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. At the height of its influence, Georgia also maintained several important religious centers abroad, such as the Bachkovo Monastery in Bulgaria, Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem and the Monastery of Iviron in Greece. It is the principal historical precursor of present-day Georgia.
The Kingdom of Georgia emerged in the early 11th century through the unification of several Georgian kingdoms, most notably the Kingdom of the Iberians and the Kingdom of Abkhazia. It was governed under a feudal system most closely resembling those of Western Europe. Georgia repelled invasions by the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks, eventually establishing its dominance over much of the South Caucasus. The kingdom came under Mongol influence in the 1240s but managed to reassert its sovereignty by the 1330s. The following decades were marked by the Black Death and numerous invasions led by Timur, which caused significant damage to the country's economy, population, and urban centres. The kingdom's geopolitical position deteriorated further following the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire and the Empire of Trebizond. As a result of these developments, Georgia had become politically fragmented by the end of the 15th century. This series of events ultimately led to the final collapse of the kingdom into anarchy by 1466.
Background
Over the course of the Roman–Persian wars, early Georgian kingdoms were weakened and reduced to feudal regions. As a result of this decline, some parts of the region subsequently fell prey to the early Muslim conquests of the 7th century.
Iberian princes from the Bagrationi dynasty fought against the Arab occupation and came to rule the Tao-Klarjeti region. They established the Kouropalatate of Iberia as a nominal vassal of the Byzantine Empire. By 888, they had gained control of the central Georgian land, Kartli, and restored the Iberian kingship. The Bagrationi dynasty was unable to maintain their kingdom, and it was divided between the three branches of the family. The main branch controlled Tao, while another controlled Klarjeti.
Over time, Georgia was able to assert greater independence from Byzantium and pave the way to the unification of the Georgian states into a single feudal monarchy. The Georgian Church broke away from Constantinople in the 9th century, instead submitting itself to the authority of the local Georgian Catholicate of Iberia. The church language was changed from Greek to Georgian.
History
Unification of the Georgian State
During the 10th century, David III of Tao invaded Kartli, a de-facto independent region under the control of the kingdom of Abkhazian, giving it to his adopted son, who would later be known as Bagrat III of Georgia, with his biological father, Gurgen of Iberia, as regent. In 994, Gurgen was crowned King of the Iberians. In 975, supported by a Duke of Kartli Ioane Marushisdze and David, Bagrat claimed the throne of Kartli, becoming King of the Kartlians. During this time, the Kingdom of Abkhazia encompassing what is today western Georgia was under the rule of Theodosius the Blind, who did not have a successor and was the maternal uncle of Bagrat III. In 978, the Abkhazian aristocracy, dissatisfied with the rule of Theodosius, performed a coup d'état and invited Bagrat to claim the throne of Abkhazia.
Gurgen died in 1008, leaving his throne for Bagrat, allowing Bagrat to become the first king of a unified Abkhazia and Iberia. In his early reign, Bagrat pressed a claim to the kingdom of Khakheti-Hereti to the east, and annexed it in 1010. Bagrat also reduced the autonomy of dynastic princes to stabilize his realm, with his fears focusing on the Klarjeti line of the Bagrationi. In order to secure the throne for his son, George I of Georgia, Bagrat tricked his cousins into a meeting and imprisoned them, and his cousins' children fled to Constantinople, where they requested the aid of the Byzantine Empire to take back their patrimonial land.
Bagrat's reign secured a victory for the Bagratids of Georgia, ending the power-struggles that had plagued the region for centuries. Bagrat had a peaceful foreign policy, successfully avoiding conflicts with the Byzantines and nearby Muslim realms, even though some of David's territory, such as Tao and Tbilisi, remained in Byzantine and Arab control, respectively.
War and peace with Byzantium
George I's reign was known primarily for its war against the Byzantines. This war had its roots in the 990s, when David III, after losing a rebellion against the Byzantine Emperor Basil II, agreed to cede his lands in Tao to the emperor upon his death. George I, in an attempt to take back the Kuropalates' land, occupied Tao starting from 1015 or 1016, during a Byzantine war with the Bulgarian Empire. When Bulgaria was dealt with in 1021, Basil II turned his attention to Georgia, leading to a two-year-long war and an eventual Byzantine victory. George, as a result, had to abandon his claims in Tao and surrender some of his southwestern lands, which were eventually made into the theme of Iberia. George's son, who would eventually become Bagrat IV, was also given to Basil as a hostage. During the war against Byzantium, Gagik, a relative of Kvirike III the Great, rebelled and took control of eastern Georgia, restoring the Kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti.
Despite those setbacks, George's reign saw the construction of the modern buildings of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Samtavisi Cathedral and Samtavro Monastery.
Bagrat IV spent the next three years in Constantinople, being released in 1025. George I's death in 1027 saw him succeeded by the 8-year-old Bagrat. By the time Bagrat ascended to the throne, the Bagratids' unification drive had gained much momentum. Many of the Georgian lands, such as Tao, Tbilisi, Kakheti and Hereti, were either under the rule of foreign empires or of independent kings. The loyalty of Georgian nobles was also questionable. Bagrat IV's childhood saw the regency increase the influence of the nobility, something which he tried to stop when he assumed his full powers.
Great Turkish Invasion
In the later half of the 11th century, the Seljuq Turks invaded nearby regions, prompting greater cooperation between the Georgian and Byzantine governments. In a political arrangement, Bagrat's daughter Maria married the Byzantine co-emperor Michael VII Doukas at some point between 1066 and 1071.
In 1065 the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan attacked Kartli, taking Tbilisi and building a mosque. During the internecine conflict between Seljuk heirs, George II of Georgia defeated a Seljuk governor, Sarang of Ganja, at the Battle of Partskhisi in 1074. In 1076, the Seljuk sultan Malik Shah I attacked again. Georgia eventually submitted to Malik Shah, paying an annual tribute in order to have peace.
Georgian Reconquista
David IV
George II ceded the crown to his 16-year-old son David IV in 1089. Under the tutelage of his court minister, George of Chqondidi, David IV suppressed the feudal lords and centralized the power. In 1089–1100, he organized military action to destroy Seljuk troops, beginning the resettlement of occupied regions. In 1099, David IV refused to pay tribute to the Seljuqs.
By 1104, the local king of the eastern Georgia province of Kakheti, Aghsartan II, was captured by David IV's supporters, reuniting eastern Georgia with David's realm. The following year, David IV defeated a Seljuk force in the Battle of Ertsukhi. After that David IV captured the fortresses of Samshvilde in 1110, Rustavi in 1115, Gishi in 1117, and Lore in 1118.
Starting in 1118 through 1120, David IV began major military reforms, including the resettlement of several thousand Kipchaks. In exchange, each Kipchak family provided David IV with a soldier, allowing him to establish a standing army. This alliance was aided by David IV's earlier marriage to the Khan's daughter.
Entering 1120, David IV became more expansionist. He invaded the neighbouring Shirvan area and the town of Qabala. From there, he began to successfully attack the Seljuk in the eastern and southwestern areas of Transcaucasia. In 1121, Sultan Mahmud b. Muhammad declared a holy war on Georgia, but David IV defeated his army at Didgori in 1121, marking the end of the Turkish hegemony in the Caucasus. Soon after, in the same year, David IV secured Tbilisi, one of the last Muslim enclaves remaining in Georgia, and the capital was moved there, beginning Georgia's Golden Age.
In 1123, David IV liberated Dmanisi, the last Seljuk stronghold in southern Georgia. By 1124, Shirvan was captured along with the Armenian city of Ani. This expanded the kingdom's borders to the Araxes basin.
David IV founded the Gelati Academy, known at the time as "a new Hellas" and "a second Athos". David also composed the Hymns of Repentance, eight free-verse psalms.
Reign of Demetrius I and George III
The kingdom continued to flourish under Demetrius I, the son of David. Demetrius instituted religious tolerance throughout his kingdom, going so far as to grant the Muslims of Tbilisi tax exemptions and religious privileges. Despite this, neighbouring Muslim rulers began attacking Georgia from all sides. The Seljuk sultans sought to restore the rule of the Shirvanshahs in Shirvan, whose large Muslim population rose against Georgian rule. This probably occurred in 1129 or 1130, when Demetrius restored the Shirvanshahs to power in Shirvan, placing Manuchihr II, the husband of his daughter Rusudan, on the throne. The Shirvanshahs were obliged to provide the Georgian king with troops whenever he demanded them. In 1130, Georgia was attacked by Sökmen II, the Shah-Armen ruler of Ahlat (c. 1128–1183). The conflict was prompted by the transfer of Ani into Georgian hands. Demetrius I was forced to compromise and surrender the city to the Shaddadid emir Fadl ibn Mahmud, on condition that he acknowledge Georgian vassalage and guarantee the inviolability of its Christian churches. In 1139, Demetrius raided the city of Ganja in Arran. He brought the iron gate of the defeated city to Georgia and donated it to Gelati Monastery near Kutaisi. Despite this victory, Demetrius was able to hold Ganja for only a few years. In response, the ruler of the Eldiguzids attacked Ganja several times, and the town returned to his control in 1143. According to Mkhitar Gosh, Demetrius ultimately regained possession of Ganja but subsequently presented it to the sultan as a dowry when he gave his daughter in marriage to him. The sultan then appointed his own emir to govern the town, which once again fell under Eldiguzid control.
In 1130, Demetrius uncovered a conspiracy among the nobles, probably involving the king's half-brother Vakhtang. The king arrested the conspirators and executed one of their leaders, Ioanne Abuletisdze, in 1138 (or 1145).
Fadl's successor, Fakr al-Din Shaddad, a Shaddadid emir of Ani, sought to marry the daughter of Saltuk, but Saltuk refused his request. This provoked deep hostility between Shaddad and Saltuk. In 1154, Shaddad devised a plot and formed a secret alliance with Demetrius I. While a Georgian army waited in ambush, Shaddad offered tribute to the Saltukid ruler of Erzerum and asked him to accept him as a vassal. In 1153–1154, Emir Saltuk II marched against Ani, but Shaddad informed his suzerain, the King of Georgia, of the impending attack. Demetrius marched to Ani, defeated Saltuk's army and captured the emir. At the request of neighbouring Muslim rulers, Demetrius released him in exchange for a ransom of 100,000 dinars, which was paid by Saltuk's sons-in-law. Saltuk swore that he would not fight against the Georgians after his return home.
Although his reign was marked by a disruptive family conflict over the royal succession, Georgia remained a centralized power with a strong military. A talented poet, Demetrius also continued his father's contributions to Georgian religious polyphony. His most famous hymn is Thou Art a Vineyard.