Duchy of Aragvi

Coordinates: 42°09′49″N 44°42′14″E / 42.16361°N 44.70389°E / 42.16361; 44.70389
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Duchy of Aragvi
არაგვის საერისთავო
Principality of the Kingdom of Kartli
1335-1743
CapitalDusheti
Area
 • Coordinates42°09′49″N 44°42′14″E / 42.16361°N 44.70389°E / 42.16361; 44.70389
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Established
1335
• Disestablished
1743
 Succeeded by
Kingdom of Kakheti
Today part of Georgia
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The Duchy of Aragvi (

Aragvi valley, in the foothills of the eastern Greater Caucasus crest, and ruled by a succession of eristavi ("dukes
") from c. 1380 until being transferred to the royal crown in 1747.

History

The first known dukes of Aragvi belonged to the House of Shaburisdze which flourished in the 13th century. From this house, the duchy passed to those of Tumanisdze and, finally, in the 16th century, to the House of Sidamoni. This latter change of power took place sometime after 1569, when an obscure nobleman of the Sidamoni clan, with the aid of the dukes of the Ksani, massacred the Tumanisdze family and took control of their possessions. In the process of time, the tenure of a duke of Aragvi became hereditary, and the eristavi ranked as mtavari, one of the "undivided" princely houses of Georgia.[1]

The dukes of Aragvi had their residences at

Mtkvari (Kura) in the south, and from the Liakhvi River in the west to the mountains of Alevi and Gremi in the east – which formed the watershed between the valleys of the Ksani and the Aragvi. As of the 1770 census, the duchy's population amounted to 3,300 households. The duchy controlled a vital road to the North Caucasus, which would later become the Georgian Military Road,[2] as well as the fertile area of Bazaleti
.

Ananuri was a castle and seat of the eristavis (Dukes) of Aragvi.

The energetic 17th-century dukes of Aragvi –

Zurab, and Zaal – waged a relentless struggle to achieve more autonomy from the royal authority of Kartli as well as to subdue the free mountainous communities of Pshavi-Khevsureti and Ertso-Tianeti.[1][2]

In 1743, the rebellious Aragvians killed their duke Bezhan and surrendered the duchy to

Vakhtang-Almaskhan, who was sent into exile by the Russians, once they took control of Georgia, in 1803. Later, the descendants of the dukes of Aragvi attempted to restore their titles and patrimonial estates in the Aragvi valley, but to no avail. In 1828, the Russian Senate
ruled their claims to be groundless.

List of Dukes of Aragvi

Shaburidze

  • c. 1380 : Mihai
  • c. 1430 : Shanshe I
  • c. 1440 : Nugzar I
  • c. 1465–1474 : Vameq I

Sidamoni

Pretenders/Anti-Eristavi

  • 1729-1742 : Revaz III
  • 1742-1743 : Bezhan I

(Both installed by the Turks)

Non-dynastic

Bagrationi appanage

References

  1. ^
    Toumanoff, Cyril
    (1949–51). The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia. Traditio 7: 201-2.
  2. ^
    Allen, W.E.D. (1964), Trivia Historiae Ibericae, 2-4. Bedi Kartlisa
    , 17-18; 45-46: pp. 165-8.
  3. Toumanoff, Cyrille
    , Manuel de Généalogie et de Chronologie pour le Caucase chrétien (Arménie, Géorgie, Albanie), 1976
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