CC BY
27YflK 930.253
Crimean Tatar-German written heritage in German Archives
Mieste Hotopp-Riecke
(Institutfür Caucasica-, Tatarica- und Turkestan-Studien
im Bildungs- und Innovationszentrum BIZ Magdeburg)
Abstract: The Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights (Magister generalis), the Electors of Brandenburg and later Kings in/of Prussia and their subjects lived in East Prussia in a direct sphere of contact with the world of Islam, namely the settlements of the Lipka Tatars in Poland-Lithuania. But the Prussian Monarchs were also well connected diplomatically to the Crimean Khanate. Embedded in the project «Yazma Miras» as cooperation between ICATAT and Mardzhany-Institute AN RT I use to publish here first time unpublished rediscovered archive material of Crimean Tatar-Prussian provenance.
Keywords: Prussia, State of the Teutonic Order, Crimean Tatars, diplomacy, the Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, German archives.
This short overview lays the focus on the Prussian-(Crimean)-Tatar diplomatic relationships, emphasizing on unpublished documents of the «Secret State Archive Prussian Cultural Heritage» in Berlin, Germany, because even in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian, Crimean Tatar and former Prussian territories there are to find many links to our common Tatar-German interferences' in general [6, p. 15-18].
After fighting against the Lithuanians, Polish and Tatars as enemies in the Battle of Grunwald [7, p. 6-10] already since the 1430s the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights cultivated diplomatic relations with the offspring of Tokhtamysh Khan respectively his son Dzhelal ad-Din Khan [1, p. 87/88; 4, p. 19; 16, p. 422]. Like we can read in some notes and letters, laying in the Prussian Secret State Archive in Berlin, there were several times negotiations between Tatar noble men and the
German Grand Masters of Teutonic Knights in order to fight together against the Moscovians, the Lithuanians, the Polish or the counts of Smolensk [8, ch. 2]. For instance the Grand Master of the Crusaders Paul von Rusdorf wrote at 15. March 1433 to the Grand Duke Switrigal of Lithuania1 concerning common campaigns with the Tatars against the Polish2. Similar negotiations and letters are mentioning the Vlachs, the Podolians, the Voivod of Kiev, Michael Ivanovicz, or the Livonians as brothers in arms. The alliances changed often and the religion or culture of the respective allies were not as important as theirs powers and the perspective on political and economic prospect.
The Brandenburg-Prussian Electors later on looked especially during the 17th century for allies in their different conflicts against Sweden and Poland. Likewise the Tatars were well known as good horse breeders and Brandenburg-Prussia needed numerous horses for their newly created cavalry. On the other hand the Tatars were also well known as brave soldiers. It was the «Grand Elector» Frederick William (1640-1688) who first began with forming a trained standing army in Brandenburg-Prussia and so during his reign he kept looking around for military capacities. His ambitions to enforce contact with the Crimean Tatars was based on an established diplomatic relationship. As I found out in my researches, at least 9 Crimean-Tatar missions were sent to the Brandenburg-Prussian Court even during the 17/18th century. The missions reached for instance the cities of Königsberg (today Kaliningrad), Thorn/Torun, Potsdam, Stet-tin/Szeczin, Berlin, Frankfurt (Oder), Bestoff in Schleswig region (today Danmark) or Stralsund at Baltic Sea, were they stayed up to two month. The missions established by 10 to 20 persons brought gifts like swords and horses and wanted to use these missions also as a door opener towards the courts of Denmark or even the Emperor (Kaiser) of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation.
1 Also German: Swidrigal or Swidrygiello (Polish: Boleslaw Swidrygiello Lithuanian: Svitrigaila), born around 1370; f 10. february 1452.
2 I have to thank Prof. Sven Ekdahl for this information. The relevant document is to find in the Secret State Archive of Prussian Cultural Heritage under signature (GStA PK), XX. Hauptabteilung Historisches Staatsarchiv Königsberg (XX. HA StA Kbg.), Ordensfoliant (OF) 13, s. 2-3.
In 1740, when Frederic II. («the Great») became king in Prussia3 and started his series of wars against different alliances of Austria to establish Silesia as a part of Brandenburg-Prussia, he needed much of substantial support. The English payed subsidies to him, but money was not able to prevent the double attack of the allied Russian and Austrian armies in 1760. With the help of a secret ambassador in Constantinople named Karl Adolf v. Rexin, and a young Dutch adventurer on the court of the Crimean Tatars, Boscamp, Frederic tried to bring the Ottoman Sultan and the Khan of the Crimean Tatars into war and open a second front from the southwest against the Austrian forces4. Things changed, when Peter I. became Czar of Russia and signed a peace treaty with Frederic. The Prussians did not need further military help of an auxiliary power, but remained in diplomatic contacts with both Islamic powers. In today's Euro-Islam-Discourses in the West regarding the image and history of Islam in Europe these facts are widely ignored. But the facts are very interesting: The first diplomatic Muslim-Christian contacts in Prussia and Saxony were not Ottoman-German ones, but Tataric-German. Beside the above mentioned Crusader-Tatar contacts we have from 1599 documents of Crimean Tatar-Prussian relationships onwards to the 1786: At least nine times Crimean Tatar missions reached the Prussian monarchs for instance in Szczecin, where the Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, Frederick William I. met with the Tatar nobilities Temur Kirim Gazi and Mustafa Aga from Crimea (Picture A) [3, p. 20]. The rising state of Brandenburg-Prussia under Elector Frederick William I5 did negotiates between the Nordic wars
3 But even not «King of Prussia» - that was a diplomatic compromise between the Kaiser Leopold I. of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation, where most of the lands of Prussia laid. He allowed Frederick only to title himself «King in Prussia», not «King of Prussia», in order to avoid offending Poland, where a part of ald Prussian areas laid.
4 Mundt mentioned regarding that: «Frederick the Great not only wanted to bring the powerfull Khan with his wild people in an alliance against Russia, but through doing that he wanted also to involve the Sublime Porte into a serious quarrel against Russia, because the Ottomans still had a reluctance concerning an alliance with Prussia». S.: Mundt 1855, s. IV.
5 Frederick Wiliam I. of Brandenburg (*16.2.1620 in Cölln an der Spree [today a part of Berlins city center]; f29. April/ 9.May 1688 in Potsdam) was 1640 until his dead the Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia by the «House (lineage) of Hohenzollern».
around 1656 for new military allies against the Swedish, because the Polish crown - the liege lord of Prussia - did not strongly support the German dukes of Brandenburg-Prussia.
Picture A6. Letter submitted whilst the siege of Szeczin/Stettin by Kirim Gazi 1677 in the name of «Ivas Giray», in Crimean Khanate ruled that time Selim I. Giray Khan (Haci Selim Geray), signature: IHA_Rep 11_Nr._271_a_Tartarei_fasc_5
6 I am thankfull to Prof. Dr. Klosterhuis, the Director of the Archive for giving the permission to publish first time these unique documents (Picture A,B,C,D: all rights reserved by Prussian Secret State Archive Prussian Cultural Heritage).
Picture B. First printed circular in German language concerning Prussian-Tatar relationship, in detail on the occasion of welcoming the Crimean Tatar delegate Meydan Kazy Murze (Meydan Gazi Murza) in 1659 at the field camp of Bestofft/Beuthoff in Brandenburg-Prussia (village situated in the county Schleswig near the city of Hadersleben, today Haderslev, Danmark, near the nowadays Danish-German border). In the letter Mehmet Giray Khan («Mehemet Gierey Han, Salamet Gierey Han Babasy») offered armed forces to the Prussian rulers in order to fight together against Moscovians; signature: IHA_Rep11_Nr._271a Tartarei fasc. 1, 1599-1665 (Neu: 10506).
So the ambassador Sanduny Mehmet 'Ali Mirzä send by the Crimean Khan Mehmed IV. Giräy tarried with his delegation 1656 in Königsberg. After Brandenburg-Prussia switched the lines in summer 1656 towards the Swedish site against Poland-Lithuania (and their allies, the Tatars) the Grand Elector changed again his allies in 1657 and fought now together with Polish king John II. Kasimir and huge Tatar
units. Under Meydan Gazi Mirza came 1659 the third Crimean Tatar delegation7 (Picture B). In 1665 the authorised representative for finances, von Niemericz, welcomed two delegates of the fourth misson of the 'krimischen Tartaren'. The emissary Sah Gazi Aga was leading later on the fifth mission to «Coin an der Spree» (today Berlin) in 1670, the delegate Kaplan 1671 the sixth, «Temur Kirim Gazi» in december 1677 the seventh (at a field camp whilst the siege of Stettin/Szeczin)8 and Asian Aga the eight-st mission with around 10 men and 15 horses in 1679 to Berlin. A next one followed 1681 under «Krym Chazy» respectively «Themer Chazy Beg» (probably Timur Gazi bey).
However the diplomatic contacts were not limited to the Monarchs themselves and their political-military background. So a conversation between the wives of both Monarchs is known and these manuscripts have come down to us in fragmentary form in untouched files of the Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin. About 385 documents in German, Crimean Tatar, Polish, French, Italian and Latin language will have to be transliterated, translated and analyzed (Picture C and D). Some pieces of that material were already known and worked on first by the Hungarian historian and paleographer Lajos Fekete between 1926 and 1928 [2]. He pointed out, that the Crimean-Tatar-Prussian material is from high importance on the fields of historical and turkological sciences. Later on the German historian Hans Saring used some pages of this records for his two articles in 1934 and 1937 [11, p. 374-380; 12, p. 115-124]. But a huge part of the documents remained untouched. In Second World War the documents were saved in Western Germanys' underground salt mines in the near of
7 This couple of delegates wanted visit the King of Danmark too, but tarried two month in the village Prohn near to Stralsund at the Baltic Sea. According oriental tradition the Crimean Tatar delegatees were on the road without a travel budget. Thats why the Brandenburg finance ministry wrote tot he Grand Duke of Brandenburg, that he should arrange a visit at the court of Danish King, so that the 'expensive' Crimean Tatar delegatees could leave the Brandenburg lands, because according Prussian tradition to every single of the 15 deputies from Crimea hast o recieve gifts whilst they stay in Brandenburg (the gifts were silk, english kerchiefs, damask for 329 Taler for instance). 11, p. 379/380; 9, p. 20-58].
8 Signature: I. HA Rep. 11, Auswärtige Beziehungen Nr. XI 271a Tartarei fass. 7 «betr. die Abfertigung des tartarischen Gesandten Themur Krym Chazy und Mustafa Aga zur Durchreise nach Dänemark».
Picture C. Finery letter in Italian language by Tahti Giray Sultan submitted to Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg in «Cölln an der Spree» [Cologne at the river Spree, today Berlin], 30. march 1671, reign of Adil Giray Khan (also: Adil Coban Giray) (this letter is an exponate of the exhibition «Türcken, Mohren und Tartaren», created by the Brandenburg-PreußenMuseum Wustrau, Germany, in cooperation with Institute for Caucasica-, Tatarica- and Turkestan Studies, Magdeburg, which will to be shown in Kazan, Istanbul and Vilnius), signature IHA_Rep11_Nr10517_4_Nr1_auf
Magdeburg. From there huge parts of the Prussian State Archive materials, which deals with Eastern German Provinces like Silesia, Eastern Prussia and Pomerania were delivered to Warsaw, because that land was now Polish area. Other volumes went to West Berlin (the Anglo-American-French Zone) and some material delivered to Magdeburg in the later German Democratic Republic, because there was situated a sub-brunch of the Prussian State Archive. During the time of bloc confrontation neither western scientists could reach this material nor did
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eastern scientists touch them. After break down of the Iron Curtain and the reunion of Germany also the archives of East and West were reunified. That way the material went back to Berlin. After 10 month research in archives and libraries of Berlin and a first concrete lead in the article by Scheel [13, p. 214] I rediscovered 350 documents in spring 2009, some untouched since nearly 400 years.
Beside them other researchers discovered letters and manuscripts concerning Tatar-German diplomacy of the 15. century as well as the era of Girey dynasty of the 17./18. century.
That did our colleague from Sweden, Prof. Sven Ekdahl, and our Hungarian colleagues Sandor Papp (University Szeged) and Gábor Kármán (GWZO Leipzig9). We both - my friend Stephan Theilig and me - are very deeply grateful to them, because they gave us their research notices, hints and notes. So we are now well prepared to install an international research project and this article is a first step in that direction.
Beside the diplomatic contacts from the year 1675 onwards again and again first dozens, than hundreds and last thousands of Polish-Lithuanian, Volga- and Crimean Tatar soldiers served in the Prussian and Saxon armies and even the King Frederick the Great planned to use Tatars from Bialystok and Trakay as new colonists' in Pomerania and New East Prussia. Concerning this nearly untouched field of Tatar-German history are to find innocence documents in the Prussian Secret State Archive too.
Both, the diplomatic contacts and the Prussian-Muslim Tatar soldiers were just a little in the focus of historians in the 19th/20th century, but not as a distinct field of research [5, p. 18] Like my friend Stephan Theilig and me are arguing depicted historians as well as turkologists them as an periphery phenomena or a symbol of orientalism / exotism. «In this historiographical contexts the intercultural communication and transformation processes were excluded. The focus was based mainly on the political-military perspective»10. But especially from the today's point of view and the current social-political problem areas in context of integration debates, stereotype research, Euro-Islam or islamophobia, the example of the «Prussian-Tatar Conviventia» could give impulses for new debates.
9 Centre for the History and Culture of East Central Europe (Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum Geschichte und Kultur Ostmitteleuropas - GWZO) at the University of Leipzig is a research institute commited to international cooperation and multidisciplinary approaches.
10 Dr. Stephan Theilig in his lecture at the Second International Symposium of Turkology at the University of Warsaw, 12.-14. September 2012 (conference proceedings will be published in 2014). See also [15, pp. 14-31].
REFERENCES
1. Ekdahl Sven. Probleme und Perspektiven der Grunwaldforschung. Conflictus Magnus Apud Grunwald 1410 - mifdzy historiq a tradycjq. Materiafy z miqdzynarodowej konferencji naukowej «Grunwald - Tannenberg - Zalgiriz» zorganizowanej 20-24 wrzesnia 2010 r. w Malborku i Krakowie [The great battle of Grunwald - between history and tradition. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference «Grunwald - Tannenberg - Zalgiriz» organised]. Malbork, 2013, pp. 81-89.
2. Fekete Lajos. Selected works: Einführung in die Osmanisch-Türkische Diplomatik der türkischen Botmässigkeit in Ungarn. Budapest, 1926. 103 p.
3. Hotopp-Riecke Mieste. «Serenissimo Muradun Gerey, - Our friend and brother...» New discovered manuscripts as the basis of Crimean TatarGerman Science Project. In: Nazar (Constanta, Rumänien), nr. 8, 2011, pp. 20-22.
4. Hotopp-Riecke Mieste. Tataren - Feindbilder und Fremdenangst. Kiel: Magazin-Verlag, 2009. (together with Reinhard Pohl)
5. Hotopp-Riecke Mieste. Plädoyer für Perspektivenwechsel. Mehr Achtung für die Geschichte des Islam in Deutschland und Osteuropa ist nötig. In: Islamische Zeitung, nr. 188 / Feb. 2011 (26.01.2011), p. 18.
6. Hotopp-Riecke Mieste. Polscy Tatarzy w Prusach. Przyczynek do dziejow wojskowosci i historii mentalnosci [Polish Tatars in Prussia. A overview concerning artefacts in military and intellectually history]. In: Igielska, Barbara (Hrsg.): Tatarzy Polscy. Historia i kultura Tataröw w Polsce [Tatars of Poland. History and Culture of the Tatars in Poland]. Szczecin/Stettin, Zamek Ksi^z^t Pomorskich w Szczecinie, 2009, p. 15-18.
7. Hotopp-Riecke Mieste: Izmenenie paradigmy tatary kak sojuzniki v bitve pri Tannenberge v 1410 g. In: Studia Turcologica, nr. 8, (Tataren in Europa. Geschichte und Kultur I). Berlin, Gesellschaft für Osteuropaförderung, 2013, p. 5-14.
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12. Saring Hans. Tatarische Gesandtschaften an den kurbrandenburgischen Hof nach dem ersten Nordischen Krieg bis zum Ende der Regierungszeit des Großen Kurfürsten. In: Preussische Historische Kommission (Hrsg.): Forschungen zur Brandenburgischen und Preußischen Geschichte, 1937, nr. 49, pp. 115-124.
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About the author: Mieste Hotopp-Riecke - Mag. Art., Institut für Caucasica-, Tatarica- und Turkestan-Studien im Bildungs- und Innovationszentrum BIZ Magdeburg (39124, Schwiesaustr. 11, Magdeburg, Germany); icatat@gmx.de
Немецко-крымскотатарское письменное
наследие в немецких архивах
Мисте Хотопп-Рике
(Институт исследований Кавказа, Таврики и
Туркестана, Магдебург)
Аннотация: Великий магистр Тевтонского ордена, курфюрсты Бранденбурга и позже короли Пруссии и их подданные жили в Восточной Пруссии в контакте с миром ислама, а именно в Татарских Липках. У прусских монархов также хорошо были налажены дипломатические связи с Крымским ханством. Материалы, свидетельствующие об их взаимоотношениях, хранятся в немецких архивах и в этой статье будут рассмотрены неопубликованные источники о взаимодействии крымских татар и Пруссии.
Ключевые слова: Пруссия, государство Тевтонского ордена, крымские татары, дипломатия, польско-литовские татары, немецкие архивы.
Сведения об авторе: Мисте Хотопп-Рике - магистр искусств, научный руководитель Института исследований Кавказа, Таврики и Туркестана (39124, Schwiesaustr. 11, Магдебург, Германия); icatat@gmx.de
