George X (c. 1561 – September 7, 1606), of the Bagrationi royal dynasty, was a king of the eastern Georgian

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...

 kingdom of 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...

 from 1599 until his death.

Titles: H.M. The Most High King Giorgi X, by the will of our Lord, King of Kings of the Abkhazis, Kartvelians, Ranians, Kakhetians and the Armenians

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

, Shirvanshah

Shirvanshah

Shirvanshah also spelled as Shīrwān Shāh or Sharwān Shāh, was the title in mediaeval Islamic times of an Arab in Ethnos but speedily Persianized dynasty within their culturally Persian environment. The Shirvanshah established a native state in Shirvan...

 and Shahanshah and Master of all the East and West, King of 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...

He fought alongside his father, Simon I of Kartli

Simon I of Kartli

Simon I also known as Svimon , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a Georgian king of Kartli from 1556 to 1569 and again from 1578 to 1599...

, against the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 occupation forces since 1598. He held power after Simon was taken captive by the Turks at the Battle of Nakhiduri in 1599. George attempted several times, though vainly, to ransom his father (who would die as a prisoner in 1612) from captivity and even offered to the Sublime Porte his son as hostage. He soon returned to his struggle against the Ottomans and recovered Lorri

Lorri

-Given name:*Lorri Bagley, an American actress and model*Lorri Jean, a leader in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement in America-Acronym:...

 in 1601. In 1602, when the Safavid

Safavid dynasty

The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning...

 shah

Shah

Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...

 of Persia Abbas I

Abbas I of Persia

Shāh ‘Abbās the Great was Shah of Iran, and generally considered the greatest ruler of the Safavid dynasty. He was the third son of Shah Mohammad....

 resumed a war against the Ottomans, George sided with the Persians and led the Georgian auxiliary troops which took part in the conquest of Erivan in 1603/1604. As a reward, Abbas I granted Giorgi X a minor possession in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. In exchange, the shah asked for an area in the Debed River valley in the strategic Lorri district. Abbas I populated this territory with members of the Turkmen

Turkmen people

The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...

 tribe Borchalu. Finally, the Shah permitted Giorgi X to return to Kartli.

He was the first king of Kartli who attempted to establish diplomatic ties with the northern co-religionist power of Muscovy. George decided even to give his daughter Elene to the Czar Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov

Boris Fyodorovich Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. The end of his reign saw Russia descend into the Time of Troubles.-Early years:...

 in marriage. However, unstable political situation in both countries terminated these contacts.

According to Georgian chronicles, George X died suddenly, from a sting on his tongue, after biting into a cake with a bee

Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...

 in it, at Mejvriskhevi, 1606. There have also been some speculations that the king was poisoned on the orders of the shah Abbas I. He was buried at Mtskheta

Mtskheta

Mtskheta , one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia , is located approximately 20 kilometers north of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers. The city is now the administrative centre of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region...

.

George X, then prince, married on September 15 1578 Mariam (died after 1610), daughter of Giorgi III Dadiani, prince of Mingrelia. Their children were:

• Luarsab II of Kartli
  Luarsab II of Kartli
  The Holy Martyr Luarsab II , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king of Kartli from 1606 to 1615. He is known for his martyr’s death at the hands of the Persian shah Abbas I...
  
  
• Princess Elene (born 1591)
• Princess Khorashan Darejan (died 1659) who married in 1612 Teimuraz I of Kakheti
  Teimuraz I of Kakheti
  Teimuraz I , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a Georgian monarch who ruled, with intermissions, as King of Kakheti from 1605 to 1648 and also of Kartli from 1625 to 1633...
  
  
• Princess Tinatin (aka Peri Lala Fatima Sultan Begum in Persia) who was married (as his ninth wife) first to Shah Abbas I from 1604 to 1614, and then to Paykhar Khan, governor 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...
  
  , 1616-1623

External links

• Giorgi X (In Georgian) Kings of Kartli at Royal Ark website