Siege of Tbilisi (1386)

Siege of Tbilisi
Part of Timurid Wars
Date 1386 Location Tbilisi, Georgia Result Decisive Timurid victory,
Belligerents
Kingdom of Georgia	Timurid Empire
Commanders and leaders
Bagrat V	Timur
Strength
Unknown. Probably fewer	Unknown. Probably more
Casualties and losses
Unknown. Probably heavy	Unknown. Probably heavy

Timur orders campaign against Georgia.

Timur marched into Georgia. The official history of his reign, Zafarnama, represents this campaign in Georgia as a jihad. Timur set out from Kars and assailed Samtskhe, the southernmost principality within the Kingdom of Georgia later in 1386. From there, he marched against Tbilisi which the Georgian king Bagrat V had fortified. The city fell on November 21, 1386, and King Bagrat V was captured and converted to Islam at sword point. The Georgian Chronicle and Thomas of Metsoph mention the apostasy of the king but represent it as a clever ruse which enabled him to earn a degree of trust of Timur. Bagrat was given some 12,000 troops to reestablish himself in Georgia whose government was run by Bagrat’s son and co-ruler George VII during his father’s absence at Timur’s court.^[1][2]

References

Bibliography

• The Timurid Dynasty
• René Grousset, L'empire des Steppes, versio francesa 1938 reedició 4ª 1965, i versió anglesa 1970. ISBN 0-8135-1304-9
• Hodong Kim, "The Early History of the Moghul Nomads: The Legacy of the Chaghatai Khanate." The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy. Ed. Reuven Amitai-Preiss i David Morgan. Leiden: Brill, 1998. ISBN 90-04-11048-8
• Beatrice Forbes Manz, The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1989. ISBN 0-521-63384-2
• Mirza Muhammad Haidar. The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia). Traduit per Edward Denison Ross, editat per N. Elias. Londres, 1895.
• Historical Dictionary of Georgia . Alexander Mikaberidze
• Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World . Justin Marozzi