David Gurieli ( Georgian : დავით გურიელი , Davit' Gurieli ; Russian : Давид Мамиевич Гуриель , David Mamiyevich Guriel ; 1818 – 23 August 1839) was a Georgian nobleman of the House of Gurieli . He was the last titular Prince of Guria from 24 November 1826 to 9 September 1829, but he never actually ruled because of his young age and then due to the Russian occupation of his principality. He reconciled with the Russians and returned from his Ottoman exile as a private citizen in 1832. He was subsequently trained as an officer of the Imperial Russian Army and served in the Caucasus , where he died at the battle of Akhulgo .
30-521: David was the second child and only son of Mamia V Gurieli , Prince-regnant of Guria, and his wife, Princess Sofia née Tsulukidze . He was born in 1818, the year when western Georgia was rocked by a rebellion against the Russian Empire of which Guria was a subject since 1811. Mamia maintained loyalty to Russia when the revolt spread to Guria in 1820, but the fighting and destruction plunged him into depression. He died on 21 November 1826, when David
60-634: A band of wandering German rope-dancers to perform three times a week for the amusement of his court. In March 1820, Mamia Gurieli's relations with the Russian Empire was put to a test; an uprising in Imereti against the Russian hegemony found its echo in Guria and involved Mamia's Imeretian brother-in-law Ivane Abashidze and his uncle and former caretaker Kaikhosro Gurieli as principal leaders. As
90-519: A break with Russia. Unlike Imeretia and Mingrelia , Guria did not raise a volunteer force to join Russian war efforts during the siege of the Ottoman fortress of Poti , immediately north of Guria. Furthermore, Sofie expelled Mingrelian military posts from the shores of Lake Paliastomi and replaced them with stronger Gurian patrols, opening a line of communications with Poti and causing the Russian commander-in-chief Ivan Paskevich to forewarn her of
120-608: A debilitating stroke in 1839. Rosen died in Moscow and was buried in the Danilov Monastery . Baron Rosen married Countess Elizaveta Zubova in 1812. She was Platon Zubov 's niece. Their daughter Praskovia became a nun under the name of Mitrophania and was in charge of the Vladychny Convent between 1861 and 1874. A domineering and highly influential person, she was arrested for faking promissory notes and, after
150-542: A degree of stability to Guria and effected rapprochement with the expanding Russian Empire , much to the ire of the Ottoman government, which claimed suzerainty over all of western Georgia. In 1809, Kaikhosro retired from the government and ceded all ruling powers to Mamia. That same year, the Russo-Ottoman war brought hostilities to the borders of Guria; the Russian forces under General Dimitri Orbeliani besieged
180-452: A flag with the coat of arms of the Russian Empire —on 8 April 1811. On this occasion, Mamia was also awarded the Order of St. Anna , 1st Class, and the rank of major-general, while his mother Marina was granted an annual pension of 200 chervonets . Mamia took a keen interest in transforming and developing administration and economy and improving education in his small state, whose population
210-622: The Caucasian War . A baron ( Freiherr ) of Baltic German ancestry (his father's name was Vladimir Ivanovich Rosen [ru] and his mother was Olimpiada Fyodorovna Raevskaya ), he was formally enlisted in the army at the age of seven. He took part in the Napoleonic Wars , the Finnish War , fought at Borodino and served with Russian forces all the way to Paris . Promoted to major general in 1809, he quickly rose through
240-487: The Caucasus Army and remained in charge of the vast area stretching from Astrakhan to Yerevan (including all of Georgia ) until 1837. In this capacity he neutralized the 1832 Georgian plot and eliminated the threat of Ghazi Muhammad (whom he besieged at his native village of Gimry ). In the same year he took part in assault on Germenchuk . He also forced Shamil to leave Avaria for two years. He suffered
270-536: The siege of Shamil's stronghold of Akhulgo . Unmarried and with no issue, David was the last in the direct princely line of the Gurieli dynasty. Mamia V Gurieli Mamia V Gurieli ( Georgian : მამია V გურიელი ; 1789 – 21 November 1826), of the House of Gurieli , became Prince of Guria , in western Georgia, in 1797. From 1797 to 1809, he was under the regency of his paternal uncle, Prince Kaikhosro . Mamia
300-452: The Gurian ruler's request in this regard because what the rebellious nobles had done, Yermolov claimed, had tarnished Mamia's honor. Yet, the viceroy was appreciative of Mamia's loyalty to which he attributed the Russian success in containing the rebellion. In September 1820, Gurieli met the Russian commander in Guria, General Velyaminov , at a military camp at Chakhatauri and was assured of
330-423: The Gurieli castle of Likhauri , and repulsed an attack from the Ottoman territory on the frontier fort of St. Nicholas, inducing Sofia's flight from Kobuleti to Trebizond . Sofia was declared deposed, her properties confiscated, and a provisional administration—consisting of four Gurian princes and chaired by the Russian colonel Kulyabka—was set up to run the principality, nominally, in the name of Prince David. In
SECTION 10
#1732790111843360-616: The Ottoman stronghold of Poti , on the Black Sea , immediately north of Guria. Initially reluctant to overtly join the Russians, Mamia kept correspondence with the Ottoman commanders, but he eventually rallied to the Russian cause and attacked the Ottoman defenders of Poti in their rear at Grigoleti , contributing to the Russian victory in November 1809. In March 1810, Mamia and the neighboring ruler Levan V Dadiani of Mingrelia joined
390-418: The Russian Empire during the Ottoman war of 1828–1829 , bringing about the loss of Guria's self-rule and direct Russian annexation on 7 September 1829. The couple had five children, four daughters and a son. After Sophia's death in exile, Mamia's children were amnestied and resettled by the Russian government to St. Petersburg . On 20 January 1843, the surviving two daughters, Ekaterina and Terezia, were granted
420-521: The Russian army in its conquest of the western Georgian Kingdom of Imereti . Shortly after the fall of Poti, Mamia went ahead with requesting a treaty with Russia. He took an oath of fealty to Tsar Alexander I at a ceremony in the village of Guriamta in April 1810 and received the Imperial diploma, confirming him as prince-regnant as a Russian subject, with symbols of investiture—a precious sabre and
450-433: The Russian threatened to pronounce David "a traitor" and strip him of his right to rule. Paskevich's letters were intercepted by the Ottoman authorities and never reached the princess. His attempts to lure David back also failed. In the meantime, General Hesse took Kintrishi on 9 August 1829. Sofia, David, and their retinue narrowly escaped to Trebizond, where the princess, exhausted and demoralized, died on 7 September 1829 and
480-480: The Russian troops poured into the principality, Mamia maintained loyalty to the empire and tried, with mixed success, to dissuade his nobles from joining the rebellion, but he avoided being directly involved in counter-insurgency operations and tried to bring the estates confiscated by the Russian military from the rebel nobles under his control. The Russian viceroy of the Caucasus , General Aleksey Yermolov , refused
510-446: The conquest of Kobuleti and Batumi . Paskevich gave the regent two weeks to fulfill her promise and ordered General Karl Hesse to move into Guria with two battalions, ostensibly for cooperation with the Gurian forces. On the night of 1 to 2 October 1828, Sofie with her son David and the eldest daughter Ekaterina, accompanied by loyal nobles, fled Guria to Kobuleti. The Russian troops occupied Guria, seizing Sofia's two little daughters at
540-406: The consequences. Paskevich soon received reports that Sofia had clandestinely placed Guria under the sultan's protection and around 10,000 Ottoman troops were amassing close to the borders with Guria. The fall of Poti to the Russian troops and Ottoman reverses in the Caucasus forced Princess Sofia to step back and write a letter to Paskevich, promising to marshal a Gurian force to aid the Russians in
570-478: The imperial government’s benevolence towards him. Soon after the 1820 events, Mamia succumbed to depression and died at Ozurgeti on 21 November 1826, leaving behind his two-year-old son David as his successor. Mamia Gurieli married, c. 1814 , the Imeretian princess Sophia Tsulukidze (died 7 September 1829), who assumed regency of Mamia's heir David on her husband's death in 1826. She defected
600-624: The leading nobles of Guria. Sofia, offended and indignant at what she saw was an infringement on Guria's autonomy, entered into secret negotiations with the Ottoman government. She also had contacts with the Gurian political exiles who had fled to the Ottoman-controlled district of Kobuleti during the 1820 rebellion. When the Russian and Ottoman empires went to war in April 1828, the Gurian elites became even more divided in their loyalties. A small, but vocal contingent led by Sofia and her chief adviser, Prince David Machutadze, advocated
630-547: The ranks and in 1826 was promoted to a full general of infantry rank. Rosen was designated the commanding officer of the 6th Lithuanian Corps in 1827. He was thrust into prominence by the Uprising of 1831 , participated at Wawer , and acted decisively at Grochów , winning the Czar's admiration; but Rosen was then defeated at Iganie and at Międzyrzec Podlaski . In 1831, he succeeded Ivan Paskevich as commander in chief of
SECTION 20
#1732790111843660-578: The spring of 1829, Sofia, from her base at the Kintrishi glade, close to Guria, issued proclamations to the Gurians calling on them to resist the Russians and defend their rightful sovereign. Paskevich sent her several letters promising amnesty for her and her followers and respect for David's right to the princely title, if she broke with the Ottomans and immediately returned to Guria. In case of refusal,
690-487: The style of Serene Highness . Mamia's children were: Georg Andreas von Rosen Baron Georg Andreas von Rosen ( Grigory Vladimirovich Rosen ; Russian : Григорий Владимирович Розен , romanized : Grigoriy Vladimirovich Rozen ; 1782–1841) was a general of the Russian Imperial Army who served as (de facto) Viceroy of the Caucasus from 1831 to 1837. He was one of the key figures of
720-405: Was a Europeanizing ruler, presiding over efforts to reform Guria's administration and education. Rejecting the vestiges of Ottoman overlordship, he made Guria an autonomous subject of the Russian Empire in 1810 and remained steadfast in allegiance to the new order even when his uncle Kaikhosro and leading nobles of Guria rose in arms against the Russian hegemony in 1820. Mamia's loyalty, even it
750-474: Was around 6,000 families. A foreign observer described him as "very desirous of adopting European customs and habits". Around 1817, he gave some lands and families of serfs to James Patrick Montague Marr, a Scotsman, on condition of his introducing the cultivation of indigo. After felling Guria's timber, Marr settled down in old age with a Gurian peasant girl and fathered Nicholas Marr , a historian and linguist of international fame. Curiously, Mamia also employed
780-637: Was buried at the local Greek monastery of St. Sofia. On 9 September 1829, David was proclaimed deposed and Guria was directly annexed to the Russian Empire. The deposed prince and his eldest sister Ekaterine remained in the Ottoman Empire under the auspices of Prince Machutadze. On 25 January 1832, through the intercession of Paskevich's successor in the Caucasus, Baron Rosen , the Gurian exiles were granted amnesty by Tsar Nicholas I and were allowed to their homeland as private citizens. On 15 September 1832, they landed at Guria's port of St. Nicholas. Rosen
810-464: Was eight years old. Three days later, the princess dowager Sofia declared her son the next ruler and herself the boy-prince's regent. The Russian viceroy, General Aleksey Yermolov , denounced the move as unilateral and invalid until it was approved by an Imperial decree. Eventually, at Yermolov's insistence, Sofia had to share power with the Regency Council presided by herself and consisting of
840-664: Was impressed by David's manners and "moral qualities". The young Gurieli was granted a lifetime pension and sent to St. Petersburg to be enlisted in the Page Corps , where he completed his education in 1838. He was commissioned as a cornet of the Tsesarevich's Ataman Cossack Regiment of the Life Guards and sent to fight the Caucasian mountaineers led by Imam Shamil . He was killed in fighting on 23 August 1839, during
870-440: Was three years old and the government of Guria was taken over by Simon's younger brother Vakhtang II Gurieli . The princess-dowager Marine, who felt persecuted by Vakhtang, sought and gained protection from the next younger brother, Kaikhosro , who deposed Vakhtang in 1797, declared the boy-prince Mamia as Guria's next ruler and himself a regent until Mamia was of age to take power. During the years of his regency, Kaikhosro brought
900-420: Was timidly displayed during a pacification campaign in Guria, was appreciated by the Russian government. Mamia himself grew increasingly depressed after the uprising and died in 1826, leaving his son David to become the last titular Prince of Guria. Mamia was the third child and only son of Simon II Gurieli , Prince-regnant of Guria, and Princess Marine née Tsereteli. At the time of Simon's death in 1792, Mamia
#842157