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David Viii Of Georgia




Eldest son of Demetre II The Self-sacrificing , he was appointed by the Ilkhan ruler Gaikhatu as king of Georgia as reward for his military service during the Rüm elian uprising in 1293 . Succeeding his cousin Vakhtang II , David's rule actually extended only over the eastern part of the kingdom, whereas western Georgia had been under the Imereti an branch of the House of Bagrationi since 1259 .

In 1295 , he supported Baidu Khan in an internal conflict in the Ilkhanate . However, Baidu was killed and Ghazan became a Khan . Ghazan ordered the Georgia n king to arrive to his capital Tabriz . Remembering the fate of his father, David refused to comply and began preparations for war. Ghazan Khan responded with a punitive expedition, and ravaged the country. Supported by the Mongols, Ossetes attacked Shida Kartli province and occupied the Liakhvi gorge. David entrenched himself in the Mtiuleti mountains and defeated a large Mongol force in a desperate guerilla fighting at Tsikare. Then, the Khan declared him deposed and appointed David's younger brother Giorgi V as king in 1299 .

Although backed by the Mongol forces, the power of Giorgi did not extend out of the Georgian capital Tbilisi , and the Khan replaced him by another brother, Vakhtang III , in 1302 . The new king led a Mongol army against David, but could not penetrate deeply into the largely mountainous provinces held by the rebels, and a ceasefire was negotiated. David was recognized as joint sovereign with his brother and received the princedom of Alastani in the southern province of Javakheti . He developed friendly relations with the Egypt ian Mamluk s, the traditional rivals of the Ilkhanate , and, mediated by Byzantium , achieved the restoration of the Monastery Of The Cross in Jerusalem to the Georgian Orthodox And Apostolic Church in 1305 .

He was succeeded by his son Giorgi VI The Little in 1311 .


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