Bagrat II (937–994) was a Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti

Tao-Klarjeti

Tao-Klarjeti is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars...

 and the titular king of Iberia

Caucasian Iberia

Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...

-Kartli

Kartli

Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...

 from 958 until his death. He was also known as Bagrat Regueni (ბაგრატ რეგუენი), "Regueni" being a moniker rendered in English as "the Simple".

Bagrat was the elder son of Sumbat I

Sumbat I of Iberia

Sumbat I was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and the titular king of Iberia-Kartli from 937 until his death....

, whom he succeeded as “king of the Iberians” in 958. In spite of having a royal status, Bagrat only ruled northern or Hither Tao

Tao (historical region)

Tao is a historical region in the territory of modern Turkey roughly corresponding to the Taochi of Greeks and Tayk of Armenians. It was a province within various Georgian Bagratid states from the 8th to the 16th century, when the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.-External references:*...

 and, unlike his father, was not bestowed with the high Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 court title of curopalates

Curopalates

Kouropalatēs, Latinized as curopalates or curopalata and Anglicized as curopalate, was a Byzantine court title, one of the highest from the time of Emperor Justinian I to that of the Komnenoi in the 12th century...

, which was granted to Bagrat’s cousin and the ruler of southern or Thither Tao, David III

David III of Tao

David III Kuropalates or David III the Great , also known as David II, was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid family of Tao/Tayk, a historic region in the Georgian–Armenian marchlands, from 966 until his murder in 1000...

, the most influential person among the Bagratids of that time. Professor Taqaishvili

Ekvtime Takaishvili

Ekvtime Takaishvili was a Georgian historian, archaeologist and public benefactor....

 explains Bagrat’s epithet

Epithet

An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...

 “Regueni” by his younger age upon his accession to the throne. Bagrat frequently appeared as a collaborator of David, aiding him against the Rawadid

Rawadid

Rawadid , , was a Kurdish principality ruling Azerbaijan from the 10th to the early 11th centuries, centered around Tabriz and Maragheh. The Rawadid tribe was one of the Arab tribes who became Kurdish by culture through assimilation...

s of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

 and even against his own son and co-king Gurgen during a brief split among the Bagratids. By 978, Gurgen had become a de facto king of Iberia, while his son Bagrat III

Bagrat III of Georgia

Bagrat III , of the Georgian Bagrationi dynasty, was King of the Abkhazians from 978 on and King of Georgia from 1008 on. He united these two titles by dynastic inheritance and, through conquest and diplomacy, added some more lands to his realm, effectively becoming the first king of what is...

had been adopted and designed as heir by David III of Tao, thus setting stage for future unification of various Georgian polities into a single Bagratid realm.

Bagrat had two sons:

• Gurgen (died 1008), his successor as king of Iberia
• Sumbat (died 992)