George II of Imereti

George II of Imereti (Georgian: გიორგი II, romanized: giorgi II; c. 1515–1585) of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a King (mepe) of Imereti from 1565 until his death in 1585.

George II
George II, a fresco from the Gelati Monastery
King of Imereti (more...)
Reign	1565–1585
Predecessor	Bagrat III
Successor	Levan
Died	1585 (1586)
Spouse	Rusudan Sharvashidze Tamar Diasamidze (ka)
Issue Among others	Prince Bagrat Levan of Imereti
Dynasty	Bagrationi dynasty
Father	Bagrat III of Imereti
Mother	Elene
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Church
Khelrtva

The son and successor of Bagrat III, George II’s reign was marked by persistent conflict between the Imeretian crown and the principalities of Mingrelia and Guria, two powerful vassal states whose rivalries were often encouraged by the neighboring Ottoman Empire. George II alternately supported each principality but repeatedly faced military confrontations, including the Battle of Ianeti in 1568. A temporary reconciliation was achieved in 1578 through an alliance among George II of Imereti, George II Gurieli, and George III Dadiani, an agreement remembered as the “Pact of the Three Georges.”

In foreign affairs, George II initially rejected Ottoman suzerainty, notwithstanding its recognition by regional Muslim powers following the Peace of Amasya in 1555. During the Ottoman–Safavid War that began in 1578, he inflicted two notable defeats on Ottoman forces. Nevertheless, effective Ottoman diplomacy eventually drew him into their camp, and around 1580 he joined a Turkish-backed invasion of Kartli. The campaign ended in failure when he was defeated by Simon I of Kartli in 1582.

George II’s death in 1585 triggered a prolonged succession crisis that contributed to the weakening and eventual fragmentation of royal authority in Imereti after decades of internal conflict.

Ealry life and accession

Fresco of King George II, Queen Rusudan and Prince Bagrat, in Gelati Monastery.

George was the eldest son of King Bagrat III, who had ruled the Kingdom of Imereti since 1510, and of Queen Helen. His exact birth date is unknown, but he is mentioned—together with his younger brother Teimuraz—in a royal charter issued by his father in 1517, suggesting a birth around 1515. George had at least one son, Alexander, who died in 1558. This indicates that George had an earlier, undocumented marriage before 1563, the year in which he wed Princess Rusudan Sharvashidze in an attempt to forge an alliance between the royal authority and the Principality of Abkhazia.

Bagrat III’s long reign consolidated the political independence of Imereti from the rest of Georgia, but it also coincided with the emergence of the Ottoman Empire as an imperial power in the South Caucasus. George succeeded his father and became the third monarch to assume the grandiose title “King of Kings of the Abkhazians, Ranians, Kakhetians, and Armenians, Shirvanshah and Shahanshah, Absolute Master of the East, West, South, and North, and Sovereign of the Kingdoms of Imereti and Amiréti,” a formula reflecting the Imeretian monarchs’ continued claims to authority over all of Georgia. He inherited a kingdom that was securely independent, yet increasingly subject to Ottoman influence among the high nobility, alongside persistent tensions between the Crown and its vassals—most notably the Lipartiani family.^[1]

In the 1550s, George allied himself with the anti-Persian crusade of King Luarsab I of Kartli, whom he hosted in western Georgia in 1556, shortly before Luarsab’s tragic death.^[2] In 1553, the Safavid shah Tahmasp I launched a little-documented incursion into Imereti and seized the icon of Our Lady of Atsquri, which had previously been confiscated by Bagrat III during his war against Samtskhe.^[2] George II recovered the icon later the same year but returned it to Kaikhosro II Jaqeli in 1562 as part of a peace agreement between the two rulers.^[2]

Questions Regarding the Accession of George II

The date of George’s accession to the Imeretian throne remains a subject of debate between traditional and modern historiography. The 18th-century historian Vakhushti of Kartli, who compiled royal biographies, records the death of Bagrat III in 1548, a chronology later followed by the French scholar Marie-Félicité Brosset in the 1850s.^[2] A royal charter from 1564 refers to the “19th year” of King George’s reign, which would suggest an accession in 1545.

Modern historians, drawing on additional contemporary sources, generally accept 1565 as the year of Bagrat III’s death and George II’s accession.^[3] Although this chronology does not account for the events described by Vakhushti during George’s supposed activity in the 1550s, it is supported by a royal charter issued in 1569 that mentions the “fourth year” of the monarch’s reign.^[4] Another royal document from 1568 also refers to the fourth regnal year; Brosset interprets this as counting from George’s marriage to Rusudan in 1563.

One modern explanation proposes that Bagrat III may indeed have ruled until 1565, but had associated George with the throne as early as the 1540s—a common practice in the Georgian monarchical tradition.

Civil war

Civil War

Levan I Dadiani.

When George II came to power, a fragile peace existed^[2] between the king and his vassals, George II Gurieli of Guria and Levan I Dadiani of Mingrelia. Both rulers were de facto independent and Ottoman subjects, following decades of conflict between Bagrat III and these regional princes. This peace quickly collapsed when George Gurieli and Levan Dadiani went to war, though the conflict was soon defused by Gurieli’s marriage to Dadiani’s daughter in 1566.^[2]

When Gurieli later divorced his wife, the princes of western Georgia prepared for civil war. George of Guria allied himself with George II of Imereti,^[5] while Levan Dadiani formed an anti-royal coalition with the Chiladze and Lipartiani families, aiming to depose King George and install Prince Khosro, the king’s cousin.^[6] Dadiani’s forces invaded Guria, but King George inflicted a decisive defeat on them in 1568 at the Battle of Ianeti.^[7]

Following his victory at Ianeti, George II and his Gurian allies invaded Mingrelia. When the king captured Zugdidi, Levan Dadiani fled to Constantinople.^[3] George II, however, continued to face an unruly nobility: the lord Bejan Nemsadze organized an assassination attempt on behalf of Prince Khosro, but failed, and the king confiscated his lands.^[3]

Sultan Selim II nevertheless encouraged Levan Dadiani to return to Georgia. Later in 1568, Dadiani—supported by nine Ottoman ships and troops from Erzurum and Trabzon—landed in Guria and threatened Prince Gurieli with a devastating invasion.^[3] George Gurieli was forced to pay him tribute^[3] and assisted him in driving royal forces out of Mingrelia.^[8]

Seeking to consolidate his authority, King George had Duke Javakh Chiladze assassinated during a banquet held in his honor.^[3] Chiladze’s domains formed a powerful territory spanning Imereti, Guria, and Mingrelia.^[3] The king annexed these lands as punishment for Chiladze’s support of Dadiani in the Battle of Ianeti.^[8] In response, George of Guria and Levan of Mingrelia declared war on the Crown, defeated the king, and partitioned the Chiladze estates between themselves.^[8]

The Three Georges

Papuna Chiladze, whose estates were at the centre of conflicts between Georgian princes.

In 1572, Levan of Mingrelia died in a hunting accident and was succeeded by his son, George III Dadiani. George III, however, immediately faced the rival claims of his brother Mamia. George II of Imereti compelled the new Dadiani to return his portion of the Chiladze estates^[9] and strengthened their alliance by marrying his son Bagrat to the Dadiani sister.^[10] George of Guria, fearing a renewed partnership between Mingrelia and Imereti,^[9] supported Mamia’s claims.^[10] In 1573, Gurieli invaded Mingrelia, captured Zugdidi, forced George Dadiani to flee to Abkhazia, and installed Mamia as prince.^[9]

King George II was compelled to accept this new political order and to return his share of the Chiladze estates to Zugdidi.^[10] This upheaval temporarily imposed peace among the three rulers, yet George II—though he formally recognized Mamia as Prince of Mingrelia—never reconciled himself to his strategic defeat. In 1578, George Dadiani re-entered western Georgian politics when the king arranged his restoration: Dadiani married Tamar Sharvashidze, the king’s sister-in-law, and granted the port of Hopa in Adjara (then under joint Ottoman–Dadiani control) to Gurieli. Mamia was thus forced to abdicate and return the Mingrelian crown to his brother.^[10]

To seal this new alignment, George of Guria married the Dadiani sister—widow of Prince Bagrat of Imereti, heir to the throne, who had died in May 1578.^[10] George II of Imereti, George II of Guria, and George III of Mingrelia thus formed a tripartite alliance that brought a measure of unity to western Georgia.^[11]

Around 1580, Batulia Dadiani, uncle of George Dadiani and Count of Sajavakho, rebelled against the Mingrelian prince, and the king of Imereti intervened on his behalf.^[10] Batulia was quickly defeated and imprisoned by George Gurieli in Ozurgeti, but Gurieli refused to execute him,^[12] jeopardizing the fragile three-way alliance.^[10] King George responded by sending agents to assassinate Batulia in his cell.^[12]

These prolonged conflicts inflicted severe hardship on the local population. The economy of western Georgia, painstakingly developed under Bagrat III, collapsed,^[13] while the Ottomans exploited the instability to expand their influence over the nobility, introducing Turkish militias to participate in internal warfare.^[14] The sale of prisoners of war as slaves to the Turks—a practice prohibited by Bagrat III—reappeared in Imereti and became a recurring feature of the many civil wars that followed the reign of George II.^[13]

Relations with the Turks

Conflict with the Ottomans

Under the reign of George II, the Ottoman Empire took advantage of the Ottoman–Persian War of 1578–1590 to expand into eastern Georgia, which had remained a Persian vassal territory since the Peace of Amasya. According to that same 1555 treaty, western Georgia fell within the Ottoman sphere of influence, yet Bagrat III and George II maintained firm independence despite growing Ottoman pressure on Guria, Mingrelia, and Abkhazia.

On 1 September 1578,^{[note 1]} the Ottoman commander Lala Mustafa Pasha—after ravaging Tbilisi and deposing King David XI of Kartli—turned his ambitions toward Imereti, seeking to invade the kingdom and overthrow the defiant Christian ruler George II.^[9] George II, however, fortified the difficult terrain of the Likhi Range, the natural frontier between Imereti and Kartli, and inflicted a significant defeat on the Ottoman forces.^[15] During the battle, the noble Heraclius of Mukhrani —pro-Ottoman cousin of Prince Vakhtang I of Mukhrani—was severely wounded, and many Georgian nobles in his retinue were killed by the Imeretians.^[15]

George II returned to Kutaisi victorious, carrying numerous treasures seized from the Ottomans.^[9] But on 1 November, Lala Mustafa Pasha again advanced on Imereti. George II defeated him a second time at the Likhi Range, ending Ottoman attempts to conquer western Georgia by force.^[15]

Alliance with the Ottomans

In 1581, Sultan Murad III replaced Lala Mustafa Pasha on the Georgian front with his grand vizier Koca Sinan Pasha. The new commander opened negotiations with George II through the atabeg Manuchar II of Samtskhe^[12] and succeeded in bringing him over to the Ottoman side. In return, George was promised authority over Kartli—an attractive offer for a ruler who claimed the crowns of all three Georgian kingdoms.^[16] George II then formed a coalition with his allies in Mingrelia and Guria, and their combined forces invaded northern Kartli, while Koca Sinan Pasha engaged Simon I of Kartli directly,^[17] a coordinated strategy designed to divide Kartli’s defenses.^[18]

The plan proved successful, and when the Imeretian–Ottoman forces captured Tbilisi, Koca Sinan Pasha appointed Prince Mamia, the younger son of George II, as beylerbey (governor) of the city,^[16] under the name Yusuf Beg.^[19] The appointment served Ottoman interests well: by installing a Georgian prince, they gained a measure of local support and honored their promise to Kutaisi, all while knowing they had selected a renegade son of George II—thus using the office more to divide the Georgian nobility than to unify the realm.^[19]

In 1582, Simon I of Kartli regained territorial advantage over his adversaries, prompting the Ottomans to assemble a new coalition of Imereti, Mingrelia, Guria, and Samtskhe.^[20] At Mukhrani, the invading forces were defeated by Simon in a battle that secured his continued independence.^[20]

End of Reign and Death

In 1582, the fragile peace among the three Georges of western Georgia collapsed following the death of George III Dadiani, who was succeeded by his brother Mamia.^[21] Mamia took the opportunity to avenge his earlier betrayal by the ruler of Guria in 1578: he invaded the principality and forced George II Gurieli into exile in Constantinople.^[12] Vakhtang Gurieli—a brother (or possibly a son) of George—was installed as the new Prince of Guria, now a vassal of Mingrelia, and King George of Imereti was compelled to accept the rising Mingrelian dominance.^[21]

In 1583, the aging and weakened George II sought to secure the throne of Imereti for his son, Levan—his third designated heir following the deaths of his two elder sons—who was then only ten years old.^[22] Fearing the ambitions of his brother Constantine,^[22] George II had both Constantine and his nephew Rostom imprisoned.^[12]

George II died in 1585 after a reign of at least twenty years.^[12] He was succeeded by the young Levan, who was vulnerable to the powerful nobility and witnessed the royal authority disintegrate under the influence of Mamia Dadiani.^[7] The disorder following George II’s succession resulted in internal turmoil and the rise of Mingrelian power,^[22] culminating in the Western Georgian civil war (1623–1658). Simon of Kartli likewise exploited the chaos to take revenge for George II’s pro-Ottoman policies, launching three invasions of Imereti in the years following the death of George II.^[23]

Family

Prince Bagrat, son of George II.

George II was married three times. The identity of his first wife is unknown; she may have been an anonymous daughter of Mamia I Gurieli. He married secondly to Rusudan Shervashidze (died 1578) and thirdly to Tamar (died 1586), daughter of Prince Shermazan Diasamidze. He had six sons:

• Prince Alexander (died 1558), born of George's first marriage.
• Prince Bagrat (1565 – 22 May 1578), born of George's second marriage.
• Levan of Imereti (1573–1590), born of George's second marriage, King of Imereti (1585–1588).
• Prince Alexander (fl. 1584), born of George's third marriage.
• Prince Mamia (fl. 1584), born of George's third marriage, beylerbey of Tbilisi in 1581.
• Prince Rostom (fl. 1584), born of George's third marriage.

Culture

Like his predecessors, George II was a Christian monarch ruling under the authority of the Catholicate of Abkhazia, a branch of the Georgian Orthodox Church that had declared its independence following the fragmentation of Georgia in the 15th century. Even before his accession, George maintained close ties with the Church, as shown by his donation of the parish of Ghvime—along with its lands and dependent families—to the Gelati Monastery, the seat of the Catholicate.^[24] In 1568, after confiscating the estates of Bejan Nemsadze, he granted the residence of Tskhuturi to Archbishop Anton of Gaenati.^[25] In 1569, in honor of his father, he donated the royal palace of Khvochtibuli to Gelati.^[25]

George II was crowned by Catholicos Eudemios I.^[26] In 1568, Eudemios compiled the first canonical code of the Catholicate, defining the authority of the Catholicos and the relationship between the Crown and the Church.^[27] Under George II’s patronage, Eudemios commissioned several of the most notable frescoes at Gelati, including depictions of the medieval king David IV the Builder and Bagrat III of Imereti.^[28] Although western Georgian politics remained divided during George’s reign, the Church retained a measure of unity, exemplified by the cultural flowering of the Bichvinta Cathedral in Abkhazia, outside royal control.^[27] After Eudemios' death in 1578, George II appointed Euthymius I Sakvarelidze as the new Catholicos.^[29]

Notes

1. Some sources mention this episode in 1573, which is unlikely given the lack of Ottoman activity in Kartli until 1578.