Kaukaz w relacji polskiego zesłańca – Antoniego Floriana Zielińskiego

Electronic version of the publication available under CC BY-SA 4.0 license after 12 months from the date of release: June 2024

Caucasus in the account of a Polish exile – Antoni Florian Zieliński

The book Caucasus in the account of a Polish exile – Antoni Florian Zieliński, presents the profile and achievements of Antoni Florian Zieliński, who in 1838 was sentenced by a Russian court to perform military service in the Caucasus for his participation in the Szymon Konarski conspiracy. During his exile, he went on many expeditions as a soldier of the Caucasian Corps to the North Caucasus, distinguishing himself in combat. He was wounded three times, which enabled him to advance to a higher military rank. He stayed there for almost twenty years and during this time he collected valuable information about the customs of the inhabitants of the northern part of the region. After returning to his homeland, he used them to write an interesting description of the customs of the Caucasian tribes he had met. He titled it „Description of the tribes of Caucasian highlanders, with their rites and customs in civil war and home life.” After the author’s death, the document was transferred to the National Institute of Ossoliński, where it has been kept until today. The account is a valuable contribution to the ethnographic research of the region.

The monograph consists of three parts. The first is devoted to the presentation of Zieliński’s biography and events in which he participated. The second part contains an edition of the above-mentioned document “Description of the tribes of the Caucasian highlanders”, enriched with extensive comments and explanations. Such an arrangement of content made it possible to present the man first, and then his work. In the first part, Zieliński’s participation in the conspiracy of Szymon Konarski, which after the November Uprising covered the borderlands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Vilnius to Kiev, was noted. The plundering by Russia of one of the most important Polish educational institutions in this area − Krzemieniec High School and the Polish contribution to the creation of the Kiev university were recalled. The hero of the book, employed at this university, participated in conspiratorial meetings of Polish conspirators, for which he was sentenced in 1838 by a Russian court to penal exile to perform military service in the Caucasus.

Zieliński was not a significant person because of his origin and position in the underground structures. However, he is included in the Polish group of Caucasian poets, whose members left literary works devoted to the Caucasus in the 19th century. Zieliński was distinguished from the others by the fact that his most important achievement was available only in manuscript, and therefore only a few researchers knew about it. Professors Bohdan Baranowski and Andrzej Chodubski made unsuccessful attempts to publish the manuscript. This book fulfills these intentions, thus closing a long period of efforts to publish Zieliński’s account.