The Duchy of Aragvi ( ka, არაგვის საერისთავო) was an important fiefdom in medieval and early modern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, strategically located in the upper Aragvi valley, in the foothills of the eastern

Greater Caucasus The Greater Caucasus ( az, Böyük Qafqaz, Бөјүк Гафгаз, بيوک قافقاز; ka, დიდი კავკასიონი, ''Didi K’avk’asioni''; russian: Большой Кавказ, ''Bolshoy Kavkaz'', sometimes translat ...

crest, and ruled by a succession of ''

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 Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

s") from c. 1380 until being transferred to the royal crown in 1747.

History

The first known dukes of Aragvi belonged to the House of Shaburisdze which flourished in the 13th century. From this house, the duchy passed to those of Tumanisdze and, finally, in the 16th century, to the

House of Sidamoni The House of Sidamoni ( ka, სიდამონი) was a noble family (tavadi) in Georgia, their principal line known as Aragvis Eristavi (არაგვის ერისთავი) by virtue of being eristavi (“dukes”) of Aragvi from ...

. This latter change of power took place sometime after 1569, when an obscure nobleman of the Sidamoni clan, with the aid of the dukes of the Ksani, massacred the Tumanisdze family and took control of their possessions. In the process of time, the tenure of a duke of Aragvi became hereditary, and the eristavi ranked as

mtavari ''Mtavari'' ( ka, მთავარი) was a feudal title in Georgia usually translated into English as Prince or Duke. The earliest instances of the use of ''mtavari'' are in the early Georgian hagiographic texts dated to the 5th century. From ...

, one of the "undivided" princely houses of Georgia.

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, ...

(1949–51). The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia. ''Traditio'' 7: 201-2. The dukes of Aragvi had their residences at

Dusheti Dusheti () is a town in Georgia, the administrative center of Dusheti Municipality, in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, 54 km northeast of the nation's capital of Tbilisi. History Dusheti is on both banks of the small, mountainous Dushetis-K ...

and Sioni, and the main fortress at

Ananuri Ananuri () is a castle complex on the Aragvi River in Dusheti Municipality Georgia, about from Tbilisi. History Ananuri was a castle and seat of the '' eristavis'' ( Dukes) of Aragvi, a feudal dynasty which ruled the area from the 13th century ...

. Bodorna was their familial abbey and a burial ground. Their possessions extended from the main ridge of the Great Caucasus in the north to the left bank of the

Mtkvari The Kura is an east-flowing river south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains which drains the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus east into the Caspian Sea. It also drains the north side of the Lesser Caucasus while its main tributary, the Ar ...

(Kura) in the south, and from the

Liakhvi River The Great Liakhvi ( ''Didi Liakhvi'', , ''Styr Lewakhi'') is a river in central Georgia, which rises on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in the de facto independent region of South Ossetia and flows into the Kura (Mtk ...

in the west to the mountains of

Alevi Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliği'' or ''Kızılbaşlık''; ; az, Ələvilik) is a local Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Alevi Islamic ( ''bāṭenī'') teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, w ...

and

Gremi Gremi ( ka, გრემი) is a 16th-century architectural monument – the royal citadel and the Church of the Archangels – in Kakheti, Georgia. The complex is what has survived from the once flourishing town of Gremi and is located southwest ...

in the east – which formed the watershed between the valleys of the

Ksani The Ksani (, , ''Ĉysandon'') is a river in central Georgia, which rises on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in South Ossetia and flows into the Kura (''Mtkvari''). It is long, and has a drainage basin of .

and the

Aragvi The Aragvi ( ka, არაგვი) and its basin are in Georgia on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains. The river is long, and its basin covers an area of . The ground strata are mostly sandstone, slate, and limestone. The Zhinv ...

. As of the 1770 census, the duchy's population amounted to 3,300 households. The duchy controlled a vital road to the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

, which would later become the

Georgian Military Road The Georgian Military Road or Georgian Military Highway (, 'sakartvelos samkhedro gza'' , os, Арвыкомы фæндаг 'Arvykomy fændag'' is the historic name for a major route through the Caucasus from Georgia to Russia. Alternative r ...

, Allen, W.E.D. (1964), Trivia Historiae Ibericae, 2-4. ''

Bedi Kartlisa ''Bedi Kartlisa. Revue de Kartvélologie'' was an international academic journal specializing in the language, literature, history and art of Georgia ( Kartvelology) published from 1948 to 1984. It derived its name from the poem ''Bedi kartlisa'' ( ...

'', 17-18; 45-46: pp. 165-8. as well as the fertile area of Bazaleti. Ananuri, Georgia — Ananuri Fortess and Monastery

The energetic 17th-century dukes of Aragvi – Nugzar,

Zurab Zurab ( Georgian: ზურაბ) is a Georgian masculine given name. It derives from the Persian Sohrab, a name of the legendary warrior from Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh''. It may refer to: *Zurab Adeishvili (born 1972), Georgian jurist and politicia ...

, and Zaal – waged a relentless struggle to achieve more autonomy from the royal authority of

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 ...

as well as to subdue the free mountainous communities of

Pshavi Pshavi ( ka, ფშავი) is a small historic region of northern Georgia, nowadays part of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti ''mkhare'' ("region"), and lying chiefly among the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus mountains along the Pshavis Aragvi ...

Khevsureti Khevsureti ( Georgian: ხევსურეთი, ''a land of valleys'') is a historical-ethnographic region in eastern Georgia. They are the branch of Kartvelian ( Georgian) people located along both the northern (Pirikita khevsureti, Georgia ...

and

Ertso-Tianeti Ertso-Tianeti ( ka, ერწო-თიანეთი) is a small historical-geographic area in eastern Georgia. It lies along the upper Iori Valley in what is now Tianeti District in the region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti. The area's name is compound, ...

. In 1743, the rebellious Aragvians killed their duke Bezhan and surrendered the duchy to Teimuraz II, a Georgian king of Kartli. Teimuraz converted the duchy into a royal

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

and gave it to his grandson Prince Vakhtang. The surviving members of the ducal family were later removed by Teimuraz's son

Erekle II Heraclius II ( ka, ერეკლე II), also known as Erekle II and The Little Kakhetian ( ka, პატარა კახი ) (7 November 1720 or 7 October 1721 C. ToumanoffHitchins, KeithHeraclius II. ''Encyclopædia Iranica Online edit ...

to Kakheti and granted a smaller estate. Vakhtang died in 1756 and was succeeded by his brothers, first by Levan (died 1781), and then by Vakhtang-Almaskhan, who was sent into exile by the

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

, once they took control of Georgia, in 1803. Later, the descendants of the dukes of Aragvi attempted to restore their titles and patrimonial estates in the Aragvi valley, but to no avail. In 1828, the Russian Senate ruled their claims to be groundless.

List of Dukes of Aragvi

Shaburidze

*c. 1380 : Mihai *c. 1430 : Shanshe I *c. 1440 : Nugzar I *c. 1465–1474 : Vameq I

Sidamoni

*1558–1580 : Jason I **Founder of Sidamoni dynasty, recognized as ''Eristav of Aragvi'' by King Simeon of Georgia 1558 *1580–1600 : Avtandil I **Son of Jason I *1600–1611 : Nugzar I **Grandson of Jason I by brother of Avtandil I, Baadur *1611–1619 : Baadur I **Son of Nugzar I *1619–1629 : Zurab I **Son of Nugzar I *1629–1635 : David I **Son of Nugzar I *1635–1660 : Zaal I **Son of Nugzar I *1660–1666 : Otar I **Grandson of Nugzar I by brother of Baadur I; George *1666–1687 : Revaz I **Son of Nugzar I *1687-1687 : Jason II **Grandson of Nugzar I by brother of Baadur I; George (brother of Otar I) *1687–1696 : Baadur II **Son of Otar I *1696–1723 : George I **Son of Otar I *1723–1724 : Otar II **Son of George I *1724–1730 : Teimuraz I **Son of Jason II, first cousin once removed of Otar II *1730–1735 : Revaz II **Son of George I *1735–1739 : Bardzim I **Son of George I Pretenders/Anti-Eristavi *1729-1742 : Revaz III *1742-1743 : Bezhan I (Both installed by the Turks)

Non-dynastic

*1743–1747 : Givi II, Prince

Amilakhvari The Amilkhvari ( ka, ამილახვარი) was a noble house of Georgia which rose to prominence in the fifteenth century and held a large fiefdom in central Georgia until the Imperial Russian annexation of the country in 1801. They were ...

*1747 : Annexion by the Kingdom of Kakheti

Bagrationi appanage

*1747–1756: Prince Vakhtang of Georgia *1756–1766: Vacant (royal domain) *1766–1781: Prince Levan of Georgia *1782–1801: Prince Vakhtang-Almaskhan of Georgia *1801: annexation by Russia. Toumanoff, Cyrille, ''Manuel de Généalogie et de Chronologie pour le Caucase chrétien (Arménie, Géorgie, Albanie)'', 1976

References

{{Reflist

States and territories established in the 14th century States and territories disestablished in 1747