Dmytro Vyshnevetsky was born into the powerful family of Ruthenian
magnate (?-1542) (part of
Gediminids bloodline and the youngest son of Michał Zbaraski) and Nastazja Olizarowicz (?-1536), daughter of . At first Dmytro Vyshnevetsky lived in the town of
Vyshnivets of the
Kremenets Powiat (
county). In 1550–1553, Vyshnevetsky became a
starosta of the
Cherkasy and the
Kaniv Powiats. Vyshnevetsky has been called the first Cossack
Hetman, although he is not mentioned with this title in the 16th-century sources. Dmytro
Baida Vyshnevetsky was an able leader, although somewhat of a reckless adventurer. He started organizing a
Cossack army in 1550 against the
Crimean Khanate. Displeased with the king
Sigismund II Augustus's policy of Catholization and centralization of power, he was ready to go over to the
Turks. However, he was appointed to fortify the island of
Mala Khortytsia on the
Dnipro beyond the rapids. According to Hrushevsky, Vyshnevetsky built the fortress out of his own pocket as both
Sigismund II Augustus and
Devlet I Giray refused to provide any assistance. Eventually he managed to develop it to the point that
khan Devlet I Giray could not take it, and he deflected the khan's efforts to
Russia. In 1556 in service to
Ivan the Terrible he helped lead two raids of Ukrainian Cossacks and Russians against the
Crimean Tatars around
Ochakiv. In 1558 he raided around
Perekop. In 1559 he raided down the
Donets and
Don. With the start of the
Livonian War, Ivan turned his attention west and Vyshnevetsky, returned to the Lithuanian service with a great number of his Adyghe warriors. His Pyatigorsky detachments became the major military force of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in centuries to come. In 1561, at the request of the Lithuanian prince, he went back to fortifying
Khortytsia. In 1563 he was involved in
Moldavian affairs, perhaps hoping to obtain the throne of
Moldavia, but
was defeated by the
Turks, taken prisoner, and tortured to death in
Constantinople. Vyshnevetsky's fortifications on Khortytsia, called sich, served as a prototype for later fortifications of the
Zaporizhian Sich. == In popular culture ==