Najm al-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq ( Arabic : نجم الدين إلغازي ابن أرتوك ; died November 8, 1122) was the Turkoman Artukid ruler of Mardin from 1107 to 1122. He was born into the Oghuz tribe of Döğer .
100-499: His father Artuk Bey was the founder of the Artukid dynasty, and had been appointed governor of Jerusalem by the Seljuq emir Tutush . When Artuk died, Ilghazi and his brother Sökmen succeeded him as governors of Jerusalem. In 1096, Ilghazi allied with Duqaq of Damascus and Yaghi-Siyan of Antioch against Radwan of Aleppo ; Duqaq and Radwan were fighting for control of Syria after
200-582: A Mechurchletukhutsesi , the minister of finance and administrator of the kingdom's cities. The king's reforms did not stop at the country's administrative system. At the same time, he set up the darbazi (High Council of State), which included the highest dignitaries of the Church, such as the Catholicos-Patriarch and the superiors of the major monasteries, and the Saadjo kari (literally, ‘Court of Petitions’),
300-463: A coup d'état . David IV's contemporary chronicler limits himself to mentioning the change of power as a coronation of the young prince by his father, which pushes certain historians such as Cyril Toumanoff to suggest a co-regency between George II and David IV, at least until 1112, while frescoes found in the Ateni Sioni Church depict him in monk's robes, which would mean that his abdication
400-651: A Seljuk cadet who governs Azerbaijan and Arran from Nakhchivan , Arab forces of the Mazyadid emir Dubays ibn Sadaka, troops led by Najm ad-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq from Aleppo , and garrisons from Ganja and Armenia, with the aim of invade the Kingdom of Georgia . Mahmud II also appointed General Ilghazi, famous for his battles against the Europeans in the Holy Land and having concluded
500-702: A certain period and we can thus see religious buildings constructed through bilateral efforts, such as the major renovation of the Mokvi Cathedral . David IV the Builder considered the security of the Caucasus and, therefore, the liberation of the region from the Seljuks to be the main goal of his reign. It was for this reason that, well before the start of the main negotiations with the Kipchaks , he already began to fight against
600-510: A co-ruler with his father sometime before his becoming a king-regant in 1089; a document of 1085 mentions David as "king and sebastos ", the latter being a Byzantine title. The accession of David IV was welcomed by several factions in the country as a sign of liberation for the Kingdom of Georgia , which was suffering politically, economically, culturally and even religiously. Expressions such as ‘a coronation from God’ appear in contemporary accounts. The Georgian Chronicles describe: Then
700-479: A covenant with the Almighty God and vow that we would rather die for His love than escape from the enemy. And if any one of us should wish to retreat, let us take branches and block the entrance to the gorge to prevent this. When the enemy approaches, let us attack fiercely! The king personally launches the attack, rushing his troops towards the attackers with a ferocity comparable to that of a "rambling monster". From
800-516: A hereditary transfer of power. The reform of David IV thus combined the Mtsignobartukhutsesi with the bishopric of Chkondidi , the main religious entity in Georgia after the Catholicos-Patriarch, and created the new position of Mtsignobartukhutsesi-Chkondideli, i.e. the first person in the kingdom after the king and the first person in the Church after the Catholicos-Patriarch. George of Chkondidi,
900-483: A kind of Supreme Court headed by the Mtsignobartukhutsesi-Chkondideli to ‘defend the oppressed and humiliated’ and where the king personally came to administer justice. Finally, the king's reforms ended with a change in the military establishment. Under Kings Bagrat IV and George II , the general decline in the economy had been accompanied by a significant fall in the population and an increase in
1000-453: A personal guard, the monaspa , which depended entirely and directly on the king. In addition, the feudal militias were abolished, once again reinforcing central power. In addition to these measures, the king divided the army into two other fundamental parts: one consisting of garrisons charged with protecting towns and fortresses, and the other making up the basic army that ‘was constantly campaigning, both in winter and summer’. Troop discipline
1100-455: A power change in favour of the young David; George of Chqondidi would have been one of these opponents. The Life of King of Kings David does not recount the details of the change of power between George II and his son. Nodar Asatiani describes the event as a ‘palace revolution’ involving several dignitaries in 1089. Other historians speak of pressure on the Georgian king to abdicate rather than
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#17328516444931200-477: A regional power in the Caucasus under the reign of Bagrat III , the Byzantine Empire and Georgia have clashed on several occasions, both diplomatically and militarily, notably over the province of Tao-Klarjeti . In addition to several wars between the two countries , each of these states interfered in the internal affairs of the other by openly or secretly supporting candidates to the throne, usurpers or, in
1300-752: A secret visit by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem to the Georgian royal court. The existence of a powerful Kingdom of Georgia is also felt in the Arab world, where the Georgian monarch's kindness to his Muslim subjects and his knowledge of the Quran are renowned. A coin with the Arabic inscription “King of Kings David, the Sword of the Messiah” then circulated throughout the Middle East. The defeat of
1400-458: A temporary truce with the crusading Latins, as commander of these massive Muslim troops, whose numbers rose, d 'according to the sources, from 200,000 to 400,000 or even 600,000 soldiers. Having learned of the declaration of jihad by Mahmud II, David IV understood that the defeat of such an army would lead to the total liberation of the Caucasus and, therefore, the completion of the political goal of
1500-490: Is generally neutral on the character of Ilghazi, and describes only one "disgraceful habit" of the emir: "Now when Ilghazi drank wine and it got the better of him, he habitually remained for several days in a state of intoxication, without recovering his senses sufficiently to take control or to be consulted on any matter or decision." The Antiochene chronicler Walter the Chancellor was at first also neutral towards Ilghazi, until
1600-530: Is translated as "the Builder" (in the sense of "built completely"), "the Rebuilder", or "the Restorer", first appears as the sobriquet of David in the charter issued in the name of "King of Kings Bagrat " in 1452 and becomes firmly affixed to him in the works of the 17th- and 18th-century historians such as Parsadan Gorgijanidze , Beri Egnatashvili and Prince Vakhushti . Epigraphic data also provide evidence for
1700-602: The Armenian princess Rusudan , David IV married the daughter of the Khan of the Kipchaks Otrok , who was soon baptised with the name Gurandukht . However, this alliance did not last and there was no sign of bilateral relations for the next decade. But soon, as Georgia began its new campaigns against the Seljuks, the king did not hesitate to call on his father-in-law for military aid. At
1800-683: The Battle of Didgori and Ilgazi was defeated. According to Matthew of Edessa 400 000 Seljuks were killed. Among the various leaders, only Ilghazi and his son-in-law Dubais escaped. In 1122, Ilghazi and Balak defeated Joscelin I of Edessa and took him prisoner, but Ilgazi died in November of that year at Diyarbekir . He was buried at Mayyafariqin ( Silvan today). Balak succeeded him in Aleppo and his sons Suleiman and Timurtash succeeded him in Mardin. Ibn al-Qalanisi
1900-602: The Battle of Didgori had an important repercussion on the fate of the Crusades , whose leaders were then seeking crucial aid against the Turks, and stories, sometimes exaggerated, of Didgori's victory were told in the royal courts of the West as a new hope against Muslim power. Besides Europe , David IV established relations with the Middle East . This is how he maintained close relations with
2000-635: The Georgian kingdom , an enclave having lost all relations with other Muslim states since the start of King David's conquests. This corresponds to the Emirate of Tbilisi , which had been occupied by the Arabs for almost five centuries, and contains the regions of Tbilisi and Dmanisi . Already in June 1121, David IV had put the city of Tbilisi under siege but was content with a formal allegiance with an annual tribute, in view of
2100-693: The Georgian language , changed their nomadic habits and became sedentary, gradually mixing with the Georgians. The central government then asked each family to provide at least one soldier for the Georgian army. However, the Kipchaks, who were hardly accustomed to a sedentary life and loyal to a single person, found themselves in a new landscape that they took to be hostile. Thus, until his death, David IV survived several assassination attempts and coups d'état organised by certain Kipchak groups. But this did little to change
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#17328516444932200-603: The Seljuk Empire at the Battle of Didgori in August 1121 allowed David IV to liberate the Caucasus from Muslim domination dating back several centuries. Georgia's enemies found themselves decisively defeated, preventing them from retaliating against the northern Christian advance, while the Crusades raged in the west of the Turkic world. However, there remains a last Islamic enclave within
2300-545: The Seljuk Empire remained a permanent threat to his kingdom until the security of the Caucasus against Muslim invaders was assured. To this end, the king drew up a plan to unite the Caucasian peoples under his sceptre. Assisted by his closest advisers, the Georgian sovereign began by establishing solid relations with the many tribes of North Caucasus and beyond the Great Caucasus . Shortly after his 1107/1108 divorce from
2400-530: The Seljuk Turks out of the country, winning the Battle of Didgori in 1121. His reforms of the army and administration enabled him to reunite the country and bring most of the lands of the Caucasus under Georgia's control. A friend of the Church and a notable promoter of Christian culture , he was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church . The epithet aghmashenebeli ( აღმაშენებელი ), which
2500-430: The Seljuks and pay tribute to the invaders. Internally, the foundations of the Georgian state, based on Orthodoxy and central royal power, were undermined, bringing a supposedly unified kingdom to the brink of destruction. Several historians compare the young sovereign's task to that of David III of Tao and Ivane Marushidze, the princes who unified the Georgian realm . The first step taken by David IV to re-establish
2600-550: The Alanians. To consolidate peace with the Alanians, David IV betrothed his youngest daughter Rusudan to Jadaron, son of the Alanian king Athon and heir to the Alanian throne. Taking both Alanians and Kipchaks as hostages, he managed to negotiate a lasting peace between the two peoples and returned to the kingdom of Georgia with almost 40,000 Kipchak families (almost 200,000 individuals), led be Otrok himself, after recovering and securing
2700-521: The Artukids he made no lasting alliances and frequently switched sides, allying with both fellow Muslims and Christian crusaders whenever he saw fit. In 1110, he participated in an unsuccessful siege of Edessa . In 1114, he and his nephew Balak (future emir of Aleppo ) defeated the Seljuq governor of Mosul , Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi , and captured Mas'ud, son of the Seljuq sultan. In 1115, Ilghazi besieged Homs , but
2800-559: The Battle of Ager Sanguinis, in which Walter himself was captured; Ilghazi (written as "Algazi" in Latin ) is then described as a "tyrant" and the "prince of the delusion and dissent of the Turcomans." Walter also remarks on Ilghazi's drunkenness. Ilghazi married first Farkhunda Khatun, the daughter of Radwan of Aleppo, but he never actually met her and the marriage was never consummated. He then married
2900-515: The Builder ( Georgian : დავით IV აღმაშენებელი , romanized : davit IV aghmashenebeli ) (1073–1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty , was the 5th king ( mepe ) of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125. Popularly considered to be the greatest and most successful Georgian ruler in history and an original architect of the Georgian Golden Age , he succeeded in driving
3000-544: The Crusader forces, and in particular with King Baldwin I of Jerusalem (r. 1100–1118), with whom he exchanged numerous gifts as a sign of support. In addition, as stated above, a battalion of Latins composed of 200 to 1,000 men participated during the Battle of Didgori . Some sources also speak of the participation of Georgian auxiliary forces during the Siege of Jerusalem in 1099. The historian Prince Ioane of Georgia even reports
3100-453: The Georgian economy was to put an end to Turkish raids into Georgia . Since 1080 and the capture of Kutaisi by Amir Ahmed, the Kingdom of Georgia had been obliged to accept Seljuk suzerainty and pay annual tribute. Despite these measures, the Muslims did not stop their seasonal devastation and several nomadic Turkish tribes settled in Georgia at the expense of the Georgian population, causing
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3200-494: The Georgian forces. The Muslim monarch, fed up with the victories won by an increasingly powerful Christian kingdom while the Crusaders already found themselves powerful enemies of the Turks in the west, then declared jihad (holy war of Islam ) against Georgia and unifies a large Turkish army with detachments formed by the Seljuks of Turks coming from all over the Middle East (from Damascus and Aleppo to Caucasus) with: Tughril
3300-462: The Georgian ruler. In turn, he assembled a large army, composed of 40,000 Georgians , 15,000 Kipchaks and 5,000 Alans (60,000 troops in total), to which was added a detachment of 200 to 1,000 Crusaders from Western Europe . The king decided to let the Turks penetrate into Georgia proper, with the idea of benefiting from the local geography, and finally intercepted the enemy on the roads linking Trialeti to interior Kartli . The two armies met near
3400-471: The Georgian troops, led personally by David IV, whose exploits are recounted in the Georgian Chronicles . His chronicler compares the bravery of David IV to the biblical David and reports the ferocity of his blows. Three of his horses died during the battle, but the king, mounted on his fourth horse, succeeded in drawing with his sword ‘a thickened and congealed mass of blood ’. Having re-established
3500-422: The Georgians led by Crown Prince Demetrius invaded Shirvan after capturing the fortress of Gishi , which had been in the hands of rebellious nobles. Demetrius fought ‘marvellous battles’ in the region and captured the fortress of Kaladzori , before returning home with many captives and much wealth. The Georgian army's first notable defeat came in 1118, when General Beshken II Jaqeli [ ka ]
3600-620: The North Caucasus by making the regional sovereigns his vassals and controlling the routes leading from South Caucasus to North Caucasus via the Great Caucasus mountain range. He fortified the Djvari and Darial crossings and set up Georgian trading posts on the road to Derbent , whose sovereign swore allegiance to the King of Georgia. Since the creation of the Kingdom of Georgia and its beginnings as
3700-626: The Turkish TV series, Diriliş: Ertuğrul , he is portrayed as a close companion of Ertuğrul by the Turkish actor, Ayberk Pekcan . This is anachronistic as Ertuğrul died in 1280 and their live spans most likely did not overlapped. He is paid homage in Alparslan BUYUK SELCUKLU This Seljuk biographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . David IV of Georgia David IV , also known as David IV
3800-406: The Turkish presence in Caucasus in 1110. Up until that year, the Turks had occupied the towns of Tbilisi and Rustavi , the regions of Samshvilde and Agarani and Armenia , where hundreds of Muslim settlers arrived every year during the harvest period. The Georgians , led by George of Chqondidi , his nephew Theodore, governor of Trialeti , Abuleti and Ivane I Orbeli , retaliated against
3900-416: The Turkish settlement and recaptured the town of Samshvilde without a major battle, adding it to the royal domains. Following this capture, the Seljuks left a large part of their occupied territories, allowing Georgian troops to capture Dzerna [ ka ] . In response to this double defeat, Sultan Muhammad I Tapar sent a large army of 100,000 soldiers to invade Georgia in 1110. Knowing that
4000-542: The Turkish strategy therefore lay in a rapid invasion of central and eastern Georgia . Soon, Seljuk forces occupied much of Kartli , as far as the Greater Caucasus . However, King David, having learned of the situation in the rest of his kingdom, rushed out of Abkhazia and ordered his soldiers to dig a passage through Likhi Range , then impassable and thus separating eastern Georgia from its part Western. The Georgian troops attacked Khunan and engaged in bloody combat until
4100-423: The Turkish troops were approaching, David IV left his residence at Nacharmagevi with a personal guard of just 1,500 and set out to meet the invaders during the night. The two armies, clearly unequal, clashed the next day at the Battle of Trialeti in a fierce battle that ended in a decisive victory for Georgia. The Georgian Chronicles recount that, not believing in such a simple victory, the king stayed on until
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4200-452: The Turks in the hard-fought Battle of Hab on August 14, 1119. The next year Ilghazi took Nisibin , and then pillaged the County of Edessa before turning north towards Armenia . In 1121, he made peace with the crusaders, and with supposedly up to 250,000–350,000 troops, including men led by his son-in-law Sadaqah and Sultan Malik of Ganja , he invaded Georgia . David IV of Georgia met him at
4300-581: The Turks stationed at Barda and Arabia in June. The Muslims, according to Georgian historiography, were then “reduced to the brink” by a long series of costly defeats for more than ten years. Shortly after the double defeat of Barda and Arabia, the Turkish settlers of South Caucasus and the Muslim merchants of Ganja , Tbilisi and Dmanisi sent representatives to the Seljuk Sultan of Iraq Mahmud II (r. 1118–1131), formally requesting military support against
4400-589: The Turks the confidence to return. Learning that he was away, they camped at Botora. The Turks were many and they set up camps to spend the winter. On February 14, David IV suddenly attacked the Turks and completely destroyed them at the Battle of Botora . Only a few of them managed to get on their horses and flee. In the battle the Georgians captured many Turks and took much booty. Only two months later, David IV again led his troops to intervene in Shirvan : after capturing
4500-408: The Turks. Under the terms of the treaty, David IV undertook to pay the tribute established during his father's reign in exchange for a total end to Seljuk raids. However, this did not stop some Turks, whose troops were massacred by Georgian units, while the Turcomans established in the countryside were gradually expelled from the country, allowing Georgians to return to their villages. Little by little,
4600-499: The agreement between Byzantium and David IV, according to which the noble rebels against the Georgian king were sent to prison in Greece . At the same time, David definitively renounced Byzantium's political influence in Georgia by renouncing the Byzantine title of Panhypersebastos , a title created by Emperor Alexios I Komnenos for the closest allies of the imperial family. Finally, from
4700-416: The arbitrariness of the great feudal lords, leading to a deterioration in the quality of the Georgian army by undermining the discipline of the troops. David IV, considering the future wars he would have to wage against the Muslims , therefore decided to use the military organisation of the Seljuk Turks as a basis for reforming his own army. David IV began by gathering together his most loyal warriors to form
4800-556: The battle, he took part in the conquest of Anatolia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire. He captured the Yeşilırmak ( Ancient Greek : Ἶρις ) valley in 1074. In 1075, Artuk captured on behalf of the Byzantine Empire the Norman rebell Roussel de Bailleul and handed him over to the future emperor Alexios Komnenos . He also served the sultan by quashing a rebellion in 1077. His next mission
4900-650: The beginning of the conquest of Armenia by medieval Georgia, while the Agarani region was recaptured in July of the same year, after just one day of fighting. It was after this victory at Agarani that David IV and George of Chqondidi travelled to North Caucasus , realising that despite the encouraging signs of a total defeat for the Seljuk forces, the Georgian army would have to be considerably strengthened to achieve this goal. The royal administration, now headed by Simon of Chqondidi since
5000-455: The breath of life began to blow and the clouds appeared to ascend; and after twelve years of such miseries in the very midst of pitchdarkness, the sun of all the kingdoms began to rise, and the namesake of David, father of the Lord, great be his name and still greater his deeds, appeared, the seventy second descendant of David . Having become king at the age of 16, the young David IV found himself at
5100-403: The building of Georgian churches among the local peoples, and developed the economies of these peoples by helping to found urban communities and introduce the Georgian feudal system to the region. Georgian culture also became an integral part of local organised societies, with Georgian social terminology being introduced. Politically, David IV decided to strengthen the influence of his kingdom in
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#17328516444935200-641: The case of the Byzantine strategy, rebellious nobles against the power of the king. Despite several peace proposals over the years, it was not until the Battle of Manzikert between the Byzantines and the Seljuks that Byzanitne and the Kingdom of Georgia allied themselves against the Turkish Muslims . However, this alliance had little political impact due to the considerable weakening of the Byzantine Empire in
5300-479: The cities and the army. This was a declaration of war, but the sultan of the Seljuk empire did not respond. After putting an end to Turkish invasions and re-establishing the traditional feudal system, David IV decided to strengthen central power before embarking on more important projects. Just after the Georgian economy was restored, a large part of the nobility, including the duke Liparit V of Kldekari and Prince Niania Kakhaberisdze, pledged their allegiance to
5400-405: The city of Qabala and returning to Georgia with large loads of gold, he returned to the region on May 7, 1120 and ravaged the country from Arbia-lizhatat to Khishtalanti and Kurdevan. At the same time, David IV managed to convince his vassal of Derbent to invade Shirvan and a war between the two parties soon broke out. In November, the Derbentians killed Shirvanshah Afridun I in combat, giving
5500-433: The collapse of the local feudal system. Contemporary historiography reports that by the time of David the Builder, Inner Georgia no longer had a rural population, the inhabitants having all taken refuge in the local citadels. To expel the Turkomans from his territories, King David began by reorganising an army whose morale was at its lowest due to its many defeats; he then formed several small military detachments made up of
5600-426: The daughter of Toghtekin of Damascus and had the following children: He also had a son, Umar, by a concubine, and Nasr, by a slave; another possible son was named Kirzil. Artuk Bey Zaheer-ul-Daulah Artuk Beg, known as Artuk Bey, was a Turkoman commander of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century, chief of the Oghuz tribe of Döğer , and eponymous founder of the Artuqid dynasty . His father's name
5700-460: The death of George, devoted the year 1119 exclusively to establishing a new strategy against the Turks, while establishing Kipchak mercenaries on Georgian territory, before launching a new offensive at the beginning of 1120. King David IV used to go to Abkhazia and the Turks wintered near the banks of the Mtkvari . The Turks had been watching David IV and were following his tracks. David IV went to Geguti and from there to Khupati and thus gave
5800-440: The death of Tutush. Ilghazi and Duqaq eventually quarrelled and Ilghazi was imprisoned, leading to the capture of Jerusalem by his brother Sökmen, but Ilgazi recovered the city when he was released. He held it until the city was captured by the Fatimid vizier of Egypt , al-Afdal Shahanshah , in 1098. After this he sought to make a name for himself in the Jezirah , where his brothers had also established themselves. He then entered
5900-410: The discontent of the nobility in his own kingdom, who were hardly satisfied by their sovereign's change of religion. In 1104, a conspiracy led by the Heretian nobles Arishiani , Baram and their uncle Kavtar Baramisdze dethroned Aghsartan II and handed him over to David IV, who then had no need to resort to arms, as every Kakhetian citadel and fortress capitulated to the approaching Georgian forces. Once
6000-581: The early use of David's other epithet, "the Great" (დიდი, didi ). Retrospectively, David the Builder has been variously referred to as David II, III, and IV, reflecting substantial variation in the ordinals assigned to the Georgian Bagratids , especially in the early period of their history, as the numbering of successive rulers moves between the many branches of the family. Scholars in Georgia favor David IV, his namesake predecessors being: David I Kouropalates (died 881), David II Magistros (died 937), and David III Kuropalates (died 1001), all members of
6100-426: The face of the Seljuks, to whom Georgia had to submit. However, the liberation of the Caucasus from Turkish suzerainty in the 1090s changed events and led David IV to adopt a new policy towards Byzantium. This involved a combination of closer cooperation, while at the same time putting itself on the same political footing as the Empire and opposing the Byzantines on certain issues. Bilateral relations were resumed with
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#17328516444936200-511: The finest of victories, and such plenitude of divine aid was never granted to Islam in all its past ages." The Antiochene towns of Atharib , Zerdana , Sarmin , Ma'arrat al-Numan and Kafartab fell to his army. "Il Ghazi, however, was unable to extract full profit from his victory. His prolonged drunkenness deprived his army of leadership, and left the Turkmens free to ... scatter after plunder." Baldwin II (now Baldwin II of Jerusalem) soon arrived to drive Ilghazi back, inflicting heavy losses on
6300-400: The first attack, the Muslims were forced to retreat despite their numerical superiority, allowing the Georgians to multiply such attacks. Soon, these maneuvers bring the enemy to such a degree of excitement and disorientation that they make him lose composure. At this moment, David IV launched a new attack, which turned into a coup de grace for the Muslim allies on the battlefield: suddenly,
6400-417: The following day, waiting for another Seljuk retaliation, and only then realised the Seljuk defeat. The situation developed only slightly over the next five years. But in 1115, George of Chqondidi, who commanded the Georgian forces while David IV was in Mukhrani , captured Rustavi , one of the strong Turkish strongholds in southern Georgia. The Turks were then forced to leave their winter quarters, while
6500-521: The fortresses of the Great Caucasus, but leaving behind George of Chqondidi, who died during the negotiations in Alania. The many Kipchak families settled in colonial establishments in Shida Kartli , where a large part of the Georgian population had been exterminated by the Seljuks in the 1080s, but also in Hereti and in the north of Georgian Armenia , with the aim of reinforcing the borders. They were also accompanied by Alanian, avaricious and Kurdish mercenaries. They soon adopted Christianity , learned
6600-404: The head of a kingdom that had lost a large part of its 1010 territories. The kingdom of Georgia , which at the beginning of the 11th century had extended from Shirvan to the east coast of the Black Sea , was now limited to Abkhazia and Kartli . The ravages caused by Turkish raids since the 1080s represented an economic danger for the country, which was forced to recognise itself as a vassal of
6700-420: The help provided by Georgian agents accompanying Princess Kata's retinue in the seizure of power by John II Komnenos in 1118. As a result, from the beginning of John II's reign, relations between the two countries improved considerably and the Georgian chronicles refer to the two monarchs as ‘brothers’. And, despite the competition in the religious sphere, the Byzantines and Georgians cooperated culturally for
6800-401: The ideas of the 11th-century monk George the Hagiorite , the king and his adviser George of Chqondidi aligned themselves with the demands of the majority of his subjects to overcome the reactionary part of the ecclesiastical class and replace dishonest subjects with virtuous priests. The Council of Ruisi-Urbnisi , led only indirectly by David IV who, as a lay sovereign, could not take part in
6900-429: The internal affairs of the Church, adopted resolutions reflecting the will of the pious party. Not only did the Council deprive the nobility fighting against central power of an influential ally, the Church, but it also spiritually purified the kingdom and greatly contributed to the national consolidation of a country whose national identity was mainly based on Christianity . Another consequence of ecclesiastical reform
7000-443: The king launched a short attack against King Kvirike IV and succeeded in capturing the fortress of Zedazeni, north of Mtskheta , in 1103. Kvirike IV died a year later and was succeeded on the throne by his nephew Aghsartan II , who is said to have been ‘the complete opposite of his paternal uncle’. A convert to Islam , he declared himself a vassal of the Seljuks to avoid another Georgian attack. However, he could not foresee
7100-516: The king of Georgia the opportunity to place his own son-in-law and vassal, Manuchihr III , in Shirvan. At the same time, David the Builder led short but effective campaigns in the southeast and notably took the Turkish bastions of Arsharunik and Sevgelamej. Taking advantage of the climatic conditions which had until then worked against them, the Turks in turn organized a large-scale offensive against Georgia in winter 1120–21. Indeed, at that time, David IV resided in Abkhazia in his winter home and
7200-581: The king personally took charge of detachments organising seasonal expeditions against the Muslim occupiers. In February 1116, David IV managed to trap the Seljuks, inflicting considerable losses on them on the Chorokhi and capturing Tao-Klarjeti and the many riches left there by the Turks. The conflict soon took on a regional dimension with the opening of a new front in Eastern South Caucasus . In 1117,
7300-442: The king. This act represented a remarkable change compared to the reactions of noble society to previous kings, but was short-lived. In 1093, Liparit V organised a plot against David. David was informed of this and reacted by imprisoning Liparit to make him a ‘wise man’, according to the Georgian Chronicles . Two years later, he was released on a pledge of loyalty and reinstated in his domains of Trialeti and Kldekari . However,
7400-456: The lower nobility and peasants from the royal estates. Dozens of such detachments were soon created and a new strategy, consisting of surprise attacks on Muslim settlements, was devised. Within a short space of time, the monarch not only succeeded in stopping the Seljuk invasions, but also attacked the Turkoman nomads at the same time. An armistice was soon established between the Georgians and
7500-436: The lower nobility. Having reduced the power of the great rulers of the kingdom, King David IV decided to complete national unity. To achieve this, he had to reunite western Georgia with the rest of the country. The Kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti had declared its independence during the reign of George I (r. 1014-1027), thus depriving Georgia of a large part of its territories. Realising that only war could help him in his plans,
7600-467: The monarch to expand his domains. Liparit was not the only nobleman to suffer the consequences of the king's plans. Several others, including Dzagan Abuletisdze , were severely punished in the same way after rebellions, and their estates added to the royal states. David took major initiatives to strengthen his power. He also dismissed the dignitaries chosen by his predecessors on the basis of their titles and replaced them with loyal advisors, generally from
7700-417: The monarch's political adviser, was thus confirmed in his position and his successors to the episcopal see were also appointed viziers at the royal court. Other officials reporting to the king were also appointed to head each branch of the administration. Thus, from the reign of David IV, there was a Mandaturtukhutsesi , or minister of the interior, an Amirspasalar , the head of the military administration, and
7800-460: The nobleman did not give up his plans against his suzerain and resumed plotting against David. Having once again learned of such an event, David IV decided to act more usefully and imprisoned him again until 1097, before exiling him to Constantinople , where he died. Liparit's son, Rati IV, a disloyal man, died in 1103, thus putting an end to a rebellious branch of the House of Liparitids and allowing
7900-458: The prince's estates. Accompanied by his loyal adviser George of Chqondidi and his personal guard, David IV crossed the Great Caucasus via the Darial pass in 1118. After extensive negotiations, the Georgians managed to convince Otrok to give them several thousand Kipchak troops to fight against the Seljuks. But despite this agreement, the Kipchaks were unable to get to Georgia because of the war with
8000-492: The principal line of the Bagrationi dynasty. David was born in 1073 and was the son of King George II of Georgia and his wife, Queen Elene. He was probably educated by George of Chqondidi , a member of the royal court. David grew up in a time of war and desolation, due to the ravages of the Seljuks and his father's many defeats against these invaders. In such a situation, a major opposition to George II arose, which led to
8100-488: The reign of David the Builder, Byzantium and Georgia clashed spiritually, with King David assuming the title of ‘ruler of East and West’, thus claiming to have a greater influence than Byzantium in Orthodoxy . Despite these signs, relations between Byzantium and Georgia also reached good levels. The marriage of David IV's daughter, Kata , to an imperial prince in 1116 is particularly notable. Some Georgian historians also note
8200-401: The service of the Seljuq sultan Mahmud I , who granted him Hulwan and made him shihna of Baghdad , an office which oversaw the affairs of the caliph on behalf of the sultan. Ilghazi was dismissed as shihna in 1104 and became leader of the Artukid family after the death of Sökmen that year. This was disputed by Sökmen's son Ibrahim, but Ilghazi took Mardin from him in 1108. As head of
8300-417: The situation of the new arrivals and, thanks to these negotiations, the reform of the army was completed and Georgian troops now number almost 60,000. In addition to this alliance between the Kipchaks and Georgia, David IV the Builder established deeper relations with the other peoples of the North Caucasus. He created a sphere of cultural influence in North Caucasus, established Orthodoxy there by sponsoring
8400-476: The social conditions of the local population improved, reviving the national economy and increasing the population. The death of Malik-Shah I and the First Crusade , which forced the Seljuks to concentrate on saving Syria and Palestine and leaving the Caucasus alone, led David IV to stop paying tribute to the Seljuks in 1099 and to start repopulating the depopulated and devastated regions and rebuilding
8500-558: The spring, and all the Turkish forces were expelled or massacred in March 1121. But the Seljuks did not stop there. Knowing that the flooding of the Mtkvari made crossing the river almost impossible at this time of year, the Seljuks soon returned to their positions south of the river and occupied Barda . But once again, David IV, accompanied by a personal guard of Kipchaks , crossed the river towards Khunan and organized military incursions against
8600-501: The time, the Kipchaks were renowned in the region for their bravery, agility and ferocity in battle, but they were also caught up in a conflict on two fronts, one against the Kievan Rus' to the north and the other against the Alanians to the south. David therefore offered Prince Otrok assistance against these two enemies in exchange for Kipchak support against the Turks, and decided to visit
8700-467: The town of Manglisi , at the foot of Mount Didgori , on August 12, 1121. According to the French knight and historian Walter the Chancellor , before heading off to battle, King David inspired his army with these words: Soldiers of Christ! If we fight bravely for our Faith, we will defeat not only the devil’s servants, but the devil himself. We will gain the greatest weapon of spiritual warfare when we make
8800-407: The two new provinces had been integrated into the kingdom, the king appointed Arishiani governor of the region. The Seljuks, who still considered the Kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti to be their vassal, were not resigned to another defeat by the Georgians . The Atabeg of Ganja declared war on Georgia and fought a decisive battle at the Battle of Ertsukhi . The Turko-Kakhetian army was annihilated by
8900-583: The unity of the Kingdom of Georgia , David IV began again to reform the internal kingdom. To this end, in 1103 (or in 1104 or 1105 ) he convened a council of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia in the cathedrals of Ruisi and Urbnisi . After decades of devastation and war, the Orthodox Church had lost its traditional values and was suffering from many ills, such as corruption and the hereditary transmission of high religious offices. Inspired by
9000-451: The upcoming war against the Turkish invaders. Once the Seljuks were defeated, the sovereign focused on the capture of Tbilisi from the beginning of 1122. After a short siege, the king, probably accompanied by general Ivane Orbeli , managed to take the city in February and enters it to rid it of the Muslim elite. According to Arab historiography, David IV carried out a pillage on the first day of
9100-501: The vigor of the enemy army collapsed in the middle of the fight. The genius of Georgian strategy then defeated the power of numbers, bringing a decisive defeat to the Seljuk Empire and its influence in the Caucasus . Testimonies report in various chronicles, both Christian and Muslim, that Saint George personally led the Georgian forces against the invader. Among the many commanders of the invading troops, only General Ilghazi and his son-in-law Dubays managed to escape. This victory at
9200-518: Was Eksük. He was the Seljuk governor of Jerusalem between 1085–1091. Although the Artuqid dynasty was named after him, actually the dynasty was founded by his sons Sökmen and Ilghazi after his death. He was also father to Alp-Yaruq, Bahram, Abd al-Jabar, and three other sons. Artuk Bey was one of the commanders of the Great Seljuk Empire army during the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. After
9300-589: Was Malik Shah's discordant younger brother in Syria in 1084. In 1086 he was instrumental in defeating Suleiman ibn Qutulmish , the sultan of Seljuks of Rûm in the battle of Ain Salm between Süleyman and Tutush. Tutush granted him al-Quds (Jerusalem) as an iqta and Artuk was governor there until his death in 1091. His grave is in a tomb next to his khanqah near the Gate of al-Dawadariya , known as Gate of King Faisal today. In
9400-457: Was a campaign in 1086 to capture Diyarbakır (Amid) from the Marwanids . In this campaign he quarreled with the commander-in-chief Fakhr al-Dawla ibn Jahir who tended to make peace with Marwanids. In a surprise attack he defeated reinforcements to Marwanids. However, when the sultan Malik Shah I heard about the event he accused Artuk. Artuk left the battle field and attended to Tutush I who
9500-510: Was also ensured through humiliation for cowardice and rewards for heroism. Moreover, as the economy recovered, the Georgian population grew and a larger-scale mobilisation by the royal authorities was now possible. The foreign relations conducted by King David IV the Builder were exclusively devoted to the liberation of the Kingdom of Georgia and, in this way, remained focused on the Georgian–Seljuk wars . However, David IV soon realised that
9600-414: Was captured briefly by its governor Khir-Khan. Later that year, Roger of Antioch , Baldwin I of Jerusalem , Pons of Tripoli , and Baldwin II of Edessa defended Antioch against the Seljuq general Bursuq ibn Bursuq (not to be confused with al-Bursuki), with the aid of Ilghazi, Toghtekin of Damascus , and Lulu of Aleppo , all enemies of Bursuk. These two armies did not come to battle, although Bursuk
9700-448: Was forced. The historical tradition founded by Prince Vakhushti in the 18th century and followed by Marie-Félicité Brosset in the 19th century states that David succeeded George upon his death, a number of surviving documents suggest that George died around 1112, and that although he retained the royal title until his death, he played no significant political role, real power having passed on to David. Moreover, David himself had been
9800-533: Was killed by the Turks in Javakheti . Despite this loss, however, David IV refused to listen to his nobles' advice to retreat and managed to avenge Beshken's death by defeating the Seljuks at the Battle of Rakhsi and massacred the Seljuk garrisons on Araxes in April 1118. The reforming sovereign's successes did not stop there. Still in 1118, the Armenian towns of Lori and Agarak were captured by David IV, marking
9900-404: Was later defeated by Roger at the Battle of Sarmin . Ilghazi gained control of Aleppo after the assassination of Lulu in 1117. He was invited to take control by princess Amina Khatun . In 1118, he took control of Mayyafiriqin and pacified the surrounding countryside. In 1119, Ilghazi defeated and killed Roger at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis ; Ibn al-Qalanisi describes the victory as "one of
10000-515: Was the de facto subordination of the Church to the State. However, the king had to ensure this by taking other reforming steps. Thus, David IV decided to centre this plan around the function of a single man: the Mtsignobartukhutsesi . This latter position, equivalent to the dignity of chancellor , had existed for a long time in the Georgian royal court and had always been held by monks, to avoid
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