Kelly Laurence, Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran

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Laurence Kelly F.R.S.L. is the author of a distinguished biography of

Lermontov. He has studied and lived in Russia.

‘My book of the year is Laurence Kelly’s

Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran

Kelly’s description of the literary and social life in St Petersburg and Moscow

in the early 19

century is fascinating in itself and a portrait of a doomed

generation of young, cultured aristocrats.’ Raymond Carr,

The Spectator

‘Kelly’s highly readable and enjoyable book is the first biography in English

of this intriguing figure. It is doubly fascinating: as an insight into a golden

age of Russian literature, and for its diplomatic and military history of a

region that still interests us.’ Jan Dalley,

Financial Times

‘A vivid, dramatic story. . .The exotic life of a supremely Russian, a well-told,

informative tale, contemporary relevance – what more could the reader ask?’

George Walden,

The Sunday Telegraph

‘Laurence Kelly’s wonderfully thorough life of Griboyedov,

Diplomacy and

Murder in Tehran

is a first-class work of scholarship and a terrific, sensa-

tional read. Not just a gripping story, but an important book.’

Philip Hensher, Books of the Year,

The Spectator

‘In Laurence Kelly, Griboyedov has found a biographer who is at home in the

princely salons of St Petersburg as he is in the souks of the Orient or the vine

covered foothills of the Caucasus. An excellent book that is as impressive in

scholarship as it is easy, indeed addictive, to read. . . A tour de force.’

Simon Sebag-Montefiore

‘Carefully researched and superbly planned…the book and its narrative are

extremely exciting, telling an unfamiliar and gripping story.’

John Bayley,

Times Literary Supplement

‘In this fascinating biography, Laurence Kelly paints and enthralling portrait

not only of the doomed diplomat but also of a critical episode in the often

tormented relationship between Russia and Iran.’

Philip Mansel,

Sunday Times

‘Kelly, a prizewinning author, wears his meticulous scholarship lightly and

tells a riveting tale that reads like a Russian novel.’

Shusha Guppy,

Times Higher Educational Supplement

‘A fascinating a readable account of the life and death of Alexander

Griboyedov.’ Donald Rayfield,

Literary Review

‘Well-researched and finely written. It is a fascinating tale of imperial con-

flict and political intrigue with much contemporary relevance.’

New York Review of Books

‘Laurence Kelly must be congratulated on finding such a dramatic story and

telling it in such a lively style, in a work of true but unobtrusive scholarship.

Anyone with even a casual interest in Russian history will be gripped, and

moved, by this book.’ John Jolliffe,

The Tablet

‘Laurence Kelly has produced the first-ever English biography of Griboyedov.

His book admirably reflects the attitudes and sensitivities of the era and

illuminates the roots of many of the conflicts that plague the region to this

day.’ Parviz C. Radji, Former Imperial Persia’s

Ambassador to London,

The Moscow Tribune

‘Brilliant and multi-faceted…both his life and death make for an extraordi-

nary tale. In Laurence Kelly Griboyedov has found the biographer he de-

serves. A groundbreaking book. . . A treasure trove for future historians and

literary scholars on this subject and period.’

Nina Lobanov-Rostovsky,

Moscow Times

‘I can think of no more agreeable way of learning about the complicated early

history of Russian interference in Turkey, Iran and the Caucasus than by

reading this account which, if it were fiction, would be unbelievable. Laurence

Kelly deserves congratulation for producing this riveting, fast-paced story.’

Antony Wynn,

Cornucopia

‘A lively, thoroughly researched and highly dramatic tale of events. Kelly not

only makes a notable contribution to the study of Russian imperialism and

Russo-Persian relations, but he succeeds in producing a more subtle and

persuasive account of Griboyedov himself.’ Simon Franklin,

Rossica

‘An admirable contribution to the study of the least known of the great troika

of Russian literature’s first flowering. A vibrant book.’

East-West Review, Journal of the Great Britain-Russia Society

‘Stunningly researched. . . This book offers a valuable contribution to the

diplomatic history of Russia, the Caucasus and Iran.’

London Diplomat

DIPLOMACY AND

MURDER IN

TEHRAN

TPP

TAURIS PARKE

PAPERBACKS

LAURENCE KELLY

Alexander Griboyedov and

Imperial Russia’s Mission to

the Shah of Persia

Published in 2006 by Tauris Parke Paperbacks

An imprint of I.B.Tauris and Co Ltd

6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU

175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010

www.ibtauris.com

First published in 2002 by I.B.Tauris and Co Ltd

The right of Laurence Kelly to be identified as the author of this work has

been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright,

Designs and Patent Act 1988.

part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of

the publisher.

ISBN 1 84511 196 6

EAN 978 1 84511 196 0

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt. Ltd.

Contents

Acknowledgements ix

List of Illustrations xii

Introduction 1

IAMoscow Education 5

II The War of 1812 16

III Literary Beginnings: St Petersburg 24

IV The Duel 32

V Into Exile 40

VI Arrival in Tiflis 47

VII Yermolov and Russian Imperialism 53

VIII Journey to Tehran 58

IX Tabriz and the Deserters 65

X Diplomatic Diversions 73

XI Return to Tiflis 82

XII Theatrical Campaigns, Moscow 88

XIII Woe from Wit 95

XIV Love and Politics, St Petersburg 107

XV Crimea and the Northern Caucasus 116

XVI The Decembrist Débacle 128

XVII The Persian Campaign 138

XVIII Armistice Negotiations 147

XIX The Treaty of Turkmanchai 153

XX A Hero’s Return 162

XXI Courtship and Marriage 170

XXII Tabriz to Tehran 179

XXIII Countdown to the Massacre 187

XXIV Diplomatic Repercussions 195

XXV The Aftermath 201

Appendix I: Griboyedov’s Death and the ‘British Conspiracy’ Theory 205

Appendix II: Table of Russian Ranks 223

Appendix III: Anglo–Russian Rivalry in Persia 224

Notes on the Text 227

Bibliography 288

Index 304

Acknowledgements

There is no full-length biography of Griboyedov in English; considering

his importance as a literary figure in Russia, there has also been com-

paratively little written about him in the West. In part this may be due

to the shortage of the necessary literature about him in university or

academic libraries. I should exemplify this by explaining how much

biographical material relating to Griboyedov and his contemporaries is

to be found in those two repositories of 19th century Russian history,

Russky Arkiv and Russkaya Starina: even the London Library, with its

first-class Russian collection, does not possess these series in full. Of

necessity, this book has been something of a pioneering work, involving

a decade of research, and including journeys to Russia, Georgia and the

Crimea. I am enormously grateful for the help and generosity I have

received on the way.

Among Western academics, my greatest debt is to Professor Evelyn

Harden, late of Fraser University, Vancouver. I have been able to draw

extensively from her PhD thesis for Harvard University in 1966,

analysing Yuri Tynianov’s historical work The Death of the Vazir

Mukhtar (i.e. Griboyedov). This exhaustive piece of scholarship has

provided me with many illuminating insights into Griboyedov’s diplomatic

role, and the history of Georgia, Persia and Armenia in the 1820s. I am

also grateful for her patience in reading a number of draft chapters, and

pointing out errors and omissions.

The search for rare books and studies of Griboyedov’s activities in

Georgia has led me to have recourse to the kindness of many inhabitants

of that most ancient corner of the world, notably Tamila Mgaloblishvili

and Irakli and Gela Charkviani; I am also very grateful to Liya Kiknadze

and Tamara Dragadze for checking the archives at their disposal for

details of Griboyedov’s role in repatriating Russian deserters to Tiflis.

Regrettably their researches have proved fruitless, perhaps because files

have been removed; the thorny problem of the deserters’ fate, and the

numbers involved, is still unsolved. My friend Gyorgy Putnikov, in

Moscow, has been equally unsuccessful in finding the answer.

On Persian questions, which involved a language I regret I cannot

speak or read, I owe a special mention to Sir Claus Moser for introducing

me to Dr John Gurney of the Oriental Institute in Oxford; thanks to Dr

Gurney I was able to enlist the help of the distinguished Persian historian

Dr Negin Nabavi in researching and interpreting Persian sources.

Thanks also to Dr Homa Katouzïan of Oxford for his professionalism in

defining the pound/toman exchange rates. I am deeply grateful to

Shusha Guppy and Shirin Mahdavi for their help and introductions. It

is also pleasant to record the high quality of the Persian section of the

Library of the Royal Geographical Society.

To the extent that this book makes a fresh contribution to our

understanding of the tangled story of Russian and Anglo–Persian relations

in the late 1820s, I have to express my gratitude to the helpful staff of

the India Office Library, and to Michael Blake and Dr Anthony

Farringdon. I must also offer my thanks to Sir Denis Wright, who with

his encyclopaedic knowledge of Anglo–Persian history, gave me many

generous leads, and unstinting encouragement at the right moment. I

must thank Lord Jellicoe for introducing me to Dr C.M. Woolgar at

Southampton University (Hartley Library), thus enabling me to use their

database of the Duke of Wellington’s papers in relation to British policy

decisions on Persia, Russia and the defence of India. The kindness

of Professor Malcolm Yapp in emerging, as it were, from retirement to

consider again the roles of Lord Ellenborough and the Duke of Wellington

in this area, was also very marked. I should also like to thank Martin

Tyson and the Duchess of Buccleuch for giving me access to the McNeill

papers in the Scottish Record Office; also Robin Smith at the Scottish

National Library; and Linda Shaw of Nottingham University. I owe

warmest and very special thanks to Professor Michael Rogers of SOAS

both for his meticulous and helpful reading of my final text, and for

investigating the records of the Turkish Foreign Office to see whether,

as suggested by the French Consul Charles de Gamba in Tiflis, the Turkish

Government had a hand in instigating Griboyedov’s murder. To the

best of my knowledge this work has never been attempted before; his

negative conclusions effectively dispose of the suggestion.

In Moscow, I have to thank Gyorgy Putnikov and Evgenii Tsymbal

for procuring out-of-date articles, and for their scholar’s instincts in

rooting them out. In St Petersburg I owe thanks to Irina Chistova of

Irli, Pushkin House, for including me in the Griboyedov bicentenary

celebrations in January 1995, and to Anna V. Kornilova for her

unbounded help and expertise over picture research. Thanks also to

Galina Andreyeva at the Tretyakov Museum in Moscow for help over the

Teleshova portrait. Among Russian friends in the West, Nathalie Brooke,

Nina and Nikita Lobanov Rostovsky, Sophie Lund, the late Victor Volkov-

Muromtsov (whose father owned Khmelita), George Vassilchikov and

Kyril Zinoviev have given me generous help and advice. Lastly Professor

Alexander Bonduriansky at the Moscow State Conservatoire for his help

identifying opera seria played in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran

During the long gestation of this book I have been greatly indebted

to those who culled sense from my first drafts, and helped later with the

laborious task of straightening out the manuscript and notes: Linda

Deschampneufs, Elizabeth Hord, Carolyn Madden, Mary Young and

Mary Scott, whose skills at her word processor solved many problems. My

daughter Rosanna has made a most valuable contribution, especially in

helping with translations. I owe a further debt to my editor, Dr Lester

Crook, and to Robert Hastings and Linda Robinson. Finally, my heartfelt

gratitude goes to my wife Linda, for her work in editing the manuscript,

and for her support in the aftermath of a debilitating stroke. Without

her help, this book would never have progressed to a manageable state.

Acknowledgements