The House of Sharvashidze or Chachba or Shervashidze ( ka, შარვაშიძე-შერვაშიძე-ჩაჩბა) 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 ...

- Abkhazian ruling family of

Principality of Abkhazia The Principality of Abkhazia ( ka, აფხაზეთის სამთავრო, tr) emerged as a separate feudal entity in the 15th-16th centuries, amid the civil wars in the Kingdom of Georgia that concluded with the Triarchy and coll ...

. The family was later recognized as one of the princely families 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. ...

at the request of King

Heraclius II of Georgia Heraclius II ( ka, ერეკლე II), also known as Erekle II and The Little Kakhetian ( ka, პატარა კახი ) (7 November 1720 or 7 October 1721 C. ToumanoffHitchins, KeithHeraclius II. ''Encyclopædia Iranica Online edit ...

in accordance with the list of Georgian noblemen presented in the

Treaty of Georgievsk The Treaty of Georgievsk (russian: Георгиевский трактат, Georgievskiy traktat; ka, გეორგიევსკის ტრაქტატი, tr) was a bilateral treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and the east Ge ...

History

Although the surname is given in a standard

form (particularly, the typical –''dze'' suffix meaning "a son"), in the 12th century the family is said to have derived its original name from

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, a dynasty of

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 ...

. According to the medieval ''

The Georgian Chronicles ''The Georgian Chronicles'' is a conventional English name for the principal compendium of medieval Georgian historical texts, natively known as ''Kartlis Tskhovreba'' ( ka, ქართლის ცხოვრება), literally "Life of Kar ...

'', the Shirvanese princes were granted the possessions in the province of Abkhazia after

David IV David IV, also known as David the Builder ( ka, დავით აღმაშენებელი, ') (1073–1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th king of United Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125. Popularly considered to be ...

, one of Georgia's greatest kings, extended his kingdom to Shirvan in 1124. Anchabadze disputes this genealogy and argues that Sharvashidze was a local dynasty (they had another purely Abkhazian name Chachba) that had invented a foreign ancestry which is not unusual in feudal genealogies. It is believed by some that the princely (ruling) branch of the Sharvashidze family had the same patrilineal ancestors as the

Kings of Abkhazia Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

. The first representative of the dynasty assumed the princely powers under the authority of the Georgian kings circa 1325. It was not, however, until the final decomposition of the unified Georgian feudal state in the late 15th century, when the Abkhazian princes obtained their full independence, only to soon become vassals of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. That

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

overlordship brought major changes in their palace culture and political leanings, with the Sharvashidze gradually losing their ties with the

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 ...

Georgian nobility. In the late 18th century, the Sharvashidze princes embraced

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, but shifted back and forth across the religious divide, as the

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

and Ottomans struggled for controlling the area. The pro-Russian orientation prevailed, and Abkhazia joined

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, 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 th ...

in 1810 while the Sharvashidzes (russian: Шарвашидзе) were confirmed in the Russian princely rank in accordance with the Russo-Georgian

. According to Nikoloz Sharvashidze (Head of the House of Sharvashidze) the elder descendants of the Aslan-Bey branch of the family live in Georgia, while the junior branch is said to have gone extinct in Turkey.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Princes of
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 ...

# Otagho I Sharvashidze # Otagho II Sharvashidze (circa 1213) #

Dardin Sharvashidze Dardin Sharvashidze () (d. June 26, 1243) was a Georgian noble in 13th century. He was member of Sharvashidze dynasty and duke of Tskhumi (Abkhazia) during the reign of Queen Rusudan of Georgia. Biography Little is known about Dardin's early ...

(circa 1213 - 1243) # Arghunai Sharvashidze # Rabia Sharvashidze # Solomon Sharvashidze # Arazkhan Sharvashidze # Beslak Sharvashidze # Karabey Sharvashidze #

Putu Sharvashidze Putu may refer to: Food * Piutu or putu, a cassava dish from the Sama-Bajau of the Philippines and Sabah * Puto, steamed rice cakes from the Philippines * Putu bambu, a rice cake steamed in bamboo from Indonesia * Putu mayam, a sweet rice dish f ...

(circa 1580–1620) # Seteman Sharvashidze (circa 1620–1640) # Sustar Sharvashidze (circa 1640–1665) # Zegnak Sharvashidze (circa 1665–1700) # Rostom Sharvashidze (circa 1700–1730) # Manuchar Sharvashidze (circa 1730–1750) # Zurab Sharvashidze (circa 1750–1780) #

Kelesh Ahmed-Bey Sharvashidze Kelesh Ahmed-Bey (Kelesh-Bey) Sharvashidze (1747–1808) was the head of state of the Principality of Abkhazia from the 1780s to 1808. Kelesh-Bey was the son of Manuchar Sharvashidze. Biography Kelesh-Bey was born in 1747 in the Principality of ...

(circa 1780–1808) # Aslan-Bey Sharvashidze (Nikoloz) (1808–1810) # Sefer Ali-Bey (George) (1810–1821) # Umar-Bey (Demetreus) (1821–1822) # Mikhail Sharvashidze (1822–1864) ''Abkhazia incorporated into the Russian Empire (1864)'' 22. Giorgi Sharvashidze (George) (1866–1918) 23. Aleksandr Sharvashidze (Alexander) (1918–1968) Direct descendants through the elder line of Aslan Bey Sharvashidze 24. George Konstantinovich Sharvashidze (1973–2010) 25. Teimuraz Georgievitch Sharvashidze (2010-) 26. Nikoloz Sharvashidze

Notable members of the family

* Dardin Sharvashidze - Anti-Mongol Warrior. * Otagho Sharvashidze * Kelsey Ahmed-Bey Sharvashidze - One of the greatest rulers of Abkhazia who heralded its peak expansion and diplomatic communication with Napoleon's Ambassador

Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta ( co, Oraziu Francescu Bastianu Sebastiani di A Porta; 11 November 1771 – 20 July 1851) was a French general, diplomat, and politician, who served as Naval Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs ...

in Constantinople. * Aslan-Bey Sharvashidze *

Mehmed VI Mehmed VI Vahideddin ( ota, محمد سادس ''Meḥmed-i sâdis'' or ''Vaḥîdü'd-Dîn''; tr, VI. Mehmed or /; 14 January 1861 – 16 May 1926), also known as Şahbaba () among the Osmanoğlu family, was the 36th and last Sultan of the O ...

- Associated member of the House of Sharvashidze through his biological mother Fatma Sharvashidze.

References

Sources

Georgi M. Derluguian Georgi M. Derluguian (russian: Гео́ргий Матве́евич Дерлугья́н; hy, Գեորգի Դերլուգյան; born 25 October 1961), ''also Romanization of Russian, tr.'' Georgy Derlugyan, is a sociologist and historian of Arm ...

, ''The Tale of Two Resorts: Abkhazia and Ajaria Before and Since and the Soviet Collapse''. In:
The Myth of "Ethnic Conflict"
Politics, Economics, and "Cultural" Violence'', edited by Beverly Crawford and Ronnie D. Lipschutz.

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Press/University of California International and Area Studies Digital Collection, Edited Volume #98, pp. 261–292, 1998
The Oath of Allegiance of Prince Sefer-Ali Bek to the Russian crown, August 23 1810 (text)
*{{in lang, ru Stanislav Vladimirovich Dumin. Pyotr Grebelsky. ''The Noble Houses of the Russian Empire''.

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia: 1994. Думин С. В., Гребельский П. Х. Дворянские роды Российской Империи. — Москва, 1994 Noble families of Georgia (country) Russian noble families Georgian-language surnames Abkhazian nobility

History

Princes of 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 ...

Notable members of the family

See also

References

Sources

Princes of
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 ...