User:Georgiano/sandbox/Georgian Shirvan

Georgian Shirvan is a period between 1123 to 1239 when Shirvan briefly came under the Georgian political dominance and since then the Shirvanshahs became the vassals of Kingdom of Georgia, as the result of David IV of Georgia's gradual expansions against the Seljuk Turks. Until the Mongol invasion and subjugation of Georgia by resurgent Mongol Empire in 1239, Georgian kings officially bore the title of Shirvanshahs (sovereigns of Shirvan).

Georgia reached its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar the Great from 11th to 13th centuries. The historian Ronald Suny describes Georgia of the eleventh-thirteenth centuries as the dominant regional state stretching from Muslim Shirvan on the Caspian to Christian Trebizond on the Black Sea.

History

Expansion of Kingdom of Georgia under the David IV's reign.

David IV

In the beginning of the 12th century Shirvan attracted the attention of its expanding Georgian neighbours who on several occasions raided its territory. In 1106, David IV of Georgia secured his eastern borders with the Seljuk-dominated, but culturally Iranian state of Shirvan (the successor state to Caucasian Albania) by marrying his elder daughter Tamar to Shirvan’s heir Manuchihr III, who would accede in 1120 and win fame by building Baku. Manuchir III was under the influence of his wife Tamar and maintained pro-Georgian orientation. After the decisive victory of Battle of Didgori in 1121, Manuchir rejected to pay tribute to Seljuks. Depriving from the tributes in the amount of 40 thousand dinars.

To avenge the defeat at Didgori, Sultan Mahmud II decided, as a first step, to punish the shah of Shirvan and directed to Shirvan at the beginning of 1123, captured Shamakhi and took Manuchihr III as a hostage.

Then Sultan sent an insulting letter to the King David IV, with the reproach:

"You are a King of forests and will never be able to come out into the open; now I have taken Shirvan-shah prisoner and demand kharaj from him for myself; if you want the same, send me some worthy gifts and come out of cover to see me."

In June, 1123 David advanced against the Sultan and defeated him, captured the cities and fortresses of Shamakhi, Bughurd, Gulustan and Shabran. In the same year, despite a skirmish between Georgian and Kipchak soldiers on the outskirts of the capital, Shemakhi, David finally captured the Shirvan and subjugated that country directly to the Crown. The towns and fortresses were garrisoned with Georgian troops, and the country was governed by officials appointed by the Georgian court. The western half (substantially Christian) was governed by Svimon of Bedia and Alaverdi, thus subordinated to king's chancellor, while Manuchihr and David’s daughter Tamar were given eastern Shirvan to rule.

In April 1124 David reached the Caspian and took the port of Derbent. Manuchehr restored his own power on western Shirvan upon David's death in 1125 and started friendly relations with his brother-in-law Demetrius (son of David IV).

Demetrius I

As soon as, Demetrius I of Georgia ascended to the throne, the neighbouring Muslim rulers began attacking Georgia from all sides. Shirvan's large Muslim population, although ruled by Demetre’s brother-in-law, rebelled from 1126: The Seljuk Sultans fought to restore the rule of the Shirvan. Here, with his sister’s help, Demetrius reached a compromise. In 1129–30 Shirvan was split into two, the border being the Tetri Tsqali (Aksu) river: the northwest, and partly Christian half, was incorporated into Georgia, while Manuchihr was recognized as the emir of the eastern half, his independence limited by an obligation to pay taxes and to supply Demetrius in wartime with ‘as many thousands of men as needed’.

This probably happened in 1129 or 1130, when Demetrius restored the Shirvanshahs to power in Shirvan, installing on the throne Manuchihr II, the husband of his daughter Rusudan. Shirvanshahs had to provide the Georgian king with troops whenever the latter demanded it.

Shirvan, too, although ruled by Demetre’s brother-in-law, rebelled from 1126: the Seljuks supported Manuchehr III and his Muslim populace, who wanted to restore an independent emirate. Here, with his sister’s help, Demetrius reached a compromise. In 1129–30 Shirvan was split into two, the border being the Tetri Tsqali (Aksu) river: the northwest, and partly Christian half, was incorporated into Georgia, while Manuchihr was recognized as the emir of the eastern half, his independence limited by an obligation to pay taxes and to supply Demetrius in wartime with ‘as many thousands of men as needed’. Eventually, this benefited the emir of Shirvan, since he received Georgian protection from rivals like the emirate of Derbent. Derbent, too, was secured as a vassal, though more loosely, by the marriage of Demetre’s daughter (her name is unknown) to Emir Abu al-Muzaffar.

George III

Khaqani (1121-1190), a Persian poet, native of the Shirvan.

Upon Manuchihr's death in 1160, his wife Tamar found herself involved in a power struggle among her sons, favoring the younger, who joined her in an attempt to unite Shirvan with Georgia. Manuchihr's older son Akhsitan I was able to secure support from the Eldiguzids of Azerbaijan, winning the contest for the throne and forcing Tamar and his younger brother into flight to Georgia. Ahsitan conducted independent policy, created close relations with Eldiguzids in the presence of Shams al-Din Ildeniz and Jahan Pahlavan, as well as with the Georgians. George III actively supported his nephew, Akhsitan, against foreign threats.

In 1173 Akhsitan I came to the aid of his father-in-law, George III by putting down the revolt of Prince Demna.

Akhsitan reign saw raids of Rus' with 73 ships in 1174 which sailed from Volga and threatening shores of river Kura and a Kipchak hordes who sacked Derbent and captured Shabran in the same year. Akhsitan called his alliy Georgia, which proved to be successful in siege of Derbent. George III subjugated city and turned it over to shah and strengthened the Georgian dominance in the area. They also defeated and burned Rus' navy.

George also succeeded in deterring Shams ad-Din Eldiguz’s forces from attacking his vassal Shirvan.

Khaqani, court poet of Shirvan, who composed panegyrics as well as philosophical lyrics, celebrated George III in Persian verse as:

‘a new Augustus... greater than Heracles... with no peer in the world... supreme defender of the Cross... sword of the Messiah... reincarnation of Christ’.

Tamar the Great

Between 1185-87 Tamar the Great and her husband George the Rus visited Akhsitan I.

The Kingdom of Georgia at its greatest extent, with its tributaries and spheres of influence in the reign of Tamar.

In 1186, Akhsitan attempted to intervene the interior affairs of the Eldiguzids and opposed Qizil Arslans aspiration to the throne. In the response to this, Qizil Arslan invaded Shirvan in 1191, reached to Derbent and subordinated the whole Shirvan to his authority.

The same year Qizil Arslan, who had become the sole ruler of the Great Seljuq Empire, was assassinated. The power was divided among his three sons: Abu Bakr, Qutluq Inandj and Amir Mihran. Abu Bakr governed Azerbaijan and Arran, and his brothers were the rulers of Khorasan and several neighboring regions. Soon, these three successors began to fight for the throne. Victorious in power struggle, Abu Bakr "Jahan-pahlavan" (c.1195-1210) had his elder brother Qutluq Inandj assassinated and forced the younger brother, Amir Mihran, to take refuge at the court of the latter's brother-in-law, Shirvanshah Akhsitan I (c.1160-1196). The Shirvanshah together with Amir Mihran headed for Tbilisi, the capital of Kingdom of Georgia, and appealed for help to Queen Tamar of Georgia, an official protector of Shirvan. Received with great honors at the Georgian court, they were given desired support, and the Georgian army led by Consort David Soslan marched to Shirvan.

The Eldiguzid atabeg Abu Bakr attempted to stem the Georgian advance, but suffered a defeat at the hands of David Soslan at the Battle of Shamkor and lost his capital, Ganja to Amir Mihran, a Georgian protégé in 1195. Queen Tamar restored Akhsitan in Shirvan under the terms of vassalage, thereby greatly expanding her sphere of influence. Although Abu Bakr was able to resume his reign a year later, the Eldiguzids were only barely able to contain further Georgian forays.

The royal title of Georgian monarchns was correspondingly aggrandized. It now reflected not only Tamar's sway over the traditional subdivisions of the Georgian realm, but also included new components, emphasizing the Georgian crown's hegemony over the neighboring lands. Thus, on the coins and charters issued in her name, Tamar is identified as:

By the will of God, King of Kings and Queen of Queens of the Abkhazians, Iberians, Arranians, Kakhetians, and Armenians; Shirvanshah and Shahanshah; Autocrat of all the East and the West, Glory of the World and Faith; Champion of the Messiah.

George IV

George IV continued Tamar's policy of strengthening of the Georgian feudal state. However, the Mongol approach to the Georgian borders made the Crusade plan unrealistic, the reconnaissance force under the Mongols Jebe and Subutai destroyed the entire Georgian army in two successive battles, in 1221–1222, most notably the Battle of Khunan. Georgians suffered heavy losses in this war and the King George IV, himself was severely wounded. George IV barely recovered from his wound when he traveled to celebrate his sister Rusudan’s wedding to Gushtasb I in 1223, but he died of complications of his injury at Bagavan.

Queen Rusudan

Kingdom of Georgia after Mongol invasion, 1245 AD.

Rusudan returned to Georgia and succeeded her brother on January 18, 1223. First Mongol offensive, which would prove the ruin of Georgia, was preceded by the devastating conflict with Khwarazm ruler Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, who was defeated by the Mongols and now led his mian army to Caucasus. The Georgians suffered bitter defeat at the Battle of Garni, and as the result Shirvan fell under the control Kwarazmshah, who demanded as tribute from the Shirvanshah the 70,000 dinars that the Saljuk Sultans had exacted a century or more previously. Gushtasb went to Georgia to seek help from Rusudan. He was defeated by his son and managed to escape again but Queen deported him from Georgia.

In 1235–1236, Mongol forces, unlike their first raid in 1221, appeared with the sole purpose of conquest and occupation of Kingdom of Georgia and easily overran the already devastated kingdom. Forced to accept the sovereignty of the Mongol Khan in 1239, according to treaty Georgia would lose its Muslim vassals (like Shirvan), but could keep its Christian (like Armenia) territory.

Legacy

Culture

Between the 12th-13th centuries Shirvan, from a fusion of Caucasian Albanians, Arabs and Turks with indigenous Persians, had become a flourishing centre of Persian culture. Shirvan, when David IV of Georgia conquered it, was the city of the poet Khaqani, the latter even claimed to become a speaker of Georgian language, he also produced an ode in which he praised King Demetrius I of Georgia. Strict Sunni Islam yielded to Isma’ilite and Sufic tolerance. Muslim rulers of Shirvan, now addressed the Georgian ruler with elaborate respect. Not only princes from Christian Georgia and Islamic Shirvan together thronged the court of Queen Tamar — their poets flocked thither as well.

The influence was mutual. As the result of political and cultural interaction with Shirvan, Georgia was culturally transformed. Before 1100 Georgian literature was Byzantine and ecclesiastic, however acquiring Shirvan exposed Georgia to a secular culture of lyrics and epics – philosophical, mystic, heroic and romantic. Georgian religious literature remained Byzantine, but contact with oriental culture revitalized even Orthodoxy; Translations from Persian generated imitations and then original works that glorified the reign of David IV’s great-granddaughter, Tamar the Great. Lasting more than two centuries, the Georgian Golden Age, as well as cultural development in Shirvan came to a gradual end due to persistent invasions of nomads, such as Mongols, and various Turcoman tribes.

At the Georgian court the Shirvanshahs were regarded "as a nobles". According to the medieval Georgian Chronicles, the Shirvanese prince Otagho Shervashidze under the David IV was granted rule over Duchy of Tskhumi, the latter would be founder of House of Shervashidze.