The House of Sidamoni ( ka, სიდამონი) was a noble family (

tavadi ''Tavadi'' ( ka, თავადი, "prince", lit. "head/chief" an from ka, თავი ''tavi'', "head", with the prefix of agent ''-di'') was a feudal title in Georgia first applied in the Late Middle Ages usually translated in English as P ...

) in

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 ...

, their principal line known as Aragvis Eristavi (არაგვის ერისთავი) by virtue of being

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 ...

(“

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 ran ...

s”) of

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 Zhinval ...

from 1578 to 1743. They were also known as Sidamonidze (სიდამონიძე), Sidamonishvili (სიდამონიშვილი), and Sidamon-Eristavi (სიდამონ-ერისთავი). The family produced several important figures in Georgian politics, culture, and science. The family claimed descent from the medieval kings of

Alania Alania was a medieval kingdom of the Iranian Alans (proto-Ossetians) that flourished in the Northern Caucasus, roughly in the location of latter-day Circassia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and modern North Ossetia–Alania, from its independence from th ...

. They originally lived in the village of Vanati on the Little Liakhvi River and, through the loyal service rendered to the Georgian kings 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 role ...

, rose in the ranks of nobility (

aznauri ''Aznauri'' ( ka, აზნაური, ; pl. ''aznaurni'', აზნაურნი, or ''aznaurebi'', აზნაურები) was a class of Georgian nobility. The word derives from Middle Persian ''āznāvar'', which, in turn, corresponds ...

) in the mid-16th century. In the 1578s, they secured the help of the Dukes of

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 took control of the

valley, being recognized as the eristavi (“duke”) of Aragvi by the crown in 1578. The Eristavi of Aragvi pursued an aggressive, expansionist policy which resulted in important territorial acquisitions at the expense of other noble houses of Georgia. They were considered among the six "undivided" houses of the Kingdom of Kartli, which outranked those that had succumbed to the weakening division of their dynastic

allod In the law of the Middle Ages and early Modern Period and especially within the Holy Roman Empire, an allod (Old Low Franconian ''allōd'' ‘fully owned estate’, from ''all'' ‘full, entire’ and ''ōd'' ‘estate’, Medieval Latin ''allodium ...

s. Their loyalty to the crown was not permanent. In 1743, King Teimuraz II dispossessed the Sidamoni family of their duchy and his successor

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 ...

forced them into retirement to

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 ...

where they were granted a smaller estate and confirmed as Princes Sidamonishvili. After the

Russian annexation of Georgia The country of Georgia became part of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. Throughout the early modern period, the Muslim Ottoman and Persian empires had fought over various fragmented Georgian kingdoms and principalities; by the 18th cen ...

in 1801, the Sidamonishvili attempted to restore their erstwhile titles and patrimonial estates in the Aragvi valley, but to no avail. Under the Russian rule, the three Sidamoni lines were received among princely nobility of the empire: two as Princes Eristov-Aragvsky (; 1828) and one as Princes Sidamon-Eristov (Сидамон-Эристов; 1826).

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, ...

(1967). ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', p. 271.

Georgetown University Press Georgetown University Press is a university press affiliated with Georgetown University that publishes about forty new books a year. The press's major subject areas include bioethics, international affairs, languages and linguistics, political sc ...

. After the Soviet invasion the family was forced to leave

, as they were likely to be placed in Siberian

Gulags The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

had they stayed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidamoni, House Of Sidamoni Georgian-language surnames

See also

References