| Siege of Samshvilde | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Georgian–Seljuk wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Georgia | Seljuk Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| George of Chqondidi Theodore Abuleti Ivane I Orbeli | Unknown | ||||||
The siege of Samshvilde was a siege of the city of Samshvilde by the Bishop George of Chqondidi who captured the city on behalf of King David IV. [1] [2] This induced the Seljuks to hastily evacuate most of surrounding districts. [3]
Samshvilde was the capital of the Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget until, Kiurike II, was made captive by King Bagrat IV of Georgia and had to ransom himself by surrendering Samshvilde to the Georgians in 1064. [4] [5] King George II, conceded control of the city to his powerful vassal Ivane I of Kldekari, thereby buying his loyalty, in 1073. [6] Within a year or so, Samshvilde was conquered by the Seljuks under Malik-Shah I. [7]
In 1110 the Georgians led by George of Chqondidi, his nephew Theodore, governor of Trialeti, Abuleti and Ivane I Orbeli, retaliated against the Seljuk settlement and recaptured the town of Samshvilde, which was added to the royal domains, without a major battle. [8] Following this capture, the Seljuks left a large part of their occupied territories, allowing Georgian troops to capture Dzerna . [9] [10]
Responding to this double defeat, Sultan Muhammad I Tapar in 1110, sent a large army of 200,000 [10] or 100,000 [9] (or only 10,000 according to the Armenian version of the Georgian Chronicles) soldiers with the aim of invading Georgia. Knowing of the approach of Turkish troops, David IV left his home at Nacharmagevi with a personal guard of only 1,500 men and set out to meet the invaders during the night. [11] The two armies, clearly unequal, clashed the next day at the Battle of Trialeti in a hard fight which ended in a decisive victory for Georgia. [12] The Georgian Chronicles relate that, not believing in such a simple victory, the king remained there until the next day, waiting for a new Seljuk response, and only then realized the Seljuk defeat. [9] [11]
David IV, also known as David IV the Builder (1073–1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125.
The Battle of Basiani was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Seljukid Sultanate of Rum in the Basiani Valley, 60 km north-east of the city of Erzurum in what is now northeast Turkey. The date of the battle has been debated, but recent scholarship tends to favor the years 1203 or 1204. According to modern Turkish historians, the site of the battle is usually identified as the castle of Micingerd (Mazankert).
Demetrius I, from the Bagrationi dynasty, was King (mepe) of Georgia from 1125 to 1156. He is also known as a poet. He was King of Georgian kingdom two times, first in 1125 to 1154 and second in 1155 before his death in 1156. He is regarded as a saint in the Orthodox Church and his feast day is celebrated on May 23 on the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar.
George VII of the Bagrationi dynasty, was king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1393 until his death in 1407.
The Kingdom of Georgia, also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in c. 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar the Great from the 11th to 13th centuries. Georgia became one of the pre-eminent nations of the Christian East, and its pan-Caucasian empire and network of tributaries stretched from Eastern Europe to Anatolia and northern frontiers of Iran, while Georgia also maintained religious possessions abroad, such as the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem and the Monastery of Iviron in Greece. It is the principal historical precursor of present-day Georgia.
Ivane Abazasdze was an 11th-century Georgian nobleman of the Abazasdze family, who functioned as an eristavi ("duke") of Kartli under King Bagrat IV of Georgia.
Mariam, was a Georgian queen and regent. She was the daughter of John-Senekerim Artsruni, an Armenian king of Vaspurakan, and the first consort of the king George I of Georgia. As a dowager queen of Georgia, she ruled as regent for her underage son, Bagrat IV, from 1027 to 1037, and was involved in diplomacy with the Byzantine Empire.
The Abuletisdze family was a Georgian noble family – eristavs – with its most prominent members in the 12th and 13th century. The family held appanages in the valleys of Aragvi and Tedzami in the eastern province of Kakheti.
George of Chqondidi was a Georgian churchman and court minister best known as a tutor and the closest adviser of King David IV.
The Battle of Ertsukhi was fought in 1104 between the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Seljuk Empire in southeastern part of Georgia, near Ertsukhi.
Adarnase IV, or Adarnase II, was a Georgian monarch of the Bagrationi dynasty who reigned in the late 9th and early 10th centuries. The son of the Kouropalates David I of Iberia, he ruled as duke of Lower Tao from 881 to 923, king (mepe) of the Kingdom of the Iberians from 888 to 923 and Kouropalates of Iberia from 891 to 923, re-establishing the Georgian monarchy in 888, more than three centuries after the abolition of the Kingdom of Iberia by Sasanian Empire.
In Georgian historiography, the Great Turkish Invasion, also translated as the Great Turkish Troubles, refers to the continuous attacks and settlement of the Seljuq-led Turkic tribes in the Georgian lands during the reign of George II in the 1080s. The term has its origin in the 12th-century Georgian chronicle and is accepted in the modern scholarship of Georgia. The Seljuq invasions resulted in a severe crisis in the kingdom of Georgia, leaving several of its provinces depopulated and weakening the royal authority, until the tide was reversed by the military victories of King David IV.
Manglisi is a daba (townlet) in the Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia. As of the 2014 census, it had the population of 1,441. With a recorded history going back to the 4th century, Manglisi was one of the earliest centers of Christianity in Georgia and is a home to the medieval cathedral of the Mother of God. It also functions as a mountain spa and health resort.
The Georgian–Seljuk wars, also known as Georgian Crusade, is a long series of battles and military clashes that took place from 1064 until 1213, between the Kingdom of Georgia and the different Seljukid states that occupied most of South Caucasus. The conflict is preceded by deadly raids in the Caucasus by the Turks in the 11th century, known in Georgian historiography as the Great Turkish Invasion.
The Battle of Partskhisi was fought between the armies of Kingdom of Georgia and Seljuk Empire. After hours of intense fighting, Georgians won a decisive victory over the Turks.
Samshvilde is a ruined fortified city and archaeological site in Georgia, in the country's south, near the homonymous modern-day village in the Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli region. The ruins of the city, mostly medieval structures, stretch for a distance of 2.5 km in length and 400 metres (1,300 ft) in width in the Khrami river valley. Some of the most recognizable monuments are the Samshvilde Sioni church and a citadel erected on a rocky river promontory.
The Siege of Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისის შემოერთება) in February 1122 was led by David IV, who successfully conquered the Emirate of Tbilisi, which had been established by the Arab conquests four centuries earlier. Having reclaimed Tbilisi, David's campaign marked the beginning of the end for Arab rule in Georgia; the Georgian army went on to retake the rest of the region and secured a critical victory in the Georgian–Seljuk wars. The collapse of the Emirate of Tbilisi also allowed the Kingdom of Georgia to contest territory within the rest of the weakening Seljuk Empire, laying a critical foundation for the Georgian Golden Age.
The Battle of Trialeti was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Seljuk Empire in 1110. When the Georgians captured Samshvilde and Dzerna in 1110, the Seljuks felt this kind of defeat very hard and could not easily give up, so the Sultan of the Seljuk Empire sent 1,000 men to Georgia but they were defeated by 1,500 men under the command of David IV in Trialeti.
The Georgian conquest of Shirvan was a military conquest of Shirvan by David IV the Builder during the Georgian–Seljuk wars.