{{Short description|Prince of Samtskhe}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Manuchar II Jaqeli | reign = 1581–1607 | predecessor = [[Qvarqvare IV Jaqeli|Qvarqvare IV]] | successor = [[Manuchar III Jaqeli|Manuchar III]] | succession = Atabeg of [[Samtskhe-Saatabago|Samtskhe]] | dynasty = [[Jaqeli]] | father = [[Kaikhosro II Jaqeli]] | mother = [[Dedisimedi]] | spouse = Helen of [[Kingdom of Kartli|Kartli]] | issue = [[Manuchar III Jaqeli|Manuchar III]]<br>Tinatin | birth_date = 1550 | death_date = 1614 | religion = [[Georgian Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] }} '''Manuchar II Jaqeli''' ({{lang-ka|მანუჩარ II ჯაყელი}}; 1550 – 1614),{{Sfn|Toumanoff|1976|p=207}} of the [[House of Jaqeli]], was prince of [[Samtskhe-Saatabago|Samtskhe]] (styled with the hereditary title of [[atabeg]]) and the [[pasha]] of its capital [[Akhaltsikhe]] from 1581 to 1607 (''[[de facto]]'' only up to 1587). Later, when he was removed from power by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], he fled to [[Safavid dynasty|Safavid Iran]], where he served at the Safavid court until his death, and continued to claim the title of atabeg of Samtskhe.
==Biography== Manuchar was the son of [[Kaikhosro II Jaqeli]] by his wife [[Dedisimedi]], and served as the regent of Samtskhe between 1576 and 1578.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=379}} He was married to a daughter of [[Simon I of Kartli]], named Helen (fl. 1583–1609). During his regency, he sided with the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]].{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=379}} Manuchar II was present at the [[Battle of Çıldır]], where he watched the Ottomans win from a nearby mountaintop.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=176}} After the battle ended, Manuchar descended, and handed over the keys of the nearby castles, while at the same time he looked on the thousands of captured men of the combined Safavid-Georgian army being executed on the spot.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=176}} Subsequently, the Ottomans took the rest of Samtskhe, and divided it into eight ''[[sanjaks]]''.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=176}} Manuchar II was appointed head of one these ''sanjaks'', that of Khakhuli.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=176}}
Later, when the Ottomans found themselves stalled in [[Kartli]] due to the fierce resistance of [[Simon I of Kartli|Simon I]] (Shahnavaz Khan), Manuchar and the rest of his family were brought to [[Erzurum]] by [[Lala Mustafa Pasha]].{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=177}} There, Manuchar offered the Ottomans his support if they were to take [[Shirvan]], as long as Samtskhe would be kept semi-autonomous.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=177}} The Ottomans however refused, and appointed Manuchar's brother Kvarkvare IV as the new atabeg of Samtskhe.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=177}} Manuchar subsequently travelled to the Ottoman court in [[Istanbul]], converted to [[Islam]], adopted the name Mustafa, and was appointed [[pasha]] of Akhaltsikhe in 1579 by the Ottomans, though he was not yet in control of it.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=379}}{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=188}} In 1581, he drove his older brother [[Qvarqvare IV Jaqeli|Qvarqvare IV]] away, who had been ruling Samtskhe as a puppet of his "imperious" mother Dedisimedi since his father's death in 1573,{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=175}} and ruled eastern Samtskhe as [[Childir Eyalet|pasha of Childir]].{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=177}}
[[File:Secaatname 0016 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Manuchar II attended the [[Battle of Çıldır]] between Ottomans and Safavids (and fellow Georgians) from a nearby mountaintop during the [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590)]].{{sfn|Papuashvili|2020|p=55}}{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=176}}]] Even though Manuchar, now known as Mustafa Pasha,{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=188}} chose to support the Ottomans, he had a double agenda, and maintained secret communications with the Georgian nobility, and especially with Simon I, who, after his initial struggle against [[Safavid Iran]], actively fought against the Ottoman encroachment and expansion in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]].{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=379}} At the [[Mukhrani|Mukhrani Field]], an Ottoman force aided by Manuchar as well as men from [[Principality of Guria|Guria]], [[Principality of Mingrelia|Mingrelia]] and [[Kingdom of Imereti|Imereti]], fought the Safavid-Georgian force of Simon I and Ali-Qoli Khan, and were defeated.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=178}} Manuchar was subsequently blamed for the catastrophe, and a military council discussed the option of having him executed.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=178}} Aware of the dangerous situation, Manuchar got involved in a deadly [[skirmish]] while asking for new orders in the tent of the pasha of Tbilisi, who had taken refuge in Samtskhe.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=178}} The pasha was badly wounded, and the Ottomans retreated from Samtskhe to [[Kars]] shortly after.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|pages=178-179}} Manuchar subsequently renounced Islam and joined Simon I's anti-Ottoman efforts.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=179}} Dismayed, the Ottomans appointed another Muslim Georgian to rule Samtskhe, but soon after the Ottoman sultan sent apologies to Manuchar, and re-confirmed him as atabeg in 1582, which he were to stay till 1585.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=179}}{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=379}} In the ensuing years, Manuchar assisted Simon in several battles against the Turks, including the battle near the Khrami river.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=179}}
In 1587, the Ottoman sultan planned to deal once and for all with the issue related to Simon I and Manuchar II of Samtskhe; one of his armies took Akhaltsikhe, which Manuchar was unable to defeat.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=379}} Manuchar subsequently fled to [[Safavid Iran|Iran]], where he served at the Safavid court until his death in 1614.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=379}} [[Treaty of Constantinople (1590)|In 1590]], in order to buy time, the Safavids decided to recognize all of Georgia as an Ottoman possession, which therefore also sealed Samtskhe's fate for the time being.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=179}} When in 1608 [[Luarsab II of Kartli]] gained the Iranian approval to attack the Ottomans in Samtskhe, the war was prompted by Manuchar II's wife Elene.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=188}} She hoped to see her son become the next atabeg of Samtskhe, with Iranian and Kartlian help.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|page=188}} This would eventually be accomplished, and their son succeeded as [[Manuchar III Jaqeli|Manuchar III]].{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=379}}
== Family == Manuchar II Jaqeli married Helen, daughter of [[Simon I of Kartli]], on 24 March 1583. They had two children:{{Sfn|Toumanoff|1976|pp=207–208}}
* [[Manuchar III Jaqeli]] (1591–1625), last Atabeg of [[Samtskhe-Saatabago|Samtskhe]] from 1607 to 1625; * Tinatin (died 1610), who married [[Rostom of Imereti]] in 1597.
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Sources== * {{cite book|last1=Mikaberidze|first1=Alexander|title=Historical Dictionary of Georgia|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1442241466|edition=2}} * {{cite journal |last1=Papuashvili |first1=Tamar |title=The Childiri Battle According To Şecâ’atnâme |journal=2nd Intertational Conference on Research in Social Sciences and Humanities |date=10 December 2020 |page=55 |doi=10.33422/2nd.icrsh.2020.12.08 |url=https://www.dpublication.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/35-5035.pdf}} * {{cite book|last1=Rayfield|first1=Donald|title=Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia|date=2012|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1780230702}} * {{cite book |last=Toumanoff |first=Cyril |author-link=Cyril Toumanoff |title=Manuel de Généalogie et de Chronologie pour l'histoire de la Caucasie chrétienne (Arménie, Géorgie, Albanie) |publisher=Edizioni Aquila |year=1976 |location=Rome |language=French |trans-title=Manual of Genealogy and Chronology of Christian Caucasian History (Armenia, Georgia, Albania)}}
{{s-start}} {{s-hou|[[Jaqeli]]}} {{s-bef|before=[[Qvarqvare IV Jaqeli|Qvarqvare IV]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Samtskhe-Saatabago|Prince of Meskheti]]|years=1581-1607}} {{s-aft|after=[[Manuchar III Jaqeli|Manuchar III]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Atabegs of Samtskhe}}
[[Category:1557 births]] [[Category:1614 deaths]] [[Category:Atabegs of Samtskhe]] [[Category:16th-century people from Georgia (country)]] [[Category:17th-century people from Georgia (country)]] [[Category:Georgians from the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:Converts to Sunni Islam from Eastern Orthodoxy]] [[Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Sunni Islam]] [[Category:Ottoman governors of Georgia]] [[Category:16th-century people from Safavid Iran]] [[Category:Iranian people of Georgian descent]] [[Category:House of Jaqeli]] [[Category:Safavid appointed rulers of Samtskhe]] [[Category:17th-century people from Safavid Iran]]