Kingdom of Western Georgia დასავლეთ საქართველოს სამეფო dasavlet sakartvelos samepo | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1259–1330 1387–1392 1396–1401 | |||||||||
 Flag of Western Georgia in the 13th-14th centuries[1] | |||||||||
 Map of fragmentedKingdom of Georgia in 1311, with western realm in purple, and the reducedKingdom of Georgia (1256-1329) in the eastern part of the country, in grey | |||||||||
| Capital | Kutaisi | ||||||||
| Common languages | Middle Georgian | ||||||||
| Religion | Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Georgian Patriarchate) | ||||||||
| Government | Feudalmonarchy | ||||||||
• 1259–1293 | David VI | ||||||||
• 1293–1326/1327 | Constantine I | ||||||||
• 1327–1329 | Michael | ||||||||
• 1329–1330 | Bagrat I | ||||||||
• 1387–1389 | Alexander I | ||||||||
• 1389–1392 | George I | ||||||||
• 1396–1401 | Constantine II | ||||||||
| Historical era | Late Middle Ages | ||||||||
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TheKingdom of Western Georgia (Georgian:დასავლეთ საქართველოს სამეფო,romanized:dasavlet sakartvelos samepo) was alate medievalde facto independent fragmented part[2][3] of theKingdom of Georgia that emerged during theMongol invasions of the realm, led by KingDavid VI Narin in 1259[4][5] and later followed by his successors. During this period, the kingdom was reduced to theeastern part of the country and placed under Mongol control. Over the decades, the monarchy would fall into chaos and transform into a federation of autonomous principalities unruly of the central or regional royal power and authority.
Most of the occasions, realm would be reannexed into unified fold by the eastern Georgian kings. Nevertheless, the unified Georgian realm wouldde jurecollapse in 1490,[6] and western Georgia would secure an independent future under the name ofKingdom of Imereti, that will exist til 1810.[7]
The question of the contemporaneous name of the realm between 1259 and the early 1400s remains without a concrete answer because from the end of the 15th century, Western Georgia extended from the modern-day city ofSochi in the north[8] toTrebizond in the south and theLikhi Range in the east. The chronology of the adoption of this name for this state is not clear and it is plausible that some monarchs before 1490[9] fragmentation would style themselves as "Kings of Imereti", however, it may well be an anachronism and that an actual change of the title would happen much later.[10]
Indeed, upon 1259 independence pushed by King David VI Narin, he would continue to be styled as David VI, king of united Georgia. Modern historians, such as the former head of the historical department of theTbilisi State University, Professor Nodar Asatiani justifies the naming of the realm as the Kingdom of Western Georgia until the 15th century, demonstrating that the rulers of that fragmented state considered themselves a legitimate line of the Georgian kings who protected the Georgian nation during the Muslim invasions and were fiercely fighting for the unity.[11] French historianMarie-Félicité Brosset also attributes the creation of the distinctive kingdom of Imereti under that name to the first coronation of KingBagrat VI in 1463.[12]
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Since the 1220s, theKingdom of Georgia had to contend with the numerousMongol invasions ofGenghis Khan and his successors, theIlkhanids.[13] In 1245, the youngDavid VI was recognised asKing of Georgia by theMongol Empire, which offered the same title to his cousin,David VII, in 1248, effectively dividing the Georgian kingdom between the two cousins. They reigned jointly throughout the country for almost a decade under Mongol control. However, the Mongol overlords began to impose heavy taxes on the inhabitants of theCaucasus, leading to numerous popular revolts, particularly inShirvan.[14]
In 1259, David VI, who was nicknamed Narin (meaning "junior" inMongolian) by the Ilkhanid authorities, rebelled against his suzerain, although he did not drag his royal colleague into the rebellion.[14] The Ilkhanate soon put an end to this revolt after a few short, bloody battles, while David VI managed to take refuge in western Georgia on a secret journey that took him throughArmenia.[15] Arriving inKutaisi, one of the largest towns in western Georgia, he declared the secession of the domains west of theLikhi mountains, and was proclaimed King of western Georgia by the local nobility.[14]
Western Georgia then became an independent kingdom, wishing to preserveGeorgian culture outside the sphere of influence of the Mongol world. The Ilkhanate was preoccupied with its military campaign inSyria against certainCrusader states andMamluk Sultanate[16] and was content to increase the tributes imposed on eastern Georgia to rectify the difference in revenue following the loss of a large portion of the taxes from some of the richest Georgian provinces.[17]
The kingdom created byDavid VI included a number of powerful duchies controlling severalBlack Sea ports, including theduchies ofGuria,Mingrelia andAbkhazia, which contained the cities ofBatumi andPoti. To the north, the kingdom controlled the duchies ofSvaneti andRacha, thus controlling theCaucasus mountains against the empire of theGolden Horde.[18] This situation enabled the new government ofKutaisi to maintain important trade routes with the West, notably via the Genoese merchants based in Abkhazia and theEmpire of Trebizond, leading to a large-scale immigration of Georgian nobles and merchants from eastern Georgia.[17] David VI even managed to shelter and share his throne with his cousin,David VII Ulu, when the latter in turn revolted against the Mongol yoke in 1261;[19] this agreement was short-lived and the two sovereigns were unable to work together to protect western Georgia, leading to David Ulu's return toTbilisi in 1262.[20]
While eastern Georgia was forced to contribute heavily to theIlkhanid military campaigns,[21] the government ofKutaisi prospered temporarily. This situation enabled David VI to protect himself effectively against the mercenaries of the Mongol rebelTekuder, who took refuge in western Georgia in 1269 after failing in his revolt againstAbaqa Khan.[22] Throughout the 1270s, the kingdom had to defend itself against numerous Mongol invasions, which were brought to an end after David VI agreed to pay tribute. However, these wars enabled the central government to abolish the rebelliousDuchy of Racha and annex it to the royal territories in 1278.[22]
The good health of western Georgia did not last long. By 1285, the kingdom had lost control over theEmpire of Trebizond, which aligned its foreign policy withByzantine Empire[23] despite an attempted invasion to dethrone EmperorJohn II.[24] In 1289, theIlkhanid authorities decided to reunify Georgia to control the whole nation and appointedVakhtang II, eldest son and crown prince ofDavid VI, asKing ofEast Georgia. Following the failure of this plan and the death of Vakhtang II in 1292,[25] David VI also died, leaving the throne of his kingdom toConstantine I in 1293.[26]
Western Georgia fell into civil war whenMichael, Constantine I's younger brother, revolted and succeeded in dominating the eastern regions of the kingdom, includingArgveti,Racha andLechkhumi.[27] Despite numerous attempts at reconciliation by the Kutaisi feudalists, the two brothers never reconciled again, and Michael was even crowned king in opposition, before obtaining the crown after Constantine's death in 1327.[28]
This internal chaos enabled the great nobles of western Georgia to seize power and separate themselves from the crown. Indeed, the war enabled thedukes ofGuria,Mingrelia andSvaneti to raise their own armies.[27] While KingMichael tried to reunite the army, he was unsuccessful and had to leave his throne to his only son after his death in 1329,Bagrat I.[29]
Bagrat, nicknamed Mtsire (meaning "the minor"), remained a minor when he came to power, and the lack of a regent allowed him to sow chaos among the noble classes of western Georgia. In 1330,George V of Georgia, who was in the midst of a campaign to solidify Georgia after expelling the Mongols from his domains, took advantage of the disorder in West Georgia and allied himself with the powerful feudal lords of theBlack Sea to lay siege toKutaisi, capture Bagrat I and annex the kingdom.[29] The Kingdom of West Georgia ceased to exist after having been created 71 years earlier, while Bagrat was granted a duchy inShorapani,[30] a border region betweenImereti andEast Georgia.
In 1372,Alexander, son ofBagrat, inherited theDuchy ofShorapani[30] and quickly became one of the most powerful nobles in the region, a status he maintained until the tragic events of the end of the century. In 1386,Timur's troopsinvaded northern Georgia, ravaging the country,capturing Tbilisi in November and forcing KingBagrat V to convert toIslam, while the royal court went into exile inImereti. Timur entrusted Bagrat V with a large Timurid army to subjugate the far-flung regions of the country, including the duchy of Shorapani, but had to invade the country again when the Georgian king betrayed his suzerain and massacred the army.[31]
Alexander of Shorapani took advantage of the chaos in eastern Georgia to proclaim himself king of western Georgia and seceded in 1387, crowning himself Alexander I at theGelati monastery.[32] This proclamation became widely disputed, and the city ofKutaisi remained in the hands of Bagrat V loyalists, while the duchies ofMingrelia,Svaneti,Abkhazia andGuria refused to recognize the sovereignty of the new monarch. A civil war broke out, forcing Alexander I to take fortresses across Imereti by force, before dying in 1389.[33]
George I succeeded to his brother's claims and was in turn crowned king, continuing the civil war and conquering several fortresses. In 1390, he succeeded in appointing his protégé Arsène asCatholicos of Abkhazia, the most powerful religious figure in western Georgia, triggering the beginning of a religious schism in theGeorgian Orthodox community between East and West.[33]
However, this success was short-lived: in 1392, George I was killed during a military campaign to subdue theDuke ofMingrelia,Vameq I Dadiani. With no designated successor, the crown of western Georgia once again fell into chaos, allowing KingGeorge VII of Georgia to unite with the great feudal lords of the West and invade the rebellious territories. After a short existence of five years, the Kingdom of West Georgia was once again annexed byKingdom of Georgia, while the surviving members of the rebel family took refuge in theCaucasus Mountains.[33]
For four years, the Kingdom of Western Georgia returned to the domains of theKingdom of Georgia crown, leading to a large-scale mobilization ofImereti in thewars ofGeorge VII of Georgia againstTimur.[34] With the region depopulated, the citadels having lost their military defense and theDuke ofMingrelia perishing in 1396,Constantine took advantage of the situation to organize a new revolt against the central government. Constantine was the younger brother of the pretendersAlexander I andGeorge I, and had been exiled toAlania after the conquest of 1392.[33]
Without much resistance, the new rebel captured numerous fortresses and had himself crownedConstantine II, but failed to unite with the region's great feudal lords. After demanding the vassalization of the dukes ofSvaneti,Mingrelia andGuria, he went to war againstMamia II of Mingrelia, but perished at the battle of Tchaliani in 1401. His nephew,Demetrius, became heir to the rebel crown, but his young age prevented him from defending himself againstGeorge VII of Georgia, who took advantage of a temporary ceasefire with Timur to invade western Georgia and once again put an end to the separatist kingdom.[35]
In a bid to unite the eastern and western branches of the royalBagrationi dynasty, in 1415Alexander I of Georgia married Demetrius's sister, while Demetrius was offered large estates in western Georgia, which became theduchy of Samokalako. Demetrius, who had previously served as crown prince to the western rebels, became a close ally of the eastern Georgia and gave his daughter in marriage to the Georgian co-kingDemetrius, who reigned with his father and brothers from 1433 to 1446. When civil war broke out betweenGeorge VIII and Demetrius, the latter used his father-in-law's regional power to take control of western Georgia, without seceding fromTbilisi, before dying in 1453.[36]
In 1455,Bagrat, maternal grandson of DukeDemetrius of Imereti, inherited the duchy and became a loyal vassal to the Georgian crown.[35] However, in the early 1460s, he allied himself with the Georgian princeQvarqvare II of Samtskhe, who continued his dynastic struggle against the central Georgian government, and the Sultan ofAq QoyunluUzun Hasan against theKingdom of Georgia. A major confrontation took place in August 1463 at theBattle of Chikhori, during which the troops loyal to KingGeorge VIII of Georgia were defeated by theSamtskhe-Saatabago and Bagrat.[37] Bagrat took advantage of his victory to captureKutaisi and was crowned king of western Georgia, recreating the kingdom for a fourth time.
In exchange for their political support, King Bagrat recognised the sovereigns ofMingrelia,Abkhazia,Svaneti andGuria as princes, raising their status within the Georgian political class.[38] Thanks to this alliance, the new king built up a large army that invaded the eastern province ofKartli and capturedTbilisi in 1465, using his new territory to have himself crowned once again, this time asKing of United Georgia under the name of Bagrat VI, by the Catholicos of Georgia, in exchange for certain bribes. The situation descended into chaos when Bagrat's predecessor, George VIII, managed to escape from his prison in Kutaisi and took control of the eastern region ofKakheti, declaring the province's independence, whileConstantine, Bagrat's half-brother, rebelled and seized northern Georgia.[39] This triumvirate of Georgian kings caused a civil war that lasted until the end of the century.
A semblance of peace was established in 1468, whenBagrat VI reached an agreement with Constantine in Kartli. But this peace only led to a more serious division: from the early 1470s, the king recognised Constantine as his successor inKartli, while he designated his eldest son,Alexander, as crown prince ofImereti.[39] Bagrat also shattered religious unity by appointing a new patriarch for western Georgia, dividing the Catholicossate of Georgia, a fact immediately recognised by the Patriarchate ofAntioch.
Imereti suffered numerousTurkoman invasions during the 1470s, but theTurkomans chose to ravage Kartli even more, pillagingTbilisi on several occasions.[40] Against this backdrop of internal chaos and external isolation, Bagrat VI died in 1478, leaving his western throne to his son, who became Alexander II.[41] However, Alexander II failed to gain recognition as the legitimate ruler of western Georgia and had to contend with the unifying ambitions of his uncle, Constantine II of Georgia. The latter invaded Imereti and capturedKutaisi, forcing Alexander to take refuge in theLetchkhoumimountains.[42]
In 1483,Alexander II took advantage of a war betweenConstantine and thePrincipality of Samtskhe to regain possession ofImereti.[43] It was then that he was crowned once again, at theGelati Monastery, beginning a new royal calendar and abandoning all claims to the united crown of Georgia.[35] Alexander thus became the first king of Imereti, a kingdom that took the place of western Georgia and was finally recognised by Constantine in 1490.[44]
Despite the long-standing hostility between theMuslim states of theNear East and Georgia,David VI Narin maintained relations with some of hisAnatolian neighbours, particularly in order to forge alliances against theIlkhanate. Western Georgia thus allied itself with theSultanate of Rum, one of the lastSeljuk states in the 13th century. King David, himself the son of a Seljuk prince, offered his sister in marriage to SultanKaykhusraw II and then to the regentMu'in al-Din Parwana after the latter's death. However, the end of the sultanate in 1307 and the resulting chaos in the Seljuk principalities prevented any strong collaboration between the two countries.[citation needed]
In 1264, West Georgia sent an embassy toBaybars, theMamluk sultan of Egypt, who devoted his reign to fighting theMongols. In 1268, a second embassy was sent toCairo, but no results of these embassies are known to this day.[24]
When the Kingdom of West Georgia was founded, theByzantine Empire was emerging from half a century of chaos following theconquest of Constantinople byCrusader forces in 1204. However, having restoredOrthodox power to the territories of theNear East, the Byzantine Empire tried to find an ally in theGeorgians. WhenDavid VI took power, he married a Byzantine princess, a descendant of theHouse of Palaiologos.[45]
But friendly relations between the two states ended there. No matrimonial alliance between western Georgia and Byzantine Empire took place after the death of David VI, while the princes of eastern Georgia continued to ally themselves with Byzantium. It was to theempire of Trebizond that the western Georgia turned. In the 1280s, EmperorJohn II took advantage of the Georgian division to withdraw from the suzerainty of his northern neighbour and sought direct alliance wire-Byzantine Empire, which he visited in 1282.[23] To re-establish his domination, David VI invaded the empire in April 1282 and captured many provinces before layingsiege to the capital itself. The Georgian troops were defeated, but the Georgians succeeded in annexing the eastern part of the empire.[24]
In 1284, western Georgia financed and supported a coup d'état by a certainTheodora, daughter ofManuel I of Trebizond and possible niece of David VI.[46] She became empress for a few months, before losing the civil war and going into exile in Georgia.[47] According to historian Michael Kuršankis, the coup was organised to install a pro-Georgian, anti-Mongol government, a movement supported by a certain section of the local nobility. Relations between the two states ended shortly afterwards and Trebizond continued to ally itself with the eastern Georgian kingdom.
Georgia has been anOrthodox nation since the 4th century, and since the reign ofDavid IV of Georgia (1089–1125), the Catholicosate of Georgia has played a major role in the political development of the kingdom. Understanding the negative relationship between his recognition as a Western ruler and the unity of theGeorgian Orthodox Church,David VI managed to create theCatholicate of Abkhazia, based at theGelati Monastery, with its own patriarch around 1290.[22] Some names of Western patriarchs are preserved, such as Nicholas when the kingdom was first proclaimed, and Arsenius and Daniel during the restoration of Western independence in the 1390s.[48]
In the 1460s,Bagrat II succeeded in convincing the Patriarch ofAntioch Michael IV to draft a special declaration recognizing the unique identity and origins ofChristianity in western Georgia. This document formed a legal foundation for the recreation of the Catholicosate of Abkhazia, which was then recognized throughout the Orthodox world.[48]
The constant wars plaguing western Georgia prevented the construction of many new churches. However, certain establishments were founded, notably in the autonomous principalities of the country. Thus, theShemokmedi Monastery was created between the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century by the princes ofGuria;[49] the church ofLykhny Church[50] and theBedia Cathedral[51] were restored by the Georgian nobles ofAbkhazia in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is possible that theSkhalta Cathedral, inAdjara, dates from the time of David VI.[52]
KingConstantine I built the monastery of Atchi in Guria.[53] He also embarked on a program of religious revival and succeeded in reestablishing his kingdom's control over theMonastery of the Cross, a Georgian establishment inJerusalem transformed into a mosque by the Muslim occupiers of the region,[54] while he is probably at the origin of the construction of the church of Ienachi inSvanetia. Under his reign,Constantine the Great, a formerRoman emperor canonized and honored by Orthodox churches, became a patron saint of western Georgia.[55]
Georgian literature entered into decline, afterGeorgian Golden Age at the beginning of the 13th century. Despite this, Byzantine culture largely influenced the religious writings of independent Western Georgia, a fact widely acknowledged in theMokvi Gospels, a medieval transcription made inMokvi Cathedral by Georgian monks writing inNuskhuri (the medieval Georgian alphabet used in the religious context) and trained in Byzantium.[56] In the 14th century, the Mingrelian authorities sent an embassy to Constantinople to bring back Greek artists to repaint theTsalenjikha Cathedral.[57]
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