Kingdom of Kakheti
Kingdom of Kakheti კახეთის სამეფო | |||||||||||
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1465–1762 | |||||||||||
18th century coat of arms according to Vakhushti
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King | | ||||||||||
• 1465–1476 | George I (first) | ||||||||||
• 1744–1762 | Heraclius II (last) | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
• Established | 1465 | ||||||||||
• Persia[2] | 1555-1578; 1612-1723; 1736-1747 | ||||||||||
• Vassal state of Ottoman Empire[3] | 1578-1612; 1723-1736 | ||||||||||
• Union of Kartli and Kakheti | 1762 | ||||||||||
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Today part of | Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Russia |
Part of a series on the |
History of Georgia |
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The Kingdom of Kakheti (
Early history
.Revival of the Kingdom
The reemergence of the Kingdom of Kakheti was the first step towards the partition of
Brief annexation by Kartli
Following the death of George II, who had staged numerous incursions into the neighboring Kingdom of Kartli, Kakheti was left weakened and annexed by Kartli. However his son, Leon of Kakheti, was taken covertly to the Kakhetian mountains at the age of 9 to prevent him from being captured by the Kartlians. Following the invasion of Kartli by Ismail I, Shah of Iran, the nobles who had brought Leon to the mountains saw an opportunity, and declared Leon King of Kakheti. Following a 2-year war, Kartli rescinded control over Kakheti and recognized the nation's independence.
Kakheti in the 16th century
Unlike other Georgian polities, Kakheti was spared, for the time being, from major foreign incursions and significant internal unrest. Furthermore, it had the advantage over other parts of Georgia of flanking the important
, resulted in prosperity, not observable in other parts of a fragmentized Georgia. This relative stability for a time strengthened the monarch's power and increased the number of his supporters among the nobility.: 46–47Threatened by the emerging
Iranian hegemony
In the mid-1610s, Shah Abbas I renewed his effort to bring Georgia more completely into the Safavid empire and subjected Kakheti to repeated invasions in 1614, 1615 and 1616. In a series of Georgian insurrections and Iranian reprisals, sixty to seventy thousand people were killed, and more than one hundred thousand Kakhetian peasants were forcibly deported into Iran. The population of Kakheti dropped by two-thirds; once flourishing towns, like Gremi and Zagemi, shrank to insignificant villages; agriculture declined and commerce came to a standstill.[7] By 1648, the indefatigable Taimuraz had finally been ousted from Kakheti. Kakheti was subsequently put under the rule of Rostom (Rostam Khan), the vali of Kartli.[8] However Rostom's rule was only nominal, for real power in Kakheti was in the hands of Iranian governors appointed by the Shah.[8] The Safavid government tightened its control of Kakheti, implemented a policy of replacing the native population with nomadic Turkic tribes. At the same time, the Dagestani mountaineers started to attack and colonize the Kakhetian marchlands.
In 1659, Kakhetians staged a
From 1677 to 1703, the Bagrationi dynasty lost control of the Kakhetian throne, and Kakheti once again came under direct Safavid rule.[8][9] The House of Kakheti finally succeeded, at the expense of their apostasy to Islam, in reestablishing themselves in 1703, and ruled, henceforth, at the pleasure of their Safavid suzerains. This proved to be of little benefit, however, and the kingdom continued to be plagued by the incessant Dagestani inroads.
From 1724 to 1744, Kakheti was subjected to the successive Ottoman and Iranian occupations. However, the service rendered by the Kakhetian prince
See also
- List of monarchs of Kakheti
- Kakheti kings family tree
Notes
- ^ "King Vakhtang VI (r. 1716–24), Teimuraz’s successor as ruler of Kartli and resister of the Safavids, continued to imbue his poetry with Persian metaphors and symbols, while his own successor Teimuraz II (r. 1732–44 in Kakheti, 1744–62 in Kartli) translated the tale of Sindbad (as Timsariani) from Persian. Their coinage was also issued with both Georgian and Persian script."[1]
- ^ "On 7 August 1578 Lala Paşa’s army started moving down the left bank of the Kura; ... Lala Paşa then turned east, towards Shirvan. When the Ottoman army reached the Kartli–Kakhetia border at Sartichala on the river Iori, King Aleksandre II of Kakhetia met them in his new role as an Ottoman vassal. As a reward, Aleksandre’s son Erekle was made Ottoman governor of Shaki in Azerbaijan, and the king himself was granted the title of Beglarbeg. The fee was an annual tribute of 30 bales of silk, twenty young men and women, ten falcons and ten goshawks. (p.176). ... In 1590 the Iranians signed a peace treaty conceding virtually all Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to the Ottomans. (p.179). ... In spring 1723 Konstantine used Iranian soldiers to capture Tbilisi; Vakhtang fled to Tskhinvali. The Paşa of Erzurum told Vakhtang to submit to the sultan, if he wanted to be king of Kartli: the darbazi advised capitulation. Second Lieutenant Tolstoi still insisted that Tsar Peter was coming; Vakhtang merely pretended to accept the sultan’s terms. On 12 June an Ottoman army bloodlessly took Tbilisi from Konstantine. Vakhtang bribed the Ottoman commander Ibrahim Paşa to disarm Konstantine and install Vakhtang’s son Bakar as Kartli’s governor. For a few weeks Bakar and Konstantine both resisted the Ottomans, but soon fled, Konstantine eventually converting to Islam and becoming Ottoman vassal king of Kakhetia. (p.227)."[3]
References
- ^ a b c Green 2019, p. 35.
- ^ Rayfield 2013, pp. 171, 233–234.
- ^ a b c Rayfield 2013, pp. 176, 179, 227.
- ^ Toumanoff 1949–1951, pp. 187, 215.
- ^ Toumanoff 1949–1951.
- ^ Suny 1994, p. 50.
- ^ Suny 1994, pp. 50–51.
- ^ a b c Sanikidze 2000.
- ^ Sanikidze 2021, p. 386.
- ^ Suny 1994, p. 55.
- ^ Hitchins 2001.
Sources
- Green, Nile (2019). The Persianate World: The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-30092-7.
- Hitchins, Keith (2001). "Georgia ii. History of Iranian-Georgian Relations". Encyclopædia Iranica Online Edition. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-253-20915-3.
- Rayfield, Donald (15 February 2013). Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78023-070-2.
- Sanikidze, George (2000). "KAKHETI". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
- Sanikidze, George (2021). "The Evolution of the Safavid Policy towards Eastern Georgia". In Melville, Charles (ed.). Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires, the Idea of Iran Vol. 10. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0755633807.
- ISBN 978-0-253-20915-3.
- Toumanoff, Cyril (1949–1951). "The fifteenth-century Bagratids and the institution of collegial sovereignty in Georgia". S2CID 149043757.
Further reading
- Paghava, Irakli; Bennett, Kirk (2015). "The earliest date for the kingdom of K'akheti silver issues of the 16TH century" (PDF). Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society. 225: 25–26.
- Paghava, Irakli (2016). "K'ak'i (Kākhed, Kākhetābād): One More Georgian Coin-Minting Urban Center". Pro Georgia. 26: 117–140.
- Paghava, Irakli (2019). "Kākhetābād, a new Georgian-Safavid mint" (PDF). Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society. 235: 23–25. ISSN 1818-1252.