Georgian kingdom

In 1008, Bagrat III Bagrationi became the first king of a united Georgia.

The entire second half of the 11th century was marked by the constant invasions of the Seljuk Turks. In 1071, they defeated the combined Byzantine, Armenian and Georgian army at the Battle of Manzikert , and a significant part of the Georgian lands was conquered by the Seljuks.

David the Builder and Strengthening Georgia

XII — the beginning of the XIII century - the period of greatest political power and the heyday of the economy and culture of feudal Georgia. King David IV The Builder inherited the throne in 1089 at the age of 16 after the abdication of his father, George II . Immediately after coming to power, David created a regular army capable of repelling Seljuk attacks. The first crusade in 1096-1099 diverted the Seljuk forces, and at the end of 1099, David was able to recapture almost all Georgian lands, with the exception of Tbilisi and Ereti . In 1103, he reorganized the Georgian Orthodox Church and appointed its Catholicos. Then in 1103-1105 he conquered the Hereti, and between 1110 and 1118 - the lower Kartli and part of Transcaucasian Armenia (Somkhiti), as a result of which Tbilisi, remaining under the control of the Seljuks, became an isolated enclave, surrounded on all sides by Georgia.

In 1121, David was able to repel the attack of the army of Seljuk emirs at the Battle of Didgori , after which he took Tbilisi and transferred the capital of Georgia there. Three years later, he also included western Shirvan and northern Armenia in Georgia, becoming king of Armenia and uniting almost all of Transcaucasia. In 1125, David the Re-Creator died, leaving Georgia in the status of one of the strongest regional powers.

His heirs ( Demeter I , David V and George III ) continued to strengthen and expand Georgia.

Queen Tamara and the Golden Age

The reign of the great-granddaughter of David the Builder, Tamara, represents the highest rise in the influence of Georgia in its entire history of development. In the years 1194-1204, the Tamara army repelled several Turkish attacks in the south and southeast and invaded the Turks occupied southern Armenia. Most of the latter, including Karin, Erzincan and Van, became a protectorate of Georgia.

After the fall of Constantinople in 1204, Georgia opened the way to the southeastern shores of the Black Sea. This territory was inhabited not only by Greeks, but also by Armenians, as well as by tribes of Georgian origin ( Laz ). The Georgian army occupied the coastal cities: Trebizond, Limniya, Samsun, Sinop, Kerasunt, Kotioru, Heracles. The Trebizond Empire was formed , headed by the representative of the Komninov house brought up in Georgia, deposed from the imperial throne of Byzantium, Alexy Komnin. Trebizond state was in the sphere of influence of Georgia ^[2] .

In 1210, Zakaria Mkhargrdzeli invited the queen to make a trip to Iran. The campaign turned out to be especially successful: the cities of Marakd, Tavrezh (Tavriz), Miane, Zanjan and Qazvin were taken. The Georgian army reached Rum Gur, located in the very heart of Iran, and with rich booty returned to their homeland ^[3] .

The Kingdom of Georgia during its heyday

In the reign of David IV, Georgia turned into a powerful state. In addition to the Georgian territory proper, its borders also included Armenia and Shirvan . At the same time, the royal court took into account the situation in the Middle East, where Islamic culture dominated, and, in accordance with this, developed a political course for cultural coexistence between peoples. Georgia was a Christian country, it considered itself the successor of Byzantium, but the Muslims in Georgia were not persecuted. David IV respected the preachers of Islam , patronized Muslim merchants, was friends with Muslim poets and philosophers, so that they lived in the “Christian kingdom” of David IV no worse than in the countries that Muslim sovereigns owned.

1. Bagrat III - king ( 975 - 1014 );
2. George I - the king ( 1014 - 1027 );
3. Bagrat IV - king ( 1027 - 1072 );
4. George II - king ( 1072 - 1089 );
5. David IV The Builder - King ( 1089 - 1125 );
6. Demeter I (Dmitry I) - king ( 1125 - 1154 );
7. David V - king ( 1154 - 1155 );
8. Demeter I (Dmitry I) - king ( 1155 - 1156 , second time);
9. George III - king ( 1156 - 1184 );
10. Tamara I the Great - Queen ( 1184 - 1213 , co-ruler from 1177);
11. George IV Lasha - king ( 1213 - 1223 );
12. Rusudan is the queen ( 1223 - 1245 ).

Division of the Kingdom ( 1246 - 1329 years )

Kings of Eastern Georgia

1. David VII Ulu - ( 1247 - 1270 ),
2. Demeter II Self -Sacrifice - (1270-1289),
3. Vakhtang II - (1289-1293),
4. David VIII - ( 1293 - 1311 ),
5. Vakhtang III - ( 1298 ), ( 1302 - 1308 , second)
6. George V the Brilliant - ( 1299 ), ( 1314 - 1329 , second time), ( 1329 - 1346 , King of the united Georgia),
7. George VI Small - (1311-1313),

Kings of Western Georgia

1. David VI Narin - (1245-1293),
2. Constantine I - (1293—1327),
3. Michael I - (1327—1329),

Eristavs of Western Georgia

1. Bagrat I - eristav ( 1329 - 1372 ),
2. Alexander - eristav (1372—1387), king (1387—1389),
3. George - eristav (1389—1392),
4. Konstantin - eristav ( 1396 - 1401 ),
5. Demeter - eristav ( 1401 - 1455 ),
6. Bagrat II - eristav ( 1455 - 1463 ), king (1463-1466), ( 1466 - 1478 as Bagrat VI the king of united Georgia).

Unification of Georgia (1329-1490)

1. George V the Brilliant - ( 1329 - 1346 ),
2. David IX - (1346—1360),
3. Bagrat V the Great - (1360-1393),
4. George VII - (1393-1407),
5. Constantine I - (1407-1412),
6. Alexander I the Great - (1412-1442),
7. Vakhtang IV - (1442-1446),
8. George VIII - (1446-1466),
9. Bagrat VI - (1466-1478),
10. Alexander II - 1478,
11. Constantine II - (1478-1490)

Literature

Vachnadze M., Guruli V., Bakhtadze M. History of Georgia (from ancient times to the present day)

Links

• Georgia: Historical flags, 5th-18th centuries