Recent from talks
Description of Ukraine
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Description of Ukraine
The Description of Ukraine, in its original French title Description d'Ukranie (Ukrainian: «Опис України», romanized: Opys Ukrajiny), is a book written by the French engineer and military cartographer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan, who served the Polish king Władysław IV Vasa from the early 1630s to 1648.
The original 1651 edition of the book covered the city of Kiev, the Cossacks (in two chapters), Ukraine's nobility and its peasants, other cities and environs of the region, the peninsula of Crimea and the Crimean Tatars. Also depicted were the local customs, medicine, and fauna The revised and expanded edition of 1660 additionally covered the climate of Ukraine and the Easter celebrations in the region. Also included was an expanded description of Poland, with an emphasis on the Polish nobility and the Polish military equipment. The revised edition was dedicated to John II Casimir Vasa. At least 26 editions of the book (in at least nine different languages) were published from 1651 to 1981.
The importance of this work lies in the discovery of Ukrainian lands, their identity and history for science and the general public in Europe. For the first time, Guillaume de Beauplan described Ukrainian life, as well as the life of the ordinary population of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Beauplan presented the Cossacks as a phenomenon of the revival of chivalry in the Ukrainian lands, in contrast to the Polish propaganda of the time.
Starting a new service in the southeastern provinces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a military engineer, Beauplan was engaged in the construction and reconstruction of fortresses and fortifications, the foundation of new cities, and constantly studied and mapped the surrounding areas. A successful start and a number of merits in the service of the Polish king could not go unnoticed. On 8 March 1637, Beauplan became a courtier of King Władysław IV. On 10 March 1645, he received the royal privilege to publish his maps, and before that he was promoted to the rank of captain of the artillery.
Beauplan's first published work, in which he described his research in the southeastern provinces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and his observations of their inhabitants, the Cossacks and Crimean Tatars, had a rather misleading title:: «Description des contrés du Royaume de Pologne» (Description of the Kingdom of Poland; Rouen 1651). Despite the small circulation limited by the circumstances, the book was a success. Especially because the book appeared shortly after the famous Battle of Berestechko (28 June – 10 July 1651), in which Polish troops defeated their Cossack and Tatar opponents.
Essar & Pernal (1990) found that the original 1651 edition had two parts: introductory materials and Ukraine. Part 2 about Ukraine discussed the following topics: Kiev, the Cossacks (in two chapters), nobles, peasants, other cities and environs, Crimea and the Crimean Tatars, customs, medicine, fauna, and a conclusion. The revised and expanded edition of 1660 had three parts: part 1 had slightly different introductory materials (8 pages); part 2 was about Ukraine (88.5 pages), with added chapters about climate and Easter celebrations; and a new part 3 was added about Poland (24.5 pages, about royal institutions; the Polish nobility; military equipment; banquets; and a conclusion).
The success of the first edition of the Description and the constant unrest in the Ukrainian lands encouraged Beauplan and his publisher Jacques Caillou to publish a new second, revised edition of the work in 1660 with an expanded text and the renamed title Description d'Ukranie. This edition actually contains the full text of the 1651 edition, a dedication to king John II Casimir Vasa and a 'Word to the Reader' (Description 1651, pp. III-VII). The text of the 1660 edition was repeated in the version published in Rouen in 1661. The book became the best-known and most frequently re-edited and translated 17th-century source that provided a geographical, economic, cultural, societal and demographic description of Ukraine. In the book, Ukraine was described as a territory between Muscovy and Transylvania. At least 26 editions in at least nine different languages were published from 1651 to 1981. It has seen ongoing prints ever since.
The text, published in 1651 and repeated by the Dutch cartographer and scientist Joan Blaeu in several editions of his excellent Atlas Maior, appeared in Latin (1662), French (1663 and 1667), Dutch (1664), and Spanish (1665, 1672). However, Blaeu's choice seems to be an exception to the rule, as all publishers and translators have favoured the 1660 version (the only deviation is a preprint of the French version of Blaeu's Atlas from 1663, which was published in 1967). In addition to the 17th-century editions of the Caius and the present translation, the 1660 text has been published in full or in fragments 48 times in French, English, German, Latin, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian.
Hub AI
Description of Ukraine AI simulator
(@Description of Ukraine_simulator)
Description of Ukraine
The Description of Ukraine, in its original French title Description d'Ukranie (Ukrainian: «Опис України», romanized: Opys Ukrajiny), is a book written by the French engineer and military cartographer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan, who served the Polish king Władysław IV Vasa from the early 1630s to 1648.
The original 1651 edition of the book covered the city of Kiev, the Cossacks (in two chapters), Ukraine's nobility and its peasants, other cities and environs of the region, the peninsula of Crimea and the Crimean Tatars. Also depicted were the local customs, medicine, and fauna The revised and expanded edition of 1660 additionally covered the climate of Ukraine and the Easter celebrations in the region. Also included was an expanded description of Poland, with an emphasis on the Polish nobility and the Polish military equipment. The revised edition was dedicated to John II Casimir Vasa. At least 26 editions of the book (in at least nine different languages) were published from 1651 to 1981.
The importance of this work lies in the discovery of Ukrainian lands, their identity and history for science and the general public in Europe. For the first time, Guillaume de Beauplan described Ukrainian life, as well as the life of the ordinary population of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Beauplan presented the Cossacks as a phenomenon of the revival of chivalry in the Ukrainian lands, in contrast to the Polish propaganda of the time.
Starting a new service in the southeastern provinces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a military engineer, Beauplan was engaged in the construction and reconstruction of fortresses and fortifications, the foundation of new cities, and constantly studied and mapped the surrounding areas. A successful start and a number of merits in the service of the Polish king could not go unnoticed. On 8 March 1637, Beauplan became a courtier of King Władysław IV. On 10 March 1645, he received the royal privilege to publish his maps, and before that he was promoted to the rank of captain of the artillery.
Beauplan's first published work, in which he described his research in the southeastern provinces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and his observations of their inhabitants, the Cossacks and Crimean Tatars, had a rather misleading title:: «Description des contrés du Royaume de Pologne» (Description of the Kingdom of Poland; Rouen 1651). Despite the small circulation limited by the circumstances, the book was a success. Especially because the book appeared shortly after the famous Battle of Berestechko (28 June – 10 July 1651), in which Polish troops defeated their Cossack and Tatar opponents.
Essar & Pernal (1990) found that the original 1651 edition had two parts: introductory materials and Ukraine. Part 2 about Ukraine discussed the following topics: Kiev, the Cossacks (in two chapters), nobles, peasants, other cities and environs, Crimea and the Crimean Tatars, customs, medicine, fauna, and a conclusion. The revised and expanded edition of 1660 had three parts: part 1 had slightly different introductory materials (8 pages); part 2 was about Ukraine (88.5 pages), with added chapters about climate and Easter celebrations; and a new part 3 was added about Poland (24.5 pages, about royal institutions; the Polish nobility; military equipment; banquets; and a conclusion).
The success of the first edition of the Description and the constant unrest in the Ukrainian lands encouraged Beauplan and his publisher Jacques Caillou to publish a new second, revised edition of the work in 1660 with an expanded text and the renamed title Description d'Ukranie. This edition actually contains the full text of the 1651 edition, a dedication to king John II Casimir Vasa and a 'Word to the Reader' (Description 1651, pp. III-VII). The text of the 1660 edition was repeated in the version published in Rouen in 1661. The book became the best-known and most frequently re-edited and translated 17th-century source that provided a geographical, economic, cultural, societal and demographic description of Ukraine. In the book, Ukraine was described as a territory between Muscovy and Transylvania. At least 26 editions in at least nine different languages were published from 1651 to 1981. It has seen ongoing prints ever since.
The text, published in 1651 and repeated by the Dutch cartographer and scientist Joan Blaeu in several editions of his excellent Atlas Maior, appeared in Latin (1662), French (1663 and 1667), Dutch (1664), and Spanish (1665, 1672). However, Blaeu's choice seems to be an exception to the rule, as all publishers and translators have favoured the 1660 version (the only deviation is a preprint of the French version of Blaeu's Atlas from 1663, which was published in 1967). In addition to the 17th-century editions of the Caius and the present translation, the 1660 text has been published in full or in fragments 48 times in French, English, German, Latin, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian.
Recent media