Bagration origin. About the origin of the Bagration dynasty. Feat near Shengraben

Bagrationi (Bagrationi) Bagratdy - dynasty, from the 9th to the 19th centuries. occupied the throne of Georgia.

It is reliably known that the ancestors of the Bagrations were from the region of Speri (modern Ispir in Turkey). This family achieved great influence in Transcaucasia already in the 6th - 8th centuries. One of the branches rose to prominence in Armenia, the other in Kartli, and both managed to gain a dominant position among the local nobility, occupying the royal throne.

Famous foreign researcher Prince. Kirill Lvovich Tumanov elevates the Georgian Bagrations, like the Armenian royal dynasty of Bagratuni, which died out in the Middle Ages, to the Orontids, one of the seven largest feudal families (“great houses”) of Ancient Persia, first satraps (governors), and then kings of Armenia (from 331). . BC). This version, however, is disputed by many Georgian authors. The traditional genealogy of the Bagrations goes back to the biblical prophet-king David. According to a legend recorded already in ancient times, the founder of the Georgian line of the family was a distant descendant of King David, Guram (Guaram), together with three brothers (Sahak, Asam and Varzavard; all of them were already Christians) who arrived in the reign of King Mirdat (Mithridates), the son of Vakhtang Gorgasal . His three other brothers, Bagrat, Abgavar and Mobal, according to the same genealogical legend, became related to the Armenian kings. In Christian Georgia and Armenia, the tradition of belonging to the family of the great King David, from whom Jesus Christ himself descended in the flesh, of course, elevated the dynasty, surrounding its name with a dazzling aura (it is curious that a similar tradition was preserved by another ancient Christian dynasty, which until recently ruled in Ethiopia; the Abyssinian kings of kings, the Negus-Negeshti, elevated themselves to the son of David, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba). Georgian King David IV the Builder was considered a descendant of the Prophet King David in the 78th generation.

According to the work of the Georgian historian of the 18th century. Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi, in 508, King Mirdat married his sister to Guaram and granted him the title of eristav of the Tao region, which was also ruled by his descendants. Guaram, who died in 532, was succeeded by his son Bagrat, whose son Guaram, who inherited the eristship over Tao in 568, also received the possessions of the sons of King Mirdat, his relatives, who died in the same year. In the conflict between the Persians and the Byzantines, he supported the latter, for which he received the highest court kuropalat, and in 575 Emperor Justinian granted him the rank of king. According to Vakhushti, it was Guaram Kuropalat, after his father’s name, who first began to be called Bagrationi. His descendants, maintaining an alliance with Byzantium, bore the Byzantine titles of Kuropalate, Antipat (proconsul), and Master. As a rule, the title of Kuropalate was given to the head of the dynasty, but it also happened that the Byzantines granted it to another representative of the family (thus, probably encouraging rivalry within the dynasty). In Georgia itself, the head of the clan was initially called eristavt-eristav. During the era of the Arab conquest of Georgia, representatives of this family also bore the title of erismtavars - supreme princes. During this period, the younger Bagrationi held the local title of mampali (meaning a member of the dynasty, prince of the blood).

Coming from this family, Ashot I, son of Adarnase Bagrationi (called the Great by some historians), was appointed erismtavar of Kartli under Caliph Mamun around 813. But (apparently, as a result of a conflict with the Tbilisi emir, who had achieved independence from the caliphate and did not want to have a rival in the person of the Kartlian supreme prince), Ashot then had to leave Kartli and take refuge in southern Georgia - Klarjeti, in territory under the political influence of Byzantium . He restored the destroyed Artanuja fortress (built by King Vakhtang Gorgasal) and founded a city there, which soon became one of the most important centers of southern Georgia. From the Byzantine emperor Ashot received the rank of Kuropalate. He skillfully used the support of Byzantium not only in the fight against the Arabs, but also to strengthen his power within the country. Ashot himself fell at the hands of enemies in 826 (according to, he was killed in the fortress church of Artanuja), some of his sons and grandsons died in civil strife. But it was his descendants - David Kuropalat and - and their successors who managed to achieve power over all Georgian lands, laying the foundation for a unified Georgian state. Even the grandfather of Bagrat III, Adarnase, in 888 took the title of king of the Kartvelians (Georgians), symbolizing the power of the head of the dynasty over the entire South-Eastern Georgia. For some time, the hierarchy of titles in Kartli was quite confusing. In Kartli itself, the title of the king of the Kartvels was perceived as higher, but from the point of view of the Byzantine government, the highest place was occupied by the bearer of the title Kuropalat; Apparently, the first to unite these titles in one person were King David Kuropalat and his successor Bagrat III. In a unified Georgian state, the title of kings is expanding (including convoys or vassal territories); they are called "kings of the Kartvels, Abkhazians, Rans, Kakhs and Armenians", Shirvanshahs, "autocrats of the East and West" and kings of kings. In the Georgian kingdom, the title of king is also borne by some younger members of the dynasty - rulers of individual regions (in historical literature they are usually called “provincial kings”), retaining the royal title and supreme power for the head of the clan. Byzantine titles (which once symbolized the suzerainty of Constantinople) fall into disuse. When the power of the Mongol khans was established in Georgia, the co-rulers approved by them, the cousins David VII Ulu (in Mongolian “elder”) and David VI Narin (in Mongolian “junior”), bear the titles of kings, although David Narin is considered the “junior king”. Subsequently, having actually divided the kingdom among themselves, they retain royal titles for themselves and their offspring. Then it unites again under the rule of one king, but, alas, not for long.

At the end of the 15th century. after the collapse of united Georgia into three kingdoms - Georgia proper (Kartli), Kakheti and Imereti - the Royal House of Bagrations was divided into Kartalin, Kakheti and Imeretian branches (descending respectively from two sons and from the nephew of the Georgian king Alexander I) - Georgian (Kartalinsky), Kakheti and Imereti Royal Houses, the heads of which bear the titles of kings; the title of King of Georgia (Kartli) is retained in the senior branch of the dynasty. Branches separated from these three royal houses and received special inheritances and family names. Listed below in order of overall dynastic seniority are the main Bagration lines

Gruzinsky (Kartalinsky royal house);

Georgian (Kartalinsky) kings and princes (First Royal House of Georgia);

Mukhrani House, from which come:

Princes of Georgia (senior branch).

Princes Gochashvili (faded branch of Bagrationi).

Kakheti royal house:

Kakheti kings and princes; from them descend the kings and princes of the united Kakheti and Kartli (kings and princes of Georgia), whose descendants are

Your Serene Highnesses Princes of Georgia (Kakheti branch);

Kings and princes of Imereti, from whom descend:

Your Serene Highness Princes Bagration-Imereti,

Your Serene Highness Princes Bagration (Imereti branch),

Your Serene Highnesses Princes of Imereti,

To the descendants of the Bagratids, according to Prince. K.L. Tumanov, two more Georgian princely families may belong: princes Tavdgiridze and princes Mikeladze, but this origin (presumably from the Bagratid branch that reigned in Armenia) is not confirmed by sources.

In the second half of the XVI - XVII centuries. the strengthening of the influence of neighboring Muslim powers in Transcaucasia - Iran and the Ottoman Empire, despite the attempts of the Georgian kingdoms and principalities to defend their independence, leads to the establishment of vassal dependence of all three branches of the Bagrations on the Shah of Iran or the Turkish Sultan. According to the peace treaty between Turkey and Iran in 1590, Kartli and Kakheti remained in the sphere of influence of Iran, and Imereti and the principalities (Megrelia, Abkhazia, etc.) - Turkey. The kings of Kartli and Kakheti ascended the throne with the blessing of the Persian Shah. In the XVII - XVIII centuries. the king of Kartli bore the Persian title of wali - the governor of the shah, and the kings of Kakheti were given the title of khan by the Persians (as were the rulers of neighboring Muslim principalities, for example the Nakhichevan Khanate, vassals to Iran). At the same time, however, the Persians recognized the dynastic rights of the Bagrations, the throne was occupied, as a rule, by the legal heirs (sons, brothers of the kings), and, although it had worsened since the beginning of the 17th century. the rivalry of the Kakheti and Kartalin kings, who fought for the unification of Eastern Georgia, sometimes led to a violation of this principle, yet until the first quarter of the 18th century. Ultimately, dynastic succession triumphed. In the absence of legitimate heirs, illegitimate children of kings and princes were also called to the throne. An example of the preservation of the principle of dynastic seniority was the transfer of the throne of Kartli in 1658 from the last representative of the First Georgian Royal House, King Rostom, to the next senior line of the Kartalin Bagrations-Mukhrani House, the head of which, the ruler of Mukhrani Vakhtang, became the king of Georgia and the founder of the Second Georgian Royal House (an appanage principality remained in the family of his younger brother until 1801).

Upon receiving power from the Shah or Sultan, members of the dynasty usually had to adopt the Muslim faith and new Muslim names. In most cases, this was just a formality, and the “Muslim” kings actively contributed to the efforts of the Georgian Orthodox Church to preserve ancient piety in the country.

But sometimes the descendants of the dynasty, brought up in a Muslim environment, truly “Muslims,” as chroniclers of that time wrote about them, also ascended the throne. True, they, too, as a rule, respected the rights of the Christian Church (the apostates who tried to impose Islam on the Georgian lands to please the Shah or Sultan rarely managed to sit on the throne for any long time, and sometimes their reign ended with death at the hands of their own subjects). By formally accepting Islam, the kings saved their country from invasions, ultimately thereby guaranteeing their subjects the freedom to practice the Christian faith. Many representatives of the dynasty became martyrs for the faith, showing exceptional firmness in cases where only their personal fate was at stake. Orthodox Church honors the names of these holy kings and queens.

In the Georgian Royal House, as in some other European dynasties (French, British), there has never been a division of marriages into dynastic and morganatic. Of course, throughout the centuries-old history of the Bagration dynasty, kings and princes willingly became related to the monarchs of neighboring countries, from the Byzantine and Trebizond empires and the Armenian kingdom to the Muslim kingdoms, khanates, emirates and sultanates. Georgian princesses also became wives of Iranian shahs (the kings could not refuse the Shah of Iran if he wanted to introduce a royal daughter or sister into his harem; but in those “geopolitical conditions” such marriages were considered quite honorable, consolidating alliance or vassal relations). The first projects of Russian-Georgian dynastic marriages (except for the marriage of Queen Tamar with Prince George, the son of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir, which ended in divorce) date back to the 17th century. Kakheti princess Elena (Gulchar) was the bride of Tsarevich (then Tsar) Fyodor Borisovich (1589 - 06/10/1605), son of Boris Godunov. But the rise to power of False Dmitry and the death of Fyodor Borisovich (who occupied the throne for only a few weeks) did not allow this union to come true. According to some sources, the bride of the third tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Fyodor Alekseevich (05/30/1661 - 04/27/1682), was Princess Maria Ilyinichna Davydova (from the younger branch of the Kakheti Bagrations, who settled in Russia under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich).

But for the first time (from the Mukhrani branch) they became related to the Romanovs only in our century, when Prince Konstantin Alexandrovich Bagration-Mukhrani married (in 1911) Princess of the Imperial Blood Tatyana Konstantinovna, and the Head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich (1917 - 1992) married (in 1948) Princess Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Mukhranskaya (b. 1914), and the blood of the Bagratids now flows in the veins of the heirs to the Russian throne - Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her son Grand Duke Georgiy Mikhailovich. In 1946, the senior line of the Bagration-Mukhrani princes became related to the royal houses of Bavaria and Spain, and through them - to the imperial-royal Austro-Hungarian dynasty of Habsburgs.

Such marriages strengthened and are strengthening the influence of the dynasty, its connections with other reigning and ruling houses. But non-dynastic marriages were always considered absolutely legal and completely acceptable in the Bagrations’ house. Kings married girls from noble or even not very noble local families, princesses married (princes) and even (nobles). In Russian genealogical literature there is a statement that the spouses of princesses who were not princes by birth received a princely title upon marriage. Of course, such cases happened, but the award of the title depended entirely on the will of the king; the title of prince was never acquired “automatically.”

As in many medieval European dynasties, the Bagrationi custom recognized certain rights for the illegitimate offspring of kings and princes. At the same time, the cultural and political influence of Muslim countries undoubtedly played a role, where children from concubines and younger wives could (although not always) enjoy all the rights of legitimate children of a shah, khan or sultan. In the Georgian kingdoms, illegitimate children of sovereigns until the 18th century. bore the title of prince and, under favorable circumstances, occupied the thrones of their fathers (due to circumstances, the customs in Imereti turned out to be especially “liberal,” where the legal line of the dynasty ended in the middle of the 17th century). The support of such applicants by neighboring Muslim powers played a major role (by the will of the Shah, the illegitimate son of King Daudkhan, Rostom, who was born in Iran and raised there, became the king of Kartli; the illegitimate children of the Imeretian kings occupied the throne with the help of Turkish pashas). Recognizing in Russia the title of prince for the illegitimate children of the Georgian monarchs, the Russian government probably proceeded from the customs of their dynasty and the real position of these persons in their homeland. It was also taken into account that many of these kings formally professed Islam, and according to Muslim customs, all their children in Turkey and Iran would have been considered legitimate (and therefore it was hardly reasonable to alienate these descendants of the dynasty by belittling their status in Russia). In succession to the throne, however, preference was given to the legitimate lines of the dynasty, and the accession to the throne of the illegitimate sons of kings was still a deviation from the rules, a violation of the law.

Actively developing since the 16th century. Contacts between Georgia and the Moscow state contributed to the official recognition of the royal title of the rulers of Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti, i.e., a rank equivalent to the title of Russian sovereign. Repeated attempts to establish formal Russian patronage over the Georgian lands and include their names in the title of Russian tsars until the last quarter of the 18th century. did not abolish the real suzerainty of Iran and did not affect the rank and titles recognized in Russia for members of the Georgian royal families. The Treaty of Georgievsk between Georgia and Russia, concluded on July 24, 1783, and the agreement on Russian protectorate over Imereti on April 25, 1804 once again officially confirmed (for eternity) the royal dignity of the monarchs from the Bagration dynasty who ruled in these states.

Historians and specialists in international law, analyzing these documents, rightly note that the agreements between Georgia and Russia could not be changed unilaterally. The annexation of Georgian lands to Russia could not change the international legal status of local dynasties (as, say, the annexation of their possessions to the Kingdom of Italy did not subsequently deprive the Sicilian and Parma Bourbons of their dynastic status) and free the House of Romanov from the obligations assumed towards them. It is necessary to distinguish between the status recognized for representatives of these dynasties in Russia (it changed, and not for the better), and the status to which they retained an inalienable inheritance right according to the laws of their dynasty (a status that has intra-dynastic and international legal significance).

In the XVI - XVIII centuries. in Russia, dynastic status was recognized for all representatives of the Kartalin and Kakheti branches of the Bagrations who traveled to Russia (we are not aware of any cases of departure of the descendants of the Imeretian line of Bagrations; the Imeretian princes who lived in Russia at the turn of the 17th - 18th centuries came from the Kartalin House). By calling them princes and princes in official acts, the Russian government recognized them as persons of the same rank as representatives of other foreign and ruling houses (for example, German princes who served in Russia). Their dynastic status was also preserved because until the second half of the 18th century. The legal heirs to the throne of Kartli (children and grandchildren of Vakhtang VI) who lived in Russia retained supporters in Georgia and repeatedly tried to regain power, i.e. they acted as real, and not “titular” representatives of the dynasty. But after the annexation of Georgia and Imereti to Russia, the Russian government considered only the closest descendants of the last kings as members of the royal houses (and then, as it was formulated in official papers, “former royal houses”). In the Highest Regulation of the Committee of Ministers, approved on June 18, 1842, “On ways to strengthen the condition of members of the former royal houses of Georgia and Imereti,” the princes Parnaoz Iraklievich (son), Teimuraz(?), Mikhail, Ilya, Okropir are named as members of the “former Royal House of Georgia.” and Irakli Georgievich (children of George XII), sons of Tsarevich Iulon (Yulon) Iraklievich princes Luarsab (Levan) and Dmitry, grandson of Tsarevich Ivan Georgievich Prince Ioann Grigorievich and sons of Tsarevich Bagrat Georgievich princes David and Alexander. Members of the “former Royal House of Imereti” were named Tsarevich Konstantin Davidovich (son of King David II) and princes Alexander and Dmitry Georgievich Bagration-Imereti (whose father, the grandson of Solomon I, who bore the title of Tsarevich, was the illegitimate son of Tsarevich Alexander Solomonovich). It should not be considered that this list exhausts the composition of the Georgian and Imereti Royal Houses. Before us is simply a list of persons to whom the government at that moment intended to extend certain benefits. Suffice it to say that this list does not include Tsarevich Alexander Iraklievich, who lived in Iran from 1801 and repeatedly spoke out against Russia (he died only in 1844). His son Irakli is also not on this list (who, together with his mother, arrived in St. Petersburg a little later and received the same rights and privileges as his relatives).

Supremely approved on June 20, 1865 by the opinion of the State Council “On granting the title of lordship to the descendants of the last kings of Georgia and Imereti, descended from the male generation, the princes of Georgia and Imereti,” this title was granted to the descendants of the kings of Georgia and Kakheti Irakli II and George XII, as well as part of the descendants of the Imeretian kings Alexander V, Solomon I and David (including some, but not all collateral lines of this dynasty; the illegitimate offspring of one of the Imeretian princes was granted only hereditary nobility in Russia with the surname Bagration, but without a title). The list of persons to whom the right to the title of lordship granted to the descendants of the Georgian and Imereti kings was extended was somewhat expanded. It was received, in particular, by the descendants of the Imeretian prince Bagrat (brother of Solomon I).

In the princely dignity of the Russian Empire, three families were also recognized that came from the Georgian (Kartalin) Royal House: the Georgian princes (senior branch, direct descendants of Vakhtang VI), the Bagration princes and the Bagration-Mukhrani princes (several branches) and the younger branch of the Kakheti Royal House - princes Davydov (continued in Russia) and Bagration-Davydov (Bagrationi-Davitishvili).

They did not receive the title of lordship in the Russian Empire. However, after at the end of the 19th century. the family of the Georgian princes (the senior dynastic line of the Second Georgian Royal House) died out, seniority in the Georgian dynasty passed to the family of the Bagration-Mukhrani princes (the Bagrationi princes, at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries, purely genealogically constituting the senior line of the Bagratids, lay claim to dynastic seniority and succession to the throne, apparently, they could not, since they descended from the illegitimate son of King Jesse; however, in 1920 this family also died out, so the question of their potential rights to succession to the throne lost practical significance). This circumstance was reflected in the official act of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, on December 5, 1946. Recognizing the royal dignity of the senior branch of the Bagrations in the family of the Bagration-Mukhrani princes, the Grand Duke recognized for them the title of Royal Highnesses and the right to be titled princes of Georgia. We examine this act in more detail below, in an article dedicated to the family of rulers and princes Bagration-Mukhrani. I would only like to emphasize that it was the Head of the Russian Imperial House, a direct descendant and heir of Emperor Paul I, who was able (as it is well stated in the brochure published abroad by the Russian Imperial Union-Order) to “remove the untruths that lie on the conscience of the Russian state, and declare publicly their recognition of the royal dignity of the House of Bagration."

Through the efforts of the senior branch of the family, Their Royal Highnesses the Bagration-Mukhrani-Georgian princes, in the 20th century the ancient name of Bagration resounded again in the family of Christian dynasties. As an equal among equals, the Head of the Georgian Royal House was accepted among European monarchs. In Russia, from the point of view of laws Russian Empire The descendants of the dynasty retain the titles, surnames and coats of arms recognized for them by the Russian government. But in the Russian nobility they should occupy the same place as the foreign ruling families discussed at the beginning of this volume.

In conclusion, I would like to say a few words about the heraldry of the Bagratid dynasty. For a long time (at least already at the beginning of the 18th century), kings and princes from the Bagration dynasty used heraldic emblems in their state and personal coats of arms, reflecting their dynastic status and family traditions. The origin of the dynasty from the family of the psalmist king David is reminiscent of the harp and sling (the weapon with which young David defeated the giant Goliath). Traditional symbols of power are also present in the coats of arms: an orb, a scepter (a sign of civil power) and a sword (a symbol of military power; in the Middle Ages, the Georgian king was sometimes called the “sword of the Messiah”), scales (an emblem of justice, a symbol of the supreme judicial power of the monarch). In some versions of the coat of arms, the ancient territorial emblem of Georgia is also placed - the image of St. George slaying the serpent. Saint George the Victorious has long been considered the patron saint of Georgia (the name of the country in European languages is Georgia, Georgie, i.e. the country of George). This emblem (it is no coincidence that it coincides with the ancient coat of arms of the Moscow state, symbolizing the triumph of Christianity over its enemies) was preserved in the coat of arms of the Russian Empire and as the titular coat of arms of the Kingdom of Georgia. But at the same time, the colors of the coat of arms were slightly modified to make the Georgian coat of arms different from the Moscow one; the field of the shield became golden, the horse under St. George - black, his armor - azure. In this form, the coat of arms of Georgia is included in the coat of arms of the most serene princes of Georgia, while in the coat of arms of the princes Bagration-Mukhrani the traditional colors of the Georgian coat of arms and its scarlet (red) field are preserved.

The most important heraldic regalia of the Georgian Royal House is the image of the tunic of Christ (the greatest shrine carefully preserved by the Georgian Orthodox Church since the first centuries of Christianity, since the time of St. Nino). The image of the tunic of Christ is traditionally present in the coats of arms of the kings from the house of Bagration and in the coat of arms of the princes of Bagration-Mukhrani (obviously due to their belonging to the senior branch of the dynasty and their preservation of their own inheritance). Other lines (princes Bagration, princes) do not use this emblem. In the coats of arms of the Imeretian branch of the Bagrations there are other additional emblems.

In the Russian Empire, first (in 1803) the coat of arms of the princes Bagration (the senior branch, from the House of Kartalin) was approved by the Highest, and in 1886 - the coat of arms of the most serene princes of Georgia (descendants of the last kings of the united Kakheti and Kartli), more complex, in which both the coat of arms of Georgia (St. George) and the tunic of Christ are present. The remaining branches of the dynasty, the Georgian princes (senior branch), the Bagration-Mukhrani princes, the Davydov and Bagration-Davydov princes, and the descendants of the Imereti Royal House did not petition Russia for the approval of their coats of arms (believing, probably, that by virtue of their status they have the right without special permission of the Russian Emperor to use the old ancestral emblems adopted by the sovereign monarchs, their ancestors). But, since in Georgia itself there was no official systematization and unification of family coats of arms, sometimes in the same family these traditional emblems were used in various versions and combinations (simpler and more complex). ... ... ...

The Bagratids, who were originally dynastic princes of the region of Sper in northwestern Armenia (now Ispir in Turkey), were of local Armenian-Iranian or perhaps even Urartian origin and were descendants of the Armenian royal Yervandid dynasty.

From their homeland of Armenia, after an unsuccessful uprising against the Arabs in 772, one of the branches of this house moved to neighboring Georgia, where it achieved power in 786 (or perhaps as early as 780).

Legendary versions of origin

The Bagration dynasty is one of the oldest existing dynasties. The Bagrations rose early in the political arena of Transcaucasia, and various legends were created around the family in the Armenian-Georgian environment. The ancient Armenian historical tradition declares them to be the descendants of the Khaikids, the ancient Georgian - the Farnavazids. The same Armenian tradition considers them to be the descendants of the noble captive Jew Shambat (Smbat), who became the satrap of Armenia under the Persian king Artaxerxes I (5th century BC), and later Armenian and Georgian historical traditions connect their origins with the prophet-king David.

Georgian historiography adheres to the legend about the origin of the Bagrations from the ancient Georgian royal family of the Pharnavazids, founded by the legendary first king of Iberia, Pharnavaz I. Nikolai Berdzenishvili believes that the dynasty originates from the Speri region, in the east of modern Turkey. The Armenian historical tradition dates the rise of the Armenian branch of the Bagratuni family to the 1st century. BC e. Georgian historical tradition, in particular the 11th century author Sumbat Davitisdze, dates the rise of the Bagration family in the political arena of Georgia to the 6th century.

Legend of biblical origin

In Armenian and Georgian legends, there is also a version linking the origin of the family with biblical characters. The first mention of the origin of the Bagratuni family from the Jewish king-prophet David is found in the work “History of Armenia” by the Armenian historian and Catholicos Hovhannes Draskhanakertsi (845/850-929) and in the treatise “On the Administration of the Empire” (948-952) by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Georgian philologist and Armenian scholar I. Abuladze notes that Draskhanakertzi’s message about the origin of the family from the prophet is confirmed by more ancient Armenian information.

The legend evolved from an earlier tradition about Jewish origins common among the Armenian Bagratids, which is mentioned, for example, by the 5th century Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi.

In Georgian writing, the first mention of the biblical origin of the Bagrations is recorded in the work of Georgy Merchule “The Life of Grigory Khandzteli” (951): thus, Grigory Khandzteli, addressing Ashot Kuropalat, calls him “ sovereign, named son of David, prophet and anointed of the Lord» .

The first Bagrations

According to the legend set out in the work of Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi, under King Mirdat (early 6th century), a certain Guaram (Guram) (d. 532) moved to Georgia, to whom in 508 the king married his sister and granted him the title of eristavi of the Tao region. Guaram's grandson Guaram I received the title of Kuropalate from the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, and in 575 - king. Vakhushti reports that it was Guaram I who began to be called Bagrationi - after the name of his father.

The descendants of Guaram I were called eristavt-eristavs (rulers of rulers) and ruled Kartliya. Maintaining an alliance with Byzantium, they also bore the Byzantine titles of kuropalate and antipata (proconsul). The younger Bagrations owned the title mampali - prince of blood. During the period of Arab rule (VII-IX centuries), the rulers of Kartli began to be called supreme princes (erismtavars). Grand Duke Ashot I the Great (787-826) came into conflict with the Arabs and was forced to take refuge in southern Georgia, which was controlled by Byzantium. He restored the fortress of Artanuja and, using the support of the Byzantine emperors, strengthened his power in Kartli.

The great-grandson of Ashot I Adarnese (Arsen) II Kuropalat in 888 took the title of king of the Kartvels (Gruzinov). In turn, the great-grandson of Adarnes II, king of Tao-Klarjeti (Southwestern Georgia), David III Kuropalat, with the support of the Byzantines, liberated many Georgian, as well as part of the Armenian and Albanian lands from the Arabs. For helping the emperors suppress the uprising of Bardas Skleros, he received the Erzurum region and other lands. The Georgian nobility invited the powerful ruler to take the throne of Kartli.

The heir of the childless David III was the king's nephew (actually the son of his second cousin) Bagrat Bagrationi, who inherited the Kartvelian kingdom from his father, and the Abkhazian kingdom from his mother. In 1008, the heir to the three kingdoms, Bagrat III, took the title of King of Kartli. From this moment on, the Bagrationi dynasty became the royal house of Kartli.

During the reign of this Dynasty, Georgia achieved its power, spreading its sphere of influence far from the borders of the state. Once again, the royal house of Bagration managed to consolidate the warring peoples and territories into a strong, independent state.

Middle Ages

The daughter of George III, Queen Tamara the Great (1184 - ca. 1210/1213), became one of the most powerful rulers of the entire Middle East. Her troops defeated the Atabek of Azerbaijan and the Sultan of Rum, made a campaign in Persia, and took Kars. The vassals of Queen Tamara were the sultans, emirs and rulers of neighboring states; the Empire of Trebizond was under the influence of Georgia. Tamara patronized the arts, architecture and sciences. Poets dedicated odes and poems to her, temples and palaces were built in her honor.

Your Serene Highness Princes Bagration-Imereti;
nobles Bagrationi;
His Serene Highness Princes Bagration (Imereti branch);
princes Bagration-Davydov (Imeretian branch; recognized as princely on December 6, 1850).

Of these four branches, the second - the Bagration princes - was included in the number of Russian princely families when Emperor Alexander I approved the seventh part of the “General Russian Armorial” on October 4, 1803. The grandson of Tsar Vakhtang VI - Prince Ivan Vakhushtovich Bagration - served under Catherine II as lieutenant general and commanded the Siberian division, and the nephew of Vakhtang VI - Tsarevich Alexander Jesseevich (the ancestor of the Bagration princes) - went to Russia in 1757 and served as a lieutenant colonel in the Caucasian division. His grandson, infantry general Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration, immortalized his family on the battlefield.

Description of the coat of arms

The shield is divided into four parts, of which the first one depicts a golden power in a red field. In the second there is a harp in a blue field. In the third, in a blue field, there is a golden sling. In the fourth part, a golden scepter and a saber are placed crosswise in a red field.

There are two lions on the sides of the shield. The shield is covered with a mantle and a cap belonging to the princely dignity. The coat of arms of the family of Princes Bagrationi (Georgian princes) is included in Part 7 of the General Arms of Arms of the Noble Families of the All-Russian Empire, page 2.

Bagrations in the Russian Empire and during the USSR

The last representative of the senior line of the Georgian (Kartli) Royal House - a direct descendant of King Vakhtang V Shahnavaz - died at the end of the 19th century. From that time until now, the senior line in the Bagrationi house are the descendants of the brother of Tsar Vakhtang V - Tsarevich Konstantin, who took possession of the Mukhrani inheritance. This dynasty is called Bagration-Mukhrani. Representatives of this genus traditionally played important role in the Caucasus, being the leaders of the nobility of the Tiflis province and holding responsible positions in the office of the governor of the Caucasus. Prince Georgy Konstantinovich Bagration-Mukhransky worked hard to streamline the judicial system in the Caucasus, and in 1871 he was appointed Secretary of State.

By the end of the 19th century, the Bagration-Mukhransky family was headed by Major General of His Majesty's retinue, Prince Alexander Iraklievich (1853-1918), who commanded the Life Guards cavalry regiment. After the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, he retired with the rank of lieutenant general. His further fate is tragic: on the night of October 19, 1918, Prince Alexander Iraklievich Bagration-Mukhransky was shot in Pyatigorsk during the mass executions of hostage officers organized by the Bolsheviks. His widow, Princess Maria Dmitrievna, née Golovacheva (1855-1932), was able to emigrate, where she died in Nice.

His son, Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Bagration-Mukhransky (1884-1957) was married to Elena Sigismundovna Zlotnitskaya (1886-1979), whose ancient family was rooted in the Polish gentry. Her mother, born Princess Eristova, was the great-granddaughter of the Georgian king Irakli II. From this marriage in 1914, Princess Leonida, the mother of the Head of the Russian Imperial House (according to the Kirill branch) - Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, and a son, Fyodor Georgievich Bagration-Mukhrani, was born, who returned to Georgia, and not finding support there among the Georgian aristocrats returned to Russia, Kizlyar, later taking a fictitious surname Garibashvili became a hermit and remained to live in Kochubey.

During the revolution, power in Georgia passed into the hands of the Georgian Mensheviks. The situation in Tiflis was turbulent, and the Bagration-Mukhransky family decided to rent out part of their large house to the French consul, hoping that this would ensure the safety of the house. " Safety was, however, relative, - recalls Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna. When shooting started in the city, bullets began to fly into our rooms like bees. My sister and I were seated under the sofas, and from there I heard adults talking about going abroad…” When the Anglo-French troops were withdrawn from Georgia, it became clear that the Mensheviks would not hold out for long. In 1921, the French consul, with great difficulty, put the Bagration-Mukhransky family on a train to Batumi, from where they traveled by steamship to Constantinople. There were no means of living, and the exiles decided to move to Germany, where, as the emigrants said, life was cheaper. Having sold the jewelry they had taken with them, the princely family moved to Berlin.

The emigrant lot was so unenviable that the Bagration-Mukhranskys decided to return to their homeland - now to Soviet Georgia. Oddly enough, the Bolshevik authorities returned their house to the family of the Georgian heir to the throne. However, arrests soon began. The prince was also arrested, but the peasants, his former subjects, did not testify against Georgy Alexandrovich. " Not a single person said anything bad about him, everyone said that he was like a father to them"- the Cheka investigators were perplexed.

After arrests and endless searches, the Bagration-Mukhranskys decided to emigrate again. Leave again from Soviet Russia The Bagration-Mukhranskys were helped by the intercession of Maxim Gorky, who was once patronized by the Bagration-Mukhranskys. After leaving Georgia, the Bagrations settled first in Nice, then in Paris. Soon, representatives of the princely family dispersed throughout Europe: to Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany, providing assistance and integrating into the life of the emigration, among which Prince George played a prominent role.

The Bagrations never forgot about their royal status, and in 1942, a congress of representatives of Georgian emigrant organizations in Rome officially recognized Prince George as the legitimate king of a united Georgia. Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna writes in her memoirs:

Bagrationi at present

From 1977 to 2008, the head of the Georgian Royal House of Bagration was Prince Georgiy (Jorge) Iraklievich Bagration-Mukhrani. He was born in Rome, where his family lived during World War II. His father was Prince Irakli Georgievich Bagration-Mukhranisky (March 21, 1909 - November 30, 1977), and his mother was the Italian Countess Marie Antoinette Paschini dei Conti di Costafiorita (d. February 22, 1944 during childbirth). Since 1957 - Head of the Georgian Royal House in exile.

Prince George Iraklievich lived his entire life in Spain, where he became a famous racing driver, was married to the Spanish aristocrat Marie de las Mercedes Zornosa y Ponce de Leon, and in his second marriage to Nuria Lopez. From these two marriages he has four children - Prince Irakli (b. 1972), Prince David (b. 1976), Prince Hugo (Guram, b. 1985) and Princess Marie Antoinette (b. 1969), who live in Spain and in Georgia. Their Georgian citizenship was returned to them.

George was supported by many Georgian monarchists as a candidate for the Georgian throne. In 2004, he received Georgian citizenship. Since 2006, he lived in his historical homeland, where he was overtaken by a serious illness. He died on January 16, 2008 and was buried in the tomb of the Georgian Kings - Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (city of Mtskheta). He was succeeded by his second son, Prince David Georgievich Bagration-Mukhrani.

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Notes

Toumanoff, C. Iberia on the Eve of Bagratid Rule, p. 22, cited in: Suny (1994), p. 349
Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), , p. 337
Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Article: "Bagratids", page 244.
Original text(English)

BAGRATIDS, Armenian feudal family that gave royal dynasties to Armenia, Georgia, and Caucasian Albania.
...
Secondary branches of the Bagratid house settled in Iberia and Tayk"/Tao early in the 9th C.
Toumanoff, Cyril , , in The Cambridge Medieval History, Cambridge, 1966, vol. IV, p. 609:
Original text(English)

The Bagratids at first (after 772) lost all their domains, save Syspiritis, whither Smbat VII"s son Ashot IV fled after the disaster. But the silver mines he possessed there enabled him to purchase from the tottering Kamsarakans the principalities of Arsharunik" and Siracene. He wrested some Mamikonid territory from the Arab amir Jahhaf the "Qaysid" and, directly from the Mamikonids, Taraun and southern Tayk". Other successes awaited his dynasty. His cousin Adarnase, son of Smbat VII"s younger brother Vasak, removed to Iberia after 772. There he acquired the lands of Erushet"i and Artani (Ardahan), and, at the turn of the century, inherited the state of the Guaramids, comprising Cholarzene, Javakhet"i, and northern Tayk", or Tao, taken earlier from the Mamikonids. With the extermination of many Iberian princes in 786, this younger Bagratid branch became the leading house of Iberia.
"The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I", Richard G. Hovannisian, ed. (New York, 1997). Part 10 “Armenia during the Seljuk and Mongol Periods” (pp. 241-271), by Robert Bedrosian. Chapter "":
Original text(English)

Furthermore, the dynasty of the Georgian Bagratids, itself of Armenian descent, definitely very favored certain Armenian nobles long since established within Georgia and within that country's ruling structure.
George Bournoutian “A Concise History of the Armenian People” page 110:
Original text(English)

The period between the decline of the Seljuks and the arrival of the Mongols was a time of revival for the Armenians. The main impetus was the emergence of Georgia and its Bagratuni dynasty, which was of Armenian descent, as the preeminent power in Transcaucasia and eastern Anatolia.
Bagratids- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
Soviet historical encyclopedia. Article: .
Encyclopedia Iranica, article:
Cyril Toumanoff "On the Relationship between the Founder of the Empire of Trebizond and the Georgian Queen Thamar", Speculum, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Jul., 1940), pp. 299-312, page 299:
Original text(English)

David, like other biblical names, viz., Solomon, Jesse, Thamar, was favored by the Bagratids because of their claim to be descended from King David of Israel. This claim dates from at least the tenth century when we first find it mentioned in the History of John Catholicus (cap. 8) - among the Armenian authors - and in Constantine Porphyrogenitus" De Administrando Imperio (cap. 45) among the Byzantines. It reached its fullest development in the Georgian branch of the Bagratids in the following century, influencing not only the names and titles, but the very historical Weltanschauung of the dynasty, and found its expression in Sumbat's History of the Bagratids (cf. infra) . This legend must have evolved out of the earlier tradition of Hebrew origin prevalent among the Armenian Bagratids, and found, e.g., in Moses of Khorene (Khorenatsi), i, 22; ii, 3; ii, 8-9. In reality the Bagratids, who made their appearance in history as dynastic princes of Sper (N. W. Armenia), are of local, Armeno-Iranian or, perhaps, even Urartian origin, and are known to have traced, at a still earlier period, their origin - like most of the great Armenian dynasts - to the eponymous founder of the Armenians, Hayk; cf. the anonymous fourth-fifth century Primary History of Armenia
Toumanoff C., prince. Les dynasties de la Caucasie chrétienne de l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle; Tables généalogiques et chronologiques. - Rome, 1990.
Toumanoff C., prince. Les Maisons Princières Géorgiennes de l'Empire de Russie. - Rome, 1983.
Cyril Toumanoff "On the Relationship between the Founder of the Empire of Trebizond and the Georgian Queen Thamar", Speculum, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Jul., 1940), pp. 299-312, page 303:
Original text(English)

Thamar, as we know from them, was the daughter of King George III of Abasgia and Georgia and the last in the main line of the illustrious Bagratid dynasty, which had branched out to Georgia from its country of provenance, Armenia, in the eighth century , and began to reign there in 786, or perhaps as early as 780.
"Georgia and European countries: Essays on the history of relations of the 13th-19th centuries" In 3 volumes, Volume 2 p. 827
N. Berdzenishvili “Questions in the history of Georgia: Historical geography: Volume 1” p. 129
Lordkipanidze M.D. “History and narration about the Bagrations” Tbilisi 1979 p. 14
I. Abuladze “Information of Ioann Draskhanakertsi about Georgia”, Tbilisi, 1937, p. 3
Lordkipanidze M.D. “History and narration about the Bagrations” Tbilisi 1979 p. 14(69)
Lordkipanidze M.D. “History and narration about the Bagrations” Tbilisi 1979 p. 19
Noble families of the Russian Empire. Volume 3. Princes. - pp. 28-29.

Literature

Baddeley, JF, Gammer M (INT) (2003), The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus, Routledge (UK), ISBN 0-7007-0634-8 (First published in 1908; 1999 edition, reprinted in 2003)
Lang, D. M. (1957) The Last Years of the Georgian Monarchy: 1658-1832, New York: Columbia University Press.
Rapp, S. H. (2003) Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts, Peeters Bvba ISBN 90-429-1318-5.
Suny, R. G. The making of the Georgian nation / R. G. Suny. - 2nd ed. -: Indiana University Press, 1994. - 418 p. - ISBN 0-253-20915-3.
A. Khakhanov. "Histoire de la Georgie", Paris, 1900 (in French)
A. Manvelichvili. "Histoire de la Georgie", Paris, 1951 (in French)
A. Manvelishvili. "Russia and Georgia. 1801-1951", Vol. I, Paris, 1951 (in Georgian)
K. Salia. "History of the Georgian Nation", Paris, 1983
Kartlis Tskhovreba, vol. I-IV, Tbilisi, 1955-1973 (in Georgian)
P. Ingorokva. Giorgi Merchule (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1954 (in Georgian)
E. Takaishvili. "Georgian chronology and the beginning of the Bagratid rule in Georgia." - Georgica, London, v. I, 1935
Sumbat Davitis dze. “Chronicle of the Bagration’s of Tao-Klarjeti”, with the investigation of Ekvtime Takaishvili, Tbilisi, 1949 (in Georgian)
"Das Leben Kartlis", ubers. und herausgegeben von Gertrud Patch, Leipzig, 1985 (in German)
V. Guchua, N. Shoshiashvili. “Bagration’s.” - Encyclopedia “Sakartvelo”, vol. I, Tbilisi, 1997, pp. 318-319 (in Georgian)
Noble families of the Russian Empire. Volume 3. Princes / Ed. S. V. Dumina. - M.: Linkominvest, 1996. - 278 p. - 10,000 copies.

An excerpt characterizing the Bagrations

Tushin's battery was forgotten, and only at the very end of the matter, continuing to hear the cannonade in the center, Prince Bagration sent there the officer on duty and then Prince Andrei to order the battery to retreat as quickly as possible. The cover that stood near Tushin's guns left, on someone's orders, in the middle of the case; but the battery continued to fire and was not taken by the French only because the enemy could not imagine the audacity of firing four unprotected cannons. On the contrary, based on the energetic action of this battery, he assumed that the main forces of the Russians were concentrated here, in the center, and twice tried to attack this point and both times was driven away by grape shots from four cannons standing alone on this eminence.
Soon after the departure of Prince Bagration, Tushin managed to light Shengraben.
- Look, they're confused! It's burning! Look, that's smoke! Clever! Important! Smoke this, smoke that! – the servant spoke, perking up.
All guns fired in the direction of the fire without orders. As if urging them on, the soldiers shouted to each shot: “Dexterously! That's it! Look, you... It’s important!” The fire, carried by the wind, spread quickly. The French columns that had marched for the village retreated, but, as if in punishment for this failure, the enemy placed ten guns to the right of the village and began firing at Tushin with them.
Because of the childish joy excited by the fire, and the excitement of successful shooting at the French, our artillerymen noticed this battery only when two cannonballs, followed by four more, struck between the guns and one knocked down two horses, and the other tore off the leg of the box leader. The revival, once established, however, did not weaken, but only changed the mood. The horses were replaced by others from the spare carriage, the wounded were removed, and four guns were turned against the ten-gun battery. The officer, Tushin's comrade, was killed at the beginning of the case, and within an hour, out of forty servants, seventeen dropped out, but the artillerymen were still cheerful and animated. Twice they noticed that the French appeared below, close to them, and then they hit them with grapeshot.
The little man, with weak, awkward movements, constantly demanded another pipe from the orderly for this, as he said, and, scattering fire from it, ran forward and looked at the French from under his small hand.
- Crash it, guys! - he said and he himself grabbed the guns by the wheels and unscrewed the screws.
In the smoke, deafened by continuous shots that made him flinch every time, Tushin, without letting go of his nose warmer, ran from one gun to another, now taking aim, now counting the charges, now ordering the change and re-harnessing of dead and wounded horses, and shouted in his weak, thin voice, in a hesitant voice. His face became more and more animated. Only when people were killed or wounded did he wince and, turning away from the dead man, shout angrily at the people, as always, who were slow to raise the wounded man or the body. The soldiers, for the most part handsome fellows (as always in a battery company, two heads taller than their officer and twice as wide as him), all, like children in a difficult situation, looked at their commander, and the expression that was on his face remained unchanged reflected on their faces.
As a result of this terrible hum, noise, need for attention and activity, Tushin did not experience the slightest unpleasant feeling of fear, and the thought that he could be killed or painfully wounded did not occur to him. On the contrary, he became more and more cheerful. It seemed to him that a very long time ago, almost yesterday, there was that minute when he saw the enemy and fired the first shot, and that the patch of field on which he stood was a long-familiar, familiar place to him. Despite the fact that he remembered everything, understood everything, did everything that the best officer in his position could do, he was in a state similar to feverish delirium or the state of a drunken person.
Because of the deafening sounds of their guns from all sides, because of the whistle and blows of the enemy’s shells, because of the sight of the sweaty, flushed servants hurrying around the guns, because of the sight of the blood of people and horses, because of the sight of the enemy’s smoke on the other side (after which everyone once a cannonball flew in and hit the ground, a person, a weapon or a horse), because of the sight of these objects, his own fantastic world was established in his head, which was his pleasure at that moment. The enemy cannons in his imagination were not cannons, but pipes, from which an invisible smoker released smoke in rare puffs.
“Look, he puffed again,” Tushin said in a whisper to himself, while a puff of smoke jumped out of the mountain and was blown to the left by the wind in a stripe, “now wait for the ball and send it back.”
-What do you order, your honor? - asked the fireworksman, who stood close to him and heard him muttering something.
“Nothing, a grenade...” he answered.
“Come on, our Matvevna,” he said to himself. Matvevna imagined in his imagination a large, extreme, antique cast cannon. The French appeared to him like ants near their guns. The handsome and drunkard number two of the second gun in his world was his uncle; Tushin looked at him more often than others and rejoiced at his every move. The sound of the gunfire, which either died down or intensified again under the mountain, seemed to him like someone’s breathing. He listened to the fading and flaring up of these sounds.
“Look, I’m breathing again, I’m breathing,” he said to himself.
He himself imagined himself to be of enormous stature, a powerful man who threw cannonballs at the French with both hands.
- Well, Matvevna, mother, don’t give it away! - he said, moving away from the gun, when an alien, unfamiliar voice was heard above his head:
- Captain Tushin! Captain!
Tushin looked around in fear. It was the staff officer who kicked him out of Grunt. He shouted to him in a breathless voice:
- What, are you crazy? You were ordered to retreat twice, and you...
“Well, why did they give me this?...” Tushin thought to himself, looking at the boss with fear.
“I... nothing...” he said, putting two fingers to the visor. - I…
But the colonel did not say everything he wanted. A cannonball flying close caused him to dive and bend over on his horse. He fell silent and was just about to say something else when another core stopped him. He turned his horse and galloped away.
- Retreat! Everyone retreat! – he shouted from afar. The soldiers laughed. A minute later the adjutant arrived with the same order.
It was Prince Andrei. The first thing he saw, riding out into the space occupied by Tushin’s guns, was an unharnessed horse with a broken leg, neighing near the harnessed horses. Blood flowed from her leg like from a key. Between the limbers lay several dead. One cannonball after another flew over him as he approached, and he felt a nervous shiver run down his spine. But the very thought that he was afraid raised him up again. “I cannot be afraid,” he thought and slowly dismounted from his horse between the guns. He conveyed the order and did not leave the battery. He decided that he would remove the guns from the position with him and withdraw them. Together with Tushin, walking over the bodies and under terrible fire from the French, he began cleaning up the guns.
“And then the authorities came just now, so they were tearing up,” the fireworksman said to Prince Andrei, “not like your honor.”
Prince Andrei did not say anything to Tushin. They were both so busy that it seemed they didn’t even see each other. When, having put the surviving two of the four guns on the limbers, they moved down the mountain (one broken cannon and the unicorn were left), Prince Andrei drove up to Tushin.
“Well, goodbye,” said Prince Andrei, extending his hand to Tushin.
“Goodbye, my dear,” said Tushin, “dear soul!” “goodbye, my dear,” said Tushin with tears that, for some unknown reason, suddenly appeared in his eyes.

The wind died down, black clouds hung low over the battlefield, merging on the horizon with gunpowder smoke. It was getting dark, and the glow of fires was all the more clearly visible in two places. The cannonade became weaker, but the crackle of guns behind and to the right was heard even more often and closer. As soon as Tushin with his guns, driving around and running over the wounded, came out from under fire and went down into the ravine, he was met by his superiors and adjutants, including a staff officer and Zherkov, who was sent twice and never reached Tushin’s battery. All of them, interrupting one another, gave and passed on orders on how and where to go, and made reproaches and comments to him. Tushin did not give orders and silently, afraid to speak, because at every word he was ready, without knowing why, to cry, he rode behind on his artillery nag. Although the wounded were ordered to be abandoned, many of them trailed behind the troops and asked to be deployed to the guns. The same dashing infantry officer who jumped out of Tushin’s hut before the battle was, with a bullet in his stomach, placed on Matvevna’s carriage. Under the mountain, a pale hussar cadet, supporting the other with one hand, approached Tushin and asked to sit down.
“Captain, for God’s sake, I’m shell-shocked in the arm,” he said timidly. - For God's sake, I can't go. For God's sake!
It was clear that this cadet had more than once asked to sit somewhere and was refused everywhere. He asked in a hesitant and pitiful voice.
- Order him to be imprisoned, for God's sake.
“Plant, plant,” said Tushin. “Put down your overcoat, uncle,” he turned to his beloved soldier. -Where is the wounded officer?
“They put it in, it’s over,” someone answered.
- Plant it. Sit down, honey, sit down. Lay down your overcoat, Antonov.
The cadet was in Rostov. He held the other with one hand, was pale, and his lower jaw was shaking with feverish trembling. They put him on Matvevna, on the very gun from which they laid the dead officer. There was blood on the overcoat, which stained Rostov's leggings and hands.
- What, are you wounded, darling? - said Tushin, approaching the gun on which Rostov was sitting.
- No, I’m shell-shocked.
- Why is there blood on the bed? – Tushin asked.
“It was the officer, your honor, who bled,” answered the artillery soldier, wiping the blood with the sleeve of his overcoat and as if apologizing for the uncleanness in which the gun was located.
Forcibly, with the help of infantry, they took the guns up the mountain, and having reached the village of Guntersdorf, they stopped. It had already become so dark that ten steps away it was impossible to distinguish the uniforms of the soldiers, and the firefight began to subside. Suddenly, screams and gunfire were heard again close to the right side. The shots were already sparkling in the darkness. This was the last French attack, which was answered by soldiers holed up in the houses of the village. Again everyone rushed out of the village, but Tushin’s guns could not move, and the artillerymen, Tushin and the cadet, silently looked at each other, awaiting their fate. The firefight began to subside, and soldiers, animated by conversation, poured out of the side street.
- Is it okay, Petrov? - one asked.
“Brother, it’s too hot.” Now they won’t interfere,” said another.
- Can't see anything. How they fried it in theirs! Not in sight; darkness, brothers. Would you like to get drunk?
The French were repulsed for the last time. And again, in complete darkness, Tushin’s guns, surrounded as if by a frame by buzzing infantry, moved somewhere forward.
In the darkness, it was as if an invisible, gloomy river was flowing, all in one direction, humming with whispers, talking and the sounds of hooves and wheels. In the general din, behind all the other sounds, the moans and voices of the wounded in the darkness of the night were clearest of all. Their groans seemed to fill all the darkness that surrounded the troops. Their groans and the darkness of this night were one and the same. After a while, there was a commotion in the moving crowd. Someone rode with his retinue on a white horse and said something as they passed. What did you say? Where to now? Stand, or what? Thank you, or what? - greedy questions were heard from all sides, and the entire moving mass began to push on itself (apparently, the front ones had stopped), and rumors spread that they were ordered to stop. Everyone stopped as they were walking, in the middle of the dirt road.
The lights lit up and the conversation became louder. Captain Tushin, having given orders to the company, sent one of the soldiers to look for a dressing station or a doctor for the cadet and sat down by the fire laid out on the road by the soldiers. Rostov also dragged himself to the fire. A feverish trembling from pain, cold and dampness shook his entire body. Sleep was irresistibly beckoning him, but he could not sleep from the excruciating pain in his arm, which ached and could not find a position. He now closed his eyes, now glanced at the fire, which seemed to him hotly red, now at the stooped, weak figure of Tushin, sitting cross-legged next to him. Tushin’s big, kind and intelligent eyes looked at him with sympathy and compassion. He saw that Tushin wanted with all his soul and could not help him.
From all sides the footsteps and chatter of those passing, passing and infantry stationed around were heard. The sounds of voices, footsteps and horse hooves rearranging in the mud, the near and distant crackling of firewood merged into one oscillating roar.
Now, as before, the invisible river no longer flowed in the darkness, but as if after a storm, the gloomy sea lay down and trembled. Rostov mindlessly watched and listened to what was happening in front of him and around him. The infantry soldier walked up to the fire, squatted down, stuck his hands into the fire and turned his face away.
- Is it okay, your honor? - he said, turning questioningly to Tushin. “He got away from the company, your honor; I don’t know where. Trouble!
Together with the soldier, an infantry officer with a bandaged cheek approached the fire and, turning to Tushin, asked him to order the tiny gun to be moved in order to transport the cart. Behind the company commander, two soldiers ran to the fire. They swore and fought desperately, pulling out some kind of boot from each other.
- Why, you picked it up! Look, he’s clever,” one shouted in a hoarse voice.
Then a thin, pale soldier approached with his neck tied with a bloody wrap and in an angry voice demanded water from the artillerymen.
- Well, should I die like a dog? - he said.
Tushin ordered to give him water. Then a cheerful soldier ran up, asking for a light in the infantry.
- A hot fire to the infantry! Stay happily, fellow countrymen, thank you for the light, we will pay you back with interest,” he said, carrying the reddened firebrand somewhere into the darkness.
Behind this soldier, four soldiers, carrying something heavy on their overcoats, walked past the fire. One of them tripped.
“Look, devils, they put firewood on the road,” he grumbled.
- It’s over, so why wear it? - said one of them.
- Well, you!
And they disappeared into the darkness with their burden.
- What? hurts? – Tushin asked Rostov in a whisper.
- Hurts.
- Your honor, to the general. They’re standing here in the hut,” said the fireworksman, approaching Tushin.
- Now, my dear.
Tushin stood up and, buttoning his overcoat and straightening himself, walked away from the fire...
Not far from the artillery fire, in the hut prepared for him, Prince Bagration sat at dinner, talking with some of the unit commanders who had gathered with him. There was an old man with half-closed eyes, greedily gnawing a mutton bone, and a twenty-two-year-old impeccable general, flushed from a glass of vodka and dinner, and a staff officer with a name ring, and Zherkov, looking at everyone restlessly, and Prince Andrei, pale, with pursed lips and feverishly shiny eyes.
In the hut there stood a taken French banner leaning in the corner, and the auditor with a naive face felt the fabric of the banner and, perplexed, shook his head, perhaps because he was really interested in the appearance of the banner, and perhaps because it was hard for him hungry to look at dinner for which he did not have enough utensils. In the next hut there was a French colonel captured by the dragoons. Our officers crowded around him, looking at him. Prince Bagration thanked individual commanders and asked about the details of the case and losses. The regimental commander, who introduced himself near Braunau, reported to the prince that as soon as the matter began, he retreated from the forest, gathered woodcutters and, letting them pass by him, with two battalions struck with bayonets and overthrew the French.
- As I saw, Your Excellency, that the first battalion was upset, I stood on the road and thought: “I’ll let these through and meet them with battle fire”; I did so.
The regimental commander wanted to do this so much, he regretted so much that he did not have time to do this, that it seemed to him that all this had actually happened. Perhaps it actually happened? Was it possible to make out in this confusion what was and what was not?
“And I must note, Your Excellency,” he continued, recalling Dolokhov’s conversation with Kutuzov and his last meeting with the demoted man, “that the private, demoted Dolokhov, captured a French officer before my eyes and especially distinguished himself.”
“Here I saw, Your Excellency, an attack by the Pavlogradians,” Zherkov intervened, looking around uneasily, who had not seen the hussars at all that day, but had only heard about them from an infantry officer. - They crushed two squares, your Excellency.
At Zherkov’s words, some smiled, as always expecting a joke from him; but, noticing that what he was saying also tended towards the glory of our weapons and the present day, they took on a serious expression, although many knew very well that what Zherkov said was a lie, based on nothing. Prince Bagration turned to the old colonel.
– Thank you all, gentlemen, all units acted heroically: infantry, cavalry and artillery. How are two guns left in the center? – he asked, looking for someone with his eyes. (Prince Bagration did not ask about the guns on the left flank; he already knew that all the guns had been abandoned there at the very beginning of the matter.) “I think I asked you,” he turned to the officer on duty at the headquarters.
“One was hit,” answered the officer on duty, “and the other, I can’t understand; I myself was there all the time and gave orders and just drove away... It was hot, really,” he added modestly.
Someone said that Captain Tushin was standing here near the village, and that they had already sent for him.
“Yes, there you were,” said Prince Bagration, turning to Prince Andrei.
“Well, we didn’t move in together for a bit,” said the officer on duty, smiling pleasantly at Bolkonsky.
“I did not have the pleasure of seeing you,” said Prince Andrei coldly and abruptly.
Everyone was silent. Tushin appeared on the threshold, timidly making his way from behind the generals. Walking around the generals in a cramped hut, embarrassed, as always, at the sight of his superiors, Tushin did not notice the flagpole and stumbled over it. Several voices laughed.
– How was the weapon abandoned? – Bagration asked, frowning not so much at the captain as at those laughing, among whom Zherkov’s voice was heard loudest.
Tushin now only, at the sight of the formidable authorities, imagined in all horror his guilt and shame in the fact that he, having remained alive, had lost two guns. He was so excited that until that moment he did not have time to think about it. The officers' laughter confused him even more. He stood in front of Bagration with a trembling lower jaw and barely said:
– I don’t know... Your Excellency... there were no people, Your Excellency.
– You could have taken it from cover!
Tushin did not say that there was no cover, although this was the absolute truth. He was afraid to let down another boss and silently, with fixed eyes, looked straight into Bagration’s face, like a confused student looks into the eyes of an examiner.
The silence was quite long. Prince Bagration, apparently not wanting to be strict, had nothing to say; the rest did not dare to intervene in the conversation. Prince Andrey looked at Tushin from under his brows, and his fingers moved nervously.
“Your Excellency,” Prince Andrei interrupted the silence with his sharp voice, “you deigned to send me to Captain Tushin’s battery.” I was there and found two thirds of the men and horses killed, two guns mangled, and no cover.
Prince Bagration and Tushin now looked equally stubbornly at Bolkonsky, who was speaking restrainedly and excitedly.
“And if, Your Excellency, allow me to express my opinion,” he continued, “then we owe the success of the day most of all to the action of this battery and the heroic fortitude of Captain Tushin and his company,” said Prince Andrei and, without waiting for an answer, he immediately stood up and walked away from the table.
Prince Bagration looked at Tushin and, apparently not wanting to show distrust of Bolkonsky’s harsh judgment and, at the same time, feeling unable to fully believe him, bowed his head and told Tushin that he could go. Prince Andrei followed him out.
“Thank you, I helped you out, my dear,” Tushin told him.
Prince Andrei looked at Tushin and, without saying anything, walked away from him. Prince Andrei was sad and hard. It was all so strange, so unlike what he had hoped for.

"Who are they? Why are they? What do they need? And when will all this end? thought Rostov, looking at the changing shadows in front of him. The pain in my arm became more and more excruciating. Sleep was falling irresistibly, red circles were jumping in my eyes, and the impression of these voices and these faces and the feeling of loneliness merged with a feeling of pain. It was they, these soldiers, wounded and unwounded, - it was they who pressed, and weighed down, and turned out the veins, and burned the meat in his broken arm and shoulder. To get rid of them, he closed his eyes.
He forgot himself for one minute, but in this short period of oblivion he saw countless objects in his dreams: he saw his mother and her big white hand, he saw Sonya’s thin shoulders, Natasha’s eyes and laughter, and Denisov with his voice and mustache, and Telyanin , and his whole story with Telyanin and Bogdanich. This whole story was one and the same thing: this soldier with a sharp voice, and this whole story and this soldier so painfully, relentlessly held, pressed and all pulled his hand in one direction. He tried to move away from them, but they did not let go of his shoulder, not even a hair, not even for a second. It wouldn’t hurt, it would be healthy if they didn’t pull on it; but it was impossible to get rid of them.
He opened his eyes and looked up. The black canopy of night hung an arshin above the light of the coals. In this light, particles of falling snow flew. Tushin did not return, the doctor did not come. He was alone, only some soldier was now sitting naked on the other side of the fire and warming his thin yellow body.
“Nobody needs me! - thought Rostov. - There is no one to help or feel sorry for. And I was once at home, strong, cheerful, loved.” “He sighed and involuntarily groaned with a sigh.
- Oh, what hurts? - asked the soldier, shaking his shirt over the fire, and, without waiting for an answer, he grunted and added: - You never know how many people have been spoiled in a day - passion!
Rostov did not listen to the soldier. He looked at the snowflakes fluttering over the fire and remembered the Russian winter with a warm, bright house, a fluffy fur coat, fast sleighs, a healthy body and with all the love and care of his family. “And why did I come here!” he thought.
The next day, the French did not resume the attack, and the rest of Bagration’s detachment joined Kutuzov’s army.

Prince Vasily did not think about his plans. He even less thought of doing evil to people in order to gain benefit. He was only a secular man who had succeeded in the world and made a habit out of this success. He constantly, depending on the circumstances, depending on his rapprochement with people, drew up various plans and considerations, of which he himself was not well aware, but which constituted the entire interest of his life. Not one or two such plans and considerations were in his mind, but dozens, of which some were just beginning to appear to him, others were achieved, and others were destroyed. He did not say to himself, for example: “This man is now in power, I must gain his trust and friendship and through him arrange for the issuance of a one-time allowance,” or he did not say to himself: “Pierre is rich, I must lure him to marry his daughter and borrow the 40 thousand I need”; but a man in strength met him, and at that very moment instinct told him that this man could be useful, and Prince Vasily became close to him and at the first opportunity, without preparation, by instinct, flattered, became familiar, talked about what what was needed.
Pierre was under his arm in Moscow, and Prince Vasily arranged for him to be appointed a chamber cadet, which was then equivalent to the rank of state councilor, and insisted that the young man go with him to St. Petersburg and stay in his house. As if absent-mindedly and at the same time with an undoubted confidence that this should be so, Prince Vasily did everything that was necessary in order to marry Pierre to his daughter. If Prince Vasily had thought about his plans ahead, he could not have had such naturalness in his manners and such simplicity and familiarity in his relations with all the people placed above and below himself. Something constantly attracted him to people stronger or richer than himself, and he was gifted with the rare art of catching exactly the moment when it was necessary and possible to take advantage of people.
Pierre, having unexpectedly become a rich man and Count Bezukhy, after recent loneliness and carelessness, felt so surrounded and busy that he could only be left alone with himself in bed. He had to sign papers, deal with government offices, the meaning of which he had no clear idea of, ask the chief manager about something, go to an estate near Moscow and receive many people who previously did not want to know about his existence, but now would offended and upset if he didn’t want to see them. All these various persons - businessmen, relatives, acquaintances - were all equally well disposed towards the young heir; all of them, obviously and undoubtedly, were convinced of the high merits of Pierre. He constantly heard the words: “With your extraordinary kindness,” or “with your wonderful heart,” or “you yourself are so pure, Count...” or “if only he were as smart as you,” etc., so he He sincerely began to believe in his extraordinary kindness and his extraordinary mind, especially since it always seemed to him, deep down in his soul, that he was really very kind and very smart. Even people who had previously been angry and obviously hostile became tender and loving towards him. Such an angry eldest of the princesses, with a long waist, with hair smoothed like a doll’s, came to Pierre’s room after the funeral. Lowering her eyes and constantly flushing, she told him that she was very sorry for the misunderstandings that had happened between them and that now she felt she had no right to ask for anything, except permission, after the blow that had befallen her, to stay for a few weeks in the house that she loved so much and where made so many sacrifices. She couldn't help but cry at these words. Touched that this statue-like princess could change so much, Pierre took her hand and asked for an apology, without knowing why. From that day on, the princess began to knit a striped scarf for Pierre and completely changed towards him.
– Do it for her, mon cher; “All the same, she suffered a lot from the dead man,” Prince Vasily told him, letting him sign some kind of paper in favor of the princess.
Prince Vasily decided that this bone, a bill of 30 thousand, had to be thrown to the poor princess so that it would not occur to her to talk about Prince Vasily’s participation in the mosaic portfolio business. Pierre signed the bill, and from then on the princess became even kinder. The younger sisters also became affectionate towards him, especially the youngest, pretty, with a mole, often embarrassed Pierre with her smiles and embarrassment at the sight of him.
It seemed so natural to Pierre that everyone loved him, it would seem so unnatural if someone did not love him, that he could not help but believe in the sincerity of the people around him. Moreover, he did not have time to ask himself about the sincerity or insincerity of these people. He constantly had no time, he constantly felt in a state of meek and cheerful intoxication. He felt like the center of some important general movement; felt that something was constantly expected of him; that if he didn’t do this, he would upset many and deprive them of what they expected, but if he did this and that, everything would be fine - and he did what was required of him, but something good remained ahead.

The Bagratids (Bagratuni) are an ancient Armenian influential princely family, the royal dynasty of Armenia from 885 to 1045.

The Bagratids are credited with Jewish origins from Prince Shambot (Shambat, Arm. Smbat), one of the Jewish captives brought to Armenia by King Hayk II (an ally of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II).

The Bagratid dynasty has been known since at least the 1st century BC. e. The earliest known representative of this family is Bagadat, the strategist of the King of Armenia Tigran II the Great (95-55 BC) and his governor in Syria and Cilicia.

The founder of the Bagratid royal dynasty was Ashot I (?-891). In 861, the Baghdad court recognized him as “prince of princes.” He subjugated the major Armenian feudal lords, achieved the support of the Armenian Church, and in the mid-880s defeated the Arab troops. After this, the competing Arab caliph and the Byzantine emperor sent Ashota I to the crown in 885, thus recognizing the independence of Armenia.

Under the Arabs in the 8th-9th centuries, the princely family of the Bagratids gradually united most of Armenia, in particular its eastern regions, under their rule. The first Bagratid kings (Ashot I, Smbat I, Ashot II the Iron) also submitted to some regions of Southern Armenia. Shirak became the center of their possessions.

And in the future, the Armenian rulers ensured the independence and prosperity of their possessions, skillfully playing on the contradictions between their powerful neighbors.

Ashot II the Iron (ruled 914-928) in 921 defeated the Arab army on the shores of Lake Sevan and liberated most of Armenia from the Arabs. In 922 the Caliph was forced to recognize him as the ruler of Armenia.

Ashot III the Gracious (ruled 953-977) created a strong standing army. In 961 he moved his residence from Kars to Ani (under the name of the Kingdom of Ani, the Armenian medieval state went down in history).

Feudal fragmentation led to the formation of separate Armenian kingdoms - Vaspurakan (908), Kars (963), Syuni (987) and Tashir-Dzoraget (978), which were in vassal relations with the Bagratids. Discord between the feudal lords and the higher clergy facilitated the expansion of Byzantium.

In 1045, after the capture of the country's capital, the city of Ani, by Byzantium and the collapse of Armenia, the existence of the senior branch of the Bagratid dynasty ceased. Soon these territories were captured by the Seljuk Turks, and in 1064 the former capital of Armenia, Ani, fell under their attacks. The last representative of the senior branch of the dynasty, Gagik II was deceived by the Byzantines during negotiations in Constantinople and was released only after renouncing his kingdom. As compensation, he was given possession of the Kharsian theme. He was killed in 1079/80.

After an unsuccessful revolt against the Arabs in 772, one of the branches of this house moved from Armenia to neighboring Georgia, where it achieved power in 786 (or perhaps as early as 780).

Bagrationi (Bagrationi)- an ancient royal dynasty in Georgia, from which many famous state and military figures of Georgia and Russia came. Modern researchers consider the Bagration dynasty to be a junior branch of the Armenian Bagratid dynasty.

Georgian historical tradition dates the rise of the Bagration family in the political arena of Georgia to the 6th century. According to the legend set out in the work of Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi, under King Mirdat (early 6th century), a certain Guaram (Guram) (d. 532) moved to Georgia, to whom in 508 the king married his sister and granted him the title of eristavi of the Tao region. Guaram's grandson Guaram I received the title of Kuropalate from the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, and in 575 - king. Vakhushti reports that it was Guaram I who began to be called Bagrationi - after his father.

During the period of Arab rule (VII-IX centuries), the rulers of Kartli began to be called supreme princes (erismtavars). Grand Duke Ashot I the Great (787-826) came into conflict with the Arabs and was forced to take refuge in southern Georgia, which was controlled by Byzantium. He restored the Artanuja fortress and, using the support of the Byzantine emperors, strengthened his power in Kartli.

The heir of the childless David III was the king's nephew (actually the son of his second cousin) Bagrat Bagrationi, who inherited the Kartvelian kingdom from his father, and the Abkhazian kingdom from his mother. In 1008, the heir to the three kingdoms, Bagrat III, took the title of King of Kartli. From that moment on, the Bagration dynasty became the royal house of Kartli.

In the 11th-12th centuries, Georgia under the control of the Bagrations reached its greatest power and prosperity. King David IV the Builder (1089-1125) restored the independence of Georgia, united all Georgian lands and liberated Tbilisi, where the capital of Georgia was moved. Under his grandson George III (1156-1184), Georgian influence spread to the North Caucasus and Eastern Transcaucasia.

During the reign of this Dynasty, Georgia achieved its power, spreading its sphere of influence far from the borders of the state. Once again, the royal house of Bagration managed to unite the warring peoples and territories into a strong, independent state.

Queen Tamara (the Great) was in her first marriage to the Russian prince Yuri, the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky, and in the second to the Ossetian prince David Soslan, the son of Prince Jadaron. The descendants of Queen Tamara and King Soslan became the founders of three Georgian royal dynasties: Kartlin (Georgian), Kakheti and Imereti.

From Prince Teimuraz, the ruler (batoni) of Mukhrani, descended from the former Georgian royal family of the Bagrations, the branch of the princes Bagrationi-Mukhrani traces its origin.
The ancient inheritance of the princes of Mukhrani (Mukhrani) was in Kartli.

The former Georgian (Kartlian) royal house was divided into six branches:
kings and princes of Georgia (Kartli);
princes of Imereti (died out in 1711);
Princes of Georgia (Kartlian branch, whose ancestors reigned in Kartli until 1724)
princes Bagrations (Kartlian branch - descendants of Jesse, king of Kartli)
princes Semyonov (extinct)
princes Bagration-Mukhrani, whose branch separated from the common root of the three previous branches in 1513 and until 1801 owned the Mukhrani inheritance.

From the kings of Kakheti come:
kings and princes of Georgia (Kartli-Kakheti kingdom);
the Most Serene Princes of Georgia (the younger branch, whose ancestors reigned in Kakheti until 1744, then in Kakheti and Kartalinia together, from 1744 to 1800);
princes Davydov and Bagration-Davydov (Kakheti branch).

The descendants of the Imeretian kings (who reigned in Imereti until it was annexed to the Russian Empire in 1810) were:
Your Serene Highness Princes Bagration-Imereti;
nobles Bagrationi;
His Serene Highness Princes Bagration (Imereti branch);
princes Bagration-Davydov (Imeretian branch; recognized as princely on December 6, 1850).

In the second quarter of the 13th century, Georgia fell under the rule of the Tatar-Mongols. The Mongols preserved the royal house, transferring control in 1247 to representatives of the Bagration dynasty - cousins David VII Ulu ("Elder") and David VI Narin ("Younger"). David VII Ulu, although he was the illegitimate son of the king, enjoyed great power - he was married to a Mongol princess and participated in the Mongol military campaigns against Baghdad. The son of David VII Ulu - Demeter II became the king of all Georgia. The Mongol Ilkhan, suspecting him of treason based on a denunciation from one of the courtiers, summoned the king to his palace. Relatives advised the monarch to hide in the mountains, but this could cause an invasion of the Khan’s troops into Georgia. Demeter II chose to sacrifice his life and in 1289 was executed by order of the Ilkhan. The Orthodox Church canonized the martyr king.

The son of Demeter II, George V the Brilliant, liberated Georgia from the power of the Ilkhans, but his heirs were unable to maintain the unity of the Georgian kingdom. In the 16th-18th centuries, the country broke up into a dozen kingdoms and principalities, which became dependent on Turkey and Iran.
The branch of the Bagration princes was included in the number of Russian princely families when Emperor Alexander I approved the seventh part of the “General Russian Armorial” on October 4, 1803. The grandson of Tsar Vakhtang VI - Prince Ivan Vakhushtovich Bagration - served under Catherine II as lieutenant general and commanded the Siberian division, and the nephew of Vakhtang VI - Tsarevich Alexander Jesseevich (the ancestor of the Bagration princes) - went to Russia in 1757 and served as a lieutenant colonel in the Caucasian division. His grandson was the famous commander, general of the infantry, Prince Peter Bagration.

Bagrations in the Russian Empire and during the USSR
In 1783, the king of Kartli and Kakheti, Irakli II, signed a treaty in Georgievsk recognizing the supreme power of the Russian emperor. Under the terms of the agreement, Russia promised protection to the Kartali-Kakheti kingdom, guaranteed its integrity, retained the royal throne for Irakli II and his descendants, and assured non-interference in the internal affairs of the kingdom. However, in 1787, under pressure from Turkey, Russian troops were withdrawn from Georgia, which again became an arena of struggle between the Porte and Iran.

In 1800, the dying Tsar George XII obtained a promise from Emperor Paul I to return Russian patronage. But after the death of the king, Paul I decided to abolish the Kartali-Kakheti kingdom. The next emperor, Alexander I, with his manifesto on September 12, 1801, “finally” annexed the Georgian lands to Russia. In 1810, the Imeretian kingdom was included in the Russian Empire, in 1811 the autonomy of the Gurian principality was abolished, and in (1857-1867) the autonomy of the Megrelian, Abkhazian and Svanetian principalities.

Members of the Georgian royal family were forcibly taken to Russia. In 1841, the Russian government officially recognized them as “members of the former Royal House of Georgia.” In June 1865, the State Council granted the descendants of George Iraklievich, the last king of Georgia and Imereti, the title of Most Serene Princes of Georgia (Armorial, XIV, 2).

The brother of Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration, Lieutenant General Prince Roman Bagration, became famous during the Russian-Iranian War of 1827, being the first to break into Yerevan. He patronized the arts, literary evenings were held in his Tiflis house, and home performances were staged. The son of Prince Roman, Lieutenant General Prince Pyotr Romanovich Bagration, became a prominent administrator - he led the implementation of peasant reform in the Perm province, was the governor of Tver, and the governor-general of the Baltic region. He also gained fame as a metallurgical engineer, wrote works on electroplating, and discovered a method for extracting gold from ores by cyanidation.

The last representative of the senior line of the Georgian (Kartli) Royal House - a direct descendant of King Vakhtang V Shahnavaz - died at the end of the 19th century. From that time until now, the senior line in the Bagrationi house are the descendants of the brother of Tsar Vakhtang V - Tsarevich Konstantin, who took possession of the Mukhrani inheritance. This dynasty is called Bagration-Mukhrani. Representatives of this family traditionally played an important role in the Caucasus, being leaders of the nobility of the Tiflis province and holding responsible positions in the office of the governor of the Caucasus. Prince Georgy Konstantinovich Bagration-Mukhransky worked hard to streamline the judicial system in the Caucasus, and in 1871 he was appointed Secretary of State.

His son, Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Bagration-Mukhransky (1884-1957) was married to Elena Sigismundovna Zlotnitskaya (1886-1979), whose ancient family was rooted in the Polish gentry. Her mother, born Princess Eristova, was the great-granddaughter of the Georgian king Irakli II. From this marriage in 1914, Princess Leonida, the mother of the Head of the Russian Imperial House (according to the Kirill branch) - Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, and a son, Fyodor Georgievich Bagration-Mukhransky, was born, who returned to Georgia, and not finding support there among the Georgian aristocrats, returned to Russia, Kizlyar, later taking a fictitious surname Garibashvili became a hermit and remained to live in Kochubey.

Prince Dmitry Petrovich Bagration is the author of famous articles on military problems, published the magazine “Bulletin of the Military Cavalry” until 1914, and translated into Russian the book by D. Phillis “Fundamentals of Riding and Dressage.” During the First World War, he commanded the famous “Wild Division”, and in 1917 he took part in the speech of General Kornilov. In December 1918, Dmitry Bagration went over to the side of the Reds and headed the Higher Cavalry School of the Red Army.

During the revolution, power in Georgia passed into the hands of the Georgian Mensheviks. The situation in Tiflis was turbulent, and the Bagration-Mukhransky family decided to rent out part of their large house to the French consul, hoping that this would ensure the safety of the house. When the Anglo-French troops were withdrawn from Georgia, it became clear that the Mensheviks would not hold out for long. In 1921, the French consul, with great difficulty, put the Bagration-Mukhransky family on a train to Batumi, from where they traveled by ship to Constantinople. There were no means of living, and the exiles decided to move to Germany, where, as the emigrants said, life was cheaper. Having sold the jewelry they had taken with them, the princely family moved to Berlin.

The emigrant lot was so unenviable that the Bagration-Mukhranskys decided to return to their homeland - now to Soviet Georgia. Oddly enough, the Bolshevik authorities returned their house to the family of the Georgian heir to the throne. However, arrests soon began. The prince was also arrested, but the peasants, his former subjects, did not testify against Georgy Alexandrovich. “Not a single person said anything bad about him, everyone said that he was like a father to them,” the Cheka investigators were perplexed.

After arrests and endless searches, the Bagration-Mukhranskys decided to emigrate again. The Bagration-Mukhranskys were helped to leave Soviet Russia a second time by the intercession of Maxim Gorky, who was once patronized by the Bagration-Mukhranskys. Having left Georgia, the Bagrations settled first in Nice, then in Paris. Soon, representatives of the princely family dispersed throughout Europe: to Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany, providing assistance and integrating into the life of the emigration, among which Prince George played a prominent role.

Bagrationi at present
From 1977 to 2008, the head of the Georgian Royal House of Bagration was Prince George (Jorge) Iraklievich Bagration-Mukhrani. He was born in Rome, where his family lived during World War II. His father was Prince Irakli Georgievich Bagration-Mukhranisky (March 21, 1909 - November 30, 1977), and his mother was the Italian Countess Marie Antoinette Paschini dei Conti di Costafiorita (d. February 22, 1944 during childbirth). Since 1957 - Head of the Georgian Royal House in exile.

Little is known about the life of the last branch of the Bagrations who remained in Russia during Soviet times. Fyodor Georgievich Bagration-Mukhransky settled in the village of Kochubey, Republic of Dagestan, in a place of compact residence of his compatriots. During his visit to Georgia, he married the daughter of the Pontic military leader Ypsilanti. Due to tense relations with the Soviet authorities, the Bagration-Mukhransky family changed their surname to Garibashvili, and after that they were able to stay and live in Kochubey. The Bagration-Mukhrani family has remained there to this day.

To be continued.

Bagration Petr Ivanovich, short biography which will not cover all the important events that happened in his life, was an outstanding person. He will forever be remembered in history as a talented commander. Descendant of the Georgian royal house.

Childhood

Peter Bagration, whose biography (with photo of the monument) is in this article, was born on November 11, 1765 in the North Caucasus, in the city of Kizlyar. He came from a noble and ancient family of Georgian princes. The boy was the great-grandson of the Kartalian king Jesse Levanovich. Peter's father, Prince Ivan Alexandrovich, was a Russian colonel and owned a small plot of land in the vicinity of Kizlyar. In 1796 he died in poverty.

Enrollment

Their family was not rich, despite the title of nobility and royal kinship. There was only enough money to provide the bare necessities, but there was no money left for clothes. Therefore, when Peter was summoned to St. Petersburg, young Bagration did not have “decent” clothes.

To meet Potemkin, he had to borrow the butler's caftan. Despite his clothes, Peter, when meeting with the prince of Taurida, behaved confidently, without timidity, although modestly. Potemkin liked the young man, and the order was given to enlist him in the Caucasian musketeer regiment as a sergeant.

Service

In February 1782, Peter Bagration, photographs of whose portraits are in this article, arrived at the regiment, which was located in a small fortress in the Caucasian foothills. Combat training began from the first day. In the very first battle with the Chechens, Peter distinguished himself and received the rank of ensign as a reward.

He served in the musketeer regiment for ten years. Over the years, he passed through all military ranks to captain. He repeatedly received combat honors for clashes with highlanders. Peter was respected for his fearlessness and courage not only by his friends, but also by his enemies. Such popularity once saved Bagration’s life.

In one of the skirmishes, Peter was seriously wounded and left in a deep faint on the battlefield among dead bodies. His enemies found him, recognized him and not only spared him, but also bandaged his wounds. Then they were carefully taken to the regimental camp, without even asking for a ransom. For his distinction in battle, Peter received the rank of second major.

During his ten years of service in the musketeer regiment, Bagration participated in campaigns against Sheikh Mansur (false prophet). In 1786, Pyotr Ivanovich fought with the Circassians under the command of Suvorov across the river. Labou. In 1788, during the Turkish War, Bagration, as part of the Yekaterinoslav army, took part in the siege and then in the assault on Ochakov. In 1790 he continued military operations in the Caucasus. This time he opposed the highlanders and the Turks.

Military career

In November 1703, Bagration Pyotr Ivanovich, whose short biography cannot contain all the interesting facts from his life, became prime major. He received a transfer to the Kiev Carabinieri Regiment as a squadron commander. In 1794, Pyotr Ivanovich was sent to the Sofia military unit, where he received a division under his command. Bagration went through the entire Polish campaign with Suvorov and at the end received the rank of lieutenant colonel.

The exploits of Bagration

The biography of Peter Bagration is full of many exploits that have gone down in history. For example, one of them was committed near the town of Brody. A Polish military detachment (1000 foot soldiers and one gun) was located in a dense forest, in what they were sure was an inaccessible position.

Bagration, distinguished by his courage since childhood, rushed at the enemy first and cut into the enemy ranks. The Poles did not expect an attack, and Pyotr Ivanovich’s attack came as a complete surprise to them. Thanks to the tactics of surprise, Bagration and his soldiers managed to kill 300 people, and take another 200 prisoners along with the commander of the detachment. At the same time, the carabinieri grabbed the enemy’s banner and gun.

Another memorable feat occurred before Suvorov’s eyes. This happened in October 1794, when Prague was stormed. Bagration Pyotr Ivanovich, whose photo is in this article, noticed that the Polish cavalry was going to attack the Russian assault columns during a fierce battle.

The commander waited for the moment when the enemies began to move. Then Bagration, making a swift throw to the flank with his soldiers, threw the Poles back to the Vistula River. Suvorov personally thanked Pyotr Ivanovich, and since then he became his favorite.

Receiving the rank of general

In 1798, Bagration received the rank of colonel and was appointed to command the sixth Jaeger Regiment. He stood in the Grodno province, in the city of Volkovysk. Emperor Paul ordered all military reports to be delivered to him. Any deviation from orders entailed removal from service.

Many regiments were “cleansed.” It did not affect anyone only in the military unit of Bagration. Two years later, for the excellent condition of his regiment, the commander was promoted to the rank of “general”. Peter Bagration, whose biography did not turn away from the military path, continued to serve in a new capacity.

March to glory with Suvorov

In 1799, he and his regiment came under the command of Suvorov. The latter, when Bagration’s surname was announced, in front of the entire hall, joyfully hugged and kissed Pyotr Ivanovich. The next day, the generals led the soldiers in a surprise attack to Cavriano. The two great military leaders continued their rise to glory and greatness.

Suvorov sent a letter to the emperor in which he praised the courage, zeal and zeal of Bagration, which he showed during the capture of the Breshno fortress. As a result, Paul I granted Peter Ivanovich a Knight of the Order of St. Anne, first class. Later, for the battle of Lecco, Bagration was awarded the Commander's Order of St. John of Jerusalem. So Pyotr Ivanovich received the Maltese Cross among his awards.

For the defeat of the French at Marengo he received the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. After the victory at Trebia, the emperor granted the village of Sima as a gift to Peter Ivanovich. It was located in the Vladimir province, in the Aleksandrovsky district. There were 300 peasant souls in the village. Bagration became one of the youngest generals to have high insignia.

Feat near Shengraben

In 1805, Pyotr Ivanovich accomplished another feat. This happened near Shengraben. The enemy troops seemed certain to win, but Bagration with 6,000 soldiers came out against a 30,000-strong army. As a result, he not only won, but also brought prisoners, among whom were one colonel, two junior officers and 50 soldiers. At the same time, Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration also grabbed the French banner. For this feat the great commander was awarded the order St. George of the second degree.

Military talent

Pyotr Ivanovich was able to prove his military talent during his service. Bagration distinguished himself in the battles of Friedland and Preussisch-Eylau. Napoleon spoke of Pyotr Ivanovich as the best Russian general of that time. During the Russian-Swedish war, Bagration led a division, then a corps. He led the Åland expedition and went with his troops to the Swedish shores.

Tsar's disfavor

Glory and imperial favor increasingly increased the circle of envious people of Pyotr Ivanovich. Ill-wishers tried to make Bagration, while he was on campaigns, a “fool” before the tsar. When in 1809 Pyotr Ivanovich commanded troops on the Danube (already with the rank of infantry general), envious people were able to convince the sovereign of the commander’s inability to fight. And they achieved that Bagration was replaced by Alexander I with Count Kamensky.

Patriotic War

After the Russian-Turkish War, for which Peter Ivanovich was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, he became the commander-in-chief of the Second Western Army, consisting of 45,000 soldiers and 216 guns. When it became clear that war with Napoleon was inevitable, Bagration showed the emperor a plan of attack.

But since Barclay de Tolly received preference, the Western armies began to retreat. Napoleon decided to first destroy the weak army, commanded by Bagration Pyotr Ivanovich (1812). To carry out this plan, he sent his brother from the front, and Marshal Davout to cross him. But he could not overpower Bagration; he fought his way through enemy barriers near Mir, defeating the foot troops of the Westphalian king, and his cavalry near Romanov.

Davout managed to block Pyotr Ivanovich’s path to Mogilev, and Bagration was forced to go to New Bykov. In July he joined forces with Barclay. A tough battle took place for Smolensk. Bagration, despite the fact that he was supposed to conduct offensive tactics, still deviated a little to the side. With this strategy, Peter Ivanovich saved his army from unnecessary losses.

After the troops of Bagration and Barclay united, the commanders were unable to develop common battle tactics. Their opinions differed greatly, disagreements reached the highest limits. Pyotr Ivanovich proposed to fight Napoleon’s army, and Barclay was sure that luring the enemy deep into the country was the best solution.

Bagration's last - Battle of Borodino

General Pyotr Bagration participated in the Battle of Borodino, which was the last in his military career. Pyotr Ivanovich had to defend the weakest part of the position. Behind Bagration stood Neverovsky's division. During a fierce battle, Pyotr Ivanovich was seriously wounded, but did not want to leave the battlefield, and continued to command while under enemy fire.

But Bagration was losing more and more blood, as a result, weakness began to worsen and Pyotr Ivanovich was carried away from the battlefield and sent to a Moscow hospital. Rumors about Bagration's injury quickly spread among the soldiers. Some even claimed that he had died.

These messages led the soldiers to despair, and confusion began in the army. Bagration's place was taken by Konovitsyn. He, seeing the reaction of the soldiers and the loss of morale, decided not to risk it and withdrew the army beyond the Semenovsky ravine.

Death of a great commander

First, in the hospital, General Pyotr Bagration, whose biography (a photo of the monument to the commander is in this article) whose biography, it seemed, could continue, felt better. Initial treatment was successful. Then Bagration went to recover from his wounds at his friend’s estate. It was autumn, the weather was disgusting, the road was very bad.

All this, and even Bagration’s decadent mood, had a negative impact on his health. Pyotr Ivanovich developed a life-threatening complication of his illness. On September 21, Bagration underwent surgery to expand the vein. At the same time, doctors removed bone fragments, rotting flesh and parts of the core from the inflamed wound. This surgical intervention did not help, and the next day Bagration was diagnosed with gangrene.

Doctors suggested that the prince's leg be amputated, but this angered the commander, and his condition worsened even further. As a result, Bagration Pyotr Ivanovich, whose biography is full of victories, died of gangrene in September 1812. The commander was first buried in the village of Sim, inside the local temple. His body lay there until July 1830.

The commander turned out to be forgotten due to the absence of his wife, who went to live in Vienna back in 1809. Bagration was remembered only 27 years later, after the accession to the throne of Nicholas I. He loved history and personally studied all the events Patriotic War. As a result, works about this era began to appear and the heroes were finally given their due.

Nicholas I ordered the ashes of the great commander to be delivered to the foot of the monument to the Lead Crypt, in which Peter Bagration rested, and was transferred to a new coffin. Then a memorial service and liturgy took place, which was attended by a sea of people who came from different places. A large funeral table was set in the garden.

Many nobles and officers gathered. People walked day and night, in a continuous stream, to honor the memory of the great commander. The body of Pyotr Ivanovich was accompanied by an honorary escort in a richly decorated chariot to its destination. The procession was very solemn. The people themselves asked permission to pull the chariot. The clergy walked ahead of her, and the Kiev Hussar Regiment behind.

Trumpeters played a funeral march along the entire length of the route. The procession ended at the borders of the village. Then the horses were harnessed to the chariot, and then the procession continued in solemn silence. Despite the scorching sun, people followed Bagration’s coffin for 20 versts. So, finally, with truly royal honors, the ashes of Peter Ivanovich were delivered to the Borodino field.

Later, Emperor Alexander III once again immortalized the memory of the hero: the 104th Ustyuzhensky Infantry Regiment was named in honor of Bagration. In 1932, his grave was destroyed and his remains were scattered. Between 1985 and 1987 the monument was restored again.

Among the debris next to the former monument, fragments of the bones of Pyotr Ivanovich were found. In August 1987 they were reburied. Now Bagration’s crypt is in place. The found buttons and fragments of the hero’s uniform are exhibited as exhibits in the Borodino Military History Museum.

Bagration Petr Ivanovich: interesting facts about his lifestyle

He was similar to Suvorov. Bagration slept only 3-4 hours a day, was unpretentious and simple. Any soldier could wake him up without any ceremony. On campaigns, Pyotr Ivanovich only changed clothes. He always slept dressed, in his general's uniform. Bagration did not part with his sword and whip even in his sleep. Of his 30 years of service, Pyotr Ivanovich spent 23 years on military campaigns.

Character of Bagration

Bagration Pyotr Ivanovich, whose biography was closely connected with the war, nevertheless had a meek disposition. The commander shone with a flexible and subtle mind, anger was alien to him, he was always ready for reconciliation. These qualities were surprisingly combined with a decisive character. Bagration did not hold a grudge against people, and never forgot good deeds.

In communication, Pyotr Ivanovich was always friendly and polite, respected his subordinates, appreciated and rejoiced at their successes. Bagration, although he had considerable power, never showed it. He tried to communicate with people like a human being, for which soldiers and officers simply idolized him. They all considered it an honor to serve under his command.

Despite the lack of a good education, which, due to their extreme poverty, his parents were unable to give their son, Pyotr Ivanovich had natural talent and a good upbringing. He received all the knowledge throughout his life, and especially loved military science. The great commander was fearless and brave in battle, never lost heart, and treated dangers with indifference.

Bagration was Suvorov’s favorite student, so he knew how to quickly navigate a combat situation and make the right and unexpected decisions. Repeatedly they saved not individual lives, but the troops as a whole.

Personal life

Among the favorites of Emperor Paul the First was Bagration Pyotr Ivanovich. It is impossible to tell briefly about his personal life. It was the emperor who helped him marry his beloved. Pyotr Ivanovich had long been in love with the court beauty, Countess Skavronskaya. But Bagration diligently hid his ardent feelings from society. Moreover, Pyotr Ivanovich was also restrained by the beauty’s coldness towards him.

The emperor learned about Bagration's feelings and decided to repay his faithful commander with mercy. The Emperor ordered the Count and his daughter to arrive at the palace church. Moreover, the beauty was supposed to arrive in a wedding dress. At the same time, Peter Bagration received an order to appear at the church in full dress uniform. There, on September 2, 1800, the young people were married.

But the proud beauty still remained cold towards Bagration. Then the emperor appointed him commander. The Emperor hoped that the countess’s heart would finally melt. But her love had long been given to another person. The story of Bagration and his wife did not end there.

In 1805 she went to live in Europe, in Vienna. She led a free life and no longer lived with her husband. Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration begged his wife to return, but she remained abroad, allegedly for treatment. In Europe, the princess enjoyed tremendous success. She was known at the court of many countries.

In 1810 she gave birth to a girl, presumably from the Chancellor of Austria, Prince Metternich. In 1830, the princess remarried. This time for an Englishman. But their marriage soon broke up, and the princess again took the name Bagration. She never returned to Russia. Despite everything, Peter Bagration loved his wife very much until his death. Before his death, he managed to order her portrait from the artist Volkov. The couple had no children.

There was talk in high society that the sovereign's sister, Princess Ekaterina Pavlovna, was in love with Bagration. This caused great irritation in the emperor's family. According to some reports, Bagration was not given a break from the war precisely because Ekaterina Pavlovna fell in love with him. Emperor Alexander the First decided to remove Peter Ivanovich from her eyes and keep him away from the princess. Peter Bagration fell into such disgrace shortly before his death.

Plan
Introduction
1 Origin of the family
2 Royal dynasty of the descendants of the prophet
3 Middle Ages
4 Description of the coat of arms
5 Bagrations in the Russian Empire and during the USSR
6 Bagrations at present

Bibliography

Introduction

Bagrationi (Georgian: ბაგრატიონები) is an ancient royal family of Georgia, from which many outstanding state and military figures of Georgia and Russia came. Historical Georgian writings date the Bagrationi chronology from the 6th century, while most Western scholars attribute the formation of the dynasty to the late 8th century escape of the Armenian prince Bagratuni to Georgia.

1. Origin of the family

The Bagration dynasty is one of the most ancient in the history of mankind (after the imperial dynasties of Japan and Ethiopia). The Georgian and Armenian chronicle tradition traces the origin of the Bagrations to the Old Testament king of the Kingdom of Israel, David, which explains the presence of a sling and lyre in the family's coat of arms. From David there is a line of descendants to St. Joseph, who is supposed to have a sister, Cleopas. Her son Naom (62nd generation from Adam) is traditionally considered the ancestor of the Bagrations.

Naom begat Shelah, Shelah begat Rehoboam, Rehoboam begat Mukhtar, Mukhtar begat Eliakim, Eliakim begat Benjamen, Beniamen begat Jerobem, Jerobe begat Moses, Moses begat Judah, Judah begat Eliazar, Eliazar begat Lev, Lev begat Jehoram, Jehoram begat Manasseh, Manasseh begat Jacob, Jacob begat Mikiya, Mikiya begat Joachim, Joachim begat Iurovim, Iurovim begat Abraham, Abraham begat Job, Job begat Akab, Akab begat Sumon, Sumon begat Izachar, Izachar begat Abbiah, Abbiah begat Gaad, Gaad begat Aser, Aser begat Isaac, Isaac begat Dan, Dan begat Solomon, Solomon begat these seven brothers: Bagrat, Abgabar, Mobal, Guram, Sahak, Asam and Barzavard. They left Philistine and came to Queen Rachel. This queen Rachel baptized them and took Bagrat as her son-in-law and related Abgavar and Mobal to the king of the Armenians.

- Vakhushti Bagrationi. History of the Kingdom of Georgia. - Tb.: 1976.

It is Bagrat (in the Russian tradition - Pankrat) who is considered the founder of the family named after him.

And then Bagrat Eristavi reposed in submission to the sons of Mirdat of the year of Christ 568, Georgian 320 and left a son named Guram. However, in these same years, the sons of Mirdat, the son of King Vakhtang, died out, and they left no sons [and they] left the son of their grandfather’s sister Guram as the heir to their possessions and named him Mirdatovani. And this Guram, the son of Bagrat, after them occupied their possessions from Tashiskari-Panavari to the sea and then changed the name of Mirdatovan to the name of his father - Bagration.

There are other versions of the origin of the Bagrations. Thus, Prince Kirill Lvovich Tumanov believes that the Bagrations, like the Armenian Bagratuni dynasty, were descendants of the noble Persian family of the Orontids, whose representatives were satraps and then kings of Armenia. However, this version is disputed by many Georgian experts.

The descendants of Bagrat were the eristavis of Kartli and one of them - Ashot I Kuropalat - became the founder of the kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti (786). From this moment the history of the kings of Georgia begins.

2. The royal dynasty of the descendants of the prophet

According to legend, David's descendant Guaram (Guram) arrived in Georgia under King Mirdat (early 6th century). The king married his sister to Guaram and granted him the title of eristav of the Tao region. Guaram's grandson Guaram I received the title of Kuropalate from the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, and in 575 - king. After his father's name, he was the first to be called Bagrationi.

The descendants of Guaram I were called eristavt-eristavs (rulers of rulers) and ruled Kartliya. Maintaining an alliance with Byzantium, they also bore the Byzantine titles of kuropalate and antipata (proconsul). The younger Bagrations owned the title mampali - prince of blood. During the period of Arab rule (VII-IX centuries), the rulers of Kartli began to be called supreme princes (erismtavars). Grand Duke Ashot I the Great (787-826) came into conflict with the Arabs and was forced to take refuge in southern Georgia, which was controlled by Byzantium. He restored the Artanuja fortress and, using the support of the Byzantine emperors, strengthened his power in Kartli.

The great-grandson of Ashot I Adarnese (Arsen) II Kuropalat took the title of king of the Kartvels in 888. In turn, the great-grandson of Adarnes II, king of Tao-Klarjeti (South-Eastern Georgia), David III Kuropalat, with the support of the Byzantines, liberated many Georgian, as well as part of the Armenian and Albanian lands from the Arabs. For helping the emperors suppress the uprising of Bardas Skleros, he received the Erzurum region and other lands. The Georgian nobility invited the powerful ruler to take the throne of Kartli.

The heir of the childless David III was the king's nephew (actually the son of his second cousin) Bagrat Bagrationi, who inherited the Kartvelian kingdom from his father, and the Abkhazian kingdom from his mother, the sister of the childless Abkhazian king Theodosius. In 1008, the heir to the three kingdoms, Bagrat III, took the title of King of Georgia. From that moment on, the Bagration dynasty became the royal house of a united Georgia.

During the reign of this Dynasty, Georgia achieved its power, spreading its sphere of influence far from the borders of the state. Once again, the royal house of Bagration was able to consolidate the warring peoples and territories into a strong, independent state.

3. Middle Ages

The daughter of George III, Queen Tamara the Great (1184 - ca. 1210/1213), became one of the most powerful rulers of the entire Middle East. Her troops defeated the Albanian atabek and the Rum sultan, made a campaign in Persia, and took Kars. The vassals of Queen Tamara were the sultans, emirs and rulers of neighboring states; the Empire of Trebizond was under the influence of Georgia. Tamara patronized the arts, architecture and sciences. Poets dedicated odes and poems to her, temples and palaces were built in her honor.

Queen Tamara (the Great) was in her first marriage to the Russian Prince Yuri, the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky, and in the second to the Ossetian Prince David, the son of Prince Jadaron.

Georgian chroniclers consider Jadaron the grandson of Prince David, the grandson of King George I, who fled to Ossetia. If these legends are true, then the princes Bagration, Georgian and Mukhrani are descendants in the direct male tribe of Guaram I Kuropalat (575-590), the first eristavi of Kartli; if the testimony of the chroniclers is erroneous, then in this case the Bagration family came to an end in 1184 with the death of Tsar George III, and then the origin of these families should be considered to be from the Ossetian rulers.

The descendants of Queen Tamara and David became the founders of three Georgian royal dynasties: Kartlin (Georgian), Kakheti and Imereti.

From Prince Teimuraz, the ruler (batoni) of Mukhrani, descended from the former Georgian royal family of the Bagratids, the branch of the Bagrationi-Mukhrani princes traces their origins.

The ancient inheritance of the princes of Mukhrani (Mukhrani) was in Kartli. The former Georgian (Kartlian) royal house was divided into six branches:

· kings and princes of Georgia (Kartli);

· princes of Imereti (died out in 1711);

· Georgian princes (Kartlian branch, whose ancestors reigned in Kartli until 1724

· princes Bagrationi (Kartlian branch - descendants of Jesse, king of Kartli)

· princes Semyonov (extinct)

· princes Bagration-Mukhrani, whose branch separated from the common root of the three previous branches in 1513 and until 1801 owned the Mukhrani inheritance.

From the kings of Kakheti come:

· kings and princes of Georgia (Kartli-Kakheti kingdom);

· the Most Serene Princes of Georgia (the younger branch, whose ancestors reigned in Kakheti until 1744, then in Kakheti and Kartalinia together, from 1744 to 1800;

· princes Davydov and Bagration-Davydov (Kakheti branch).

The descendants of the Imeretian kings (who reigned in Imereti until it was annexed to the Russian Empire in 1810) were:

· Your Serene Highness Princes Bagration-Imereti;

· nobles Bagration;

· His Serene Highness Princes Bagration (Imereti branch);

· Princes Bagration-Davydov (Imereti branch; recognized as princely on December 6, 1850).

In the second quarter of the 13th century, Georgia fell under the rule of the Tatar-Mongols. The Mongols preserved the royal house, transferring control in 1247 to representatives of the Bagration dynasty - cousins David VII Ulu ("Elder") and David VI Narin ("Younger"). David VII Ulu, although he was the illegitimate son of the king, enjoyed greater power - he was married to a Mongol princess and participated in the Mongol military campaigns against Baghdad. The son of David VII Ulu - Demeter II became the king of all Georgia. The Mongol Ilkhan, suspecting him of treason based on a denunciation from one of the courtiers, summoned the king to his palace. Relatives advised the monarch to hide in the mountains, but this could cause an invasion of the Khan’s troops into Georgia. Demeter II chose to sacrifice his life and was executed by order of the Ilkhan in 1289. The Orthodox Church canonized the martyr king.

The son of Demeter II - George V the Brilliant liberated Georgia from the power of the Ilkhans. However, his heirs were unable to maintain the unity of the Georgian kingdom. In the 16th-18th centuries, the country broke up into a dozen kingdoms and principalities, which became dependent on Turkey and Iran.

Of these four branches, the second, the princes Bagration, was included in the number of Russian-princely families when Emperor Alexander I approved the seventh part of the “General Russian Armorial” on October 4, 1803. The grandson of Tsar Vakhtang VI - Prince Ivan Vakhushtovich Bagration - served under Catherine II as lieutenant general and commanded the Siberian division, and the nephew of Vakhtang VI - Tsarevich Alexander Jesseevich (the ancestor of the Bagration princes) - went to Russia in 1757 and served as a lieutenant colonel in the Caucasian division. His grandson, infantry general Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration, immortalized his family on the battlefield.