Alexander III | |
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![]() Alexander III as depicted by Teramo Castelli, no later than 1659. | |
King of Imereti | |
Reign | 1639–1660 |
Predecessor | George III of Imereti |
Successor | Bagrat V of Imereti |
Born | 1609 |
Died | 1660 (aged 50–51) |
Issue | Bagrat V of Imereti |
Dynasty | Bagrationi dynasty |
Father | George III of Imereti |
Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church |
Alexander III (Georgian :ალექსანდრე III; 1609 – 1 March 1660), was a Georgian king ( mepe ) of the Bagrationi dynasty, who reigned as king of Imereti in Western Georgia from 1639 to 1660.
Locked in power struggle with his regional rivals for several decades, Alexander allied himself with the Tsardom of Russia in order to gain an upper hand, but with little success. [1] Ultimately, Alexander was able to establish control over the entirety of Western Georgia on his own, restoring some of Imereti's lost prestige; however, this consolidation proved relatively short lived. By the time of Alexander death in 1660, Western Georgia had reverted back to the state of internal struggles and instability, [2] which had become characteristic of Georgia as a whole following the collapse of the Georgian realm.
Alexander succeeded upon the death of his father, George III of Imereti, in 1639. At this time, Imereti was very weakened but Alexander struggled to stabilize the situation due to incessant raids from Levan II Dadiani, the powerful ruler of the neighboring Georgian principality of Mingrelia, who refused to acknowledge the king of Imereti as his overlord, and aspired to displace him from his throne. In one of the battles, Dadiani captured and blinded Alexander's energetic brother Mamuka, bringing the king to the edge of despair. At one point, Alexander was forced to seek assistance from the Ottoman Empire against Mingrelia, resulting in Ottoman raids on the Mingrelian principality and Dranda; this distraction forced Levan II to halt raids on Imereti but only temporarily. [3] Alexander's father-in-law, Teimuraz I of Kakheti, attempted to mediate the conflict between Western Georgian princes, but without success. After the Mingrelian prince conducted several successful raids against Imereti, at the advice of his father-in-law Alexander started making overtures to the Tsardom of Russia for help. [4]
As this feudal conflict unfolded, both Mingelian and Imeretian rulers sought Russian support in their cause. Envoys from Moscow visited Mingrelia in 1639/40, though without achieving any positive results. In response to an appeal from Alexander, another embassy arrived in the Imeretian capital of Kutaisi in 1651. In the presence of these Russian ambassadors, on 9 October 1651, Alexander took an oath of fealty to Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich on behalf of Imereti and its people. [5] However, since the Russians were still too far from the Caucasus, this move had little practical effect on the course of events locally.
In 1657, Levan II died suddenly without leaving a direct heir. Alexander III took advantage of this, immediately marched into Mingrelia, subdued its nobles and installed his own nominee, Vameq, as prince; other pretenders to the Mingrelian throne were defeated by Alexander in a subsequent battle near Bandza. In 1659, Alexander turned his attention to the Principality of Guria, intervening against the refractory prince Kaikhosro I and replacing him with Alexander's protégé Demetre Gurieli. Thus, for a short time, the authority of the crown of Imereti was reestablished throughout much of western Georgia, returning the prestige that Imereti had lost for decades. [6]
Alexander was married twice. His first wife was Tamar, daughter of Mamia II Gurieli, whom Alexander married in 1618 and divorced in 1620. He married secondly, in 1629, Nestan-Darejan, daughter of Teimuraz I of Kakheti. All of his children were born of the first marriage:
Solomon I the Great, of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was king (mepe) of Imereti from 1752 to 1765 and again from 1767 until his death in 1784.
The Kingdom of Imereti was a Georgian monarchy established in 1455 by a member of the house of Bagrationi when the Kingdom of Georgia was dissolved into rival kingdoms. Before that time, Imereti was considered a separate kingdom within the Kingdom of Georgia, of which a cadet branch of the Bagrationi royal family held the crown.
Simon I the Great, also known as Svimon, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a Georgian king (mepe) of Kartli from 1556 to 1569 and again from 1578 to 1599. His first tenure was marked by war against the Persian domination of Georgia. In 1569 he was captured by the Persians, and spent nine years in captivity. In 1578 he was released and reinstalled in Kartli. During this period, he fought as a Persian subject against the Ottoman domination of Georgia. In 1599 Simon I was captured by the Ottomans and died in captivity. During 1557 to 1569 he was known as Mahmud Khan and from 1578 to 1599 as Shahnavaz Khan. He was also referred to as Simon the Mad by the Ottomans.
George II, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king (mepe) of Imereti from 1565 to 1585.
Giorgi III Gurieli, of the Georgian House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1669 to 1684 and King of Imereti from 1681 to 1683. He was energetically involved in civil wars in western Georgian polities, which he sought to bring under his sway. He was killed in battle while trying to recover the lost throne of Imereti.
David II, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was king (mepe) of Imereti from 1784 to 1789 and from 1790 to 1791.
Nino was a Georgian princess royal (batonishvili) as a daughter of King George XII of Georgia and princess consort of Mingrelia as the wife of Grigol Dadiani, Sovereign Prince of Mingrelia. After the death of her husband in 1804, Nino was a regent for her underage son, Levan until 1811, and helped bring Mingrelia and Abkhazia, a neighboring principality of her in-laws, under the hegemony of the Russian Empire. In 1811, she retired to Saint Petersburg, where she died at the age of 75.
Mamuka was a member of the Bagrationi dynasty of Imereti, a kingdom in western Georgia. A son of King George III of Imereti, he was a leading commander in a series of wars with Levan II Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia, who captured Mamuka in 1647 and had him blinded. Mamuka died as Dadiani's prisoner. At one point in the 1630s, Mamuka had been considered by the childless king Rostom of Kartli as his heir apparent.
Mariam Dadiani was a daughter of Manuchar I Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia, by his second wife, Tamar Jaqeli. Thrice married, successively to Simon I Gurieli, Prince of Guria, in 1621, King Rostom of Kartli in 1638, and the latter's adopted son and successor, King Vakhtang V in 1658.
Vakhtang was a Georgian prince of the Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Imereti, a younger son of King Alexander II of Imereti by his wife Tamar.
Levan I Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and ruler of Odishi, that is, Mingrelia, in western Georgia. He succeeded on the death of his father, Mamia III Dadiani, as eristavi ("duke") of Odishi and ex officio mandaturt-ukhutsesi of Imereti in 1533. Dadiani's break with the king of Imereti brought about his downfall and imprisonment in 1546. He was able to escape and regain his possessions, securing Ottoman support for his independence from Imereti.
Giorgi III Dadiani was Prince of Mingrelia, of the House of Dadiani, from 1572 to 1573 and again from 1578 until his death. He was a son and successor of Levan I Dadiani.
Liparit III Dadiani was Prince of Mingrelia, of the House of Dadiani, from 1657 until being deposed in 1658.
Vameq III Dadiani was Prince of Mingrelia, of the House of Dadiani, from 1658 until being deposed in 1661. He was also briefly King of Imereti in 1661. He assumed both Mingrelian and Imeretian thrones and lost them during a messy civil war in western Georgian polities and was killed by assassins while hiding in a refuge of the mountains of Svaneti.
Levan IV Dadiani was Prince of Mingrelia from 1681 until 1691, when he was forced to abdicate and retire to Constantinople, where he died. A natural son of the preceding Levan III Dadiani, he was the last of the First House of Dadiani to rule Mingrelia, a principality in western Georgia. The succeeding dynasty were the Chikovani, who assumed the surname of Dadiani and continued to rule Mingrelia until 1867.
Giorgi IV Dadiani was Prince of Mingrelia from 1691 to 1704 and from 1710 to 1715. Giorgi's accession to rulership, following his ouster of the First House of Dadiani, inaugurated Mingrelia's second Dadiani dynasty, stemming from the Chikovani clan. Giorgi was also known as Lipartiani (ლიპარტიანი) by virtue of having Salipartiano as a fief from 1682 to 1715. Giorgi was actively involved in a series of civil wars that plagued the western Georgian polities. He was eventually deposed by his own son and placed under house arrest.
Katsia II Dadiani, of the House of Dadiani, was Prince of Mingrelia from 1758 to 1788. His rule was dominated by complicated relations with the Kingdom of Imereti, which claimed suzerainty over all of western Georgia. In efforts to further his precarious sovereignty, Dadiani easily switched sides, allying himself, alternatively, with the Imeretians, Russians, and Ottomans, as exemplified by his vacillating position during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774).
Rostom Gurieli, of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1534 until his death in 1564. Alongside his royal suzerain, Bagrat III of Imereti, Rostom fought against the expanding Ottoman Empire to which he lost parts of his principality. Rostom's relations with Bagrat III subsequently deteriorated over his support to the king's defiant vassal, Levan I Dadiani.
Giorgi II Gurieli, of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1564 to 1583 and again from 1587 to 1600. Succeeding on the death of his father Rostom Gurieli, Giorgi's rule over his small principality, located in southwest Georgia, was a period of conflict with the neighboring Dadiani of Mingrelia and increasing assertiveness of the Ottomans whom Gurieli submitted in 1581. His reign was interrupted, from 1583 to 1587, by a Mingrelian invasion, but Giorgi was able to resume the throne with Ottoman support.
Kaikhosro I Gurieli, of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1626 to 1658. He was installed by Levan II Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia, in place of his deposed predecessor Simon I Gurieli. In his turn, Kaikhosro was overthrown and expelled by King Alexander III of Imereti. His comeback to Guria, in an Ottoman-supported endeavor, concluded with his assassination by a Gurian nobleman.