Ketevan Andronikashvili ( ka, ქეთევან ანდრონიკაშვილი; 1754 – 3 June 1782) 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 ...

noblewoman and the first wife of the future king

George XII of Georgia George XII ( ka, გიორგი XII, ''Giorgi XII''), sometimes known as George XIII (November 10, 1746 – December 28, 1800), of the House of Bagrationi, was the second and last King of the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti in eastern Georgia from ...

. She is known for the victory of Georgian cavalry under her personal command over the Lesgian mountaineers in 1778.

Biography

Princess Ketevan was born into the

Andronikashvili The Andronikashvili ( ka, ანდრონიკაშვილები), sometimes known as Endronikashvili (ენდრონიკაშვილები), was a countly family in Georgia who claimed descent from emperor Andronicos I of th ...

family, one of the leading noble houses of the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kakheti, claiming their descent from 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 ...

Komnenos Komnenos ( gr, Κομνηνός; Latinized Comnenus; plural Komnenoi or Comneni (Κομνηνοί, )) was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185, and later, as the Grand Komnenoi (Μεγαλοκομνην� ...

dynasty. Her father, Prince Papuna Andronikashvili, was a royal bailiff, ''

mouravi Mouravi ( ka, მოურავი) was an administrative and military officer in early modern Georgia, translated into English as seneschal, bailiff, or constable. A mouravi was an appointed royal official who had a jurisdiction over particular t ...

'', of the district of Kiziqi. The identity of her mother is unknown. She had three brothers, Melkisedek, Iese, and Revaz. Princess Ketevan married George, the eldest son of King Heraclius II and heir apparent to the throne of the

Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti The Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti ( ka, ქართლ-კახეთის სამეფო, tr) (1762–1801 ) was created in 1762 by the unification of two eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti. From the early 16th century, accor ...

in 1766. The marriage helped the Andronikashvili clan, especially Ketevan's brother Revaz, advance their cause at the royal court against the rival faction patronized by Heraclius II's consort

Darejan Dadiani Darejan Dadiani ( ka, დარეჯანი), also known as Daria (Georgian: ; russian: Дарья Георгиевна, Darya Georgyevna) (20 July 1738 – 8 November 1807), was Queen Consort of Kakheti, and later Kartli-Kakheti in Eastern ...

. By 1780, Darejan's party succeeded in reducing the Andronikashvili's influence, convincing Heraclius to remove Revaz Andronikashvili from the bailiffship of Kiziqi. Years later, in 1795, Prince Revaz would prevent the Kiziqian troops from coming to aid to the beleaguered king Heraclius, desperately battling the

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

at his capital city of

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

. The 24-year-old Ketevan commanded a respect and admiration in October 1778 for her role in the action at Ghartiskari, an episode of the long-running conflict between the Georgians and the Lesgians. Encountered by a marauding band of some 500 Lesgian mountaineers on the road to Tbilisi, Ketevan personally led her entourage of 300 cavalrymen into fighting and won a victory. Upon hearing the news, Heraclius II met his daughter-in-law with full military honors at the entrance of Tbilisi. She died, aged 28, in Tbilisi in 1782 as a result of the complications of her last childbirth. She was buried at the

David Gareja monastery David Gareja ( ka, დავითგარეჯის სამონასტრო კომპლექსი) is a rock-hewn Georgian Orthodox monastery complex located in the Kakheti region of Eastern Georgia, on the half-desert slopes o ...

. A year later, George married secondly to Princess Mariam Tsitsishvili.

Children

The sixteen years of Ketevan's marriage with George produced 12 children. These were: # Prince David (1 July 1767 – 25 May 1819), prince-regent of Georgia (1800–1801). # Prince Ioane (16 May 1768 – 15 February 1819), scholar and writer. # Princess Barbare (1769 or 1770 – 1801), who married Prince Simon-Zosime Andronikashvili in 1784 and had three children. # Prince Luarsab (1771 – before 1798), who died young. # Princess Sophio (1771 – 28 September 1840), Lady of the Russian Order of St. Catherine, Lesser Cross, who married Prince Luarsab Tarkhan-Mouravi in 1792, without children. # Princess Nino (15 April 1772 – 30 May 1847), wife of Grigol Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia, and regent of Mingrelia (1804–1806). # Princess Salome (c. 1773 – 3 January 1777), married

Prince Alexander of Imereti 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. The ...

. Grebelsky, P. Kh., Dumin, S. V., Lapin, V. V. (1993), Дворянские роды Российской империи (''Noble families of Russian Empire''), vol. 3, p. 90. IPK Vesti. # Prince Bagrat (8 May 1776 – 8 May 1841), writer, senator of the Russian Empire. # Princess Ripsime (1779 – 27 May 1847), Lady of the Russian Order of St Catherine, Lesser Cross, who married Prince Dimitri Cholokashvili in 1784 and had two sons. # Prince Solomon (1780 – before 1798), who died young. # Princess Gaiane (27 September 1780 – 22 July 1820), who married Giorgi, Duke of Ksani, in 1794 and had issue. # Prince Teimuraz (23 April 1782 – 25 October 1846), historian.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andronikashvili, Ketevan 1754 births 1782 deaths Ketevan 18th-century people from Georgia (country) People from Kakheti Queens consort from Georgia (country) Women in 18th-century warfare Women in European warfare Women in war in Western Asia 18th-century women from Georgia (country) Deaths in childbirth