Vakhtang IV
| Vakhtang IV | |
|---|---|
| King of Georgia | |
| Reign | 1442-1446 |
| Predecessor | Alexander I of Georgia |
| Successor | George VIII of Georgia |
| Born | c. 1413 |
| Died | 1446 |
| Burial | |
| Dynasty | Bagrationi dynasty |
| Father | Alexander I of Georgia |
| Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church |
| Khelrtva | .svg){kind=small} |
Vakhtang IV (Georgian: ვახტანგ IV) (c. 1413 – December 1446), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was King of Georgia from 1442 until his death.
Vakhtang was the eldest son of Alexander I of Georgia by his first wife Dulandukht. He was raised to the co-kingship by his father in 1433. When Alexander I abdicated in 1442, Vakhtang succeeded him to the throne of Georgia, leaving his brothers – Demetrius and George as co-kings. Vakhtang’s rule was threatened by the rivalry among the nobles and general instability in the kingdom.[1] According to the 18th-century Georgian scholar Vakhushti, Vakhtang also faced an attack by the Turkoman prince Jahan Shah of the Kara Koyunlu. Vakhtang met him at Akhaltsikhe in southern Georgia, but a fierce fight did not reveal a victor. In the night, Jahan Shah left the battlefield and returned to Tabriz.
Vakhtang IV married Sitikhatun, daughter of Prince Zaza I Panaskerteli in 1442, outlived her by two years and died without issue in 1446, being buried, together with Sitikhatun, at the Bana cathedral in Tao (now in Turkey).[1] He was followed by his rivaling brothers Demetrius and George. This marked the beginning of a fierce and extended struggle for hegemony in Georgia, which eventually ended with the partition of the Georgian kingdom.[2]
References
- ^ a b Toumanoff, Cyril. "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia." Traditio 7 (1949–51): 184-185
- ^ Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), The Making of the Georgian Nation, p. 45. Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-20915-3