David Ulu
David VII დავით VII | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
King of Georgia | |||||
Reign | 1247–1270 | ||||
Coronation | 1245 at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral | ||||
Predecessor | David VI | ||||
Successor | Demetrius II | ||||
Born | 1215 | ||||
Died | 1270 (aged 54–55) Tbilisi | ||||
Burial | |||||
Spouse | Jigda-Khatun Althun Gvantsa Kakhaberidze Esukan | ||||
Issue | George Tamar Demetrius II | ||||
| |||||
Dynasty | Bagrationi | ||||
Father | George IV of Georgia | ||||
Mother | Velistsikhian Aznauri's daughter[1] | ||||
Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church |
David VII, also known as David Ulugh (Georgian: დავით VII ულუ) (1215–1270), from the Bagrationi dynasty, was king (mepe) of Georgia from 1247 to 1270, jointly with his namesake cousin, David VI, from 1247 to 1259, when David VI, revolting from the Mongol hegemony, seceded in the western moiety of the kingdom, while David VII was relegated to the rule of eastern Georgia. During his reign, Georgia went into further decline under the Mongol overlordship.
Early life
David was the son of the Georgian King George IV and a woman of non-noble. Because of this, he was considered an illegitimate son in the circles of the Georgian nobility, so his father was succeeded by his sister Rusudan. Since Georgia became a Mongol vassal in 1236 and no longer depended so much on the will of the local nobility, David's aunt, fearing that he would want to ascend the throne, sent her into captivity at the court of her son-in-law, Sultan Kaykhusraw II. Then she sent her son, also David, to the court of the great khan in Karakorum, so that he could be recognized as the heir to the Kingdom of Georgia.
Reign
Diarchy
After the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243, which subdued the Sultanate of Rum to the Mongols, Kaykhusraw was forced to release David Ulu. Rusudan died in 1245. Still waiting for his son's return from the Mongolian court. A part of the Georgian nobility, thinking that David the son of Rusudan had died, proclaimed David Ulu as the king of Georgia. In order to control the country more easily, due to the apparent succession crisis, although the majority of the nobility did not side with the illegitimate son, the Mongols divided the Georgian nobles into two rival parties, each representing its own candidate for the crown. But there were also conflicts among the Mongols themselves, whereby David Ulu was supported by Baiju Noyan, the general and commander of Persia, and his contemporary brother Batu Khan, Khan of the Golden Horde.[2]
Decline of the kingdom
In the following years, both David Ulu and David Narin showed unwavering loyalty to the Mongols even after the change at the head of the Mongol Empire and the coming to power of the great Khan Mongke in 1251. Georgia then came under the supreme rule of Batu Khan, who was given virtually independent rule over the western parts of the Mongol Empire by Mongke.[3] Having embarked on an expedition to the Middle East in 1253, Mongke's brother Hulegu Khan was particularly keen to exploit the political and religious divisions of that part of the world. Attacking mostly Muslims, he tried to maintain the best possible relations with Georgians and Armenians. Numerous Georgian-Armenian military units participated in the Mongol conquest of Alamut in 1256, where they were personally led by David Ulu, and of Baghdad in 1258, and in the skirmishes between Mongol leaders during the campaign.[4][5] Still, he declined to participate to the Mongol campaigns in Syria, on account that he had suffered huge losses in the 1258 Siege of Baghdad.[6]
Later life
Georgia lost tens of thousands of soldiers in these campaigns, and was left without native defenders against the Mongol forces sent to suppress spontaneous rebellions that broke out due to high taxes and the heavy burden of military service. The country suffered heavily from the consequences of rebellions against the Mongol authorities, and even more devastating than the Mongol punitive expeditions were the internal conflicts between currents loyal and disloyal to the Mongols. In 1259, Georgian nobles led by David Narin rose up against the Mongols, separating the Kingdom of Western Georgia from the unified Georgia. When in 1260 Hulegu Khan requested the presence of Georgians and Armenians as part of the Mongol units in the Levant, remembering the losses of his troops under Baghdad, David Ulu rebelled. A large Mongol army led by General Argun-ak invaded Georgia from the south, inflicted a heavy defeat on David in the Battle of Gori, and then brutally plundered the country. The Mongol campaign continued during the winter, and the following year the king was forced to flee to Imereti, which the Mongols failed to conquer. David's family was captured, and his wife Gvantsa was killed. Peace with the Mongols was achieved in 1262, when David Ulu returned to Tbilisi as a Mongol vassal, while David Narin only nominally recognized Mongol rule in Imereti. The reason for Hulegu's tolerance towards the rebel lies in the fact that since 1261, the ilkan was at war with the Golden Horde, which was on a larger scale.
The territory of the Caucasus, and as part of it the Kingdom of Georgia itself, became the scene of war between Hulegu and the Khan of the Golden Horde Berke in the following years. In 1263, King David's troops participated in the defense of the Siba fortress against the Golden Horde. In 1265, his troops, as the vanguard of the Ilkhanate army, defeated Berke and pushed his troops out of Shirvan. As Hulegu died in the same year, Berke began to prepare a major offensive. The following year, his army penetrated into Georgia, but the offensive was abruptly stopped due to the death of the khan in the vicinity of Tbilisi. However, Georgia's troubles continued, but now with the Ilkhanate. The nobles were encouraged to rise up against the crown, which naturally facilitated Mongol control over the country. In the same year, 1266, Sargis Jaqeli, prince of Samtkhe, who ruled city of Akhaltsikhe, received special protection and patronage from the new ilkhan of Abaqa Khan. In this way, Sargis was elevated to the rank of David and Georgia was torn into three entities.
David VII Ulu died of a bowel infection at the age of 55 in the spring of 1270. He was buried at Mtskheta. He was succeeded by his son Demetre II.
Marriage and children
He was married four times. His first wife, Jigda-Khatun, either a Mongol woman or a daughter of the Sultan of Rum,[9] died in 1252, and was buried at the reginal necropolis in Mtskheta.[10][11] In the meantime (1249/50), he bigamously contracted a union with an Alan woman, Altun, whom he repudiated in 1252. His third wife Gvantsa, widow of the Georgian noble Avag Zakarian and daughter of Kakhaber, eristavi (duke) of Racha and Takveri, was executed on the orders of Hulegu Khan in 1262. In 1263, David married Esukan, daughter of the Mongol Noyan Chormaqan.
He had two sons and one daughter, including:
- George (1250–1268) (by Altun), heir apparent, died before his father's death in 1268.
- Tamar (by Altun) was married twice: a son of Arghun Noyan in c. 1273, and later the Georgian noble Sadun of Mankaberdi, regent of the kingdom in 1269–1278.
- Demetrius (by Gvantsa), who succeeded him in 1270.
References
- ^ გიორგი IV (საქართველოს მეფე). Biographical Dictionary of Georgia
- ^ Uzelac 2015, p. 63.
- ^ Uzelac 2015, p. 65.
- ^ Uzelac 2015, pp. 78–79.
- ^ Bai︠a︡rsaĭkhan 2011, pp. 121, 129 MONGOL-ARMENIAN MILITARY COOPERATION: STAGE I: THE CONQUEST OF THE MIDDLE EAST 11258-1260 (...) The main allies of this campaign were King Het‘um from Cilicia, the Greater Armenian lords under the Georgian King David Ulu and the Mongol Prince Hűlegű, who promoted himself as a founder of the Mongol dynasty in this region.(...) In November 1257, Hűlegű set off from Hamadān in the direction of Baghdad. (...) With him were the forces of the Armenian Prince Zak‘arē, the son of Shahnshah Zak‘arian and Prince Pŕosh Khaghbakian. The Mongols placed considerable trust in these Armenian lords, whose assistance they had received since the 1230s.
- ^ Bai︠a︡rsaĭkhan 2011, p. 137 "Hűlegű demanded that the Georgian King David Ulu support his conquest of Syria and Egypt . Surprisingly, David refused. One might have expected that the Georgian king would have been more than interested in liberating the Holy Land . However, David was not only disinterested in this venture, but also bold enough to refuse Hűlegű’s order. In addition, he sought a revolt, which was suppressed by Arghun Aqa in Southern Georgia in 1260.107 David Ulu ’s refusal to participate in the Mongol campaign in Syria can be explained by his huge loss of men in the battle for Baghdad."
- ^ "The Tiflis Dirhams of Möngke Khān". American Numismatic Society.
- ^ "Silver dirham of David [Ulugh]/Möngke Khan, Tiflis, 650 H. 1977.158.1348". Digital Library of the Middle East - DLME.
- ^ Toumanoff 1976, p. 124.
- ^ "Chronicle of A Hundred Years", p. 581.
- ^ Howorth 1888, p. 141.
Biography
- Bai︠a︡rsaĭkhan, D. (2011). The Mongols and the Armenians (1220-1335). Leiden ; Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-9-0041-8635-4.
- Uzelac, Aleksandar (2015). Under the shadow of a dog; Tatars and South Slavic countries in the second half of the 13th century. Belgrade.
{cite book}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Toumanoff, Cyrille (1976). Manuel de Généalogie et de Chronologie pour l'histoire de la Caucasie chrétienne (Arménie, Géorgie, Albanie) [Manual of Genealogy and Chronology of Christian Caucasian History (Armenia, Georgia, Albania)] (in French). Rome: Edizioni Aquila.
- Metreveli, Roin, ed. (2008). "„ასწლოვანი მატიანე"" [Chronicle of A Hundred Years] (PDF). ქართლის ცხოვრება [Kartlis Tskhovreba] (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Artanuji. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-01.
- Howorth, Henry H. (1888). History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th century. Part III. London: Longmans, Green, And Co.