Bagrat V of Georgia

Bagrat V the Great (Georgian: ბაგრატ V დიდი, Bagrat V Didi, died 1393) of the Bagrationi dynasty, was co-king from 1355 and became king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1360 until his death in 1393.

Bagrat V
King of Georgia (more...)
Reign	1360–1393
Coronation	1355 as co-king
Predecessor	David IX
Successor	George VII
Died	1393
Burial	Gelati Monastery
Spouse	Helena Megale Komnene (d. 1366) Anna Megale Komnene (m. 1367)
Issue Among others	George VII of Georgia Constantine I of Georgia
Dynasty	Bagrationi
Father	David IX of Georgia
Mother	Sindukhtar Jaqeli
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Church Islam

Life

Bagrat was the son of David IX and his wife Sindukhtar Jaqeli. He was co-ruler from 1355, and became king after the death of his father in 1360.

In 1360, after the death of his father, Bagrat v inherited the throne and, to mark his rule over western and eastern Georgia, was crowned in Kutaisi.^[1] Bagrat V earned the title ‘the Great’ for his reputation as a victorious general and archer.^[1] When King Bagrat V ascended the throne, Georgia was slowly recovering from the ravages of the black death.^[2]

The alliance concluded in 1385 with Tokhtamysh, Khan of the Golden Horde, led him to a protracted and heavy war with Timur, Emir of Timurid Empire.^[3] King Bagrat V, learning of Timur's possible attack, fortified himself in Tbilisi, creating powerful defence fortifications.^[4]

In the late autumn of 1386, a huge army under the command of Timur invaded the Georgian kingdom. Timur laid siege to Tbilisi.^[5] Most of the Georgian nobility betrayed their king, taking refuge in castles. Bagrat V desperately resisted, repeatedly personally participating in attacks on the enemy army besieging the city. Only the presence of Timur's firearms - cannons, helped him to capture Tbilisi.

On 22 November 1386, after a six-month siege, the city was captured.^[6][7] Timur kept his promise and preserved the lives of the king, Queen Anna and Prince David, but ordered his soldiers to sack Tbilisi. Bagrat V with his wife and son David were declared prisoners of the emir.^[5][8] Timur sent the famous library of Georgian kings to Samarkand, together with rich booty. The eldest sons of Bagrat V escaped captivity. The subjects offered to crown prince George the new king, but he refused, fearing for his father's life in captivity.^[9]

Timur's army halted in Karabakh for a winter camp. Timur tried to persuade Bagrat V to renounce Christianity, but the king was unwilling to do so, even though he recognised himself as Timur's vassal. Finally, they managed to agree that Bagrat V would accept Islam. After converting to Islam, Timur agreed to release Bagrat V and sent him and twelve thousand Timurid warriors back to the Georgian kingdom to convert the Georgians to Islam. But as soon as they were on the territory of the Georgian kingdom, Bagrat V, together with his sons, prince George and Constantine and Georgian warriors, destroyed the Timurids.^[9]

Believing that this time Bagrat V could not escape death, his vassal Imeretian prince Alexander proclaimed himself an independent ruler and in 1387 was crowned king of Imereti in Gelati monastery. In the spring of 1388 Timur invaded the Georgian kingdom again, but could not force the Georgians to submit. Bagrat V was helped by allies from the Golden Horde who invaded Azerbaijan and the rebellion that had begun in Persia. Timur had to retreat from Tbilisi. In 1389, after the death of the Imeretian king Alexander, Bagrat V managed to restore his suzerainty over his successor. Bagrat died in 1393, leaving the throne to his eldest son George.^[9]

Family

Bagrat's first wife was Helena, who died of the Bubonic plague in 1366 and her origin is unknown,^[10] leaving her husband two sons:

• George VII of Georgia, King of Georgia (1393–1407).
• David, otherwise unknown.

In June 1367, Bagrat V married Anna Megale Komnene, the daughter of Emperor Alexios III of Trebizond.^[5][11][12]

• Constantine I of Georgia (1369–1412), King of Georgia (1407–1411)
• David.
• Olympias, married Prince Kakhaber Chijavadze.^[13]
• Tamar, married Prince Eles Baratashvili.

References

1. Rayfield 2012, p. 146.
2. Baumer 2023, p. 74.
3. Syed Jamaluddin. "The State Under Timur: A Study in Empire Building", Har-Anand, (1995), p. 133.
4. Aram Nahapetovich Ter-Ghevondyan; et al., eds. (1988). Проблемы современной советской арабистики [Problems of modern Soviet Arabic studies]. Fourth All-Union Conference of Arabists 1985 (in Russian). Vol. 1. Yerevan: АН Армении, Институт востоковедения.
5. Toumanoff 1949–1951
6. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Volume 32. Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, (1978), p. 109.
7. Encyclopædia Britannica: A New Survey of Universal Knowledge, Volume 10, (1963), p. 195.
8. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd. "Burke's Royal Families of the World: Africa & the Middle East", Burke's Peerage, (1977), p. 61.
9. Rayfield 2017.
10. Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 171.
11. Miller, W., Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire Archived 2021-02-02 at the Wayback Machine, (London, 1926), pp. 60–61.
12. D. M. Nicol. «The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) ca. 1100–1460 Archived 2022-03-27 at the Wayback Machine», (Dumbarton Oaks Studies, XI: Washington, DC, 1968), pp. 143–146.
13. Ivane Javakhishvili, History of the Georgian Nation, Vol. 3, 1966, p. 278

Bibliography

• Baumer, Christoph (2023). History of the Caucasus. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780755636303.
• Rayfield, Donald (2012). Edge of Empires : A History of Georgia. Reaktion Books.
• Rayfield, Donald (2017). Georgia. Crossroads of Empires. A history of three thousand years (in Russian). Moscow: ABC-Atticus. ISBN 978-5-389-12944-3.
• Toumanoff, Cyril (1949–1951). "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia". Traditio. 7. Cambridge University Press: 169–221. JSTOR 27830207.

Preceded by David IX	King of Georgia 1360–1393	Succeeded by George VII