George I of Georgia
Giorgi I (
Georgian: 'იორ'ი I) (
998 or
1002 "
August 16,
1027), of the House of
Bagrationi, was the
king of
Georgia from
1014 until his death in 1027. He spent most of his seven-year-long reign waging a bloody and fruitless territorial war with the
Byzantine Empire.
Giorgi was born in 998 or, according to a later version of the Georgian chronicles, in 1002, to King
Bagrat III. Upon his father's death on May 7 1014, he inherited the kingdoms of
Abkhazia,
Kartli and
Kakheti united into a single state "
Sakartvelo, or all-Georgia. As his predecessor, Giorgi continued to be titled as King of the Abkhazians (
Ap'xaz) and Georgians (
K'art'velians). Contemporary sources, however, frequently omitted one of the two components of this title when abbreviating it.
The new sovereign's young age was immediately exploited by the great nobles, who had been suppressed under the heavy hand of Bagrat. Around the same year, the easternmost provinces of
Kakheti and
Hereti, not easily acquired by Bagrat, staged a revolt and reinstated their own government under
Kwirike III (1010/1014-1037), who also incorporated a portion of the neighbouring
Arran (Ran), allowing him to claim the title of
King of the Kakhetians and Ranians. Giorgi was unable to prevent the move and sought an alliance with this kingdom, rather than attempting to reincorporate it into the Georgian state, thus leaving a long-standing claim to Kakheti and Hereti to his successors.
The major political and military event during Giorgi's reign, a war against the
Byzantine Empire, had its roots back to the
990s, when the
Georgian prince
David III Kuropalates, following his abortive rebellion against Emperor
Basil II, had to agree to cede his extensive possessions in
Tao and the neighbouring lands to the emperor on his death. All the efforts by David's step-son and Giorgi's father, Bagrat III, to prevent these territories from being annexed to the empire went in vain. Young and ambitious, Giorgi launched a campaign to restore the Kuropalates' succession to Georgia and occupied Tao in
1015-
1016. He also entered in an alliance with the
Fatimid Caliph of
Egypt,
Al-Hakim (996-1021), that put Basil in a difficult situation, forcing him to refrain from an acute response to Giorgi's offensive.
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The construction of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta was initiated, in the 1020s, by Giorgi I. A number of legends surround the history of this magnificent cathedral, and the site in general. It is now, along with other historic monuments in the town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site |
Beyond that, the Byzantines were at that time involved in a relentless war with the
Bulgars, limiting their actions to the west. But as soon as Bulgaria was conquered, and Al-Hakim was no more alive, Basil led his army against Georgia (
1021). An
exhausting war lasted for two years, and ended in a decisive Byzantine victory, forcing Giorgi to agree to a peace treaty, in which he had not only to abandon his claims to Tao, but to surrender several of his southwestern possessions to Basil, and to give his three-year-old son, Bagrat, as hostage. Following the peace treaty, Constantinople was visited by
Catholicos-Patriarch Melkisedek I of Georgia, who gained Byzantine financial aid for the construction of "
Svetitskhoveli" (literally, the
Living Pillar), a major
Orthodox cathedral in the eastern Georgian town of
Mtskheta.
Afterwards, Basil kept the peace with Georgia, permitting prince Bagrat to return home two years later (
1025): but the new emperor,
Constantine VIII, who succeeded upon the death of Basil, decided to return Bagrat to
Constantinople. However, the imperial courier could not overtake the prince " he was already in the Georgian possessions. The Byzantine-Georgian relations subsequently deteriorated, particularly after a conspiracy, organized by Nikiphoros Comnenus, the
archon of
Vaspurakan, and allegedly involving Giorgi I, was brought to light.
Giorgi was evidently preparing to take revenge for his defeat, but he died suddenly in
Trialeti on August 16, 1027. He was buried in the
Bagrati Cathedral in his capital
Kutaisi. A recently discovered grave, presumably robbed in the 19th century, is proposed to have belonged to Giorgi I.
Giorgi I was married twice " first to the
Armenian princess
Mariam of Vaspurakan with whom he had a son called
Bagrat and a daughter called Gurandukht, and second to Alde of
Alania, who gave birth to a son,
Demetre.
*Lordkiphanidze, M (1967),
Georgia in the XI-XII centuries, Ganatleba, edited by George B. Hewitt. Also available online at [
1]
*Rapp, SH (2003),
Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts, Peeters Bvba ISBN 9042913185
*Suny, RG (1994),
The Making of the Georgian Nation (2nd Edition), Bloomington and Indianapolis, ISBN 0253355796
