George XI of Kartli
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George XI (Georgian: გიორგი, Giorgi), known as Gurgin Khan (Gorgin Khan) in Persia (1651 – April 21, 1709), ruled Kartli, eastern Georgia, from 1676 to 1688 and again from 1703 to 1709. He is best known for his struggle, as a Saffavid commander, against the rebel Afghan tribes, that cost him life.
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[edit] Life
He was the son of Vakhtang V, also known as Shahnawaz I, whom he succeeded as a ruler of Kartli in 1676. He had to accept Islam and take the name of Shahnawaz II before being able to be confirmed as a wali (viceroy) by Shah Husayn I. However, Georgians continued to consider him as their king under his Christian name George (Giorgi).
It was when nearly half-century long peaceful relations between Kartli and its Persian suzerains significantly deteriorated. Giorgi attempted to centralise loose royal authority in Kartli and to weaken the Persian influence. He patronised Catholic missioners and had correspondence with Innocent XI. After the liberation of Vienna of the siege of the Ottomans hoped Giorgi XI first on weakening of Ottomans. In the letter to Innocent XI from 29.04.1687 he vowed to be a Catholic King and declared the readness and willingness of him and his troops to obey any order of the Roman Pope. According to Catholic missionaries Giorgi remained until his death a faithful Catholic. He attempted, though vainly, to gain an Ottoman support against the Saffavids of Persia. The shah retaliated by deposing Giorgi and put rival prince, Erekle I on the throne of Kartli. Giorgi fled to Racha, western Georgia, whence he made fruitless attempts to reclaim his possession. However, a great unrest in the Saffavid empire, made Husayn to make peace with Giorgi who was summoned to Isfahan in 1696. The shah entrusted him with restoring order along the eastern frontiers of the empire and appointed him beglarbeg (governor general) of Kerman in 1699. It was the beginning of an illustrious but, ultimately, tragic career in the service of the Saffavids. Giorgi, aided by his brother Levan, by 1700 had reestablished the shah's sovereignty in the region. As a reward, George was restored to the throne of Kartli in 1703, but was not allowed to return to his country. Instead, he was soon assigned to suppress the Afghan rebellion in May 1704. He was granted the title of Gurgin Khan by the Shah and was appointed the viceroy of Kandahar and sipah salar (commander-in-chief) of the Persian armies. While he was in the field, he entrusted the administration of his country of Kartli to a nephew, the future King Vakhtang VI. Gurgin managed to crash the revolts of Afghan tribes and ruled Kandahar with uncompromising severity. He subdued many of the local leaders and sent Mir Wais, a powerful chieftain of the Ghilzai clan, in chains to Isfahan. However, Mir Wais managed to gain the favour of the shah and even to arouse his suspicion against the beglarbeg. Determined to bring about the overthrow of Gurgin, Mir Wais staged a carefully planned coup. On April 21, 1709, when the majority of the Georgian troops under Gurgin’s nephew, Alexander, were away from Kandahar on a raid against the rebels, Mir Wais invited Gurgin on a banquet at his country estate at Kohkran and had him assassinated. His small escort was massacred and Mir Wais seized the power in Kandahar. He sent to Isfahan the cross and psalms, found at the murdered Georgian general, as the proof of the latter’s covert defection.
A punitive expedition into the Afghan lands led by Giorgi’s nephew, Kay Khusrau, ended in October 1711 disastrously with his death and the destruction of nearly his entire Persian-Georgian force of 30,000.
[edit] Family and children
Giorgi was married twice. He married first Tamar, daughter of Prince Davit Davitashvili, 1676. She died on December 4, 1683, and was survived by a son Bagrat and a daughter Maryam. Giorgi remarried, in 1687, Khoreshan (died on February 24, 1695), daughter of Prince Giorgi Mikeladze. She bore him a daughter, Princess Rwadam who was married, from 1703 to 1714, to the king George VI of Imereti.
[edit] See also
[edit] References and external links
- Rudi Matthee’s biography of Gorgin Khan in Encyclopædia Iranica
- Martin Sicker, The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire (Hardcover) (2000), Praeger/Greenwood, ISBN 0-275-96891-X, page 44
- The Cambridge History of Iran: Volume 6, the Timurid and Safavid Periods, edited by Peter Jackson, Stanley I Grossman, Laurence Lockhart: Reissue edition (1986), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-20094-6, page 315
- (English) Political history of Georgia 1658-1703, excerpt from David Marshall Lang, The Last years of the Georgian Monarchy, 1658-1832
- (English) Kings of Kartli at The Royal Ark
- გიორგი XI (In Georgian)
[edit] Further reading
- Willem Vogelsang, The Afghans (2001), Blackwell Publishing ISBN 0-631-19841-5
| Preceded by Vakhtang V |
King of Kartli 1676-1688 |
Succeeded by Erekle I |
| Preceded by Erekle I |
King of Kartli 1703-1709 |
Succeeded by Kaikhosro |
