Bagrat III of Georgia

Bagrat III (ბაგრატ III) (c. 960 – 7 May 1014), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Abkhazia from 978 on (as Bagrat II of Abkhazia) and king of Georgia from 1008 on. He united these two titles by dynastic inheritance and, through conquest and diplomacy, added more lands to his realm, effectively becoming the first king of the Kingdom of Georgia. Before Bagrat was crowned as king, he had also reigned in Kartli as co-ruler with his father Gurgen from 976 to 978.

Youth
Bagrat was born in the 960s, probably in Kartli. He is the only known son of Gurgen, titular king of Iberia, and Gurandukht, daughter of King George II of Abkhazia. Bagrat was thus heir to the Bagrationi dynasty. Still young, the Crown Prince of Iberia was designated heir by his father's cousin, David III of Tao, who reigned over the Duchy of Upper Tao and had been the Kouropalates of Iberia since 966, and who educated the young prince at his court.

At that time, Iberia was under the rule of the Kingdom of Abkhazia. In 780, Abkhazia, which had escaped the Arab invasions, had emancipated itself from Byzantine suzerainty and established itself as a powerful kingdom and master of the region; in 916, the Abkhazian state reached its apogee by invading Iberia and threatening Armenia. But in 975, King Theodosius III, known as the Blind (who was also Bagrat's maternal uncle), acceded to the throne and came into conflict with his nobility. Civil war broke out in Abkhazia and chaos spread throughout the country. Exploiting the situation, Kvirike II of Kakheti, who reigned in eastern Georgia, organised raids against Iberia, challenging the power of the Abkhaz monarch. He eventually completely invaded eastern Georgia. However, the eristavi (governor) of Kartli, Ioane Marushisdze rebelled against Kvirike II and sought the help of the young Bagrat's adoptive father, David III of Tao. In 976, David III arrived in Iberia and defeated the Kakhetians, who had to leave the country. David III, the new liberator of Iberia, offered a kingdom liberated from all its previous overlords to Bagrat who, still young, was placed under his father's regency.

Between throne and exile
The first part of Bagrat III's reign in Iberia is short and little is known about it. What is known is that soon after his arrival on the throne, the nobles, who had taken advantage of the bad situation in Georgia to recover their former power, began to rebel.

In 978, the Nakurdevelians (feudalists from Kurdis-Khevi) and the Baratians united and allied themselves with the new prince of Kakheti, David. He soon seized the fortress of Uplistsikhe and took young Bagrat III and his parents hostage. On hearing the news, David III of Tao launched an expedition against the Kakhetians who, after negotiations, returned Iberia to the royal family, but retained the fortresses of Grouvi and Tsirkvali. From then on, the kingdom was ruled by Queen Gurandukht, mother of Bagrat III.

King of Abkhazia
Meanwhile, in Abkhazia, King Theodosius III's weakness in the face of the nobles further weakened the kingdom. Taking advantage of the situation, Ioane Marushisdze, who had already placed Bagrat on the Iberian throne, tried to bring his protégé to the head of the Kingdom of Abkhazia. The eristavi allied himself with the nobility of Iberia and Abkhazia and they all agreed that a powerful new king was needed to unify the two countries. Bagrat III was invested with the royal attributes and, having reached maturity, saw all the nobility bow at his feet. This event is said to have taken place in 978, but others place it two years later. Bagrat, now master of western and central Georgia, sent the deposed king Theodosius III the Blind to his adoptive father David III of Tao as a gift.

Having become King of Abkhazia, Bagrat III had to return urgently to Kartli, where his mother, the regent Gurandukht, reigned and wanted to make herself independent. The nobles of Kartli, who appreciated their situation under the regent's reign, refused to recognise Bagrat III as King of Iberia and placed a certain Kavtar Tbeli at their head. The nobles took up defensive positions throughout central Georgia, but the king defeated them in battle at Moghrisi. Bagrat advanced into his own kingdom and took Uplistsikhe back from his mother. Having put down the noble rebellion, he returned to Abkhazia, where he summoned his mother. Bagrat III then began to put Abkhazian affairs in order. He calmed the nobles and established himself as a loyal and honest monarch.

Family War
A few years later, before 994, the Iberian nobleman Rati, son of Liparit, Duke of Kldekari, emerged as a powerful nobleman in the eastern part of Bagrat III's kingdom. He soon came into possession of the fortress of Ateni and all Kartli south of the Mtkuari, Trialeti, Manglis-khevi, and Skvireti, and then refused to submit to Bagrat III. The latter then marched with a powerful army, reinforced by his father Gurgen's militia, against the rebellious nobleman. However, fearing that Bagrat would be more powerful than he was, the king's adoptive father allied himself with Bagrat Regueni, Gurgen's own father, and with the Armenian monarchs Smbat II of Armenia and Abas of Kars, in order to stop Bagrat's intervention.

The first battle took place on the plains of Gardatkhinlni, at the entrance to Shavsheti. Gurgen's armies were defeated and the prince had to take refuge in the fortress of Tsepta. King Bagrat III, who had suspended his campaign against Rati, learnt to his great regret that he did not have enough strength to take on the armies of David III of Tao and Bagrat Regueni and began negotiations with the opposing camp. In the end, peace was granted and the so-called "family war" came to an end.

Bagrat III returned to Abkhazia and reigned peacefully, leaving Rati, the rebellious nobleman, to return to his domains. But the king's strategy was to let Rati return to Kartli to make him believe that the conflict was over. So, during the following winter, Bagrat gathered his troops and laid siege to Kldekari, before defeating the insolent duke. Rati was pardoned and made Duke of Argveti, in western Georgia.

The unification
On 31 March 1000, Bagrat III's adoptive father, David III Kuropalates, died, probably assassinated. The Georgian Chronicle of Vakhushti of Kartli states that when the ruler of Tao died, the region was left desolate. The Byzantine emperor Basil II, to whom David had bequeathed the Tao as a result of his role in the Bardas Phokas revolt, decided to force his way back. However, the emperor, who had just returned from a campaign in Syria against the Fatimid Caliphate and was expecting a difficult campaign, found himself faced with understanding nobles who recognised themselves as vassals of a powerful monarch, thus denying the authority of Bagrat III. In just a few months, he completed the conquest of Tao-Klarjeti, before granting the title of "Magistros" to Gurgen, Bagrat's father, and that of "Kouropalates" to the king himself. He thus tried to set the son against his father, but no conflict arose, as Gurgen was considered an honest and upright man and father. As a result, Bagrat III, in addition to his title of King of Abkhazia, became Kuropalates of Iberia, unifying western Georgia in the process, but losing a large part of his family heritage.

In 1008, he received the hereditary title of "King of the Georgians" and the unified duchy of Lower Tao-Javakheti when his father, Gurgen I of Iberia, died. Having become master of all the lands ruled by members of the Bagrationi dynasty, Bagrat III decided to intervene in Eastern Transcaucasia. He began by claiming from David, prince and Chorbishop of Kakheti[24], the lands he had annexed after his victory in the Kartli War of 978. However, the latter refused and announced his intention to go to war. Bagrat III, angered by the Kakhetian's refusal, headed for Kakheti, crossed the Kartli and devastated Hereti, an eastern province of the principality of Kakheti. He appointed a certain Aboulal as mtavari ("count") of the region, but he was overthrown by the local nobility, who took control of the country and decided to unite with Kakheti.

Having learned of the revolt in the newly annexed Hereti, Bagrat III decided to unite his troops and returned to the conquest. In a short space of time, he completed the annexation of Hereti, domesticated the local nobility in Imereti, and placed the relics of the country's first Orthodox queen near these nobles. In 1008, Bagrat III began the conquest of Kakheti. He completed it in 1010, without encountering too much opposition. He left the fortress of Bodchorma to Prince Kvirike III of Kakheti, son of Bishop David, but took it from him and annexed the country completely some time later. At the end of this war, Bagrat III found himself absolute master of the whole of Georgia. He had completed the unification of the country and was now "King of the Abkhazians, Kartvels, Rans and Kakhs".

War against the Shaddadids
As King of Georgia, Bagrat III decided to embark on campaigns against neighbouring countries. He chose to attack the neighbouring Emirate of Ganja, whose emir, Fadl ibn Muhammad, had been raiding eastern Georgia for some time. To achieve his aims, Bagrat formed an alliance with the Armenian king Gagik I. In 1012, Armenian and Georgian troops joined forces and finally set off for Ganja in Dzoraget, Armenia. Fadl, who had sworn to the death of all Christians and had never met a ruler capable of defeating him up to that point, was very surprised when he learned of the advance of the armies of two countries that worshipped the Cross, and took refuge in a fortress where he prepared for a difficult siege. Bagrat took advantage of the situation to seize the lands of Arran, which he made a Georgian province, and began the Siege of Shamkor, the fortified town in which the Shaddadid emir had taken refuge. In just a few days, he overcame the city's defences and granted peace to the vanquished. Fadl found himself a vassal of Georgia and was obliged to come to Bagrat's aid if necessary; Ganja also had to pay tribute (Kharaj) from then on. The Emir offered many sumptuous gifts to the King of Georgia, as well as to the nobles who had persuaded Bagrat to conclude the peace without annexing Ganja.

Power of Georgia
After subduing eastern Transcaucasia, Bagrat III took charge of the border with the Byzantine Empire in the south-west of the country. Since the year 1000 and the death of David III Kuropalates, who had ceded his domains to Byzantium in his will, Tao-Klarjeti had been part of the Byzantine Empire. For a while, he found himself master of Lower Tao and Javakheti, following the death of his father, but he still had no power over the lands under Byzantine administration. However, between 1011 and 1012, Bagrat chose to regain control of his hereditary lands.Sumbatd war against the princes Sumbat and Gurgen of Klarjeti, who, having submitted to Byzantium, had taken the title of "King of Klarjeti" and threatened the power of Georgia. He soon succeeded in defeating them, without any opposition from the Byzantine Empire. In 1012, he had the two brothers Sumbat and Gurgen killed while they were imprisoned in the citadel of Tmogvi, while he allowed their children to go into exile in Constantinople.

Bagrat III, having just annexed the duchy of Artanuji, found himself definitively master of all Georgian lands. But he didn't stop there. He led campaigns in the Caucasus and subdued Arran, Shirvan and, according to contemporary Georgian charters, Armenia[33]. He allied himself with the Abbasid caliph Al-Qadir and set himself up as an enemy of Basil II. Under his reign, Georgia was united and there were no noble revolts. The king, who held Georgia in his hand like an absolute monarch, was also loved by his people, and the peasants considered themselves his servants.

Bagrat and Christianity
With the unification of Georgia, King Bagrat III also created the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, which still exists today. Indeed, before the 1000s, Patriarch John IV bore the title of “Catholicos of Iberia”. A very Christian king, Bagrat III had several churches built, including the Bedia Cathedral, in 999, which he elevated to the rank of chief town of a bishopric and also the religious capital of Abkhazia, thus taking this title from Goudakva this title. Georgia's first monarch was also responsible for Bagrati Cathedral, in his capital of Kutaisi, a remarkable religious building, the construction of which was completed in 1003. The monument was part of UNESCO'S World Heritage from the 18th session in 1994 until 2017, when it was withdrawn because it was "the subject of a major reconstruction project affecting its integrity and authenticity”.

According to Vakhushti Bagrationi and Marie-Félicité Brosset, Emperor Basil II, who did not have such good relations with Georgia, offered the Caucasian Patriarchate the monastery of Kestoria (probably in Greece). At the same time, the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia acquired no less than one hundred and five villages, silver and gold, icons and crosses to decorate the churches. According to Vakhushti, writing in the 18th century, it was under Bagrat III's protection that the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (Mtskheta), now the seat of the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia, was built, or rather restored, using the ornaments brought back from Kestoria. However, it is now known that this did not happen until the next reign.

Death


After defeating the dukes of Klarjeti, Bagrat III undertook a final journey to his homeland. He crossed the whole of his kingdom, from Abkhazia to Hereti, passing through Kartli and Kakheti before finally stopping in Tao, where he spent the winter of 1013-1014 in the fortress of Panaskerti, the former residence of the sovereigns of Tao. He died on 7 May 1014 in his royal residence, at an advanced age, with long white hair, after a reign of thirty-six years. Count Zviad Orbeliani, who reigned in a province of Abkhazia, took care of his body, transporting it to the north of the country. The first monarch of unified Georgia was buried in 1014 in the Bedia Cathedral.

He was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church on 22 December 2016, his feast day set for 7 May (NS 21 May).

Family
According to genealogist Cyril Toumanoff, King Bagrat III had a wife, Martha, who bore him a son: George I of Georgia. Other sources tell us of a second child, Basil, who was canonised as Basil of Khakhuli by the Georgian Orthodox Church.