The Duchy of Samokalako, also known as the Duchy of Imereti or the Duchy of Kutaisi , was a duchy of the Kingdom of Georgia from the 15th century. Created by King Alexander I of Georgia upon the reestablishment of royal control over the Kingdom of Western Georgia, the duchy was given to a cadet branch of the Bagrationi dynasty. However, its history remains short and its secession following the Battle of Chikhori led to the Georgian civil war of 1463–1491.
The Duchy of Samokalako was formed during the period of reconstruction of the Kingdom of Georgia by King Alexander I the Great, in 1414. [1] Indeed, he began his reign in 1412 by putting an end to the noble rebellions of western Georgia, notably during the conflict between Abkhazia and Mingrelia; [2] in 1414, he decided to take as his wife Princess Tamar of Imereti, niece of the former rebel king Constantine II of Imereti, and decided to carve out of the royal domains a duchy for Tamar's brother, Demetrius, who lived then in poverty. [1] Demetrius becomes the new Duke of Samokalako and takes the title of eristavi, at the same rank as the sovereigns of Mingrelia, Guria, Svaneti, Abkhazia and others. [1]
Samokalako is made up of the western capital of Kutaisi and its surroundings, leading some historians to name the region "Duchy of Kutaisi" [3] or "Duchy of Imereti". [1] The duchy is a direct vassal of the Georgian crown and must swear allegiance to kings Alexander I and his sons, Vakhtang IV, Demetrius III and George VIII, [1] who govern the kingdom together. In 1446, following the abdication of the Georgian sovereign, western Georgia fell under the governance of Demetrius III. [4] To ensure his control over the region, he married the only daughter of Demetrius of Samokalako, Gulkan, [4] but entered into rebellion against his brothers. It is likely that the duchy remained under the loyalty of Demetrius III until his death in 1453, after which it returned to the control of Georgia.
As eristavi, the rulers of Samokalako were responsible for a military battalion, but it is unclear whether the duchy's troops were used in the war against the Turkomans in the 1430s.
In 1455, on the death of the eristavi Demetrius, George VIII confirmed as the new sovereign of Samokalako the young Bagrat, [1] maternal grandson of Demetrius. [4] He remained loyal to the central government at the start of his reign and the duchy participated in 1460 in the Georgian embassy sent to Western Europe to encourage a new crusade against the Ottomans, sending a Mingrelian named Kassadan Qartchikhan. [3]
However, Bagrat of Samokalako soon rebelled against the Georgian king. After allying himself with the duchies of Mingrelia, Svaneti, Guria and Abkhazia and Samtskhe-Saatabago, he went to war against George VIII and defeated the royal troops at the Battle of Chikhori in 1463. [3] Following this rebellion, Bagrat entered the monastery of Gelati and was crowned king of Imereti, [5] putting an end to the duchy of Samokalako.
The Duchy of Samokalako was ruled by an Eristavi, a noble governor appointed by the king and controlling a region on behalf of the Crown. This title is often translated by Western historiography as “duke”. The sovereigns of the duchy are:
1414-1455: Demetrius
1455-1463: Bagrat (Grandson of Demetrius).
David VI Narin (1225–1293), from the Bagrationi dynasty, was joint king of king (mepe) of Georgia with his cousin David VII from to 1246 to 1256. He made secession in 1259, and from 1259 to 1293, ruled a Kingdom of Western Georgia under the name David I, while his cousin David VII continued to rule in a reduced Kingdom of Georgia (1256–1329) in eastern Georgia, under Mongol control.
Michael, from the Bagrationi dynasty, was king of Western Georgia from 1327 to 1329. He claimed the throne of Western Georgia (Imereti) when his brother Constantine I came to power in 1293, but only obtained it after a civil war lasting nearly 35 years in 1327.
Bagrat VI, a representative of the Imeretian branch of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king (mepe) of Imereti from 1463, and a king of Georgia from 1465 until his death.
George VII of the Bagrationi dynasty, was king (mepe) of Georgia from 1393 to 1407. George put up a stiff resistance and had to spend much of his reign fighting against Timur.
Vakhtang IV, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king (mepe) of Georgia who reigned from 1433 to his death, associated to the throne of his father Alexander I from 1433 to the latter's abdication in 1442 and sharing the throne with his three brothers until his death.
George VIII of the Bagrationi dynasty, was de facto last king (mepe) of the formerly united Kingdom of Georgia from 1446 to 1465. He would later rule in the Kingdom of Kakheti as George I from 1465 until his death in 1476, founding a local branch of the Bagrationi dynasty.
Alexander II was a king (mepe) of Georgia in 1478 and of Imereti from 1483 to 1510.
The Principality of Guria was a historical state in Georgia. Centered on modern-day Guria, a southwestern region in Georgia, it was located between the Black Sea and Lesser Caucasus, and was ruled by a succession of twenty-two princes of the House of Gurieli from the 1460s to 1829. The principality emerged during the process of fragmentation of a unified Kingdom of Georgia. Its boundaries fluctuated in the course of permanent conflicts with neighboring Georgian rulers and the Ottoman Empire, and the principality enjoyed various degrees of autonomy until being annexed by Imperial Russia in 1829.
The Catholicate of Abkhazia was a subdivision of the Georgian Orthodox Church that existed as an independent entity in western Georgia from the 1470s to 1814. It was headed by the Catholicos, officially styled as the Catholicos Patriarch of Imereti, Odishi, Ponto-Abkhaz-Guria, Racha-Lechkhum-Svaneti, Ossetians, Dvals, and all of the North. The residence of the Catholicoi was at Bichvinta in Abkhazia, but was moved to the Gelati Monastery in Imereti in the late 16th century. In 1814, the office of the Catholicos of Abkhazia was abolished by the Russian Empire which would take control of the Georgian church until 1917.
The Battle of Chikhori was fought between the armies of King George VIII of Georgia and the rebellious nobles led by a royal kinsman Bagrat in 1463. It took place near the fortress Chikhori in the district of Argveti in western Georgia, and ended in the king's decisive defeat.
Alexander I, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was king of Western Georgia from 1387 to 1389. Prior to that, he was eristavi ("duke") of Imereti under the authority of the kings of Georgia.
Demetrius was a Georgian royal prince of the Bagrationi dynasty. He was a duke of Imereti, with intermissions, from 1401 to 1455.
Tamar was a Georgian princess of the House of Mukhrani who was married, successively, to three sovereigns of western Georgia—Levan III Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia, then King Bagrat V of Imereti, and finally, Giorgi III Gurieli, Prince of Guria. Tamar's marriages were part of political intrigues and accompanying wife swaps characteristic for the Georgian history of that century.
Bediani was a medieval title, or a territorial epithet, of the Dadiani, the ruling family of Mingrelia in western Georgia, derived from the canton of Bedia, in Abkhazia, and in use from the end of the 12th century into the 15th. Bediani was occasionally used as a praenomen. The extent of the fief of Bedia is difficult to define; by the latter half of the 17th century, the Shervashidze of Abkhazia had supplanted the Dadiani in that area.
Liparit I Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and eristavi ("duke") of Odishi, latter-day Mingrelia, in western Georgia from 1414 until his death. Under his rule, Mingrelia became largely independent from the disintegrating Kingdom of Georgia in the 1460s.
Shamadavle Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and eristavi ("duke") of Odishi (Mingrelia) in western Georgia from 1470 until his death. He succeeded his father Liparit I Dadiani and continued his predecessors' efforts to garner more autonomy as the united Kingdom of Georgia was approaching to its end.
Vameq II Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and eristavi ("duke") of Odishi (Mingrelia) in western Georgia from 1474 until his death.
Mamia III Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and eristavi ("duke") of Odishi, that is, Mingrelia, in western Georgia from 1512 until his death. Mamia was a son and successor of Liparit II Dadiani, who had emerged as a semi-independent ruler in the process of dissolution of the Kingdom of Georgia. Mamia was culturally active in Abkhazia and continued his predecessors' efforts to secure borders against the North Caucasian mountainous tribes of Zygia. His naval expedition against them and landing in Zygia ended in a fiasco and Mamia was killed in battle.
The collapse of the Georgian realm was a political and territorial fragmentation process that resulted in the dynastic triumvirate military conflict of the Bagrationi monarchs and war of succession in the united Kingdom of Georgia culminating during the second half of the 15th century.
The Kingdom of Western Georgia was a late medieval de facto independent fragmented part of the Kingdom of Georgia that emerged during the Mongol invasions of the realm, led by King David VI Narin in 1259 and later followed by his successors. During this period, the Kingdom of Georgia (1256-1329) was reduced to the eastern 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.