Principality of Iberia ქართლის საერისმთავრო Kartlis saerismtavro | |||||||||||||
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| c. 588–888 | |||||||||||||
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 — Principality of Iberia | |||||||||||||
| Status | Principality | ||||||||||||
| Capital |
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| Common languages | Georgian | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church | ||||||||||||
| Prince | |||||||||||||
• 588–c. 590 | Guaram I(first) | ||||||||||||
• 881–888 King ofIberia in 888–923 | Adarnase IV(last prince) | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Early Middle Ages | ||||||||||||
• Established | c. 588 | ||||||||||||
• Restoration of theIberian kingship | 888 | ||||||||||||
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Principality of Iberia (Georgian:ქართლის საერისმთავრო,kartlis saerismtavro) was anearly medieval aristocratic regime in a coreGeorgian region ofKartli, calledIberia by classical authors. It flourished in the period ofinterregnum between the sixth and ninth centuries, when the leading political authority was exercised by a succession of princes. The principality was established shortly after theSassanid suppression of the local royalChosroid dynasty, around 580; it lasted until 888, when the kingship was restored by a member of theBagrationi dynasty. Its borders fluctuated greatly as the presiding princes of Iberia confronted the Persians, Byzantines,Khazars,Arabs, and neighboringCaucasian rulers throughout this period.
The time of the principate was climacteric in the history of Georgia; the principality saw the final formation of theGeorgian Christian Church, the first flourishing of a literary tradition in the native language, the rise of the Georgian Bagratid family, and the beginning of cultural and political unification of various feudal enclaves, which would be united to form theKingdom of Georgia by the early 11th century.
When the king of a great unified Iberia,Bakur III, died in 580, the Sassanid government of Persia underHormizd IV (578–590) seized on the opportunity to abolish the Iberian monarchy.[1] Iberiabecame a Persian province ruled by amarzpan (governor). The Iberian nobles acquiesced to this change without resistance,[1] while the heirs of the royal house withdrew to their highland fortresses – the mainChosroid line inKakheti, and the youngerGuaramid branch inKlarjeti andJavakheti. However, the direct Persian control brought about heavy taxation and an energetic promotion ofZoroastrianism in a largelyChristian country. Therefore, when theEastern Roman emperorMaurice embarked upon amilitary campaign against Persia in 582, the Iberian nobles requested that he helped restore the monarchy. Maurice did respond, and, in 588, sent his protégé,Guaram I of the Guaramids, as a new ruler to Iberia. However, Guaram was not crowned as king, but recognized as a presiding prince and bestowed with theEastern Roman title ofcuropalates. The Byzantine-Sassanid treaty of 591 confirmed this new rearrangement but left Iberia divided into Roman- and Sassanid-dominated parts at the town ofTbilisi.[1]
Thus, the establishment of the principate marked the ascendancy of the dynastic aristocracy in Iberia and was a compromise solution amid the Byzantine-Sassanid rivalry for the control of the Caucasus. The presiding princes of Iberia, as the leading local political authority, were to be confirmed and sanctioned by the court ofConstantinople. They are variously entitled in Georgian sources,erist'avt'-mt'avari,eris-mt'avari,erist'avt'-erist'avi, or simplyerist'avi (normally translated inEnglish as "prince", "arch-duke", or "duke"). Most of them were additionally invested with various Roman/Byzantine titles. For example, eight out of the fourteen presiding princes held the dignity ofcuropalates, one of the highest in the Eastern Empire.[2] The medieval Georgian chronicles make it clear, however, that these princes, although they enjoyed the loyalty of the great nobles, were of limited capabilities since they "could not remove the dukes of Iberia from their duchies because they had charters from theGreat King and from the Emperor confirming them in their duchies".[1]
Through offering their protection to the Iberian principate, the Byzantine emperors pushed to limit Sassanid and thenIslamic influence in the Caucasus, but the princes of Iberia were not always consistent in their pro-Byzantine line, and, as a matter of political expediency, sometimes recognized the suzerainty of the rival regional powers.[3]
Guaram's successor, the second presiding princeStephen I, reoriented his politics towards Persia in a quest to reunite a divided Iberia, but this cost him his life when the Byzantine emperorHeraclius attackedTbilisi in 626.[4] Heraclius reinstated a member of the more pro-Byzantine Chosroid house, which, nevertheless, was forced to recognize the suzerainty of theUmayyadCaliph in the 640s, but revolted, unsuccessfully, against the Arab hegemony in the 680s. Dispossessed of the principate of Iberia, the Chosroids retired to their appanage in Kakheti where they ruled as regional princes until the family became extinct by the early 9th century. The Guaramids returned to power and faced the difficult task of manoeuvring between the Byzantines and Arabs. The Arabs, primarily concerned with maintaining control of the cities and trade routes, dispossessed them of Tbilisi where aMuslimemir was installed in the 730s. The dynasts of Iberia sat atUplistsikhe whence they exercised only a limited authority over local Georgian lords who, entrenched in their mountain castles, maintained a degree of freedom from the Arabs.[5] The Guaramids were briefly succeeded by theNersianids between c. 748 and 779/80, and had vanished once and for all by 786. This year witnessed a bloody crackdown upon the rebellious Georgian nobles organized byKhuzayma ibn Khazim, an Arab viceroy (wali) of the Caucasus.[6]
The extinction of the Guaramids and near-extinction of the Chosroids allowed their energetic cousins of the Bagratid family, in the person ofAshot I (r. 786/813–830) to gather their inheritance in parts of Iberia. Having accepted the Byzantine protection, the Bagratids, from their base in the region ofTao-Klarjeti, presided over the period of cultural revival and territorial expansionism. In 888,Adarnase I, of the Bagratids, who had emerged as a winner in protracted dynastic strife, succeeded in restoring the Georgian royal authority by assuming the title of the King of the Georgians.[7]
| Princes | Reign | Dynasty |
|---|---|---|
| 1.Guaram I | 588 – c. 590 | Guaramids |
| 2.Stephen I | c. 590–627 | Guaramids |
| 3.Adarnase I | 627–637/642 | Chosroids |
| 4.Stephen II | 637/642 – c. 650 | Chosroids |
| 5.Adarnase II | c. 650–684 | Chosroids |
| 6.Guaram II | 684 – c. 693 | Guaramids |
| 7.Guaram III | c. 693 – c. 748 | Guaramids |
| 8.Adarnase III | c. 748 – c. 760 | Nersianids |
| 9.Nerse | c. 760–772, 775–779/780 | Nersianids |
| 10.Stephen III | 779/780–786 | Guaramids |
| 11.Ashot I | 813–830 | Bagrationi |
| 12.Bagrat I | 842/843–876 | Bagrationi |
| 13.David I | 876–881 | Bagrationi |
| 14.Gurgen I | 881–888 | Bagrationi |
Church architecture in the principality
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