David IV, also known as David the Builder ( ka, დავით აღმაშენებელი, ') (1073–1125), of the
Bagrationi dynasty
The Bagrationi dynasty (; ) is a royal dynasty which reigned in Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christian ruling dynasties in the world. In modern usage, the name of the dynasty is sometim ...
, was the 5th
king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
of United
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
from 1089 until his death in 1125.
Popularly considered to be the greatest and most successful Georgian ruler in history and an original architect of the
Georgian Golden Age
The Georgian Golden Age ( ka, საქართველოს ოქროს ხანა, tr) describes a historical period in the High Middle Ages, spanning from roughly the late 11th to 13th centuries, during which the Kingdom of Georgia reac ...
, he succeeded in driving the
Seljuk Turks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
out of the country, winning the
Battle of Didgori
The Battle of Didgori was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Seljuk Empire at the narrow place of Didgori, 40 km west of Tbilisi, on August 12, 1121. The large Muslim army, under the command of Ilghazi, was unable to ...
in 1121. His reforms of the army and administration enabled him to reunite the country and bring most of the lands of the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
under Georgia's control. A friend of the church and a notable promoter of
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
, he was
canonized
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of Cult (religious practice), public veneration and enterin ...
by the
Georgian Orthodox Church
The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...
.
Sobriquet and regnal ordinal
The epithet ''aghmashenebeli'' (), which is translated as "the Builder" (in the sense of "built completely"), "the Rebuilder", or "the Restorer", first appears as the sobriquet of David in the charter issued in the name of "King of Kings
Bagrat
Bagrat ( hy, Բագրատ, in Western Armenian pronounced Pakrad, ka, ბაგრატ) is a male name popular in Georgia and Armenia. It is derived from the Old Persian ''Bagadāta'', "gift of God".
The names of the Armenian Bagratuni and ...
" in 1452 and becomes firmly affixed to him in the works of the 17th- and 18th-century historians such as
Parsadan Gorgijanidze
P'arsadan Gorgijanidze ( ka, ფარსადან გორგიჯანიძე; or Giorgijanidze, გიორგიჯანიძე) (1626 – ) was a Georgian factotum and historian in the service of the Safavids. Early in his career ...
,
Beri Egnatashvili Beri may refer to:
People
* One of several Biblical names, meaning "my son" or "my corn"
Groups
* Zaghawa people, an African ethnic group
Individuals
* Beri Thimappa, an interpreter for the British East India Company
* Beri Weber, an America ...
and
Prince Vakhushti
Vakhushti ( ka, ვახუშტი, tr) (1696–1757) was a Georgian royal prince (''batonishvili''), geographer, historian and cartographer. His principal historical and geographic works, '' Description of the Kingdom of Georgia'' and the ''G ...
.
Epigraphic data also provide evidence for the early use of David's other epithet, "the Great" (დიდი, ''didi'').
Retrospectively, David the Builder has been variously referred to as David II, III, and IV, reflecting substantial variation in the
ordinals assigned to the Georgian Bagratids, especially in the early period of their history, owing to the fact that the numbering of successive rulers moves between the many branches of the family.
Scholars in Georgia favor David IV,
his namesake predecessors being:
David I Curopalates (died 881),
David II Magistros (died 937), and
David III Curopalates (died 1001), all members of the principal line of the Bagratid dynasty.
Family background and early life
The year of David's birth can be calculated from the date of his accession to the throne recorded in the ''Life of King of Kings David'' (ცხორებაჲ მეფეთ-მეფისა დავითისი), written 1123–1126, as ''k'oronikon'' (
Paschal cycle
The Paschal cycle, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha (Easter). The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as ...
) 309, that is, 1089, when he was 16 years old. Thus, he would have been born in ''k'oronikon'' 293 or 294, that is, c. 1073. According to the same source, he died in ''k'oronikon'' 345, when he would have been in his 52nd or 53rd year. Professor
Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Leo Toumanoff (russian: Кирилл Львович Туманов; 13 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Russian-born Georgian historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, ...
gives 1070 and 24 January 1125 as the dates for David.
The earliest known document that makes mention of David is the royal charter of his father,
George II of Georgia
:''There was also a List of heads of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Giorgi II, Catholicos of Kartli who ruled in 826–838.''
George II ( ka, გიორგი II, ''Giorgi II'') ( 1054 – 1112), of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Kingdom ...
(
r. 1072–1089), granted to the Mghvime monastery and dated to 1073.
[ ]
According to the ''Life of King of Kings David'', David was the only son of George II. The contemporaneous Armenian chronicler
Matthew of Edessa
Matthew of Edessa (, Matevos Uṛhayetsi; late 11th century – 1144) was an Armenian historian in the 12th century from the city of Edessa (, ''Uṛha''). Matthew was the superior abbot of Karmir Vank' (Red Convent), near the town of Kaysun ...
mentions David's brother Totorme, who, according to the modern historian
Robert W. Thomson
Robert William Thomson (24 March 1934, Cheam, London UK – 20 November 2018, Oxford) was Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies at Oxford University.
Thomson graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in classics, then ...
, was his sister.
The name of David's mother, , is recorded in a margin note in the
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...
from the Tskarostavi monastery; she is otherwise unknown. David bore the name of the biblical
king-prophet, from whom the Georgian Bagratids
claimed their descent and whose 78th descendant David was proclaimed to be.
David's father, George II, was confronted by a major threat to the kingdom of Georgia. The country was invaded by the
Seljuq Turks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
, which were part of the same wave which had overrun
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, defeating the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and taking captive the emperor
Romanos IV Diogenes
Romanos IV Diogenes (Greek: Ρωμανός Διογένης), Latinized as Romanus IV Diogenes, was a member of the Byzantine military aristocracy who, after his marriage to the widowed empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa, was crowned Byzantine Em ...
at the
battle of Manzikert
The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, theme of Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and th ...
in 1071. In what the medieval Georgian chronicle refers to as ''didi turkoba'', "the
Great Turkish Invasion
In Georgian historiography, the Great Turkish Invasion, also translated as the Great Turkish Troubles ( ka, დიდი თურქობა, tr), refers to the continuous attacks and settlement of the Seljuq-led Turkic tribes in the Georgi ...
", several provinces of Georgia became depopulated and George was forced to sue for peace, becoming a tributary of the sultan
Malik-Shah I
Jalāl al-Dawla Mu'izz al-Dunyā Wa'l-Din Abu'l-Fatḥ ibn Alp Arslān (8 August 1055 – 19 November 1092, full name: fa, ), better known by his regnal name of Malik-Shah I ( fa, ), was the third sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire from 1072 to ...
in 1083 when David was 10. The great noble houses of Georgia, capitalizing on the vacillating character of the king, sought to assert more autonomy for themselves;
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
, the ancient capital of
Kartli
Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role ...
, remained in the hands of its
Muslim rulers
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, and a local dynasty, for a time suppressed by George's energetic father
Bagrat IV, maintained its precarious independence in the eastern region of
Kakheti
Kakheti ( ka, კახეთი ''K’akheti''; ) is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its capital. The region comprises eigh ...
under the Seljuq suzerainty.
Accession to the throne
Watching his kingdom slip into chaos, George II ceded the crown to his 16-year-old son David in 1089. Although the historical tradition founded by Prince
Vakhushti
Vakhushti ( ka, ვახუშტი, tr) (1696–1757) was a Georgian royal prince ('' batonishvili''), geographer, historian and cartographer. His principal historical and geographic works, '' Description of the Kingdom of Georgia'' and the '' ...
in the 18th century and followed by
Marie-Félicité Brosset
Marie-Félicité Brosset (24 January 1802 – 3 September 1880) was a French orientalist who specialized in Georgian and Armenian studies. He worked mostly in Russia.
Early life and first works
Marie-Félicité Brosset was born in Paris in ...
in the 19th states that David succeeded George upon his death, a number of surviving documents suggest that George died around 1112, and that although he retained the royal title until his death,
he played no significant political role, real power having passed on to David.
Moreover, David himself had been a co-ruler with his father sometime before his becoming a king-regnant in 1089; a document of 1085 mentions David as "king and ''
sebastos
( grc-gre, σεβαστός, sebastós, venerable one, Augustus, ; plural , ) was an honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of . The female form of the title was (). It was revived as an honorific in the 11th-ce ...
''", the latter being a Byzantine title,
frequently held, like other imperial dignities, by the members of the Georgian royal family. David's formal cooption into government may have occurred even earlier, in 1083, when George II left Georgia for the negotiations at the court of the Seljuq sultan Malik-Shah I.
Revival of the Georgian State
Despite his young age, he was actively involved in Georgia's political life. Backed by his tutor and an influential churchman
George of Chqondidi
George of Chqondidi ( ka, გიორგი ჭყონდიდელი, ''Giorgi Chqondideli'') (died c. 1118) was a Georgian churchman and court minister best known as a tutor and the closest adviser of King David IV of Georgia (r. 1089–1 ...
, David IV pursued a purposeful policy, taking no unconsidered step. He was determined to bring order to the land, bridle the unsubmissive secular and ecclesiastic feudal lords, centralize the state administration, form a new type of army that would stand up better to the
Seljuk Turkish military organization, and then go over to a methodical offensive with the aim of expelling the Seljuks first from Georgia and then from the whole
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
. Between 1089 and 1100, King David organized small detachments of his loyal troops to restore order and destroy isolated enemy troops. He began the resettlement of devastated regions and helped to revive major cities. Encouraged by his success, but more importantly the beginning of the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
in
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
, he ceased payment of the annual contribution to the Seljuks and put an end to their seasonal migration to Georgia. In 1101, King David captured the fortress of
Zedazeni
Zedazeni Monastery ( ka, ზედაზნის მონასტერი) is a Georgian Orthodox monastery, located on the Zedazeni mountain the hills of Saguramo, northeast to Mtskheta and to the east side of the Aragvi River.
The monastery ...
, a strategic point in his struggle for
Kakheti and Hereti, and within the next three years he liberated most of eastern Georgia.
In 1093, he arrested the powerful feudal lord Liparit Baghvashi, a long-time enemy of the Georgian crown, and expelled him from Georgia (1094). After the death of Liparit's son Rati, David abolished their duchy of
Kldekari in 1103.
He slowly pushed the
Seljuk Turks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
out of the country, recovering more and more land from them as they were now forced to focus not only on the Georgians but the newly begun
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
in the eastern
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
. By 1099 David IV's power was considerable enough that he was able to refuse paying tribute to the Turks. By that time, he also rejected a
Byzantine title
Through the 5th century Hellenistic political systems, philosophies and theocratic Christian-Eastern concepts had gained power in the eastern Greek-speaking Mediterranean due to the intervention of Important religious figures there such as ...
of ''
panhypersebastos The title of ( gr, πανυπερσέβαστος, , venerable above all) was a Byzantine court title created by Alexios I Komnenos () using the imperial root (the Greek translation of ). It was always conferred to members of aristocratic families ...
'' thus indicating that Georgia would deal with the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
only on a parity basis.
In 1103 a major ecclesiastical congress known as the
Ruis-Urbnisi Synod was held at the monasteries of Ruisi and
Urbnisi
Urbnisi ( ka, ურბნისი) is a village in Georgia’s Shida Kartli region, in the district of Kareli.
Situated on a high left bank of the Mtkvari river, it was an important city in ancient and early medieval Iberia as Georgia was know ...
. David succeeded in removing oppositionist bishops, and combined two offices: courtier's (''
Mtsignobartukhutsesi'', i.e. Chief Secretary) and clerical (
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
of Tchqondidi) into a single institution of ''Tchqondidel-Mtzignobartukhutsesi'' corresponding roughly to the post of
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
.
Next year, David's supporters in the eastern Georgian province of
Kakheti
Kakheti ( ka, კახეთი ''K’akheti''; ) is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its capital. The region comprises eigh ...
captured the local king
Aghsartan II (1102–1104), a loyal tributary of the Seljuk
Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
, and reunited the area with the rest of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
.
Military campaigns
Following the annexation of
Kingdom of Kakheti
The Second Kingdom of Kakheti ( ka, კახეთის სამეფო, tr; also spelled Kaxet'i or Kakhetia) was a late medieval/ early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centered at the province of Kakheti, with its capital first at Grem ...
, in 1105, David routed a Seljuk punitive force at the
Battle of Ertsukhi
The Battle of Ertsukhi was fought, in the 12th century, between the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Seljuk Turks in southeastern part of Georgia in Ertsukhi, on the plains southeast of Tbilisi.
History
The Kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti h ...
, leading to momentum that helped him to secure the key fortresses of
Samshvilde
Samshvilde ( ka, სამშვილდე, ) is a ruined fortified city and archaeological site in Georgia, in the country's south, near the homonymous modern-day village in the Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli region. The ruins of the c ...
,
Rustavi
Rustavi ( ka, რუსთავი ) is a city in the southeast of Georgia, in the region of Kvemo Kartli and southeast of capital Tbilisi. It has a population of 130,100 (2021), making it the fourth most populous city in Georgia. Its economy is ...
,
Gishi, and
Lori between 1110 and 1118.
Problems began to crop up for David now. His population, having been at war for the better part of twenty years, needed to be allowed to become productive again. Also, his nobles were still making problems for him, along with the city of
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
which still could not be liberated from
Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to:
* Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia
* Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities
* Seljuk (warlord) (di ...
grasp. Again David was forced to solve these problems before he could continue the reclamation of his nation and people. For this purpose, David IV radically reformed his military. He resettled a
Kipchak tribe of 40,000 families from the
Northern Caucasus
The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
in Georgia in 1118–1120. Every Georgian and Kipchak family was obliged to provide one soldier with a horse and weapons. Kipchaks were settled in different regions of Georgia. Some were settled in
Inner Kartli province, others were given lands along the border. They were
Christianized
Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
and quickly assimilated into
Georgian society.
In 1120, David IV moved to western Georgia and, when the Turks began pillaging Georgian lands, he suddenly attacked them. Only an insignificant Seljuk force escaped. King David then entered the neighbouring
Shirvan
Shirvan (from fa, شروان, translit=Shirvān; az, Şirvan; Tat: ''Şirvan''), also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical Iranian region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both pre-Islam ...
and took the town of
Qabala
Qabala ( az, Qəbələ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Qabala District of Azerbaijan. The municipality consists of the city of Gabala and the village of Küsnat. Before the city was known as Kutkashen, but after the Republic of ...
. During that time
Shirvanshah
''Shirvanshah'' ( fa, شروانشاه), also spelled as ''Shīrwān Shāh'' or ''Sharwān Shāh'', was the title of the rulers of Shirvan from the mid-9th century to the early 16th century. The title remained in a single family, the Yazidids, a ...
s were in position of power shifting between emerging Georgia and
Seljuqid states.
In the winter of 1120–1121, the Georgian troops successfully attacked the Seljuk settlements on the eastern and southwestern approaches to the
Transcaucasus
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
.
Muslim powers became increasingly concerned about the rapid rise of a Christian state in southern Caucasia. In 1121,
Sultan Mahmud b. Muhammad (1118–1131) declared a
holy war
A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...
on Georgia and rallied a large coalition of Muslim states led by the
Artuqid
The Artuqid dynasty (alternatively Artukid, Ortoqid, or Ortokid; , pl. ; ; ) was a Turkoman dynasty originated from tribe that ruled in eastern Anatolia, Northern Syria and Northern Iraq in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. The Artuq ...
Ilghazi
Najm ad-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq (died November 8, 1122) was the Turkmen Artukid ruler of Mardin from 1107 to 1122. He was born into the Oghuz tribe of Döğer.
Biography
His father Artuk Bey was the founder of the Artukid dynasty, and had be ...
and
Toğrul b. Muhammad. The size of the Muslim army is still a matter of debate with numbers ranging from a fantastic 600,000 men (
Walter the Chancellor :
Walter the Chancellor (also known as Galterius cancellarius, the Latinized form of his French name, Gautier) was a French or Norman crusader and author of the twelfth century.
He served as Chancellor of the Principality of Antioch and wrote ''B ...
’s Bella Antiochena,
Matthew of Edessa
Matthew of Edessa (, Matevos Uṛhayetsi; late 11th century – 1144) was an Armenian historian in the 12th century from the city of Edessa (, ''Uṛha''). Matthew was the superior abbot of Karmir Vank' (Red Convent), near the town of Kaysun ...
) to 400,000 (
Smbat Sparapet
Sempad the Constable ( hy, Սմբատ Սպարապետ, Սմբատ Գունդստաբլ, translit=Smbat Sparapet, Smbat Gúndestabl) (1208–1276) (also Smpad and Smbat) was a noble in Cilician Armenia, an older brother of King Hetoum I. He was an ...
’s Chronicle) to modern Georgian estimates of 250,000–400,000 men. All sources agree that the Muslim powers gathered an army that was much larger than the Georgian force of 56,000 men. However, on 12 August 1121, King David routed the enemy army on the field of
Didgori, achieving what is often considered the greatest military success in Georgian history. The victory at Didgori signaled the emergence of Georgia as a great military power and shifted the regional balance in favor of Georgian cultural and political supremacy.
Following his success, David
captured Tbilisi, the last Muslim enclave remaining from the Arab occupation, in 1122 and moved the Georgian capital there. A well-educated man, he preached tolerance and acceptance of other religions, abrogated taxes and services for the Muslims and
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and protected the
Sufis
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spiri ...
and Muslim scholars. In 1123, David’s army liberated
Dmanisi
Dmanisi ( ka, დმანისი, tr, , az, Başkeçid) is a town and archaeological site in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia approximately 93 km southwest of the nation’s capital Tbilisi in the river valley of Mashavera. The hominin ...
, the last Seljuk stronghold in southern Georgia. In 1124, David finally conquered
Shirvan
Shirvan (from fa, شروان, translit=Shirvān; az, Şirvan; Tat: ''Şirvan''), also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical Iranian region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both pre-Islam ...
and took the
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
city of
Ani
Ani ( hy, Անի; grc-gre, Ἄνιον, ''Ánion''; la, Abnicum; tr, Ani) is a ruined medieval Armenian city now situated in Turkey's province of Kars, next to the closed border with Armenia.
Between 961 and 1045, it was the capital of the ...
from the Muslim
emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
s, thus expanding the borders of his kingdom to the
Araxes basin.
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
met him as a liberator providing some auxiliary force for his army. It was then that the important component of "Sword of the
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
" appeared in the title of David the Builder. It is engraved on a copper coin of David's day:
Humane treatment of the Muslim population, as well as the representatives of other religions and cultures, set a standard for tolerance in his multiethnic kingdom. It was a hallmark not only for his enlightened reign, but for all of Georgian history and culture.
After Georgia's decisive victory at the battle of Didgori,
Shirvanshah Manuchir, who was under the influence of his wife, Georgian princess
Tamar, maintained a pro-Georgian orientation and rejected paying tribute to the Seljuqids. Deprived of the tribute, 40,000
dinar
The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread.
The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...
s, the Seljuqid Sultan
Mahmud
Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''.
Siam Mahmud
*Mahmood (singer) (born 199 ...
directed to Shirvan at the beginning of 1123, captured
Shamakhi
Shamakhi ( az, Şamaxı, ) is a city in Azerbaijan and the administrative centre of the Shamakhi District. The city's estimated population was 31,704. It is famous for its traditional dancers, the Shamakhi Dancers, and also for perhaps giving it ...
and took Shah as hostage contrary to Manuchehr's betrayal. In the response to this, in June 1123 David IV attacked and defeated Sultan again and finally conquered Shirvan by capturing the cities and fortresses of Shamakhi, Bughurd, Gulustan, Shabran.
David the Builder died on 24 January 1125, and upon his death, as he had specified, was buried under the stone inside the main gatehouse of the Gelati Monastery so that anyone coming to his beloved Gelati Academy stepped on his tomb first. He was survived by three children, his eldest son
Demetrius
Demetrius is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning “Demetris” - "devoted to goddess Demeter".
Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, Dimitri, Dimitrie, Dimitar, Dumit ...
, who succeeded him and continued his father's victorious reign; and two daughters,
Tamar, who was married to the
Shirvan Shah Manuchihr III, and
Kata
''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practised alone. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practised ...
(Katai), married to
Isaac Comnenus, the son of the
Byzantine Emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...
Alexius I Comnenus
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
. Beside his political and military skills, King David earned fame as a writer, composing Galobani sinanulisani (Hymns of Repentance, c. 1120), a powerful work of emotional
free-verse psalms, which reveal the king's humility and religious zeal.
Cultural life
King David the Builder gave close attention to the education of his people. The king selected children who were sent to the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
"so that they be taught languages and bring home translations made by them there". Many of them later became well-known scholars.
At the time of David the Builder there were quite a few schools and academies in Georgia, among which
Gelati occupies a special place. King David's historian calls Gelati Academy Besides Gelati there also were other cultural-enlightenment and scholarly centers in Georgia at that time, e.g. the academy of
Ikalto Ikalto may refer to:
* Ikalto Monastery
* Academy of Ikalto
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