Q'ueli ( ka, ყუელი) or Q'uelis-tsikhe (ყუელისციხე, "fortress of Q'ueli") was a medieval
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 ...
fortress atop the homonymous mountain of the
Arsiani Range (Yalnızçam Dağları), now within the boundaries of
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, where it is known as Kol Kalesi or Kuvel Kalesi. Its Georgian name is alternatively transliterated as Qveli, Kveli, K'veli, Qvelis-ts'ikhe or Qvelis-c'ixe.
Toumanoff, Cyril
Cyril Leo Toumanoff (russian: Кирилл Львович Туманов; 13 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Russian-born Georgian historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, ...
(1963). ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', pp. 492-495. Georgetown University Press. First appearing in the early 10th-century Georgian sources, Q'ueli was one of the principal fortifications of the province of
Samtskhe
Meskheti ( ka, მესხეთი) or Samtskhe ( ka, სამცხე) ( Moschia in ancient sources), is a mountainous area in southwestern Georgia.
History
Ancient tribes known as the Mushki (or Moschi) and Mosiniks (or Mossynoeci) were t ...
until being conquered by 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) ...
in the 16th century.
The name Q'ueli/Q'uelis-tsikhe literally translates from Georgian as "a cheese fortress", which was a source of the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
equivalent Tyrokastron (Τυρόχαστρον)—the name by which the fortress is mentioned in
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe K ...
's ''
De Administrando Imperio''.
History
The fortress of Q'ueli, now largely in ruins, lies at the village of Kolköy in the present-day district of
Posof
Posof ( ka, ფოცხოვი, Potskhovi, formerly ka, დიღვირი, Dighviri) is a district of Ardahan Province of Turkey, in the far east of the country, 75 km from the city of Ardahan. It has a border crossing with neighborin ...
, northeastern Turkey, close to the border with Georgia. It is first mentioned in the early 10th-century Georgian
hagiographic
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...
text ''Passion of Gobron'' by
Stepane Mtbevari as the site of resistance to the
invading army of the
Azerbaijani emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
Yusuf Ibn Abi'l-Saj—Abu l'K'asim of the Georgian accounts—in 914. According to this source, Q'ueli fell after a
28-day siege and the Georgian commanding officer
Gobron
Gobron ( ka, გობრონი, tr) also known as Mikel-Gobron or Michael-Gobron () (died November 17, 914) was a Christian Georgian military commander who led the defense of the fortress of Q'ueli against the Sajid emir of Azerbaijan. When t ...
, a devoted
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 ...
, was put to death for having refused to convert to
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 ...
.
Rayfield, Donald
Patrick Donald Rayfield OBE (born 12 February 1942, Oxford) is an English academic and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Josep ...
(2000), '' The Literature of Georgia: A History'', pp. 48-9. Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
, .
By the 920s, Q'ueli had emerged as a chief fortress of
Javakheti
Javakheti ( ka, ჯავახეთი ) or Javakhk ( hy, Ջավախք, ''Javakhk'') is a historical province in southern Georgia, corresponding to the modern municipalities of Akhalkalaki, Aspindza (partly), Ninotsminda, and partly to the Turk ...
, a Georgian duchy which is mentioned in Constantine Porphyrogennetos's ''
De Ceremoniis'' as Kouel (Κουελ), so named after the fortress itself. In this passage, Constantine refers to the "
archon of Kouel", which, according to Professor
Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Leo Toumanoff (russian: Кирилл Львович Туманов; 13 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Russian-born Georgian historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, ...
, might have been the Georgian
Bagratid prince
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
.
Q'ueli is elsewhere referred to by Constantine by its Greek equivalent of Tyrokastron and later appears in possession of David's expansionist cousin,
Gurgen II of Tao
Gurgen II "the Great" (, ''Gurgen Didi'') (died February 14, 941) was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and hereditary ruler of Tao with the title of '' eristavt-eristavi'', "duke of dukes". He also bore the Byzantine ti ...
. Gurgen then gave Q'ueli and
Adjara to his father-in-law
Ashot Kiskasi in exchange of
Klarjeti
Klarjeti ( ka, კლარჯეთი ) was a province of ancient and medieval Georgia, which is now part of Turkey's Artvin Province. Klarjeti, the neighboring province of Tao and several other smaller districts, constituted a larger region wi ...
and, subsequently, deprived him even of these. After Gurgen's death in 941, Q'ueli passed to his cousins and, eventually, was inherited, along with other Bagratid holdings, by
Bagrat III, who went on to become the first king of a
unified Georgia in 1008.
Due to its strategic location, Q'ueli was a scene of several military conflicts throughout its history. In the 1040s, Q'ueli fell under control of the rebellious Georgian warlord
Liparit, who was eventually dispossessed of it by King
Bagrat IV of Georgia
Bagrat IV ( ka, ბაგრატ IV; 101824 November 1072), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the King of Georgia from 1027 to 1072. During his long and eventful reign, Bagrat sought to repress the great nobility and to secure Georgia's sovereign ...
in 1059. The fortress was then apparently given in possession to Murvan
Jaq'eli, who appears as the
eristavi
''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine '' strategos'' and normally translated into English as "prince" or less commonly as "duke". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarch ...
(duke) of Q'ueli in the 1060s. In 1065 it was passed by the
Seljuqid sultan
Alp-Arslan
Alp Arslan was the second Sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk (warlord), Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty. He greatly expanded the Seljuk territory and consolidated his power, defeating rivals to the south and no ...
during his Georgian campaigns. In 1080, the Turks led by amir Ahmad, probably of the
Mamlān dynasty, surprised and defeated King
George II of Georgia
:''There was also a Giorgi II, Catholicos of Kartli who ruled in 826–838.''
George II ( ka, გიორგი II, ''Giorgi II'') ( 1054 – 1112), of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Georgia from 1072 to 1089. He was a son and successor ...
at Q'ueli.
[ Thomson, Robert W. (1996), ''Rewriting Caucasian History'', p. 310. ]Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, . In the 16th century, Q'ueli, along with much of southwest Georgia, fell under the Ottoman sway and lost its past importance.
[ დ. მუსხელიშვილი, „ყველისციხე“. ქსე, ტ. X.-თბ., 1986.-გვ.639.]
References
{{coord, 41.4420, N, 42.6239, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Ruins in Turkey
Castles in Turkey
Tao-Klarjeti
Bagratid Iberia