From the Letters of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the Camp Diary of Prince Janusz Radzivill

The aim of the article is to publish in Ukrainian the universals and letters of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, fi rst published in Polish in the recently published fundamental camp diary of Prince Janusz Radziwill. The monument is important because it scrupulously included all the important information about the life of the military camp, fi rst of all the movement of troops, the arrival of reinforcements, the sending of reconnaissance detachments, work to strengthen the camp, the description of the battle, etc. The appendices to the article contain some excerpts from documents that mention the undiscovered letters of B. Khmelnytsky, briefl y inform about their content, as well as an unknown letter from Chernihiv Colonel Martin Nebaba. The methodological basis of the research is the principles of historicism and objectivity, both general and special historical methods are used, fi rst of all historical-descriptive and historical-chronological. Scientifi c novelty. The article is based mainly on archival documents contained in the unique camp (offi ce) diary of the Polish Lithuanian Hetman Prince Janusz Radziwill. The diary is kept mainly in Polish Archives and is almost inaccessible to Ukrainian researchers. An obstacle is the fact that his documents, written in Old Polish, are generously sprinkled with Latinism. Here they are published for the fi rst time in Ukrainian translation, so they become more accessible to Ukrainian scholars. Conclusions: Thanks to the letters published below it is possible to get a fuller picture of the diplomatic activities of the Hetmanate, Bohdan Khmelnytsky's attempts to play on the Polish-Lithuanian controversy, which to some extent was achieved, the course of hostilities, the situation in the insurgent camp. Prospects for further research: Bohdan Khmelnytsky's hitherto unknown letters translated into Ukrainian shed light on the diffi cult diplomatic struggle waged by the Ukraine-Hetmanate at that time. Also, these letters will complement the collection of documents of B. Khmelnytsky, which is mainly published within the series «Ukrainian Diplomat of the 15–17 centuries» that is a priority task of the Institute of Ukrainian Archaeography and Source Studies of Hrushevsky National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.