| King of Georgia | |
|---|---|
| Former Monarchy | |
| The Coat of Arms of the Bagrationi Kingdom of Georgia | |
| George XII | |
| First monarch | Bagrat III |
| Last monarch | George XII |
| Monarchy started | 1008 |
| Monarchy ended | 1800 |
| Current pretender | Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky (Gruzinsky branch) David Bagration (Mukhrani branch) |
This is a list of the kings and queens of the various kingdoms and principalities of Georgia until Russian annexation in 1801.
For the unified kingdom of Georgia (10th to 15th centuries), ruled by the Bagrationi dynasty, see List of Bagrationi rulers of Georgia.
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Iberia was a Greek-Roman name of the ancient kingdom of Kartli in what is now Eastern Georgia which began about 302 BC and fell to the Byzantines and Persians in 580. The lists of early Iberian kings are principally based on early medieval Georgian annals and is blended with legend and fact. Beginning with Artag (1st century BC), many of them are also attested by Roman/Byzantine, Armenian and Persian sources. There is also some lack of consistency about the dates of their reigns. The chronology below is given as per Javakhishvili, Toumanoff and other modern scholars.
| Georgian Statehood |
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| Monarchical styles of Georgian Kings and Queens |
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| Reference style |
By the will of God Jesus Christ, Royal Highness and Excellency, King of Kings and Queen of Queens of the Kartvelians, the Autocrat of all the East and the West, Glory of the World and Faith, and the Sword of the Messiah. Monarchical style also included: "King of Arranians and Armenians, Shirvanshah and Shahanshah" |
Persian and Byzantine conquest destroyed rule and replaced the hereditary king with a hereditary prince who continued to fight until they finally regained power with the dawn of the Arabs in the 7th century. The following is a list of those princes:
The eventual winners in Georgia were of the house of Bagrationi, who claimed descent from the earlier dynasty although their true origin is debatable. This family would rule Georgia and three break-away kingdoms until the Russians annexed all of Georgia in the early 19th century.
| # | Potrait | Name | Began | Ended | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bagrat III (გიბაგრატ III) |
1008 | 7 May 1014 | Also King of the Abkhazians from 978 on (as Bagrat II), uniting the Georgian kingdoms in 1008 through inheritance | |
| 2 | George I (გიორგი I) |
7 May 1014 | 16 August 1027 | Son of Bagrat III | |
| 3 | Bagrat IV (გიბაგრატ IV) |
16 August 1027 | 24 November 1072 | Son of George I; Queen Mariam served as regent till 1037; successfully defeated an two uprising amongst the Georgian nobility that was aimed at putting his brother Demetrius and later Bagrat's own son on the throne instead; | |
| 4 | George II (გიორგი II) |
24 November 1072 | 1112 | Son of Bagrat IV; crowned 1150 in opposition to his father by Georgian noble Liparit till 1153; forced to abdicate in favor of his energetic son, David IV, to whom he remained a nominal co-ruler until his death in 1112 | |
| 5 | St. David IV the Builder (დავით აღმაშენებელი) |
1089 | 24 January 1125 | Son of George II; popularly considered to be the greatest and most successful Georgian ruler in history, | |
| 6 | St. Demetre I (დემეტრე I) |
24 November 1072 1155 |
1154 1156 |
Son of David IV; he defeated an uprising meant to put his brother Vakhtang on the throne, later desposed by eldest son and forced to abdicate and become a monk, restored in 1155 | |
| 7 | David V (დავით V) |
1154 | 1155 | Eldest son of Demetre I; fearing a change in the succession he desposed his father in palace coup; later killed by disgruntled nobles | |
| 8 | George III (გიორგი III) |
1156 | 27 March 1184 | Younger son of Demetre II; quelled a rebellion aimed at putting his nephew Demna on the throne, crown his daughter as heir | |
| 9 | Saint Tamar (თამარი) |
27 March 1184 | 18 January 1213 | Daughter of George III; first woman to rule Georgia; her reign was the zenith of Georgia | |
| 10 | George IV Lasha (გიორგი IV ლაშა, ლაშა გიორგი) |
18 January 1213 | 18 January 1223 | Son of Tamar; died from wound received while fighting the Mongols | |
| 11 | Rusudan (რუსუდანი) |
18 January 1213 | 1245 | Daughter of Tamar; second woman to rule Georgia; she was too weak to preserve whatever was gained by her predecessors, forced to become a vassal of the Mongols | |
| 12 | David VI Narin the Younger (დავით VI) |
1245 | 1259 | Son of Rusudan; forced by the Mongols to share power with his illegitimate cousin; in 1259, he rose, unsuccessfully, against the Mongol yoke and, then, fled to Kutaisi, from whence he reigned over western Georgia (Imereti) as a separate ruler, | |
| 13 | David VII Ulu the Elder (დავით VII) |
1247 | 1270 | Son of George IV Lasha; recognized by the Mongols as junior-co king of Georgia; assumed sole power in 1259 after cousin's failed uprising, ruling only eastern Georgia | |
| 14 | St. Demetrius II the Self-sacrificer (დემეტრე II თავდადებული) |
1270 | 12 March 1289 | Son of David VII Ulu; executed by the Mongols on suspicion of rebellion, ruling the eastern portion | |
| 15 | Vakhtang II (ვახტანგ II) |
1289 | 1292 | Son of David VI Narin; installed by the Mongols to replace his cousin, ruling the eastern portion, he was loyal to the Mongols | |
| Mongolian Conquest 1292-1310 | |||||
| 16 | David VIII (დავით VIII) |
1293 | 1311 | Son of Demetrius II; recognized by the Mongols as king of Georgia after his cousin's death, ruling the eastern portion; initially loyal to Mongol until he rebelled in order to escape summon to the Ilkhanid capital of Tabriz | |
| 17 | [[|80px|center]] | [[]] (') |
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Mongolian Conquest 1292-1310
The Kings of Georgia retained the largest portion of the divided kingdom which reverted to its old name of Kartli. Kingdom of Imereti and Kakheti emerged as the other Bagrationi kingdoms created out of the division.
Annexation to Kakheti 1630-1634
Annexation to Kakheti 1668-1691
Annexation to Kakheti 1695-1703
Interregnum 1711-1714
Upon Jesse's death and with help from the Persians, the two neighboring kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti were united once more. Imereti remained independent until its annexation by Russia in 1810.
Annexation of Kakheti and Kartli to Russia by Tsar Paul I before coronation, 1801.
After the Russian annexation of Kartli-Kakheti in 1801 and neighbouring Imereti in 1810 the various branches of the Bagrationi Dynasty of Georgian kings endured in Georgia under Russian occupation. However, many members were forced to flee the country and live in exile after the Red Army took control of the short-lived Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1921 and installed the Georgian Communist Party. Since the Republic of Georgia regained independence in 1990 the former royals have been raising their profile and in 2008 the two rival strands of the dynasty were united in marriage (see picture).
For more information about the royal family today see: Bagrationi Dynasty
(The majority of this list came from,[1] The Royal Ark.)