Brigitta Christina Scherzenfeldt, as marriedBernow,Lindström,Ziems, andRenat (1684 – 4 April 1736), was a Swedishmemoirist andweavingteacher who was captured during theGreat Northern War and lived as a slave over 15 years in theDzungar Khanate inCentral Asia.^[1] She dictated her memoirs, describing her life as a slave, after her release. Her story is regarded as a unique source of information about life among the Dzungars.^[2]

Born inBäckaskog Manor inScania in Sweden as the child of the nobleLieutenant Knut Scherzenfeldt and Brigitta Tranander. She married the military officer Mats Bernow at theLife Guards in 1699 and followed him to war in 1700. She mainly lived inRiga, and when her spouse died inThorn in 1703, she married the military officer Johan Lindström.^[3]

After theBattle of Narva, they were both taken toMoscow as prisoners, where she became a widow in 1711. She remarried again in 1712, this time to a lieutenant, Michael Ziems, aGerman who had been taken prisoner of war in by the Russians during his service in the Swedish army; they were subsequently both deported toTobolsk inSiberia.^[4]

Ziems, who was German mercenary and not a Swedish subject, joined the service of theRussian army in 1715 to gain their freedom.^[5] In 1716, Ziems was a part of the reinforcements sent to thegarrison of Ivan Bucholtz at Jarmyn Lake, above theIrtysh River, by Governor Matvei Petrovich Gagarin. Scherzenfeldt, as well as several other Swedish and German people in Russian service, was a part of that convoy.^[6] At the same time, the garrison was attacked and captured by the Dzungar, who also met and defeated the convoy, killing Michael Ziems in the process.^[7]

Scherzenfeldt was captured, abused with iron and ropes, stripped, and almost raped, but she defended herself so forcefully that she tore a piece of flesh from the leg of her attacker.^[8] The attacker then wished to kill her, but was stopped by a comrade, and she was then taken naked to the Khanate inIli with the other survivors and presented to theKhan,Tsewang Rabtan, himself.^[9]

The khan curiously asked her why she had resisted the rape attempt so forcefully, and when she told him about the customs of her country, he ordered that she should never be sexually attacked in the future.^[10]The Khan then gave her as a gift to one of his wives, a princess fromTibet, who gave Scherzenfeldt clothes to wear.^[11] The story about the rape attempt is not in her official story, but was confided by her to an English woman, Mrs. Vigor, several years later in Moscow.^[12]

Scherzenfeldt was made a teacher inweaving andknitting, and soon became appreciated for her knowledge in these crafts and her good manners; she was appointed knitting instructor to the Khan's favorite daughter, Princess Seson, and was soon regarded as more of a lady-in-waiting than a slave.^[13] During two years, she was the official representative for the purchases from the Princess' dowry inYarkent County inXinjiang inChina, where she would have been the first Swedish person until the 1890s.^[14]

She was also active in making a better life for other slaves belonging to the Dzungars.^[15]Among them was a Swedish man namedJohan Gustaf Renat (born 1682 in Stockholm), the son ofDutch Jewishimmigrants whoconverted toChristianity as part of becoming Swedish subjects in 1681.^[16] Renat had been captured atPoltava during his service in the Swedish army. Subsequently enlisting in the Russian army to escape captivity in Siberia, he was captured by the Dzungars, to whom he became an instructor in thecannon-forging and book printing.^[17] He led an attack during a battle against theQing Empire and also made some of the weaving looms for Scherzenfeldt'sworkshops.^[18]

Princess Seson wanted Scherzenfeldt to come with her when she was to marry the Khan of theVolgaKalmyks, but she refused, as she feared she would never again see Sweden if she did so.^[19] Instead, she feigned a marriage to Renat (the marriage never actually took place) and left the court of the princess.^[20]

Shortly after this, in 1727, the khanTsewang Rabtan died.^[21] The Princess, her mother, and every one belonging to her court were accused of having poisoned him to place Seson's brother on the throne; they confessed, were tortured, and executed.^[22]

Scherzenfeldt was the target of many suspicions and intrigues but survived due to her good sense and great care.^[23] She managed to convince the new Khan to agree on her demand that the eighteen Swedish and one hundred and thirty-four Russian slaves be released.^[24] Later, she helped another Mongol khan in planning his campaigns against the Qing.

In 1733, Scherzenfeldt and Renat leftCentral Asia in the company of a Russian ambassador and twenty Kalmyk or Dzungar slaves, which were given to them upon their departure; six of them were subsequently kept by the Russians, but several others died before arriving in Moscow.^[25]

They had been allowed to leave only to visit their home country and were expected to return. In Moscow, she told an English woman, Mrs Vigor, some about her experiences, which were published by Vigor in a book about Russia.^[26]

When the survivors entered Stockholm in 1734, the three remaining Kalmyks (Altan, Iamakiss and Zara) were baptized in the Lutheran Protestant Church to become Anna Catharina, Maria Stina and Sara Greta; they then became maids in the Renat household.^[27] She wrote her own memoirs of her experiences.

Scherzenfeldt died in Stockholm in 1736.^[28] Her Dzungar costume of red silk is now on display in theLivrustkammaren in Stockholm.^[29]

• Her book is not available in English.
• She appears in a Russian film calledThe Conquest of Siberia, but it completely changes her story.^[30]

• Lovisa von Burghausen
• Brita Olsdotter
• Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar
• Yefrosinya Fedorov
• List of enslaved people

• Höjer Signe, Blomquist Gunvor, red (1986). Starka kvinnor: ett urval märkliga kvinnoöden från radioserien Värt att veta. (Strong women. A selection from the radio series Worth to Know) Stockholm: Sveriges radio. Libris 8358124.ISBN 91-522-1658-6(in Swedish)
• Åberg, Alf (1991). Fångars elände: karolinerna i Ryssland 1700–1723. (The misery of prisoners. The Carolinians in Russia 1700–1723) Stockholm:Natur & Kultur. Libris 7228808.ISBN 91-27-02743-0(in Swedish)
• Jarring, Gunnar (1984). Brigitta Scherzenfeldt och hennes fångenskap hos kalmuckerna. Karolinska förbundets årsbok. 1983, s. 88–118
• Sandstrom, Colibrine. Från Bäckaskog till kalmuckerrnas rike. Brigitta Scherzenfeldt liv. Lindfors.ISBN 91-85-99890-7(in Swedish)
• Heland, Birgitta von (1999). ”Kalmuckernas fånge.”. Populär historia (Lund: Populär historia, 1991-) "1999:2,": sid. 50-54 : ill.. ISSN 1102-0822. ISSN 1102-0822 ISSN 1102-0822. Libris 2799936(in Swedish)

• 1684 births
• 1736 deaths
• Swedish memoirists
• 18th-century Swedish women writers
• 18th-century Swedish writers
• Swedish people of the Great Northern War
• Swedish weavers
• Swedish prisoners of war
• Women in 18th-century warfare
• 18th-century Swedish women artists
• Women in war in Sweden
• Writers of slave narratives
• 18th-century women textile artists
• 18th-century Swedish textile artists
• 18th-century slaves
• Slavery in Asia
• 18th-century memoirists
• Swedish women memoirists
• People from Kristianstad Municipality

• Articles with Swedish-language sources (sv)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses
• Articles with hCards