Alastaneli ( ka, ალასტანელი, "of/from Alastani") was a title of the Georgian dynastic princes ruling over the province of

Javakheti Javakheti ( ka, ჯავახეთი ) or Javakhk (, ''Javakhk'')' is a historical province in southern Georgia, corresponding to the modern municipalities of Akhalkalaki, Aspindza (partly), Ninotsminda, and partly to the Turkey's Ardahan ...

from their castle at Alastani in the 13th and 14th centuries. According to traditional Georgian genealogy, this dynasty was a branch of the royal house of Bagrationi, stemming from King

David VIII of Georgia David VIII (Georgian language, Georgian: დავით VIII; 1273–1311), from the Bagrationi dynasty, was king (''mepe'') of Kingdom of Georgia (1256–1329), Central and Eastern Georgia in 1292–1302 and 1308–1311. Biography Eldest son ...

(died 1311). Their status of "provincial kings" was rooted in the political fragmentation of the centralized Georgian monarchy under the Mongol hegemony. This line became extinct in the early 15th century.

History

Alastani, north of modern-day town of

Akhalkalaki Akhalkalaki ( ka, ახალქალაქი, tr ; ) is a town in Georgia (country), Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe–Javakheti and the administrative centre of the Akhalkalaki Municipality. Akhalkalaki lies on the edge of the Javakheti ...

, became a centre of the domain of crown princes of Georgia early in the 13th century. Lasha-George, son of Queen

Tamar the Great Tamar the Great ( ka, თამარ მეფე, tr , ; 1160 – 18 January 1213) reigned as the Queen of Georgia from 1184 to 1213, presiding over the apex of the Georgian Golden Age. A member of the Bagrationi dynasty, her position ...

and the future king George IV of Georgia, is thought to have been the first in possession of this principality. The line of Alastani was founded by David VIII, who withdrew in Javakheti in 1302 after losing struggle for the Georgian throne to his younger brother, Vakhtang III. His descendants flourished as "provincial kings", i.e., provincial rulers with a royal title, but more or less dependent on the kings of Georgia. These were David's purported sons of his first marriage to Oljath, daughter of

Abaqa Khan Abaqa Khan (27 February 1234 – 4 April 1282, , "paternal uncle", also transliterated Abaġa), was the second Mongol ruler ('' Ilkhan'') of the Ilkhanate. The son of Hulagu Khan and Lady Yesünčin and the grandson of Tolui, he reigned from 1265 ...

: Melchizedek (died 1320) and Andronicus (d. 1354); and Andronicus's sons: David (d. 1382) and George the Great (d. 1373). The line of "kings" of Alastani terminated with the death of the latter in the battle with the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

in 1373. Grebelsky, P. Kh., Dumin, S. V., Lapin, V. V. (1993), Дворянские роды Российской империи (''Noble families of Russian Empire''), vol. 3, p. 38. IPK Vesti , - , style="text-align: left;", Notes:

Andronikashvili?

Professor

Cyril Toumanoff Cyril Leo Toumanoff ( ka, კირილ თუმანოვი; ; 10 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Georgian-American historian, and academic genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armen ...

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

advanced a hypothesis not accepted by the mainstream Georgian scholarship, identifying the dynasty of Alastani (c. 1230–1348) with the Georgian noble family

Andronikashvili The House of Andronikashvili ( ka, ანდრონიკაშვილები), sometimes known as Endronikashvili (ენდრონიკაშვილები), was a countly family in Georgia who claimed descent from emperor Andronico ...

, who claimed descent from Alexios Komnenos (c. 1170–1199), the illegitimate son of the

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Andronikos I Komnenos Andronikos I Komnenos (; – 12 September 1185), Latinized as Andronicus I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1183 to 1185. A nephew of John II Komnenos (1118–1143), Andronikos rose to fame in the reign of his cousin Manuel I Komne ...

(ruled 1183-1185) by his mistress and relative Theodora Komnene,

Queen Dowager A queen dowager or dowager queen (compare: princess dowager or dowager princess) is a title or status generally held by the widow of a king. In the case of the widow of an emperor, the title of empress dowager is used. Its full meaning is cle ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Ferrand, Jacques (1983), ''Familles princières de Géorgie: essai de reconstitution généalogique (1880-1983) de 21 familles reconnues princières par l'Empire de Russie'', pp. 77-79. Montreuil, France: J. Ferrand Toumanoff attempted to reconstruct the early pedigree of these Alastaneli-Andronikashvili: , - , style="text-align: left;", Notes:

References

External links

*{{in lang, ru}
Грамота царя Андронике Цитлосану Квенипневели (1348 г.)
(''The Charter of King Andronicus to Tsitslosan Kvenipneveli 348'), in: Kakabadze, Saurmag (ed., 1982)
Грузинские документы IX-XV вв. в собрании ленинградского Института Востоковедения АН СССР
(''Georgian Documents of the 9th-15th Centuries in the Collection of Leningrad Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR''). Nauka
VostLit.info
A Monarchs of Georgia (country) Andronikashvili family