Brstjjy

Iberia ქართველთა სამეფო kartvelta samepo
Flag
Boundaries of the Kingdom
Capital	Artanuji Bana
Common languages	Georgian
Religion	Eastern Orthodox (Georgian Orthodox Church)
Government	Principality (c. 813–888) Feudal Monarchy (888–1008)
Prince
• 813–826	Ashot I of Iberia (first)
• 881–888	Adarnase IV (last)
King
• 888–923	Adarnase IV(first)
• 994–1008	Gurgen (last)
Historical era	Early Middle Ages
Preceded by Succeeded by Principality of Iberia Kingdom of Georgia Iberia (theme)
Today part of	Georgia  Turkey

Bagratid Iberia^[a] (since 888) refers to a Georgian monarchy under the Bagrationi dynasty ruling over political entities concentrated in Georgian historical region of Tao-Klarjeti, succeeding the Principality of Iberia, in what is now parts of the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars in north-eastern Turkey as well parts of modern southwestern Georgia.

Tao and Klarjeti were originally only the names of the two most important provinces in Kingdom of Iberia, or upper Iberia that stretched from the Iberian Gates in the south and to the Lesser Caucasus in the north. Historically, the area comprised the following provinces: West of the Arsiani Mountains were Tao, Klarjeti, Nigali, and Shavsheti, to the east lay Samtskhe, Erusheti, Javakheti, Artaani, Abotsi, Kola and Basiani. The landscape is characterised by mountains and the river-systems of the Çoruh and the Kura. The region played a crucial role in the unification of all Georgian lands and principalities into a single feudal state, Kingdom of Georgia in 1008.

History

The principalities of Tao-Klarjeti arose out of the turmoils of the Muslim conquests in the Caucasus, succeeding the Principality of Iberia. In 813, the last Iberian prince Ashot I of the Bagrationi dynasty established himself in his patrimonial duchy of Klarjeti, where he restored the castle of Artanuji said to have been built by the king Vakhtang I of Iberia in the 5th century, and received the Byzantine protection. Being recognized as the presiding prince and curopalates of Iberia, Ashot fought the Arabs from there, gradually incorporating the surrounding lands of Tao, Kola, Abotsi, Artaani, Shavsheti, Javakheti, Samtskhe, and Trialeti,^[1] along with a few other lesser lands, from the Arab dominance. He encouraged resettlement of Georgians in these lands, and patronized monastic life initiated by the prominent Georgian ecclesiastic figure Grigol Khandzteli (c. 759–861). For a long time the region became a cultural safe-house and one of the most important religious centers of Georgia. As a result, the political and religious center of Iberia was effectively transferred from central Iberia to the south-west, in Tao-Klarjeti.^[2][3] Tao-Klarjeti's geographical position between the great Empires of the East and the West, and the fact that one branch of the Silk Road ran through its territory, meant that it was subject to a constant stream of diverging influences.

With local Arab emirs in the Caucasus growing ever more independent, the Caliph recognized Ashot as the prince of Iberia in order to counter the rebellious emir of Tiflis Isma’il ibn Shu’aib c. 818. The emir had enlisted support of Ashot's foe—the Kakhetian prince Grigol—and the Georgian highland tribes of Tsanars. Ashot, joined by the king of Abkhazia, Theodosius II, met the emir on the Ksani, winning a victory and pushing the Kakhetians from central Iberian lands^[3]

Boundaries of principality in 850.

Upon Ashot's death, Arabs seized Kartli and demanded taxes from their remaining domains. His holdings were allotted to his three sons: Bagrat (Kola and Lower Tao), Adarnase (Klarjeti, Upper Tao and Shavsheti), and Guaram (Samtskhe, Javakheti and Trialeti). Bagrat I inherited from his father the office of presiding prince of Iberia and the Byzantine title of curopalates, while his brothers were nominally recognizing the sovereignty as the king. Bagrat allied himself with Caliph against Emirate of Tbilisi and Kakhetians; in 842 he was awarded the title of prince of Kartli, a title he lost when the emir emerged victorious. In 853, now supporting Bugha al-Kabir, Bagrat regained Kartli, but only for a brief time as the resurgent Abkhazians forced him out of this region.

Ashot's eldest son, Grand Duke Adarnase II, was the first brother to die. His possessions were equally divided among his sons: Gurgen obtained Tao, while Sumbat received Klarjeti. Ashot's youngest son, Guaram pursued an aggressive policy of expansion. In 880 he seized the Bagratids' traditional foe, the Arab emir of Tbilisi, named Gabulots, and sent him in chains to Constantinople, a triumph which won him Trialeti and Javakheti. Prior to 876, Guaram handed over some of his possessions to his brothers, and gave Ashots to his brother-in-law Ashot V of Armenia. Liparit, of the Liparitids, took over Trialeti, where he built the stronghold Klde-Karni and placed himself under suzerainty of Guaram's nephew David I (son of Bagrat I) soon after 876. Piety led Guaram to forfeit his gains. He retired as a monk to Opiza monastery. These rearrangements left Guaram's son Nasra essentially with no inheritance and probably induced him in 881 to murder his cousin David I in a plot. David's death led to an inter-dynastic feud under David's only son Adarnase IV, who eventually, in 888, with the help of the Armenian king Ashot I^[4] avenged the killing of his father.^[5]

Restoration of the Kingdom

Boundaries of the kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti in 900.

As Adarnase was still a minor, the Byzantine emperor – pursuant to the policy of division – appointed as curopalates, not Adarnase, but his cousin Gurgen of Tao. Not being a curopalates and having Armenia's example before him, Adarnase assumed the title of king and subsequently defeated his rival curopalates Gurgen. The Byzantine government adapted itself to the circumstances and, upon Gurgen death in 891, recognized Adarnase as curopalates.^[4] Adarnase rewarded Ashot of Armenia's assistance with steadfast loyalty which continued into the reign of Ashot's successor Smbat I whom Adarnase aided to win the crown in dynastic struggles in 890 and later joined him against Ahmed ibn-'Isâ of Diyarbakır, the Caliph’s former governor of Armīniya. In turn, Smbat recognized Adarnase's royal status and personally crowned him in 899. The two men collaborated in defeating, in 904, the Abkhazian king Constantine III, their common relative, who competed with Adarnase for hegemony in Inner Iberia and with Smbat in Gogarene. Adarnase captured Constantine and turned him over to Smbat. But the latter, inclined to balance Adarnase's growing power and extend Armenian influence to west Georgia, freed his captive. This move turned Adarnase against Smbat and the ensuing break and enmity weakened the both monarchs: Adarnase was dispossessed by Constantine in 904, while Smbat was defeated and tortured to death by Yusuf, a Sajid ruler of Azerbaijan in 914.^[6] As a result of these events, Adarnase was relegated to his portion of the Bagratid hereditary lands in Tao.^[4] He rebuilt the church of Bana in Tao and made it a bishop's seat.^[7]

King David III Kuropalates of Tao as depicted on a bas-relief from the 10th-century Georgian Orthodox monastery of Oshki in modern Erzurum Province of present-day Turkey.

Adarnase IV's eldest son King David II's control was limited to Javakheti and Lower Tao as the core lands of Inner Iberia were under the Abkhazian control. In spite of his royal title and unlike his father, David did not bear the traditional high Byzantine title of curopalates which was bestowed by the emperor upon David's younger brother Ashot II. David only had the title of magistros which he shared with his relative Gurgen II of Tao. As a result, David's influence and prestige were overshadowed by those of his younger brother. Both Gurgen and David resolutely opposed the Byzantine takeover of the Bagratid town of Artanuji, a fief of Gurgen's father-in-law, Ashot the Swift. David died childless, being succeeded by his brother Ashot. Following the death of Gurgen II of Tao in 941, Ashot obtained Upper Tao and also received from the emperor, c. 952, the Armenian canton of Phasiane.^[8] Ashot died without heir and his lands and titles passed to his brother King Sumbat I.

Boundaries of the kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti in 1000.

In 958, Smbat i's son Bagrat II took over his father's titles (except for Couropalates) and only ruled Lower Tao. Bagrat frequently appeared as a collaborator of his relative David III of Tao, the most influential person among the Bagratids of that time, aiding him against the Rawadids of Azerbaijan. A just ruler and a friend of the church, David allied with the Byzantine Emperor Basil II to defeat the rebel Byzantine noble Bardas Skleros (c. 976–979) and was rewarded with extensive lands, known to the contemporary Georgian sources as the "Upper Lands of Greece", that made him the most powerful ruler in the south Caucasus: his state included several former Kaysite lands consisting chiefly of lands up to the Lake Van.^[9] The only setback was the 987–989 unsuccessful conflict with the Byzantine Empire that forced David to agree to cede his dominion to Emperor Basil II on his death, whose domains later would be organized into the theme of Iberia. With the strong intention to unite all Georgian lands, David adopted Prince Bagrat (the future King Bagrat III),^[10] a grandchild of Bagrat II, also being an Abkhazian heir apparent. David installed him as a residing prince in Kartli (975) and later as king of Abkhazia (978), and helped Bagrat's natural father Gurgen to be crowned as King of Iberia on the death of Bagrat II in 994, thus making Bagrat a ruler of the two and heir apparent of another two Georgian states. Upon David of Tao's death in 1000, Gurgen, and Bagrat met with Basil but, unable to prevent the annexation of David's realm to the Byzantine Empire, were forced to recognize the new borders. Despite this reverse, Bagrat III was able to become the first ruler of the unified Georgian kingdom (officially called: "the Kingdom of the Abkhazians and the Iberians") on his father's death in 1008. Bagrat's reign, a period of uttermost importance in the history of Georgia, brought about the final victory of the Georgian Bagratids in the centuries-long power struggles. Anxious to create more stable and centralized monarchy, Bagrat eliminated or at least diminished the autonomy of the dynastic princes. In his eyes, the most possible internal danger came from the Klarjeti line of the Bagrationi, represented by the king's cousins, Sumbat and Gurgen. Although seem to have acknowledged Bagrat's authority, they continued to be styled as Kings, and Sovereigns of Klarjeti. To secure the succession to his son, George, Bagrat lured his cousins, on pretext of a reconciliatory meeting, to the Panaskerti Castle, and threw them in prison in 1010. Their children managed to escape to Constantinople, but Sumbat and Gurgen died in custody by 1012.

Rulers of Tao-Klarjeti

Bagrationi dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti

See also

• Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)


• Principality of Iberia


• Iberia (theme)

Notes

References

Sources

• 
  Stephen of Taron: Histoire Universelle par Étienne Asolik de Taron, transl. F. Macler, 2e partie, livre III (888-1004), Paris 1917


• 
  Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio, ed. G. Moravcsik and R.J.H. Jenkins, Dumbarton Oaks 1967


• Aristakes Lastivert: Récit des malheurs de la nation arménienne, transl. M. Canard and H. Berberian, Brussels 1973


• 
  Thurn, Hans, ed. (1973). Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis historiarum. Berlin-New York: De Gruyter.
  


• 
  Elishe: History of Vardan and the Armenian War, transl. R.W. Thomson, Cambridge, Mass. 1982


• The Life of Kartli: Das Leben Kartlis. Eine Chronik aus Georgien. 300-1200, ed. G. Pätsch, Leipzig 1985


• Life of John and Euthymius: B. Martin-Hisard, “La Vie de Jean et Euthyme: le statut du monastère des Ibères sur l'Athos”, Revue des Études Byzantines 49 (1991), 67-142


• Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd al-Antākī: “Histoire de Yahya-Ibn-Sa‘ïd d’Antioche”, ed. and transl. I. Kratchkovsky and A. Vasiliev, Patrologia Orientalis 18 (1924), 700-833
  
  
  
  • “Histoire de Yahya-Ibn-Sa‘ïd d’Antioche”, ed. and transl. I. Kratchkovsky and A. Vasiliev, Patrologia Orientalis 23 (1932), 347-520
  
  
  • “Histoire de Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd d’Antioche”, ed. I. Kratchkovsky, transl. F. Micheau and G. Troupeau, Patrologia Orientalis 47 (1997), 373-559
  
  
  
  


• Giorgi Merchule: Georgi Mertschule. Das Leben des Grigol von Chandsta, transl. S. Sardshweladse and H. Fähnrich, Jena 2000


• Yovhannes Drasxanakertci: Histoire d'Arménie, transl. P. Boisson-Chenorhokian, Leuven 2004


• Bruno Baumgartner, Studien zur historischen Geographie von Tao-Klarjeti, PhD-Dissertation, 2 Volumes, Vienna 1996 ("Studies on the historical Geography of Tao-Klarjeti", in German)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tao-Klarjeti.

• Virtual Museum of Tao-Klarjeti


• Historic monuments around Yusufeli


• Photos from Artvin İl


• Black Sea region, Turkey