Guaram Mampali

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Guaram Mampali (d. 882) was the younger brother of Bagrat I Kuropalates, the presiding prince of Iberia. He ruled over the Meskhian lands to the east of the Arsiani mountains except for Kola. According to the Georgian chronicle Matiane Kartlisa, he was married to the sister of Ashot V Bagratuni who later became the first Bagratid king of Armenia.

Following the extinction of the house of the vitaxae of Gugark, Guaram Mampali pursued an aggressive policy of expansion through which he acquired Javakheti, Trialeti, Aboci and Artaani. Prior to the year 876, Guaram handed over some of his possessions to his brothers Adarnase of Tao-Klarjeti and Bagrat I, and he gave Aboci to his brother-in-law Ashot V Bagratuni. Liparit I, a member of a side-branch of the Mamikonian, took over control in Trialeti (see Kldekari) soon after 876.

After handing over his possessions to his brothers and the presiding prince of Armenia, Guaram retired and became a monk in the monastery of Opiza, where he was buried after his death in 882.

[edit] Sources

The main sources on Guaram Mapali are Matiane Kartlisa and Sumbat, both included in the Georgian chronicle Kartlis Tskhovreba ("The Life of Kartli"). The Vita of St. Grigol Khandzteli also mentions him briefly.

The Life of Kartli: Das Leben Kartlis. Eine Chronik aus Georgien. 300-1200, ed. G. Pätsch, Leipzig 1985

Giorgi Merchule: Georgi Mertschule. Das Leben des Grigol von Chandsta, transl. S. Sardshweladse and H. Fähnrich, Jena 2000