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Georgian Relations with France during the reign of Wakhtang VI (1711–24)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

D. M. Lang
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Extract

Research undertaken recently at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has resulted in the discovery of a number of fresh documents which throw light on the relations between Georgia and France in the early eighteenth century, and in particular on the journey to Versailles of Sulkhan Saba Orbeliani. The objects of this mission were to secure French intervention in favour of King Wakhtang VI of K'art'li, since 1712 detained by the Persian Shah at Isfahan, and to arrange for the dispatch of French missionaries to Western Georgia, whence the Theatines had been obliged to withdraw towards the end of the seventeenth century.

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Articles
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Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 82 , Issue 3-4 , July 1950 , pp. 114 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1950

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References

page 114 note 1 The writer would like to express his thanks to the Director of the Archives of the French Foreign Ministry for the generous facilities extended to him in the course of his work there.

page 114 note 2 Tamarati, Michel: L'Eglise Géorgienne des origines jusqu'à nos jours, Rome, 1910, p. 560Google Scholar. Reference should also be made to the material published by Brosset, M.-F., Documents originaux sur les relations diplomatiques de la Géorgie avec la France, in Nouveau Journal Asiatique, 1832, vol. ixGoogle Scholar, with additions in vol. xiii, 1834, pp. 171–9.

page 114 note 3 Tamarati, p. 589. The genealogy of the Orbelianis is given by Brosset, , Histoire de la Géorgie, i, Additions, p. 350Google Scholar. Some material for Sulkhan Saba's life is provided by charters and documents printed in Georgian by Taqaishvili, E. in Sak'art'velos sidzveleni (Les Antiquités Géorgiennes), vol. ii, Tiflis, 1909Google Scholar, Nos. 111, 138, 139, 158, 167, 168, 177, 178, 180, and 281. See also Karst, J., Corpus Juris Ibero-Caucasici, fasc. 2, 1935, pp. 345–6Google Scholar. Sulkhan Saba's dictionary was edited and published by R. Erist'avi in 1884, and by I. Kipshidze and A. Shanidze in 1928. The Book of Wisdom and Lies, after the first version of 1859, was re-edited by P. Umikashvili in 1871, and by N. Mt'varelishvili in 1892. There is a Russian translation by A. Tsagareli, published in 1878, and an English one by Sir Oliver Wardrop (1894). In Professor M. Tseret'eli's German translation (Berlin, 1933), the title is rendered with perhaps greater literal accuracy as Die Weisheit der Lüge, or “The Wisdom of Lies”.

page 115 note 1 Minorsky, V., Tadhkirat al-Mulūk, London, 1943, pp. 18–19Google Scholar.

page 115 note 2 Tamarati, op. cit., p. 575.

page 115 note 3 Brosset, , Histoire de la Géorgie, ii, 1, pp. 87–95Google Scholar.

page 115 note 4 Karst, J., Le Code de Vakhtang VI (Corpus Juris Ibero-Caucasici), Strasbourg, 1934–1937Google Scholar.

page 115 note 5 Professor V. Minorsky, op. cit., p. 9, gives the date of Giorgi's death as 1118/1706, but this is doubtless a misprint, since the same authority writing in the E.I., article Tiflis, has 1709. The latter year is certainly correct; for one thing, the Georgian New Testament, printed at Tiflis in 1709, still refers to Wakhtang as governing on behalf of “the glorious and renowned King George”. Several other sources agree on the date 1709. (Peyssonel, , Essai sur les troubles actuels de Perse et de Géorgie, Paris, 1754, p. 52Google Scholar; FatherKrusinski, , History of the late revolutions of Persia, 2nd ed., London, 1740, vol. i, p. 183Google Scholar; A Chronicle of the Carmelites in Persia, London, 1939, p. 568Google Scholar; Brosset, , Histoire de la Géorgie, ii, 1, p. 102Google Scholar; SirSykes, Percy, History of Persia, 3rd ed., London, 1930, vol. ii, p. 219Google Scholar; Hanway, J., The Revolutions of Persia, London, 1753, vol. i, pp. 46–7.)Google Scholar

page 116 note 1 In some sources there is uncertainty as to the relationship between these personages. Carmelites, pp. 568–570, and Minorsky, op, cit., p. 19, quoting Carmelites, tend to confuse Khusrau with his father, Levan, the Dīvān-Begī of Persia, known also as Shāh Qulī Khān. This Levan was the younger brother of Giorgi XI. Levan's sons were the Khusrau mentioned here, King Wakhtang VI of K'art'li, Domenti, Georgian Catholicos from 1705 until c. 1742, Simon, regent in 1712, and Iese, known also as 'Alī Qulī Khān and as Mustafa Pasha. Their genealogy is given by Brosset and by Karst, in Le Code de Vakhtang VI, part i, p. 40Google Scholar.

page 116 note 2 Herbette, Maurice, Une Ambassade Persane sous Louis XIV, Paris, 1907, pp. 238–248Google Scholar.

page 117 note 1 Herbette, , Une Ambassade Persane, p. 248Google Scholar; de la Clavière, Maulde, Les Mille et une Nuits d'une Ambassadrice de Louis XIV, Paris, 1896Google Scholar; Carmelites, p. 535; Brosset, , in Nouveau Journal Asiatique, vol. ix, p. 200Google Scholar; Biographie Universelle (Michaud), article “Marie Petit”; Lockhart, L., “Marie Petit's Persian Adventure,” in Asiatic Review, vol. xlii, 1946, pp. 273–7Google Scholar.

page 117 note 2 For some reason Brosset, (N.J.A., ix, p. 201)Google Scholar describes Michel as “une espèce d'intrigant . . . sans lettres de créance”. This is hardly accurate, since Michel's authority to sign the treaty of 1708 was never disputed by either side, and he was rewarded by the French Government with the post of Consul-General in Tunis. (Herbette, p. 251, and see also the text of Michel's treaty, ibid., pp. 333–350.)

page 117 note 3 Tsagareli, A., Kniga Mudrosti i Lzhi S.S. Orbeliani, St. Petersburg, 1878, p. 210Google Scholar.

page 117 note 4 “Copie de la lettre du Père Pierre d'Issoudun, Missionnaire Capucin de Perse, à Monsieur le Comte des Alleurs; à Hispahan, le 28 d'aoust, 1712”: Archives of the French Foreign Ministry, Perse, t. iii, 1712–15, p. 19.

page 118 note 1 Tamarati, , L'Eglise Géorgienne, p. 611Google Scholar.

page 118 note 2 Father Pierre d'Issoudun to the Comte des Alleurs, French Ambassador at Constantinople, Isfahan, 11th May, 1713: Archives of the French Foreign Ministry, Perse, t. iii, p. 43.

page 119 note 1 Herbette, pp. 12–13; Biographie Universelle, vol. xxviii, Paris, 1821Google Scholar, article “Mehemet-Riza-Beyg”, p. 131.

page 119 note 2 Tamarati, p. 592; Abbe Richard to the Marquis de Torcy, Marseilles, 1st February, 1714: Perse, t. iii, p. 93.

page 119 note 3 Brosset, , Nouveau Journal Asiatique, vol. ix, pp. 342–4Google Scholar and 347–351.

page 119 note 4 Père Jean-Baptiste de Montmoreau, Capuoin, to Comte des Alleurs, Isfahan, 19th February, 1714: Perse, t. iii, p. 97.

page 120 note 1 This document was printed by Brosset, , N.J.A., vol. ix, pp. 340–1Google Scholar, but from what seems to have been a somewhat incorrect copy. The version reproduced here is that in the archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Perse, t. iii, p. 121Google Scholar.

page 120 note 2 Mgr. Gratien de Galiczen, appointed Bishop of Agathopolis and Coadjutor of Babylon in 1707, had been active in securing protection for the missionaries at Tiflis, and had in 1712 secured a royal farmān in their favour. His death in that year prevented negotiations from being brought to a conclusion (Carmelites, p. 537).

page 120 note 3 Translator's note on the back of Wakhtang's letter: “Interprété par nous, Dragman du Roi en Palestine, Galilée, Samarie et Judée, à Versailles, le 7 avril 1714. Jean Révérend.”

page 121 note 1 Perse, t. iii, p. 151.

page 122 note 1 Tamarati, p. 599.

page 122 note 2 Perse, t. iii, p. 157a.

page 122 note 3 Herbette, p. 31.

page 122 note 4 Perse, t. iii, pp. 179–180.

page 122 note 5 Brosset, , N.J.A., pp. 355–366Google Scholar; Tamarati, pp. 600–605.

page 123 note 1 Tsagareli, op. cit., pp. 211–14. Tsagareli here reproduces part of Sulkhan Saba's own account of his itinerary, taken from the Georgian newspaper Cishari (Dawn) of 1852. For details of the manuscript copies of this itinerary, see the article on Georgian manuscripts in England by Peradze, G. in Georgica, vol. i, no. 1, p. 87Google Scholar. Archimandrite Peradze here mentions his intention to publish a French manuscript dealing with Sulkhan Saba's visit to France, but his death in Poland during the late war must have prevented him from carrying out this plan.

page 123 note 2 Perse, t. iii, pp. 170–1.

page 124 note 1 The Patriarch Domenti's attempt to secure the K'art'lian throne is related slightly differently by Krusinski, (Revolutions of Persia, vol. i, p. 263)Google Scholar and Hanway, (Revolutions of Persia, vol. i, p. 86)Google Scholar, who assert that Domenti's father Levan, Dīvān-Begī of Persia, dissuaded him from this project by a sound thrashing. In Georgian sources it is stated that Domenti's brother Simon was so enraged by these intrigues that he was with difficulty prevented from having the Patriarch's eyes plucked out (Brosset, , Histoire de la Géorgie, ii, 1, p. 111)Google Scholar.

page 124 note 2 Nouveau Journal Asiatique, vol. ix, pp. 451–4; Histoire de la Géorgie, ii, 1, p. 111. The original is to be found in the French Foreign Ministry, Perse, t. iv, pp. 46–7.

page 124 note 3 Ange Gardane, sieur de Sainte Croix, from Erivan, 5th October, 1717: Perse, t. v, p. 149. Cf. also Tamarati, p. 605, n. 2.

page 125 note 1 Cf. “Extrait de la lettre écrite par le Révérend Père Picrre d'Issoudun, supérieur de la Mission de Tauris en Perse, au sieur Michel, au Consulat de Tripoly, Tauris, le 12 juillet, 1717,” Perse, t. v, p. 139: “... La Géorgie est ruinée par les Lazgis, peuples du Montcaucase ...” See also Hanway, , Revolutions, i, p. 86Google Scholar.

page 125 note 2 Read: “Lezghis”; cf. Krusinski, , Revolutions, i, p. 265Google Scholar.

page 125 note 3 Padéry's, dispatches are taken from Perse, vol. v, pp. 259Google Scholar and 271, under the dates of 5th January and 15th April, 1720.

page 125 note 4 Hanway, i, pp. 86–7.

page 126 note 1 Krusinski, i, p. 269; Brosset, , Histoire de la Géorgie, ii, 1, p. 115Google Scholar; Drouville, Gaspard, Voyage en Perse, 2nd ed., Paris, 1825, vol. i, p. 40Google Scholar.

page 126 note 2 See Brosset, , Histoire, iiGoogle Scholar, 1, Addition vii: “Notice sur les trois dernières années du règne de Wakhtang VI,” based on the Moscow archives. Tamarati, , in l'Eglise Géorgienne, pp. 85–6Google Scholar, gives the text of letters addressed in 1722 by Wakhtang to the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, soliciting in vain assistance in his predicament.