Mazeppa, Ivan

Ivan (1644-1709), a Cossack chief. He was by birth a Pole. He belonged to a noble but poor family, and was brought up a page at the court of John Casimir, king of Poland. When a young man he was detected in an intrigue with a Polish lady of high rank. Her husband by way of revenge bound Mazeppa to the back of a wild horse from the Ukraine. The horse was turned loose to gallop away to his native haunts. Mazeppa was released by some Cossack peasants. He remained among them and became a hetman or chief. He enjoyed the favor of Peter the Great, who made him prince of Ukraine. Desiring next to become independent, he conspired first with the king of Poland, then with Charles XII, the Madman of the North. On the downfall of the latter Mazeppa took poison. He is the hero of Byron's poem, Mazeppa.