George VIII of Georgia

George VIII (Georgian: გიორგი VIII, romanized: giorgi VIII; 1417–1476) was de facto last king (mepe) of the formerly united Kingdom of Georgia from 1446 to 1465, though the kingdom was already splintered and embroiled in a civil war. Defeated by his rivals, he was left with an eastern province Kakheti alone, where he reigned as George I from 1465 until his death, founding a local branch of the Bagrationi royal house.

George VIII
გიორგი VIII
George VIII from 1460 royal charter
20th King of Georgia
Reign1446–1465
PredecessorVakhtang IV
SuccessorBagrat VI
1st King of Kakheti
Reign1465–1476
SuccessorAlexander I
Born1417
Died1476 (aged 58–59)
IssueAlexander I of Kakheti
DynastyBagrationi
FatherAlexander I of Georgia
MotherTamar
ReligionGeorgian Orthodox Church
KhelrtvaGeorge VIII გიორგი VIII's signature

Early life edit

 
Royal charter of George VIII.

George born between 1415 and 1417, he was the third son of King Alexander I of Georgia.[1] His mother, Queen Tamar, was the king's second wife and the daughter of the rebellious King Alexander I of Imereti.[2] He was educated at the royal court with his older brothers, Vakhtang and Demetrius, and as a royal prince, has been named in royal documents since 1417.[3] He is mentioned alongside his father in the royal charters of 29 September 1417, 22 September 1419, 6 January 1424, 1427 and 21 January 1428.[4] However, some royal charters ignore George while mentioning his brothers during the same period.[5]

His father achieved many successes during his reign, including the capture of Lori in 1431.[6] He then centralized his kingdom and attempted to increase his control over the Georgian Orthodox Church, he groomed his son David, brother of George, as the future Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.[7]

Co-ruler of Georgia edit

In the 1430s, King Alexander I began a programme to centralise the kingdom, punishing the great feudal lords who remained insubordinate in Georgia. Confiscating the territories of many nobles, he decided to make his four sons king: Vakhtang, Demetrius, George and Zaal, in 1433.[8] According to Cyril Toumanoff, the king was inspired by the Byzantine system in sharing his power with his sons and entrusted them with the day-to-day running of the kingdom,[9] but this explanation is largely denied by Vakhushti Bagrationi, who questioned the association in the eighteenth century.[10] Alexander took charge of the kingdom's military expansion, as well as the reconstruction of the many cities destroyed by centuries of war.[11]

As co-king, George sent a representative to the Georgian delegation that took part in the Council of Florence in 1438 and the Council of Florence in 1439, two ecumenical assemblies led by Pope Eugene IV. Alexander authorised his sons to be represented at the two councils in order to balance the representations of Mingrelia and Samtskhe, who wanted Rome to support their independence.[12]

In 1439, King Alexander fell seriously ill and his sons took over the administration of the kingdom. However, despite the lack of hope among his doctors, he recovered his health in 1440, only to discover a royal court beyond his control. The influential nobility drove a wedge between the royal family and George and his brothers became increasingly independent, refusing to obey their father's orders.[8] This division proved particularly severe when the royal council was unable to agree on a strategy to defend itself against the invasion of the Qara Qoyunlu ruler Jahan Shah, who ended up massacring almost 2,000 Georgians.[13]

In 1442, Alexander, who could no longer control his kingdom in the face of his sons' ambitions,[8] abdicated after a reign of 30 years and retired to a monastery under the name of Athanasius.[13] Before retiring, he arranged for George to marry Princess Nestan-Darejan,[14] the daughter of his uncle Bagrat. The throne of Georgia was left to his eldest son, Vakhtang IV, while his other sons shared the kingdom.[15] The young Zaal died in 1442, at the age of 14. Alexander died in 1446.[16]

Successor of Vakhtang IV edit

Following the abdication of Alexander I, Vakhtang IV succeeded him as "King of Kings", a title that gave him precedence over his younger siblings. Demetrius and George nevertheless remained administrators of certain regions of the kingdom, but the sources remain uncertain about their titles (Cyril Toumanoff and Donald Rayfield give them the title of king,[13] but the Georgian Chronicles only refer to them as "princes" or mtavari). Moreover, according to the 17th-century historian Vakhushti of Kartli, it was not until 1445 that George was joined to the throne by his brother.[14]

Prince David of Georgia, writing in the 19th century, added the territories of the north-east Caucasus, including Derbent on the Caspian Sea.[14] Vakhushti of Kartli, for his part, quotes the borders of George's domains differently: Ciscaucasia to the north, Aragvi to the west as far as Mount Lilo (the Iori Plateau), Mtkvari to the south and the Caspian Sea to the east.[17] Demetrius and Vakhtang shared western Georgia and Kartli. Vakhtang IV's reign proved short and he died in 1446 without an heir.[18] In mysterious circumstances, and perhaps at Vakhtang's wish, George took possession of the crown, disinheriting his elder brother, Demetrius, who found himself driven back to western Georgia.[13] The official chronology of Georgian monarchs, written in the 18th century, nevertheless recognises Demetrius III of Georgia as the legitimate king until 1452.[19] Several royal charters indicate that the reign of George VIII began on 25 December 1446.[1]

The Georgian army had remained powerful since the reforms of Alexander I, as demonstrated by its success against the Turkomans in 1444.[20] In his diplomatic missions, George VIII estimated that he could muster 70,000 men, a big difference compared with two decades later when a Turkoman army of 40,000 soldiers ravaged the country.[21] This force became strategic in an Orthodox world increasingly besieged by the Ottomans. In 1451, George Sphrantzes, a great Byzantine diplomat, arrived at George VIII's house to find a wife for Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos.[22]

The king agreed to give his daughter in marriage to the emperor but clashed over the financial details: while Constantinople demanded a dowry, Georgian tradition demanded a price for the bride and George VIII demanded a series of Byzantine villages in the negotiations.[22] In the end, the king agreed to pay 56,000 ducats, jewels, fine furniture, ceremonial clothes and an annual annuity of 3,000 ducats. This sum risked ruining Georgia, but the marriage project never materialised, as Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453.[23] As a result of this agreement between Byzantium and Georgia, the Ottomans, at the gates of Constantinople and wishing to keep potential allies away from the empire before beginning their siege, organised a rapid but devastating incursion on the coast of Abkhazia in 1451, which the Georgian forces were unable to counter.[24]

First obstacles edit

From the moment of his accession, George VIII had to deal with the separatist ambitions of the Georgian principalities, such as Mingrelia, Guria and Samtskhe, who were already exercising their own military and diplomatic policies. Although George officially reigned as sovereign over the whole of Georgia, his de facto control was limited to Kartli.[22] In 1447, civil war broke out in Samtskhe when Aghbugha II Jaqeli, the Atabeg supported by Georgia, was overthrown by Qvarqvare II Jaqeli.[23] Aghbugha took refuge with the royal court and continued to be recognised as the sovereign of his province by George VIII until his death in 1451. When the latter died, the king, convinced by the rebels,[25] offered the title of atabeg and his recognition to Qvarqvare II, but this did not change the strained relations between the kingdom and his vassal.[18]

Qvarqvare II Jaqeli, who then reigned as an autocratic ruler, undertook a policy of total separation from the Georgian crown. He confiscated Vardzia and royal domains and proclaimed the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Samtskhe with the help of a Greek metropolitan who brought clergy from Jerusalem and Antioch. Soon, the names of George VIII and the Georgian Catholicos David IV were omitted in regional prayers and Qvarqvare elevated the bishop of Atsquri to the status of Patriarch. In response, David IV had all the priests recognizing this autocephaly excommunicated and organized a boycott of local churches by the Georgians of Samtskhe. The Church of Samtskhe fearing a financial crisis, the bishop of Atsquri abandoned the autocephaly project and was ordained again in Mtskheta, a sign of a strategic defeat of Qvarqvare.[23]

In 1453, Demetrius died in a hunting accident.[23] George VIII thus became the sole sovereign of Georgia. The young Prince Constantine, son of Demetrius, is placed under the protection of the king, who educates him in the military arts.

Reign as sole sovereign of Georgia edit

A precarious peace edit

On the death of Demetrius, George was crowned as the only king of Georgia bearing the traditional title of Georgian monarchs: "King of the kings of the Abkhazians, the Kartvelians, the Ranians, the Kakhetians and the Armenians, Shirvanshah and Shahnshah and Master of all East and West”. His coronation, in the religious capital of Mtskheta, was celebrated by Catholicos David IV and all Georgian bishops attended the ceremony. He then tried to ally himself with the nobility of western Georgia and in 1455 appointed the ambitious Bagrat as Duke of Samokalako, controlling Imereti.[26]

Arriving on the throne, he had to face a revolt in Shirvan, a Muslim province in the Caspian Sea and vassal of Georgia. Khalilullah I attempted to form an independent state and stopped paying tribute. George VIII then invaded the region and, after a short siege of Qabala, he forced Shirvan to return to the Georgian sphere of influence and the Shirvanese began paying tribute to Georgia again.[26]

In 1456, Uzun Hasan, Sultan of Aq Qoyunlu, invaded Georgia for the first time, devastating Armenia and besieging the citadel of Orbeti. It was saved from the Turkomans when the local governor offered his submission and helped Uzun Hasan to invade the rest of the kingdom. The latter subsequently ravaged Kartli and occupied the city of Mukhrani, before returning to Persia.[27]

Preparations for a crusade edit

The fall of Constantinople isolates Georgia from all Western contact. Europe, for its part, faces a new geopolitical reality: the rise to power of Mehmed II risks creating a new enemy common to Catholics in the West. This drastic change in the situation in Georgia's neighborhood forced the various Georgian nobles and sovereigns to form a semblance of unity[23] and in 1459, an armistice was concluded between Georgia and Samtskhe.[28] George VIII then saw an opportunity to react against the Muslim world and become the center of a possible crusade.

In 1452, Pope Nicholas V embarked on a project to reconquer Constantinople from the Ottomans, but his death in April 1455 put an end to his plans. In 1456, Ludovico da Bologna, apostolic nuncio of Callixtus III, arrived in Georgia to present a comprehensive report on the kingdom and on the Georgian Orthodox Church for Rome, in which he noted the piety of the Georgians, but also the serious situation caused by civil conflicts in the region. Following this report, Rome asked George VIII to send an embassy to Europe and in September 1459, the new Pope Pius II launched a public appeal for a new anti-Ottoman crusade.[13] From the month of November, regular communication began between George VIII, Qvarqvare II, Pius II, the Doge of Venice Pasquale Malipiero and the Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good.[22]

George VIII promised a large force of 120,000 soldiers (or 140,000 according to some sources[29]) to the Europeans as part of this crusade, including 40,000 from Georgia, 30,000 from the Empire of Trebizond (then under the protection of Georgia), 20,000 from Armenia, 20,000 from Samtskhe and 10,000 from Mingrelia. Further contributions are also expected from Guria, as well as 30 ships from the port of Anacopia and a limited force from Uzun Hasan, who himself claims the Ottoman city of Bursa.[23] Georgia organizes the plan for this potential crusade: Georgian forces should invade Anatolia with a contingent of Qvarqvare II advancing towards Palestine, while the Europeans would launch a front in Greece.[28]

In 1460, a large embassy of Georgians, Armenians, Trapezuntines and Persians, led by Bishop Nicholas of Tbilisi and the Mingrelian Kassadan Qartchikhan, arrived in Europe and met Emperor Frederick III in Vienna. In Venice, the delegation was welcomed by the Venetian Senate[31], before heading to Florence to address a Catholic council in Latin. In Rome, the Georgians met Pius II in December 1460,[8] who made the mistake of naming George VIII "king of the Persians" and Duke Bagrat of Samokalako "king of the Iberians". From Rome, the Pope sent the embassy across Europe to secure military assistance.[30]

In May 1461, the delegation arrived in Paris to find Charles VII dying and unable to make a decision of such importance. At Saint-Omer, the Georgians met Philip the Good, but he hesitated to engage in a crusade, fearing the fate of his crown in his absence. In Ghent, they met representatives of the nobility of Burgundy but were unable to convince them of the benefits of such a war. On August 15, they returned to Paris to attend the coronation of Louis XI of France, but the latter refused to engage in a crusade,[30] having to face a series of internal problems.[31]

The crusade project fails when Western leaders refuse to participate. The Georgian negotiators left Europe saying:

For not having been able to take advantage of the favorable moment, Europe will see the Ottomans at the gates of Vienna.[28]

Fall of Trebizond edit

The neighbouring Empire of Trebizond remains the last bastion of the Byzantine Empire after the fall of Constantinople. Formed in 1204 with the support of Georgian Queen Tamar, this Black Sea state was one of Georgia's closest allies, occasionally vassalised by the Kingdom of Georgia.[32] Emperor John IV (r. 1429-1459), who married George's sister,[33] lived at the royal court during George's childhood. During communications between Georgia and the West, the Georgian king also promised a military force from Trebizond to take part in a new crusade.

This close alliance between Georgia and Trebizond provoked the displeasure of Mehmed II. Fearing the same fate as Constantinople, John IV sought military protection from George VIII. However, the Ottomans realised that the city of Trebizond was well protected by an elaborate series of walls and a Georgian fleet could save the imperial capital. Konstantin Mihailović, who served in the Ottoman army, recounted Mehmed II's incursion into Georgia in order to intimidate George VIII and prevent him from coming to the aid of the Trapezuntines. The Ottomans managed to advance as far as the Rioni and the Ciscaucasian mountains, signalling a probable attack on Kutaisi.

On 14 September 1460, while the Georgian embassy was still in Europe, Mehmed II laid siege to Trebizond. Emperor David waited in vain for help from neighbouring Georgia for several months before finally opening the city gates on 15 August 1461, exactly 200 years after the capture of Constantinople by Michael VIII Palaiologos, putting an end to the last vestige of Byzantine civilisation. Helena Kantakouzene, Empress of Trebizond, the emperor's wife, took refuge in Georgia, to the anger of the sultan. A few years later, George Komnenos, David's last surviving son, left his prison in Constantinople to take refuge with George VIII.

Bagrat's rebellion edit

Unity within the Georgian states disappeared after the failure of George VIII's diplomatic mission. Qvarqvare II of Samtskhe formally remained a subject and associate of the king, but began encouraging Duke Bagrat of Samokalako to rebel against George.[34] Bagrat was heir to the Bagrationi dynasty of Imereti, the eldest branch of the royal family whose last ruler, Constantine II of Imereti, was overthrown by George VII of Georgia in 1401, and began to claim the throne of his ancestors.[28] Being a cousin of George VIII, the local nobility did not suspect his separatist plans, but he was soon encouraged by the powerful nobles of western Georgia.[35]

In addition to Samtskhe, Bagrat allied himself with Liparit I Dadiani, Mamia Gurieli and the princes of Abkhazia and Svaneti, to whom he promised to free them from all central imposition.[36] In 1462 the rebels captured numerous fortresses across Imereti, after which George VIII abolished the Duchy of Samokalako and decided to intervene.[28] In 1463, the king crossed the Likhi range and requested military aid from Samtskhe, of whose loyalty he was convinced. Qvarqvare II landed in Imereti with his troops but camped far from the conflict zone, waiting to see the winner.[37] This reaction is widely seen as direct aid to the separatists.[38]

George and Bagrat clashed at the Battle of Chikhori, during which the rebels inflicted a decisive defeat on the forces of the central government.[36] King George retreated towards Kartli and severely punished the nobility whom he did not consider faithful enough.[31] Bagrat captured Kutaisi, the largest city in western Georgia, and is crowned king of Imereti as Bagrat II in front of the great nobility of Mingrelia, Guria, Abkhazia, Samtskhe and Svaneti, but its power remains weak, including within its capital.[39]

War against Samtskhe edit

Qvarqvare II once again began his plans for independence against Georgia. He soon minted his currency in Akhaltsikhe and was named "king" (mepe) in his decrees, before declaring war on George. For this plan, he had the help of Uzun Hasan, who managed to defeat George in 1462 and occupied the region of Lori.[28][31][36] This alliance turned against Qvarqvare II when the White Sheep Turkomans devastated and sacked Samtskhe during his attack.

After this defeat, the king decided to take revenge and took advantage of a visit by the Atabeg in Imereti, during which he recognized the crown of Bagrat, to invade his domains. He received the support of the majority of the large and small local nobility who feared the autocratic reign of Qvarqvare II and occupied the region without confrontation. The atabeg was forced to temporarily take refuge with the king of Imereti.[37] The absence of the king from his domains opened the doors for Uzun Hasan to return in Georgia and in 1463 he sent his generals Tavrij Gilak and Timur to devastate Kartli. The Georgian army rushed towards the enemy, but they were defeated by the invaders, as a result of which the Turkomans devastated East Georgia. The kingdom quickly lost control of the situation and the eastern provinces of Shirvan and Arran were freed from Georgian rule.[40]

Meanwhile, Qvarqvare II, together with Bagrat's troops, returned to Samtskhe to recover his domains. After recovering Akhaltsikhe, he severely punished the local nobility and executed many of his enemies. The nobleman Zaza Panaskerteli-Tsitsishvili took refuge at the Georgian court and became a royal advisor.[37] Subsequently, the atabeg used the help of Duke Mamia Gurieli to reconquer his infidel provinces and offered him the territories of Adjara and Caneti in exchange, solidifying the fragmentation of West Georgia.[40]

In 1465, George was the victim of an assassination attempt during which his aide, Jotan Zedgenidze, died of a stab wound.[40] The king raises the sons of Zedguinidze to the high nobility in homage to the service of their father and offers them numerous citadels in Kartli, the dignity of mouravi of Gori and the title of “generalissimo of Kartli". Following this event, he decided to invade Samtskhe once again, after securing an alliance with the Duchy of Aragvi.[8]

They met in a decisive battle at Lake Paravani. During the battle, the royalist forces were winning but the atabeg managed to encircle their forces positions.[37] King George was captured with the rest of his guard.[31] The young Constantine, his nephew, managed to escape and assumed command of the army, but had to retreat to the north, before of being besieged at Gori by Qvarqvare II, after which he took refuge in Western Georgia. George was a prisoner at Akhaltsikhe, which marked the end of his reign as sovereign of Georgia.[36]

Captivity and release edit

Without a central power, the situation seriously degenerated within the kingdom. With Constantine taking refuge in Western Georgia, the throne was vacant following the capture of George. In February 1466, Bagrat II of Imereti arrived with his army in the Georgian capital and, after offering two peasant villages to the Catholic David, he was crowned king of Georgia under the name of Bagrat VI of Georgia, deposing the prisoner monarch.[41] The new king now controlled most of Georgia, except the province of Kakheti, which rebelled against his autocratic rule and appointed the noble David of Didoeti as regional ruler.[42]

Qvarqvare feared the growing power of the new Georgian monarch, despite having supported his rise.[43] For Samtskhe, stability in Georgia was a threat to the separatist ambitions of the House of Jaqeli, regardless of which monarch was on the throne.[42] The atabeg Qvarqvare made an agreement with George:[37] the latter promised to forgive Samtskhe's betrayal, ensure Akhaltsikhe's autonomy, and give up claiming Western Georgia in exchange for his freedom.[44] A little-recognized version added that he was also forced to marry Princess Tamar Jaqeli, daughter of the atabeg, even though he was still married to Nestan-Darejan, who he resided in Tbilisi.[45]

Appointed in charge of an army of Samtskhe, he attempted to invade Kartli in 1466, but met only widespread opposition from the local nobility, who feared his revenge if he returned to power.[39] Defeated at Kartli, he set out with the atabeg and his troops towards Kakheti, then under the control of David of Didoeti. In this province of East Georgia, he received the support of the petty nobility, probably as a tribute to his previous term as governor of this province.[43] He soon defeated its ruler, despite his military support from King Bagrat VI, and was expelled to the mountainous regions of Kakheti, having to remain in the center of the region to consolidate his power and not being able to achieve it.[41][46] The atabeg returned to Samtskhe and declared its independence and George remained in Kakheti, which aggravated the Georgian division.[44][42]

King of Kakheti edit

In 1466 George was crowned king of Kakheti at the Bodbe Monastery, the religious center of eastern Georgia as George I, thus restoring an ancient kingdom abolished by Georgia in the 12th century. However, he fought to have his authority recognized at the time of his accession and, despite his recognition as monarch by David's mountain province of Didoeti in exchange for his freedom, the other northern peoples remained formally subject to the Kingdom of Georgia. Thus, Khevsureti, Tusheti and Pshavi only named him lord of Kakheti and only after an agreement with Bagrat VI did these provinces enter the dominions of George I.[47]

Faced with a great nobility hostile to the idea of Kakheti independence, he formed a series of alliances with the peasant class, the lords of the lower nobility and his former enemy, Bagrat VI. With the latter, he agreed to an association military around 1467 to help him in the conflict he waged against Constantine, his former protégé who also claimed the Georgian crown, in exchange for the recognition of Kakheti as an independent kingdom. Both kings invaded Kartli and expelled it from central Georgia, allowing Bagrat VI to recapture Tbilisi and his crown. Subsequently, a detachment of royal forces was sent to capture the stubborn nobles of Kakheti and help George I solidify his power.[43]

After an attempted rebellion to put David of Didoeti on the throne in 1470, George I undertook to reform the Kakheti system of government to end the power of the nobility. He abolished the semi-autonomous duchies and established a series of prefectures, including Kiziki, Elisseni, Tsoukheti, Didoeti, Tianeti, Tchiaouri, Shilda, Kvareli, Martqopi, Gremi and Pankisi.[47] These were headed by Mouravis appointed by the king who were responsible for collecting taxes and bring them back to the capital, Gremi. These prefects were changed regularly, abolishing the power of the hereditary nobility. He subsequently organized a military reform, dividing the kingdom into four districts called Sadrosho, each with its troops led by a bishop appointed by the king, a big difference from Western Georgia, where the troops were commanded by powerful hereditary princes.[48][43]

He also promoted the abbot of the Alaverdi Monastery to the status of bishop, he offered him a diocese and placed him at the head of the other regional bishops. While Kakheti continued to recognize the supremacy of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the reform converted the province into an autonomous region within the Catholicosate. The The city of Gremi was elevated to the status of capital and the king expanded and strengthened the city and repealed the autonomy of the province, as well as the name Hereti.[47] These reforms managed to preserve peace and stability within the kingdom during decades, eliminating the great problem of the rebellious nobility that Kingdom of Kartli and Kingdom of Imereti had to face until the 18th century.

Internationally, the situation in Kakheti, which bordered Aq Qoyunlu, continued to be more complex. Uzun Hasan soon invaded the kingdom and devastated the provinces of Kherki, Saguramo, Martqopi and Tianeti, and George I was forced to recognize him as his lord to ensure peace and had to pay him an annual tribute of slaves of both sexes. In the 1470s, he refused to help his neighbor Kartli when the Turkomans devastated the region and secured peace. for his kingdom by diplomatic means.[47] According to Vakhushti of Kartli, he spent his last years in vain trying to reconquer the rest of Georgia.[41]

George I died in 1476. He left his eldest son, Alexander, on the throne, associated as co-ruler from 1460.[49]

Marriage and children edit

George VIII's royal charters make mention of two names of his consort, Tamar (fl. 1453) and Nestan-Darejan (fl. 1458–1463). Two explanations exist to account for this. One of them, suggested by Cyril Toumanoff, has it that both names were borne by the same woman, a daughter of Bagrat, son of Constantine I of Georgia, and, thus a first cousin of George VIII, whom she married in 1445. Such polyonymy was not infrequent in Georgia, Toumanoff explains, reflecting the twofold cultural background of the country, "Hellenistic-Christian on the one hand, and Caucasio-Iranoid, on the other." She is last mentioned in 1510.[50]

An alternative view, enjoying a more general currency in Georgia, holds it that George VIII was married twice, first to Tamar, sometimes thought to have been daughter of Qvarqvare II Jaqeli, Atabeg of Samtskhe, whom he wed c. 1445 and, secondly to Nestan-Darejan, of unknown origin, whom the king took as his wife sometime before 1456. According to this version, George had a son, Vakhtang, and two daughters; and a son, Aleksandre, and a daughter, Mariam, by Nestan-Darejan.[51]

George VIII's children were:

  • Prince Vakhtang (c. 1445 – before 1510), a "provincial king", he was married to the certain Gulkan;
  • Princess Elene, married to Spiridon Beenashvili, a nobleman from Meskheti;
  • Princess Keteon (Kristine), married to Vakhushti Shalikahsvili, a nobleman from Samtskhe;
  • Prince Alexander (1445 or c. 1456 – 1511), King of Kakheti (1476–1511);
  • Princess Mariam (fl. 1465), married to Prince Giorgi Shaburidze, son of Vamek, Duke of Argavi. She is identified by C. Toumanoff with the anonymous daughter of George VIII betrothed in 1451 to Constantine XI, the last Byzantine emperor, who was killed in the fall of Constantinople two years later, before the marriage could be consummated.

In historical fiction edit

  • Emanuele Rizzardi, L'ultimo Paleologo. PubMe Editore, 2017

Ancestors edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 186.
  2. ^ Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 181.
  3. ^ Brosset 1851, p. 13.
  4. ^ Brosset 1851, pp. 13–14.
  5. ^ Brosset 1851, p. 14.
  6. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 155.
  7. ^ Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 189.
  8. ^ a b c d e Asatiani & Janelidze 2009, p. 120.
  9. ^ Toumanoff 1949–1951, pp. 204–212.
  10. ^ Brosset 1858, pp. 1–6.
  11. ^ Allen 1932, pp. 126–127.
  12. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 157.
  13. ^ a b c d e Rayfield 2012, p. 158.
  14. ^ a b c Brosset 1849, p. 682.
  15. ^ Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 184.
  16. ^ Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 178.
  17. ^ Brosset 1849, pp. 683–684.
  18. ^ a b Salia 1980, p. 262.
  19. ^ Brosset 1849, pp. 684–685.
  20. ^ Brosset 1849, p. 643.
  21. ^ Salia 1980, p. 268.
  22. ^ a b c d Rayfield 2012, pp. 158–159.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Rayfield 2012, p. 159.
  24. ^ Allen 1932, p. 151.
  25. ^ Brosset 1849, p. 207.
  26. ^ a b Brosset 1849, p. 685.
  27. ^ Brosset 1849, p. 688.
  28. ^ a b c d e f Salia 1980, p. 265.
  29. ^ Salia 1980, p. 264.
  30. ^ a b Rayfield 2012, pp. 159–160.
  31. ^ a b c d Asatiani & Janelidze 2009, p. 121.
  32. ^ Salia 1980, pp. 215–216.
  33. ^ Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 182.
  34. ^ Brosset 1858, pp. 207–208.
  35. ^ Brosset 1858, pp. 249–250.
  36. ^ a b c d Rayfield 2012, p. 160.
  37. ^ a b c d e Brosset 1858, p. 208.
  38. ^ Brosset 1858, p. 250.
  39. ^ a b Salia 1980, p. 266.
  40. ^ a b c Brosset 1849, p. 646.
  41. ^ a b c Brosset 1849, p. 687.
  42. ^ a b c Rayfield 2012, p. 161.
  43. ^ a b c d Asatiani & Janelidze 2009, p. 122.
  44. ^ a b Brosset 1858, p. 209.
  45. ^ Rayfield 2012, pp. 160–161.
  46. ^ Brosset 1858, p. 147.
  47. ^ a b c d Brosset 1858, p. 148.
  48. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 165.
  49. ^ Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 202.
  50. ^ Toumanoff, Cyril (1949–51). "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia". Traditio. 7: 187–188, 190.
  51. ^ Dumin, S.V., ed. (1996). Дворянские роды Российской империи. Том 3. Князья [Noble families of the Russian Empire. Volume 3: Princes] (in Russian). Moscow: Linkominvest. p. 39.

Bibliography edit

Further reading edit

Preceded by King of Georgia
1446–1465
Succeeded by
Bagrat VI (usurper)
Preceded by
New creation
King of Kakheti
1465–1476
Succeeded by