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The Bagratuni or Bagrationi or Bagratid royal dynasty (Armenian: Բագրատունյաց Արքայական Տոհմ or Bagratunyac Arqayakan Tohm, Georgian: ბაგრატიონთა სამეფო დინასტია or Bagrationta Samepo Dinastia) is a royal family whose ascendancy in Transcaucasia lasted for more than a millennium, since the 8th century until the early 19th century. Branches of the Bagratid family formerly ruled many regional polities, including Georgia, Armenia, Abkhazeti, Kars, Imereti, Kakheti, Taron, Kartli, and Tao-Klarjeti.

Early history

The Bagratid family first emerged as naxarars, members of the hereditary nobility of Armenia. Their holdings were in the region of Sper, in the Chorokhi valley. As early as 288-301, the Bagratid prince Smbat held the hereditary Armenian titles of Master of the Horse and t'agatir, or coronant of the King.

According to Prince Cyril Toumanoff, the earliest Bagratid prince was chronicled as early as 314 AD. In the eighth century, a later Bagratid prince (also named Smbat) revolted against the Arab Caliphate. The revolt was defeated, but was successful enough to set the stage for Georgian and Armenian independence.

Certain, generation by generation, history of the family begins only in the 8th century. The later Bagratids also claimed descent from King David of the Hebrew Bible. The claim is given no credence by modern scholarship, but was accepted in its day and lent prestige to the family.

Bagratids in Armenia

The Bagratid Princes of Armenia are known as early as 1st cenury B.C. when they served under the Artaxiads. Unlike most noble families on Armenia they held only strips of land, as opposed to the Mamikonians, who held a unified land territory. These are the earliest Bagratid princes in Armenia prior to the establishment of the kingdom, as mentioned by the Union of Armenian Noblemen. Ashot I was the first Bagratid King, the founder of the Royal dynasty. He was recognized as prince of princes by the court at Baghdad in 861, which provoked war with local Arab emirs. Ashot won the war, and was recognized as King of the Armenians by Baghdad in 885. Recognition from Constantinople followed in 886. These are the kings of the Bagratid kings of Armenia. The Armenian Bagratids built as their capital the city of Ani, now famous for its ruins. They kept power by playing off the competition between the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs. They assumed the Persian-influenced titles of the King of Kings in both Armenia and Georgia. To note, there are inscriptions on some churches of Ani citing Armenian kings Shahanshas of the Armenians and Georgians. However, with the start of the 10th century and on, the Bagratunis broke up into different branches, breaking up the unified kingdom in a tiume when unity was needed in the face of Seljuq and Byzantine pressure. The rule of the Ani branch ended in 1045 with the conquest of Ani by the Byzantines. The Kars branch held on until 1064. However, the longest to last were the Bagratids of the Armenian region occupied by the principality of Lori(Tashir-Dzoraget) who were the only Armenian Bagratid kings to issue coins. The dynasty of Cilician Armenia is believed to be a branch of the Bagratids, later took the throne of an Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia. The founder, Roupen I, had an unknown relationship to the exiled king Gagik II. He was either a younger family member or kinsman.Ashot, son of Hovhannes (son of Gagik II) was later governor of Ani under the Shaddadid dynasty.

Bagratids in Georgia

The Bagrationi family in Georgia began with the migration of one prince Ashot (780-826) from Armenia. He settled in the Armeno-Georgian marchlands at Artanuji (part of the Georgian Principality of Tao-Klarjeti also known as Tayk in Armenian, now in the territory of Turkey).

In 888, Adarnase II (888-923) revived the monarchy of Iberia and assumed the title King of the Georgians. Through marriage, inheritance, and conquest, his descendents gained control of what is today Georgia.

The greatest representatives of this dynasty were David the Builder and Tamar of Georgia. Upon the latter's death in 1213, the ancient dynasty became extinct in a male line. Tamar's descendants by her marriage with the Ossetian prince David Soslan, however, continued to use the name of Bagrationi. This line is continued to the present day.

In the 15th century, the dynasty was split into three male lines, reigning in Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti, respectively. In the mid-18tn century, the Kakhetian line usurped power in Kartli, thus uniting Eastern Georgia once again. The last king of this entity, Georgi XII, anxious to stop burgeoning Islamization of his lands, aligned himself with the Russian Empire, which effectively occupied his realm in 1801 and that of Imereti in 1810. Consequently, the last Bagrationi monarch was Solomon II of Imereti (1789-1810).

The modern Bagrationi are represented by four main families. The eldest family is that of the Bagrationi of Georgia (Russian: Princes Gruzinsky), descending from Erekle II, the last king of unified Georgia. Then there are the Bagrationi of Imeretia (Russian: Princes Imeretinsky), extinct in the male line since 1978 but continued through illegitimate issue. Finally, there are the Bagrationi-Mukhraneli, branched off from the senior line in the 16th century but still claiming the Georgian crown, and the Bagrationi-Davitashvili, descending from a natural son of Alexander I.

See also

• List of Bagratuni rulers of Armenia
• List of Bagrationi rulers of Georgia

References

• "Sebeos' History"
• John Mamikonean's History of Taron"
• "Aristakes Lastivertc'i's History "
• "Kirakos Gandzakets'i's History of the Armenians"
• Chronicle of Sumbat Davitis dze
• "Moktsevai Kartlisai"
• "Tskhovreba Kartvelta Mepeta"
• "Matiane Kartlisa"

Genealogy

• I.L. Bichikashvili, D.V. Ninidze and A.N. Peikrishvili, The Genealogy of the Bagratides. Tbilisi, 1995.
• Prince Cyrille Toumanoff, Manuel de gйnйalogie et de chronologie pour l'histoire de la Caucasie Chrйtienne (Armйnie-Gйorgie-Albanie). Edizioni Aquila, Roma, 1976. - still remains the only account of the family generally available in the West, although its scientific standard has been criticized as very low.
• The Families of the Nobility of the Russian Empire, Volume III, Moscow, 1996. - contains the latest research available in Russian, compiled by Georgian scientists, some of them Bagratids themselves.
• Armenian Nobility Site
• Robert Bedrosian's History Page

History

• R. H. Hewsen. "Armenia: A Historical Atlas", 2001 ISBN 0-226-33228-4
• A. Khakhanov. "Histoire de la Georgie", Paris, 1900 (in French)
• A. Manvelichvili. "Histoire de la Georgie", Paris, 1951 (in French)
• A. Manvelishvili. "Russia and Georgia. 1801-1951", Vol. I, Paris, 1951 (in Georgian)
• K. Salia. "History of the Georgian Nation", Paris, 1983
• Kartlis Tskhovreba, vol. I-IV, Tbilisi, 1955-1973 (in Georgian)
• P. Ingorokva. Giorgi Merchule (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1954 (in Georgian)
• E. Takaishvili. "Georgian chronology and the beginning of the Bagratid rule in Georgia".- Georgica, London, v.I, 1935
• Sumbat Davitis dze. "Chronicle of the Bagration's of Tao-Klarjeti", with the investigation of Ekvtime Takaishvili, Tbilisi, 1949 (in Georgian)
• "Das Leben Kartlis", ubers. und herausgegeben von Gertrud Patch, Leipzig, 1985 (in German)
• V. Guchua, N. Shoshiashvili. "Bagration's".- Encyclopedia "Sakartvelo", vol.I, Tbilisi, 1997, pp. 318-319 (in Georgian)

External links

• Genealogical account of Bagratids per Bichikashvili-Ninidze-Peikrishvili
• Genealogical account of Bagratids per Prince Toumanoff

• Bagratid
• Monarchs of Armenia
• Monarchs of Georgia