Levan IV Dadiani ( ka, ლევან IV დადიანი; died 1694) was

Prince of Mingrelia Principalities Princes and dukes of Guria * Kakhaber I Gurieli c. 1385–1410 *Mamia Gurieli c. 1450–1469 *Kakhaber II Gurieli 1469–1483 * Giorgi I Gurieli 1483–1512 *Mamia I Gurieli 1512–1534 *Rostom Gurieli 1534–1564 *Giorgi II Guriel ...

from 1681 until 1691, when he was forced to abdicate and retire to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, where he died. A natural son of the preceding

Levan III Dadiani Levan III Dadiani ( ka, ლევან III დადიანი), born Shamadavle (შამადავლე) (died 1680) was Prince of Mingrelia, of the House of Dadiani, from 1661 to 1680. His reign unfolded against the background of a series ...

, he was the last of the First House of Dadiani to rule Mingrelia, a principality in western Georgia. The succeeding dynasty were the Chikovani, who assumed the surname of Dadiani and continued to rule Mingrelia until 1867.

Reign

After the death of Levan III Dadiani and murder of his rightful heir, Manuchar, at the hands of

Giorgi III Gurieli Giorgi III Gurieli ( ka, გიორგი III გურიელი; died 1684), of the Georgian House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1669 to 1684 and King of Imereti from 1681 to 1683. He was energetically involved in civil wars in western ...

Prince of Guria The Principality of Guria ( ka, გურიის სამთავრო, tr) was a historical state in Georgia. Centered on modern-day Guria, a southwestern region in Georgia, it was located between the Black Sea and Lesser Caucasus, and was r ...

, Levan IV Dadiani, the only surviving son of his namesake father, was installed as Prince of Mingrelia by his cousin Giorgi Lipartiani, of the Chikovani family, who had risen to influence and prestige under Levan III. Lipartiani became the ''de facto'' ruler of the principality, reducing Levan IV's power to insignificance. Having eliminated opposition by killings and harassment in the name of Levan and having enriched himself by slave-trading, Lipartiani forced Levan IV to abdicate in 1691. Levan first fled to

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial rol ...

in eastern Georgia and then retired to the Ottoman capital of Constantinople, where he died in 1694.

Family

Levan Dadiani was married to Princess Tinatin (1678–1760), daughter of King Bagrat V of Imereti. She became a nun in 1704 under the name of Nino and arrived in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in the suite of the exiled king

Vakhtang VI of Kartli Vakhtang VI ( ka, ვახტანგ VI), also known as Vakhtang the Scholar, Vakhtang the Lawgiver and Ḥosaynqolī Khan ( fa, حسین‌قلی خان, translit=Hoseyn-Qoli Xān) (September 15, 1675 – March 26, 1737), was a Georgian ...

in 1724. Levan had a natural son, Giorgi Dadiani (1683 – 12 June 1765), who emigrated, in 1700, to Russia, where he became known as Prince Yegor Dadian and attained to the rank of major-general. His descendants flourished in Russia.

References

{{s-end 1694 deaths House of Dadiani 17th-century people from Georgia (country) Princes of Mingrelia