Levan of Kakheti
Encyclopedia
Levan also known as Leon (ლეონი) (1505 – 1574), of the Bagrationi Dynasty
, was a king of Kakheti
in eastern Georgia
from 1518/1520 to 1574. He presided over the most prosperous and peaceful period in the history of the Kingdom of Kakheti.
by his wife Helene née Irubakidze-Cholokashvili
. George II led a series of unsuccessful raids into his western neighbor, kingdom of Kartli
, ruled by a rival branch of the Bagrationi. In 1513, he was captured and put in prison, while his kingdom was taken over by David X of Kartli
. Levan was taken by loyal nobles to the mountains and kept there clandestinely until 1518, when they capitalized on the invasion of Kartli by Ismail I
, the Safavid Shah of Iran
, and proclaimed Levan king of Kakheti. David X led his army against Kakheti, but failed to seize Levan and withdrew. In 1520, the two kings made peace and forged an alliance.
Having secured the crown, Levan forced the highlanders of eastern Georgia into submission and established friendly relations with the Shamkhal of Tarki
in Dagestan
. In 1521, he mounted an expedition against Hassan-Bey, the hostile ruler of Shaki in Azerbaijan
, took the city and had Hassan executed. Shaki was under the patronage of Iran, and when Ismail I marched against Kakheti, Levan’s courage began to fail. He officially accepted the shah’s suzerainty and agreed to pay tribute. He reaffirmed his loyalty to the new shah, Tahmasp I
, in 1541, and even helped him subdue rebellious Shaki in 1551.
In the 1555 Treaty of Amasya, Ottoman
and Saffavid empires divided the South Caucasus
in their spheres of influence, with Kakheti falling into the Iranian orbit. Pressured by the presence of an Iranian army near the Kakhetian borders, Levan had to send his son Vakhtang (also known as Jesse) as a political hostage to the Saffavid court where the prince was converted to Islam
, named Isa-Khan and appointed a governor of Shaki. In 1561, he was forced to deny aid to his son-in-law Simon I of Kartli
against the Iranians. He allowed, however, his beloved son George to volunteer on the side of Simon, but the Georgian army was crushed at the battle of Tsikhedidi and George himself died on the battlefield.
Levan, then, attempted to counterbalance the Iranian hegemony by enlisting the Russian
support and sent, in 1561, an embassy to Ivan IV. Levan’s Russian contacts enabled him to recruit a detachment of the Russian soldiers from the Terek Valley in 1564. The presence of the Russian contingent in Kakheti drew a protest from Iran, and Levan was forced to disband it in 1571.
In general, Kakheti remained a peaceful country during Levan’s reign. Flanked by the Gilan-Shemakha-Astrakhan
"silk route", the kingdom was actively involved in the regional trade. In contrast to other parts of Georgia, the towns and countryside prospered and attracted people from the harassed lands of Kartli as well as Armenian
and Persian merchants and craftsmen. Levan was known as a significant royal patron of culture, and his portraits
survive in many of the churches he endowed, including Gremi
.
Levan died in 1574, being survived by five sons among whom a violent dispute over succession soon broke out. According to the 18th-century Georgian historian Prince Vakhushti
, the animosity between the brothers was at least partially precipitated by Levan’s preferential treatment of his son by the second marriage over those by the first marriage, particularly Alexander
, who was his eldest son, and, hence, a legitimate heir to the throne. Alexander, indeed, emerged victorious and became the next king of Kakheti.
. She gave birth to five sons and two daughters:
Levan divorced Tinatin in 1529 and married a daughter of Kamal Kara-Musel, Shamkhal of Tarku. They were the parents of seven sons and two daughters:
Bagrationi Dynasty
The Bagrationi dynasty was the ruling family of Georgia. Their ascendency lasted from the early Middle Ages until the early 19th century. In modern usage, this royal line is frequently referred to as the Georgian Bagratids, a Hellenized form of their dynastic name.The origin of the Bagrationi...
, was a king 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...
in eastern 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...
from 1518/1520 to 1574. He presided over the most prosperous and peaceful period in the history of the Kingdom of Kakheti.
Biography
He was the son of George II of KakhetiGeorge 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....
by his wife Helene née Irubakidze-Cholokashvili
Cholokashvili
Cholokashvili is a former noble family in Georgia. It claimed an exotic foreign lineage and first appeared in the eastern Georgian province, and later kingdom, of Kakheti in 1320...
. George II led a series of unsuccessful raids into his western neighbor, kingdom 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...
, ruled by a rival branch of the Bagrationi. In 1513, he was captured and put in prison, while his kingdom was taken over by David X of Kartli
David 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...
. Levan was taken by loyal nobles to the mountains and kept there clandestinely until 1518, when they capitalized on the invasion of Kartli by Ismail I
Ismail I
Ismail I , known in Persian as Shāh Ismāʿil , was a Shah of Iran and the founder of the Safavid dynasty which survived until 1736. Isma'il started his campaign in Azerbaijan in 1500 as the leader of the Safaviyya, an extremist heterodox Twelver Shi'i militant religious order and unified all of Iran...
, the Safavid Shah of Iran
Safavid dynasty
The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning...
, and proclaimed Levan king of Kakheti. David X led his army against Kakheti, but failed to seize Levan and withdrew. In 1520, the two kings made peace and forged an alliance.
Having secured the crown, Levan forced the highlanders of eastern Georgia into submission and established friendly relations with the Shamkhal of Tarki
Tarki
Tarki is an urban locality under the administrative jurisdiction of Sovetsky City District of the city of Makhachkala in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, situated on the Tarkitau Mountain. Population:...
in Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
. In 1521, he mounted an expedition against Hassan-Bey, the hostile ruler of Shaki in 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...
, took the city and had Hassan executed. Shaki was under the patronage of Iran, and when Ismail I marched against Kakheti, Levan’s courage began to fail. He officially accepted the shah’s suzerainty and agreed to pay tribute. He reaffirmed his loyalty to the new shah, Tahmasp I
Tahmasp I
Tahmasp or Tahmasb I was an influential Shah of Iran, who enjoyed the longest reign of any member of the Safavid dynasty...
, in 1541, and even helped him subdue rebellious Shaki in 1551.
In the 1555 Treaty of Amasya, 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...
and Saffavid empires divided the South Caucasus
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Trans-Caucasus...
in their spheres of influence, with Kakheti falling into the Iranian orbit. Pressured by the presence of an Iranian army near the Kakhetian borders, Levan had to send his son Vakhtang (also known as Jesse) as a political hostage to the Saffavid court where the prince was converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, named Isa-Khan and appointed a governor of Shaki. In 1561, he was forced to deny aid to his son-in-law Simon I of Kartli
Simon I of Kartli
Simon I also known as Svimon , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a Georgian king of Kartli from 1556 to 1569 and again from 1578 to 1599...
against the Iranians. He allowed, however, his beloved son George to volunteer on the side of Simon, but the Georgian army was crushed at the battle of Tsikhedidi and George himself died on the battlefield.
Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia was the name of the centralized Russian state from Ivan IV's assumption of the title of Tsar in 1547 till Peter the Great's foundation of the Russian Empire in 1721.From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 a year...
support and sent, in 1561, an embassy to Ivan IV. Levan’s Russian contacts enabled him to recruit a detachment of the Russian soldiers from the Terek Valley in 1564. The presence of the Russian contingent in Kakheti drew a protest from Iran, and Levan was forced to disband it in 1571.
In general, Kakheti remained a peaceful country during Levan’s reign. Flanked by the Gilan-Shemakha-Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
"silk route", the kingdom was actively involved in the regional trade. In contrast to other parts of Georgia, the towns and countryside prospered and attracted people from the harassed lands of Kartli as well as Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
and Persian merchants and craftsmen. Levan was known as a significant royal patron of culture, and his portraits
survive in many of the churches he endowed, including Gremi
Gremi
Gremi is a 16th-century architectural monument – the royal citadel and the Church of the Archangels – in Kakheti, Georgia. The complex is what has survived from the once flourishing town of Gremi and is located east of the present-day village of the same name in the Kvareli district, 175...
.
Levan died in 1574, being survived by five sons among whom a violent dispute over succession soon broke out. According to the 18th-century Georgian historian Prince Vakhushti
Vakhushti
Vakhushti was a Georgian prince , geographer, historian and cartographer.- Life :A son of King Vakhtang VI of Kartli , he was born in Tbilisi, 1696...
, the animosity between the brothers was at least partially precipitated by Levan’s preferential treatment of his son by the second marriage over those by the first marriage, particularly Alexander
Alexander II of Kakheti
Alexander II , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Kakheti in eastern Georgia from 1574 to 1605. In spite of a precarious international situation, he managed to retain relative economic stability in his kingdom and tried to establish contacts with the Tsardom of Russia...
, who was his eldest son, and, hence, a legitimate heir to the throne. Alexander, indeed, emerged victorious and became the next king of Kakheti.
Family
Levan was married twice; first to Tinatin (died 1591), daughter of Mamia I Gurieli, Prince of GuriaPrincipality of Guria
The Principality of Guria was a historical state in Georgia. Centered on modern-day Guria, a southwestern region in Georgia, it was located between the Black Sea and Lesser Caucasus, and was ruled by a succession of twenty-two princes of the House of Gurieli from the 1460s to 1829. The...
. She gave birth to five sons and two daughters:
- George (d. 1561)
- Jesse (Isa-Khan) (d. 1583)
- Alexander (II) (1527-1605)
- Nicholas (d. 1589), Catholicos-Patriarch of GeorgiaCatholicos-Patriarch of All GeorgiaCatholicos–Patriarch has been the title of the heads of the Georgian Orthodox Church since 1010. The first Catholicos–Patriarch of All Georgia was Melkisedek I...
(1584-89) - Erekle
- Khetevan; married the nobleman Gogibashvili
- Helene; married, in 1548, to Erekle, son of BagratBagrat 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:...
Mukhran-BatoniHouse of MukhraniThe 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...
, 1st Prince of MukhraniMukhraniMukhrani is a historical lowland district in eastern Georgia, currently within the borders of Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, north of the town of Mtskheta...
Levan divorced Tinatin in 1529 and married a daughter of Kamal Kara-Musel, Shamkhal of Tarku. They were the parents of seven sons and two daughters:
- El-Mirza (1532-1574)
- David (d. 1574)
- Kaikhosro (d. 1574)
- Teimuraz (d. 1568)
- Bagrat
- Constantine (died c. 1575)
- Vakhtang
- Nestan-Darejan (d. 1612), married King Simon I of KartliSimon I of KartliSimon I also known as Svimon , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a Georgian king of Kartli from 1556 to 1569 and again from 1578 to 1599...
- Thekla, married Prince CholokashviliCholokashviliCholokashvili is a former noble family in Georgia. It claimed an exotic foreign lineage and first appeared in the eastern Georgian province, and later kingdom, of Kakheti in 1320...
, and became a nun c. 1602