| Alexander I Of Georgia |
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| kings of georgia country | |
| bagrationi dynasty | |
| 1386 births | |
| 1445 deaths | |
| 1446 deaths | |
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LIFE He was the eldest son of Constantine I Of Georgia and his wife Natela, daughter of the Georgian prince Kutsna Amirejibi. He was brought up by his grandmother (Natela’s mother) Rusa (died 1413 ), an educated and religious noblewoman, who greatly influenced the future king’s preoccupations and his enthusiasm for religious building. With his ascend to the throne ( 1412 ), Alexander moved to western Georgia and mediated a peace between his vassals, the rival princes of Mingrelia and Abkhazia . Then he, in 1414 , met the rebellious prince Atabeg Ivane Jakeli of Samtskhe on battlefield and forced him into submission. Having dealt with these powerful feudal lords, he began a program the restoration of major Georgian fortresses and churches. He imposed a temporary building tax on his subjects from 1425 to 1440 , but despite the king’s efforts many towns and villages, once flourished, were left in ruin and overgrown by forest. In 1431 , he re-conquered Lorri , a Georgian- Armenia n land occupied by the Kara Koyunlu Turkmen who had frequently raided the southern Georgian marches from there and had even sacked Akhaltsikhe in 1416 . Around 1434 / 5 , Alexander encouraged the Armenian prince Beshken Orbelian to attack the Kara Koyunlu clansmen in Syunik (Siunia) and, for his victory, granted him Lorri under terms of vassalage. In 1440 , Alexander refused to pay tribute to Jahan Shah of the Kara Kouynlu. In March, Jahan Shah surged into Georgia with 20,000 troops, destroyed Samshvilde and sacked the capital city Tbilisi . He massacred thousands of Christians, put heavy indemnity on Georgia, and returned to Tabriz . In order to reduce the power of frequently rebellious nobles, he opposed them by appointing his sons – Vakhtang, Demetre, and George – as his co-rulers in Kakheti , Imereti and Kartli , respectively. This, however, proved to be even dangerous to the kingdom’s integrity and the fragile unity kept by Alexander would soon disappear under his sons. For this reason, Alexander the Great is frequently claimed to have disintegrated Georgia and said not to deserve the epithet his people bestowed on him . The Georgian historian Ivane Javakhishvili , however, explains this nickname by a large-scale restoration projects launched by the king and his initial success in the struggle with the Turkmen nomads . As worldly problems overwhelmed his kingdom, Alexander abdicated the throne in 1442 and retired to a monastery under the name of Athanasius. MARRIAGES AND CHILDREN He married ca 1411 Dulandukht by whom he had two sons:
Alexander’s second marriage with Tamar (died 1455 ), daughter of prince Alexander I Of Imereti , took place around 1414 . Their children were:
NOTES
REFERENCES #Ivane Javakhishvili, ''The History of the Georgian Nation'', vol. 3 (1982), Tbilisi State University Press, pages 242–268 (In Georgian) #Ronald Grigor Suny, ''The Making of the Georgian Nation'': 2nd edition (December 1994), Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253209153, page 45 # T'ovma Metsobets'i's ''History of Tamerlane and His Successors'' # Kings of Georgia at the ''Royal Ark'' website SEE ALSO |
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