Bagrat I of Klarjeti

Bagrat I (Georgian: ბაგრატ I) (died April 20, 900) was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and the ruler of Klarjeti from 889 until his death. There is some confusion in dating Bagrat's death. According to the 11th-century chronicler Sumbat Davitis-Dze, Bagrat died on April 20, Easter Sunday of the year 129 of the Georgian era (i.e., 909). However, Easter Sunday in 909 fell on April 16; the year that would coincidence with the given date would be 900.^[1]

Bagrat was a younger son of Sumbat I, founder of the Klarjeti line of the Bagratids. Upon Sumbat’s death in 889, he succeeded his father as prince of Klarjeti, while his elder brother (and likely a legitimate successor to Sumbat), David, appear as a ruler of some less important territory north of Klarjeti – Adjara and Nigali. Like Sumbat, Bagrat had the epithet of Artanujeli ("of Artanuji") and ruled with the title of mampali, having a thriving commercial town of Artanuji as his residence. In 891, he became involved in the dynastic feud among the Bagratids and helped Adarnase IV to defeat Gurgen I. On Bagrat's death Artanuji seems to have been retrieved by his brother David, while the rest of his territory was further divided between his four sons, who soon started quarrelling amongst themselves.

Bagrat had four sons:

• His oldest son Adarnase became a monk and changed his name to Basil; he died in 945.
• The second oldest son Gurgen (died 923) became Bagrat's immediate successor, but he must have been a rather insignificant ruler since he had no official title. He had a posthumous son also called Gurgen (probably the Guaram of the Velistsikhe inscription) who died in 968.
• Gurgen was followed by Ashot nicknamed Kiskasi ("the Prompt") (died 939), who was bestowed with the Byzantine title of patrikios (πατρίκιος). Ashot was married to the sister of George II of Abkhazia. Together they had a daughter who was married to Gurgen II of Tao, to whom Ashot eventually lost all his possessions. He died in 939 as a refugee at the court of his brother-in-law, George II.
• Bagrat's youngest son David died in 922

According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus's De Administrando Imperio Bagrat also had a daughter who was married to her relative Sumbat II of Klarjeti.

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