1st Edition

The Intriguing Life and Ignominious Death of Maurice Benyovszky

By Andrew Drummond Copyright 2018
    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    Published in 1790, Maurice Benyovszky’s posthumous memoir was an instant sensation. A tale of exploration and adventure beginning with his daring escape from a Siberian prison and ending with his coronation as King of Madagascar, it was translated into several languages and adapted for the theatre and opera. This book explores the veracity of this memoir and, more broadly, the challenges faced by the explorers of the age and the brutality of colonisation.

    The self-styled Hungarian Baron Maurice Auguste Aladar Benyovszky, Counsellor to the Duke of Saxony and Colonel in the service of the Queen of Hungary, was in fact only confirmed to have been an officer in a regiment of the Polish Confederation of Bar. While he did escape from Russian captors and subsequently travel to Japan, Formosa, China and Madagascar, many of his exploits were wildly exaggerated or simply invented. Andrew Drummond reveals an alternative picture of events by looking at statements from Benyovszky’s travelling companions and sceptical officials as well as contemporary documents from the places he claimed to have visited, untangling the truth behind his stories and examining what these stories can nonetheless tell us about the era in which Benyovszky lived.

    Witty and engagingly written, this book is fascinating reading for anyone interested in eighteenth-century colonial history and the story of early European and Russian explorers.

     

    List of illustrations
    List of maps

    Foreword 

    Chap. I

    MACAO

    Chap. II

    CHRONICLERS

    Chap. III

    POLAND AND SIBERIA

    Chap. IV

    KAMCHATKA

    Chap. V

    STEPANOV’S ACCOUNT

    Chap. VI

    RYUMIN’S ACCOUNT

    Chap. VII

    MAURITIUS

    Chap. VIII

    GENTLEMEN

    Chap. IX

    LADIES

    Chap. X

    RETURN FROM PARIS

    Chap. XI

    IZMAILOV

    Chap. XII

    SCAPEGOATS.

    Chap. XIII

    BENYOVSZKY’S ACCOUNTS

    Chap. XIV

    EXILED TO SIBERIA

    Chap. XV

    KAMCHATKAN ROMANCES

    Chap. XVI

    THE GREAT ESCAPE

    Chap. XVII

    THE FUR-TRADE

    Chap. XVIII

    A GENTLEMAN PIRATE

    Chap. XIX

    A VOYAGE NORTH

    Chap. XX

    THE ISLAND OF LIQUOR

    Chap. XXI

    WHAT THE JAPANESE THOUGHT

    Chap. XXII

    THE RYÜKYÜ ISLANDS

    Chap. XXIII

    FORMOSA

    Chap. XXIV

    MACAO

    Chap. XXV

    MAURITIUS

    Chap. XXVI

    MADAGASCAR - THE PROJECT

    Chap. XXVII

    MADAGASCAR - THE REALITY

    Chap. XXVIII

    EUROPE AND AMERICA

    Chap. XXIX

    RETURN TO MADAGASCAR

    Chap. XXX

    HISTORIES

    Chap. XXXI

    A FINAL AUDIT

    Appendices

    Index

    Biography

    Andrew Drummond is based in Edinburgh, UK. He holds a degree in Modern Languages from Aberdeen University and a post-graduate degree in German Studies from King’s College, London. His publications include An Abridged History (2004), A Hand-book of Volapük (2006), Elephantina (2008) and Novgorod the Great (2010), the first of which was short-listed for the Saltire Society’s First Book of the Year award, and he has recently had several short stories published in anthologies.