Mazeppa’s Namesake Known to Few

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Mazeppa, the town in the valley on the Zumbro River, Wabasha County, founded in 1855, was named after Ivan Mazepa, a Ukrainian Cossack chief of the seventeenth-eighteenth century.

Ivan Mazepa was the subject of an epic poem by Lord Byron which has become legendary.

Ivan Mazepa was a Ukrainian Cossack Hetman, or Leader, in those early days of battling national factions, both in the palaces and on the battlefield. The Great Northern War was fought 1700-1721.

Mazepa was known for his efforts, to bring his army to the assistance of King Carl XII, the King of the Swedes, who was about to do battle with Peter the Great’s large Russian army at Poltava.

In those days, the Ukrainians were no more fond of Russians then now. The influence of the Swedes was considerable, in that they were all over Eastern Europe, all the way to the Black Sea.

Unfortunately for Ivan, Peter the Great was victorious. The Swedes were overwhelmed at Poltava in 1709.

Ivan Mazepa was captured, tied to his horse, and his horse was set free in into the wilds, with the assumption that eventually Ivan would die on his horse after the horse died.

Such was nearly the case, but Ivan was saved from death when rescued by a beautiful maiden who found him still tied to his dead horse.

Ira Seeley was given the opportunity by Joseph Ford in naming the village and he chose his favorite poem “Mazep” written by Lord Byron.