Kingdom of Georgia
Kingdom of Georgia | ||||||||||||||||||||||
საქართველოს სამეფო Sakartvelos samepo |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Flag
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Kingdom of Georgia in 1184-1230 at the peak of its might
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Capital | Kutaisi (1008-1122) Tbilisi (1122-1490) |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Languages | Georgian | |||||||||||||||||||||
Religion | Orthodox Christianity | |||||||||||||||||||||
Government | Feudal Monarchy | |||||||||||||||||||||
King | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• | 978-1014 | Bagrat III (first) | ||||||||||||||||||||
• | 1446-1465 | George VIII (last) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Historical era | High Middle Ages | |||||||||||||||||||||
• | Established | 1008 | ||||||||||||||||||||
• | Seljuk invasions | 1060-12th century | ||||||||||||||||||||
• | Mongol rule | 1238-1335 | ||||||||||||||||||||
• | Timurid invasions | 1386-1403 | ||||||||||||||||||||
• | Collapse | 1490 | ||||||||||||||||||||
• | Constantine II recognizes the independence of Kakheti and Imereti | 1490-1493 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Today part of |
Countries today
|
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
The Kingdom of Georgia (Georgian: საქართველოს სამეფო Sak’art’velos Samep’o) was a medieval monarchy established in 975 by Bagrat III. The kingdom reached its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar from 11th to 13th centuries. It fell to the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by the 1340s. Renewed Turco-Mongol incursions from 1386 led to the final collapse of the kingdom into anarchy by 1466 and the mutual recognition of its constituent kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti and Imereti as independent states between 1490 and 1493. A unified Georgian state would not emerge again until 1762, when the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti merged to form Kartli-Kakheti. In 1800 the state was annexed by the Russian Empire and remained under Russian (and later Soviet) rule until 1991 (see Georgian SSR), when present day Georgia was founded.
Contents
Origins
The ascendancy of the Bagrationi dynasty can be traced to the 8th century, when they came to rule Tao-Klarjeti. The restoration of the Georgian kingship begins in AD 888, when Adarnase IV of Iberia took the title of "King of Georgians". The United Kingdom of Georgia was established in 1008. In this year Bagrat III, son of Gurgen II, became the ruler of the Kingdom of Western Georgia (Kingdom of Abkhazeti), including the Principalities of Imereti, Samegrelo, Abkhazeti (Abkhazia), Guria and Svaneti. Bagrat's mother was Queen Gurandukht, a daughter of George II of Abkhazia.
Golden age
The unified monarchy maintained its precarious independence from the Byzantine and Seljuk empires throughout the 11th century, and flourished under David IV the Builder (1089–1125), who repelled the Seljuk attacks and essentially completed the unification of Georgia with the re-conquest of Tbilisi in 1122.
With the decline of Byzantine power and the dissolution of the Great Seljuk Empire, Georgia became one of the pre-eminent nations of the Christian East, her pan-Caucasian empire[1] stretching, at its largest extent, from North Caucasus to northern Iran, and westwards into Asia Minor. In spite of repeated incidents of dynastic strife, the kingdom continued to prosper during the reigns of Demetrios I (1125–1156), George III (1156–1184), and especially, his daughter Tamar (1184–1213). With the death of George III the main male line went extinct and the dynasty was continued by the marriage of Queen Tamar with the Alan Prince David Soslan of reputed Bagratid descent.[2]
Mongol rule
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
The invasions by the Khwarezmians in 1225 and the Mongols in 1236 terminated Georgia’s "golden age". The struggle against the Mongol rule created a diarchy, with an ambitious lateral branch of the Bagrationi dynasty holding sway over Imereti, western Georgia. Many powerful Armenian and Georgian families became independent of the Georgian King due to the Mongols' support. Georgians attended all major campaigns of the Ilkhanate and aristocrats' sons served in kheshig.[3]
In the year 1327 there occurred in Mongol Persia the most dramatic event of the reign of the Il-Khan Abu Sa'id, namely the disgrace and execution of Chupan, protégé of the Georgian king George. Chupan's son Mahmud, who commanded the Mongol garrison in Georgia, was arrested by his own troops and executed. Subsequently, Iqbalshah, son of Qutlughshah, was appointed to be Mongol governor of Georgia (Gurjistan).[4] In 1330–31 George V the Brilliant annexed Imereti uniting all of Georgia in the process. Therefore, four years prior the last effective Ilkhan Abu Sai'd's demise, two kingdoms of Georgia united again. In 1334, this post was given to Shaykh Hasan of the Jalayir by Abu Sai'd.[5]
Black Death
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
One of the primary reasons of Georgian political and military decline was the bubonic plague. It was first introduced in 1366 by the soldiers of George the Brilliant returning from a military expedition in south-western Georgia against invading Osmanli tribesmen. It is said that the plague wiped out a large part, if not half of the Georgian populace.[6][7] This further weakened the integrity of the kingdom, as well as its military capabilities.
Final disintegration
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
There was a period of reunion and revival under George V the Brilliant (1299–1302, 1314–1346), but the eight onslaughts of the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur between 1386 and 1403 dealt a great blow to the Georgian kingdom. Its unity was finally shattered and, by 1490/91, the once powerful monarchy fragmented into three independent kingdoms – Kartli (central to eastern Georgia), Kakheti (eastern Georgia), and Imereti (western Georgia) – each led by the rival branches of the Bagrationi dynasty, and into five semi-independent principalities – Odishi, (Mingrelia), Guria, Abkhazia, Svaneti, and Samtskhe – dominated by their own feudal clans.
See also
- Bagrationi dynasty
- List of Bagrationi rulers of Georgia
- List of Georgian Kings
- Principate of Iberia
- Kingdom of Abkhazia
- Kingdom of Imereti
- Kingdom of Kakheti
- Kingdom of Tao Klarjeti
- Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti
- Line of succession to the Georgian throne
- Monarchism in Georgia
- Kipchaks in Georgia - Some of the Cuman-Kipchaks settled in Georgia and helped make it the most powerful kingdom of the region.[8]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ According to Prince Vakhushti, David Soslan’s ancestry traced back to the Georgian refugee prince David, a grandchild of George I of Georgia (1014–1027) and his Alan wife Alde.
- ↑ C.P.Atwood- Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, p.197
- ↑ D. M. Lang - Georgia in the Reign of Giorgi the Brilliant (1314-1346). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 17,No. 1 (1955), p.84
- ↑ Ta'rfkh-i Shaikh Uwais (History of Shaikh Uwais), trans. and ed. J. B. van Loon, The Hague, 1954, 56-58.
- ↑ https://books.google.ge/books?id=hQWWBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PA44&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ https://books.google.ge/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&lpg=PA229&pg=PA229#v=onepage&f=false
- ↑ The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1, Denis Sinor, pg 282
- Pages using collapsible list with both background and text-align in titlestyle
- Former countries in Europe
- States and territories established in the 1000s
- States and territories disestablished in the 1490s
- Pages using infobox former country with unknown parameters
- Articles containing Georgian-language text
- Unclassified articles missing geocoordinate data
- Kingdom of Georgia
- Former kingdoms
- States and territories disestablished in 1466
- Former monarchies of Europe
- Former monarchies of Asia
- History of the Caucasus
- History of Russia
- History of Iran
- History of Turkey
- History of Azerbaijan
- 1008 establishments in the Kingdom of Georgia
- 1490 disestablishments in the Kingdom of Georgia