MÓRIC BENYOVSZKY
MÓRIC BENYOVSZKY |
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Móric Benyovszky was an adventurer who died in 1786, aged not quite forty. He was born in 1746 in the old Kingdom of Hungary (in a town which is now in Slovakia). Into his short life he packed more excitements and travels than any man could reasonably hope for. Fighting for the Polish insurgents in their brief war of independence against Imperial Russia, he was captured and sent to Siberia. He escaped Kamchatka in an act of incredible chutzpah and daring. He then visited the cold shores of Alaska, a number of the Aleutian islands, several Pacific islands of paradise, skipped down far Japan, fought a war on Formosa, and arrived in enigmatical China. Later he established himself in the wildly fecund island of Madagascar and was made King by the grateful native peoples. After a period in Europe and the USA, he tried a second time - and failed - to set up a trading colony in Madagascar, and was eventually shot and killed there by French troops.
His traveller's tales, when they appeared in 1790 as Memoirs and Travels of Mauritius Augustus Count de Benyowsky, Magnate of the Kingdoms of Hungary and Poland, were a publishing sensation. In a period when the Far East was still quite unknown, the Memoirs took Europe by storm and were assiduously pirated all over the civilised world. Stage-plays and operas were written celebrating his life. He became - and still is - a national hero in Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
The problem for the modern biographer is that much of this autobiography is either completely fictitious, or merely heavily embroidered.
Which is not to say that Benyovszky did not visit some of the places he claims to have visited, and meet some of the people he claims to have met. It's just that he got carried away. And therein, still, lies the heady attraction of his Memoirs. They take us back to a world that was still shiny and new, and lead us deep into the psyche of the European and Russian explorers of the 18th century. The chronicled life of Móric Benyovszky both entertains and instructs. The past is a place of some amusement for us sophisticates. But here we see an unknown world through Benyovszky's eyes, we stand in the shoes of his companions (those shoes, at least, which had not been boiled and eaten on a particularly famished day on the high seas).
Fortunately, two of the Baron's travelling companions on the voyage from Kamchatka to Macao also kept logs of their experiences. Certainly, these were by no means as detailed or as melodramatic as the Baron's. For all that, they have the ring of truth. One in particular, by the clerk Ivan Ryumin - who clearly came on the voyage just to get away from Kamchatka - is a delight: Ryumin was an avid collector of new experiences and didn't mind who knew it. These travellers' tales, and corroborating reports from contemporary Russian authorities, are now presented to the discerning public for the first time in English. Additionally, during Benyovszky's adventurous times on Madagascar, the French authorities on nearby Mauritius kept a careful note of what he did and did not do. Aligning these accounts with Benyovsky's own journals is the purpose of my book.
Copies of The Intriguing Life and Ignominious Death of Maurice Benyovszky can be acquired direct from the publisher, Routledge; or from any of the usual on-line - or even brick-and-mortar - bookshops.
September 2022
Those very tolerant people at the History Workshop have agreed to host my lament on the travails of a modern writer. The question of Benyovszky's nationality is a thorny one: was he Hungarian, Polish, Slovak or - perhaps - a citizen of the world? It depends on which century you live in, I suppose... and which country you call home. Click here to read my article, Wikipedia and the Hungarian Pole from Slovakia - and, of course, the many other good essays on history which are hosted on the History Workshop website...May/June 2022
A film and a talk! Polish film-makers Katarzyna Trzaska and Marek Kucharski are engaged in producing a film reflecting on the life of Benyovszky and his legacy today. It is entitled "Being Benovsky", and although still at a relatively early stage of production, it is moving along nicely. Marek and his film-crew came over from Poland in early May, to conduct an interview with me in Edinburgh. I eagerly await the results!
Contact me if you seek clarification or have anything to offer in the way of evidence of Benyovszky's activities. All reasonable criticisms and/or new insights are welcome!
Because of problems with spam-bots, you should use your standard email facility to contact me.
The email address to use is as follows: the first part is our subject's forename (maurice), then put in the usual @-sign, and then tack on the main part of the website name (andy[****]mond.net). That should do it.
Forgive the nervous circumspection...spam-bots are tricky little things, humans less so (marginally) !
