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Upon the death of George XII of Georgia in 1800, Russia put in place a plan to absorb Georgia outright, officially declaring its annexation in 1801 and removing the Georgian
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...
Garsevan Chavchavadze ( ka, გარსევან ჭავჭავაძე) (July 20, 1757 - April 7, 1811) was a Georgian nobleman (''tavadi
''Tavadi'' ( ka, თავადი, "prince", lit. "head/chief" an from ka, თავი ''tavi'', "head", with the prefix of agent ''-di'') was a feudal title in Georgia first applied in the Late Middle Ages usually translated in English as P ...
''), politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...
and diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or interna ...
primarily known as the Georgian ambassador to Imperial Russia
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...
.
He came from a noble family
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...
of the 3rd rank from the kingdom of Kakheti
The Second Kingdom of Kakheti ( ka, კახეთის სამეფო, tr; also spelled Kaxet'i or Kakhetia) was a late medieval/ early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centered at the province of Kakheti, with its capital first at Grem ...
, eastern Georgia. For years, Chavchavadze served as adjutant-general
An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer.
France
In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...
to Heraclius II of Georgia
Heraclius II ( ka, ერეკლე II), also known as Erekle II and The Little Kakhetian ( ka, პატარა კახი ) (7 November 1720 or 7 October 1721 C. ToumanoffHitchins, KeithHeraclius II. ''Encyclopædia Iranica Online edit ...
, king of Kartli and Kakheti.
Family and early career
He was involved in the negotiations that led to the 1783Treaty of Georgievsk
The Treaty of Georgievsk (russian: Георгиевский трактат, Georgievskiy traktat; ka, გეორგიევსკის ტრაქტატი, tr) was a bilateral treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and the east Ge ...
with Russia, placing the Georgian kingdom under the protection of Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
ina Catherine II
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
. In 1784, Prince Chavchavadze was appointed as an ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...
to St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. He was welcomed in Russia, and Empress Catherine became a godmother at the baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
of his Petersburg-born son, Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, the future poet and general.
During his tenure as ambassador, Garsevan urged the Russian government to timely fulfill the promise of protection, but Georgia was left without any assistance when, in 1795, Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
attacked and devastated the country after Erekle's refusal to terminate his ties with Russia. Although many leading Georgian politicians became disillusioned in Russia, Chavchavadze still seconded the alliance with Russia, to which Georgia was bound by common faith, and supported George XII
George XII ( ka, გიორგი XII, ''Giorgi XII''), sometimes known as George XIII (November 10, 1746 – December 28, 1800), of the House of Bagrationi, was the second and last King of the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti in eastern Georgia from ...
’s renewed quest for the Russian protection in 1799.
Russian annexation and disillusionment
Upon the death of George XII of Georgia in 1800, Russia put in place a plan to absorb Georgia outright, officially declaring its annexation in 1801 and removing the Georgian Bagrationi Dynasty
The Bagrationi dynasty (; ) is a royal dynasty which reigned in Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christian ruling dynasties in the world. In modern usage, the name of the dynasty is som ...
from the throne.Lang, DM (1957), ''The Last Years of the Georgian Monarchy: 1658-1832'', New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
: Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fie ...
, pp. 242, 251 Shocked by this decision, Prince Chavchavadze wrote to his relatives in Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
, that the Russians "not fulfilled ven
Ven may refer to:
Places
* Ven, Heeze-Leende, a hamlet in the Netherlands
* Ven (Sweden), an island
* Ven, Tajikistan, a town
* VEN or Venezuela
Other uses
* von Economo neurons, also called ''spindle neurons''
* '' Vên'', an EP by Eluveiti ...
one of King Giorgi's requirements. They have abolished our kingdom... No country has ever been so humiliated as Georgia."Suny, RG (1994), ''The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition'', Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...
, , p. 59 In September 1801 he presented a formal note of protest against the annexation to the Russian Vice Chancellor Prince Alexander Kurakin
Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin, sometimes spelled ''Kourakine'' (; 18 January 1752 – Weimar, 6 / 24 June 1818) was a Russian statesman and diplomat, a member of the State Council (from 1810), who was ranked Active Privy Counsellor 1st Cl ...
.
Back in Georgia, he fruitlessly attempted to lobby for the preservation of a degree of internal autonomy for his native country. He remained in opposition to the Russian rule throughout the following years, prompting the new administration of Georgia to deport him to Russia in 1805. Not allowed to return to his homeland, Chavchavadze settled in St. Petersburg. He died there in 1811, and was buried at Alexander Nevsky Lavra
Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alex ...
.
See also
* Georgia under the Russian Empire *Russians in Georgia
There is a small Russian population in Georgia of less than 0.5% of the total population. For many years, Georgia was a part of the Russian Empire, and later the Soviet Union. As the two countries share a border, many Russians settled in various ...
References
*Думин С. В., Чиковани Ю. К. Дворянские роды Российской империи. — М.: Ликоминвест", 1998. — Т. 4 *თავადი ჭავჭავაძეები. ჩიქოვანი, ი. თბ.: არტანუჯი, 2002 *Государственный музей искусств Грузинской ССр. — М.: «Государственное издательство изобразительного искусства», 1960. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chavchavadze, Garsevan 1757 births 1811 deaths Diplomats of Georgia (country) Nobility of Georgia (country) Politicians from Georgia (country) Ambassadors of Georgia (country) to Russia 18th-century people from Georgia (country) 19th-century people from Georgia (country)