horse, according to modern metric measurement system, was equal to from 50 up to 75 km.), he came to uncle Organa's grave to pay his homage.

During his lifetime, Kubrat had divided Great Bulgaria by lots among his sons. He gave to his youngest beloved son Katrag (or Atryach-Katrag, Kotrag), the left-bank Dnepr, most likely from river Sula to Khortitsa, where one of Kubrat's custom house had been stationed. The Kubrat's headquarters Baltavar was at the center of this lot, which had once belonged to Kubrat in his youth. Some distance away, at a safe spot surrounded by marshland, or maybe with woods nearby, Katrag had buried his father in such a way that the enemies couldn't find the grave. It is known, that Kubrat died at the time of khazars starting an assault against Great Bulgaria.

Baltavar has preserved its name in Vorskla region for quite a long time, which continued to exist at the time of pechenegs seizing the territory, then torkams (Oguz people) and especially during Polovets men's lengthy stay in our lands. In 11-12th centuries, Baltavar was the center of one of prince's lots of Polovets khans, and was vassal territory of Chernay Bulgaria (Chernigov princes), and of Volzhskaya Bulgaria as well.

In 1974 Poltava grandly celebrated its 800th anniversary, making reference to its mentioning in Old Russian Ipatiev Chronicle in 12th century, by the name Ltava. By extensively advertising this event, we were so sure of our correctness, as it happens so often, that even somebody laughed at scholars from Diaspora, thanks to whom whole Diaspora celebrated the Poltava's anniversary exactly in 1973.

The time slipped by. We realized that we had been wrong. But someone persistently keeps repeating, that Poltava was firstly mentioned in 1174. Even in our encyclopedia “Poltava” (Ukrainian Encyclopedia. 1992) a particular date had been already “corrected” in one place to 1174, in other to 1171. So, why all this dating controversy? How to date correctly the first mentioning about our city by the name Ltava?

As we know, Ipatiev Chronicle contains a first mentioning about Ltava, according to Byzantine calendar from the time when God had created the Universe around the year 6682. The current document written in Old Bulgarian (which we also call a Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic) says: (Here, I try to convey the essence of this document in plain English) At that year, Polovets hordes began to play some dirty tricks on Russia.

Glorified in a great literary work, “The Lay of the Warfare waged by Igor Sviatoslavich”, Igor Sviatoslavich, (the son of Sviatoslav Olgovich, the prince of Chernigov), from 1198 the prince of Novhorod-Siversky and Chernihiv, assembled the troops and set off for Vorskla. Rusich men (Russian people) captured a nomad spy, interrogated him and found out that Polovets khans Kobyak and Konchak had gone to Pereiaslav with their hordes. Igor having heard the news crossed Vorskla near Ltava and gave chase to Polovets men, ran them down near Pereiaslav, where a great battle took place. An Old Russian chronicler said, a lot of enemies had been slaughtered, taken as prisoners, the rest escaped.

In Russian translation it sounds like this: That year, on Petrov's day, Igor Sviatoslavich assembled his troops and went to the field over Vorskol (river) and met Polovets hordes, who had been waiting there for a prisoner for interrogation. He captured them (a convict told him that khans Kobyak and Konchak had gone to Pereiaslav with their hordes). Then, making use of findings, Igor marched off against Polovets army, crossed over Vorskol, near Ltava (town), on his way to Pereiaslav, and his troops encountered Polovets forces. But Polovets troops, by their size were no match against Igor and stood no chance. And turned they round and fled they, abandoning their booty. Polovets warriors had been pillaging near Serebryany(town) and Baruch. Igor's wife however, overtook them, slaughtered some of them, and captured the rest; such was God's generosity towards Christians on a saint prophet Elias' day. (Russian Chronicles. Dnepr, 1989.- Pg 307).

It is unclear, why Igor Sviatoslavich, who himself was Polovets by three-quarters (his mother and grandmother-his father's mother- were Polovets) and who was friends to them rather than enemy, started advancing against them and fighting them near Pereiaslav nevertheless. Most likely, Kobyak and Konchak, two vassals of the khan of Volzhskaya Bulgaria, against their suzerain's wish, had assaulted the Pereiaslav princedom, thus ruining his alliance with polovets prince. It might be possible, that the khan of Bulgaria personally informed Igor about Polovets outrage and asked him to “settle” the matter, in order to avoid the conflict with Kievskaya Rus' princes.

An Old-Russian chronicle recorded this event, without providing any accurate explanation. And how one has to deal with the date 6682? The Byzantine year-count system from the time of world creation, used by Byzantine Empire for quite a long time, was for 5508 years older than modern calendar which dates from A.D. period. At the end of 10th century, during the rule of Great prince of Kiev Vladimir, Kievskaya Rus' had adopted Christianity along with Byzantine calendar dating from world creation. This calendar was in use in Ukrainian lands until Lublin Union 1569, when we were submitted to the power of Rzeczpospolita, which applied a new calendar.

When Ukraine got annexed to Muscovy, after Liberation War under the command of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the old calendar was once again introduced into Ukraine, because Muscovy still used it a long time. It was for Peter I, who from 1st January 7208 (old calendar), according to new one - 1st January 1700, had adopted the new calendar throughout Russia (which had already been widely used among many countries) and set the first of January as the year's starting point. Before the adoption of Christianity in Russia, each year started on March, but with the adoption of Byzantine calendar, the people began to use September as the beginning of year.

Some chroniclers considered Slavonic year to be older than Byzantine one, because it started on March, and half a year elapsed till September. Others were of quite the contrary opinion, assuming that Byzantine year started on September, half a year earlier than Slavonic year. It explains why chroniclers were messed up with dates. This makes it difficult to convert dates from old calendar (Creation of the world) to new one (A.D.). To facilitate the conversion, scholars have invented special rules and named the old calendar – Old Russian March calendar (when year starts on March, half a year earlier than Byzantine year) - ultra- March. As to Byzantine year they called it - September year (when year starts on September), and there was junior Slavonic year – March count, when the year starts on March, but half a year later than Byzantine year. The difference between Slavonic March and Slavonic ultra-March is one year, and between each of them and Byzantine - half a year accordingly.

Depending on the count system a chronicler used, when making date conversions from old calendar into new one, we discard in different months the different quantity of years. Well, with March count, when an event dates on January-February, 5507 years are discarded from the date of World creation. With September count, with events happening on September-December, 5509 years go discarded, and with ultra-March count, the same quantity of years in all months is discarded with an exception of January-February. In other cases, with any count systems, we have to discard 5508 years. What is more to say, we need to have a good knowledge database on chronology, which studies different count systems and methods of their conversion. Unfortunately, we are not good at that.

When determining a date of the first mentioning of Ltava-Poltava in Ipatiev Chronicles, our scholars (with us, Poltavites) have made converting based on Byzantine (September calendar) and Old Russian (March calendar), (by the way, some of the pre-revolutionary scholar had committed this mistake as well). Thus, by subtracting 5508 from 6682, we got 1174 year, according to modern system of chronology. In 12th century, ultra-March calendar had been used by most scholars. Those events, mentioning Ltava in Old Russian Chronicles, had been dated according to this Old Slavonic calendar. That is why we have to discard 5509 years from the World Creation date. Therefore, it is correct to date Igor Sviatoslavich's crusade and first Old Russian written mentioning of Ltava, to year 1173.

Concerning the date and the month, which are regarded as the “birth date” of Ltava, according to Old Russian Chronicle, we had rightly figured them out. The chronicle says that Igor Sviatoslavich together with his wife went cruising on Peter's day. And this day is a religious holiday of Peter and Pavel. It is celebrated by Orthodox Church on June 29, according to Julian calendar, which had been in existence in Russian Empire and in Ukraine till February 1918, or on July 12 - according to modern Gregorian calendar.

Hence, Ipatiev Chronicles make mention of Ltava in June 29, 1173, according to Julian calendar. But lately, Old Bulgarian historical records were introduced into scientific usage, which claim that Potava is considerably older. The first mentioning of a settlement on its territory dates back to around year 150 A.D., then to 5th century A.D., and by 7th till 12th century inclusive, Old Bulgarian chronicles named the town here Baltavar. By the name “Ltava” it is mentioned in Ipatiev Chronicles, only in 12th century, what receives support from the numerous works of pre-revolutionary and soviet authors. And almost all of them interpret the date of 6682 year from the time of World Creation in conversion to modern A.D. calendar, as the year 1174.

Moreover, when quoting, they paraphrase an annalistic text. In the following works: “Memo book about Poltava province for 1865” by Borodyans'ky P.I, “Memoirs about Poltava and its monuments” by Bunevich V.O, “Eparchy of Poltava in its past and present” by Granovsky O.A and in others works as well; we see the authors writing that: Poltava is firstly mentioned by Old Russian Chronicle as an inhabited settlement by the name “Ltava”, near which, on the bank of Vorskla river, the prince Igor Sviatoslavich Siversky had defeated Polovets troops and forced them to retreat. This is a wrong statement, pre-revolutionary authors made one after another, with soviet historians after them, that Igor had defeated Polovets army near Ltava-Poltava

Many authors state, that Poltava was a boundary locality of Pereiaslav princedom in old times, repeating a traditional assertion of Old Russian Chronicles that from 11th and almost till 15th century, the land was under continual plundering raids from Polovets troops, mongols and other enemies: though, during several centuries, especially in 11-12th century, the land had troubles caused by Pereiaslav and Kiev princes. One of the many historians, I.F Pavlovsky, the profound researcher of Poltava's antiquity, insisted that at the end of 12th century, Vorskla River was flowing between Polovets steppes, and Posul'ie stretching to the head water of river Sula, marked the Russian boundary region on it.

As to the Poltava name's origin, some people derived the name from Ltava River, because settlement was along Ltava. M.Arandarenko, the historian of 19th century, considered that first settlement had been in Oltava hole, along which a small rivulet was flowing. Because from the hole's name, in his opinion, the settlement along Oltava had gotten name, and from this designation's “abridgement”, the name “Poltava” appeared and rivulet was named Poltavka. Others considered and tried to explain the name Poltava referring to Slavonic root “pp'll'tt'”,”pp'lot'” (in Russian “wicker fence”,” wood”,” barrier”). An opinion about Scythian-Sarmatian roots in Poltava name was also expressed. In North-Caucasian and in many Turkic ethnologies, the words “ol”, “ola”, “ul”, “ula” mean “settlement”,”town”; and word “tavi” in Ossetic and Georgian language, has the meaning – “river loop”,” peak”,” steep bank”.

We may agree that “Ltava” is derived from “Oltavy” or “Ultavy”. The name, given to the city by Iranian tribes, could have existed concurrently with Turkic versions. But name “Baltavar” makes us think about possibility of “Ltava” being abridged version of “Baltavar”. Especially since Old Bulgarian consonant “b” in many old tribes was spelled as “p”, Khozarsky and Hebrew written records denoted it by one symbol. Just for an instance: both old-days and modern-days Bulgarians say “balto”. Our Ukrainian farmers till recently were saying “palto”, and nowadays we all say “pal'to”. That clearly shows us, how Bulgarian “b” was assimilated into Ukrainian “p”. The name “Baltavar” had lost its last letter “r” with time and was transformed into “Poltava”. Especially because, we find in the records for 17th century the city name in three versions – Platava, Plotava, Paltava.

The modern city name had already been known in 14th century for certain. At the time of rulership of Vitovt, Lithuanian prince, the city was being rebuilt into boundary fortress (after pogrom by khan Batu's hordes in 1239). Destroyed by Timur-Kutluy-Edigey's hordes in 1399, after Vitovt's defeat in a battle with Golden Horde's warriors near Vorskla, the city had been given to one of the battle's hero (from Tokhtamysh army) – Mansur-Kiyat, Tatar prince, who went into active service to Great Lithuanian prince and was awarded with an estate.

In 1430, this estate was granted to his son – Lexada Mansurksanovich (Lexy), the Tatar morza. The Lithuanian documents of that time say that in 1430, Lexada Mansurksanovich had received Poltava with Glinsk and Glinitsa from Great prince Vitovt. Glinsk is a village in Romensky region of Sumskaya oblast, and Glinitsa is considered to be the old name of Oposhnya, now urban village in Zin'kov region of Poltava oblast. It is claimed in the document that Lexada, already baptized, took the name Alexander, and from town Glinsk he took a family name Glinsky, then became a prince, progenitor of noble and wealthy family of princes Glinsky. He then “pulled down” Poltava, Glinsk and Glinitsa, that is he had built new city-fortresses at the place of old settlements.

*V.N. Zhuk “From hoary antiquity. Studies of Ukrainian and Poltava history (7th century B.C.- 16th century A.D)”