David III of Tao
Encyclopedia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
prince of the Bagratid family of Tao
Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars...
/Tayk
Tayk
Tayk was a historical province of the Greater Armenia, one of its 15 ashkars . Tayk consisted of 8 cantons:* Kogh* Berdats por* Partizats por* Tchakatk* Bokha* Vokaghe* Azordats por* Arsiats por....
, a historic region in the Georgian–Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n marchlands, from 966 until his murder in 1000. Kuropalates
Curopalates
Kouropalatēs, Latinized as curopalates or curopalata and Anglicized as curopalate, was a Byzantine court title, one of the highest from the time of Emperor Justinian I to that of the Komnenoi in the 12th century...
was a Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
courtier title
Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy
The Byzantine Empire had a complex system of aristocracy and bureaucracy, which was inherited from the Roman Empire. At the apex of the pyramid stood the Emperor, sole ruler and divinely ordained, but beneath him a multitude of officials and court functionaries operated the administrative...
bestowed upon him in 978 and again in 990.
David is best known for his crucial assistance to the Byzantine Macedonian dynasty
Macedonian dynasty
The Macedonian dynasty ruled the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 1056, following the Amorian dynasty. During this period, the Byzantine state reached its greatest expanse since the Muslim conquests, and the Macedonian Renaissance in letters and arts began. The dynasty was named after its founder,...
in the 976-9 civil war and his unique role in the political unification of various Georgian polities as well as his patronage of Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
culture and learning. Between 987 and 989, David joined his friend Bardas Phocas
Bardas Phocas
Bardas Phokas was an eminent Byzantine general who took a conspicuous part in three revolts for and against the ruling Macedonian dynasty.- First rebellion :...
in a revolt against the Byzantine emperor Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
, but was defeated and agreed to cede his lands to the empire on his death. Yet he was able to secure for his heir, Bagrat III
Bagrat III of Georgia
Bagrat III , of the Georgian Bagrationi dynasty, was King of the Abkhazians from 978 on and King of Georgia from 1008 on. He united these two titles by dynastic inheritance and, through conquest and diplomacy, added some more lands to his realm, effectively becoming the first king of what is...
, an opportunity to become the first ruler of a unified Georgian kingdom.
History
David was the younger son of Adarnase VAdarnase V of Tao
Adarnase V, sometimes rendered as Adarnase II or Adarnase IV, was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and hereditary ruler of Upper Tao with the Byzantine titles of magistros and curopalates ....
, a representative of the Second House of Tao, a branch of the Kartli
Kartli
Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...
line of the Georgian Bagrationi (Bagratid) dynasty which held sway over Tao (a province on the historic Georgian-Armenian border known to the Armenians as Tayk; now part of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
) since the extinction of the original Tao line in the 940s.
Alliance with the Byzantine Empire
He succeeded his brother, Bagrat IIBagrat II of Tao
Bagrat II was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and hereditary ruler of Upper Tao, with the title of eristavt-eristavi, "duke of dukes", from 961 to 966....
, as a duke of Tao in 966, and through his expansionist policy and flexible diplomacy began assembling a larger state. In order to enact his ambitious plans, David had to secure his independence from the Byzantine Empire which would reach its greatest height under the emperor Basil II (975-1025).
The Byzantines' eastern neighbors – the fragmentized Armenian and Georgian monarchies – rarely threatened the empire directly, but were of particular interest to Constantinople as they controlled strategic international trade routes that run through their domains. The Byzantines had already annexed the Armenian princedoms of Taron
Taron
Taron may refer to: * Taron , a region of historic Armenia* Taron , an ethnic group in Myanmar* Taron, a genus of gastropods in the family Fasciolariidae...
(966) and Manzikert (968) and posed a potential danger to the constellation of several Georgian Bagratid principalities known as Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars...
. However, the integrity of the empire itself was under serious threat after a full-scale rebellion, led by Bardas Sklerus, broke out in the Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n provinces in 976. Following a series of successful battles the rebels jeopardized Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. In the urgency of a situation, the young emperor Basil requested aid from David of Tao, who promptly responded and sent 12,000 first-rate cavalry troops under the command of Tornikios
Tornikios
T'ornike also known as Tornikios or Thornikios was a retired Georgian general and monk who came to be better known as a founder of the formerly Georgian Orthodox Iviron Monastery on Mt Athos in the modern-day northeastern Greece....
to reinforce the recently defeated loyal Byzantine general Bardas Phokas, thereby guaranteeing his victory at the Battle of Pankalia
Battle of Pankalia
The Battle of Pankalia was fought between the army loyal to the Byzantine emperor Basil II and the forces of the rebel general Bardas Skleros. It took place to the west of Caesarea, in the thema of Charsianon on March 24, 979...
near Caesarea on 24 March 979.
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
known to the contemporary Georgian sources as the "Upper Lands of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
" (ზემონი ქუეყანანი საბერძნეთისანი), consisting chiefly of northwestern Armenian lands: the city of Theodosiopolis or Karin (Geo. Karnu-kalaki, present-day Erzurum
Erzurum
Erzurum is a city in Turkey. It is the largest city, the capital of Erzurum Province. The city is situated 1757 meters above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 361,235 in the 2000 census. .Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeastern-most air force post during the...
, Turkey), Phasiane
Phasians
The Phasians were a subdivision of the Colchian tribes located in the eastern part of Pontus. The Greek commander Xenophon, who encountered them during his march through Asia Minor to the Black Sea , places them on the river Phasis...
(Geo. Basiani, Arm. Basean), Hark
Hark
If you searched for Hark you may be looking for:*Hark , a 1985 album by clarinetist Buddy DeFranco, featuring the pianist Oscar Peterson*Hark , books by R. L. Stine*Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, a Christmas carol by Charles Wesley...
, Apahunik, Mardali (Mardaghi), Khaldoyarich, and Chormayri. On this occasion, he was granted the high Byzantine courtier title of kuropalates. Basil II also rewarded David’s commander Tornikios’ valor by funding a Georgian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
. Although populated now chiefly with Greek monks, it is to this day known as Iviron
Iviron monastery
Holy Monastery of Iviron is an Eastern Orthodox monastery at the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece...
, "of the Iberians
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
" (i.e., Georgians
Georgian people
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....
).
These formidable acquisitions made David the most influential ruler in the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, enabling him to interfere in and arbitrate dynastic disputes in both Georgia and Armenia. The medieval Georgian authors call him "greatest of all the kings of Tao" and the eleventh-century Armenian chronicler Aristakes Lastivertsi
Aristakes Lastivertsi
Aristakes Lastivertsi was a medieval Armenian historian and chronicler. The author of many works, Aristakes' most valuable contribution in the field of the historiography was his History: About the Sufferings Visited Upon by Foreign Peoples Living Around Us , which described Armenia's relations...
describes him as
Being in control of highly important commercial centers, his principality profited from taxing the major trading routes running through southwestern Caucasus and eastern Anatolia. David invested these revenues in extensive building projects: constructing towns, forts and churches, and promoting Georgian monastic communities and cultural activities both in Georgia and abroad.
Issue of succession
Having no children of his own, David adopted his kinsman, the young prince BagratBagrat III of Georgia
Bagrat III , of the Georgian Bagrationi dynasty, was King of the Abkhazians from 978 on and King of Georgia from 1008 on. He united these two titles by dynastic inheritance and, through conquest and diplomacy, added some more lands to his realm, effectively becoming the first king of what is...
, heir to the Bagratid throne of Kartli (Iberia). He did so at the request of the energetic Georgian nobleman Iovane Marushis-dze. Through his fortunate bloodlines Bagrat was destined to sit upon two thrones. Furthermore, through his mother Gurandukht, sister of the childless Abkhazian king Theodosius III
Theodosius III of Abkhazia
Theodosius III the Blind , was King of the Abkhazians from circa 975 to 978.He was a son of George II of Abkhazia, who sent Theodosius to be brought up at Constantinople. After his reigning brother Leon III died in 967, a rebel party of Meskhetian, Egrisian and Kartlian nobles put him as a rival...
, Bagrat was a potential heir to the realm of Abkhazia. Making a plan for the creation of an all-Georgian state, David occupied Kartli for his foster-son in 976 and repulsed the troops from the easternmost Georgian kingdom of Kakheti
Kakheti
Kakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabited by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and...
, which had recently occupied the western sector of Kartli with its rock-hewn city of Uplistsikhe
Uplistsikhe
Uplistsikhe is an ancient rock-hewn town in eastern Georgia, some 10 kilometers east of the town of Gori, Shida Kartli.Built on a high rocky left bank of the Mtkvari River, it contains various structures dating from the Early Iron Age to the Late Middle Ages, and is notable for the unique...
. Two years later, in 978, David and Marushis-dze secured the crown of Abkhazia for Bagrat by displacing Theodosius III.
Rus' (people)
The Rus' were a group of Varangians . According to the Primary Chronicle of Rus, compiled in about 1113 AD, the Rus had relocated from the Baltic region , first to Northeastern Europe, creating an early polity which finally came under the leadership of Rurik...
forces in 989, Basil dispatched a strong force under John of Chaldea to punish the Georgians, and David had to submit. Reconciled with the emperor, he was granted, in c. 990, the title of kuropalates again in return for his promise that upon his death the lands previously placed under his sovereignty would revert to the Byzantine Empire.
Another problem arose around the same year, when Bagrat of Abkhazia planned a punitive expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
against the non-submissive duke Rati of Kldekari
Kldekari (duchy)
Kldekari was a duchy in the mediaeval Georgia. Ruled by a powerful dynasty of Baghvashi, the duchy existed from 876 to 1103 in the southern Kvemo Kartli province, and, despite its small size, created particular problems to the Bagrationi kings who sought to bring all Georgian lands into a single...
in Lower Kartli. Persuaded that his foster-son intended to attack Tao and kill him, David crushed the army led by Bagrat’s natural father Gurgen on its march to Kldekari. As a medieval Georgian chronicler relates:
Last years and death
After the reconciliation with the emperor and his kinsmen, David led a series of successful raids against the Muslim emirateEmirate
An emirate is a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Muslim monarch styled emir.-Etymology:Etymologically emirate or amirate is the quality, dignity, office or territorial competence of any emir ....
s of Lake Van
Lake Van
Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country in Van district. It is a saline and soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes . The original outlet from...
and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (Iran)
Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan , also Iranian Azerbaijan, Persian Azarbaijan is a region in northwestern Iran. It is also historically known as Atropatene and Aturpatakan....
. Bagrat II of Georgia (grandfather of Bagrat, David’s adoptee), and Gagik I of Armenia
Gagik I of Armenia
Gagik I was king of the Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia. He succeeded his brother Smbat II the Conqueror . Armenia reached its zenith during the reign of Gagik.-Rule:...
allied themselves with David, who recaptured Manzikert from the Marwanid
Marwanid
Marwanid, , was a Kurdish dynasty in Northern Mesopotamia and Armenia, centered around the city of Amed . Other cities under rule were Arzan, Mayyāfāriqīn , Hisn Kayfa , Khilāṭ, Manzikart, Arjish. The founder of the dynasty was a Kurdish shepherd, Abu Shujā Bādh bin Dustak...
emir of Diyarbakr about 993 and raided Akhlat, another important stronghold of this Kurd
Kürd
Kürd or Kyurd or Kyurt may refer to:*Kürd Eldarbəyli, Azerbaijan*Kürd Mahrızlı, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Goychay, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Qabala, Azerbaijan*Qurdbayram, Azerbaijan...
ish dynasty, in 997. Mamlan, the Rawadid
Rawadid
Rawadid , , was a Kurdish principality ruling Azerbaijan from the 10th to the early 11th centuries, centered around Tabriz and Maragheh. The Rawadid tribe was one of the Arab tribes who became Kurdish by culture through assimilation...
emir of Azerbaijan, was also twice defeated, the second time decisively, in 998, near Archesh.
David was murdered by his nobles early in 1000. According to Aristakes:
Although the Georgian Chronicles maintain that David died in 1001, several Armenian and Muslim accounts suggest he may have died in 1000. Aristakes gives the date of David’s death as March 28, 1000, which is closely corroborated by another Armenian chronicler Asoghik
Stepanos Asoghik
Stepanos Asoghik , also known as Stepanos Taronetsi , was an Armenian historian of the 11th century. His dates are unknown but he came from Taron and earned the nickname Asoghik . He wrote a Universal History in three books...
who says David died on the Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
day of the year 449 of the Armenian calendar
Armenian calendar
The Armenian calendar is the traditional calendar of Armenia. It is a solar calendar based on the same system as the ancient Egyptian model, having an invariant 365-day year with no leap year rule...
, i.e., March 31, 1000. Yet another Armenian, Samuel Anetsi, also puts the date as 1000.
Wars of the Kuropalates’ succession
Basil II was at that time in the eastern provinces of his empire, wintering on the plain of TarsusTarsus (city)
Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...
following his campaign against the Fatimid
Fatimid
The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
dynasty in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
. On hearing of David’s death he marched north-eastward to claim the lands David had promised to the emperor. The local Georgian and Armenian nobility submitted without any serious resistance. The only notable incident occurred when a quarrel between a Georgian soldier and a Varangian Guard
Varangian Guard
The Varangian Guard was an elite unit of the Byzantine Army in 10th to the 14th centuries, whose members served as personal bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperors....
sman over a bale of hay developed into a major fight, involving 6,000 Varangians and taking the lives of thirty Georgian high-ranking nobles.
King Bagrat, David’s foster-son, met with Basil but, unable to prevent the annexation of David’s realm, had to recognize the new borders in reward of the imperial title of kuropalates. Despite this setback, Bagrat was able to become the first king of an all-Georgian unified monarchy, a result made possible largely by the efforts of David of Tao, who, as the modern scholar Stephen Rapp puts in, "appropriately ranks high on any 'Top Ten' list of Georgian history."
There is some disagreement among modern scholars on whether David ceded to the Byzantines only those lands which had been granted to him as a reward for his assistance against the rebel Bardas Sklerus, or if it had been the whole of his principality that was acquired by Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
. As the former was endowed upon David for lifetime stewardship, it would be more reasonable to assume that he conceded his entire realm, i.e., Thither Tao/Tayk and the adjacent Armenian counties up to Lake Van. Whatever the extent of David’s domain, the Georgian kings would not so easily reconcile with the loss of those territories, leading to a series of conflicts with the Byzantine Empire in the eleventh century.