Mamuka (Georgian :მამუკა; fl. 1719 – 1769) was a member of the Bagrationi dynasty of Imereti, a kingdom in western Georgia. He was installed as a rival king to his brother, Alexander V of Imereti from 1746 until being deposed in 1749.
Mamuka was a son of George VII of Imereti by his wife Rodam, daughter of King George XI of Kartli. He twice tried to seize the crown of Imereti from his brother, Alexander V. In December 1732, Otia Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia and Mamuka's brother-in-law, in alliance with the Imeretian noblemen, Zurab Abashidze and Grigol, Duke of Racha, attempted to bring down Alexander in favor of Mamuka. They blockaded the Imeretian capital Kutaisi, but did not dare to attack the citadel for fear of reaction from the Ottoman Empire and withdrew. They soon returned to the offensive and again marched against the king. Alexander, supported by Mamia IV Gurieli, won a victory at the battle of Chikhori, capturing Dadiani, but under the Ottoman pressure, the king had to restore him to Mingrelia and concede the districts of Sachilao and Samikelao in governorship to his alienated brother Mamuka. [1] Later, Mamuka was able to dispossess the Chijavadze family of the Sebeka fortress and other estates. [2]
In 1741, Mamuka followed Alexander in his exile to Kartli, when the throne of Imereti was seized by their half-brother George IX in an Ottoman-sponsored coup. Mamuka soon fled the turmoil in Kartli back to Imereti and Alexander was also able to resume his reign the same year. In 1746, his nobles were again in revolt and put Mamuka on the throne of Imereti. In 1749, with the help of the Ottoman pasha of Akhaltsikhe, Alexander recovered the throne. [3] He died in 1752, leaving his throne to his 17-year-old son Solomon I. [4]
Mamuka was member of the party opposed to his nephew's accession. After Solomon was able to secure the throne, Mamuka fled to Akhaltsikhe and was inveigled by its pasha as his agent. They continued to stir unrest in Imereti, but Solomon decisively defeated the Ottomans and their Imeretian allies at the battle of Khresili in 1757. In 1766, they finally succeeded to put Mamuka's son Teimuraz on the throne of Imereti, but Solomon staged a comeback in 1768. Teimuraz, together with his brother, was imprisoned and never seen again. [5]
Mamuka married in 1732 Darejan Dadiani, daughter of Bezhan Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia. He had two sons:
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.
Solomon II, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the last king (mepe) of Imereti from 1789 to 1790 and from 1792 until his deposition by the Imperial Russian government in 1810.
Alexander II was a king (mepe) of Georgia in 1478 and of Imereti from 1483 to 1510.
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.
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.
George VII, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was king (mepe) of Imereti in the periods of 1707–11, 1712–13, 1713–16, and 1719–1720.
Alexander V, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was king (mepe) of Imereti from 1720 his death in 1752, with the exceptions of the periods of 1741 and 1746–1749.
Darejan or Nestan-Darejan (ნესტან-დარეჯანი) was a daughter of King Teimuraz I, a ruler of Kakheti in eastern Georgia, with a notable role in the contemporary politics of Georgia. Her three marriages represented a component of her family's and her own political machinations. Her first husband, Zurab, Duke of Aragvi, was put to death at the behest of Darejan's father in 1630. Her second and third marriages, to Alexander III and Vakhtang I, respectively in 1630 and 1661, made her a queen consort of Imereti, in western Georgia, where Darejan became embroiled in a series coups and counter-coups. She was eventually murdered by members of the rival party in Kutaisi.
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.
Joseph or Ioseb was a Georgian Orthodox hierarch, Metropolitan Bishop of Gelati (1760–1769), and Catholicos of Abkhazia (1769–1776). He was a younger son of King Alexander V of Imereti, of the Bagrationi dynasty. He was a major supporter of his brother, Solomon I of Imereti, in his efforts to consolidate royal authority.
Liparit III Dadiani was Prince of Mingrelia, of the House of Dadiani, from 1657 until being deposed in 1658.
Bezhan Dadiani, of the House of Dadiani, was Prince of Mingrelia from 1715 to 1728. He acceded to power in a coup against his own father, Giorgi IV Dadiani, and came to dominate western Georgian politics by asserting tutelage over King Alexander V of Imereti until being murdered by Ottoman agents.
Otia Dadiani, of the House of Dadiani, was Prince of Mingrelia from 1728 until his death. Like his predecessors, Otia Dadiani was embroiled in a series of civil wars that plagued western Georgia. He spent years fighting King Alexander V of Imereti with varying fortune. In the last years of his rule, Otia reconciled and corroborated with the Imeretian monarchy.
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).
Grigol Dadiani, of the House of Dadiani, was Prince of Mingrelia from 1788 to 1804, with intermissions from 1791 to 1794 and in 1802 when his position was filled by his rivaling brothers. His rule was marred by the long-standing struggle between the Imeretian crown seeking to subdue Mingrelia and Mingrelian efforts to win full independence, a continuation of the conflict which had plagued western Georgia for centuries. Grigol's rapprochement with the expanding Russian Empire resulted in Mingrelia becoming, in 1804, a Russian subject with a degree of internal autonomy under the Dadiani dynasty, an arrangement which remained in place until 1856.
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.
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.
Giorgi V Gurieli, of the western Georgian House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1756 to 1758 and again from 1765 to 1771 and from 1776 to 1788.