"A most interesting narrative." -British Quarterly Review 1858
"Exceedingly curious, full of interest, hope, disappointment, and alarm." - Eclectic Review 1858
"We heartily commend it to our readers." -New Quarterly Review 1858
In 1854, rebel leader Shamil suddenly assembled about 10,000 men, and rapidly descending from his mountain fastnesses, burst through the Russian frontier cordon at several points, crossed the river Alazan on the frontiers of Georgia, swept up its rich valley, burned the villages, and carried off their inhabitants into captivity. Included among the captives were two Russian princess, Princess Chavchavadzey and Princess Orbeliani.
Upon every occasion during their captivity these princesses exhibited the most determined spirit, which won for them the respect of the wild mountaineers. On the return of the ladies to Russia, Verderevsky, editor of Kaukas, the principal journal of Teflis, compiled an account from the narrative of the Princesses themselves, of which this 1857 book "Captivity of Two Russian Princesses in the Caucasus," is a translation.
To the Russians, Shamil was a kind of Bluebeard, or a monster, but to westerners Shamil was at one time the favourite hero of romance—a prophet-warrior and patriot, or a ferocious and barbarous robber. Living in a stronghold in what is now the Russian republic of Dagestan, Shamil was the political, military, and spiritual leader of Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in the 1800s.
Russians had earlier seized one of Shamil's sons and carried him off as a hostage to St. Petersburgh, educated and brought up as a Russian, and he was in 1851, a cornet serving in the Russian Imperial Guard in Poland. Shamil for years had longed for his boy in vain. So Shamil sought with the capture of the two princesses to exchange them with the Czar for his son.
The Captivity consists of three parts. The first tells the story of the surprise, capture, and journey to Dargi-Vedenno; the second contains a description of the residence there; the third gives an account of the diplomatic proceedings respecting the release and ransom of the prisoners.
The book before us takes its stand upon being the only true, full, and particular account of Shamil, his home-life, habits, wives and children, personal appearance, &c.; of his "raid" into Georgia, the abduction of the whole family of Prince David Chavchavadzey, and their treatment during the time of their long captivity.
They tell the tale of their sufferings with a striking absence of whining and exaggeration. Yet, when torn from their home the Princesses were first dragged ruthlessly forward by their rapacious captors; sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback, subject to every indignity, stripped of every ornament of value, and even of their necessary raiment. The Russian ladies had to toil on, with torn and bleeding feet, and wearied limbs, from village to village. Often there was not horse-accommodation for all, and then those who walked were continually whipped or threatened with daggers.
After a lengthened and most circuitous journey, over mountains and across rivers and valleys, the prisoners at length reached the residence of Shamil.
From their position, captives in the seraglio, the princesses enjoyed an excellent opportunity to study the domestic life of Shamil's family. The three wives were distinct in disposition, and of course quarrelled as three women always must quarrel over one husband. One of the wives was of a cold and petty disposition, and excessively penurious and money-getting; and she contrived to make the position of the captives as little endurable as possible.
