David IV of Georgia (1073-1125)

David IV Aghmashenebeli was king of Georgia (1089-1125), often considered the greatest of Georgian kings.

The son of King Giorgi II, David was raised during one of the darkest chapters of Georgian history. From around 1080, Georgia faced a massive immigration of nomadic Turcoman tribes, which began to settle in the southern Caucasus. Unable to cope with the problem, Giorgi II resigned his throne to his son in 1089. Over the next eleven years, King

David gradually cleared his countryside of enemy elements and began resettlement of devastated regions and revival of cities. Encouraged by the beginning of the crusades to the Holy Land (1096-1099), he ceased payment of the annual tribute to the Great Saljuqs and secured his control over most of eastern Georgia by 1105. He reformed the Georgian Orthodox Church in 1103 and established a new court system (Georg. saajo kari) and police apparatus (Georg. mstovrebi) that strengthened his royal authority.

Between 1105 and 1120, King David enjoyed a series of brilliant victories as he continued his expansion throughout southern Transcaucasia, capturing the key fortresses of Samshvilde, Dzerna, Rustavi, Kaladzori, Lore, Aragani, and others. In 1118-1120, he launched a major military reform and resettled some 40,000 Qipchaq families from the northern Caucasus steppes to central and eastern Georgia. In turn, the Qipchaqs provided one soldier per family, allowing King David to establish a 40,000-man-strong standing army in addition to his royal troops. This new army was immediately put to use, as the Georgians began to raid Shirwan and Armenia in 1120.

Although information on the relations between King David and the Franks of Outremer is scarce, chronicles do contain some details. Kartlis Tskhovreba mentions the visits of envoys of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem to the Georgian court, which indicates a certain degree of cooperation between the two states. Certainly King Baldwin, hard-pressed by the Muslims in Syria and Palestine, sought allies, and the military support of Christian Georgia would have been desirable for him. Georgian success in northeastern Asia Minor also diverted substantial Muslim forces from the hotly contested Holy Land. The presence of several hundred Franks in the Georgian army in 1121 further attests to close links between these Christian states.

The Muslim powers became increasingly concerned about the rapid rise of the Georgian state. In 1121, the Great Saljuq sultan Mahmud (1118-1131) declared a holy war on Georgia and rallied a large coalition of Muslim powers, led by the Artuqid Najm al-Din Ughazi. The massive Muslim army advanced toward the Georgian borders but, on 12 August 1121, King David, with a considerably smaller force, routed the enemy on the fields of Didgori, achieving what is often considered the greatest military success in Georgian history. This victory signaled the emergence of Georgia as a great military power and shifted the balance in favor of Georgian cultural and political supremacy in northeastern Asia

Minor and Transcaucasia. In 1123-1124, King David’s armies expanded the Georgian sphere of influence to the neighboring territories of Armenia, Shirwan, and the northern Caucasus.

A well-educated man, King David traveled with an extensive library that he constantly perused. He preached tolerance and acceptance of other religions. During David’s reign, the country enjoyed a revival in agriculture and industry and flourishing of cities. For his contributions, the grateful nation hailed King David as aghmashenebeli (reviver, rebuilder) and canonized him as a saint. He was buried in the gates of the Gelati monastery, where his tomb is still revered. King David also earned fame as the writer of Galobani sinanulisani, a powerful work of emotional free-verse psalms, which reveal the king’s humility and faith. He was succeeded by his son Demetre.

-Alexander Mikaberidze

Bibliography

Brosset, Marie-Felicite, Histoire de la Georgie: Depuis

L’Antiquite jusqu’au XIXe siecle. 2 vols. (Saint-Petersbourg: Academic Imperiale des Sciences, 1849-1857).

Golden, Peter. “Cumanic I: The Qipcaqs in Georgia,” in Archivum Eurasie Medii Aevi 4 (1984), 44-90.

Meskhia, Shota, ffudwpcKOH Bumea (Tbilisi: Metsiniereba, 1974).

Metreveli, Roin, Davit Aghmashenebeli (Tbilisi: Ganatleba, 1990).

Minorsky, Vasily, “Caucasica in the History of Mayyafariqin,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 13 (1949), 27-35.