14 Replies to “The Polish quest for Arabian horses”

  1. In 2003 I wrote in Arabic an article on “Tag el Faher abd el Nischaane”(as the Arab used to called him) or Count Rzewuski ,which photo is shown,using drawnings of his on Bedouin life and stuning painting showing the different parts of an Arab horse written in Arabic by the Count.
    Rzewuski learned Arabic with he Lebanese scholar Antun Arida in Vienna.His life story worth a movie ,his fights against the Wahabis and his love story with Lady Stanhope in Lebanon(the breeder of the famed “Nichab” which post card is sold until today in the famous French Haras de Pompadour).
    If Edouard can fix my post I wiil scan Rzewuski’s paintings and post them they are beautiful.If someone goes to Poland look in the Warsaw museum for the Rzewuski manuscript in French.

  2. Impressions D’Orient Et D’Arabie: Un Cavalier Polonais Chez Les Bedouins, 1817-1819

    Authors: Wacaw Seweryn Rzewuski, Bernadette Lizet
    Language: French
    Format: Book (Illustrated), 711 pages
    Publication Date: January 2002
    Publisher: Unknown
    ISBN-10: 2714307973
    ISBN-13: 9782714307972

  3. Impressions d’Orient et d’Arabie. Un cavalier polonais chez les Bédouins, 1817-1819 (Broché)
    de Waclav-Seweryn Rzewuski (Auteur)

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  4. ANTHROPOZOOLOGICA • 2004 • 39 (1) © Publications Scientifiques du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. Le cheval arabe du Nejd et le système
    des races orientales dans le manuscrit
    de Wenceslas Severyn RzewuskiBernadette LIZETCNRS, UMR 5145,Éco-anthropologie et ethnobiologie,Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle,43 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris (France)lizet@mnhn.frLizet B. 2004. – Le cheval arabe du Nejd et le système des races orientales dans le manus-
    crit de Wenceslas Severyn Rzewuski. Anthropozoologica 39 (1) : 79-97.RÉSUMÉ
    Dans le manuscrit français du comte polonais Wenceslas Severyn Rzewuski
    Sur les chevaux orientaux et provenants [sic] des races orientales (publié en 2003
    sous le titre Impressions d’Orient et d’Arabie), le mot « race » revient près de
    trois cent cinquante fois. Quels sens l’auteur, neveu du célèbre voyageur
    orientaliste Jan Potocki, lui donne-t-il ? Quel système classificatoire s’est-il
    efforcé de construire avec sa « nomenclature des races orientales », sa « table
    de gradation du sang de chevaux » ou encore la « gradation de l’affection des
    habitants de la péninsule Arabique pour les chevaux » (autre manière de juger
    de la qualité de leur « sang », c’est-à-dire de la valeur de la race) ? Les
    constructions intellectuelles de Wenceslas Severyn Rzewuski sont analysées
    pour elles-mêmes, et confrontées aux théories savantes en vigueur dans le
    monde du cheval européen. Elles permettent de préciser le portrait de cet aris-
    tocrate orientaliste désargenté, parti en expédition chez les Bédouins nomades
    du Nejd d’Arabie pour acheter des chevaux.ABSTRACT
    The Arabian horse of the Nejd and the system of Oriental breeds in the manu-
    script of Wenceslas Severyn Rzewuski.
    In his French manuscript, Sur les chevaux orientaux et provenants [sic] des races
    orientales (On Oriental horses and horses from Oriental breeds, published in
    France in 2003 under the title Impressions d’Orient et d’Arabie), the Polish
    count Wenceslas Severyn Rzewuski uses the word “race” (breed) three hun-
    dred and fifty times. What meaning did the author, nephew of the famous
    Orientalist traveller Jan Potocki, intend for this word? What sort of classifica-
    tion system did he attempt to establish through his “list of Oriental breeds”,MOTS CLÉSCheval, Bédouins, Nejd, race, sang, théorie de l’élevage.

    1. The original manuscript “”Les cheval…”, written in Frenchby Count Rzewuski, is located in Warsaw, in the National Library since 1927.

  5. From Princess Radziwill recollections London 1904:
    “Her daughter, rescued later on by my grand-
    father, married her cousin, Wenceslas Rzewuski,
    who also met with a strange fate. He was one
    of the leaders of the great Pohsh mutiny of the
    year 1830, and disappeared mysteriously during the
    battle of Daszow. A legend says he made his
    escape to the East, and lived there for many
    years in the mountains of Libanus. He had
    been before that a great traveller in Syria and an
    admirer of Lady Hester Stanhope, and among his
    family papers my father had curious letters from
    her addressed to the golden-bearded Hetman, as
    he is called to this day in Little Russia, v^^here
    minstrels still wander, singing ballads about him
    and his exploits. His sword was picked up on the
    battlefield by a Russian officer, who was killed
    himself at the siege of Sevastopol, and when dying
    gave it to my father, who always looked upon
    it as one of his most precious possessions. It
    bears the following inscription in Polish : ‘ Sewerin
    Rzewuski, second Hetman of the Republic, son of
    Wenceslas Rzewuski, great Hetman of the Re-
    public, grandson of Stanislas Rzewuski, great Het-
    man of the Republic, gives this sword to his son
    and comrade Wenceslas Sewerin, for the defence
    of faith and liberty.’ What became of the owner
    of the weapon no one knows, and he rests in his
    unconsecrated grave, far away from all his kindred,
    from all those he loved and who loved him.

    He left three sons: the youngest entered the
    Russian service and was killed in the Caucasus.
    The eldest, Stanislas, was at one time a candidate
    for the throne of Belgium, and died from a fall from
    his horse. The only one who survived sold the
    old family castle to Prince Sanguszko”

    Can you imagine us, Edouard, looking for his ancestors in our mountains!!!!

    1. I am terribly sorry to advise you that Count Rzewuski did not escape his fate in Orient. He was killed in his estate in Volyń (today’s Ukraine) protesting requisition of his purebred horses in 1931.

      1. Anna, thank you for your contributions to this thread! I’d only heard the story that Rzewuski went off to fight in the Polish uprising and never returned, but that his saddled horse came back blood-stained. I take it that was also a fiction, then? For my part, I have quite a few questions for you, especially about the possibility of an affordable, good edition of Rzewuski’s manuscript, in French and in English!

  6. Fascinating, Joe! I am familiar with the article and glad to see it republished here…it definitely belongs here…and your additional information is priceless. Maybe some day on our way to our from Hungary we could go to Poland and then try to see copy of the Rzewuski manuscript.

    1. My ancestors were Related to Count Rzewuski. I was brought up on stories about Emir Task, his friendship with Lady Heather Stanhope (I believe their letters were published in French). I am happy to respond to questions. I speak English, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, French and Spanish. I can assist with translations of any documents as a registered translator and interpreter. I am located in Australia.

  7. Some books from the count Rzewuski’s library are located in Vienna, some in St. Petersbpurg, one manuscript on arabic horses belongs to the National Library in Warsaw.

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