The History of the Arrest of Shevchenko’s Friends Viktor and Mykhailo Zakrevskyi, Serhii de Balmen in 1848 (To the 210th Anniversary of the Birth of Taras Shevchenko)

Abstract

The aim is to examine the documents about the arrest of V. and M. Zakrevskyi and S. de Balmen in 1848. Achieving the goal involves performing the following tasks: to define the history of the study of the topic “mochymordy” and T. Shevchenko; establish a storage place (archive) for two investigative files of poet friends; analyze the documents involving the writer (the interrogation protocols of the arrested, description of seized Shevchenkiana); emphasize the importance of documents in studying the life and work of T. Shevchenko; disclose the investigation into the participation military in the ball of T. Volkhovska and the consequences of the events in Moisіvka for them.

Archival primary sources were reviewed using general Scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, description, generalization), historical-literary, textological, and source studies (historical-genetic, biographical, cultural-historical, comparative, heuristic, critical).

Scientific novelty and the results. The discovered materials deepen the biographies of Shevchenko’s friends: there is information about the birth, education, character, detailed descriptions of the military career and legacy of V. and M. Zakrevskyi. From the biography of M. Zakrevskyi, it became known that he, as a soldier of the imperial army, took part in the subjugation of the Caucasian peoples, and probably it was his memories that T. Shevchenko used when writing the poem “The Caucasus”. The only known letter of the writer S. Zakrevska from 10 July 1848 is valuable for literary studies. In particular, it tells about the cholera pandemic of 1848 and Ukrainian nature. The appearance of V. Zakrevskyі is described too. His verbal portrait corresponds to a pencil drawing by T. Shevchenko, the accuracy of which was debated in the last century. Provided at the request of the gendarmes, they are nevertheless not devoid of essential details and sincerity. A review of the poem “The Tryzna”, which was written at the request of the 3rd Department, was published for the first time. The edition of this poem (1844), along with several of Shevchenko’s letters, was seized from V. Zakrevskyі. It has been established that the third part of the documents reveals the participation of the military in T. Volkhovska’s banquet. The events in Moіsivka influenced the conclusion about the behavior of the hussars during their inspection in the spring of 1848 and led to the transfer of several Polish officers to other regiments. The published primary sources can be used in the preparation of a new academic biography of T. Shevchenko, during the compiling of the compendium of Shevchenko’s documents, for commenting on his works, etc.