''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the

Byzantine 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 ...

'' strategos'' and normally translated into English as "

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

" or less commonly as "

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarchy, it was the title of the third rank of prince and governor of a large province. Holders of the title were

ex-officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

commanders of a military '

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...

', wore a distinctive dress, ring, belt and spear and rode a particular breed of horse. Some high-ranking eristavis were also titled as eristavt-eristavi (), i.e. "duke of dukes" or archduke but it is improbable that the holder of the title had any subordinate eristavis. Erismtavari (; literally, "chief of the people" or grand duke) was a similar title chiefly endowed upon the pre- Bagratid

rulers A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines. Variants Rulers have long ...

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

(Eastern Georgia) and later used interchangeably with the ''eristavi''. The title gave origin to the surname of four Georgian noble houses— Eristavi of Aragvi, Eristavi of Ksani, Eristavi of Racha, and

Eristavi of Guria The House of Guriis Eristavi ( ka, გურიის ერისთავი) or Eristavi of Guria, was a Georgian noble family, a branch of the Shervashidze, dynasts in Abkhazia. Their surname derives from the title of eristavi ("duke") the ...

—confirmed in their princely ranks under the Russian rule in the 19th century. These families were often known simply as Princes Eristov in Russia but they did not have the same origin.

References

* Djavakhishvili, I. (1928) History of Georian law. Book 2. volume 1. Tbilisi. * GSE, (1979) volume 4, page 192, Tbilisi. Noble titles of Georgia (country) Georgian-language surnames {{Georgia-noble-stub Georgian words and phrases Military history of the Kingdom of Georgia

See also

References