| The Ottoman invasion of Guria | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ottoman Empire |  Principality of Guria | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Rostom Gurieli | |||||||
The Ottoman invasion of Guria was a remarkable event of the Ottoman Empire against the Principality of Guria, which resulted by occupation of the Chaneti (Lazistan) and Adjara; maritime settlements of Gonio and Batumi, in 1547.
In 1547, the Ottoman military imposed a blockade of Guria's coastline and occupied the maritime settlements of Gonio and Batumi. Rostom Gurieli appealed for help to Bagrat III of Imereti and Levan I Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia. Levan I Dadiani collected the Abkhazians and Odishians to help Guria; he camped in the Rioni harbor. However, the king of Imereti, indignant at Rostom's earlier decline of a combined attack on Mingrelia, disrupted the nascent Dadiani–Gurieli accord. Left to his own devices, Rostom attacked, pushed the Ottoman forces beyond the Chorokhi and forced them to evacuate Batumi, but he failed to prevent the loss of Adjara and Chaneti; the Gonio fortress became an important Ottoman outpost in southwestern Georgia. [1] [2]
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Manuchar I Dadiani was Prince of Mingrelia, of the House of Dadiani, from 1590 until his death. A younger son of Levan I Dadiani, he succeeded on the death of his elder brother, Mamia IV Dadiani.
Levan II Dadiani was a member of the House of Dadiani and ruler of the Principality of Mingrelia in western Georgia. Levan is known for his extensive raiding of neighboring countries and taking hostages for ransom.
Liparit III Dadiani was Prince of Mingrelia, of the House of Dadiani, from 1657 until being deposed in 1658.
Kakhaber II Gurieli, of the House of Gurieli, was eristavi ("duke") of Guria from c. 1469 until his death in 1483.
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.
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.
Mamia II Gurieli (-1625/1627) is a 17th-century Georgian prince that ruled over the Principality of Guria in Western Georgia. Son of Prince George II, he succeeded his father in 1600 after spending a decade as head of Gurian troops. As Prince, he distinguished himself as a staunch supporter of closer relations with other Georgian states and an enemy of the Ottoman Empire. However, his policy failed as he was forced to remain under Turkish influence, while his ties with the Kingdom of Imereti progressively declined until an armed conflict and his assassination in 1625.
Simon I Gurieli, of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1625 to 1626. He acceded to power in Guria, a small principality in southwest Georgia, after having murdered his father, Mamia II Gurieli, and was dethroned and blinded by his brother-in-law Levan II Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia. Simon thereafter became a monk and retired to Jerusalem.
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.
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.