Mariam ( ka, მარიამი) (1755 – 3 November 1828) 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 ...

princess royal (''

batonishvili ''Batonishvili'' ( ka, ბატონიშვილი) (literally "a child of batoni (lord or sovereign)" in Georgian) is a title for royal princes and princesses who descend from the kings of Georgia from the Bagrationi dynasty and is suffixe ...

''), daughter of Heraclius II, the penultimate King of Kartli and Kakheti. Like her sisters,

Ketevan Ketevan ( ka, ქეთევანი) is a Georgian feminine given name. It is sometimes used as a Georgian form of Katherine but, in terms of their etymology, the two names aren't related as Katherine has origins in the Greek language while Ketev ...

and

Thecla Thecla ( grc, Θέκλα, ) was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul the Apostle. The earliest record of her life comes from the ancient apocryphal ''Acts of Paul and Thecla''. Church tradition The ''Acts of ...

, Mariam was a poet of some talent and wrote in the spirit of early

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

Family

Mariam was the 12th child of Heraclius II and the second daughter born of that ruler's third marriage to

Darejan Dadiani Darejan Dadiani ( ka, დარეჯანი), also known as Daria (Georgian: ; russian: Дарья Георгиевна, Darya Georgyevna) (20 July 1738 – 8 November 1807), was List of Georgian consorts, Queen Consort of Kingdom of Kakheti, ...

. In 1777, Mariam married Prince David Tsitsishvili (1749–1792), a scion of the medieval house of

Panaskerteli The Tsitsishvili ( ka, ციციშვილი) is a Georgian noble family, with several notable members from the 15th century through the 20th. The Tsitsishvili family was a continuation of the medieval house of Panaskerteli, known in the pr ...

and governor (''

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 royal capital of

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

. The couple had 7 children: # Prince Alexander Tsitsishvili (died before 1801). # Prince Evstati Tsitsishvili (1778–1828), a civil servant, ''mouravi'' of Pambak, and a close companion of his uncle, Catholicos Anton II of Georgia. He was married and had issue. # Prince Nikoloz Tsitsishvili (1779–?); he was married to Princess Ekaterine Tusishvili and had issue. # Prince Ioane Tsitsishvili (1784–c. 1835); he was married to Princess Elisabed Pavlenishvili and had issue. # Prince Dimitri Tsitsishvili (1790–?); he was married to Princess Avalishvili and had no issue. # Princess Anastasia Tsitsishvili (1782–?). # Princess Natalia Tsitsishvili (1786–?).

Biography

After the annexation of the Georgian kingdom by 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. ...

in 1801, the widowed princess Mariam lived a reclusive life. Being one of the few members of the Georgian royal family to avoid deportation to Russia proper, she retired to her rural estate at Kareli, part of her

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

. In 1803, the Russian authorities contemplated to give her the village of Didi Shulaveri in permanent and hereditary possession, but this was eventually ruled to be unfeasible. Instead, Mariam's son, Evstati Tsitsishvili, was granted a lifelong pension of revenues earned from that village. Mariam died at Kareli after a long illness in 1828. She was buried at the Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi. Like several members of her family, such as her sisters—

and Tekle—Mariam had a literary talent. Her friend, Princess Barbare Kobulashvili recalls that the contemporaries highly regarded her for her poetry and love for music. Her works, such as her best poem, "Alas, that the sweetness of time should turn better" (ჰოი, დამწარდეს დროთა ტკბილობა), are of early Romantic flavor, inspired by the loss of the native kingdom and family.

Ancestry

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mariam 1755 births 1828 deaths Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti Princesses from Georgia (country) Women poets from Georgia (country) 18th-century people from Georgia (country) 19th-century people from Georgia (country)