The House of Guriis Eristavi ( ka, გურიის ერისთავი) or Eristavi of Guria, 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 ...

noble family, a branch of the Shervashidze, dynasts in

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

. Their surname derives from the title of

eristavi ''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine ''strategos'' and normally translated into English as "prince" or less commonly as "duke". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarchy, i ...

("duke") the family held under the suzerainty of the reigning princes of Guria in southwest Georgia. In the 18th century the family bore the name Eristavi-Sharvashidze (ერისთავი-შერვაშიძე). In 1850, the family was received among the princely nobility of 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. ...

knyaz , or ( Old Church Slavonic: Кнѧзь) is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times of history and different ancient Slavic lands. It is usually translated into English as prince or duke, dependi ...

Eristov-Guriisky (russian: Эристов-Гурийский).

Toumanoff, Cyril 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, ...

(1967). ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', p. 270.

Georgetown University Press Georgetown University Press is a university press affiliated with Georgetown University that publishes about forty new books a year. The press's major subject areas include bioethics, international affairs, languages and linguistics, political sc ...

. The noble family of Maksimenishvili (მაქსიმენიშვილი) was a possible collateral branch of the Eristavi-Sharvashidze. They were also confirmed in the Russian title of knyaz in 1850.

References

Noble families of Georgia (country) Georgian-language surnames House of Shervashidze {{Georgia-noble-stub