List of Georgian royal houses

The list of Georgian princely houses shows those houses or families (families) of the Georgian aristocracy that were recognized as such during Georgia's membership of the tsarist empire . The Treaty of Georgievsk (1783) already contained an appendix with the names of Georgian noble families. Further edicts were issued in 1825/6, 1850 and 1865.

Royal houses

Expansion of the Kingdom of Georgia under Dawit IV the builder 1090–1124 .

The successor states of Georgia from Abkhazia and Samtskhe in the west to Kakheti in the east in 1530.

• Georgian Bagratids ( Georgian ბაგრატიონი , Bagrationi ) and their individual rulers were the unites and kings of the medieval Kingdom of Georgia , which was founded in the 11th – 13th centuries. Century achieved a dominant position in Transcaucasia , at the beginning of the 16th century under the sons of Giorgis VII. Divided into the kingdoms of Kartlien (line Bagration-Muchrani ), Kakheti (line Bagration-Davitishvili ) and Imeretia (line Bagration-Imereli , in Russian often simply Imeretinsky ) . Formally, Imeretia had sovereignty over western Georgia, but in fact the principalities of Abkhazia, Svaneti, Mingrelia and Guria were independent. King Erekle II of Kakheti also took over Kartlien in 1762 and united it to Kartlien-Kakhetien, which is why his descendants from the Bagration-Davitishvili line also call themselves Bagration-Grusinsky (Russian: "of Georgia"). The dethroned older line of Kartlien continued to exist and named itself after the region Muchrani , in which they owned most of their lands. Kartli-Kakheti was annexed by Russia in 1801 and Imeretia in 1810, but all Bagrationi were included in the rankings of the Russian nobility under the Russian title Knjas (= prince) .

Princely houses

In the Middle Ages in Georgia a distinction was made in the high nobility between the Mtawari ( Georgian მთავარი ) and the rank below Tawadi ( Georgian stehenden ). The Mtawari included the highest nobility class, the sovereign dynasty princes and commanders of large regions and regional armies (the Sul-didebuli-tawadi ), followed by the families of some smaller Mtawari . They were followed by the Tawadi as third grade . They all bore the title Batoni ( Georgian ბატონი Russian Батони ), corresponding to the Russian Knjas (Russian: Prince). To be distinguished from the noble princely families is the relatively numerous lower nobility in Georgia, the Aznauri . Georgian and other Caucasian princely houses often have a tendency to genealogically see themselves as descendants of high-ranking foreign rulers or as branch lines of more important Georgian princely families. While some of these genealogies continue to appear believable, historians today doubt others and see them more as legends. The princely families included:

• Abashidze ( Georgian აბაშიძე ), most influential family from the Islamized Adjara . The best-known bearer of the name Abashidze is Aslan Abashidze, who ruled almost independently in Adjara from 1991-2004.
• Amilachwari ( Georgian ამილახვარი Russian 1825–50: Амилахваров , then Амилахвари ).
• Anchabadze ( Georgian ანჩაბაძე , Abkhazian Ачба Achba , Mingrelian აჩაა Achaa , Turkish Açba ) were in the 8th – 10th centuries . In the 19th century the kings of the kingdom of Egrissi-Abkhazia (or Abasgian),which also included large parts of western Georgia, before it was taken over by the Bagratids. They owned extensive lands in Abkhazia and western Georgia, and today there are both Georgian-speaking lines (best-known representatives of the Georgian historian Giorgi Anschabadse and his father, the Soviet historian Zurab Anschabadze) and Abkhazian-speaking descendant lines, some Islamized Abkhazian Anchabadse emigrated with the Russian expansion in the 19th century Century also into the Ottoman Empire (e.g. Leyla Açba and her cousin Mihri Müşfik Hanım ).
• Andronikaschwili ( Georgian ანდრონიკაშვილები , in Russian from 1826: Андроников ), alternatively Endronikaschwili ( Georgian ენდრონიკაშვილები ), saw themselves as descendants of the imperial family of the Empire of Trebizond and of its progenitor, Emperor Andronikos I. Komnenos ( Andronika-schwili = "sons of Andronikos") .
• Dadiani ( Georgian დადიანი Russian Дадиани ), the former ruling house of the Principality of Mingrelia . In the 17th century they weredisplacedby the (alleged) branch line Chikowani , who had previously been princes in the Letschchumi region belonging to Imeretiaand temporarily also in the Ratscha region belonging to Kartlienand in Svaneti (both not permanent) and who were after the The conquest of Mingrelia was also oftencalled Dadiani .
• Dschaqeli ( Georgian ჯაყელი ), the princely family ( Atabegs ) of Samzche (Georgian Samzche Saatabago = "Land of the Atabegs of Samzche", in German called "Principality of Meschetien ") in the 13th – 17th centuries . Century. Besides attacks from outside and the division of the Bagratids' inheritance, the expansion of the Jaqelis of Samtskhe was one of the causes of the disintegration of Georgia. After the majority Islamization of the now Ottoman vassal state of Samzche, the Ottomans annexed Samzche as an Ottoman province ( Eyalet of Çıldır ). While most of the Jaqeli descendants were absorbed into the Ottoman nobility , there are still a few lines ofdescendants, some of them Muslim and some Georgian Orthodox , in Georgia.
• Eristawi (also meaning "Duke"), originally a title, became part of the names of four royal houses:
  • Eristawi von Aragwi (the territory named after the river) ( Georgian არაგვის ერისთავი ), better known under the family name of the main line Sidamoni / Sidamonishvili ( Georgian სიდამონი Russian Сидамонов ). The residence was in Dusheti and Ananuri Castle until 1801 . From this family came Efrem II (* 1896), Patriarch of the Georgian Apostle Church 1960–1972.
  • Eristawi von Gurien ( Georgian გურიის ერისთავი from 1850: Эристов-Гурийский ), are a branch line of the Scherwaschidze from Abkhazia, but carried the title in the 18th and 19th centuries under the sovereignty of the actual princes of Gurien from the Gurieli family. The Maksimenishvili ( Georgian მაქსიმენიშვილი ) are a sideline .
  • Eristawi of Ksani , as a little country ( Georgian ქსნის საერისთავო ) named after the river Ksani . The last independent duke was Schansche ( Georgian შანშე ქსნის ერისთავი , ruled 1718), who rebelled several times against the respective overlords and died in prison in 1753. The Bagratids ruled until the annexation to Russia.
  • The Eristawi von Ratscha , surname Tschchetidze ( Georgian ჩხეტიძე ), alternatively mostly Tschcheidze (Чхеидзе) ruled this northern Georgian region 1488–1786. In 1753 the building of the church of Barakoni was commissioned. They were given the Russian princely title under their family name in 1850/61. The older branch of the Chchotua ( Georgian ჩხოტუა Russian Чхотуа ) was ruled in 1901. You confessed the exiled throne pretender Kirill Vladimirovich 1938 to continue the right to the title in the female line.
• The Gelowani ( Georgian გელოვანი ) were the last dukes / princes ( Eristawi ) of Svaneti , since the 18th century only of Lower Svaneti . The best-known representative is the Soviet actor Micheil Gelowani . A branch line are the Dadeschkeliani ( Georgian დადეშქელიანი ), which displaced the main line from western Upper Svaneti in the 18th century.
• Gurieli ( Georgian გურიელი ), important princes in Guria since the 13th century and sovereign ruling house of Guria from the 16th century to 1829. We were able to briefly usurp the royal throne of Imereti four times in the 17th and 18th centuries.
• The Georgian line of the Iaschwili ( Georgian იაშვილი Russian Яшвиль ) received its Russian prince title in 1850. The nobles began as lords of Sadmeli Castle .
  • One in the entourage of King Vakhtang VI. A nobleman who came to Russia in 1724 became the progenitor of the Russian Jaschwil family. The brothers Lev and Vladimir Mikhailovich Jashwil were both generals in the Napoleonic wars.
• The Maghalashvili ( Georgian მაღალაშვილი ), alternatively Maghaladze ( Georgian მაღალაძე ), are said to be descendants of the medieval ruling house of the Zakarids-Mchargrseli ( Georgian მხარგრძელი Russian Мхаргрдзели ). The pianist Nikita Magaloff comes from the clan .
• Melikishvili ( Georgian მელიქიშვილი Russian Меликов ) originally of Armenian origin, called Melikyan (Armenian: Մելիքյան), who converted to Islam, for the Persian Safavids in the 17th century "Somchiti" (Georgian for "Armenia"), a region that belonged to Cartlia at that time, which roughly corresponds to today's Lori , under the title Melik . They then converted to the Orthodox faith. A sideline stepped over to Armenian Christianity , whose most prominent representative in the tsarist empire was Mikhail Tarielowitsch Loris-Melikow (Count 1878, top secret police and temporarily Minister of the Interior 1880-1) (Georgian: Loris Melik = Melik von Lori).
• Shalikashvili ( Georgian შალიკაშვილი from 1826: Шаликов ). Dimitri Schalikashvili (1896–1978) was a tsarist officer; in World War II he served in the Georgian Legion . His son John M. Shalikashvili (1936-2011) also learned the craft of war and rose to the position of American Chief of Staff (in office 1993-7).
• Scherwaschidse , ( Georgian შარვაშიძეები ) ( Abkhaz Чачба Tschatschba ), so often referred to with the double name Scherwaschidse-Tschatschba, next Mingrelian შარაშია Scharaschia (formerly used only verbal, not written) were the last prince of the Principality of Abkhazia. A branch line were also mtavari in Kakheti. They saw themselves as descendants of the Shirvan Shahs , as their name suggests. Thereigning prince of Abkhaziaas Sefer Ali-Bey Scherwaschidze 1810-21 changedsides in 1810when the Russiansbegan to gain the upper hand in the war of 1806-12 and converted to the Orthodox faith as Giorgi Scherwaschidze. The family formed two lines when they emigrated after 1917, one lives in the USA, the other headed by Georgi Vladimirovich Scherwaschidze (1894–1978) in Bulgaria. Nikita Georgewitsch Scherwaschidze (1941–2008) was Bulgaria's energy minister in the 1990s.
• Taktakishvili ( Georgian თაქთაქიშვილი Russian Тактакишвили ). The composer and Stalin Prize winner Otar Taktakishvili was known .
• Chavchavadze ( Georgian ჭავჭავაძე Russian Чавчавадзе ) from Eastern Georgia ( Kakheti and Pschaw - Chewsuretia ). The most famous representative was the most important Georgian national poet Ilia Chavchavadze .
• Cherkezishvili ( Georgian ჩერქეზიშვილი 1829: Черкезов , English Cherkezishvili ) saw themselves as descendants of princes of the Circassians , more precisely, the princes of the Principality osttscherkessischen Kabarda . Their domain in Kakheti was known as Satscherkeso (საჩერქეზო = "Land of the Cherkesi").
• Choloqashvili ( Georgian ჩოლოყაშვილი English Cholokaschvili , Russian Чолокашви́ли ), traceable since 1320. Bidsina Choloqashvili , who died a martyr around 1660, was canonized by the Georgian Church. Kakuza Tscholoqashvili (1888–1930) was a partisan leader against the Soviet liberators.
• Of Lesser Armenia , allegedly by the Mamikonianiden descended, the extended family who came Tumanishvili ( Georgian თუმანიშვილი Armenian Թումանյան 1850: Тумановъ ). Howhannes Tumanjan , who was born near Tbilisi, was one of the most important Armenian-language writers in the 20th century. Cyrille Toumanoff (historian) from the Georgian-Russian branch and, since 1944, the ballet dancer Tamara Toumanova lived in exile in the USA .
• The split of the Panaskerteli ( Georgian ფანასკერტელ ) house in the 16th century resulted in the
  • Tsizishvili ( Georgian ციციშვილი Russian Цицишвили ). After the division into a "lower" and "upper" line in 1724, the dynastic status was lost. But this was revived by the Russian side as Cicianov (Цицианов) in 1801.
  • Avalishvili ( Georgian ავალიშვილი Russian Авалов ). The imeretic line sank to the level of Landadel. The two branches living in eastern Georgia were confirmed their princely status on the Russian side in 1826 and 1850. Zurab Awalishvili , Foreign Minister 1918-21, lived in exile in Germany.
• Watschnadze ( Georgian ვაჩნაძე Russian Вачнадзе ). In the Caucasian Chalk Circle , Brecht uses the name Grusha Vashnadze for the heroine.

See also

• List of heads of state of Georgia
• Batonishvili as a title of nobility

literature

• Jacques Ferrand: Familles princières de Géorgie: essai de reconstitution généalogique (1880–1983) de 21 familles reconnues princières par l'empire de Russie. Montreuil 1983 [self-published].
• Petr Ch. Grebel'skij: Dvorjanskie rody Rossijskoj Imperii. St. Petersburg 1993–1995 (Vesti), from volume 3: Moscow 1996–1998 (Likominvest)
• Cyrille Toumanoff: Manuel de Généalogie et de Chronologie pour l'histoire de la Caucasie Chrétienne. Rome 1976 (Ed.Aquila), Supplément 1978.
• Cyrille Toumanoff: Les dynasties de la Caucasie chrétienne de l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle. Rome 1990.

Web links

• The Georgian nobility of Kartlien and Kakheti (Central and Eastern Georgia) (English, the names used there are the usual transcription of Georgian names in English, not German)

Footnotes

1. ↑ The family is to be distinguished from those resident in Kartlien , who only had the low nobility rank of Aznauri ( Georgian აზნაური ).