Mtavari

{{Short description|Feudal Georgian title}} [[File:Levan II Dadaini mural.jpg|thumb|'''''Mtavari''''' Levan II.]] '''''Mtavari''''' ({{lang-ka|მთავარი}}) was a feudal title in Georgia usually translated into English as Prince or Duke.

==History== The earliest instances of the use of ''mtavari'' are in the early Georgian hagiographic texts dated to the 5th century. From the 11th to the 14th centuries, the title mtavari, along with ''tavadi'', was synonymous with ''eristavi'', and all referred to one of the upper nobles, a prince. Throughout the Golden Age of the Kingdom of Georgia (12th-13th centuries), the title gradually changed from conditional to hereditary tenure, a process completed only at the end of the 15th century.<ref>Suny, p. 43.</ref> In the 15th century the term mtavari was applied only to the five ruling princes of western Georgia (Samtskhe, Mingrelia, Guria, Svaneti, and Abkhazia),<ref>Suny, p. 44.</ref> whose autonomous powers were finally eliminated under Imperial Russia.

== Notes == {{reflist}}

== References ==

*Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), ''The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition'', Indiana University Press, {{ISBN|0-253-20915-3}}. {{italic title}} Category:Medieval history of Georgia (country) Category:Nobility of Georgia (country) Category:Noble titles of Georgia (country) Category:Titles Category:Georgian words and phrases