ერეკლე II-ისა და გარსევან ჭავჭავაძის საიდუმლო მიმოწერის შესახებ
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Date
2024
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ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის გამომცემლობა
Abstract
In 1960, Iase Tsintsadze published an interesting historical document about the secret correspondence between King Erekle II of Kartli-Kakheti and the Georgian ambassador in St. Petersburg, Garsevan Chavchavadze, together with other material preserved in Russian archives. The historical document is the report sent by Garsevan Chavchavadze to Erekle II, dated to June 1785. The ambassador informed the king that he wanted to provide information on some matters, but he was not sure that their correspondence would not be uncovered by Russian officials. He had a doubt that their correspondence would be discussed in detail by the representatives of the Russian government. Accordingly, Garsevan Chavchavadze asked the king to send “another alphabet” and “Marfufa” to maintain the secret correspondence.
Iase Tsintsadze quite reasonably considered “another alphabet” as a secret or encrypted alphabet. The author added that a similar alphabet was used in ancient Georgia and one of such alphabetic system was called “Anjanuri Alphabet”. As for “Marfufa”, Iase Tsintsadze does not explain its meaning. According to the context of Garsevan Chavchavadzeʼs report, “Marfufa” was a text composed with a “secret alphabet”. The validity of the mentioned opinion is confirmed by the rare historical documents in which we find the term “Marfufa”. Based on two historical documents dated to the 90s of the 18th century, “Marfufa” was indeed called a secret letter.
Hence, “Marfufa” should have been a text composed according to the “secret alphabet”. In order to understand the content of “Marfufa”, it was necessary to know the specific “secret alphabet” used in it. Accordingly, Garsevan Chavchavadze requested the secret text and the code to unlock this text from Erekle II.
As it is established from the archival material found by Iase Tsintsadze, the reports sent by Garsevan Chavchavadze to Georgia and the correspondence sent from Georgia to Russia were secretly read by the representatives of the imperial intelligence, translated into Russian and presented to Catherine IIʼs favorite Grigory Potemkin. They made a lot of efforts to obtain of the “secret alphabet” that was sent from Georgia. Russian officials hoped to obtain of the “secret alphabet” at the Russian-Georgian border or in Astrakhan. At the same time, they were afraid that Erekle II would show precaution and deliver the “secret alphabet” not with the help of official courier, but with the assistance of private person, which would make it difficult to master it. As Iase Tsintsadze pointed out, despite an intensive search in the Russian archives, he was not able to find any information about sending the “secret alphabet” from Georgia.
In the collection of Ioane Batonishvili preserved in the National Library of Russia (fund 941), along with dozens of historical documents, we found one letter of Erekle II, which deals with the issue of secret correspondence. In a short postcard sent by the king to Garsevan Chavchavadzi, it is mentioned that Tamaz Otanov would be sent to him in two days, who would carry various messages. This time he was sent with “marfufa” and a letter for Grigory Potemkin.
Therefore, Erekle II sent “Marfufa” or a sample of secret correspondence, bypassing the official channels, a few days before the departure of the special messenger. Obviously, the opening code of “Marfufa” was also sent with the same correspondence. Although the letter is not dated, the king must have written it sometime after June 1785.
The fact that we cannot find information about possession of the “secret alphabet” in the archives of Russia should be the result of the careful and conve-nient steps of the Georgian officials. It seems that despite the well-organized intelligence of the Russian Empire, Erekle II managed to establish a confidential correspondence with his ambassador.
The content of the secret correspondence between the king and his ambassador is unknown. However, in this regard, attention is drawn to the appeals made by Garsevan Chavchavadze at the beginning of 1786. Shortly after the request for the “secret alphabet”, namely on January 10, 1786, the Georgian ambassador appealed to Grigory Potemkin to give him permission to travel to his homeland. On February 16, he repeated the same request to Grigory Potemkin. Erekle II did not recommend Garsevani to return to his homeland in 1785 based on the letters sent through official channels, hence we should assume that the instruction was sent through secret correspondence.
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https://geohistory.humanities.tsu.ge/ge/procedings/83-shromebi/179-shromebi-20.html
ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის ჰუმანიტარულ მეცნიერებათა ფაკულტეტის საქართველოს ისტორიის ინსტიტუტის შრომები შესულია ERIH PLUS-ში (The European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences) / This journal was approved on 23.10.2024 according to ERIH PLUS criteria for inclusion
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ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის საქართველოს ისტორიის ინსტიტუტის შრომები, XX, თბილისი, 2024, გვ. 124-135 / Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Institute of Georgian History Proceedings, XX, Tbilisi, 2024, p. 124-135