Kingdom of Georgia

Kingdom of Georgia
საქართველოს სამეფო
*sakartvelos samepo*
Kingdom of Georgia საქართველოს სამეფო; sakartvelos samepo
1008–1490
	Flags of Georgia of the 14th–15th centuries according to Dulcert, the Pizzigano brothers and others Coat of arms of "All-Georgian Kingdom" according to Prince Vakhushti's Atlas (c. 1745) Coat of arms of the "Kingdom of Georgia under Khan" according to Grünenberg Wappenbuch (1480)
	Kingdom of Georgia in ~1220, at the peak of its territorial expansion.
	Administrative division of the Kingdom of Georgia in the 13th century
Capital	Kutaisi; (c. 1008–1122); Tbilisi; (c. 1122–1490);
Common languages	Middle Georgian; Greek; Laz; Armenian; Arabic(lingua franca/numismatics/chancery); Persian(numismatics)
Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy (Georgian Patriarchate)
Government	Feudal monarchy
King
• 1008–1014 (first)	Bagrat III
• 1446–1465 (last)	George VIII
Legislature	Council of State
Historical era	High Middle Ages to Late Middle Ages
• Unification	c. 1008
• Georgian Golden Age	1122–1226
• Interregnum	1245–1247
• East and West division	1247–1329
• Reunification	1329
• Fall of the kingdom De facto; De jure	; 1463; 1490
Currency	Various Byzantine and Sassanian coins were minted until the 12th century.
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Kingdom of Abkhazia
	Kingdom of the Iberians
	Kingdom of Kakheti
	Kingdom of Hereti
	Kingdom of Armenia
	Emirate of Tbilisi
Kingdom of Kartli
Kingdom of Kakheti
Kingdom of Imereti
Principality of Samtskhe
	1the full title of the Georgian monarchs after 1124 was "King of Kings, Autocrat of all the East and the West, Sword of the Messiah, King of Abkhazia, King of Iberia, King of Kakheti and Hereti, King of Armenia, Possessor of Shirvan."

The Kingdom of Georgia (Georgian: საქართველოს სამეფო, romanized: sakartvelos samepo), also known as the Georgian Empire,^[9] was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in c. 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar the Great from the 11th to 13th centuries. Georgia became one of the pre-eminent nations of the Christian East and its pan-Caucasian empire^[10] and network of tributaries stretching from Eastern Europe to Anatolia and northern frontiers of Iran, while also maintaining religious possessions abroad, such as the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem and the Monastery of Iviron in Greece. It is the principal historical precursor of present-day Georgia.

Lasting for several centuries, the kingdom fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by the 1340s. The following decades were marked by the Black Death, as well as numerous invasions under the leadership of Timur, who devastated the country's economy, population, and urban centers. The Kingdom's geopolitical situation further worsened after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire and the Empire of Trebizond by the Ottoman Turks. As a result of these processes, by the end of the 15th century Georgia turned into a fractured entity. This whole series of events also led to the final collapse of the kingdom into anarchy by 1466 and the mutual recognition of its constituent kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti as independent states between 1490 and 1493—each led by a rival branch of the Bagrationi dynasty, and into five semi-independent principalities—Odishi, Guria, Abkhazia, Svaneti, and Samtskhe.

^ "Zwölf Königswappen, aus: Grünenberg, Konrad: Grünenberg, Konrad:Das Wappenbuch Conrads von Grünenberg, Ritters und Bürgers zu Constanz - BSB Cgm 145 ( um 1480) - Digitalisiertes Buch aus dem urheberrechtsfreien Bestand der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München [Deutschland] 2007-2021 Bildähnlichkeitssuche". bildsuche.digitale-sammlungen.de. Archived from the original on 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
^ Oldest Georgian Arms Archived 2019-01-12 at the Wayback Machine Zachary Kiknadze, pp.6–7, State Council of Heraldry, 2014
^ "Heraldica - რუკები". heraldry.ge. Archived from the original on 2019-08-01. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
^ Graham Speake. Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition, Taylor & Francis: 2021 "...Laz and Greeks appear to have survived in harmony both in Trebizond and in the multi-ethnic kingdom of the Bagrationis..." [1]
^ Stephen H. Rapp. "Languages and Cultures of Eastern Christianity", Taylor & Francis, 2018 "...Armenians partially belonged to the kingdom of Georgia..."[2]
^ Rayfield 2013, p. 111.
^ Vacca 2017, p. 148.
^ Mikaberidze 2007, p. 242.
^ Chufrin, Gennadiĭ Illarionovich (2001). The Security of the Caspian Sea Region. Stockholm, Sweden: Oxford University Press. p. 282. ISBN 0-19-925020-0. Archived from the original on 2020-01-05. Retrieved 2019-08-29.; Waters, Christopher P. M. (2013). Counsel in the Caucasus: Professionalization and Law in Georgia. New York City, USA: Springer. p. 24. ISBN 978-94-017-5620-4. Archived from the original on 2020-01-04. Retrieved 2019-08-29.; Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994). The Making of the Georgian Nation. Bloomington, IN, USA: Indiana University Press. p. 87. ISBN 0-253-20915-3. Archived from the original on 2020-09-13. Retrieved 2019-08-29.; Ronald G. Suny (1996) Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia DIANE Publishing pp. 157-158-160-182
^ Rapp Jr., Stephen H. (2020). "Georgia, Georgians, until 1300". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830. Archived from the original on 2021-02-04. Retrieved 2021-01-30. (...) he courageously fought off countless enemies as he reinforced Georgian unity and assembled a pan-Caucasian empire, hence his sobriquet Aġmašenebeli (the builder) (...) The height of the pan-Caucasian rule of the Georgian Bagratids and of the transregional Georgian monastic network is habitually described as Georgia's Golden Age. (...) Internal and external tensions mounted, and the pan-Caucasian empire of the Georgian Bagratids shrank under T'amar's children Giorgi IV Laša (r. 1213–23 C.E.) and Rusudan (r. 1223–45 C.E.).

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[1] "Zwölf Königswappen, aus: Grünenberg, Konrad: Grünenberg, Konrad:Das Wappenbuch Conrads von Grünenberg, Ritters und Bürgers zu Constanz - BSB Cgm 145 ( um 1480) - Digitalisiertes Buch aus dem urheberrechtsfreien Bestand der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München [Deutschland] 2007-2021 Bildähnlichkeitssuche". bildsuche.digitale-sammlungen.de. Archived from the original on 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2019-09-11.

[2] Oldest Georgian Arms Archived 2019-01-12 at the Wayback Machine Zachary Kiknadze, pp.6–7, State Council of Heraldry, 2014

[3] "Heraldica - რუკები". heraldry.ge. Archived from the original on 2019-08-01. Retrieved 2019-12-05.

[4] Graham Speake. Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition, Taylor & Francis: 2021 "...Laz and Greeks appear to have survived in harmony both in Trebizond and in the multi-ethnic kingdom of the Bagrationis..." [1]

[5] Stephen H. Rapp. "Languages and Cultures of Eastern Christianity", Taylor & Francis, 2018 "...Armenians partially belonged to the kingdom of Georgia..."[2]

[FOOTNOTERayfield2013111-6] Rayfield 2013, p. 111.

[FOOTNOTEVacca2017148-7] Vacca 2017, p. 148.

[FOOTNOTEMikaberidze2007242-8] Mikaberidze 2007, p. 242.

[10] Chufrin, Gennadiĭ Illarionovich (2001). The Security of the Caspian Sea Region. Stockholm, Sweden: Oxford University Press. p. 282. ISBN 0-19-925020-0. Archived from the original on 2020-01-05. Retrieved 2019-08-29.; Waters, Christopher P. M. (2013). Counsel in the Caucasus: Professionalization and Law in Georgia. New York City, USA: Springer. p. 24. ISBN 978-94-017-5620-4. Archived from the original on 2020-01-04. Retrieved 2019-08-29.; Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994). The Making of the Georgian Nation. Bloomington, IN, USA: Indiana University Press. p. 87. ISBN 0-253-20915-3. Archived from the original on 2020-09-13. Retrieved 2019-08-29.; Ronald G. Suny (1996) Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia DIANE Publishing pp. 157-158-160-182

[11] Rapp Jr., Stephen H. (2020). "Georgia, Georgians, until 1300". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830. Archived from the original on 2021-02-04. Retrieved 2021-01-30. (...) he courageously fought off countless enemies as he reinforced Georgian unity and assembled a pan-Caucasian empire, hence his sobriquet Aġmašenebeli (the builder) (...) The height of the pan-Caucasian rule of the Georgian Bagratids and of the transregional Georgian monastic network is habitually described as Georgia's Golden Age. (...) Internal and external tensions mounted, and the pan-Caucasian empire of the Georgian Bagratids shrank under T'amar's children Giorgi IV Laša (r. 1213–23 C.E.) and Rusudan (r. 1223–45 C.E.).

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