Sheikh Batal-Hadji Belkharoev and His Wird in Memoirs of the English Traveler and Journalist J.F. Baddeley

Abstract

The article examines the circumstances and context of the meeting of the sheikh Batal-Hadji Belkharoev and John F. Baddeley (an English author and traveler who visited Russia at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries). Drawing on the evidences of the locals, that are presented in Baddeley’s recollections, I further discuss the relations between Batal-Hadji’s followers and other Ingoosh community members. I argue that there was a certain counterposition of the brotherhood to the rest of the community, and that the arising conflicts were considered and resolved in accordance with the traditional customary highlands law.