Mamia III Dadiani

Last updated April 21, 2019

Mamia III Dadiani (Georgian :მამია III დადიანი; died 31 January 1533) 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.

Georgian is a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians. It is the official language of Georgia. Georgian is written in its own writing system, the Georgian script. Georgian is the literary language for all regional subgroups of Georgians, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages: Svans, Mingrelians and the Laz.

The House of Dadiani was a Georgian family of nobles, dukes and princes, and a ruling dynasty of the western Georgian province of Samegrelo (Mingrelia) or Odishi.

Eristavi was a Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine strategos and normally translated into English as "duke". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarchy, it was the title of the third rank of prince and governor of a large province. Holders of the title were ex-officio commanders of a military 'banner', wore a distinctive dress, ring, belt and spear and rode a particular breed of horse.

Biography

Accession

Mamia was a son of Liparit II Dadiani on whose death he succeeded—according to the early 18th-century Georgian scholar Prince Vakhushti—in 1512.^[1] This traditionally accepted date was challenged, in 2001, by the historian Bezhan Khorava, who dates Mamia's accession to c. 1503 on account of his being styled as Dadiani, that is, the ruler of Mingrelia, in a weregild charter issued by Alexander II of Imereti for the Svans in that year.^[2] By the time Mamia acceded to power, the medieval Kingdom of Georgia had disintegrated and the Dadiani had become largely autonomous, nominally under vassalage of the kings of Imereti.^[3]

Liparit II Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and eristavi ("duke") of Odishi, that is, Mingrelia, in western Georgia from 1482 until his death.

Weregild, also known as man price, was a value placed on every being and piece of property, for example in the Frankish Salic Code. If property was stolen, or someone was injured or killed, the guilty person would have to pay weregild as restitution to the victim's family or to the owner of the property.

Alexander II was a king of Georgia in 1478 and of Imereti from 1483 to 1510.

Expedition in Zygia and death

In 1533, Mamia Dadiani, in conjunction with Mamia I Gurieli, eristavi of Guria, were encouraged by Bagrat III of Imereti to embark on a campaign against the piratical Circassian tribe of Zygii, whose vessels frequented the Black Sea littorals of Mingrelia and Guria.^[1] A combined navy landed the Mingrelian and Gurian forces on 30 January 1533. The first encounter with the fiercely defending Zygii was won by the allies, but, on the next day, many battle-fatigued Mingrelian nobles defected their lord at the instigation of Tsandia Inal-Ipa,^[4]^[5] an Abkhaz.^[6] The allies were routed; Mamia Dadiani was disarmed, stripped naked, and stabbed to death, while Mamia Gurieli was taken prisoner. Malachia I Abashidze, Catholicos of Imereti and Abkhazia, went to the Zygii and ransomed the survivors and bodies of those who died.^[4]^[5]^[3]^[7]

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 Ottoman Empire, and the principality enjoyed various degrees of autonomy until being annexed by Imperial Russia in 1829.

Bagrat III (1495-1565), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a King of Imereti from April 1, 1510, to 1565. He succeeded upon the death of his father, Alexander II, and faced repeated assaults from the Ottoman Turks as well as the conflicts with his ostensible vassal princes of Mingrelia, Guria, and Abkhazia who were frequently joining the enemy.

The Circassians, also known by their endonym Adyghe, are a Northwest Caucasian nation native to Circassia, many of whom were displaced in the course of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century, especially after the Russo-Circassian War in 1864. In its narrowest sense, the term "Circassian" includes the twelve Adyghe princedoms ; Abdzakh, Besleney, Bzhedug, Hatuqwai, Kabardian, Mamkhegh, Natukhai, Shapsug, Temirgoy, Ubykh, Yegeruqwai and Zhaney, each star on the Circassian flag representing each princedom. However, due to Soviet administrative divisions, Circassians were also designated as the following: Adygeans, Cherkessians, Kabardians and Shapsugians, although all the four are essentially the same people residing in different political units.

Prince Vakhushti errs in dating Mamia's expedition and his death to 1532, thus diverging from one of his sources, the so-called Parisian Chronicle, which gives Friday, 31 January 1533 as the date of his death. Friday, indeed, fell on 31 January 1533 according to the Julian Calendar.^[4]

Family

Mamia III Dadiani was married to a certain Elisabed, who is mentioned, with Mamia and their son, Levan, in a Georgian inscription of the cross from Bichvinta, in Abkhazia. If Bezhan Khorava's identification of Mamia III with the Mamia Dadiani of the text of the omophorion of Mokvi, also from Abkhazia, is correct, he could have been married also to Elene, probably as his first wife. This Elene, "a king’s daughter", would then become a nun under the name of Ekaterine as suggested by the contemporary textual documents.^[2]

The Cathedral of St. Andrew the Apostle, also known as the Pitsunda Cathedral or Bichvinta Cathedral is a Georgian Orthodox Cathedral located in Pitsunda, in the Gagra district of the de facto independent Republic of Abkhazia, internationally recognised as constituting a part of Georgia. The cathedral is currently used by the Abkhazian Orthodox Church and serves as that body's seat, although this usage is disputed by the Republic of Georgia and is considered irregular by the Eastern Orthodox communion.

In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic liturgical tradition, the omophorion is the distinguishing vestment of a bishop and the symbol of his spiritual and ecclesiastical authority. Originally of wool, it is a band of brocade decorated with four crosses and an eight-pointed star and is worn about the neck and shoulders.

Mokvi Cathedral is a Georgian Orthodox Cathedral located in Mokvi, in the Ochamchira district of the de facto independent Republic of Abkhazia, internationally recognized to constitute a part of Georgia.

Mamia had two sons:

Levan I Dadiani (died 1572), who succeeded him as ruler of Mingrelia;
Batulia (Datulia; died c. 1580^[8]), lord of Sajavakho, known from Prince Vakhushti's chronicle. His wife—a Circassian or Abkhazian noblewoman, a younger sister of George II of Imereti's queen consort Rusudan, according to the historian Cyril Toumanoff—was taken away from him by his own nephew, Giorgi III Dadiani. Batulia later plotted Giorgi's murder, but failed and fled to Guria, where he was incarcerated in Ozurgeti and strangled to death by Dadiani's agents.^[1]

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.

George II, of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Imereti from 1565 to 1585.

Cyril Leo Heraclius, Prince Toumanoff was a Russian-born American historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, Iran and the Byzantine Empire. His works have significantly influenced the Western scholarship of the medieval Caucasus.

Related Research Articles

Mamia III Gurieli, also known as Mamia the Great Gurieli or the Black Gurieli, of the western Georgian House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1689 to 1714. Involved in civil wars plaguing western Georgia, he became King of Imereti three times in the years of 1701, 1711–1712, and 1713–1714. After his first reign as king for a year in 1701, he abdicated the throne of Imereti, being unable to tolerate the influence of his father-in-law Giorgi Abashidze. Subsequent periods of his royal career was the result of a feud with Giorgi VII of Imereti. Mamia died while still sitting on the throne of Imereti, which then reverted to his rival Giorgi VII.

Giorgi IV Gurieli, of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1711 to 1726, and a king of Imereti in western Georgia in 1716. He was installed as regent of Guria by his father, Mamia III Gurieli, then the king of Imereti, in 1712. In 1716, he seized the crown of Imereti, but was forced to abandon the enterprise later that year. Returning to Guria, his rule was challenged by a faction of local nobility, which included his mother Elene and brother Kaikhosro III Gurieli. He was finally able to crush the opposition after making peace with Bezhan Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia.

Mamia I Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and eristavi ("duke") of Odishi in western Georgia from 1323 until his death.

Giorgi II Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and eristavi ("duke") of Odishi in western Georgia from 1345 until his death.

Mamia II Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and eristavi ("duke") of Odishi, latter-day Mingrelia, in western Georgia from 1396 until his death.

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.

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.

Mamia IV Dadiani was Prince of Mingrelia, of the House of Dadiani, from 1573 to 1578 and again from 1582 until his death. He was a younger son 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.

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.

Mamia I Gurieli, of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1512 until his death in 1534. Succeeding on the death of his father Giorgi I Gurieli, Mamia became involved in the conflict between the two eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti in 1520; by force of arms, he compelled David X of Kartli to agree on peace with Levan of Kakheti, his son-in-law. Mamia Gurieli's 1533 campaign, jointly with his namesake Prince of Mingrelia, against the homebase of Circassian pirates ended in a fiasco, with Mamia being captured and ransomed later that year.

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.

Mamia II Gurieli, of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1600 until his death at the hands of his own son Simon in 1625. Mamia's rule over his small principality, located in southwest Georgia, saw efforts to rebuff encroachments of the Ottoman Empire, with which he was forced to make peace in 1614, conceding the loss of territories and placing Guria under the obligation of paying tribute.

Mamia IV Gurieli, of the western Georgian House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1726 to 1756 and again from 1758 to 1765 and from 1771 to 1776. Intermissions of his rule was the result of Mamia's rivalry with his younger brother, Giorgi V Gurieli, and complex political situation in the region, including the Ottoman encroachments and efforts by the kings of Imereti to bring western Georgian polities under their supreme authority.

Invasion of Jiketi the remarkable event of Grand-duke of Odishi, Mamia III Dadiani (c.1512-1533), which resulted by defeat of allied forces, in 31 January 1533.

References

1 2 3 Bagrationi, Vakhushti (1976). Nakashidze, N.T., ed. История Царства Грузинского [History of the Kingdom of Georgia](PDF) (in Russian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. p. 133.
1 2 Khorava, Bezhan (2001). "მოქვის ომოფორის დათარიღებისათვის" [For dating of the Mokvi omophorion]. Saistorio dziebani (in Georgian). 4: 111–119.
1 2 Rayfield, Donald (2012). Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia. London: Reaktion Books. p. 157. ISBN 1780230303.
1 2 3 Alasania, Giuli, ed. (1991). Парижская хроника (Грузинская хроника XVIII века) [The Parisian Chronicle (A Georgian chronicle of the 18th century)](PDF) (in Russian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba (Online version by the Parliamentary Library of Georgia). pp. 14, 58. ISBN 5-520-01114-1.
1 2 Egnatashvili, Beri (2007) [1959]. Kaukhchishvili, Simon, ed. ქართლის ცხოვრება, ტ. 2 [The Georgian Chronicle, Vol. 2, Part No. 497] (in Georgian). TITUS version by Jost Gippert. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
↑ Anchabadze, Zurab (1959). Из истории средневековой Абхазии[From the history of medieval Abkhazia] (in Russian). Sukhumi: Abkhazian State Publishing. p. 258.
↑ Beradze, Tamaz (1983). "მამია III დადიანი [Mamia III Dadiani]". ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 6 [Georgian Soviet Encyclopaedia, Vol. 6] (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. p. 396.
↑ Toumanoff, Cyrille (1990). Les dynasties de la Caucasie Chrétienne: de l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle: tables généalogiques et chronologique[Dynasties of Christian Caucasia from Antiquity to the 19th century: genealogical and chronological tables] (in French). Rome. pp. 202–203.

Regnal titles
Mamia III Dadiani House of Dadiani Born: ? Died: 31 January 1533
Preceded by Liparit II Dadiani	Prince of Mingrelia 1512–1533	Succeeded by Levan I Dadiani

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[Vakh-1] 1 2 3 Bagrationi, Vakhushti (1976). Nakashidze, N.T., ed. История Царства Грузинского [History of the Kingdom of Georgia](PDF) (in Russian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. p. 133.

[SD01-2] 1 2 Khorava, Bezhan (2001). "მოქვის ომოფორის დათარიღებისათვის" [For dating of the Mokvi omophorion]. Saistorio dziebani (in Georgian). 4: 111–119.

[ray-3] 1 2 Rayfield, Donald (2012). Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia. London: Reaktion Books. p. 157. ISBN 1780230303.

[ParCh-4] 1 2 3 Alasania, Giuli, ed. (1991). Парижская хроника (Грузинская хроника XVIII века) [The Parisian Chronicle (A Georgian chronicle of the 18th century)](PDF) (in Russian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba (Online version by the Parliamentary Library of Georgia). pp. 14, 58. ISBN 5-520-01114-1.

[titus1-5] 1 2 Egnatashvili, Beri (2007) [1959]. Kaukhchishvili, Simon, ed. ქართლის ცხოვრება, ტ. 2 [The Georgian Chronicle, Vol. 2, Part No. 497] (in Georgian). TITUS version by Jost Gippert. Retrieved 24 July 2015.

[anch-6] Anchabadze, Zurab (1959). Из истории средневековой Абхазии[From the history of medieval Abkhazia] (in Russian). Sukhumi: Abkhazian State Publishing. p. 258.

[gse6-7] Beradze, Tamaz (1983). "მამია III დადიანი [Mamia III Dadiani]". ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 6 [Georgian Soviet Encyclopaedia, Vol. 6] (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. p. 396.

[8] Toumanoff, Cyrille (1990). Les dynasties de la Caucasie Chrétienne: de l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle: tables généalogiques et chronologique[Dynasties of Christian Caucasia from Antiquity to the 19th century: genealogical and chronological tables] (in French). Rome. pp. 202–203.