Evidence of settlement in the area of present-day Baturyn dates back to the Neolithic era, with digging having also revealed Bronze Age and Scythian remains. According to some[which?] modern writers, the earliest fortress at Baturyn would have been created by the Grand Principality of Chernihiv in the 11th century. The contemporary name for the settlement, however, was first mentioned in the 1625, likely referring to the fortress of Stefan Batory (1533-1586, King of Poland, Prince of Transylvania, and Grand Duke of Lithuania), which was built and named in his honor. The area had been part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (in the Kijów Voivodeship of the Crown of Poland) since before the Union of Lublin of 1569. Control of the town was wrested away from the Commonwealth by Ukrainian forces during the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648-1657, when natives of Ruthenia gained some degree of autonomy under Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1595-1657) and his Cossack state. In 1648 Baturyn was transformed into a Cossack regional center (sotnia), first hosting the Starodub Cossack Regiment and then the Nizhyn Regiment.