Flag with the coat of arms of Hetman Ivan Mazepa and the Starodub Colonel Mykhailo Myklashevskyi. 
1690-1696. 
Silk; needlework, painted decoration. 
Breadth: 176 cm; length: 264 cm; Stave: 263 cm. 
National Swedish Museums of Military History. Army Museum (Armemuseum), Swedish State Trophies Collection.

The flag has an interesting artistic composition and the traditional Cossack trapezoid shape. 

It is impressive with its compositional complexity and the exquisite elegance of its fine textiles and decorations. The flag has two sides. The dominant images on both sides are the traditional Cossack symbols - the Archangel Michael and the Holy Virgin. A small version of Moscow's two-headed eagle is depicted on both sides.The flag also has the coat arms of Hetman Ivan Mazepa and the Starodub Colonel Mykhailo Myklashevskyi. 

The obverse of the flag depicts the Archangel Michael with an inscription: 
" Михаил з мечем в помощь стоит Християном.
Побеждаты Христиан доспит Бусурма[ом].
Поразит, як поразил Беса, Бусурманы. 
В Тартар[і]е в Беса будет Бусурманам з Татари."

The caption above the image of the Archangel Michael sheds some light on the meaning of the inscription. It reads: Holy Archangel Michael the Warrior of the Heavenly Worriors. This reveals the role of Michael as the leader of the Heavenly Forces, the winner over everything evil (the devil, or Satan) who helps in the fight against the Muslims. It is pos- sible that the author used a play on words, since «Tataria» in Latin is «Tartarye,» and in Greek mythology Tartarus was the underground kingdom of the dead - the hell. 

In the corner of the flag is a two-headed eagle enclosed by the initials of the title of one of the co-regent Moscow tsar brothers Peter Alekseevich (Б. М. В. Г. Ц. И. К. П. А. В. В. М. ИБ. Р. С. - Божьей Милостью Великий Государь, Царь и Князь Пётр Алексеевич Всея Великие Малые и Белые России Самодержец). On the bottom is a noble insignias and the initials of one of the greatest Cossack ottomans, the Starodub Colonel Mykhailo Myklashevskyi (
(М. М. П. В. И. Ц. П. В. В. З. - Михайло Миклашевський Полковник Війська іх Царської Пресвітлоі Величності Війська Запорозького). Myklashevskyi financed the building of a temple of Saint George in the Vydubets Monastery, leaving a great legacy after his death. His portrait, a valuable artifact of the 18th century, is kept in the collection of the Ukrainian State Museum of Fine Arts.
 



The reverse of the flag depicts the Virgin Mary with an allegorical inscription: 
"Знамение не вполне луну турчин мает
Поражкою Христиан полнити желает
Полна ласк их Мати в луне когда стала
Недея турком разиты Христиан упала."
It can be interpreted that the crescent moon referred to in the insription is the symbol of the Ottoman Empire, whose servants strive to fill it with the defeated Christians and the mother of Christ filled with mercy appeared above the crescent moon and destroyed their evil aims. The reverse of the flag also shows the Russian two-headed eagle with initials of Tsar Ivan Alekseevich (Б. М. В. Г. Ц. И. К. І. А. В. В. М. ИБ. Р. С. - Божьей Милостью Великий Государь, Царь и Князь Иван Алексеевич Всея Великие Малые и Белые России Самодержец) as well as a medallion with the coat of arms of the hetman of the Zaporozhian Host, Ivan Mazepa, surrounded by the initials of his title (І. М. Г. В. И. Ц. П. В. З. - Іван Мазепа Гетьман Війська Іх Царського Пресвітлоі Величності Запорозького). On the perimeter of the flag is a golden inscription, only fragments of which have survived.The text of this inscription requires further research. The flagstaff is decorated with floral patterns.

The emblems of the guardians of Ukraine and the Zaporozhian Host (Saint Michael and the Virgin Mary) are dominant in the flag's symbolism. The tsar's two-headed eagles indicate the dependence of the Hetman State on Russia. The presence of the coat of arms of Hetman Ivan Mazepa and Colonel Mykhailo Myklashevskyi can be explained by their leadership at the time. Thus the coat of arms of the Starodub Colonel can indicate membership in a certain regiment and informs who paid for the flag, and the hetman's coat of arms indicates the subordination of the Starodub regiment to the hetman. 

The attributes of the coat of arms of the Starodub Colonel Mykhailo Myklashevskyi, along with the correct decipherment of the initials of the Russian tsars, help date the design of the flag as being between 1690 and 1696. Mykhailo Myklashevskyi was the Starodub Colonel from 1689 to 1706, and Ivan Alekseevich was the tsar (along with Peter Alekseevich) until 1696, when he passed away. 

The flag was obtained in 1706 by the Swedes at Nesvizh, where the Cossack army took a loss and Colonel Myklashevskyi was killed (another Pereiaslav Colonel Myrovych was taken as a prisoner of war four miles from Nesvizh (near the town of Liakhovychi) and through Szczecin was sent to Sweden). The flag was lost to the Swedes during the war between Sweden and Russia, which had the Cossack army on its side.

Kyiv & Ukraine Private Tour Guides