Everything about Vakhtang Vi Of Kartli totally explained
Vakhtang VI (
Georgian: ვახტანგ VI), also known as
Vakhtang the Scholar and
Vakhtang the Lawgiver, (
September 15,
1675 –
March 26,
1737) was a
wali of
Kartli, eastern
Georgia, as a nominal vassal to the
Persian
shah from
1716 to
1724. Traditionally, he's been still styled as king of Kartli. Arguably the most important and extraordinary
Caucasian statesman of the early
18th century, he's also known as a notable legislator, scholar, critic, translator and poet. His reign was terminated by the
Ottoman invasion, which forced Vakhtang into exile to
Russia. Unable to get the
tsar’s support for his country, died as a broken man in Astrakhan.
As a regent
Son of Prince
Levan, he ruled as regent (
janishin) for his absent uncle,
Giorgi XI, and his brother,
Kaikhosro, from
1703 to
1714. During these years, he launched a series of long-needed reforms, revived economy and culture, reorganised administration and attempted to fortify the central royal authority. In
1707-
1709, he substantially revised the legal code (
dasturlamali, aka “Vakhtang’s code”) which would operate as a basis for the Georgian
feudal system up to the
Russian annexation. He was summoned by the
shah Husayn in 1714 to be confirmed as
wali/
king of
Kartli. The shah wouldn't grant the confirmation, except on condition of Vakhtang embracing
Islam, which having refused to do, he was imprisoned, and his brother
Jesse (Ali Quli-Khan), who complied with the condition, was put in his place. Jesse governed Kartli two years, during which he suffered from internal troubles and the inroads of the
Dagestani tribes.
During the years of captivity, Vakhtang requested aid from the Christian monarchs of
Europe, particularly he sent his uncle and tutor,
Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, on a mission to
Louis XIV of France. Later, in his last letters to the Pope
Innocent XIII and
Charles VI dated 29 November 1722 said Vakhtang that he was since years secretly
Catholic, but he could't confess it in publicity "because of betrayng people about me" and confirmed with it the reports of
Capuchin missionaries from Persia. They claimed that Vakhtang became Catholic before he converted outwards to Islam and went there to Catholic mass. Politically went his efforts, however, in vain, and Vakhtang reluctantly converted in 1716. He served for some time as a
sipah-salar (commander-in-chief) of the
Persian armies and
beglarbeg (governor-general) of
Azerbaijan. He sent his son,
Bakar to govern Kartli, whereas Jesse, having abjured Islam, had retired.
His reign
Vakhtang remained seven years in Persia before he was permitted to return to his own country in
1719. His first care was to put an end to permanent
marauding assaults from the
North Caucasian mountaineers, particularly the
Lezgin tribes of Dagestan. Vakhtang was just preparing to deal a final, crushing blow to the Lezgians when the Persian government intervened to prevent him. This terminated Vakhtang's short-lived loyalty to the shah. He made secret contacts with the
Russian tsar Peter I and expressed his support for Russia’s future presence in the
Caucasus. After several delays, Peter marched with a small force along the
Caspian Sea in July
1722. It was when the
Safavid Persia became involved in complete chaos, and the capital
Isfahan was besieged by the rebel
Afghans. As a Persian vassal and commander, Vakhtang’s brother, Rosotom, died during the siege and the shah charged
Bakar, son of Vakhtang, with the defense of his capital. However, Vakhtang refused to come to the aid of Isfahan. At the same time, the
Ottomans offered him an alliance against Persia, but Vakhtang preferred to await the arrival of the Russians. Peter’s promises to provide military support to the Caucasian Chrisitians for final emancipation of the Persian yoke, created a great euphoria among the Georgians and
Armenians. In September, Vakhtang VI encamped at
Ganja with a combined Georgian-Armenian army of 40,000 to join the advancing Russian expedition. He hoped that Peter the Great wouldn't only seek gains for Russia, but would also protect Georgia from both Persians and Turks. However, the tsar cut his campaign short so as not to confront the Ottomans who were already preparing to take the Safavid succession in the Caucasus. Vakhtang, abandoned by his Russian allies, returned to Tbilisi in November 1722. The shah revenged him by giving a sanction to the Muslim king
Constantine II of Kakheti to take the kingdom of Kartli. In May
1723, Constantine and his Persians marched into Vakhtang's possessions. Vakhtang, after having defended himself for some time at
Tbilisi, was finally expelled. Vakhtang fled to
Inner Kartli whence he attempted to win the support from the advancing Ottoman forces and submitted to the authority of the Sultan; but the Turks, having occupied the country, gave the throne to his brother Jesse, who again became a Muslim.
In the invasions and wars between the Turks, Persians, Dagestanis and Afghans, thee-fourths of the population of Georgia were destroyed; and Vakhtang, after having wandered a long time with his most faithful adherents in the mountains, sought again protection from Peter the Great, who invited him to Russia. Accompanied by his family, his close comrades-in-arms and a retinue of 1,200, he'd to make his way across the Caucasus to Russia in July
1724. Peter had just died, and his successor,
Catherine I gave no real help but allowed Vakhtang to settle in Russia, granting him a pension and some estates.
Vakhtang resided in Russia till
1734, but in that year he resolved to make an attempt to recover his dominions by the co-operation of the Shah of Persia. The empress
Anna consented to Vakhtang's project, but gave him instructions how to act in Persia, and in what manner he should induce the Georgians as well as the Caucasian highlanders to enter the Russian service, in order to bring about heir entire submission to the authority of Russia. Vakhtang started for his diplomatic journey, in company with a Russian general, but fell ill on his way, and died at
Astrakhan on March 26,
1737. He was buried at the city’s Church of
Assumption. Many of his followers remained in Russia later served in the
Russian army. A descendant,
Pyotr Bagration, was perhaps the most famous of them.
Scholarly and cultural activities
Although Vakhtang’s political decisions have sometimes been object of criticism, his scholarly and cultural activities are the crowning merits of his reign. He was, indeed, one of the most learned monarchs of the time. He was an author and organiser of numerous cultural and educational projects aimed at reviving the country’s intellectual life. It was him who, with the help of the archbishop of
Walachia Anthim the Georgian, established, in
1712, the first typography in Georgia and the whole Caucasus. Among the books published in "Vakhtang’s typography" in Tbilisi was the
12th-century national epic poem
The Knight in the Panther's Skin (
Vep’khistkaosani) by
Shota Rustaveli, accompanied by scholarly commentaries by the king himself. This induced a new wave of interest towards that great medieval poet and would influence a new generation of Georgian poets of the 18th century, which is generally regarded as the
Renaissance of the Georgian literature.
He also undertook the printing of the
Bible, which had been, as it's believed, translated as early as the fifth century from the Greek into the Georgian, and corrected in the 11th century by the monks of the Georgian convent on
Mount Athos. His printing house printed also the
Gospels, the
Acts, the
Psalms, and several liturgies and prayer-books, causing a great discontent at the court of Persia which perceived that the nominally Muslim Vakhtang, instead of following the
Koran, promoted Christianity.
An eminent critic and translator, Vakhtang himself was an author of several patriotic and romantic lyric poems. Vakhtang also chaired a special commission convened to edit and compile the corpus of Georgian chronicles covering the period from the
Dark Ages to the early
Modern era.
His family and children
Vakhtang married in
Imereti, western Georgia, in
1696, a
Circassian princess Rusudan (died in
Moscow,
December 30,
1740). They were the parents of:
- Prince Bakar
- Prince Giorgi
- Princess Tamar (1697 – 1746) who married, in 1712, Prince Teimuraz, the future king of Kakheti and Kartli
- Princess Anna (Anuka) (1698 - 1746), who married, in 1712, Prince Vakhushti Abashidze
Vakhtang had also several illegitimate children, including
- Prince Vakhushti
- Prince Paata
Further Information
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