# Alexander I of Georgia

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King of Georgia from 1412 to 1442

Alexander I the Great ალექსანდრე I დიდი Fresco of King Alexander I from the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. King of Georgia Reign 1412–1442 Predecessor Constantine I Successor Vakhtang IV Regent Vakhtang (1433–1442) Demetrius (1433–1442) George (1433–1442) Zaal (1433–1442) Born 1390 Died between August 26, 1445 and March 7, 1446 Burial Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Mtskheta Spouse Dulandukht Orbelian Tamar of Imereti Issue Unnamed daughter Vakhtang IV Demetrius George VIII David Zaal Dynasty Bagrationi Father Constantine I of Georgia Mother Natia Amirejibi Religion Georgian Orthodox Church Khelrtva

**Alexander I the Great** ([Georgian](/source/Georgian_language): ალექსანდრე I დიდი, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Georgian): aleksandre I didi; 1390 – between August 26, 1445 and March 7, 1446), of the [Bagrationi](/source/Bagrationi_dynasty) house, was [king](/source/List_of_monarchs_of_Georgia) (*[mepe](/source/Mepe)*) of [Georgia](/source/Kingdom_of_Georgia) from 1412 to 1442. Despite his efforts to restore the country from the ruins left by the [Turkomans](/source/Turkoman_invasions_of_Georgia) warlords and [Timur](/source/Timur)'s [invasions](/source/Timurid_invasions_of_Georgia), Georgia never recovered and [faced the inevitable fragmentation](/source/Collapse_of_the_Georgian_realm) that was followed by a long period of stagnation. Alexander was the last ruler of a united Georgia which was relatively free from foreign domination.[1] In 1442, he abdicated the throne and retired to a monastery.

## Biography

Alexander was the eldest son of [Constantine I of Georgia](/source/Constantine_I_of_Georgia) and his wife Princess Natia [Amirejibi](/source/Amirejibi), daughter of the Georgian diplomat prince [Kutsna Amirejibi](/source/Kutsna_Amirejibi). He was brought up by his grandmother (Natia's mother) Rusa (died 1413), an educated and religious noblewoman, who greatly influenced the future king’s preoccupations and his enthusiasm for religious building.

The ruler successfully managed to carry out such a difficult task under those conditions. He destroyed and expelled Turkomans. Only once, for the last time, [Qara Yusuf](/source/Qara_Yusuf) managed to disturb the Georgian land and water, and that too because of the intolerant exodus of the subjects of Alexander the Great.[2][*[failed verification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability)*][3] In 1416 Qara Yusuf invaded Akhaltsikhe, and he returned to his homeland with much loot.[4][3]

With his ascension to the throne (1412), Alexander moved to western Georgia and mediated a peace between his vassals, the rival princes of [Mingrelia](/source/Principality_of_Mingrelia) and [Abkhazia](/source/Principality_of_Abkhazia). Then he, in 1414, met the rebellious prince [Atabeg](/source/Atabeg) [Ivane Jaqeli](/source/Ivane_II_Jaqeli) of [Samtskhe](/source/Samtskhe_atabegate) on battlefield and forced him into submission. Having dealt with these powerful feudal lords, he, aided by [Catholicos Patriarch Shio II](/source/Shio_II_of_Georgia), began a program the restoration of major Georgian fortresses and churches. He imposed a temporary building tax on his subjects from 1425 to 1440, but despite the king’s efforts many towns and villages, once flourished, were left in ruin and overgrown by forest.

A fresco of the King Alexander I from the [Nabakhtevi monastery](/source/Nabakhtevi_Virgin_Mary_Church) in Georgia.

[Kingdom of Georgia](/source/Kingdom_of_Georgia) with [Lori](/source/Lori_Province) and [Synuik](/source/Kingdom_of_Syunik)

In 1431, he re-conquered [Lori](/source/Lori_Province), a Georgian marchland occupied by the [Kara Koyunlu](/source/Kara_Koyunlu) [Turkoman tribesmen](/source/Turkmen_people) of Persia who [had frequently raided](/source/Turkoman_invasions_of_Georgia) the southern Georgian marches from there and had even sacked [Akhaltsikhe](/source/Akhaltsikhe) in 1416.[5] Around 1434/5, Alexander encouraged the Armenian prince Beshken II [Orbelian](/source/Orbelian_Dynasty) to attack the Kara Koyunlu clansmen in [Syunik](/source/Syunik_Region) (Siunia) and, for his victory, granted him Lorri under terms of vassalage.[6]

In 1440, Alexander refused to pay tribute to [Jahan Shah](/source/Jahan_Shah) of the Kara Kouynlu. In March, Jahan Shah surged into Georgia with 20,000 troops, destroyed the city of [Samshvilde](/source/Samshvilde) and sacked the capital city [Tbilisi](/source/Tbilisi). He massacred thousands of Christians, According to [Thomas of Metsoph](/source/Thomas_of_Metsoph), Jahan Shah imposed a large tax on the Christians living in Tbilisi in order to convert them to Islam. It is not known from other sources how much this tax was and whether Christians paid it or not.[7]

[Constantine I](/source/Constantine_I_of_Georgia) (his father), Alexander I, [Vakhtang IV](/source/Vakhtang_IV_of_Georgia) (his son) and [George VIII](/source/George_VIII_of_Georgia) (his son)

In order to reduce the power of frequently rebellious aristocracy, he opposed them by appointing his sons – Vakhtang, Demetre, and George – as his co-rulers in [Kakheti](/source/Kakheti), [Imereti](/source/Imereti) and [Kartli](/source/Kartli), respectively. This, however, proved to be even dangerous to the kingdom's integrity and the fragile unity kept by Alexander would soon disappear under his sons.

For this reason, Alexander the Great is frequently claimed to have disintegrated Georgia and said not to deserve his epithet "the Great" his people bestowed on him.[8] This appellation dates almost from his own day, however, and as the modern Georgian historian [Ivane Javakhishvili](/source/Ivane_Javakhishvili) presumes, might have been related to the large-scale restoration projects launched by the king and his initial success in the struggle with the Turkmen nomads.[9]

As worldly problems overwhelmed his kingdom, Alexander abdicated the throne in 1442 and retired to a monastery under the [monastic name](/source/Monastic_name) of Athanasius.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## Marriages and children

He married c. 1411 Dulandukht, daughter of Beshken II [Orbelian](/source/Orbelian_dynasty), by whom he had two son and one daughter:

- [A daughter](/source/Bagrationi%2C_wife_of_John_IV_of_Trebizond) (c. 1411 – c. 1438) who married, 1425, the emperor [John IV of Trebizond](/source/John_IV_of_Trebizond);[10]

- [Vakhtang IV](/source/Vakhtang_IV) (c. 1413 – 1446), King of Georgia (r. 1442–1446);

- [Demetrius](/source/Demetrius%2C_son_of_Alexander_I_of_Georgia) (c. 1413 –1453), co-ruler in [Imereti](/source/Imereti); father of [Constantine II of Georgia](/source/Constantine_II_of_Georgia);

Alexander's second marriage with Princess [Tamar of Imereti](/source/Tamar_of_Imereti_(died_1455)) (died after 1455), daughter of [Alexander I of Imereti](/source/Alexander_I_of_Imereti), took place around 1414. Their children were:

- [George VIII](/source/George_VIII) (1415/1417 – 1476), King of Georgia (r. 1446–1465) and first King of [Kakheti](/source/Kingdom_of_Kakheti) (r. 1466–1476);

- [David](/source/David_II%2C_Catholicos-Patriarch_of_Georgia), Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia consecrated in 1426.

- [Zaal](/source/Zaal_(son_of_Alexander_I_of_Georgia)) (born c. 1428 – died after 1442), he was made a co-king by his father in 1433.[11]

## See also

- [History of Georgia](/source/History_of_Georgia_(country))

- [Turkoman invasions of Georgia](/source/Turkoman_invasions_of_Georgia)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Colin P. Mitchell. [*New Perspectives on Safavid Iran: Empire and Society*](https://books.google.com/books?id=1uCaELAsv3MC&dq=kakheti+depopulation+abbas&pg=PA69). Taylor & Francis, 3 mrt. 2011 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1136991948](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1136991948) p 66

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["ქართული ენციკლოპედიის ი. აბაშიძის სახელობის მთავარი სამეცნიერო რედაქცია"](https://georgianencyclopedia.ge/ka). *georgianencyclopedia.ge*. Retrieved 2025-02-23.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_3-1) Sanikidze, Levan (1991). *Unsharpened swords vol. 2* (Merani ed.). Tbilisi. p. 254. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-9941-32-859-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-9941-32-859-6).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Home"](http://qim.ge/aleqsandre%20didi1.html). *qim.ge*. Retrieved 2025-02-23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** According to the 15th-century Armenian historian [Thomas of Metsoph](/source/Thomas_of_Metsoph) (*T’ovma Metsobets’i*), the Kara Kouynlu leader [Kara Yusuf](/source/Kara_Yusuf) invaded Samtskhe and pillaged its capital Akhaltsikhe in 1416 in response to the profanation inflicted by the local Christian Georgians and Armenians on a [mosque](/source/Mosque).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Sanikidze, Levan (1991). *Unsharpened swords* (Merani ed.). Tbilisi. p. 828. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-9941-32-824-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-9941-32-824-4).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Studies in the history of Georgia, Vol. 3, Tbilisi, 1979, p. 732

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Suny (1994), page 45

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Ivane Javakhishvili (1982), page 243

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [Toumanoff, Cyril](/source/Toumanoff%2C_Cyril) (1949–51). "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia", *Traditio* 7: 181-3.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Toumanoff_11-0)** Toumanoff, "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids", *Traditio* 7: 190.

## References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Alexander I of Georgia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Alexander_I_of_Georgia).

- Ivane Javakhishvili, *The History of the Georgian Nation*, vol. 3 (1982), Tbilisi State University Press (In Georgian)

- Ronald Grigor Suny, *The Making of the Georgian Nation*: 2nd edition (December 1994), Indiana University Press, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-253-20915-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-253-20915-3)

- [T'oma Metsobeli's *History of Tamerlane and His Successors*](http://rbedrosian.com/tm4.htm)

- Sanikidze, Levan (1991). [Unsharpened swords vol. 2.](https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/handle/1234/80217) Tbilisi: Merani. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-9941-32-859-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-9941-32-859-6)

Preceded by Constantine I King of Georgia 1412–1442 Succeeded by Vakhtang IV

v t e Kings of United Georgia Kingdom of Georgia (1008–1256) Bagrat III George I Bagrat IV George II David IV Demetrius I David V George III Tamar I George IV Rusudan David VI-David VII (jointly) Kingdom of Western Georgia (1256–1329) David VI Vakhtang II Constantine I Michael Bagrat I Kingdom of Eastern Georgia (1256–1329) David VII Demetrius II David VIII Vakhtang III George V Reunification (1329–1490) George V David IX Bagrat V George VII Constantine I Alexander I Vakhtang IV George VIII Bagrat VI Alexander II Constantine II

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alexander I of Georgia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I_of_Georgia) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I_of_Georgia?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.