Western Georgia

After King David VI Narin of Georgia took the western half of the kingdom and seceded from Georgia, he became King David I of Imereti (Western Georgia). This was a rejection of the Mongol expansion that controlled the eastern half, with David's cousin King David VII Ulu remaining firmly under the control of the Khans.

Imereti contained important seaports on the Black Sea, with trade routes and easy access to the Byzantine Empire. David I also developed friendly relations with a Mongol "offshoot" called the Golden Horde. He also was friendly to the Bahri Dynasty of Egypt, Mamluk rulers who succeeded the Ayyubids.

Relationships could be fickle, however. He offered sanctuary to Teguder, a commander under Hulagu Khan who had rebelled against Abaqa Khan, but when Teguder's men started harassing the people of Imereti, David allied with Abaqa's general who had pursued Teguder. Then Abaqa decided to bring Imereti back under Mongol control, and David's brief alliance resulted in fighting (successfully) two Mongol expeditions in the 1270s.

David had his own ideas of expansion. Around the Black Sea was the empire of Trebizond, established by a Byzantine Emperor. David decided he should take it off Constantinople's hands, and took an army there in April 1282 while its current ruler, Emperor John II Comnenos, was away in Constantinople. He managed to control a few areas, but not the empire. David did later help John's half-sister Theodora seize the crown from John. John restored himself to the throne a few months later and Theodora disappeared from the historical record in 1285. It is suggested she might have found sanctuary in Western Georgia.

At the age of 67, David died of natural causes and was interred at the Gelati Monastery (see illustration) on a hill overlooking his capital of Kutaisi. He had married twice. With his first wife he had three sons, who succeeded as kings of Georgia and Western Georgia. He had a son by his second wife, the daughter of Emperor Michael VIII Paleologos.

David's interest in expanding to Trebizond reminds me that, although it has been mentioned, readers might need more detail to understand its significance. Tomorrow we'll look at the Empire of Trebizond.