Vakhtang the Good ( ka, ვახტანგ კარგი) (1738 or 1742 – 1 February, 1756 or 1760) 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 ...

royal prince (''

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 ...

'') of the

Bagrationi dynasty The Bagrationi dynasty (; ) is a royal dynasty which reigned in Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christian ruling dynasties in the world. In modern usage, the name of the dynasty is sometim ...

. He was the first child and the eldest son of Heraclius II, then-prince of

Kakheti Kakheti ( ka, კახეთი ''K’akheti''; ) is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its capital. The region comprises eigh ...

, born of his first marriage to

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 ...

née Orbeliani or, according to more recent research,

née Pkheidze. Vakhtang was born at the time when eastern Georgia was reconquered by the resurgent ruler of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Nader Shah Nader Shah Afshar ( fa, نادر شاه افشار; also known as ''Nader Qoli Beyg'' or ''Tahmāsp Qoli Khan'' ) (August 1688 – 19 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian h ...

from 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) ...

and the native monarchies in both eastern Georgian kingdoms,

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 role ...

and Kakheti, were still dormant. In 1744, Nader Shah recognized Heraclius and his father Teimuraz II as kings of Kakheti and Kartli, respectively. Thereby, Vakhtang became

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the throne of Kakheti. Furthermore, in 1747, Vakhtang was bestowed by his grandfather Teimuraz II with the fief of Aragvi, the hereditary duke (''

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 hierarchy, i ...

'') of which, Bezhan, was murdered by the rebellious peasants in 1743. Henceforth, the duchy of Aragvi passed in possession of the royal family. As Vakhtang was still a minor, the duchy was run on his behalf by Prince Jimsher Cholokashvili, who had to deal with a peasant revolt and

Dagestani Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...

inroads. Later, after Vakhtang's untimely death of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

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 ...

, Aragvi was granted to his half-brother, Levan. Vakhtang was married to Ketevan (20 February 1744–4 March 1808), daughter of Constantine III, Prince of Mukhrani. They had no children. Princess Ketevan lived to see the demise of the Georgian kingdom at the hand 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. ...

in 1801 and died in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1808.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vakhtang 1730s births 1750s deaths Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti 18th-century people from Georgia (country) Deaths from smallpox