In October 1672 the Ottoman dragoman Panaioti congratulated the ' French arnbassadar in Istanbul on the fortunate conjuction that provided two great monarchs -Mehmed IV and Louis XIV- with their respective successes in Poland and in the Netherlands. Ct> Thanks to the novel written by Henryksienkiewicz (also author of Quo vadis), the history of the loss of Kam'janec'(Pol. Kamieniec Podolski) is well known to every Polish child. Unfortunately the later period was completely neglected and the stereotypes about the "barbarian night" survived· until today. The multiethnic and multireligious province of Podolia was the only part of the Polish-Lithuanian Comonwealth to fall under the direct rule of the Porte. It must be said that:after 20 years of wars and recent partition of the Ukraine between Paland and R!.!ssia in 1667 many Ukrainian Cossacks and peasants greeted the Ottomans with · hope.