Prince Levan of Kartli

Levan (Georgian: ლევანი), also known by his Muslim name Shah-Qoli Khan (Persian: شاه قلی سلطان, Shāh Qolī Khān) (died 30 May 1709) was a Georgian royal prince (batonishvili) and the fourth son of the king of Kartli Vakhtang V (Shah Navaz Khan).

Biography

In 1675, Levan was confirmed as a janisin (regent) of Kartli during the absence of his reigning brother, George XI (Gurgin Khan), at the Persian military service in Afghanistan. Summoned to Isfahan in 1677, he had to accept Islam and take the name Shah-Qoli Khan. Thereafter he was appointed as naib of Kerman, Iran, and, as a commander of Georgian auxiliary forces, he secured the eastern provinces of the Persian empire from the rebellious Baluchi tribesmen from 1698 to 1701. For a short time in 1703, he was again a janisin for his absent brother in Kartli. As a reward for his military service, the Safavid shah Soltan Hoseyn made Levan, in 1703, a divanbeg (chief justice) of Persia, and his son, Khusrau Khan, darugha (i.e., prefect) of Isfahan.

During his governance in Kartli, he patronised Catholic missioners in the Caucasus. He also encouraged scholarly activities in Georgia, and helped his cousin, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, to create a Georgian dictionary, which is still widely used in Georgia. Although officially a convert to Islam, Levan covertly remained Christian and composed the prayers to St John the Baptist, St Peter, St Paul and other Christian saints.

Family

Levan was married twice. He married, in 1672, Tuta, daughter of Kaikhosro I Gurieli, Prince of Guria. She died on 11 October 1678. Their children were:

• Kaikhosro of Kartli (1674–1711), King of Kartli (r.);
• Vakhtang VI (1675–1737), King of Kartli (r.);
• Domentius IV (1677–1741), Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia (1705–1724, 1739–1741);
• Khvaramze (fl.), who married Prince Sadzverel Chijavadze (d. 1708).

Levan married Tinatin (d. 1708), daughter of the Georgian nobleman Giorgi Avalishvili, in 1680, after the death of Tuta. She had previously been married to Prince Iotam Palavankhosroshvili, with one son, Bezhan, whose daughter Ana-Khanum would marry King Teimuraz II of Kakheti as his third wife in 1746. Tinatin bore to Levan several children:

• Jesse of Kartli (1682–1727), King of Kartli (r.);
• Simon (1683–1740), regent of Kartli (1712–1714);
• Teimuraz (died 1710);

Levan also had several natural children:

• Adarnase (1707–1784), general in the Russian army;
• Khoreshan (fl.);
• Constantine (d. 1756);
• Rostom (Rustam Khan) (d. 1722), general in the Safavid army;
• David (fl.);
• Toma (fl.);
• Alexander? (died 1711), a general in the Safavid service, otherwise considered to have been a son of Levan's brother Luarsab .

External links and references

• (in English) History of Iranian-Georgian relations, an article by Keith Hitchins at Iranica.com
• (in English) Political history of Georgia 1658-1703, excerpt from David Marshall Lang, The Last years of the Georgian Monarchy, 1658–1832