Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Alexander Orbeliani (Jambakur-Orbeliani) ( ka, ალექსანდრე ორბელიანი ��ამბაკურ-ორბელიანი}) (24 May 1802 – 28 December 1869) was a Georgian

Romanticist Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

poet, playwright, journalist and historian, of the noble

House of Orbeliani The House of Orbeliani ( ka, ორბელიანი) was a Georgian noble family (tavadi), which branched off the House of Baratashvili in the 17th century and later produced several lines variously called Orbeliani, Orbelishvili (ორბ ...

. Alexander Orbeliani was born in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

(Tbilisi), then under

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

n rule, to Prince Vakhtang Orbeliani and Princess Tekle, a beloved daughter of the penultimate Georgian king

Erekle II Heraclius II, also known as Erekle II ( ka, ერეკლე II) and The Little Kakhetian ( ka, პატარა კახი, link=no ; 7 November 1720 or 7 October 1721 Cyril_Toumanoff.html" ;"title="ccording to Cyril Toumanoff">C. Touman ...

. In 1817, he joined the Russian military service. However, together with his mother and his brother

Vakhtang Vakhtang ( ka, ვახტანგ) is a masculine Georgian given name of Persian language, Persian origin. Originally from "vahrka-tanū," meaning "wolf-bodied." Some sources argue that the meaning of the name could possibly be a representation ...

, he led a failed coup attempt against Russian rule in 1832. The conspirators planned to invite the Russian officials in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

to a grand ball where they would be given the choice of death or surrender. After the collapse of this plot, Orbeliani was arrested and exiled to

Orenburg Orenburg (, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies in Eastern Europe, along the banks of the Ural River, being approximately southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is close to the ...

whence he would not be able to return until 1840. The abortive uprising and relatively mild punishment that followed forced many conspirators to see the independent past as irremediably lost and to reconcile themselves with the

Russian autocracy Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and ...

, transforming their laments for the lost past and the fall of the native dynasty into Romanticist poetry. Orbeliani's most coherent pieces are the allegorical poem of 1832, ''The Moon'' (მთოვარე), and a patriotic short story ''Immaculate Blood'' (უმანკო სისხლი) about three sisters, nuns, who prefer death to apostasy when the commander of invading Persian troops demands it; the latter is so impressed that he has to die with them. Orbeliani also attempted a series of plays, but his interest in the press was more important. He was a founding member of the editorial board of '' Tsiskari'', which for several years was the backbone of the Georgian periodical press. Through it Orbeliani channeled his efforts to standardize a literary language, based on revival of archaic forms. He was also one of the first Georgian writers to take an interest in retrieving folk poetry from the people, and authored several works on Georgian history and culture.

Rayfield, Donald Patrick Donald Rayfield OBE (born 12 February 1942, Oxford) is an English academic and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Jose ...

(2000), '' The Literature of Georgia: A History'', pp. 142-3.

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orbeliani, Alexander 1802 births 1869 deaths 19th-century poets from Georgia (country) Dramatists and playwrights from Georgia (country) Journalists from Tbilisi Romantic poets Military personnel from Tbilisi Nobility of Georgia (country) Writers from Tbilisi 19th-century writers from Georgia (country) 19th-century journalists Male journalists 19th-century dramatists and playwrights from Georgia (country) Male poets from Georgia (country) Male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century male writers Poets from the Russian Empire