(Redirected from David the Builder)
'David IV'
[1] also known as 'David the Builder' (
Georgian: დავით აღმაშენებელი, ''Davit Aghmashenebeli'') (
1073 –
January 24,
1125), from the House of
Bagrationi, was
King of
Georgia from
1089 to
1125 [2].
Popularly considered as the greatest Georgian king and the most successful Georgian ruler, he succeeded in driving the
Seljuk Turks out of the country winning the major
Battle of Didgori in
1121. His reforms of the army and administration enabled him to reunite the country and bring most
Caucasian lands under Georgia’s control. A friend of the church and a notable promoter of
Christian culture, he was
canonized by the
Georgian Orthodox Church.
Early life
The only son of King
George II (
1072–
1089) by his wife Helena, he was born in
Kutaisi, western
Georgia in
1073. David was raised during one of the darkest chapters of
Georgian history, amidst the strife of the so-called Great
Turkish Onslaught (''didi turkoba'') when the
Seljuk tribes began massive migrations to the southern Caucasus. King Giorgi II was unable to cope with the problem, and in a bloodless coup in
1089, he was forced to resign in favor of his 16-years-old son.
David's revival of the Georgian State
later depiction of King David by an unknown artist
Despite his age, he was actively involved in Georgia’s political life. David IV pursued a purposeful policy, taking no unconsidered step. He was determined to bring order to the land, bridle the unsubmissive secular and ecclesiastic feudal lords, centralize the state administration, form a new type of army that would stand up better to the
Seljuk Turkish military organization, and then go over to a methodical offensive with the aim of expelling the Seljuks first from Georgia and then from the whole
Caucasus. Between
1089–
1100, King David organized small detachments of his loyal troops to restore order and destroy isolated enemy troops. He began the resettlement of devastated regions and helped to revive major cities. Encouraged by his success, but more importantly the beginning of the
Crusades in
Palestine, he ceased payment of the annual contribution to the Seljuks and put an end to their seasonal migration to Georgia. In
1101, King David captured the fortress of
Zedazeni, a strategic point in his struggle for
Kakheti and
Hereti, and within the next three years he liberated most of eastern Georgia.
In
1093, he arrested the powerful feudal lord Liparit Baghvashi, a long-time enemy of the Georgian crown, and expelled him from Georgia (1094). After the death of Liparit’s son Rati, David abolished their duchy of
Kldekari in
1103.
He slowly pushed the
Seljuk Turks out of the country, recovering more and more land from them as they were now forced to focus not only on the Georgians but the newly begun
Crusades in the eastern
Mediterranean [3]. By
1099 David IV's power was considerable enough that he was able to refuse paying tribute to the Turks. By that time, he also rejected a
Byzantine title of ''
panhypersebastos''
[4] thus indicating that Georgia would deal with the
Byzantine Empire only on a parity basis.
In
1103 a major ecclesiastical congress known as the Ruis-Urbnisi
Synod was held at the monasteries of
Ruisi and
Urbnisi. David succeeded in removing oppositionist bishops, and combined two offices: courtier’s (''Mtzignobartukhutsesi'', i.e.
Chief Secretary) and clerical (
Bishop of Tchqondidi) into a single institution of ''Tchqondidel-Mtzignobartukhutsesi'' corresponding roughly to the post of
prime minister.
Next year, David’s supporters in the eastern Georgian province of
Kakheti captured the local king Aghsartan II (1102–1104), a loyal tributary of the Seljuk
Sultan, and reunited the area with the rest
Georgia.
Military campaigns
Following the annexation of Kakheti, in
1105, David routed a Seljuk punitive force at the Battle of Ertzukhi, leading to momentum that helped him to secure the key fortresses of
Samshvilde,
Rustavi, Gishi, and
Lorri between
1110 and
1118.
Problems began to crop up for David now. His population, having been at war for the better part of twenty years, needed to be allowed to become productive again. Also, his nobles were still making problems for him, along with the city of
Tbilisi which still could not be liberated from
Arab grasp. Again David was forced to solve these problems before he could continue the reclamation of his nation and people. For this purpose, David IV radically reformed his military. He resettled a
Kipchak tribe of 40,000 families from the
Northern Caucasus in Georgia in
1118–
1120. Every family was obliged to provide one soldier with a horse and weapons. This 40,000 strong Kipchak-army was entirely dependent on the King. Kipchaks were settled in different regions of Georgia. Some were settled in
Inner Kartli province, others were given lands along the border. They were quickly assimilated into
Georgians.
In
1120 David IV moved to western Georgia and, when the Turks began pillaging Georgian lands, he suddenly attacked them. Only an insignificant Seljuk force escaped. King David then entered the neighbouring
Shirvan and took the town of
Qabala.
In the winter of
1120–
1121 the Georgian troops successfully attacked the Seljuk settlements on the eastern and southwestern approaches to the
Transcaucasus.
Muslim powers became increasingly concerned about the rapid rise of a Christian state in southern Caucasia. In 1121,
Sultan Mahmud b. Muhammad (1118–1131) declared a
holy war on Georgia and rallied a large coalition of Muslim states led by the
Artuqid Najm al-din El-ğazi and
Toğrul b. Muhammad. The size of the Muslim army is still a matter of debate with numbers ranging from fantastic 600,000 men (
Walter the Chancellor’s Bella Antiochena,
Matthew of Edessa) to 400,000 (
Smbat Sparapet’s Chronicle) to modern Georgian estimates of 180,000–250,000 men. Although all these numbers are exaggerated, all sources agree that the Muslim powers gathered an army that was much larger than the Georgian force of 56,000 men. However,
August 12,
1121, King David routed the enemy army on the fields of
Didgori, achieving what is often considered the greatest military success in Georgian history. The victory at Didgori signaled the emergence of Georgia as a great military power and shifted the regional balance in favor of Georgian cultural and political supremacy.
Following his success, King David captured
Tbilisi, the last Muslim enclave remaining from the Arab occupation, in 1122 and moved the Georgian capital there. A well-educated man, he preached tolerance and acceptance of other religions, abrogated taxes and services for the Muslims and
Jews, and protected the
Sufis and Muslim scholars. In
1123, David’s army liberated
Dmanisi, the last Seljuk stronghold in southern Georgia. In
1124, David finally conquered
Shirvan and took the
Armenian city of
Ani from the Muslim
Emirs, thus expanding the borders of his kingdom to the
Araxes basin. Armenians met him as a liberator providing some auxiliary force for his army. It was when the important component of "Sword of the
Messiah" appeared in the title of David the Builder. It is engraved on a copper coin of David's day:
Humane treatment of the Muslim population, as well as the representatives of other religions and cultures, set a standard for tolerance in his multiethnic kingdom. It was a hallmark not only for his enlightened reign, but for all of Georgian history and culture.
David the Builder died on
January 24,
1125, and upon his death, King David was, as he had ordered, buried under the stone inside the main gatehouse of the Gelati Monastery so that anyone coming to his beloved Gelati Academy stepped on his tomb first, a humble gesture for a great man. He had three children, the son
Demetre, who succeeded him and continued his father's victorious reign; and two daughters,
Tamar, who was married to the
Shirwan Shah Akhsitan (Aghsartan in Georgian), and
Kata (Katai), married to
Isaakios Comnenus, the son of the
Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus. Beside his political and military skills, King David earned fame as a writer, composing Galobani sinanulisani (Hymns of Repentance, c. 1120), a powerful work of emotional
free-verse psalms, which reveal the king’s humility and religious zeal.
Cultural life
King David the Builder gave close attention to the education of his people. The king selected children who were sent to the
Byzantine Empire "so that they be taught languages and bring home translations made by them there". Many of them later became well-known scholars.
At the time of David the Builder there were quite a few schools and academies in Georgia, among which
Gelati occupies a special place. King David's historian calls Gelati Academy Besides Gelati there also were other cultural-enlightenment and scholarly centers in Georgia at that time, i.e. the Academy of
Ikalto.
King David was an author of a religious poem “Galobani Sinanulisani” (
Psalms of Regret).
Family
Marriages
★ Rusudan, an
Armenian princess (divorced in
1107)
★ Gurandukht, daughter of the
Kipchak chief Atraka (''ca''.
1107)
Children
#
Demetre I
# Prince Vakhtang (Tsuata)
# Prince George (From Rusudan)
# Princess Tamar, who married Abul Muzaffar Manuchahr II,
Shirvanshah (d. ''ca''
1154), and became a nun in widowhood.
# Princess Katay (Irene), who married the
Byzantine prince
Isaakios Comnenus Sebastocrator.
# Princess Tamar who was married to Prince Jadaros of
Ossetia
Title
H.M. The Most High King David, son of George, by the will of our Lord, King of Kings of the
Abkhazians,
Kartvelians,
Ranians,
Kakhetians and the
Armenians,
Shirvanshah and
Shahanshah of all the East and West, Sword of Messiah.
Legacy
David the Builder’s epoch greatly influenced the national perception of the
Georgians. They are still proud of David’s victories and dream of his glorious reign.
The nation’s current flag is based on David’s standard. The
Order of David the Builder is one of the most prestigious decorations awarded by
Georgia.
After being elected
President of Georgia, Georgia’s current leader
Mikheil Saakashvili took an oath at David the Builder’s tomb at
Gelati Monastery on the day of his inauguration on
January 25,
2004.
Mikheil Saakashvili said it was a symbol of his dedication to follow in David's footsteps, who brought unity and prosperity to Georgia. Many across the impoverished country hope that Saakashvili will manage to do the same.
See also
★
Kipchaks in Georgia
Notes and references
★
Georgia in the 11th–12th centuries, , Mariam, Lordkipanidze, , 1987,
★
★
1. Actually, he was the first of the unified Georgia’s kings to be named David. From this point of view, he was David I. But traditionally he is known as David IV being the fourth David in the ruling dynasty of Bagrationi. However, some Georgian historians mention him as David II referring the fact that he was the second David to have the title of ''King of the Georgians'' (adopted by the Bagratid kings of Tao-Klarjeti in 888) whereas the two others were only ruling princes.
2. Georgia in the Developed Feudal Period (XI-the first quarter of the XIII c.) www.parliament.ge/ Retrieved 13 August 2006.
3. Fighting against the Seljuks, Georgia and the Crusaders developed fairly friendly relations. A 13th century anonymous Georgian author (conventionally known as the First Chronicler of Queen Tamar) as well as Abul-Faraj gives a version, though unproven otherwise, about the participation of a Georgian auxiliary force in the Siege of Jerusalem (1099). Some 300 Crusaders (known to the Georgians as ''Franks'') are also known to take part in the famous Battle of Didgori (1121). King Baldwin II of Jerusalem is said by the historian Ioane Bagrationi, who refers to unknown medieval sources, to have visited incognito David IV’s court
4. Since the Bagrationi dynasty established Tao-Klarjeti principality under the Byzantine protectorate in 813, representatives of the dynasty had been granted various Byzantine titles such as ''kouropalates'', ''magistros'', ''sebastos'', etc. David was the last Georgian monarch to wear a Byzantine title.
External links
★
The Bagrationi Royal Dynasty of Georgia, by Dr. Levan Z. Urushadze (Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia) Retrieved 13 August 2006.
★
The PEDIGREE of David IV `the Builder' (King) of GEORGIA Retrieved 13 August 2006.
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