Jean-Baptiste Tavernier - The Later Years

The Later Years

The closing years of Tavernier's life are not well documented; the times were not favorable for a Protestant in France. In 1684 Tavernier traveled to Brandenburg at the request of the Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg, to discuss the Elector's scheme to charter his own East India Company. The Elector wished Tavernier to become his ambassador to India. He awarded Tavernier the honorary posts of Chamberlain and Counselor of Marine. The scheme, unfortunately, came to nothing.

In 1679 Louis XIV began to seriously undermine his Protestant subjects. He established the Bureau of Conversion to reward Catholic converts. In January 1685, Tavernier managed to sell his Château Aubonne to marquis Henri du Quesne for 138,000 livres plus 3,000 livres for horses and carriages. His timing was good,: in October of the same year, Louis XIV repealed the Edict of Nantes. Louis then instituted the Verification of Nobility which deprived those Protestant nobleman who refused to convert to Catholicism, of their titles.

In 1687, despite an edict prohibiting Protestants from leaving France, he left Paris and traveled to Switzerland. In 1689 he passed through Berlin and Copenhagen and entered Russia on a passport from the King of Sweden, perhaps with the intent of traveling overland to India. It is not known if he met with Czar Peter who was just 17 years old at that time. What is known is that Tavernier, as with all foreigners resident in Moscow, would have been required, by imperial decree, to take up residence in the foreign quarter, known as the German Suburb (Nemetskaya Sloboda). Peter was very interested in all things foreign and had many friends in the suburb and spent a great deal of time there beginning in mid March 1689. Tavernier arrived in Moscow in late February or early March of that year. Tavernier was a famous man. Given Peter's curious nature, it would be surprising if they did not meet.

"Not satisfied with a life of wealth (he acquired the barony of Aubonne, near Geneva, after his sixth voyage) and sedentary lifestyle, in 1687 he left for Switzerland, then Berlin, Copenhagen and finally Moscow on his way back to Persia. He died in Moscow in 1689, at the ripe age of eighty-four. Tavernier was the model of the inveterate traveler, as well as the most consequential diamond dealer of his age. His remarkable three hundred year old book (Le Six Voyages...1677) tells the stories of many significant gems that remain in the public mind today."

Tavernier's biographer Charles Joret, produced a fragment of an article published in a Danish journal by Frederick Rostgaard who states that he interviewed the aging adventurer and was told of his intention to travel to Persia via Moscow. He was, not however able to complete this last journey. Although there is no direct evidence of this fact, Tavernier probably died in Moscow in 1689 at the age of 84. An In Search Of episode (Narrated By Leonard Nimoy) called: "The Diamond Curse," repeats a persistent myth that Tavernier was torn apart by wild dogs because of the curse of a blue diamond (Subsequently Called Hope Diamond) he acquired through deception and murder. See In Search Of: "The Diamond Curse" available on DVD and/or on YouTube for clarification.