Safavid Georgia

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Safavid Georgia
Velāyat-e Gorjestān
1510s – 1736
Tiflis (Tbilisi)
Common languagesGeorgian, Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian
GovernmentVelayat
 Succeeded by
Afsharid Iran
Today part ofArmenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Russia

The province of Georgia (

Principality of Samtskhe.[a] The city of Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi) was its administrative center, the base of Safavid power in the province, and the seat of the rulers of Kartli. It also housed an important Safavid mint
.

Safavid rule was mainly exercised through the approval or appointment of Georgian royals of the

vassalage. David XI (Davud Khan) was the first Safavid-appointed ruler, whose placement on the throne of Kartli in 1562 marked the start of nearly two and a half centuries of Iranian political control of eastern Georgia. During the same period, Iranian cultural
influence dominated eastern Georgia.

From

Khuzestan Province), in the southwestern part of the empire.[1]
The province of Georgia was one of only four Safavid administrative territories where governors were consistently given the title of vali.

History

Part of a series on the
History of Georgia
Prehistoric Georgia
Ancient history
Middle Ages
Early modern history
Modern history
History by topic

16th century

The first Safavid king (shah) Ismail I (r. 1501–1524) made the two kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti his vassals as early as the 1510s.[5] However, distracted by the task of establishing power in Iran, he did not tighten his hold on Georgia. He did raid Georgia a number of times, notably in 1518, which reconfirmed its status as a vassal, and in 1522, which resulted in Tiflis being garrisoned by a large Safavid force, but it was only under his son and successor Tahmasp I (r. 1524–1576) that a genuine province with Safavid-appointed rulers and governors began to take shape.[6][7]

Tahmasp I undertook active steps to integrate Georgia into the Safavid domains. His four campaigns against

Tiflis in 1551.[6][8] A key outcome of these campaigns, apart from cementing Safavid hold in central-eastern Georgia, was that they brought to Iran proper (hereafter, simply "Iran") large numbers of Georgian prisoners of war.[6] Beyond this, the sons of notable Georgians were frequently brought up at the shah's court as part of their tributary relationship with the Safavids.[9] Beginning with the rule of Tahmasp I, Georgians would contribute greatly to the character of Safavid society and play a major role in its army and civil administration.[6] This newly introduced ethnic element in the Safavid state would later be known in historiography as the "third force" alongside the two "founding elements" of the Safavid state, the Persians and the Turkomans.[c]

Safavid courtiers leading Georgian captives. A mid-16th century Persian textile panel from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1551 the Safavids gained the eastern part of the

Davud Khan (1569–1578) was put on the puppet throne in Tiflis.[6] These events marked the start of almost 250 years of Iranian political dominance, with a few brief intermissions, over eastern Georgia.[6][12]

In 1559, the first provincial

tupchi-bashi Morad Khan to Georgia together with a number of cannon founders and the materials needed for casting cannon.[14] By 1582 the Ottomans were in control of the eastern, Safavid portion of Samtskhe.[15] Unable to resist the Ottoman invasion, Manuchar II Jaqeli of Samtskhe accepted the Iranian overlordship as well and moved to the Safavid court, where he lived until his death in 1614.[16] By the Treaty of Constantinople in 1590, the Safavids lost control over Georgia as they were forced to recognize the whole province as an Ottoman possession.[6]

17th century

Rostam Khan (Rostom), vali of Kartli, eastern Georgia, 1633–1658

At the beginning of the rule of

Abbas I, the importance of Georgia and the influence of ethnic Georgians in the Safavid state increased and they came to be known as the "third force". Already by 1595 an ethnic Georgian from Kartli, Allahverdi Khan, originally surnamed Undiladze, had become one of the most powerful figures in the Safavid state.[17] By the end of the 16th century, Georgians, forming an increasingly influential military faction, became a major threat to the Qizilbash, the traditional backbone of the Safavid army.[6] At the same time, the Georgians at the Safavid court vied for influence among each other as well as against their Circassian counterparts.[18]
By and large, Abbas I's policy towards the province can be seen as a continuing the previous efforts to fully integrate the area in the Safavid Empire.

In the early years of the 17th century, Abbas re-established Safavid influence in eastern Georgia. There was a resistance in Kakheti in 1605, when the rebels overthrew pro-Iranian patricide

Astarabad and later executed in Shiraz.[6]

In 1607 Abbas appointed

Tiflis, the ravaging of the entire area, the massacre of many tens of thousands, and the deportation of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians to Iran.[20][21][22] These deportees further augmented the Georgian community in Iran.[23] In the meantime, Abbas I appointed Bagrat Khan as governor of Kartli, and Bektash Beg Torkman as governor of Kakheti.[24] In 1619 Abbas I appointed Bagrat's son Semayun Khan, a loyalist born and raised in Isfahan, as khan, or vali, of Kartli, and appointed another non-royal Safavid official as governor of Kakheti, in order to maintain a tight grip on this part of the province.[6][25] He also moved many Qizilbash tribal folk to the Georgia province in order to strengthen central control.[26] From the mid-1610s onwards, Kakheti was often under the direct governorship of Qizilbash lords.[4]

Around 1620 Abbas relocated some 8,000

Mazandaran.[28][e]
In 1624–25 Manuchar III Jaqeli, appointed earlier by Abbas I as nominal ruler of Samtskhe, moved to Kartli to join the rebellion of Murav-Beg (Giorgi Saakadze) against Safavid rule.[29] Some time later, while away from Samtskhe, he decided to accept Ottoman suzerainty.[29] However, when he returned to Samtskhe in 1625 for negotiations in the western (Ottoman) part of Samtskhe, he was killed by his own uncle.[29] Subsequently, the Ottomans incorporated the western part of Samtskhe as a pashalik.[30] The Safavids retained control of the eastern part.[31] The remaining century of Safavid rule in Georgia, after Abbas I's death in 1629, was marked by unprecedented Iranian influence.[6] Under the vali Khosrow Mirza, Safavid Georgia saw a period of relative peace and prosperity. In return for his loyalty, the then-incumbent king, Safi (r. 1629–1642), had given him the title of Rostam Khan, and had made him governor of Kartli, a post which he held for more than twenty years. Kakheti however, came under direct Safavid rule.[6]

Rostam Khan was a childless

widower, however, and thus needed a wife and offspring. Being the loyal servant he was, after consulting the Safavid king, Rostam was allowed to marry a sister of Levan II Dadiani, ruler of Mingrelia (western Georgia), named Mariam.[32][33] The marriage fit well with the political ambitions of the Safavid state and of Rostam himself.[32][33] Not only would this alliance with the Dadiani, i.e. Mingrelia, give Rostam an ally against Tahmuras Khan (Teimuraz I) and George III of Imereti, but it would also provide Rostam with a line of successors who would be as loyal to the Safavid crown as he was.[32][33] Also important was the fact that it would enhance Safavid plans to conquer Imereti.[32][33] It would create a perfect circumstance if a campaign was needed against the Ottomans, with whom they were at war at the time over Imereti.[32][33] King Safi paid for the wedding gifts, and sent some 50,000 marchil, roughly half a ton of silver, to the ruler of Mingrelia, and provided him with an annual salary of 1,000 tomans (3-gram gold coins); an alliance was thus founded with the Mingrelians.[32][33] The marriage preparations alarmed the Imeretians. The groom's party was a 30,000-strong army marching to meet Levan's heavily armed entourage. George III of Imereti blocked the border with Kartli, compelling Rostom's wedding party to take a circuitous route via Akhaltsikhe, and intercepted Dadiani on his way to the marriage, but he was defeated and taken prisoner by Levan at the Kaka Bridge near Baghdati.[33]

In 1639, by the Treaty of Zuhab which ended the 1623–1639 war, the Caucasus was decisively partitioned between the Safavids and Ottomans roughly along the lines of the earlier Amasya treaty of 1555. Kartli and Kakheti were reconfirmed as Iranian domains, while everything to the west of it remained in Ottoman hands. Samtskhe–Meskheti, including its eastern part, was irrevocably lost.[15]

In 1654, during the reign of King

a general uprising in 1659. The rebels succeeded in expelling the nomads, but still had to accept the Safavid kings's suzerainty.[6] In 1675 a wall was built around Tiflis by king Suleiman I (1666–1694).[36] By the 1690s ethnic Georgians formed the mainstay of the Safavid army.[37]

18th century

In 1701 one of the artillerymen (tupchis) in Tiflis was appointed vakil ("regent") of the

Sultan Husayn (r. 1694–1722) due to his father, Nazar-Ali Khan
(Heraclius I), being stationed at Isfahan during the entire period.

Emamqoli Khan (David II of Kakheti)

In 1709, following his father's death, he was formally appointed as the new governor of Kakheti. However, until 1715, he served as vali in absentia due to his being obliged to stay at the court in Isfahan.

Hosayn-Qoli Khan
(Vakhtang VI).

In 1712–1719 Hosayn-Qoli Khan was forced to stay in Iran, and the Safavid king therefore gave the governorships of Kartli to others, amongst them

Qom. Sultan Husayn then appointed his brother Mahmad Qoli Khan
(Constantine II) as the new governor of Kakheti.

When the capital of Isfahan was put under siege in 1722, Hosayn-Qoli Khan defied the royal orders and refused to send the requested relief force.[41] In the meantime, Russia took full advantage of the situation. With the Safavids on the brink of collapse, they launched a campaign in 1722–1723 that resulted in the annexation of the coastal territories. The Ottomans, also taking advantage of the situation, overran the province of Georgia and other territories to the west of the area that the Russians had captured.[42] By the Treaty of Constantinople, the two powers further divided the annexed territories between them, with the Ottomans again retaining Georgia.[43] The rebellious Hosayn-Qoli Khan, who had sided with the Russians during their invasion in 1722–1723, in what turned out to be an ill-fated alliance, died in exile in Russia in 1737. When the Safavids were restored by Nader Qoli Beg (later known as Nader Shah), the de facto ruler of Iran, he restored Iranian dominance in the Caucasus and made Teimuraz II vali of Kakheti, while appointing an Iranian as the governor of Kartli.[6] In 1736 Nader deposed the Safavids and became king himself, establishing the Afsharid dynasty.

Mint

Silver coin of Abbas II (r. 1642–1666) minted in Tiflis, dated 1665/6
Silver abbasis minted in Tiflis during the reign of Sultan Husayn (r. 1694–1722), with minting dates varying from 1717–1718 to 1719–1720.
See also: Abbasi (currency) and Georgian abazi

One of the most important Safavid

rijksdaalders) for the minting of coins was largely imported from and through the Ottoman Empire (and Russia).[44][45] Upon arrival in Iran, the bullion was usually brought to the provincial mints in the border area with the Ottoman Empire such as Tiflis, Erivan (Yerevan), or Tabriz in order to be melted into Iranian coins.[46] Tiflis was thus a major stopping point for merchants who returned with silver.[44] In the 17th century the Tiflis mint was one of the most active Safavid mints.[47]

The Tiflis mint also lay on a route widely used by silk traders.

Jean Baptiste Tavernier, traders who went to Gilan to negotiate over silk, went to the mint at Tiflis, for the mint master (zarrab-bashi) gave a 2% discount on silver for silk traders.[44] Tavernier notes that this is partly due to the silver coins from Tiflis being a little less fine.[48]

The coins minted at Tiflis were mostly used for the local citizens, rather than for the local Safavid garrison.[49] The coins always had to bear the Safavid rulers' name and follow the Safavid types, legends, and weight standards.[1] In many other regards, however, the appointed valis were granted a great deal of autonomy in terms of minting practises.[1] For example, the vali reportedly was allowed to benefit from the profit accrued by the mints in the province.[49]

In the 1660s and 1670s, the office of mint master (zarrab-bashi) of Tiflis was held by a series of local Armenians.[50]

During the reign of Suleiman I, the economic situation worsened.[51] The amount of precious metal coming into the country decreased, and as a result the quality of the coins diminished.[51] This deficiency in weight was also apparent in coins from the Tiflis mint; in 1688, the abbasis and mahmudis struck at the mint were 22.5% below the standard weight they were supposed to have.[52] The royal treasury was aware of the issue, and subsequently stopped accepting mahmudis that had been minted in Tiflis.[52]

In the years 1682–1685 the only Safavid mints that were recorded as active were the ones at Tiflis and Tabriz.[53] According to a 1687 report, money played close to no role in Georgia.[54] French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort confirms this: according to his texts of 1701, people in large parts of Georgia preferred to be paid in materials such as bracelets, rings, necklaces, and so forth.[54]

Stationed military force

The province of Georgia hosted many Safavid soldiers, as it was considered a territory of the utmost importance. At the same time, it was a province that bordered the Ottoman Empire.

Hosayn-Qoli Khan (Vakhtang VI), numbered some 10,000 Georgians and 3,000–4,000 Iranians.[40]

Public offices

According to the Georgian geographer and historian

qollar-aghasi (commander of the royal guard), among others.[59] Despite these alterations in office names, the fundamental structure of the state machinery in Georgia remained largely intact.[59] Furthermore, during Rostom's rule, positions characteristic of the Safavid state, such as vazir (adviser, minister), mostowfi (chief financial clerk), and monshi (scribe), were introduced, serving as supervisory roles for the royal court.[59]

Historical records from the 1570s also document the roles of malek and darugha, officials in the town administration of Georgia, which are associated with the political influence of Iran during that period.[59]

The vali of Georgia had a corps of qurchis at his disposal, including a qurchi-bashi, and a legion of specialized qurchis for his "accoutrements" (i.e. qurchi-e zereh, qurchi-e kafsh, qurchi-e tarkesh, etc.).[60] They also had the institution of vakil ("regent"), who could take care of all matters in case it was needed.[61][f]

Silk and wine production

Although the province contributed to the overall

Abbas I's (1588–1629) decisive subduing of Georgia, he ordered that the province should produce more silk in the future.[63] According to Nicolaas Jacobus Overschie, a Dutch representative in the Safavid Empire, of the 2,800 bales of silk that had been produced in 1636, the provinces of Georgia and Karabakh–Ganja had yielded a total of 300 bales.[63]

According to Jean Chardin, the wines produced in Georgia and Shiraz were of excellent quality.

wine cellars of the Safavid court with some three hundred liters of wine, as part of the total amount of taxes it paid.[65] The governors were responsible for the supervision of the viticulture of their province.[64]

Salary and rank of the vali of Kartli

As outlined in the

Gilan, Khuyin, and Lahijan.[66] Following Iranian customs, the vali was granted villages in exchange for his service to the Iranian Shah. It is worth noting that these villages were not confined to Kartli but also extended to northern Iran, mirroring the similar rewards bestowed upon Georgian nobles.[66]

According to the Tadhkirat al-Moluk, the vali of Kartli was the third of the top-ranking officials not residing at court, and held a higher status than the second category of great amirs, those attached to the palace.[66]

Cultural influences

Georgian culture

From the 16th century there was an increase of Iranian influence in Georgian culture.

literature, painting, and architecture.[32] During the Safavid period, many Georgian rulers, princes, and nobles had spent time in Iran. Therefore, Iranian traditions also spread throughout Georgia.[32] The placement of Davud Khan (David XI) on the puppet throne of Kartli in 1562 did not just initiate a lengthy period of Iranian political dominance; in the same two and a half centuries that followed, until the coming of the Russians in the 19th century, Iranian cultural influence dominated eastern Georgia (Kartli–Kakheti).[12] According to Jean Chardin, who was in Georgia in 1672, the Georgians followed Iranian traditions.[32] Chardin assumed that the process had been influenced by those nobles who had converted to Islam (in order to obtain positions as state officials), as well as those who encouraged their female relatives to become ladies at court.[32]

In the Safavid period, "a great number of books" were translated from Persian into Georgian. The Rostomiani, the Georgian version of the

Vis o Ramin.[32] According to a letter sent to the Pope by a Catholic missionary who flourished in the 17th century, Padre Bernardi, it was to his "great regret" that literate Georgians preferred to read works such as the Rostomiani (Shahnameh), Bezhaniani, and Baramguriani and were less interested in religious texts.[67]

Teimuraz I of Kakheti (Tahmuras Khan) is perhaps mostly remembered for creating issues for the central government, but he was fluent in Persian and fond of Persian poetry, which he "highly valued".[67] In his words:[67]

The sweetness of Persian speech urged me to compose the music of verse.

Teimuraz wrote several poems influenced by the contemporary Persian tradition, packed with "Persian imagery and allusions, loanwords, and phraseology". A later Georgian vali, Vakhtang VI (Hosayn-Qoli Khan),

Kaykavus). During his detention in Iran, Vakhtang also translated into Georgian Kashefi's Kalīleh o Demneh.[67] Later, back in Georgia, he ordered the entire story to be translated once more, while his tutor, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, also made a revised version of Vakhtang's own translation.[67] Though Vakhtang, individually, was heavily involved in further developing Georgian-Iranian literary ties (in other words, by his own writings), he also founded an entire school dedicated to translators from Persian into Georgian.[67] During this period, a number of folk stories (i.e. dastans) that were extremely popular in Iran, were translated into Georgian on his orders.[67] One of these was the Bakhtiarnameh, a collection of several novellas, as well as the Baramgulandamiani ("Bahram o Golandam"), originally written by Katebi Nishapuri. The many other Persian-Georgian literary efforts of this era include translations of the Qur'an and books on Shia jurisprudence.[67][68]

Iranian culture

In another, perhaps unorthodox, way Georgia also influenced the culture of Iran. According to a story, an ethnic Georgian named Shedan Chiladze was so renowned for being able to "hold" his liquor, that Safavid King Safi (r. 1629–1642) invited him to the court in order to hold a drinking competition.[69] After beating everyone at court, the king himself challenged Chiladze, and reportedly died doing so. Though historian Rudi Matthee reports that the story may be "apocryphal", as alcoholism did kill Safi, but not in relation to a drinking contest, it does show that Georgian habits had spread to Iran.[69]

In the Safavid period, large numbers of ethnic Georgian men entered Safavid government service, whereas many Georgian women entered the harems of the ruling elite and the royal court.

gholams who drank. Matthee therefore suggests that it is quite likely that the "fondness" for wine exhibited by Safavid rulers originated in this environment.[69]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Eastern Samtskhe was part of Safavid Iran from 1551 to 1582, as well as for several years after 1613.[2]
  2. Abbas I's reign (1588–1629), governors of Georgia were usually referred to as hakem.[3] Sometimes they were also styled as soltan (salatin).[4]
  3. ^ The "third force" included the Circassians and Armenians.
  4. ^ Simon I was earlier known for his fierce resistance against the Safavid domination, which resulted in his being imprisoned for several years at the Alamut Castle.
  5. Karabakh
    population.
  6. ^ The vakil sometimes also functioned as a tutor (laleh), in cases when the governor was young.[61]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, pp. 17–18.
  2. ^ a b Floor 2008, p. 85.
  3. ^ Floor 2001, p. 83.
  4. ^ a b Floor 2001, p. 86.
  5. ^ Rayfield 2012, pp. 164, 166.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Hitchins 2001, pp. 464–470.
  7. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 166.
  8. ^ a b Floor 2008, pp. 295–296.
  9. ^ Babaie et al. 2004, p. 28.
  10. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 173.
  11. ^ Mikaberidze 2015, p. xxxi.
  12. ^ a b Suny 1994, p. 48.
  13. ^ a b Floor 2001, pp. 108–109.
  14. ^ Floor 2001, p. 233.
  15. ^ a b c Floor 2001, p. 85.
  16. ^ a b Mikaberidze 2015, p. 379.
  17. ^ Savory 2007, p. 81.
  18. ^ Babaie et al. 2004, p. 17.
  19. ^ Suny 1994, p. 50.
  20. ^ Blow 2009, p. 174.
  21. ^ Mikaberidze 2015, pp. 291, 536.
  22. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 191.
  23. ^ Mikaberidze 2015, p. 536.
  24. ^ Mikaberidze 2015, p. 164.
  25. ^ Mikaberidze 2015, p. 600.
  26. ^ a b Matthee 2012, p. 145.
  27. ^ Matthee 1999, p. 44.
  28. ^ Blow 2009, p. 105.
  29. ^ a b c Mikaberidze 2015, pp. 194, 379.
  30. ^ Suny 1994, p. 52.
  31. ^ Floor 2008, p. 140.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gelashvili 2012, p. 494.
  33. ^ a b c d e f g Rayfield 2012, p. 199.
  34. ^ a b Barendse 2002, p. 209.
  35. ^ Floor 2008, p. 309.
  36. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 211.
  37. ^ Matthee 2012, p. 114.
  38. ^ Floor 2001, p. 198.
  39. ^ Mikaberidze 2015, p. 249.
  40. ^ a b c d e f Matthee 2012, p. 225.
  41. ^ Suny 1994, p. 54.
  42. ^ Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, p. 142.
  43. ^ Matthee 2012, pp. 226–227.
  44. ^ a b c d Babaie et al. 2004, p. 68.
  45. ^ Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, p. 53.
  46. ^ Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, pp. 5, 15, 53.
  47. ^ Barendse 2002, p. 221.
  48. ^ Babaie et al. 2004, pp. 68–69.
  49. ^ a b Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, p. 17.
  50. ^ Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, p. 14.
  51. ^ a b Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, pp. 130–131.
  52. ^ a b Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, p. 131.
  53. ^ Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, p. 119.
  54. ^ a b Matthee, Floor & Clawson 2013, p. 44.
  55. ^ Floor 2001, pp. 82–83.
  56. ^ Floor 2001, pp. 135–136.
  57. ^ Floor 2001, p. 207.
  58. ^ Floor 2001, p. 212.
  59. ^ a b c d e Sanikidze 2021, pp. 387–388.
  60. ^ Floor 2001, p. 149.
  61. ^ a b Floor 2001, p. 7.
  62. ^ Matthee 1999, p. 37.
  63. ^ a b Matthee 1999, p. 41.
  64. ^ a b Matthee 2005, p. 44.
  65. ^ Matthee 2005, pp. 43–44.
  66. ^ a b c Sanikidze 2021, p. 389.
  67. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gvakharia 2001, pp. 481–486.
  68. ^ Giunashvili 2016.
  69. ^ a b c d e f Matthee 2005, p. 43.

Sources

Further reading
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