Who is the Shamakhan Queen?

Some historians and art historians believe that the image of the Shamakhan Queen does not belong to a certain type of national culture, nor to any historical era. And they consider her a character not only folklore, but literary, that is, completely fictional. Other researchers and critics claim that the mysterious eastern diva has very real prototypes.

At the beginning of the 19th century, in Russian literature, along with the images of the beautiful Slavic princesses, such as the Tsar Maiden in the poem by G. Derzhavin (1816) and the beautiful Zarya-Zaryanitsa in the tale of P. Ershov “The Little Humpbacked Horse” (1833), an amazing and unusual one appears the character is a Basurman warrior maiden, not at all like a golden-haired bastard. In 1834, P. Katenin's poem “Princess Milusha” and “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel” by A. Pushkin were published. The black-browed chubby beauty in the image of the Shamakhan queen is present in the authors of both literary works. And as you know, the creation of a literary hero is most often based on the use of prototypes.

Imagery of the Shamakhan Queen

The most common assumption that the Queen of Shamakhan had a historical prototype is related to the person of Ivan the Terrible's second wife. Russian monarchs often related to foreigners, entering into interstate marriages. This helped strengthen the state and prevented incest. But for the first time in history, a representative of the Caucasian peoples became the wife of Rusich. The pride of the Adygs, the Pyatigorsk Circassian Goshan (Kucheni) was the daughter of the Kabardian prince Temryuk, who in 1557 initiated the conclusion of an alliance of the Caucasian states with Russia. Her amazing beauty and witchcraft female charms haunted the recently widowed Russian Tsar. Becoming the wife of Ivan the Terrible, the highland princess was named Maria of Circassia and stayed Russian queen for more than seven years.

The young Basurman tried to fulfill her duties and be a conductor of the interests of Caucasian diplomacy in Russia. But she did this very ineptly, devoting much less time to state issues than to joys, funs and hunting. Being a kind of impudent, ambitious, possessing a wild disposition and a rigid soul, she was completely foreign in the Russian environment. Maria Temryukovna gained fame as a “black crow”, a frenzied Circassian and a wild steppe cat. Her negative influence on the king is explained by his manifestation of a tendency to terror and cruelty. History is silent about how Ivan Vasilievich managed to free himself from the charms of an oriental beauty. But there were rumors that after her death, Ivan the Terrible vowed to no longer marry foreigners.

The assumption that Pushkin used Maria Cherkasskaya as the prototype of the Shamakhan queen for her fairy tale belonged to A. Akhmatova. But the Pushkinists say that this is not so.

There is a version that the Georgian queen from the Bagration dynasty Tamara became the prototype of the mysterious Shamakhan queen. Her reign in the history of Georgia is called the "golden age" and the heyday of Georgia. A contemporary called her not a queen, but a king, for she ruled wisely and fairly, she was an excellent diplomat and a good military leader, she herself could lead the army. For great achievements, diligence and industriousness, mercy and obedience, the Georgian church ranked Queen Tamar among the saints. “A vessel of wisdom, a smiling sun, a radiant face, a reed slim” - not all the epithets that were rightly awarded to court poets of the 12th century.

Having ascended the throne, the clever and strong-willed daughter of George III could not rule without a reliable comrade-in-arms and military leader. She chooses herself the husband of the son of Andrei of Bogolyubsky, Prince Yuri of Russia. For Tamara, this marriage was political, concluded in the interests of the state. And the prince in love was captured by Tamara's enchanting beauty and could not imagine life without a queen. His heart is broken forever. But the queen was cold to her husband, and he began the struggle for love, deciding to conquer it with a weapon. Yuri sows confusion among the Georgian people, raising people to revolt against the ruler. Sent to Byzantium, collects the Greek army and again goes to war on Georgia. He even went to the Polovtsy to recruit an army and defeat Tamara in battle. There would be no end to the misfortunes of the Russian prince, if he had not been defeated in the battle against the army, which Tamara herself led. Realizing that in this way you cannot return family happiness, Yuri left the Georgian kingdom forever. But he did not return to Russian lands to his father, having disappeared forever, it is not known where.

Thus was born the legend of the enchanting and destructive beauty of Queen Tamara, which was reflected not only in Georgian folklore, but also in the legends of the Russian people. It is believed that one of these legends was told by the nanny to the great poet, and inspired him to create the character of the Shamakhan queen in the fairy tale.

Another of the prototypes of the Shamakhan queen is recognized by the Avar Hansha Pahu-bike. Being the regent of the minor heir to the Khan of the accident, Sultan-Ahmed, who died in 1826, she was in fact the ruler of Khunzakh. The Hansha took state decisions with general consent and advice from associates, for which she was highly respected by the people. Active and belligerent, intelligent and beautiful, this woman rode on her possessions on horseback, accompanied by a retinue. The ruler became famous because during religious strife in Dagestan she was able to inspire the Abreks to fight the army of Imam Kazi-mullah. This victory, as well as the Pahu-beke war with the Avar rulers Gazi-Muhammad and Gamzat, were aimed at improving relations with the Russian authorities in the Caucasus.

It is believed that it was this image that was taken as the basis by P. Kotenin when creating the character of the fairy-tale poem "Princess Milusha" (1834). The shamahan queen is called Zyulfira, which means "having superiority." She is a rival of Milusha, whose groom, Vseslav Golitsa, enters into a struggle for her lands with Zyulfira. However, the Russian prince falls under the spell of the virgin warrior, whose appearance was taken by the sorceress of Proved in order to test him for fidelity to the bride. And the Shamakhan queen conquers, not allowing her to conquer the rightful lands to the stranger.

It is worth noting that an appeal to these historical figures, as prototypes of the eastern diva, is quite likely. Since the beginning of the 19th century, when literary works appeared in which there is a mention of a mysterious Basurman ruler, it was marked by the inclusion of some regions of the Caucasus in Russia.