David VIII

Biography

Eldest son of Demetrius II of Georgia by his Trapezuntine wife, he was appointed by the Ilkhan ruler Gaykhatu as king of Georgia as reward for his military service during the Rümelian 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 Imeretian branch of the House of Bagrationi since 1259.

In 1295, he supported Baydu in an internal conflict in the Ilkhanate. However, Baydu was killed and Ghazan became a khan. Ghazan ordered the Georgian 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, Ossetians attacked Shida Kartli province and occupied the Liakhvi River 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 George V as king in 1299. Although backed by the Mongol forces, the power of George 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 truce 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 Egyptian Mamluks, 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 Church in 1305.

He was succeeded by his son George VI in 1311.

Family

David VIII married in 1292 the Mongolian princess Oljath, daughter of Abaqa Khan and widow of King Vakhtang II, their sons were:

• Melchizedek
• Andronicus And then to a daughter of the Georgian nobleman Hamada Surameli, by whom he had a son:
• George VI of Georgia, King of Georgia

Coinage

Two types of coins issued in David's name survive, silver and copper coins, stuck in 1297 and 1310. The gap between these two periods is filled with the emissions of David's brother Vakhtang III.

Ancestry

References

• Limper, B. Die Mongolen und die christlichen Völker des Kaukasus - Eine Untersuchung zur pol. Geschichte Kaukasiens im 13. und beginnenden 14. Jh. Diss. Köln 1980
• Lang, D. M. Georgia in the Reign of Giorgi the Brilliant (1314–1346) BSOAS 17/1 S 74-91 London 1955
• Kapanadse,D. G. Gruzinskaja Numizmatika Moskau 1955

References

1. (2013). "Silver coins of David VIII with the Christian prayer". Tbilisi State University.