Mazeppa's Ride - Byron

 Salvete Omnes,

While in college I took an advance class in English late XVIII and XIX century literature - from William Blake to Kipling et al. 

Among many poems, novels, and other works of literature we studied there were poems of  George  Gordon, Lord Byron.

Byron wrote a long poem somewhat based on the life of  Ivan (John) Mazepa-Kolodynski, a nobleman of Kurcz coat of arms, and a real political leader, a hetman, of the Zaporozhian Cossacks of the so called 'Left-Bank Ukraine(semi-independent Russian territory on the left bank of the Dnieper River taken from Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the long war of 1653-1667). At first strong ally of the Russian tsar and Polish-Saxon king Augustus hetman Mazepa and his Cossacks switched sides, from Russian-Saxon to  Charles XII, King of Sweden,  during the Great Northern War. But upon the defeat of the Swedish-allied forces at Poltava (allied - Swedish-Polish-Cossack army was defeated  by tsar Piotr  I(Peter) of Russia) he withdrew his remaining Cossack forces into the Ottoman territory, where being a refugee from his land Cossack hetman Mazepa died at Bendery in the fall of 1709.
Byron took the story of the ride from some French publications, perhaps from Voltaire's History of Charles XII, King of Sweden, while Voltaire must have taken it from perhaps some French courtier who had been a courtier or soldier of our king John III Sobieski, and via Polish court had been acquainted with the Mazepa's tragic amorous story. The original story seem to have been  first described by Polish memoirist Jan Ch. Pasek in his memoir. 
The important aspect of the epic poem is the famous Mazeppa's ride -  on the back of the 'Tatar noble steed.' - as we call it a bachmat.

  the Mazepp'a Ride via Byron's own verse and artwork that came after the publication of the poem

one day soon we may read about the historic Mazepa's  ride as our XVII century Polish memoirist Jan Ch. Pasek described it.

Valete