Pietro della Valle, "An Account of Georgia," (1627) - Part 3

Pietro della Valle (1586–1652) was an Italian Renaissance traveler who left detailed accounts of Georgia and the Georgian communities in Persia. He was born into a distinguished noble family in Rome and received a thorough education in the arts and sciences. In 1611, he participated in the Spanish expedition against the pirates on the Barbary coast and later visited the Holy Land in 1614–1616. On his return journey, he decided to continue his travels and joined a caravan traveling to Persia, where he offered his services against the Ottomans to Shah Abbas. He spent the next five years in Persia before returning with his Georgian wife to Italy. Della Vale wrote a series of letters to a friend in Naples, which remains one of the best sources on 17th-century Persia. Besides his descriptions of Persian society and culture, he also left detailed observations on the Georgians living in Persia and seemed to have been impressed by their personal qualities, courage, and civilized courtesy. His notes contain information on the plight of the Georgian royal family in Persia and on the composition and arms of the Georgian forces in battle.

In 1627 Pietro della Valle presented the following account of Georgia to His Holiness Pope Urban VIII. The third part of the letter describes the fates of King Teimuraz of Kakheti and his mother Queen Ketevan, and provides a general overview of situation in Western Georgia.

For this translation, I used the 18th century English translation and French edition of Voyages de Pietro Della Valle, gentilhomme romain dans la Turquie, l'Egypte, la Palestine, la Perse, les Indes Orientales, et autres lieux (Paris, 1745), VIII, 375ff.

After wandering for several days in the territories of the other Princes of Georgia, [Teimuraz] at last withdrew to the Turks, among whom he latterly continued to dwell, receiving from the Grand Signor [Ottoman sultan], as I was informed, the government of the city of Cogni, with some lands in Cappadocia, inhabited principally by Christians of the Greek church, the revenue from which government serves for his support. He has continually endeavored and still seeks to be revenged on the [Shah] of Persia. It was he who, in 1618, was the instigation of that great army of the Turks and Tatars penetrating into Persia, in which expedition he accompanied it. This army made greater progress into Persia than any one had ever done before, almost reaching Ardabil, a sanctuary of the Persians, and the place of sepulture of the reigning dynasty of that country, which Teimuraz was ardently desirous of destroying, to avenge himself for the destruction of the churches in Georgia. In this war, the most perilous of any in which Abbas was ever engaged, I accompanied him. The Turks, however, from bad conduct, want of skill and courage, did not reap the advantage they might have done upon the occasion, and finally concluded, as is commonly the case with them, by gaining nothing; nay, their retreat indeed resembled a flight, a number of their men being cut off, which caused the Persian to return to court in triumph, while Teimuraz returned to his province. Since then he has remained quiet, waiting a more opportune moment, which, at the farthest, must occur on the death of Abbas, whom he has every chance of surviving, being much the younger of the two, and of which he is secure, owing to the disappointment these Georgians have experienced in their expectations, who apostatized in Persia after their treachery to Teimuraz; the [Shah] not having requited them as they wished, nor treating them any longer with the same kindness he did before they became his vassals, nor in matters of religion acting as they expected, receiving none into his service, nor affording to any one, whether noble or a soldier, the least assistance, other than on condition of turning a Mahometan. 

For these reasons the Georgians look on him with disgust and repent their conduct, so much so even, that they exclaim openly they have been deceived and that if the past could be recalled, they would act differently. Hence, I doubt not, although Abbas, as a prudent and much dreaded Sovereign, may be able to maintain his ground as long as he lives, that upon his death (as is always the case in Persia) the sword will be drawn at his funeral; provided the Georgians retain their present disposition and become united and [if] they have a leader possessed of abilities, Teimuraz by their assistance may eventually effect great things in Persia, nay possibly assume the succession: against this, there is but the natural temper of his people, fickle and prone to change. Nor will it any ways surprise me, if the dominions of Luarsab should again become subject to some Christian Prince, either by the abjuration of Mahometanism [Islam] on the part of the present governor, or by the people deposing him and placing some Christian on the throne, similar revolutions not being unusual in Georgia.

The Princess Ketevan, the mother of Teimuraz, was, as I have noticed before, sent to Shiraz with her two grand-children. While I was there she resided still in that city, and was treated with great respect. She, with all her family, consisting of a number of male and female attendants, remained firmly attached to the faith of Christ, observing all the duties of religion as well as she was able; but at that time she had no priest with her, or any regular minister of her country to fulfill its duties. On this account, one of her attendants officiated, attached, as I conceive, to the church by some degree, as he was a good Christian, and being looked upon as such by the Muslims [Mores], they were solicitous of removing him; for which purpose they accused him of some weighty crime, and with the help of false witnesses to prove it, put him to death, burning him alive at Shiraz. He met death with constancy, firm in his faith and bearing his fate with resignation. As for the other clerk she had with her when I was there, he managed the whole affairs of the household as an intendant, and was rather a courtier than a priest; and, whether owing to ignorance or any other cause I know not, he never said mass. She had with her, moreover, a monk, but merely a novice of his order, and a lay brother, who was of no service. As, however, the Carmelites and Augustin friars have now a convent and a church at Shiraz, I doubt not they will have afforded consolation to the Princess, and preserve her steady in the faith, particularly as they were never wanting while I was there in rendering her assistance in temporal matters, as long as she lived. 

I say as long as she lived, for in passing through Bassora some months ago, I received news of the death of this Princess on 22 September 1624. She suffered martyrdom in a most cruel and glorious manner in the city of Shiraz, by order of the [Shah Abbas] of Persia, on account of her persistence in the [Christian] faith. I am ignorant whether they [Persians] were solicitous of forcing a renunciation upon her, and can say nothing of the particulars; for them I refer to the memoirs of Father Gregory Orsini, a Dominican, the vicar general of Armenia, who in his travels passed through Persia shortly before me, at a time this newly happened, and gave a relation of the circumstance. This Father was at Bassora when I met him, and heard of [Ketevan’s martyrdom] from his mouth, and thence he afterwards brought a minute detail of the matter with him to Rome. As for the grand-children of this princess, the one called Levan, the other Alexander, they were brought up by the [Shah], who never allowed them to see their grandmother, as he educated them in Islam, lest she should convert them, notwithstanding they resided in the same city. The same year that Luarsab was put to death in prison, Abbas caused them both [boys] to be castrated, desirous of destroying in them, with all hopes of posterity, any desire they might conceive of returning to the country of their ancestors.

In my time, the grandmother [Queen Ketevan], not to hurt her feelings, was kept ignorant of this circumstance; and, on having occasion to see her domestics, they enjoined me the first thing not to mention it. Teimuraz has, however, other children by his second wife, boys as well as girls – God [Dieu] not allowing, possibly, that his family should be wholly extinct. When some months back I was at Aleppo, news had arrived there that Teimuraz, on account of being urged by the Turks to become a Muslim, had sought refuge in Muscovy with a Prince, who is a Christian and follows a Greek rite. Afterwards he attempted but fruitlessly through interference of the [Muscovite prince], who is on intimate terms with the [Shah] of Persia, to obtain the liberation of his mother. It was even said that this interference was the cause of Abbas insisting on her apostatizing, as in cafe of her turning Mahometan it would justify his refusal, or objecting would give a colour to his putting her to death. However this may be, the latent sparks of hatred in the breast of Teimuraz were kindled into a flame upon this new outrage [death of Ketevan], and, joined by the Muscovites, he breathed nothing but war and revenge. 

The [Muscovites], moved to pity and indignation at such an atrocity, provided him with aid, and taking his route through Circassia and by the Caucasian mountains, which lay between Georgia and Muscovy, this Prince re-entered Georgia, and not only in his own country but also in that of the murdered Luarsab had attacked the Persians with great hopes of success; the way being paved for him by a terrible slaughter of Mahometans, on the part of the fame Moura [Mouravi Giorgi Sakadze], chief of the Georgians, and a renegade, who, as I have before related, was the first instigator of all their calamities, and governed this country for the young Prince, in the hands of the [Shah] of Persia. Moura at length becoming suspected by Abbas, from the great authority he possessed, the wily [Shah] intended to put him to death; this, however, being discovered by Moura, he repented his conduct to Luarsab, and forgave the injury he had received, already too amply revenged. It is said he has renounced [Islam] and made profession anew of Christianity; that, by a piece of artifice, he has destroyed several general officers belonging to the Persians, who had shortly before arrived in that country, and either dethroned or put to death the young Mahometan Prince. He is, it is further said, industriously employed in rendering Teimuraz sovereign of all those countries, and delivering his nation entirely from the tyranny of Persia, and the religion of its false prophet. This news, however, I do not give for fact, but relate it merely as it was current.

Notwithstanding the misfortune which, as I have related, befell Teimuraz and the murdered Luarsab, the dominions of the latter are on their old footing, still governed by a relative of his family, but a [Muslim] and a subject of Persia, unless the last mentioned news be true and it be relieved from his yoke. Teimuraz is still alive, although deprived of his dominions; his country and his children enslaved by Persia, his mother martyred, and part of his territories depopulated and laid waste. In short, hitherto he waits for what fortune or rather the Lord [Dieu] may have in store for him.

There are three other Georgian Princes, that is to say, of Imereti, Odishi [Mingrelia], and Guriel [Guria], who have constantly flourished and continue to do so, preserving their dominions in prosperity, without suffering from the Mahometans. The territories of the two Princes of Odishi and Guriel lay on the Black Sea, somewhat exposed indeed to attack from the naval power of the Turks; but possessing, in consequence of their position, the advantage of a considerable trade in silks and other articles with Constantinople and the whole of Greece. In order to keep friends with such powerful neighbors, and that they may have no molestation from them, they profess a dependence on Turkey, and by dint of presents and continual services manage to secure for themselves peace and tranquility. They, however, never admit the Turks into their country to assume command, nor allow a passage even for their army to any other part. On the contrary, they preserve such perfect liberty, that notwithstanding the Polish Cossacks, who dwell at the mouth of the Dnieper on the Black Sea, be constantly inimical to the Turks, and are ever injuring them, the Georgians nevertheless receive them as friends, being Christians, and intermarry with them; nay it is said that the king of Poland maintains a friendly intercourse and correspondence with them, and that vessels frequently traffic between the two countries, a circumstance likely to be of great consequence to the Georgians, the Cossacks at present being masters of the Black Sea, and very powerful; add to which, the king of Poland by means of this sea, in case of their being disturbed by the Persians or Turks, might render them assistance, and these again be of service to the Cossacks, the ports of the countries affording secure retreats to ships in their different expeditions. Moreover, it is not impossible that their position may in some future time be highly advantageous, should any great enterprise be undertaken hereafter by the Europeans against Constantinople, in facilitating an attack upon it by sea as well as by land.

As for the dominions of the Prince of Imereti, from their laying more in the heart of the country, farther distant from the Persians and Turks, and being well defended on all sides by mountains, rivers, and difficult passages, he is independent of either one or the other; outwardly he pretends friendship to both, at the same time mistrusting each, and admitting neither one nor the other to march their armies through his territories. In this he shows his policy, as either, on account of difference of religion, would ruin him if he could: for the [Muslims], notwithstanding they profess and appear to be friendly to Christians under their government, never tolerate them except when induced by interest or necessity, and incapable of acting otherwise; for ultimately they have alwaus ended in exterminating them, as the case with the Greeks of Constantinople, of more recent date with the late kings of Hungary, and in various other instances known to all the world.

After thus having rendered a full account of the temporal condition of Georgia as I found it, I shall now speak of the spiritual. The Georgians at a very early period embraced the faith of Christ, to which they were converted by a foreign female slave [St. Nino], about the year 330. By this slave many great miracles are said to have been performed; her name, however, is unknown, even to the inhabitants of the country, notwithstanding they have retained her history; her only denomination in our martyrology being that of Sainte Servante Chrétienne. From the Greeks, I believe, they first received the faith in the time of the Emperors of Constantinople, and in consequence adopted the Greek ceremonies; those they now observe. The [ceremonies] of the church are performed in their own language, which is written in two sorts of characters, the one called Cudsuri [khutsuro], used in churches and for their sacred books, the other Chedroli [Mkhedruli], for common use; and although this be not the character of the church, the holy books are nevertheless written in it [Mkhedruli script] for the benefit of seculars. The Georgians have constantly followed the tenets and rituals of the Greek church, and possibly are yet involved in its errors. Among the Greeks, indeed, these are less numerous than in the other of the eastern churches, and the Georgians admit even fewer possibly than the Greeks; but as they form a nation little devoted to study, arms being their chief occupation, they are consequently ignorant, and but few among them pay attention to these matters, living like good Christians in the faith. As, however, there are some of their country much more devoted than the Greeks to the examination of their own books, it follows, that one meets with an invincible ignorance [of Christianity] in them, which is excusable. Moreover, being uninformed of the latter [church] councils, after the holding of which the Greeks still retained certain errors from which the Georgians continue free, (as is justly remarked by Baronius in his Martyrology, and Gabriel Prateolus in his Catalogue alphabetique des Heretiques, they stand more justified for those to which they adhere than the Greeks. In addition to this, they are free from the presumption of the Greeks with respect to the supremacy of the church; and even though they acknowledge the Patriarch of Constantinople in certain matters, they are not subject to him appointing their metropolitan among themselves, nor suffering any jurisdiction on his part over their church. They have likewise a great respect for Rome, St. Peter and St. Paul, much reverence for the Pope, and are void of that aversion entertained by the Greeks to supremacy. The [Georgians] are neither proud, perverse, nor hypocritical; neither are they deceitful in their treaties like the Greeks, but, on the contrary, mild, docile, honest, simple, and so easy to be deceived, that, as I have before related, they owe to this the whole of the misfortunes which have befallen them from the Mahometans. In addition, they are subject to Christian Princes, maintain a republic, and possess a government that is well arranged for temporal and spiritual affairs, a matter of chief importance, seeing that those nations which have not any chief, nor any established form of government in the East, are made subject to infidel sovereigns, who at bottom are the enemies of all Christians. With such how is a general union possible? What councils for the purpose can there be assembled? And in case of a synod, what resolutions could there be adopted? Or who, on their being drafted, would observe them? And, slaves as they are, might not any difference which should follow, might not calumny afford a pretext to the Mahometans to destroy them, and persecute the whole body of Christians under their dominion? But all this is possible among the Georgians, on account of their possessing a regular government, a religion and a king of their own nation, ruling with despotic sway according to the manner of the East; nor is there a doubt but great advantage would result from such an undertaking, provided it were zealously begun, and the inhabitants were instructed by competent persons acquainted with their language; although, for what cause I know not, while the Holy See has employed itself zealously for the reunion of the rest of Christians in the East, and has been lavish of expense to reclaim and reunite the Greeks and other nations, it has hitherto paid no attention to the Georgians, who are not more distantly situated, nor more inaccessible than the others, nor less dear to God, nor less deserving of the care of the Roman Church. This consideration has prompted me, acquainted as I am with their affairs, and strongly attached to them, as well spiritually as by the ties of friendship subsisting between myself and many persons belonging to that country, to represent this matter to you, and implore Your Holiness in the most pressing manner to exercise your wisdom in helping them; for the fewer errors to which they may hereafter be subject, the greater the merit which Your Holiness will evince in the eyes of God, and the more brilliant your glory before man.

In order, however, that Your Holiness may not be ignorant of the means by which this is to be effected, and the ways by which help may be sent, I have to inform you that there are three.

The first and shortest is by Constantinople, whence one may travel to that country by land, passing from Scutaria into Asia in safety with caravans, or companies of merchants, who are constantly going thither through Trebizond, and finish the journey in a month; but much more easily and by a shorter course by sea; the transit seldom taking up more than from five to eight days. The most fit persons for such an enterprise would be the Jesuits, the Dominican friars, and the Franciscans, who have a convent there and a church; but especially the Jesuits, on account of its being their peculiar province to devote themselves to the spiritual health of their neighbor, to instruct and establish colleges and schools, which, as is evinced by experience, is the best and most excellent of all methods. However, in passing from Constantinople into Georgia, I conceive there may exist some difficulty, owing to the objection of the Turks to people of our religion entering that country, particularly if known to be monks or priests; nevertheless, I have no doubt, but individuals possessed of prudence and a knowledge of Turkey, at the same time familiar with the languages, by assuming a different dress, and simulating the character of a merchant, or some other avocation, may travel thither with little danger of discovery, going in small numbers and at different periods.

The second way is by Persia, and much easier, by accompanying the Cafila, or caravan of merchants, first to the dominions of Luarsab, at present subject to the Persians, and thence to the other and all of the states of Georgia. For this purpose, from that quarter the Portuguese Augustins might be dispatched, who have churches in Persia, or more properly the Carmelites; as well as that in their abstinence from meat they much resemble the oriental friars, as that from the austerity of their mode of life, they would have more influence upon the monks and prelates of the country and afford a more excellent example for the people. They would have greater facility in their enterprise from the late martyrdom of the Princess Ketevan at Shiraz, whose body is laid to be interred in the convent of the Augustins, through the means of the relations of the metropolitan Allahverdi, and several others of the chief of the Georgians, with whom I have formed an intimacy. In this case it would be requisite I should accompany them; and that everything should be conducted with the greatest caution, secrecy, and prudence, that the [Shah] of Persia might have no suspicion of any other design intended under this cover, which might expose the adventurers to much injury, as well as the Georgians themselves.

The third and last course is by the way of Poland. From the extremities of this kingdom one may readily reach the Black Sea, and thence in a very few days arrive in Georgia. This voyage may also be completed by descending the Dnieper, passing by Kiovie [Kiev], said, to be the Tomos of Pontus, whither Ovid was banished. In Poland there would be no want of monks for this purpose either among the Jesuits, Dominicans, or Carmelite friars, all of whom have convents in that country; nor would the furtherance of the plan on the part of the king be wanting, so good a Catholic and so pious as he is; nay, we should meet with assistance from his vassals the Cossacks, through whose means missionaries might enter Georgia in perfect security, with a bishop, even nuncio or ambassador, if necessary. The Russians also in Poland might be of some avail, as following hitherto the Greek ritual; although some among them be Roman Catholics, they might be instrumental in inducing them to persevere in the Catholic faith, and would set them a valuable example. 

But Your Holiness who, separate from your consummate wisdom, are moreover inspired by the Holy Spirit, will readily discover many other and preferable methods to what I can point out. I, therefore, beseech you to accept this account, containing the summary of all the information I possess, as a testimonial of my reverence for the Holy See, and zeal for the propagation of the religion and the service of Christ; with which I conclude j most humbly kissing Your Holiness's feet.