George VII of Georgia: Difference between revisions

George VII
გიორგი VII
George VII ; გიორგი VII
King of Georgia (more...)
Reign	1393–1407
Predecessor	Bagrat V
Successor	Constantine I
Born	1360s
Died	1407
Burial	Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
Spouse	Nestan-Darejan
Dynasty	Bagrationi
Father	Bagrat V of Georgia
Mother	Helena Megale Komnene
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Church
Khelrtva

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George VII (Georgian: გიორგი VII, romanized: giorgi VII) (died 1405 or 1407) of the Bagrationi dynasty, was king (mepe) of Georgia from 1393 to 1407 (alternatively, from 1395 to 1405).^[1] George put up a stiff resistance and had to spend much of his reign fighting against Timur.

Biography

Early life and co-ruler

George was the son of the Georgian King Bagrat V and his first wife Helena Megale Komnene (died of bubonic plague, 1366).^[2] Bagrat appointed him co-ruler in 1369.^[3]

When Tbilisi fell on 22 November 1386, its inhabitants were massacred and Bagrat fell into captivity. Timur's army spent the winter in Karabakh. To regain his freedom, Bagrat pretended to convert to Islam and Timur sent him back under surveillance of a 12,000 strong army which was to enforce the Georgian Kingdom's conversion to islam. Bagrat secretly informed his son George, who raised an army and destroyed the Timurid troops, and freed Bagrat.^[4]

In 1392, George I of Imereti was killed during campaign against Vameq I Dadiani, allowing Prince George to unite with the great feudal lords of the West Georgia and invade the rebellious territories. The Kingdom of Western Georgia was annexed by Kingdom of Georgia, while the surviving members of the rebel family took refuge in the Caucasus Mountains.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Reign

In 1393, Bagrat died and George assumed full royal powers. He spent most of his reign fighting Timur who led seven more expeditions against the stubborn Georgian kingdom from 1387 to 1403, leaving the country in ruins.

In 1396, Constantine who has been exiled to the North Caucasus took advantage of the Timurid invasions of Georgia and the death of Vameq I Dadiani, he returned to Imereti and organized a new rebellion.^[5] Without much resistance, the new rebel captured numerous fortresses and had himself crowned Constantine II of Imereti, but failed to unite with the region's great feudal lords. After demanding the vassalization of the dukes of Svaneti, Mingrelia and Guria, but he was killed in 1401. As Constantine was childless, the crown of the Kingdom of Western Georgia was to be passed on to his young and weak nephew, Demetrius, George VII who took advantage of a temporary ceasefire with Timur to invade western Georgia and once again put an end to the separatist kingdom.^[8]^[9]^[10]

In 1399, George VII attacked the Timurid army besieging the castle of Alinja. The Georgian army cut it way through the besiegers temporarily freeing the Jalayirid Prince Tahir and some of those inside the castle, while the Timurid general Seif ad-Din fled.^[11]^[4]^[3] While the Georgian army was withdrawing from the castle, an army sent by Miran Shah under the command of Abu Bakr arrived and a battle broke out. As the Timurid army advanced the Georgians attacked, resulting in a Georgian victory.^[3]^[12]

This event prompted Timur to return in 1399. He captured Shaki and devastated the neighboring region of Hereti and Kakheti.^[13] In the spring of 1400, Timur moved back to destroy the Georgian state once and for all. He demanded that George should hand over the Jalayirid Tahir but George refused with explanation that this would be against the Caucasian traditions and met Timur at the Sagim River in Kvemo Kartli, but suffered a defeat.^[14] After the war, of those who survived the fighting and reprisals, many thousands died of hunger and disease, and 60,000 survivors were enslaved and carried away by Timur's troops.^[15]

In late 1401, Timur invaded the Georgia once again.^[16] George VII had to sue for peace, and sent his brother Constantine with the contributions. Timur made peace with George on condition that the King of Georgia supplied him troops during his campaign against Ottoman Empire and granted the Muslims special privileges.^[17] Once the Ottomans were defeated at the Battle of Ankara, Timur, back to Erzurum in 1402, decided to punish George VII for not having come to present his congratulations on his victory. Historians reported that 700 towns were destroyed and their inhabitants massacred by Timurid forces.^[18]^[19]

In the aftermath of Timur's death in February 1405 and the subsequent power struggles among his heirs, Timur's empire became fragmented as Miran Shah and his sons struggled over control of Persia. In the midst of this chaos, George, who had returned from Imereti, engaged in battles to regain lost territories. He managed to conquer Nakhchivan and Ganja while also causing destruction in places like Ani, Erzurum, and Tabriz. Despite commanding an army of merely 5,000 men, George succeeded in expanding Georgia's borders temporarily to their former extent.^[20]

According to Vakhushti of Kartli, He was killed in battle against the Turkoman nomads, apparently of the Qara Qoyunlu clan. Today, some historians consider this information of Vakhushti doubtful and claim that George VII died of natural causes.^[21]

George VII may have died childless, as his brother Constantine I became the next king.

References

^ Kʻartʻuli diplomatiis istoriis narkvevebi (in Georgian). Tʻbilisis universitetis gamomcʻemloba. 1998. pp. 530–543. ISBN 978-5-511-00896-7.
^ Ivane Javakhishvili, The History of the Georgian Nation, vol. 3, Tbilisi, 1982, p.180
^ ^a ^b ^c Rayfield 2012, p. 149.
^ ^a ^b Baumer 2023, p. 75.
^ ^a ^b Brosset 1856, p. 248.
^ Bagrationi, Vakhushti (1976). Nakashidze, N.T. (ed.). История Царства Грузинского [History of the Kingdom of Georgia] (PDF) (in Russian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. pp. 129–130.
^ Toumanoff, Cyril (1949–51). "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia". Traditio. 7: 183.
^ Brosset 1856, p. 249.
^ Toumanoff, Cyril (1949–51). "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia". Traditio. 7: 183.
^ Bagrationi, Vakhushti (1976). Nakashidze, N.T. (ed.). История Царства Грузинского [History of the Kingdom of Georgia] (PDF) (in Russian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. pp. 41–42.
^ Bedrosian 1997, p. 268.
^ Javakhishvili 1949, p. 193.
^ Hodong Kim, "The Early History of the Moghul Nomads: The Legacy of the Chaghatai Khanate." The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy. Ed. Reuven Amitai-Preiss i David Morgan. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
^ Mirza Muhammad Haidar. The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia). Traduit per Edward Denison Ross, editat per N. Elias. Londres, 1895.
^ Minorsky, Vladimir, "Tiflis", in: M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel (1993), E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936, p. 757. Brill, ISBN 90-04-08265-4.
^ Beatrice Forbes Manz, The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1989. ISBN 0-521-63384-2
^ Sicker, Martin (2000), The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to Siege of Vienna, p. 155. Praeger, ISBN 0-275-96892-8.
^ The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asi
^ Minorsky, Vladimir, "Tiflis", in: M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel (1993), E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936, p. 757. Brill, ISBN 90-04-08265-4.
^ Rayfield 2012, p. 152.
^ Tavadze, L. (2008) About the reasons of Georgian King George VII death, Studies in the Middle Ages History of Georgia, Vol. IX. p. 41–45 ISBN 978-9941-12-174-6

Sources

Baumer, Christoph (2023). History of the Caucasus. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780755636303.
Brosset, Marie-Félicité (1856). Histoire de la Géorgie depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle - IIe partie: Histoire moderne. Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Javakhishvili, Ivane (1949). Histoire de la Géorgie. XIe – XVe siècles (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Publication d'État de la RSS de Géorgie..
Minorsky, Vladimir (1930). Transcaucasica (in French). Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.
Rayfield, Donald (2012). Edge of Empires : A History of Georgia. Reaktion Books.
Bedrosian, Robert (1997). "Armenian during the Seljuk and Mongol Periods". In Hovannisian, Richard G. (ed.). The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times. Vol. I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century. St. Martin's Press.

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 {{Infobox royalty
 | name         = George VII <br>გიორგი VII
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 | issue        =
 | full name    =
-| house        = [[Bagrationi dynasty]]
+| house        = [[Bagrationi dynasty|Bagrationi]]
 | house-type   = Dynasty
 | father       = [[Bagrat V of Georgia]]
@@ Line 25: / Line 24: @@
 | signature_type = [[Khelrtva]]
 | religion     = [[Georgian Orthodox Church]]
+}}
-}}'''George VII''' ({{lang-ka|გიორგი VII|tr}})  (died 1405 or 1407) was [[List of monarchs of Georgia|king]] of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] from 1393 to 1407 (alternatively, from 1395 to 1405).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GFpAAAAMAAJ |title=Kʻartʻuli diplomatiis istoriis narkvevebi |date=1998 |publisher=Tʻbilisis universitetis gamomcʻemloba |isbn=978-5-511-00896-7 |pages=530–543 |language=ka}}</ref> [[Bagrat V of Georgia|Bagrat V's]] son and successor, George put up a stiff resistance and had to spend much of his reign fighting [[Timur]] and his [[Timurid Empire|Empire]].
+'''George VII''' ({{lang-ka|გიორგი VII|tr}})  (died 1405 or 1407) of the [[Bagrationi dynasty]], was [[List of monarchs of Georgia|king]] (''[[mepe]]'') of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] from 1393 to 1407 (alternatively, from 1395 to 1405).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GFpAAAAMAAJ |title=Kʻartʻuli diplomatiis istoriis narkvevebi |date=1998 |publisher=Tʻbilisis universitetis gamomcʻemloba |isbn=978-5-511-00896-7 |pages=530–543 |language=ka}}</ref> George put up a stiff resistance and had to spend much of his reign fighting against [[Timur]].
-==Early Life==
+==Biography==
-George was the son of the king [[Bagrat V of Georgia|Bagrat V]] and his first wife [[Helena Megale Komnene|Elene]] of [[Empire of Trebizond|Trebizond]] (died of [[bubonic plague]], 1366).<ref>Ivane Javakhishvili, The History of the Georgian Nation, vol. 3, Tbilisi, 1982, p.180</ref>
-Bagrat appointed him co-ruler in 1369.
+=== Early life and co-ruler ===
-When the [[Tbilisi|Tbilis]] [[Siege of Tbilisi (1386)|fell]] on 22 November 1386, its inhabitants were massacred and Bagrat fell into captivity. [[Timurid Empire|Timur's]] army spent the winter in [[Karabakh]]. To regain his freedom, Bagrat pretended to convert to [[Islam]] and [[Timur]] sent him back under surveillance of a 12,000 strong army which was to enforce [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgian Kingdom]] conversion to islam. Bagrat secretly informed his son George,  who raised an army and destroyed the Timurid troops, and freeing Bagrat.{{Sfn| Baumer|2023|p=75}}
+George was the son of the [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] King [[Bagrat V of Georgia|Bagrat V]] and his first wife [[Helena Megale Komnene]] (died of [[bubonic plague]], 1366).<ref>Ivane Javakhishvili, The History of the Georgian Nation, vol. 3, Tbilisi, 1982, p.180</ref> Bagrat appointed him co-ruler in 1369.{{Sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=149}}
+When [[Tbilisi]] [[Siege of Tbilisi (1386)|fell]] on 22 November 1386, its inhabitants were massacred and Bagrat fell into captivity. [[Timurid Empire|Timur's]] army spent the winter in [[Karabakh]]. To regain his freedom, Bagrat pretended to convert to [[Islam]] and [[Timur]] sent him back under surveillance of a 12,000 strong army which was to enforce the [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgian Kingdom's]] conversion to islam. Bagrat secretly informed his son George, who raised an army and destroyed the Timurid troops, and freed Bagrat.{{Sfn| Baumer|2023|p=75}}
-[[Timur]] was very upset, but because of the middle of winter, it was impossible to march. That's why he spent the winter in [[Karabakh]], in the early spring of 1387, in March, when it was still snowing and raining, he set out with his entire army to punish [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgia]]. The [[Georgians]] expected another invasion and made proper preparations. The people were stirred up in the fortresses and in the [[Caucasus Mountains|mountains]] of the [[Caucasus]], and the army was also prepared for the invasion. Georgians resisted the enemy a lot and caused a lot of damage, but in the end the multitude of the army overcame and Timur won. Despite this, Timur was not able to conquer Georgia there were still many well-fortified fortresses to be captured, and [[Tokhtamysh]] army invaded [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] again through [[Derbent]], and Timur was forced to leave Georgia. This Tokhtamish invasion, it seems, must have been agreed upon with the Georgians. Timur pursued Tokhtamish with his son, [[Miran Shah]], who defeated Tokhtamish and expelled him from Caucasus. Then Timur tried to capture the well-fortified [[Alinja Tower|Alinjia fortress]] in [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]], but to no avail. He left part of his army at the besieged fortress, and he returned to [[Central Asia]].
+In 1392, [[George I of Imereti]] was killed during campaign against [[Vameq I Dadiani]], allowing Prince  George to unite with the great feudal lords of the West Georgia and invade the rebellious territories. The [[Kingdom of Western Georgia]] was annexed by [[Kingdom of Georgia]], while the surviving members of the rebel family took refuge in the [[Caucasus Mountains]].{{Sfn|Brosset|1856|p=248}}<ref name="Vakh">{{cite book |last=Bagrationi |first=Vakhushti |url=http://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/3067/1/Istoria_Carstva_Gruzinskogo.pdf |publisher=Metsniereba |year=1976 |editor=Nakashidze, N.T. |location=Tbilisi |pages=129–130 |language=Russian |script-title=ru:История Царства Грузинского |trans-title=History of the Kingdom of Georgia |authorlink=Prince Vakhushti of Kartli}}</ref><ref name="toum">{{cite journal |last=Toumanoff |first=Cyril |author-link=Cyril Toumanoff |year=1949–51 |title=The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia |journal=Traditio |volume=7 |page=183}}</ref>
-==Reign==
-After [[Bagrat V of Georgia|Bagrat's]] death in 1393, his son George VII became the [[List of monarchs of Georgia|king]] of [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgia]].
+=== Reign ===
-On September 13, 1394, [[Timur]] invaded with a large army from the Koli valley to the [[Aragvi|Aragvi valley]] via [[Trialeti]] and [[Kvemo Kartli]]. On the way, he destroyed everything, robbed and killed the inhabitants. Big battles took place in Aragvi valley.toimur's goal seems to have been to capture the [[Darial Gorge|Darial Pass]] in order to ultimately prevent the withdrawal of [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgian]] allied [[North Caucasus|North Caucasian]] raiders and a possible [[Tokhtamysh]] invasion. Every time Timur appeared in Georgia, Tokhtamysh tried to invade Eastern [[Caucasus]]. It happened this time as well. Timur was unable to capture Darial due to the great resistance of the mountaineers. He was forced to come down from the mountain and go to [[Shaki, Azerbaijan|Shaki]] through [[Tbilisi]]. At that time, Timur learned that Tokhtamysh would invade [[Shirvan]] through [[Derbent]] and ravage the place. Timur quickly moved in this direction, but avoided the battle and turned back again. His army encamped on the banks of the [[Kura (river)|Mtkvari]], near Mahmud Abad, and began preparations for a great campaign against Tokhtamish. It became clear to Timur that he would not be able to subdue Caucasus, including Georgia, if he did not defeat Tokhtamysh.<ref name="EncIslam2">[[Vladimir Minorsky|Minorsky, Vladimir]], "Tiflis", in: M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel (1993), ''E. J. Brill's First [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]], 1913–1936'', p. 757. Brill, {{ISBN|90-04-08265-4}}.</ref>
+[[File:Caucasus_1405_map_de_alt.svg|thumb|[[Kingdom of Georgia]] at the start of reign of George VII|230x230px]]
+In 1393, [[Bagrat V of Georgia|Bagrat]] died and George assumed full royal powers. He spent most of his reign fighting [[Timur]] who led seven more expeditions against the stubborn [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgian kingdom]] from 1387 to 1403, leaving the country in ruins.
+In 1396, [[Constantine II of Imereti|Constantine]] who has been exiled to the [[North Caucasus]] took advantage of the [[Timurid invasions of Georgia]] and the death of [[Vameq I Dadiani]], he returned to [[Imereti]] and organized a new rebellion.{{Sfn|Brosset|1856|p=248}} Without much resistance, the new rebel captured numerous fortresses and had himself crowned [[Constantine II of Imereti]], but failed to unite with the region's great feudal lords. After demanding the vassalization of the dukes of [[Svaneti]], [[Mingrelia]] and [[Guria]], but he was killed in 1401. As Constantine was childless, the crown of the [[Kingdom of Western Georgia]] was to be passed on to his young and weak nephew, [[Demetrius, Duke of Imereti|Demetrius]], George VII who took advantage of a temporary ceasefire with [[Timur]] to invade western Georgia and once again put an end to the separatist kingdom.{{Sfn|Brosset|1856|p=249}}<ref name="toum2">{{cite journal |last=Toumanoff |first=Cyril |author-link=Cyril Toumanoff |year=1949–51 |title=The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia |journal=Traditio |volume=7 |page=183}}</ref><ref name="Vakh2">{{cite book |last=Bagrationi |first=Vakhushti |url=http://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/3067/1/Istoria_Carstva_Gruzinskogo.pdf |publisher=Metsniereba |year=1976 |editor=Nakashidze, N.T. |location=Tbilisi |pages=41–42 |language=Russian |script-title=ru:История Царства Грузинского |trans-title=History of the Kingdom of Georgia |authorlink=Prince Vakhushti of Kartli}}</ref>
-Timur came to Shirvan through Derbent and camped there. He gave Iran and its neighboring countries, to his son [[Miran Shah]]. In 1397, Tamerlane returned to [[Samarkand]] and began preparations for an invasion to India.
+In 1399, George VII attacked the Timurid army [[Siege of Alinja|besieging the castle of Alinja]]. The Georgian army cut it way through the besiegers temporarily freeing the [[Jalayirid Sultanate|Jalayirid]] Prince Tahir and some of those inside the castle, while the Timurid general Seif ad-Din fled.{{sfn|Bedrosian|1997|p=268}}{{sfn|Baumer|2023|p=75}}{{Sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=149}} While the Georgian army was withdrawing from the castle, an army sent by [[Miran Shah]] under the command of Abu Bakr arrived and a [[Battle of Alinja (1399)|battle broke out]]. As the Timurid army advanced the Georgians attacked, resulting in a Georgian victory.{{Sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=149}}{{sfn|Javakhishvili|1949|p=193}}
-While [[Timur|Tamerlane]] was campaigned in India in 1399, The [[Georgians]] took advantage, George VII and  Sayyid Ali of [[Shaki, Azerbaijan|Shaki]] attacked [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] and besieged the [[Alinja Tower|Alinja fortress]] and rescued the daughter of [[Ahmad Jalayir]] the ruler of [[Jalayirid Sultanate]]. [[Miran Shah]] sent general Seif ad-Din, The Georgians defeated the new army sent by Miran Shah but Sayyid Ali died in that battle. Georgian king refused to return the hostages with explanation that this would be against of the [[Caucasus|Caucasian]] traditions and Tamerlane personally started preparation for campaign against Georgia.{{sfn|Anchabadze|2014|p=48}}
+This event prompted Timur to return in 1399. He captured [[Shaki, Azerbaijan|Shaki]] and devastated the neighboring region of [[Kingdom of Hereti|Hereti]] and [[Kakheti]].<ref>Hodong Kim, "The Early History of the Moghul Nomads: The Legacy of the Chaghatai Khanate." ''The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy.'' Ed. Reuven Amitai-Preiss i David Morgan. Leiden: Brill, 1998.</ref> In the spring of 1400, Timur moved back to destroy the Georgian state once and for all. He demanded that George should hand over the [[Jalayirid Sultanate|Jalayirid]] Tahir but George refused with explanation that this would be against the Caucasian traditions and met Timur at the Sagim River in [[Kvemo Kartli]], but suffered a defeat.<ref>Mirza Muhammad Haidar. ''The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia)''. Traduit per Edward Denison Ross, editat per N. Elias. Londres, 1895.</ref> After the war, of those who survived the fighting and reprisals, many thousands died of hunger and disease, and 60,000 survivors were enslaved and carried away by Timur's troops.<ref name="Islam Conquests">[[Vladimir Minorsky|Minorsky, Vladimir]], "Tiflis", in: M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel (1993), ''E. J. Brill's First [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]], 1913–1936'', p. 757. Brill, {{ISBN|90-04-08265-4}}.</ref>
-[[Timur]] returned from the [[Central Asia]], Timur came to [[Caucasus]] at the end of 1399 and camped in the [[Karabakh]]. Sharvanshah [[Ibrahim I of Shirvan|Ibrahim]] and the ruler of [[Shaki, Azerbaijan|Shaki]], Siyid Ahmed, who forgave his father's campaign, approved him as the ruler of Shaki and ordered both of them to participate in the war against [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgia]]. Timur took three chosen fighters out of every ten in his army, and thus made an army of 100,000, whom he ordered to take a 10-day march. The armies of [[Shirvanshahs|Shirvan]] and Shaki were also added to them. This big army invaded [[Saingilo|Hereti]] and [[Kakheti]]. The purpose of this invasion was to obtain booty and food.
+In late 1401, Timur invaded the Georgia once again.<ref name=":4">Beatrice Forbes Manz, ''The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane.'' Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1989. {{ISBN|0-521-63384-2}}</ref> George VII had to sue for peace, and sent his brother [[Constantine I of Georgia|Constantine]] with the contributions. Timur [[Truce of Shamkor|made peace with George]] on condition that the King of Georgia supplied him troops during his campaign against [[Ottoman Empire]] and granted the [[Muslims]] special privileges.<ref>Sicker, Martin (2000), ''The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to Siege of Vienna'', p. 155. Praeger, {{ISBN|0-275-96892-8}}.</ref> Once the Ottomans were defeated at the [[Battle of Ankara]], Timur, back to [[Erzurum]] in 1402, decided to punish George VII for not having come to present his congratulations on his victory. Historians reported that 700 towns were destroyed and their inhabitants massacred by Timurid forces.<ref name=":12">The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asi</ref><ref name="Islam Conquests2">[[Vladimir Minorsky|Minorsky, Vladimir]], "Tiflis", in: M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel (1993), ''E. J. Brill's First [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]], 1913–1936'', p. 757. Brill, {{ISBN|90-04-08265-4}}.</ref>
-Timur's army invaded Hereti through a forest road. Soldiers were cutting their way with axes. It snowed continuously for 20 days. Despite this situation, Khimshia's army resisted the enemy. The battle lasted for a month. Timur's raiders looted and destroyed everything. They cut fruit trees, vineyards, walnut trees. In the end, due to the lack of fodder for cattle, they were forced to stop their march and return back during the heavy snowfall. The enemy army took a lot of property from Hereti. There were especially many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. See also food products. The army leaving Hereti joined the main camp in [[Karabakh]]. Timur started preparations for the new sixth invasion in Georgia.
-[[Timur]] spent the winter of 1399-1400 in [[Karabakh]]. After supplying food and replenishing the army, Timur marched towards [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgia]] in the spring of 1400 and camped near the border. Timur sent an ambassador to [[George VII of Georgia|King George]] and demanded obedience and the handing over of prince Taher. Otherwise, he threatened to destroy Georgia.
-The armies of Timur and [[Georgians]] clashed at Gogchi lake. The Georgian army had a better position. It was a windy day and he was blowing dust right in the enemy's face. In the first attack, the Georgians almost completely destroyed the advance detachment of the enemy. However, Timur's army greatly outnumbered the Georgian army. In the evening, Timur attacked the Georgians, who were tired from the whole day's battle, with new large army. Georgians were forced to retreat and strengthen themselves in the mountains, fortresses and caves of [[Kvemo Kartli]]. Timur's warriors descended in front of the caves with baskets tied on ropes and shot arrows at the burning embers. This is how the mountainous part of Kvemo Kartli was identified. Then they came to [[Tbilisi]] and took it with great battles. Timur wanted to capture king George and did everything for this. He had special squads chase after George. King George was retreating with a fight. Opponents fought so close to each other that some members of George Amal were even captured by the [[Timurid Empire|Timurids]]. On the way, the enemy destroyed churches, fortresses, houses, crops, orchards. Thus they passed through [[Mukhrani|Mukhran]] and its surroundings.
-Then they invaded the area of [[Ksani]]. [[Eristavi]] Virsheli of Ksni was a participant in the [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]] campaign. It seems that the prisoners brought from there were also in the Ksani valley. One of the goals of Timur's invasion of [[Duchy of Ksani|Saeristavo]] was to seize them. Virsheli fortified himself in Knogo prison and put up a great resistance to the attackers. The enemy did not manage to deploy a large army in the narrow valley and was forced to turn back, although he caused a lot of damage to the Ksani valley. After the Ksani valley, the Timurids invaded [[Kartli]]. Janibeg, the chief of Kartli, put up a lot of resistance, but in the end he was forced to submit, although his domain still could not escape from the destruction. There were also Muslim prisoners brought from Nakhichevan in Janibeg's domain.
-The next big battle took place near the [[Gori Fortress|fortress of Gori]]. Despite the resistance of the Georgians, Timud still captured the fortress. King George was retreating again with a fight, and Timur was destroying everything on the way. Georgians defended the well-fortified Dzami fortress for seven days, after which King George was forced to leave the fortress, broke through the siege and retreated to the west. Timur's army overran the place and massacred the population mercilessly. The last battle was fought by King George against the enemy in the area of [[Likhi Range|Likhi ridge]]. King Geomoe was forced to move to Western Georgia. Tamerlane did not dare to move to Western Georgia.
-After that, he ransacked [[Meskheti|Samtskhe]], robbed and robbed. They also gathered a lot of prisoners. From there, passing [[Trialeti]], they went to Tezmi valley and looted and ransacked the place, including [[Rkoni Monastery|Rkoni monastery]]. Then the [[Kvatakhevi]] area was raided, and the monastery was set on fire and the people sheltering there, including monks, were burned. After that, they entered [[Mtskheta]] and looted and destroyed [[Svetitskhoveli Cathedral|Svetitskhoveli]]. Big battles took place in [[Aragvi|Aragvi valley]] as well. The population of Aragvi also suffered great losses. From here, Timur marched south to the Kol field, on the way he took the fortress of Phanaskert, destroyed its surroundings and camped on the Kol field.
-The invasion of 1400, which lasted the whole spring-summer, was the longest and the longest. They destroyed, looted and burned many cities and villages, castles and churches, monasteries, fields and orchards; They took 60,000 prisoners and massacred many more people. According to the historians of Tamerlane, all this happened because King George killed the Timurids besieging the [[Alinja Tower|Alinja fortress]] in Nakhichevan.<ref name="EncIslam"/>
-After the departure of [[Timur]] from [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgia]], [[George VII of Georgia|King George]] moved to [[Eastern Georgia (country)|Eastern Georgia]] and began to organize domestic affairs. King George and Virshel [[Eristavi]] of [[Duchy of Ksani|Ksani]] raided and punished the [[Dvals]], who took advantage of Timur's invasion and raided and looted the [[Ksani|Ksani valley]].
-In 1401, after a ten-year siege, Timur's troops captured the [[Alinja Tower|fortress of Alinja]] in [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]]. In the same year, Timur came to the borders of Georgia from the east and camped in [[Shamkir (city)|Shamkor]].
-[[Constantine I of Georgia|Konstantine Batonishvili]], the ambassador of King George, offered Timur in Shamkor a [[Truce of Shamkor|truce]] with great gifts and in the name of the king. Tamerlane was preparing for a war against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], and therefore a truce was desirable for him. According to the terms of the truce, Georgia paid tribute, withdrew a certain number of troops, Georgians were not supposed to harass [[Muslims]], etc. Instead, Timur promised security to Georgia. A truce was concluded in September 1401.<ref>Sicker, Martin (2000), ''The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege of Vienna'', p. 155. Praeger, {{ISBN|0-275-96892-8}}.</ref> Tamerlane stopped in [[Karabakh]] to spend the winter. In the spring, Timur's great army left for Ottomans. On the way, he came to the Tortumi fortress, in which about 200 [[Georgians|Georgian]] soldiers were fortified, took it and destroyed it after a five-day battle, and cut off the soldiers.<ref name="EncIslam"/>
-Once the Ottomans were [[Battle of Ankara|defeated]], Timur, back in [[Erzurum]] in 1402, decided to punish the king of Georgia for not having come to present his congratulations on his victory. George VII's brother, [[Constantine I of Georgia|Constantine]], who was then on bad terms with his brother, arrived with gifts, as did the king's defiant vassal Iwane Jaqeli, prince of Samtskhe. Sheikh [[Ibrahim I of Shirvan]] went to estimate the revenues and expenses of Georgia. George sent new presents but Timur refused them and summoned George to appear in person. In the meantime, he himself laid siege to the previously impregnable fortress of [[Birtvisi]], defended by a tiny Georgian garrison. Having captured the fortress in August 1403, Timur sent his army to plunder and clear the frontier regions of Georgia and set out in pursuit of the retreating king George VII as far as [[Abkhazia]]. Timur's historian reports that 700 towns were destroyed and their inhabitants massacred.<ref name="EncIslam"/><ref>Grousset, René (1970), The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, pp. 433–4. Rutgers University Press, {{ISBN|0-8135-1304-9}}.</ref>
-Finally, in 1403 George had to make peace with the fierce enemy, recognising Timur as a suzerain and paying him tribute, but retaining the right to be crowned as a [[Christianity|Christian]] monarch.
 In the aftermath of Timur's death in February 1405 and the subsequent power struggles among his heirs, Timur's empire became fragmented as [[Miran Shah]] and his sons struggled over control of [[Persia]]. In the midst of this chaos, George, who had returned from Imereti, engaged in battles to regain lost territories. He managed to conquer [[Nakhchivan (city)|Nakhchivan]] and [[Ganja, Azerbaijan|Ganja]] while also causing destruction in places like [[Ani]], [[Erzurum]], and [[Tabriz]]. Despite commanding an army of merely 5,000 men, George succeeded in expanding Georgia's borders temporarily to their former extent.{{Sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=152}}
+According to [[Vakhushti of Kartli]], He was killed in battle against the [[Turkoman (ethnonym)|Turkoman]] nomads, apparently of the [[Qara Qoyunlu]] clan. Today, some historians consider this information of Vakhushti doubtful and claim that George VII died of natural causes.<ref>Tavadze, L. (2008) About the reasons of Georgian King George VII death, Studies in the Middle Ages History of Georgia,  Vol. IX. p. 41–45 {{ISBN|978-9941-12-174-6}}</ref>
-===Death===
-According to [[Vakhushti of Kartli|Vakhushti]], He was killed in battle against the [[Turkmen people|Turkmen]] nomads, apparently of the [[Kara Koyunlu]] clan. Today, some historians consider this information of Vakhushti doubtful and claim that George VII died of natural causes.<ref>Tavadze, L. (2008) About the reasons of Georgian King George VII death, Studies in the Middle Ages History of Georgia,  Vol. IX. p. 41–45 {{ISBN|978-9941-12-174-6}}</ref>
 George VII may have died childless, as his brother [[Constantine I of Georgia|Constantine I]] became the next king.
@@ Line 83: / Line 60: @@
 {{Reflist}}
-==Source==
+==Sources==
-* {{Cite book |last=Anchabadze |first=Zaza |title=European Georgia: (ethnogeopolitics in Caucasus and Ethnogenetical History of Europe) |year=2014 |isbn=9941063222 |location=Tbilisi}}
 * {{Cite book |last=Baumer |first=Christoph |title=History of the Caucasus |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2023 |isbn=9780755636303 |language=English}}
+* {{cite book |last=Brosset |first=Marie-Félicité |date=1856 |title=Histoire de la Géorgie depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle - IIe partie: Histoire moderne |publisher=Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences |url=https://archive.org/details/BrossetHistGeo2/ }}
+*{{cite book |date=1949 |first1=Ivane |language=ka |last1=Javakhishvili |location=Tbilisi |publisher=Publication d'État de la RSS de Géorgie |title=Histoire de la Géorgie. XIe – XVe siècles}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator -->.
+*{{cite book|first1=Vladimir|last1=Minorsky|author-link=Vladimir Minorsky
+|title=Transcaucasica|date=1930|publisher=[[Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner]]|url=https://archive.org/details/Transcaucasica|language=fr}}
 * {{cite book |last=Rayfield |first=Donald |title=Edge of Empires : A History of Georgia |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2012}}
+*{{cite book |last=Bedrosian |first=Robert |year=1997 |chapter=Armenian during the Seljuk and Mongol Periods |title=The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times |volume=I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century |editor-first=Richard G. |editor-last=Hovannisian |publisher=St. Martin's Press }}
 ==Further reading==
@@ Line 97: / Line 78: @@
 {{s-start}}
+{{succession box
-{{succession box | title= [[List of the Kings of Georgia|King of Georgia]] | before= [[Bagrat V of Georgia|Bagrat V]] | after= [[Constantine I of Georgia|Constantine I]]| years= 1393–1407}}
+| title = [[List of monarchs of Georgia|King of Georgia]]
+| before = [[Bagrat V of Georgia|Bagrat V]]
+| after = [[Constantine I of Georgia|Constantine I]]
+| years = 1393–1407
+}}
 {{s-end}}
 {{Kings of United Georgia}}
@@ Line 107: / Line 93: @@
 [[Category:14th-century births]]
 [[Category:1400s deaths]]
-[[Category:Eastern Orthodox monarchs]]