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Issues of 2008
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The Order of the Last Crimean Khan
“The Order of the Crimean Khan, spangled with diamonds, and an epaulet with rubies and diamonds priced at 6,000 rubles” from the Imperial Cabinet was disassembled on June 3, 1801. This short note in an archive document has made historians think about several questions: what Russian order was it, who was the first owner of the order, how did the decoration awarded to an eastern ruler appear at the Imperial jewelry depository in St. Petersburg? In search for answers, we referred to the national history of the Russian state. By XVIII century, the territory of the once powerful Golden Horde Empire comprised only the Crimean Khanate, which was governed by direct descendants of Genghis Khan. The Empress Catherine II clearly remembered advices of the state chancellor Count Michael Vorontsov: “The Crimean peninsula is a strategically important spot for the Russian Empire. It is the key for both Russian and Turkish southern territories. Until the Crimea remains loyal to the Turkish sultan Russian lands will never be safe…”. In 1768, the ruler of the Sublime Porte ordered his vassal Crimean khan Krym-Girey to commit an assault upon Russian southern provinces and “burn and devastate everything and everyone Tatars can reach”. In 1771, the Russian army under the command of General-an-chef Duke Vasiliy Dolgorukov, which guarded the southern borders, launched attack on the peninsula and captured it. The successor of Krym-Girey khan Devlet-Girey managed to flee. Dreaming to become independent from Turkey, the majority of the Crimean population elected a new khan Sahib-Girey on July 27. The latter declared the Crimea an autonomous state and appointed his brother Shagin-Girey (or Shakh-in-Girey) an heir to the throne. Soon after that, Shagin-Girey went to St. Petersburg to settle some problems concerning a number of border fortresses. The distinguished guest arrived in the Russian capital in autumn. The Empress Catherine II learned from reports of her Bakhchisarai agent (the capital of the Crimean khanate) that “this Girey is loved and respected by all of his minions”, especially by Nogai. The first public audience of Shagin-Girey to Her Majesty took place at the Winter Palace on December 4. He was treated with respect as the future independent Nogaian khan. The courtiers showered caresses upon Shagin-Girey, while the Empress presented the khan a golden saber decorated with numerous gemstones made under a special order by jeweler Joachim Hasselgren and Imperial diamond workshop after design of Leopold Pfisterer. Shagin-Girey was also given silver table-set, a “splendid” fur coat, a diamond ring, a golden snuffbox and twenty thousand rubles as spending money. Northern Semiramide shared her impressions about the descendant of Genghis-Khan with her trusted Western pen friends Voltaire and Madame Bielke: “The brother of the independent Crimean sultan is our guest now. He is a young man, about twenty five years old. He is very clever and eager to learn… This young man is the most graceful Tatar I have ever seen: he is handsome, smart and educated as a European man; he writes poetry and has an inquiring mind. Everybody loves him. He never misses a single performance, on Sundays he visits the Smolny monastery (institute for girls from noble families) and watches students dancing”. It should come in no surprise that Shagin-Girey was in love with European culture. He was born around 1748 in Adrianopole and got his initial education there. Then he continued his study in Thessalonica and Venice. He felt quite at home in Arabic, Greek and Italian languages. In St. Petersburg, he was learning Russian and often visited the Imperial balls and receptions. Due to the lack of money, Shagin-Girey pawned the ring and the snuffbox presented by the Empress. In order to avoid scandal, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Count Nikita Panin had to redeem the pieces himself. Shagin-Girey became the lawful monarch of Nogaians only at the late 1776. On April 21, 1777, according to the third article of the Kuchuk-Kainargiisky treaty, he was declared the sovereign of the Crimea. The Turkish Empire officially acknowledged sovereignty of the state only two years later after signing the Ainelli-Kovack convention. The new ruler assumed absolute authority over the country and started several reforms. However, the innovations caused mass uprisings. The Russian troops crushed the rebels and the vengeful khan cruelly punished his enemies. But it was only a beginning. A new wave of revolts ran down the country after Shagin-Girey was awarded the rank of captain of the Russian Imperial Lifeguard. On October 4, 1781, following the wish of her protege, Catherine II with her own hand signed the edict giving Shagin-Girey the desired rank. While such a mark of distinction was quite habitual for European monarchs and nobility, in the Crimea, the khan’s foes accused Shagin-Girey of treason and unfaithfulness to Islam and old traditions. At the beginning, Catherine II patronized Shagin-Girey. On June 3, 1782, she wrote Grigoriy Potemkin, her lover and prominent statesman: “we have to protect our borders and our friend the Crimean khan as well”. However, soon she realized that even military aid of the Russian Empire could not preserve the throne for the weak descendant of Genghis-Khan. On December 14, 1782, the Empress secretly ordered Potemkin to prepare annexation of the Crimean khanate. The Russians bought a large and strategically important Akhtiarskaya harbor (Sevastopol harbor now) from Shagin-Girey. By the time, almost everyone in the Crimean kingdom hated the khan because of cruel executions of his coreligionists. Thus, Shagin-Girey decided to abdicate the throne on April 17, 1783.
However, the former ruler was an undesirable in the Crimea as his presence hindered the process of integration of the Crimea in the Russian Empire (Tatars and Nogaians looked forward to swear an oath of loyalty to the Russian Empress). Shagin-Girey delayed his departure on some pretext or other hoping that either the Ottoman Empire or European countries would be displeased with annexation of the Crimea. Suddenly, Shagin-Girey asked for an audience with Potemkin. Being the captain of the Russian Guard, he requested the rank of General for the length of service and the most important Russian order — the Order of St. Andrew. That order was worn on a blue ribbon over the left heap. The order represented a double-headed eagle with three crowns and a cross with the image of the crucified apostle. St. Andrew is the saint patron f Russia; he was preaching Christianity in the Crimea as well. The cross of St. Andrew was also placed in the center of the eight-pointed star; there was a also a circumscription-motto “For faith and faithfulness”. Over the motto there was a crown held by angels. On May 18, 1783, Duke Potemkin wrote a letter to St. Petersburg informing the Empress about the caprice of Chagin-Girey. Being a resourceful politician, Catherine II managed to deal with the new difficulty. On June 5, Catherine wrote to her “dear friend”: “In order to satisfy the khan’s desire and still to preserve everything that we should, I ordered to make a blue ribbon worn across the shoulder, and an oval medallion decorated with diamonds with an inscription of the word “Faithfulness” from the Order’s motto. The diamond star of the order will have the same inscription. Tell him that neither he cannot have a cross on, nor I cannot give it to him, as he is not Christian. I grant him a blue ribbon with an inscription from the Order of St. Andrew and a rank of General-lieutenant”. The important and urgent task to create the modified Order of St. Andrew was given to Jean-Pierre Adore, one of the best jewelers of St. Petersburg. On June 26, 1783, the Swiss jeweler sent a bill in French stating that after the order of General Bezborodko (for the Imperial Court) he had created a star decorated with diamonds (9,500 rubles worth), a similar medallion (2,900 rubles) and an epaulet with diamonds and spinels (3,100 rubles). The epaulet was meant to hold the ribbon. Although the Order had been immediately delivered to the Crimea, Catherine II signed an edict granting the jeweler Adore 15,000 rubles (from the funds of the Imperial Cabinet) only on October 12, 1783. The Empress was very pleased with annexation of such a bonne bouche as the Crimea. However, the last Crimean khan managed to escape to the town of Taman. He wrote the Empress that he would carefully keep the honorable award but could not wear it because of “old traditions and beliefs”. On January 8, 1784 the Turkish sultan Abdul-Hamid officially recognized the new Russian territory — the Crimea. On May 15, Shagin-Girey traveled to Taganrog by the frigate “St. Nicolas”, and then to Voronezh. On July 20, he expressed a wish to return the presented Order to the Russian Imperial Court. At the late September 1784, in order to commemorate the annexation of the Crimea to the Russian Empire masters of the Imperial Porcelain factory produced the so-called “Arabesque” service for sixty persons consisting of 973 pieces. The service was meant for diplomatic receptions at the Imperial Court. One of the main compositions depicted was titled “The Crimea-Tavria under the reign of Catherine II”. In January 1785, Shagin-Girey was taken to Kaluga, where he was sending numerous pleas to the Empress to let him go to Turkey. On January 27, 1787, the former sovereign of the Crimea and Kuban crossed the Russian border. First, the Turks rolled out the red carpet for him, but soon the khan whose kin was more noble than the one of the ruler of the Sublime Porte was sent to Rhodes. In August, the sultan granted the exiled khan a silk slipknot. That was how the last Crimean khan went out of the world. Fifteen years later the unique modified Order of St. Andrew was broken. The fate of the star made by Jean-Pierre Adore remains unknown even today, as its design (the central circle and the motto) could be seriously altered. By the way, in October 1788, His Serene Highness Duke Potemkin of Tavria (the Crimea) asked Catherine II to award the nephew of Shagin-Girey. The Empress agreed: “I ordered to make a special Order of St. Vladimir for Selim-Girey. I think the Order of the 2nd grade will be enough for him, as he is not a General. However, I suppose that he will not accept the award like his uncle did not accept it, because they don’t value such awards as we usually do”. The Empress was right. The descendant of Genghis-Khan took the Order, but in 1789 deserted to Turkey.
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