House of Mukhrani
Encyclopedia
The house of Mukhrani is a Georgian
princely family, a collateral branch of the former royal dynasty of Bagrationi of which it sprung early in the 16th century, and received in appanage the domain of Mukhrani
located in Kartli
, central Georgia. The family has since been known as Mukhran-Batoni , that is "lords (batoni
) of Mukhrani".
An elder branch of the house of Mukhrani, now extinct, furnished five royal sovereigns of Kartli between 1658 and 1724. Its descendants bore the Imperial Russian
noble titles of Princes of Georgia (Gruzinsky
; Грузи́нский, გრუზინსკი) and Princes Bagration (Багратион, ბაგრატიონი). A younger branch, received among the princely nobility of Russia under the name of Bagration of Mukhrani (Bagration-Mukhransky; ; Bagration-Mukhraneli), still flourishes and has, since 1957, claimed to be the Royal House of Georgia by virtue of being the genealogically eldest surviving line of the Bagrationi dynasty. David Bagration of Mukhrani
has been the head of this house since January 16, 2008.
was oblidged to create his younger brother Bagrat
a hereditary lord of Mukhrani in order to secure his support against encroachments from another Georgian ruler, King George II of Kakheti
. Over time, the princes of Mukhrani exploited the weakness of royal authority and converted their fiefdom into an autonomous seigneury, satavado, that is "a holding of tavadi
(prince
)". On the death without heirs of King Rostom of Kartli
, his adopted son Vakhtang
, Prince of Mukhrani, succeeded on the throne as King Vakhtang V in 1659 and ceded the ownership of Mukhrani to his younger brother, Constantine I, ancestor of all the subsequent Princes of Mukhrani.
The descendants of Vakhtang V, the elder branch of the house of Mukhrani, retained the crown of Kartli until 1724, when the Ottoman
invasion forced King Vakhtang VI of Kartli
and his household into exile in Russia, without, however, renouncing their rights to the throne. They formed two lines in exile, both accepted among the ranks of Russian princely nobility, knyaz
. One of these, Princes Gruzinsky ("of Georgia"), descended from Vakhang VI’s son Bakar
and died out in 1892. The other, Princes Bagration, descending from Vakhang VI’s nephew Alexander
, was made famous by Pyotr Bagration
, a Russian general of the Napoleonic Wars
, and became extinct in 1919. The throne of Kartli eventually passed to their distant cousins from the Bagrationi dynasty of Kakheti
. This new royal house defeated all subsequent attempts by the exiled Mukhranian pretenders to reclaim the crown and, by 1762, united both Kartli and Kakheti into a single monarchy.
Constantine’s scions, the younger branch of the house of Mukhrani, chose to stay in Kartli rather than follow Vakhtang VI to Russia. They remained in possession of Mukhrani under the Kakhetian Bagrationi and continued to exercise within the united kingdom of Georgia the hereditary positions of Mayor of the Palace of Georgia and High Constable of Upper Kartli. After Russia’s annexation of Georgia in 1801, Mukhrani ceased to exist as an autonomous princedom and its former rulers were confirmed as Russian princes in 1825 and 1850. This line became the genealogically senior representatives of the Bagrationi dynasty as the elder branch of the house of Mukhrani had gone extinct in its male line by 1919. After the Bolshevik
takeover of Georgia, the family relocated to Europe
in 1930. In 1957, Prince Irakli Bagration of Mukhrani
, having established himself in Spain
, declared himself a head of the Royal House of Georgia, a title that has passed to his descendants and is currently held by his grandson, David
who has returned to Georgia. A rival claim, based on male primogeniture
descent from the last kings of Georgia, comes from Prince Prince Nugzar
, head of the Bagration-Gruzinsky family, an offshoot of the Bagrationi of Kakheti.
's daughter, Princess Anna, a divorced teacher and journalist with two daughters, married Prince David Bagration of Mukhrani
, on 8 February 2009 at the Tbilisi Sameba Cathedral
. The marriage united the Gruzinsky and Mukhrani branches of the Georgian royal family
, and drew a crowd of 3,000 spectators, officials, and foreign diplomats, as well as extensive coverage by the Georgian media
.
The dynastic significance of the wedding lay in the fact that, amidst the turmoil in political partisanship that has roiled Georgia since its independence in 1991, Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia publicly called for restoration of the monarchy as a path toward national unity in October 2007. Although this led some politicians and parties to entertain the notion of a Georgian constitutional monarchy
, competition arose among the old dynasty's princes and supporters, as historians and jurists
debated which Bagrationi has the strongest hereditary right to a throne that has been vacant for two centuries. Although some Georgian monarchists
support the Gruzinsky branch's claim, others support that of the re-patriated
Mukhrani branch. Both branches descend in unbroken, legitimate male line from the medieval kings of Georgia down to Constantine II of Georgia
who died in 1505.
Whereas the Bagration-Mukhrani were a cadet branch
of the former Royal House of Kartli
, they became the genealogically
seniormost line of the Bagrationi family in the early 20th century: yet the elder branch had lost the rule of Kartli by 1724.
Meanwhile, the Bagration-Gruzinsky line, although junior to the Princes of Mukhrani genealogically, reigned over the kingdom of Kakheti
, re-united the two realms in the kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in 1762, and did not lose sovereignty until Russian annexation in 1800.
The bridegroom is the only member of his branch who retains Georgian citizenship and residence since the death of his father, Prince George Bagration-Mukhrani in 2008. Aside from his unmarried elder brother, Prince David is the heir male
of the Bagrationi family, while the bride's father is the most senior descendant of the last Bagrationi to reign over the united kingdom of Georgia. Since Nugzar and Princes Peter and Eugene Bagrationi-Gruzinsky are the last patrilineal males descended from King George XIII, and all three were born before 1950, their branch verges on extinction. But the marriage between Nugzar Gruzinsky's heiress and the Mukhrani heir resolves their rivalry for the claim to the throne, which has divided Georgian monarchists. A son born of this marriage is apt to eventually become both the heir male of the House of Bagrationi and the heir general of George XIII of Georgia.
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...
princely family, a collateral branch of the former royal dynasty of Bagrationi of which it sprung early in the 16th century, and received in appanage the domain of Mukhrani
Mukhrani
Mukhrani is a historical lowland district in eastern Georgia, currently within the borders of Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, north of the town of Mtskheta...
located in 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...
, central Georgia. The family has since been known as Mukhran-Batoni , that is "lords (batoni
Batoni (title)
Batoni is a Georgian word for "lord", or "master". It is derived from patroni , the earlier term of similar meaning, and appears in common usage in the 15th century....
) of Mukhrani".
An elder branch of the house of Mukhrani, now extinct, furnished five royal sovereigns of Kartli between 1658 and 1724. Its descendants bore the Imperial Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
noble titles of Princes of Georgia (Gruzinsky
Gruzinsky
Gruzinsky was a title and later the surname of two different princely lines of the Bagrationi dynasty of Georgia, both of which received it as the subjects of the Russian Empire. The name "Gruzinsky" derives from Russian, originally and literally meaning "of Georgia"...
; Грузи́нский, გრუზინსკი) and Princes Bagration (Багратион, ბაგრატიონი). A younger branch, received among the princely nobility of Russia under the name of Bagration of Mukhrani (Bagration-Mukhransky; ; Bagration-Mukhraneli), still flourishes and has, since 1957, claimed to be the Royal House of Georgia by virtue of being the genealogically eldest surviving line of the Bagrationi dynasty. David Bagration of Mukhrani
David Bagration of Mukhrani
David Bagrationi of Moukhrani, David Bagration de Moukhrani y de Zornoza, or Davit' Bagration-Mukhraneli is a claimant to the headship of the Royal House of Georgia and to the historical thrones of Georgia, succeeding on the death of his father Jorge de Bagration on January 16, 2008.-Early...
has been the head of this house since January 16, 2008.
History
Origins of the house of Mukhrani date back to 1512, when King David X of KartliDavid X of Kartli
David X was a king of the Georgian kingdom of Kartli from 1505 to 1525.He was the eldest son of Constantine II, whom he succeeded as king of Kartli in 1505 . Despite the fact that Constantine had recognised the independence of the breakaway Georgian kingdoms of Imereti and Kakheti, the rivalry...
was oblidged to create his younger brother Bagrat
Bagrat I of Mukhrani
Bagrat, 1st Prince of Mukhrani or Mukhran-Batoni , was the third son of Constantine II of Georgia, of the Bagrationi dynasty, and the founder of the House of Mukhrani.-Biography:...
a hereditary lord of Mukhrani in order to secure his support against encroachments from another Georgian ruler, King George II of Kakheti
George II of Kakheti
George II also known as George "the Bad" or "the Evil" , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Kakheti in eastern Georgia from 1511 to 1513....
. Over time, the princes of Mukhrani exploited the weakness of royal authority and converted their fiefdom into an autonomous seigneury, satavado, that is "a holding of tavadi
Tavadi
Tavadi , "prince", lit. "head/chief" [man], from tavi, "head", with the prefix of agent -di) was a feudal title in Georgia first applied in the Late Middle Ages usually translated in English as prince...
(prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
)". On the death without heirs of King Rostom of Kartli
Rostom of Kartli
Rostom or Rustam Khan was a ruler of Kartli, eastern Georgia, from 1633 until his death. Appointed by a Persian shah as a Wāli of Kartli, he styled himself king of kings and sovereign.- Life :...
, his adopted son Vakhtang
Vakhtang V of Kartli
Vakhtang V was the king of Kartli from 1658 until his death, who ruled as a vassal wali for the Persian shah. He is also known under the name of Shah Nawaz, which he assumed on being obliged outwardly to conform to Islam.-Life:...
, Prince of Mukhrani, succeeded on the throne as King Vakhtang V in 1659 and ceded the ownership of Mukhrani to his younger brother, Constantine I, ancestor of all the subsequent Princes of Mukhrani.
The descendants of Vakhtang V, the elder branch of the house of Mukhrani, retained the crown of Kartli until 1724, when the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
invasion forced King Vakhtang VI of Kartli
Vakhtang VI of Kartli
Vakhtang VI , also known as Vakhtang the Scholar and Vakhtang the Lawgiver, was a Wāli of Kartli, eastern Georgia, as a nominal vassal to the Persian shah from 1716 to 1724. Traditionally, he has been still styled as king of Kartli...
and his household into exile in Russia, without, however, renouncing their rights to the throne. They formed two lines in exile, both accepted among the ranks of Russian princely nobility, knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
. One of these, Princes Gruzinsky ("of Georgia"), descended from Vakhang VI’s son Bakar
Bakar of Georgia
Bakar was a Georgian prince of the Mukhrani branch of the Bagrationi dynasty....
and died out in 1892. The other, Princes Bagration, descending from Vakhang VI’s nephew Alexander
Alexander, son of Jesse of Kartli
Alexander , born Ishaq Beg , was an illegitimate son of the Georgian ruler Jesse of Kartli, of the Bagrationi-Mukhraneli, politically active in Georgia in the 1740s...
, was made famous by Pyotr Bagration
Pyotr Bagration
Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration was a general of the Russian army. He was a descendant of the Georgian royal family of the Bagrations.- Life :...
, a Russian general of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, and became extinct in 1919. The throne of Kartli eventually passed to their distant cousins from the Bagrationi dynasty of Kakheti
Kingdom of Kakheti
The Kingdom of Kakheti was a late medieval/early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centered at the province of Kakheti, with its capital first at Gremi and then at Telavi...
. This new royal house defeated all subsequent attempts by the exiled Mukhranian pretenders to reclaim the crown and, by 1762, united both Kartli and Kakheti into a single monarchy.
Constantine’s scions, the younger branch of the house of Mukhrani, chose to stay in Kartli rather than follow Vakhtang VI to Russia. They remained in possession of Mukhrani under the Kakhetian Bagrationi and continued to exercise within the united kingdom of Georgia the hereditary positions of Mayor of the Palace of Georgia and High Constable of Upper Kartli. After Russia’s annexation of Georgia in 1801, Mukhrani ceased to exist as an autonomous princedom and its former rulers were confirmed as Russian princes in 1825 and 1850. This line became the genealogically senior representatives of the Bagrationi dynasty as the elder branch of the house of Mukhrani had gone extinct in its male line by 1919. After the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
takeover of Georgia, the family relocated to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in 1930. In 1957, Prince Irakli Bagration of Mukhrani
Irakli Bagration of Mukhrani
Irakli Bagration-Mukhraneli was a Georgian prince of the Mukhrani branch of the former royal dynasty of Bagrationi....
, having established himself in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, declared himself a head of the Royal House of Georgia, a title that has passed to his descendants and is currently held by his grandson, David
David Bagration of Mukhrani
David Bagrationi of Moukhrani, David Bagration de Moukhrani y de Zornoza, or Davit' Bagration-Mukhraneli is a claimant to the headship of the Royal House of Georgia and to the historical thrones of Georgia, succeeding on the death of his father Jorge de Bagration on January 16, 2008.-Early...
who has returned to Georgia. A rival claim, based on male primogeniture
Primogeniture
Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings . Historically, the term implied male primogeniture, to the exclusion of females...
descent from the last kings of Georgia, comes from Prince Prince Nugzar
Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky
Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky is the head of the deposed House of Gruzinsky and represents its claim to the former crown of Georgia.-Biography:...
, head of the Bagration-Gruzinsky family, an offshoot of the Bagrationi of Kakheti.
Intra-dynastic marriage
Prince NugzarNugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky
Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky is the head of the deposed House of Gruzinsky and represents its claim to the former crown of Georgia.-Biography:...
's daughter, Princess Anna, a divorced teacher and journalist with two daughters, married Prince David Bagration of Mukhrani
David Bagration of Mukhrani
David Bagrationi of Moukhrani, David Bagration de Moukhrani y de Zornoza, or Davit' Bagration-Mukhraneli is a claimant to the headship of the Royal House of Georgia and to the historical thrones of Georgia, succeeding on the death of his father Jorge de Bagration on January 16, 2008.-Early...
, on 8 February 2009 at the Tbilisi Sameba Cathedral
Tbilisi Sameba Cathedral
The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi commonly known as Sameba is the main Cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church located in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Constructed between 1995 and 2004, it is the third-tallest Eastern Orthodox Cathedral in the World...
. The marriage united the Gruzinsky and Mukhrani branches of the Georgian royal family
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
, and drew a crowd of 3,000 spectators, officials, and foreign diplomats, as well as extensive coverage by the Georgian media
Georgian Media
The Media in Georgia is relatively accessible and caters to a wide variety of audiences. A large percentage of households have a television, and most have at least one radio...
.
The dynastic significance of the wedding lay in the fact that, amidst the turmoil in political partisanship that has roiled Georgia since its independence in 1991, Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia publicly called for restoration of the monarchy as a path toward national unity in October 2007. Although this led some politicians and parties to entertain the notion of a Georgian constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
, competition arose among the old dynasty's princes and supporters, as historians and jurists
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
debated which Bagrationi has the strongest hereditary right to a throne that has been vacant for two centuries. Although some Georgian monarchists
Monarchism in Georgia
The former Soviet republic of Georgia has a monarchic tradition that traces its origins to the Hellenistic period. The medieval Kingdom of Georgia ruled by the Bagrationi dynasty has left behind a legacy that lasts in Georgia even in modern times...
support the Gruzinsky branch's claim, others support that of the re-patriated
Repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...
Mukhrani branch. Both branches descend in unbroken, legitimate male line from the medieval kings of Georgia down to Constantine II of Georgia
Constantine II of Georgia
Constantine II , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king of Georgia since 1478. Early in the 1490s, he had to recognise the independence of his rival rulers of Imereti and Kakheti, and to confine his power to Kartli....
who died in 1505.
Whereas the Bagration-Mukhrani were a cadet branch
Cadet branch
Cadet branch is a term in genealogy to describe the lineage of the descendants of the younger sons of a monarch or patriarch. In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets – titles, realms, fiefs, property and income – have...
of the former Royal House of 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...
, they became the genealogically
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
seniormost line of the Bagrationi family in the early 20th century: yet the elder branch had lost the rule of Kartli by 1724.
Meanwhile, the Bagration-Gruzinsky line, although junior to the Princes of Mukhrani genealogically, reigned over the kingdom of Kakheti
Kakheti
Kakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabited by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and...
, re-united the two realms in the kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in 1762, and did not lose sovereignty until Russian annexation in 1800.
The bridegroom is the only member of his branch who retains Georgian citizenship and residence since the death of his father, Prince George Bagration-Mukhrani in 2008. Aside from his unmarried elder brother, Prince David is the heir male
Heirs of the body
Heirs of the body is the term for the English legal principle that certain types of property pass to a descendant of the original holder, recipient or grantee according to a fixed order of kinship...
of the Bagrationi family, while the bride's father is the most senior descendant of the last Bagrationi to reign over the united kingdom of Georgia. Since Nugzar and Princes Peter and Eugene Bagrationi-Gruzinsky are the last patrilineal males descended from King George XIII, and all three were born before 1950, their branch verges on extinction. But the marriage between Nugzar Gruzinsky's heiress and the Mukhrani heir resolves their rivalry for the claim to the throne, which has divided Georgian monarchists. A son born of this marriage is apt to eventually become both the heir male of the House of Bagrationi and the heir general of George XIII of Georgia.
Princes of Mukhrani (1512-1801)
- Bagrat IBagrat I of MukhraniBagrat, 1st Prince of Mukhrani or Mukhran-Batoni , was the third son of Constantine II of Georgia, of the Bagrationi dynasty, and the founder of the House of Mukhrani.-Biography:...
(1512–1539) - Vakhtang I (1539–1580)
- Erekle I (1580–1605)
- Teimuraz I (1605–1625)
- Kaikhosro (1625–1626)
- David I, son of Teimuraz I of KakhetiTeimuraz I of KakhetiTeimuraz I , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a Georgian monarch who ruled, with intermissions, as King of Kakheti from 1605 to 1648 and also of Kartli from 1625 to 1633...
(1626–1648) - Vakhtang IIVakhtang V of KartliVakhtang V was the king of Kartli from 1658 until his death, who ruled as a vassal wali for the Persian shah. He is also known under the name of Shah Nawaz, which he assumed on being obliged outwardly to conform to Islam.-Life:...
(1648–1659) - Constantine I (1659–1667)
- Teimuraz II (1667–1688)
- Ashotan (1688–1691)
- Papua (1691–1710)
- Constantine II (1710)
- Erekle II (1710–1716)
- Levan (1716–1719)
- David II (1719–1734)
- Mamuka (1734–1735)
- Constantine III (1735–1755)
- Simon (1755–1785)
- Ioane I (1785–1800)
- Constantine IV (1800–1801)
Heads of the Princely House (1801-Present)
- Constantine IV (1801–1842)
- Ioane IIIvane Bagration of MukhraniIvane Bagration of Mukhrani was a Georgian nobleman of the House of Mukhrani, and general in the Imperial Russian service...
(1842–1895) - Constantine V (1895–1903)
- AlexanderAlexander Bagration of MukhraniAlexander Bagration of Mukhrani was a Georgian nobleman, and head of the princely House of Mukhrani, a collateral branch of the former royal dynasty of Bagrationi...
(1903–1918) - George IGeorge Bagration of MukhraniGeorge Bragration of Mukhrani or Giorgi Bagration-Mukhraneli was a Georgian nobleman, and a titular head of the House of Mukhrani, a collateral branch of the former royal dynasty of Bagrationi....
(1918–1957) - Irakli IIIIrakli Bagration of MukhraniIrakli Bagration-Mukhraneli was a Georgian prince of the Mukhrani branch of the former royal dynasty of Bagrationi....
(1957–1977) - George II (1977–2008)
- David IIIDavid Bagration of MukhraniDavid Bagrationi of Moukhrani, David Bagration de Moukhrani y de Zornoza, or Davit' Bagration-Mukhraneli is a claimant to the headship of the Royal House of Georgia and to the historical thrones of Georgia, succeeding on the death of his father Jorge de Bagration on January 16, 2008.-Early...
(2008–present)