Mace (Bulava) inherited by Pylyp Orlyk from Hetman Ivan Mazepa, according to legend. 
Iron, silver plate, gilding.
Length, 62 cm.

The Department of Rarities in the Municipal library of the city of Linkoping {the administrative center of Ostergotland County, located in southern Sweden) is the keeper of an unusual artifact - a mace (bulava) given to the library by Professor Samuel Gustaf Harlingson (1740-1810) in 1784. It is oriental in appearance and is made of black metal and decorated with embellishments, embossments and tracery, as well as gilt and silver plate. Research shows that it comes from either Turkey or Eastern Europe and dates from the end of the 16th to the beginning of the 17th centuries. 

Many historians have investigated the connection of this unique item from the district kunstkamera (cabinet of curiosities) with Cossack traditions. Bohdan Kentrzhynskyi, a Ukrainian historian who lived in Sweden, wrote, in his fundamental work «Mazepa» (Stockholm, 1962), that this bulava belonged to Pylyp Orlyk. Kentrzhynskyi included a photograph of the bulava in his book, with the commentary: «According to tradition this hetman bulava with ornaments, gild and silver plate belonged to the successor of Mazepa, Pylyp Orlyk, who lived in Sweden in 1715-1720. (Linkoping Diocesan Library).»

Kentrzhynskyi was not the first to make such an assumption. The first mention that the bulava belonged to Charles Xll's ally is reported in 1918 by H. M. Stenbok in «Strovtag i Linkopings stiftsbibliotek» (Rambles in the Linkoping Diocese Library). According to Stenbok, the hypothesis that the bulava had belonged to Mazepa and that his successor pawned it in Kristianstad, on the way to Stockholm, was made by Captain M. Schureer v. Valdheim. Unfortunately, attempts to determine who the captain was and why he said this were unsuccessful. Despite the fact that many don't believe the story, there are some interesting historical details that make it attractive. In particular, in the second paragraph of «Humble memorial of the Zaporozhian Host to the Holy King's Majesty of Sweden,» the Cossack high-ranking officers demanded that Voinarovskyi return hetman insignias. Voinarovskyi replied that there were only two bulavas left from all the hetman insigni- as, one belonging to Khemlnytskyi and the other purchased, and both of them had been given to the king. Later in the documents concerning Mazepa's death, Voinarovskyi mentions the two bulavas again, recognizing them as part of the army treasures that were being demanded by the high-ranking Cossack officers. It seems likely that both bulavas were given to Pylyp Orlyk when he became hetman of Ukraine. 

The insignias are also referenced in later documents relative to Orlyk's stay in Sweden. Rapid inflation and increasing taxes, caused by Charles Xll's non-stop military campaigns, forced the poor hetman to pawn the rank insignias to Swedish merchants in Kristianstad, often the lot of the impoverished and unfortunate Ukrainian immigrants in Sweden. Orlyk's pawn documents show that the two bulavas were pawned to the merchant Conrad Campf for 200 Swedish thalers, which would have been spent on the trip from Kristianstad to Stockholm. That both bulavas are mentioned in this document is noteworthy. Unfortunately, there are no further traces of the hetman rank insignias. However, the facts clearly point researchers to Sweden, where the last evidence of the bulavas is found. The century-long investigation into the «remarkable Linkoping bulava» and its Cossack hetman orgins means much to any Ukrainian patriot and still remains open.