Bakar (Georgian: ბაქარი) (April 7, 1700 – February 1, 1750) was a Georgian royal prince (batonishvili) of the Mukhrani branch of the Bagrationi dynasty and served as regent of the Kingdom of Kartli (eastern Georgia) from September 1716 to August 1719.
| Bakar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Regent of Kartli | |
| Tenure | 1716-1719 |
| Born | April 7, 1700 |
| Died | February 1, 1750 (aged 49) Moscow |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Ana Eristavi |
| Issue | Alexander Gruzinsky Levan Gruzinsky Princess Mariam Princess Elisabed |
| House | Bagrationi dynasty |
| Father | Vakhtang VI of Kartli |
| Mother | Rusudan of Circassia |
| Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church |
| Khelrtva |  |
He was the son of King Vakhtang VI and was associated with the political affairs of the kingdom from a young age. However, he had to spend part of his youth again in exile when his uncle Jesse reigned under terror, from 1714 to 1716. At the age of 16, he was called by Safavid Empire to govern Kartli during his father's political activity in Persia until 1719, a period during which he upset the powerful local nobility and imposed numerous internal reforms, before having to leave the throne to his father following an invasion of the Lezgins.
As a supporter of a pro-Persian policy for Georgia, Shah Soltan Hoseyn appointed him commander of his imperial guard in 1722, but his father forbade him from coming to the aid of the Safavids when they faced an Afghan invasion. The shift in Vakhtang VI's diplomatic focus to Russia led to a brutal war between Persian forces in the Caucasus and the royal family, which culminated in the overthrow of Vakhtang VI in 1723 despite Bakar's military efforts. In June 1723, he returned to power following the invasion of an Ottoman coalition which installed him as king in Tbilisi. His reign was, however, short-lived and the de facto control of Kartlian politics by the Ottoman Empire pushed him to rebel against his own government and lead a guerrilla war with his father.
Without international aid and facing a powerful enemy, Bakar and the rest of the royal family went into exile in Russia in July 1724 and founded a large Georgian colony in Moscow. Bakar entered the military and diplomatic service of the Russian Empire and led much of the imperial policy in the North Caucasus. Numerous attempts to bring him back to the Georgian throne failed due to Russia's refusal to come to his aid, and he became a pretender to the throne upon the death of Vakhtang VI in 1737. In Moscow, he led a Georgian community which enriched under the protection of the Russian government and formed with his brother Vakhoucht a cultural center which included a large printing house.
Family edit
Bakar was married to Ana, daughter of Giorgi, Duke of Aragvi (1706 – 18 February 1780), who accompanied him in Russia and died in Moscow, being buried in the Donskoy Monastery. They had five children:
- Prince Alexander Gruzinsky (1726–1791), Russian army officer and claimant to the Georgian throne.
- Prince Levan Gruzinsky (1739–1763), Russian army officer.
- Princess Mariam (died 1807).
- Princess Elisabed (died 1768), married to Prince Nikolay Odoyevsky.
- An anonymous daughter.
References edit
Sources edit
- Floor, Willem (2001). Safavid Government Institutions. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers. ISBN 978-1568591353.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
