Vakhtang VI of Kartli
Encyclopedia
Vakhtang VI also known as Vakhtang the Scholar and Vakhtang the Lawgiver, (September 15, 1675 – March 26, 1737) was a Wāli
of Kartli
, eastern Georgia
, as a nominal vassal to the Persian shah
from 1716 to 1724. Traditionally, he has been still styled as king of Kartli. Arguably the most important and extraordinary Caucasian
statesman of the early 18th century, he is also known as a notable legislator, scholar, critic, translator and poet. His reign was terminated by the Ottoman invasion, which forced Vakhtang into exile to Russia
. Unable to get the tsar
’s support for his country, died as a broken man in Astrakhan.
, he ruled as regent (janishin) for his absent uncle, George XI
, and his brother, Kaikhosro
, from 1703 to 1714. During these years, he launched a series of long-needed reforms, revived economy and culture, reorganised administration and attempted to fortify the central royal authority. In 1707–1709, he substantially revised the legal code (dasturlamali, aka “Vakhtang’s code”) which would operate as a basis for the Georgian feudal system up to the Russia
n annexation. He was summoned by the shah
Husayn
in 1714 to be confirmed as wali
/king of Kartli
. The shah would not grant the confirmation, except on condition of Vakhtang embracing Islam
, which having refused to do, he was imprisoned, and his brother Jesse
(Ali Quli-Khan), who complied with the condition, was put in his place. Jesse governed Kartli two years, during which he suffered from internal troubles and the inroads of the Dagestan
i tribes.
During the years of captivity, Vakhtang requested aid from the Christian monarchs of Europe
, particularly he sent his uncle and tutor, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani
, on a mission to Louis XIV of France
. Later, in his last letters to the Pope Innocent XIII and Charles VI
dated 29 November 1722 said Vakhtang that he was since years secretly Catholic
, but he could't confess it in publicity "because of betraying people about me" and confirmed with it the reports of Capuchin
missionaries from Persia. They claimed that Vakhtang became Catholic before he converted outwards to Islam and went there to Catholic mass. Politically went his efforts, however, in vain, and Vakhtang reluctantly converted in 1716. He served for some time as a sipah-salar
(commander-in-chief) of the Persian armies and beglarbeg
(governor-general) of Azerbaijan
. He sent his son, Bakar to govern Kartli, whereas Jesse, having abjured Islam, had retired.
Vakhtang remained seven years in Persia before he was permitted to return to his own country in 1719. His first care was to put an end to permanent marauding assaults
from the North Caucasian
mountaineers, particularly the Lezgin tribes of Dagestan. Vakhtang was just preparing to deal a final, crushing blow to the Lezgians when the Persian government intervened to prevent him. This terminated Vakhtang's short-lived loyalty to the shah. He made secret contacts with the Russian tsar
Peter I
and expressed his support for Russia’s future presence in the Caucasus
. After several delays, Peter marched with a small force along the Caspian Sea
in July 1722. It was when the Safavid Persia became involved in complete chaos, and the capital Isfahan
was besieged by the rebel Afghans
. As a Persian vassal and commander, Vakhtang’s brother, Rosotom, died during the siege and the shah charged Bakar, son of Vakhtang, with the defense of his capital. However, Vakhtang refused to come to the aid of Isfahan. At the same time, the Ottomans
offered him an alliance against Persia, but Vakhtang preferred to await the arrival of the Russians. Peter’s promises to provide military support to the Caucasian Chrisitians for final emancipation of the Persian yoke, created a great euphoria among the Georgians and Armenia
ns. In September, Vakhtang VI encamped at Ganja with a combined Georgian-Armenian army of 40,000 to join the advancing Russian expedition. He hoped that Peter the Great would not only seek gains for Russia, but would also protect Georgia from both Persians and Turks. However, the tsar cut his campaign short so as not to confront the Ottomans who were already preparing to take the Safavid succession in the Caucasus. Vakhtang, abandoned by his Russian allies, returned to Tbilisi in November 1722. The shah revenged him by giving a sanction to the Muslim king Constantine II of Kakheti
to take the kingdom of Kartli. In May 1723, Constantine and his Persians marched into Vakhtang's possessions. Vakhtang, after having defended himself for some time at Tbilisi
, was finally expelled. Vakhtang fled to Inner Kartli
whence he attempted to win the support from the advancing Ottoman forces and submitted to the authority of the Sultan; but the Turks, having occupied the country, gave the throne to his brother Jesse, who again became a Muslim.
In the invasions and wars between the Turks, Persians, Dagestanis and Afghans, thee-fourths of the population of Georgia were destroyed; and Vakhtang, after having wandered a long time with his most faithful adherents in the mountains, sought again protection from Peter the Great, who invited him to Russia. Accompanied by his family, his close comrades-in-arms and a retinue of 1,200, he had to make his way across the Caucasus to Russia in July 1724. Peter had just died, and his successor, Catherine I
gave no real help but allowed Vakhtang to settle in Russia, granting him a pension and some estates.
Vakhtang resided in Russia till 1734, but in that year he resolved to make an attempt to recover his dominions by the co-operation of the Shah of Persia. The empress Anna
consented to Vakhtang's project, but gave him instructions how to act in Persia, and in what manner he should induce the Georgians as well as the Caucasian highlanders to enter the Russian service, in order to bring about heir entire submission to the authority of Russia. Vakhtang started for his diplomatic journey, in company with a Russian general, but fell ill on his way, and died at Astrakhan
on March 26, 1737. He was buried at the city’s Church of Assumption
. Many of his followers remained in Russia later served in the Russian army
. A descendant, Pyotr Bagration
, was perhaps the most famous of them.
, established, in 1709, the first typography in Georgia and the whole Caucasus. Among the books published in "Vakhtang’s typography" in Tbilisi was the 12th-century national epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin
(Vep’khistkaosani) by Shota Rustaveli
, accompanied by scholarly commentaries by the king himself. This induced a new wave of interest towards that great medieval poet and would influence a new generation of Georgian poets of the 18th century, which is generally regarded as the Renaissance
of the Georgian literature.
He also undertook the printing of the Bible
, which had been, as it is believed, translated as early as the fifth century from the Greek into the Georgian, and corrected in the 11th century by the monks of the Georgian convent on Mount Athos
. His printing house printed also the Gospels, the Acts
, the Psalms
, and several liturgies and prayer-books, causing a great discontent at the court of Persia which perceived that the nominally Muslim Vakhtang, instead of following the Koran, promoted Christianity.
An eminent critic and translator, Vakhtang himself was an author of several patriotic and romantic lyric poems. Vakhtang also chaired a special commission convened to edit and compile the corpus of Georgian chronicles covering the period from the Dark Ages to the early Modern era.
, western Georgia, in 1696, a Circassia
n princess Rusudan (died in Moscow
, December 30, 1740). They were the parents of:
Vakhtang had also several illegitimate children, including
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
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...
, eastern Georgia
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...
, as a nominal vassal to the Persian 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:...
from 1716 to 1724. Traditionally, he has been still styled as king of Kartli. Arguably the most important and extraordinary Caucasian
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...
statesman of the early 18th century, he is also known as a notable legislator, scholar, critic, translator and poet. His reign was terminated by the Ottoman invasion, which forced Vakhtang into exile to Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. Unable to get the tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
’s support for his country, died as a broken man in Astrakhan.
As a regent
Son of Prince LevanLevan (son of Vakhtang V)
Prince Levan , also known by his Persian name Shah-Quli Khan was a Georgian prince and the fourth son of the king of Kartli Shahnawaz .In 1675, he was confirmed as a janisin of Kartli during the absence of his reigning brother, George XI Prince Levan (ლევან ბატონიშვილი, Levan Batonishvili), also...
, he ruled as regent (janishin) for his absent uncle, George XI
George XI of Kartli
George XI was a Georgian monarch who ruled Eastern Georgia from 1676 to 1688 and again from 1703 to 1709. He is best known for his struggle against the Safavid Persia which dominated his weakened kingdom. Being an Eastern Orthodox Christian, he converted to Islam prior to his appointment as...
, and his brother, Kaikhosro
Kaikhosro of Kartli
Kaikhosro , of the House of Bagrationi, was a king of Kartli, eastern Georgia, from 1709 to 1711...
, from 1703 to 1714. During these years, he launched a series of long-needed reforms, revived economy and culture, reorganised administration and attempted to fortify the central royal authority. In 1707–1709, he substantially revised the legal code (dasturlamali, aka “Vakhtang’s code”) which would operate as a basis for the Georgian feudal system up to the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n annexation. He was summoned by the 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:...
Husayn
Husayn (Safavid)
Sultan Husayn was a Safavid king of Iran . He ruled from 1694 until he was overthrown in 1722 by Shah Mahmud Hotaki, an Afghan warrior of Pashtun ethnic background...
in 1714 to be confirmed as wali
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
/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...
. The shah would not grant the confirmation, except on condition of Vakhtang embracing Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, which having refused to do, he was imprisoned, and his brother Jesse
Jesse of Kartli
Jesse , also known by his Muslim names Ali-Quli Khan and Mustafa Pasha, , of the Mukhranian Bagrationi dynasty, was a king of Kartli , acting actually as a Safavid Persian and later Ottoman viceroy from 1714 to 1716 and from 1724 until his death, respectively.He was a son of Prince Levan by his...
(Ali Quli-Khan), who complied with the condition, was put in his place. Jesse governed Kartli two years, during which he suffered from internal troubles and the inroads of the Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
i tribes.
During the years of captivity, Vakhtang requested aid from the Christian monarchs of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, particularly he sent his uncle and tutor, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani
Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani
Prince Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani was a Georgian prince, writer, monk and convert to Roman Catholicism.- Biography :...
, on a mission to Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. Later, in his last letters to the Pope Innocent XIII and Charles VI
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
dated 29 November 1722 said Vakhtang that he was since years secretly Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, but he could't confess it in publicity "because of betraying people about me" and confirmed with it the reports of Capuchin
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
missionaries from Persia. They claimed that Vakhtang became Catholic before he converted outwards to Islam and went there to Catholic mass. Politically went his efforts, however, in vain, and Vakhtang reluctantly converted in 1716. He served for some time as a sipah-salar
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
(commander-in-chief) of the Persian armies and beglarbeg
Beylerbey
Beylerbey is the Ottoman and Safavid title used for the highest rank in the hierarchy of provincial administrators It is in western terms a Governor-general, with authority...
(governor-general) of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. He sent his son, Bakar to govern Kartli, whereas Jesse, having abjured Islam, had retired.
His reign
Lekianoba
Lekianoba was the name given to sporadic forays and marauds by Dagestan clansmen into Georgia from 16th to 19th centuries. The term is derived from Leki, by which the Georgians knew Dagestani peoples, with the suffix –anoba which designates attribution.The attacks from Dagestan began with the...
from the North Caucasian
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
mountaineers, particularly the Lezgin tribes of Dagestan. Vakhtang was just preparing to deal a final, crushing blow to the Lezgians when the Persian government intervened to prevent him. This terminated Vakhtang's short-lived loyalty to the shah. He made secret contacts with the Russian tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
Peter I
Peter I of Russia
Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...
and expressed his support for Russia’s future presence 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...
. After several delays, Peter marched with a small force along the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
in July 1722. It was when the Safavid Persia became involved in complete chaos, and the capital Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609, Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad...
was besieged by the rebel Afghans
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. As a Persian vassal and commander, Vakhtang’s brother, Rosotom, died during the siege and the shah charged Bakar, son of Vakhtang, with the defense of his capital. However, Vakhtang refused to come to the aid of Isfahan. At the same time, the Ottomans
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...
offered him an alliance against Persia, but Vakhtang preferred to await the arrival of the Russians. Peter’s promises to provide military support to the Caucasian Chrisitians for final emancipation of the Persian yoke, created a great euphoria among the Georgians and Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
ns. In September, Vakhtang VI encamped at Ganja with a combined Georgian-Armenian army of 40,000 to join the advancing Russian expedition. He hoped that Peter the Great would not only seek gains for Russia, but would also protect Georgia from both Persians and Turks. However, the tsar cut his campaign short so as not to confront the Ottomans who were already preparing to take the Safavid succession in the Caucasus. Vakhtang, abandoned by his Russian allies, returned to Tbilisi in November 1722. The shah revenged him by giving a sanction to the Muslim king Constantine II of Kakheti
Constantine II of Kakheti
Constantine II also known as Mahmād Qulī Khān , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Kakheti in eastern Georgia from 1722 to 1732....
to take the kingdom of Kartli. In May 1723, Constantine and his Persians marched into Vakhtang's possessions. Vakhtang, after having defended himself for some time at Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, was finally expelled. Vakhtang fled to Inner Kartli
Shida Kartli
Shida Kartli is a region in Georgia. It consists of the following districts: Gori, Kaspi, Kareli, Java, Khashuri.The northern part of the region, namely Java, and northern territories of Kareli and Gori, is controlled by the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic of South Ossetia since...
whence he attempted to win the support from the advancing Ottoman forces and submitted to the authority of the Sultan; but the Turks, having occupied the country, gave the throne to his brother Jesse, who again became a Muslim.
In the invasions and wars between the Turks, Persians, Dagestanis and Afghans, thee-fourths of the population of Georgia were destroyed; and Vakhtang, after having wandered a long time with his most faithful adherents in the mountains, sought again protection from Peter the Great, who invited him to Russia. Accompanied by his family, his close comrades-in-arms and a retinue of 1,200, he had to make his way across the Caucasus to Russia in July 1724. Peter had just died, and his successor, Catherine I
Catherine I of Russia
Catherine I , the second wife of Peter the Great, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death.-Life as a peasant woman:The life of Catherine I was said by Voltaire to be nearly as extraordinary as that of Peter the Great himself. There are no documents that confirm her origins. Born on...
gave no real help but allowed Vakhtang to settle in Russia, granting him a pension and some estates.
Vakhtang resided in Russia till 1734, but in that year he resolved to make an attempt to recover his dominions by the co-operation of the Shah of Persia. The empress Anna
Anna of Russia
Anna of Russia or Anna Ivanovna reigned as Duchess of Courland from 1711 to 1730 and as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740.-Accession to the throne:Anna was the daughter of Ivan V of Russia, as well as the niece of Peter the Great...
consented to Vakhtang's project, but gave him instructions how to act in Persia, and in what manner he should induce the Georgians as well as the Caucasian highlanders to enter the Russian service, in order to bring about heir entire submission to the authority of Russia. Vakhtang started for his diplomatic journey, in company with a Russian general, but fell ill on his way, and died at Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
on March 26, 1737. He was buried at the city’s Church of Assumption
Assumption of Mary
According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...
. Many of his followers remained in Russia later served in the Russian army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
. A descendant, Pyotr Bagration
Pyotr Bagration
Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration was a general of the Russian army. He was a descendant of the Georgian royal family of the Bagrations.- Life :...
, was perhaps the most famous of them.
Scholarly and cultural activities
Although Vakhtang’s political decisions have sometimes been object of criticism, his scholarly and cultural activities are the crowning merits of his reign. He was, indeed, one of the most learned monarchs of the time. He was an author and organiser of numerous cultural and educational projects aimed at reviving the country’s intellectual life. It was him who, with the help of the archbishop of Walachia Anthim the GeorgianAnthim the Iberian
Anthim the Iberian was one of the greatest ecclesiastic figures of Wallachia , a noted Eastern Orthodox theologian and philosopher, founder of the first printing press in Romania, and Metropolitan of...
, established, in 1709, the first typography in Georgia and the whole Caucasus. Among the books published in "Vakhtang’s typography" in Tbilisi was the 12th-century national epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin
The Knight in the Panther's Skin
The Knight in the Panther's Skin is an epic poem, consisting of over 1600 shairi quatrains, was written in the 12th century by the Georgian epic-poet Shota Rustaveli, who was a Prince and Treasurer at the royal court of Queen Tamar of Georgia. The Knight in the Panther's Skin is often seen as...
(Vep’khistkaosani) by Shota Rustaveli
Shota Rustaveli
Shota Rustaveli was a Georgian poet of the 12th century, and one of the greatest contributors to Georgian literature. He is author of "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" , the Georgian national epic poem....
, accompanied by scholarly commentaries by the king himself. This induced a new wave of interest towards that great medieval poet and would influence a new generation of Georgian poets of the 18th century, which is generally regarded as the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
of the Georgian literature.
He also undertook the printing of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, which had been, as it is believed, translated as early as the fifth century from the Greek into the Georgian, and corrected in the 11th century by the monks of the Georgian convent 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...
. His printing house printed also the Gospels, the Acts
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
, the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
, and several liturgies and prayer-books, causing a great discontent at the court of Persia which perceived that the nominally Muslim Vakhtang, instead of following the Koran, promoted Christianity.
An eminent critic and translator, Vakhtang himself was an author of several patriotic and romantic lyric poems. Vakhtang also chaired a special commission convened to edit and compile the corpus of Georgian chronicles covering the period from the Dark Ages to the early Modern era.
His family and children
Vakhtang married in ImeretiImereti
Imereti is a province in Georgia situated along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni river. It consists of the following Georgian administrative-territorial units:#Kutaisi #Baghdati region#Vani region#Zestafoni region...
, western Georgia, in 1696, a Circassia
Circassia
Circassia was an independent mountainous country located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia and was the largest and most important country in the Caucasus. Circassia was located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea...
n princess Rusudan (died in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, December 30, 1740). They were the parents of:
- Prince Bakar
- Prince GeorgeGeorge, Prince of GeorgiaGeorge, Prince of Georgia was a Georgian royal prince and a general in the Russian service.Born to the king Vakhtang VI of Kartli of the House of Bagrationi-Mukhrani, George followed his father into a Russian exile following the Ottoman occupation of Georgia in 1724. He established himself at...
- Princess Tamar (1697 – 1746) who married, in 1712, Prince TeimurazTeimuraz IITeimuraz II , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king of Kakheti, eastern Georgia, from 1732 to 1744, then of Kartli from 1744 until his death.- Life :...
, the future king of KakhetiKakhetiKakheti 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...
and Kartli - Princess Anna (Anuka) (1698–1746), who married, in 1712, Prince Vakhushti AbashidzeAbashidzeAbashidze is a Georgian family and a former princely house. Appearing in the 15th century, they achieved prominence in the Kingdom of Imereti in western Georgia in the late 17th century and branched out in eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kakheti and Kartli as well as the then-Ottoman-held...
Vakhtang had also several illegitimate children, including
- Prince Vakhushti
- Prince Paata