Mamuka ( ka, მამუკა); died 1654) was a member 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 som ...

Imereti Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 munic ...

, a kingdom in western Georgia. A son of King

George III of Imereti George III ( ka, გიორგი III) (died 1639), of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Imereti from 1605 to 1639. Biography George was a natural half-brother of Rostom of Imereti on whose death he succeeded in 1605, but his authority was se ...

, he was a leading commander in a series of wars with

Levan II Dadiani Levan II Dadiani (also Leon; ka, ლევან ��ეონII დადიანი; 1597-1657) was a member of the House of Dadiani and ruler of the Principality of Mingrelia in western Georgia. Levan grew up in Kakheti under his grandfathe ...

, Prince of Mingrelia, who captured Mamuka in 1647 and had him blinded. Mamuka died as Dadiani's prisoner. At one point in the 1630s, Mamuka had been considered by the childless king

Rostom of Kartli Rostom or Rustam Khan ( ka, როსტომი or როსტომ ხანი) (1565 – 17 November 1658) was a Georgian royal, from the House of Bagrationi, who functioned as a Safavid-appointed vali (i.e. viceroy)/king of Kartli, e ...

as his heir apparent.

Early life and family

Mamuka was a son of King George III of Imereti ( r. 1605–1639) by his wife Tamar, and a younger brother of George's successor, Alexander III (r. 1639–1660). Both these kings were perpetually harassed by their expansionist neighbor, Levan II Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia. An able soldier praised by the Georgian chroniclers for his bravery, Mamuka played a prominent role in the war with Dadiani. Levan attempted to win over Mamuka by marrying the prince with his daughter; instead, Mamuka married an Imeretian princess from the Chkheidze family. He had a son, Archil (), whose son, Mamuka (fl. 1685–1687), was the last known descendant of this family.

Heir apparent of Kartli

In 1634, George III fell into the Mingrelian hands and Alexander had to pay a ransom. Prince Mamuka and his father-in-law Bezhan Chkheidze took refuge with Yusuf I, an Ottoman pasha of Akhaltsikhe, and lived there, at times raiding Imereti and

Guria Guria ( ka, გურია) is a region (''mkhare'') in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 113,000 (2016), with Ozurgeti as the regional capital. Geography ...

, until being summoned by Rostom, the childless king of Kartli, to become his adopted son and heir apparent. However, a group of nobles of Kartli, who had persuaded Rostom to adopt Mamuka by virtue of his bravery, royal descent, and dynastic kinship, then conspired with Chkheidze to murder Rostom and make Mamuka king of Kartli. The plot collapsed when an assassin mistook a royal bath servant for the king and had to flee, leaving the servant wounded. Rostom refrained from publicizing the incident and, through a private letter, patiently forced Mamuka back to his exile in Akhaltsikhe. Chkheidze and his numbers remained in Kartli to continue their struggle with Rostom.

Last years and death

By 1647, Mamuka was again in Imereti, leading resistance to Levan II Dadiani's renewed offensive. Riding his favorite buckskin horse, he spread terror among the Mingrelians. In one of Dadiani's attack on Imereti, Alexander III, Mamuka's reigning brother, hid the prince's buckskin horse to prevent him from going to battle, either out of fear of losing the brother or, as rumored, out of envy of his military prowess. Mamuka still hurried to charge the Mingrelians, putting them into flight. His horse stumbled when Mamuka speared down a fleeing enemy horseman and the prince fell off on the ground, being captured and brought in chains to Dadiani. Teimuraz I, the Kakhetian king-in-exile, who was related by kinship to both the king of Imereti and the prince Dadiani, attempted to negotiate Mamuka's release, but Levan refused. During yet another outbreak of hostilities with Imereti, Dadiani had Mamuka blinded in prison. Alexander III complained to Rostom and the latter, with the consent of his wife Mariam, sister of Levan Dadiani, solemnly cursed the prince of Mingrelia. Mamuka remained in captivity and in 1654 died, being mourned in Imereti and Kartli.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamuka, Prince of Imereti Year of birth unknown 1654 deaths Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Imereti Georgian princes Heirs apparent who never acceded 17th-century people from Georgia (country) People from Imereti Blind royalty and nobility