Elene ( ka, ელენე; 1753 – 17 June 1786) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

princess royal ('' batonishvili''), a daughter of Heraclius II, King of Kartli and Kakheti. She was the mother of

Solomon II of Imereti Solomon II ( ka, სოლომონ II) (1772 – February 7, 1815), of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was the last King of Imereti (western Georgia) from 1789 to 1790 and from 1792 until his deposition by the Imperial Russian government in 1810. H ...

, the last king to have reigned in the Georgian polities.

Biography

Elene was born in 1753 as the eldest surviving child of Heraclius II and his third wife Darejan Dadiani. The young princess had a love affair with Prince Zakaria Andronikashvili (1740–1802), a respected soldier, who was 13 years older. Opposing the union, King Heraclius forced Andronikashvili into retirement to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and in 1770 married Elene off to Archil, a younger brother of King Solomon I of Imereti. Archil died on 6 October 1775, leaving one son and two daughters behind. Heraclius, watching his daughter plunging in depression, allowed her to wed, in 1785, the love of her youth, Zakaria Andronikashvili. Elene died on 17 June 1786 soon after she gave birth to a daughter, Khoreshan.

Children and descendants

Elene had three children of her first marriage to Prince Archil of Imereti, one son and two daughters. Their son, David (born 1772), went on to become king of Imereti under the name of Solomon II with the help of his grandfather Heraclius II and stepfather Prince Andronikashvili in 1789. The elder daughter, Barbare (born 1771), would marry Prince David Tsulukidze and end her days in exile in Russia after the Russian conquest of Imereti in 1810. The younger daughter, Mariam (Maia; 1775–1861), was married twice, first to Prince Levan Dadiani (1774–1847) and then to Prince Malkhaz Andronikashvili (1773–1822), becoming mother of General

Ivane Andronikashvili Prince Ivane Andronikashvili ( ka, ივანე ანდრონიკაშვილი), also known as Knyaz ''Ivan Malkhazovich Andronnikov'' (russian: Иван Малхазович Андронников) (1798 – November 19, 1868) was ...

of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

fame. Elene's daughter of the second marriage, Khoreshan (1786–1833), married in 1800 Prince Zurab (Dimitri) Orbeliani (1766–1827). This union produced five children, among them the poet and general Grigol Orbeliani (1804–1883), General

Ilia Orbeliani Ilia may refer to: Science and medicine *''Apatura ilia'' or lesser purple emperor, a butterfly *Ilium (bone) (plural: "ilia"), pelvic bone People * Ilia (name), numerous **Ilia II, the current Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Places *Ilia, ...

(1815–1853), Colonel Zakaria Orbeliani (1806–1847) and Ephemia (1801–1849), mother of the popular Romanticist poet

Nikoloz Baratashvili Prince Nikoloz "Tato" Baratashvili ( ka, ნიკოლოზ "ტატო" ბარათაშვილი; 4 December 1817 – 21 October 1845) was a Georgian poet. He was one of the first Georgians to marry modern nationalism with European R ...

(1817–1845).

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elene 1753 births 1786 deaths Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti 18th-century people from Georgia (country) Princesses from Georgia (country) 18th-century women from Georgia (country) Deaths in childbirth