David IV of Georgia
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David IV [1] also known as David the Builder (Georgian: დავით აღმაშენებელი, Davit Aghmashenebeli) (1073 – January 24, 1125), from the House of Bagrationi, was King of Georgia from 1089 to 1125 [2].
Perhaps the most successful Georgian ruler, he succeeded in driving the Seljuk Turks out of the country winning the major Battle of Didgori in 1121. His reforms of the army and administration enabled him to reunite the country and bring most Caucasian lands under Georgia’s control. A friend of the church and a notable promoter of Christian culture, he was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church.
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[edit] Early life
The only son of King George II (1072–1089) by his wife Helena, he was born in Kutaisi, western Georgia in 1073.
His childhood coincided with Georgia’s hard times. King George, though courageous, had no success in maintaining the country’s integrity. His kingdom having been ravaged by the Seljuk invasions, internal wars and disastrous earthquakes, George had to abdicate in 1089 in favour of his 16-years-old son David, who was to become an architect of Georgia’s ‘golden age’.
[edit] Reforms
Despite his age, he was actively involved in Georgia’s political life. David IV pursued a purposeful policy, taking no unconsidered step. He was determined to bring order to the land, bridle the unsubmissive secular and ecclesiastic feudal lords, centralize the state administration, form a new type of army that would stand up better to the Seljuk Turkish military organization, and then go over to a methodical offensive with the aim of expelling the Seljuks first from Georgia and then from the whole Caucasus.
In 1093, he arrested the powerful feudal lord Liparit Baghvashi, a long-time enemy of the Georgian crown, and expelled him from Georgia (1094). After the death of Liparit’s son Rati, David abolished their duchy of Kldekari in 1103.
He slowly pushed the Seljuk Turks out of the country, recovering more and more land from them as they were now forced to focus not only on the Georgians but the newly begun Crusades in the eastern Mediterranean [3]. By 1099 David IV's power was considerable enough that he was able to refuse paying tribute to the Turks. By that time, he also rejected a Byzantine title of panipersebastos [4] thus indicating that Georgia would deal with the Byzantine Empire only on a parity basis.
In 1103 a major ecclesiastical congress known as the Ruis-Urbnisi Synod was held at the monasteries of Ruisi and Urbnisi. David succeeded in removing oppositionist bishops, and combined two offices: courtier’s (Mtzignobartukhutsesi, i.e. Chief Secretary) and clerical (Bishop of Tchqondidi) into a single institution of Tchqondidel-Mtzignobartukhutsesi corresponding roughly to the post of prime minister.
Next year, David’s supporters in the eastern Georgian province of Kakheti captured the local king Aghsartan II (1102–1104), a loyal tributary of the Seljuk Sultan, and reunited the area with the rest Georgia.
[edit] Military campaigns
Following the annexation of Kakheti, in 1105, David routed a Seljuk punitive force at the Battle of Ertzukhi, leading to momentum that helped him to secure the key fortresses of Samshvilde, Rustavi, Gishi, and Lorri between 1110 and 1118.
Problems began to crop up for David now. His population, having been at war for the better part of twenty years, needed to be allowed to become productive again. Also, his nobles were still making problems for him, along with the city of Tbilisi which still could not be liberated from Arab grasp. Again David was forced to solve these problems before he could continue the reclamation of his nation and people. For this purpose, David IV radically reformed his military. He resettled a Kipchak tribe of 40,000 families from the Northern Caucasus in Georgia in 1118–1120. Every family was obliged to provide one soldier with a horse and weapons. This 40,000 strong Kipchak-army was entirely dependent on the King. Kipchaks were settled in different regions of Georgia. Some were settled in Inner Kartli province, others were given lands along the border. They were quickly assimilated into Georgians.
In 1120 David IV moved to western Georgia and, when the Turks began pillaging Georgian lands, he suddenly attacked them. Only an insignificant Seljuk force escaped. King David then entered the neighbouring Shirvan and took the town of Qabala.
In the winter of 1120–1121 the Georgian troops successfully attacked the Seljuk settlements on the eastern and southwestern approaches to the Transcaucasus.
On August 12, 1121 David won a decisive victory over a large Seljuk invasion army at the Battle of Didgori which enable him to reconquer Tbilisi after a heavy fighting in 1122. It became the Georgian capital for the first time in many hundreds of years.
In 1123, David’s army liberated Dmanisi, the last Seljuk stronghold in southern Georgia. In 1124, David finally conquered Shirvan and took the Armenian city of Ani from the Muslim Emirs, thus expanding the borders of his kingdom to the Araxes basin. Armenians met him as a liberator providing some auxiliary force for his army. It was when the important component of "Sword of the Messiah" appeared in the title of David the Builder. It is engraved on a copper coin of David's day:
| King of Kings, David, son of George, Sword of the Messiah. |
Humane treatment of the Muslim population, as well as the representatives of other religions and cultures, set a standard for tolerance in his multiethnic kingdom. It was a hallmark not only for his enlightened reign, but for all of Georgian history and culture.
David the Builder died on January 24, 1125, and his son Demetre ascended the throne. He was buried at the entrance of Gelati Monastery near the city Kutaisi.
[edit] Cultural life
King David the Builder gave close attention to the education of his people. The king selected children who were sent to the Byzantine Empire "so that they be taught languages and bring home translations made by them there". Many of them later became well-known scholars.
At the time of David the Builder there were quite a few schools and academies in Georgia, among which Gelati occupies a special place. King David's historian calls Gelati Academy
| a second Jerusalem of all the East for learning of all that is of value, for the teaching of knowledge - a second Athinai, far exceeding the first in divine law, a canon for all ecclesiastical splendors. |
Besides Gelati there also were other cultural-enlightenment and scholarly centers in Georgia at that time, i.e. the Academy of Ikalto.
King David was an author of a religious poem “Galobani Sinanulisani” (Psalms of Regret).
[edit] Family
[edit] Marriages
- Rusudan, an Armenian princess (divorced in 1107)
- Gurandukht, daughter of the Kipchak chief Atraka (ca. 1107)
[edit] Children
- Demetre I
- Prince Vakhtang (Tsuata)
- Princess Tamar, who married Abul Muzaffar Manuchahr II, Shirvanshah (d. ca 1154), and became a nun in widowhood.
- Princess Katay (Irene), who married the Byzantine prince Isaakios Comnenus Sebastocrator.
- Princess Tamar who was married to Prince Jadaros of Ossetia
[edit] Title
H.M. The Most High King David, son of George, by the will of our Lord, King of Kings of the Abkhazians, Kartvelians, Ranians, Kakhetians and the Armenians, Shirvanshah and Shahanshah of all the East and West, Sword of Messiah.
[edit] Legacy
David the Builder’s epoch greatly influenced the national perception of the Georgians. They are still proud of David’s victories and dream of his glorious reign.
The nation’s current flag is based on David’s standard. The Order of David the Builder is one of the most prestigious decorations awarded by Georgia.
After being elected President of Georgia, Georgia’s current leader Mikheil Saakashvili took an oath at David the Builder’s tomb at Gelati Monastery on the day of his inauguration on January 25, 2004. Mikheil Saakashvili said it was a symbol of his dedication to follow in David's footsteps, who brought unity and prosperity to Georgia. Many across the impoverished country hope that Saakashvili will manage to do the same.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Actually, he was the first of the unified Georgia’s kings to be named David. From this point of view, he was David I. But traditionally he is known as David IV being the fourth David in the ruling dynasty of Bagrationi. However, some Georgian historians mention him as David II referring the fact that he was the second David to have the title of King of the Georgians (adopted by the Bagratid kings of Tao-Klarjeti in 888) whereas the two others were only ruling princes.
- ^ Georgia in the Developed Feudal Period (XI-the first quarter of the XIII c.) www.parliament.ge/ Retrieved 13 August 2006.
- ^ Fighting against the Seljuks, Georgia and the Crusaders developed fairly friendly relations. A 13th century anonymous Georgian author (conventionally known as the First Chronicler of Queen Tamar) as well as Abul-Faraj gives a version, though unproven otherwise, about the participation of a Georgian auxiliary force in the Siege of Jerusalem (1099). Some 300 Crusaders (known to the Georgians as Franks) are also known to take part in the famous Battle of Didgori (1121). King Baldwin II of Jerusalem is said by the historian Ioane Bagrationi, who refers to unknown medieval sources, to have visited incognito David IV’s court
- ^ Since the Bagrationi dynasty established Tao-Klarjeti principality under the Byzantine protectorate in 813, representatives of the dynasty had been granted various Byzantine titles such as kouropalates, magistros, sebastos, etc. David was the last Georgian monarch to wear a Byzantine title.
- Mariam Lordkipanidze. "Georgia in the 11th–12th centuries", Tbilisi, 1987, pp. 80–118 (in English)
- Grand Larousse Encyclopédique, 5, Paris, 1962, pp. 452–453 (in French)
- Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome, 1950, pp. 641–643 (in Italian)
[edit] External links
- The Bagrationi Royal Dynasty of Georgia, by Dr. Levan Z. Urushadze (Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia) Retrieved 13 August 2006.
- The PEDIGREE of David IV `the Builder' (King) of GEORGIA Retrieved 13 August 2006.
| Preceded by: George II |
King of Georgia 1089–1125 |
Succeeded by: Demetre I |
