WAS THE GALICIAN VOIVODE KOSNІATYN SIROSLAVYCH CON-NEC¬TED WITH THE EMERGENCE OF THE TOWN SNIATYN NAME?

Abstract

The article deals with the widespread in the Ukranian historiography thesis  about the dating the first written mention of the town of Sniatyn in 1158 as well as the origin of its name after its possible owner, boyar Kosnіatyn Siroslavych. This thesis was initiated by the Polish local historian Henryk Seidler in the 1930s and developed by Soviet historians and publicists and also Ukrainian diaspora local historians in the 1950s–1980s. The official celebrations of Sniatyn’s anniversaries: the 800^th anniversary in 1958, the 850^th anniversary in 2008, and the 860^th anniversary in 2018 also promoted the spreading of the mentioned thesis. Nowadays it’s supported by most contemporary Ukrainian historians and local historians.

All supporters of the dating of the first written mention of Snіatyn in 1158 and the origin of its denomination from the name of boyar Kosnіatyn Siroslavych argue that such information about the city can be found in the “Hіpatian Codex” under the year 1158. In fact, the information about the events of 1158 is broken down into two chronicle years in the “Hіpatian Codex” – 1157/1158 and 1158/1159. There are absolutely no mentions of Snіatyn. They are also absent in the describing of the events of 1158/1159, when the former prince of Zvenyhorod Ivan Rostyslavych (Berladnyk) attacked the southern borders of the Galician principality – the cities of Kuchelmyn and Ushytsіa. We can also clearly and unequivocally state that the name “Snіatyn”, or its approximate denomination, is not found in the early Rus’ian chronicles at all, and the first reliable mention of Sniatyn is found in the “Chronicle” of Janko from Czarnków under the year 1382. The above-outlined arguments cast doubt on the possible presence of Sniatyn in Kosnіatyn Siroslavych’s property or the origin of the name of this locality from the name of the Galician voivode. Kosnіatyn is mentioned on the pages of the chronicle four times – in 1157/1158, in 1159/1160, in 1169/1170, and in 1170/1171. Neither of these mentions  refers to Kosnіatyn’s possible presence in the Prut basin or hispossible possessions in this region. Thus, the chronicle data doesn’t give any reason to associate Kosnіatyn Siroslavych with modern Snіatyn. The above arguments allow to refute unequivocally both the dating of the first mention of Snіatyn in 1158 or in the 12^th century at all, as well as the possible affiliation of the town to Kosniatyn Siroslavych or the origin of the name of this locality from the name of the Galician voivode. Based on archaeological materials of the emergence of the settlement on the site of modern Snіatyn, it should be dated earlier. Instead, the existence of the city called Sniatyn can be asserted only from the end of the 14^th century.

Keywords: Kosnіatyn Siroslavych, Snіatyn, Pokuttіa, the Halych voivode.