Prince David of Imereti

David (Georgian: დავითი, Davit′; 1781 – 1 September 1820) was a Georgian royal prince (batonishvili) of the Bagrationi dynasty of Imereti. He was killed in a rebellion against the Russian rule in Imereti. He was the ancestor of the now-extinct line of Princes and Serene Princes Bagration.

Life

Prince David was a son of Prince Bagrat of Imereti by his wife Mariam, née Eristavi of Guria. He was, thus, a grandson of King Alexander V of Imereti, a nephew of King Solomon I, and a cousin of King Solomon II. By the time of the Russian conquest of Imereti in 1810, he lived in his family estate in Argueti. The Russian commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, General Tormasov, ordered to remove from Imereti all members of the royal family, who might have had "pernicious influence on the people". General Simonovich, a Russian commander in Imereti, interceded and asked Tormasov to allow Prince David to remain in homeland on account of his being "mentally retarded and not having any influence on the people". Tormasov refused with contempt and ordered that David be deported to Tiflis, noting that "the Imeretian people are even more retarded and, out of their insanity, can follow anyone."[1]

In June 1819, the people of Imereti rose in rebellion against the Russian encroachment on the local church. The uprising then spread to Guria and Mingrelia. Prince David became on the leaders of the movement in which the clerics, nobles, and peasants were involved.[2] By July 1820, the Russian army under General Velyaminov was able to contain the revolt in Imereti; David and some other rebels withdrew into the mountains of Racha, where suffered a major defeat at the castle of Kvara. David was killed in the fighting; "the tsarevich David, son of Bagrat, one of the evilest brigands, is killed", the Russian commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, General Yermolov, reported to the Chief of General Staff Prince Volkonsky on 8 October 1820.[3]

Family and descendants

Prince David was married to Princess Darejan, daughter of Vakhtang, of the Eristavi of Racha family. He fathered four sons and two daughters.[4]

David's descendants, in the persons of his two sons, Ivan and Teimuraz, were confirmed by the Governing Senate in the dignity of Princes Bagration (Князья Багратион) on 6 December 1850, with the addition of the style "Serene Highness" (Светлейший князь) to Ivan's son Alexander on 15 June 1881. This line became extinct with the execution of Alexander's son David in the Soviet Union in 1937 and the death of David's daughter Nino, Professor at Georgian Technical University,[4] in Tbilisi in 2008.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Belyavsky, N.N. and Potto, V.A., eds. (1902). Утверждение русского владычества на Кавказе. Том II [The Consolidation of Russian Dominion over the Caucasus] (in Russian). Tiflis: Y. I. Liberman Typography. p. 145.
  2. ↑ Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994). The Making of the Georgian Nation (2nd ed.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 85. ISBN 0253209153.
  3. ↑ Berge, Adolf (1874). Акты, собранные Кавказскою Археографическою коммиссиею. Том VI. Часть 1 [Acts collected by the Caucasian Archaeographic Commission, Vol. VI, Part 1] (PDF) (in Russian). Tiflis: Typography of the Chief Administration of the Viceroy of Caucasus. p. 595.
  4. 1 2 Dumin, S.V., ed. (1996). Дворянские роды Российской империи. Том 3. Князья [Noble families of the Russian Empire. Volume 3: Princes] (in Russian). Moscow: Linkominvest. pp. 89–92.
  5. ↑ "უგვირგვინო გვირგვინოსნები" [The crowned heads without crowns]. Tabula (in Georgian). 3 May 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
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