Rostom of Kartli
Encyclopedia
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...
, 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 1633 until his death. Appointed by a Persian shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
as a Wāli
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
(i.e. viceroy) of Kartli, he styled himself king of kings and sovereign.
Life
A son of Daud Khan, a Georgian prince and convert to IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, by a concubine, he was born Khosro Mirza and brought up Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
at the Persian court. An intelligent and resolute in his decisions, he soon attracted the attention of Shah Abbas I of Safavid who appointed him, in 1618, a darugha (prefect) of the capital Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609, Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad...
. From 1625 to 1626, he took part in suppression of the Georgian opposition: he commanded a right flank at the victorious Battle of Marabda
Battle of Marabda
The Battle of Marabda , when the Iranian army defeated a Georgian force. This battle occurred after the Battle of Martqopi in the same year, when the Iranian army was routed.-References:...
and saved part of the Persian troops from a complete disaster at the Battle of Ksani. In 1626, Khosro Mirza was recalled from Georgia and appointed a commander of the Shah's guard Quli. In 1630, Abbas, lying on a deathbed, urged him to protect a grandson and heir Saam Mirza, the future Shah Safi, whom Khosro served faithfully. In 1630, he led a Persian army which defeated 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...
forces and captured Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. In the early 1630s, he took part in sidelining and destruction of the Undiladze
Undiladze
The Undiladze were a Georgian noble family whose members rose in prominence in the service of Iran’s Safavid dynasty and dominated the Shah’s court at a certain period of the late 16th and early 17th centuries....
family which had dominated the Saffavid court for years. As a reward, he was appointed, in 1633, a wali of Kartli at the age of 67 and sent to suppress the opposition of Georgians who had managed to unite the eastern regions of Kartli and 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...
under Teimuraz I
Teimuraz I of Kakheti
Teimuraz 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...
for a brief period of 1630-1633. He adopted a name Rustam (Rostom, როსტომ', in Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
transliteration) and came to Georgia with a large Persian army. He soon took control of Kartli and garrisoned all major fortresses with Persian forces, bringing them, however, under his tight control. His willingness to cooperate with his suzerain won for Kartli a larger degree of autonomy. A period of relative peace and prosperity ensued, with the cities and towns being revived, many deserted areas repopulated and commerce flourished. Although Muslim, Rostom helped to restore a major Georgian Orthodox cathedral of Living Pillar (Svetitskhoveli) at Mtskheta
Mtskheta
Mtskheta , one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia , is located approximately 20 kilometers north of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers. The city is now the administrative centre of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region...
, and patronised Christian culture. However, Islam and Persian habits predominated at his court. He ruthlessly crushed an opposition of local nobles and invaded, in 1648, Kakheti, forcing Teimuraz to flee to Imereti
Imereti
Imereti is a province in Georgia situated along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni river. It consists of the following Georgian administrative-territorial units:#Kutaisi #Baghdati region#Vani region#Zestafoni region...
(western Georgia).
Throughout his reign, a question of succession appeared to be a challenging task. As he had no children, Rostom intended to make the Imeretian prince Mamuka his heir. The latter, however, was soon suspected to have been involved in a plot, and he had to return to his native Imereti. In 1642, Rostom adopted his kinsman Luarsab, the late Simon Khan
Simon II of Kartli
Simon II , also known as Svimon or Semayun Khan , was a Persian-appointed king of Kartli, eastern Georgia, from 1619 to 1630/1631.A son of Bagrat Khan, Simon was a Georgian convert to Islam...
’s grandson, but he was assassinated in 1652 while hunting. Another candidate for the succession, Rostom’s stepson Otia, also died in mysterious circumstances. Only in 1653 was able Rostom to choose his successor. It was Vakhtang of Mukhrani
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:...
, a representative of a junior Mukhrani
House of Mukhrani
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...
branch of the Bagrationi dynasty, who actually ran government in the last years of Rostom, and succeeded on his death on November 17, 1658. Rostom was buried in Qum, Persia, close to his late suzerain Abbas I.
Family
Rostom first married, in 1633, Ketevan, daughter of a noble Gorjasp Abashishvili, but she died a month later. His second wife was Mariam, daughter of the Mingrelian prince Manuchar I Dadiani and former wife of the GuriaGuria
Guria is a region in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 143,357 and Ozurgeti is a regional capital.-Geography:...
n prince Simon Gurieli.