Русский | English

The Crimea of Prince de Ligne

Khrapunov Nikita

This article addresses the image of the Crimea invented by Charles-Joseph de Ligne in his Letters to Marquise de Coigny. Allegedly written during a travel to the Crimea in 1787 in the retinue of Empress Catherine II, these “letters” were created several years later, as sections of the pseudo-epistolography work first published in 1801.  Although the document has been the subject of many researches, the subject of their analysis was almost always restricted to the discourse, not taking into account the information from other sources uncovering the local context. This article provides a comparative analysis of de Ligne’s accounts and Crimean realities reconstructed by more objective sources. The result shows how the prince’s imagination transformed and reinterpreted the places, persons, events and phenomena he saw. It has been shown that de Ligne translated the stereotypes he had learned long before his Crimean tour as a part of his own culture. The article has been analysed the following subjects: the localization of de Ligne’s estate, the so-called “Parthenizza”; pseudo-geography of the Crimea created by a talented man of letters; the legend of the “Balaklava Amazons”; the search for “oriental pleasures” in the Taurida as a part of European orientalism and symbolism of Catherine II’s reaction; the study of Oriental (Crimean Tatar) psychology; the discourse of the “Tatar laziness”; the stereotype of “optimistic perspectives” of Crimean businesses.  The article has revealed the influence of de Ligne’s works on the Russian culture and particularly on the fact that, during the most part of the nineteenth century, the Crimea was associated with the “Russian Orient” rather than with the “origins of Russian Christianity”; it became the “Russian Alhambra” despite the pressure of the state ideology.

Keywords: Prince Charles de Ligne, Crimea, imagology, travelogues, Franco-Russian cultural relations
Link: Khrapunov N. The Crimea of Prince de Ligne // Annual of French Studies 2022. Т. 55: The French outside of France.М. P. 5-24.

This work was financially supported by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, megagrant project No. 075-15-2022-1119.

References:

Bil’basov V.A. Istoricheskie monografii. T. 4. Sankt-Peterbourg, 1901. S. 381–522.

Vasil’chikov A.A. Semeistvo Razumovskikh. T. 5. Sankt-Peterbourg, 1894.

Vul’f L. Izobretaia Vostochnuiu Evropu: karta tsivilizatsii v soznanii epokhi Prosveshcheniia. Moskva, 2003.

Gin’kut N.V. Sevastopol’ v kontse XVIII stoletiia glazami angliiskogo khudozhnika Uil’iama Khadfilda: shtrikhi k vizitu imperatritsy Ekateriny II // Istoricheskie, kul’turnye, mezhnatsional’nye, religioznye i politicheskie sviazi Kryma so sredizemnomorskim regionom i stranami Vostoka. T. 2. Moskva, 2020. S. 63–72.

Ekaterina II i G. A. Potemkin. Lichnaia perepiska, 1769–1791. Moskva, 1997.

Zapiska ob amazonskoi rote // Moskvitianin. 1844. № 1. S. 266–268.

Zorin A.L. Kormia dvuglavogo orla… Literatura i gosudarstvennaia ideologiia v Rossii v poslednei treti XVIII – pervoi treti XIX veka. Moskva, 2004.

Ibneeva G.V. Imperskaia politika Ekateriny II v zerkale ventsenosnykh puteshestvii. Moskva, 2009.

Ivanov S.A. “Balaklavskie amazonki”: novoe svidetel'stvo // XIII Mezhdunarodnyi vizantiiskii seminar “Chersonos themata: imperiia i polis”. Simferopol, 2021. S. 135–138.

Ivanchik A.I. Nakanune kolonizatsii. Severnoe Prichernomor’e i stepnye kochevniki VIII–VII vv. do n. e. v antichnoi literaturnoi traditsii: fol’klor, literatura i istoriia. Moskva; Berlin, 2005.

Kamer-fur’erskii tseremonial’nyi zhurnal 1787 goda. Sankt-Peterbourg, 1886.

Kardini F. Evropa i islam. Istoriia neponimaniia. Sankt-Peterbourg, 2016.

Konkin D.V. Otsenki ekonomicheskogo potentsiala Kryma v trudakh uchenykh-puteshestvennikov: “defekt opisaniia” i ego prakticheskie posledstviia // Problemy integratsii Kryma v sostav Rossii, 1783–1825. Sevastopol, 2017. S. 37–56.

Konkin D.V. Pereselencheskaia politika i khoziaistvennye proekty v Krymu // Problemy integratsii Kryma v sostav Rossii, 1783–1825. Sevastopol, 2017. S. 231–243.

Krasnolutskii A.Iu. Iuzhnyi bereg Kryma. Istoriia imenii i dach s 1783 po 1920 god. Sankt-Peterbourg, 2020.

Krymskii mif v russkoi kul'ture pervoi poloviny XIX v. Svod maloizvestnykh svidetel'stv sovremennikov. Velikii Novgorod; Simferopol'; Nizhnii Novgorod, 2017.

Lashkov F. Mogila kapitana amazonskoi roty Eleny Ivanovny Shidianskoi (Sarandovoi) v Simferopole // Izvestiia Tavricheskoi uchenoi arkhivnoi komissii. 1889. № 7. S. 83–86.

Markevich A.I. Materialy arkhiva kantseliarii tavricheskogo gubernatora, otnosiashchiesia k puteshestviiu imperatritsy Ekateriny II v Krym v 1787 godu // Izvestiia Tavricheskoi uchenoi arkhivnoi komissii. 1891. № 11. C. 76–143.

Montandon Sh. Putevoditel’ puteshestvennika po Krymu. Kiev, 2011.

Nikiforov M.A. Deiatel’nost’ Ekateriny II i Grigoriia Potemkina v Krymu: deklaratsii i realii // Problemy integratsii Kryma v sostav Rossii, 1783–1825. Sevastopol', 2017. S. 27–34.

Orekhov V.V. V labirinte krymskogo mifa. Velikii Novgorod; Simferopol'; Nizhnii Novgorod, 2017.

Orientalizm. Turetskii stil’ v Rossii. 1760–1840-e. Moskva, 2017.

Pis’ma i mysli marshala printsa de Lin’, izdannye v svete baronessoiu Stael’ Golstein. Ch. 1–2. Moskva, 1809.

Pis’ma, mysli i izbrannye tvoreniia marshala printsa de Linia, izdannye baronessoiu Stael’ Golstein i g-nom Propiakom. Moskva, 1809.

Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiiskoi imperii. T. 21. Sankt-Peterbourg, 1830.

Prints Sharl’-Zhozef de Lin’. Perepiska s russkimi korrespondentami. Moskva, 2022.

Puteshestvie Eia imperatorskogo velichestva v poludennyi krai Rossii, predpriemlemoe v 1787 godu. Sankt-Peterbourg, 1786.

Pushkin A.S. Sobranie sochinenii v desiati tomakh. T. 7.Москва, 1962.

Pushkin i ego sovremenniki. Materialy i issledovaniia. Vyp. 9–10. Sankt-Peterbourg, 1910.

Said E.V. Orientalizm. Zapadnye kontseptsii Vostoka. Moskva, 2006.

Svirida I.I. Metamorfozy v prostranstve kul’tury. Moskva, 2009.

Sebag-Montefiore S. Potemkin. Moskva, 2003.

Solomonik E.I. Tavry i Tavrika (o proiskhozhdenii etnonima i toponima) // Arkheologіia. 1976. Vip. 20. S. 46–50.

Sudak L. de. Puteshestvie po Krymu: Iuzhnyi bereg. Morskoi port Feodosiia. Feodosiia; Simferopol, 2021.

Formozov A.A. Stranitsy istorii russkoi arkheologii. Moskva, 1986.

Khrapunov N.I. Zapadnoevropeiskie missionery v Krymu // Problemy integratsii Kryma v sostav Rossii, 1783–1825. Sevastopol, 2017. S. 289–304.

Khrapunov N.I. “Mesto, bogatoe vospominaniiami i illiuziiami”: obrazy Tavridy v sochineniiakh puteshestvennikov // Problemy integratsii Kryma v sostav Rossii, 1783–1825. Sevastopol, 2017. S. 329–352.

Khrapunov N.I. Richard Uersli i Krym // Bosporskie issledovaniia. 2019. Vyp. 39. S. 378–403.

Khrapunov N.I. O pokhozhdeniiakh sputnikov Ekateriny II v 1787 g. // Problemy istorii i arkheologii srednevekovogo Kryma. Simferopol, 2019. S. 128–130.

Khrapunov N.I. Krymskie drevnosti glazami zapadnoevropeiskikh puteshestvennikov kontsa XVIII – nachala XIX v. // Rossiiskaia imperiia i Krym. Simferopol, 2020. S. 241–258.

Khrapunov N.I. Krym mezhdu Zapadom i Vostokom v zapiskakh britanskikh puteshestvennikov kontsa XVIII – nachala XIX v. // Vzgliad chuzhezemtsa. Diplomaty, publitsisty, uchenye-puteshestvenniki mezhdu Vostokom i Zapadom v XVIII–XXI vv. Moskva; Sankt-Peterbourg, 2020. S. 81–100.   

Aragon [A.] d’. Un paladin au XVIIIe siècle. Le prince Charles de Nassau-Siegen d’après sa correspondance originale inédite de 1784 à 1789. Paris, 1893.

Bartlett R.P. Human Capital. The Settlement of Foreigners in Russia, 1762–1804. Cambridge, 1979.

Chapuisat É. Avant-propos // Prince de Ligne. Fragments de l'histoire de ma vie. Paris, 1927. P. I–XXI.

Comte de Ségur. Mémoires ou souvenirs at anecdotes. 3-me éd. T. 3. Bruxelles, 1827.

Dickinson S. Russia’s First “Orient”: Characterizing the Crimea in 1787 // Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. 2002. Vol. 3. №. 1. Р. 3–25.

Dubois de Montpéreux F. Voyage autour du Caucase, chez les Tcherkesses et les Abkhases, en Colchide, en Géorgie, en Arménie et en Crimée. Vol. 6. Paris, 1843.

Joseph II und Katharina von Russland. Ihr Briefwechsel. Wien, 1869.

Lecomte F. Le prince de Ligne à Parthenizza (1787). A propos d’une lettre à la marquise de Coigny // Les Lettres Romanes. 1984. Vol. 38. Iss. 4. P. 283–294.

Mortier R. Charles-Joseph de Ligne, écrivain dilettante et prince européen // Dix-huitième Siècle. 1993. № 25. Р. 225–238.

Prince Charles-Joseph de Ligne. Correspondances russes. Paris, 2013.

Prince de Ligne. Lettres à la marquise de Coigny. Paris, 1914.

Sestrencewicz de Bohusz S. Histoire de la Tauride. T. 1. Brunswick, 1800.

Stroev A. Des voyages en Antiquité // La lettre de voyage. Rennes, 2007. P. 67–81.

Taurische Reise der Kaiserin von Russland Katharina II. Koblenz, 1799.

Waegemans E. Kniaz’ de Lin’ kak svidetel’ potemkinskikh dereven’ // A Window on Russia: Papers from the V International Conference of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia. Rome, 1996. Р. 91–98.