Lukian Kobylitsa

Born 1812 in the village of Putila, in present-day Chernovtsy Oblast; died Oct. 24, 1851, in Gura-Humorului, in the present-day district of Suceava in Rumania. Leader of an antifeudal peasant movement in Bukovina in the 1840’s. The son of a serf.

In 1843, Kobylitsa headed a movement of the peasants from 16 villages who refused to serve the feudal lords, drove away the landowners’ administration, and demanded the transfer of the serfs to the status of state peasants. The movement was suppressed by Austrian troops in the spring of 1844, and 220 of the participants were subjected to corporal punishments, with Kobylitsa being prosecuted. During the Revolution of 1848–49, the peasants of Bukovina elected him to the Austrian parliament, where he joined the deputies who opposed absolutism and favored the abolition of serfdom. After the complete defeat of the revolution, Kobylitsa organized an armed peasant detachment in Bukovina that fought against the landowners and the Austrian monarchy until the summer of 1849. In 1850 he was arrested and exiled.