George II of Imereti

George II

George II, a fresco from the Gelati Monastery
King of Imereti
Reign 1565–1585
Predecessor Bagrat III of Imereti
Successor Levan of Imereti
Died 1585
Spouse Rusudan Shervashidze
Tamar Diasamidze
Issue Levan of Imereti
Dynasty Bagrationi dynasty
Father Bagrat III of Imereti
Mother Elene
Religion Georgian Orthodox Church

George II (Georgian: გიორგი II) (died 1585), of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Imereti from 1565 to 1585.

Reign

George II succeeded on the death of his father, Bagrat III. With his ascend to the throne, George found himself involved in the civil war among the princes of western Georgia. He sided with his nominal vassal, George II Gurieli, Prince of Guria, against Levan I Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia. The latter allied himself with the king's cousin Prince Khosro, Varaz Chiladze and other Imeretian nobles, and attempted, in 1568, to oust George II in favor of Khosro. The king won a victory at Ianeti and, together with the prince of Guria, took control of Mingrelia. Levan fled to Istanbul and, with an Ottoman support, resumed the throne, forcing Gurieli to plea for peace. Later, the two princes forged an alliance and revolted against the king. The western Georgian princes became engulfed into havoc of feudal warfare, mounting and disbanding alliances, and raiding the rival fiefdoms. In addition to the civil strife, the Ottomans also increased their pressure upon the Kingdom of Imereti. Although George II was able to block the advance of the Turkish commander Lala Mustafa Pasha from eastern Georgia in 1578, he had to submit to the sultan’s order and, in 1581, at the head of a combined Imeretian-Mingrelian-Gurian army, raided the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartli whose ruler, Simon I, waged a relentless guerrilla warfare against the Ottoman army.

Family

George II was married three times. The identity of his first wife is unknown. He married secondly to Rusudan Shervashidze (died 1578) and thirdly to Tamar (died 1586), daughter of Prince Shermazan Diasamidze. He had six sons:

References

    Preceded by
    Bagrat III    		 King of Imereti
    1565–1585     		Succeeded by
    Levan
    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.