Vakhtang V of Kartli

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Vakhtang V (Georgian: ვახტანგ V) (1618–1675) was the king of Kartli (eastern Georgia) from 1658 until his death, who ruled as a vassal wali for the Persian shah. He is also known under the name of Shah Nawaz, which he assumed on being obliged outwardly to conform to Islam.

[edit] Life

The son of Bagrat Bagration-Mukhraneli, Vakhtang was the first Georgian ruler of the Mukhranian branch of the house of Bagrationi, and succeeded his cousin, David, as the Lord of Mukhrani (Mukhranbatoni) in 1629. He was adopted, in 1653, by the childless ruler of Kartli, Rostom Khan, as his heir and successor to the throne. Vakhtang went to Persia, in 1654, to be confirmed by Abbas II, accepted Islam and took the name Shah Nawaz. He lived for some time in Persia at the court of Abbas, with whom he enjoyed great favour. As regent, he actually ran the government in the last years of Rostom, succeeding him as wali/king of Kartli in 1658.

Vakhtang V (Shahnawaz) followed the policy of his predecessor, managing to maintain a peaceful relationship with his Persian suzerains and to revive the economy of Kartli. Upon his accession, he made efforts to bring other Georgian polities under his control. In 1659, he had Zaal of the Aragvi, an anti-Persian rebel lord and virtual ruler of neighbouring Kakheti, assassinated, and confiscated a large portion of his estates. Shahnawaz then intervened in bitter power struggles in western Georgia; he allied himself with the princes of Mingrelia, Guria, and Abkhazia, and put his son, Archil, on the throne of Imereti in 1661, but after the intervention of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans] was to recall his son and to place him, with the shah’s permission, on the throne of Kakheti in 1664. In 1674, Erekle I, a grandson of the late king Teimuraz I of Kakheti, returned from exile in Russia to claim his succession. He was soon summoned to Iran by Shah Suleiman I. Archil thought that the shah would install Erekle as King of Kakheti and therefore attempted, though vainly, to seize the throne of Imereti. Unsuccessful in his efforts, he then fled, together with his brother, Luarsab, to Ahiska (Akhaltsikhe) in Ottoman territory. The shah reacted to this by ordering Shahnawaz to Isfahan. Shahnawaz left his son, George, to rule Kartli and himself began his journey to Persia. He died, however, on the road at Khoskaro, Ganja, in September 1675, and was buried in Qum, Iran.

[edit] Family and children

Vakhtang was married twice, first to Rwadam nee Kaplanishvili-Orbeliani (divorced ca 1659, later she became a nun and died at Tbilisi in 1678), and then to Mariam (died 1682), widow of his adopted father Rostom.

He had several children:

Archil, sometime king of Kakheti, and Imereti
George (Gurgin Khan), king of Kartli
Alexander (Iskander Mirza in Persia) (died ca 1699), who served in 1667 as a darogha (prefect) of the Persian capital Isfahan.
Levan (Shah-Quli Khan), regent of Kartli
Luarsab (1660-1698)
Solomon (Suleiman Mirza) (1671-1703)
A daughter (anonymous) who married, in 1655, Duke Zurab of Aragvi
A daughter, Anuka, who was married twice, first (1660) to the Persian shah Abbas II, and second (1668), after his death, to a Persian prince Shah-Verdi Khan of Luristan.
A daughter, Tamar (died 1694), who married, in 1686, the Georgian nobleman, Givi Zedginidze-Amilakhvari, and became a nun, in 1696, in her widowhood.
An anonymous daughter who was married to the Persian shah Sultan Hoseyn I.