Transfer of Some Manuscripts from Ardabil, Ahiska, Bayezid and Erzurum to St. Petersburg in 1826-1829
Serdar Oğuzhan ÇaycıoğluWhile Russia seized Revan, Nakhchivan, Karabakh, Urmia and Ardabil between 1826-1828, they collected some manuscripts from the Iranian libraries and transferred them to Tbilisi and then to St. Petersburg. Some of those manuscripts were presented to the Czar of Russia in 1829 by Feth Ali Shah. During the War of 1828-1829 with the Ottomans, the Russians also collected some manuscripts from Turkish cities such as Ahiska, Erzurum and Bayezid. So far, there has been no study dealing with the fate of these manuscripts that were gathered from the aforementioned regions and then taken to St. Petersburg. There are catalogues of oriental manuscripts, but they do not contain any relevant information about these manuscripts. In other words, it does not provide information about who collected these manuscripts and how they changed hands. In this study, we will discuss the manuscripts that Russia collected from the Turkish-Islamic regions in the 1826-1829 War and brought to their capital based on Russian archive sources. Also information will be given on the current state of the manuscripts.
1826-1829’da Erdebil, Ahıska, Bayezid ve Erzurum’da Bulunan Bazı Yazma Eserlerin St. Petersburg’a Nakli
Serdar Oğuzhan ÇaycıoğluRusya, 1826-1828 yılları arasında Revan, Nahçıvan, Karabağ, Urmiye ve Erdebil’i ele geçirdi. Bu sırada İran kütüphanelerinde bulunan bazı yazma eserleri toplayarak önce Tiflis’e, oradan da St. Petersburg’a götürdü. Bazı yazmalar ise 1829’da Feth Ali Şah tarafından Rusya Çarı’na hediye edildi. Rusya, Osmanlı ile yaptığı 1828-1829 Harbi’nde de bu kez Ahıska, Erzurum ve Bayezid gibi Türk şehirlerinde topladığı bazı yazmaları aldı. Bugüne kadar zikredilen bölgelerden toplanıp St. Petersburg’a götürülen bu yazmaların akıbetine dair müstakil bir çalışma yapılmamıştır. Her ne kadar günümüzde Doğu yazmalarının katalogları mevcut ise de, bu eserler yazmaların serencamını ihtiva etmez. Yani yazmaların kimler tarafından toplanıp, nasıl el değiştirdiğine dair bilgi vermez. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmada, Rus arşiv kaynaklarına istinaden Rusya’nın 1826-1829 Harplerinde Türk-İslam bölgelerinden toplayarak o dönemdeki başkenti St. Petersburg’a götürdüğü yazmaların serüveni ele alınacak ve günümüzdeki durumlarıyla ilgili bilgi verilecektir.
While Russia seized Revan, Nakhchivan, Karabakh, Urmia and Ardabil between 1826- 1828, they collected some manuscripts from Iranian libraries and transferred them to Tbilisi and then to St. Petersburg. Some of those manuscripts were presented to the Czar of Russia in 1829 by Feth Ali Shah. During the War of 1828-1829 with the Ottomans, Russians also collected some manuscripts from Turkish cities such as Ahiska, Erzurum and Bayezid. So far, there has been no study dealing with the fate of these manuscripts that were gathered from the aforementioned regions and then taken to St. Petersburg. There are catalogues of oriental manuscripts, but they do not contain any relevant information about these manuscripts. In other words, it does not provide information about who collected these manuscripts and how they changed hands. In this study, we will discuss the manuscripts that Russia collected from the Turkish-Islamic regions in the 1826-1829 War and brought to their capital based on Russian archive sources. Also information will be given on the current state of manuscripts.
In the first part of this study, before dealing with those manuscripts, we give information about the manuscripts in Iran. The archive of the period indicates that there were many manuscripts at the Sheikh Safiyuddin Tomb in Ardabil. The archive records show that there were 582 Qur’an and Tafsir, six religious, 11 History, 19 divans, 91 kutub-i muteferrika and 15 books of unknown subject with a total of 724 manuscripts. When the Russian-Iranian War of 1826-1828 started, the Russians who occupied Iranian cities started to collect manuscripts they came cross. Prof. Senkovsky, who was an Orientalist expert in St. Petersburg, wrote a letter to the Chief of Staff to ensure that these works were identified and brought to the centre of the Russian empire. In his letter, Senkovsky stated that despite the darkness of ignorance, the most valuable Arabic, Persian and Armenian writings of the East were present in the libraries of Iranian cities such as Sardarabad, Revan, Nakhchivan, Tabriz, Isfahan, Tehran, Rashd, Mashhad, Merv and Herat. He stressed that Britains, Prussians and French were searching for such works in Istanbul, Damascus and Baghdad libraries through their envoys and agents in vain. In this letter, Senkovsky stress that these books should be confiscated and brought to St. Petersburg. He even wanted them to be considered as part of the war compensation demanded from Iran. In Senkovskiy’s opinion, the books would be brought to the Oriental Institute, thus creating an enormous collection of resources for Oriental studies in Russia.
Senkovsky’s letter was sent to A. S. Griboyedov, who was in the region for a diplomatic mission. After the talks between Russia and Iran failed, the war between the two countries started again. After the failure of this talk, the Russian army immediately moved forward and took over Urmia on 15th January of 1828. Despite a number of diplomatic obstructions by the British, the Russian forces entered Ardabil on the 25th January in 1828 and seized the manuscripts found in the tomb of Sheikh Safiyuddin, the ancestor of the Safavids, first to be sent to Tbilisi, then from there, to St. Petersburg. The mullahs, however, objected to the seizure of the manuscripts. Upon their objections, the Russian authorities promised that once the copies of manuscripts were made the original ones would be sent back to Ardabil. The high-level officials in St. Petersburg, on the other hand, demand that if the Iranian authorities insisted on the return of the books, the officials in charge of the manuscripts should give an appropriate excuse (for example, saying that it would take a long time to copy the books) and thus, preventing the return of these valuable works. Among those taken to St. Petersburg were seven cannons, a few rifles, the tent of Abbas Mirza and two paintings seized from the summer palace of Abbas Mirza in Ucan (now a city on the Armenian border), along with all the manuscripts in Ardabil.
Some of the manuscripts in Russia today consist of books given to Tsar Nikolai by Prince Husrev Mirza, who went to Russia to issue an apology after the murder of the Russian Ambassador Griboyedov in Tehran in 1829. Iranian ruler Feth Ali Shah, sent his grandson Husrev Mirza with valuable gifts and a crowded delegation to St. Petersburg in order to draw the curtain on this incident (the murder of Griboyedov) and to ease the tension between the two countries that could trigger a new war. The aforementioned manuscripts were brought to Russia and presented to the Imperial Palace at this time. This study identified the names of the manuscripts recorded by Orientalist Christian Martin von Frahn in the palace library on 19th October in 1829 in archival sources.
After making peace with Iran, the Russians entered the war with the Ottomans and pursued the manuscripts in the Turkish cities and castles they occupied in Eastern Anatolia during the 1828-1829 Ottoman-Russian War. At the beginning of the war, a total of 45 books on literature, history, geography and religion, including divan and dictionaries, were collected. Eight of the 45 manuscripts sent to St. Petersburg to be registered with the Palace Library were from the Bayezid library and one from Ahiska. The remaining 36 manuscripts were acquired from Dagestan and Erzurum, and in total 45 manuscripts were sent to the Russian Chief of Staff. The names of the manuscripts collected from Bayezid and Erzurum in 1829 were published in the 46th issue (1829) of Tiflisskiye Vedomosti, the official publication of Tbilisi Military Governorate. The names of these manuscripts are mentioned in this study.
According to another document held in the Russian State Archives of History (RGIA), it is understood that the Russians took some manuscripts collected from Ahiska to the library of I. Nikolai. According to the information given by Abbas Kulu Aga Bakihanov, who was an interpreter when the Russians entered Ahiska, at that time, there were 300 books and three Qur’an in the library in Ahiska. Therefore, based on archival documents, it is clear that the Russians collected numerous manuscripts from the cities in Caucasus, Iran and the Ottoman border between 1826-1829 and they have made a special effort to take them to St.Petersburg. Although the Russians declared that they would return the originals manuscripts after making copies of those that they had collected, especially from Iran, none of those works were returned. As a result of these Russian activities, Iran and Turkey were obliged to leave at least a certain portion of the wealth of their culture in Russia.
It is also important to highlight the role of Prof. Senkovsky in regard to these manuscripts since he played a major role in bringing these works to Russia by drawing attention to these Islamic manuscripts. In addition, during the campaigns of Russian armies in Caucasus, Iran and the Ottomans in 1828-1829, Senkovsky prepared pocket dictionaries to meet the foreign language needs of the soldiers. This shows that the Russian military operations in the Caucasus at the beginning of the XIX. century were carried out in liaison with the scientists working in the field of Orientalism. Senkovsky’s scientific activities have contributed significantly to the development of the so-called Orientalism or Orientalism in Russia. Thus, Russia has become quite rich among the countries that hold manuscripts belonging to the Islamic world.
Finally, it would be wise to provide some information about the libraries where these manuscripts are taken in Russia. Most of the manuscripts taken from Ardabil, Ahiska, Erzurum and Bayezid are preserved at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IVR RAN) in St Petersburg. However, it should be pointed out that this library can be accessed with special permission to work on Turkish-Islamic manuscripts which brings its own challenges. We have also cited the catalogues of the manuscripts that prepared at various times in the text. In addition to this, some manuscripts taken to Russia are also kept in the St. Petersburg State University Faculty of Oriental Studies’ Manuscripts Department and the National Library of Russia’ Manuscripts Department (RNB OR) as well as the Hermitage Museum. These manuscripts can be accessed from the catalogues of the relevant libraries.
