Javanshir

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Javanshir (also spelled Jevanshir or Dzhavanshir, Azeri: Cavanşir, Persian: "Javan"-->young and "shir"-->lion, literally "the young lion") (died in 669) was a presiding prince of the Girdman region in the Caucasian Albania from 635 to 669, whose deeds are the subject of legends and epic.

He came of the Mihranid dynasty (630-705) founded by his father, Vraz-Gregory, who was the first Girdmanian prince to become the ruler of all-Albania. Javanshir succeeded him in 635, and fought against the Arab invasion of caliph Umar on the side of the Sasanid Iran. In 637, he led an Albanian army, which alongside the Armenian prince Mushek Mamikonean and Gregory of Siunia, took part in the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah between the Persian and Arab armies. After the Sassanid defeat in 642, Javanshir concluded an alliance with the Byzantine empire. Facing the threat of the Arab invasion on the south and the Khazar offensive on the north, Javanshir had to recognize the Caliph’s suzerainty, a move, which would prove to be a turning point in the country’s history.