Constantine I ( ka, კონსტანტინე I, ) (died 1412) was

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

(''

mepe ''Mepe'' (Old Georgian: ႫႴ; ka, მეფე ; ) is a royal title used to designate the Georgian monarch, whether it is referring to a king or a queen regnant. The title was originally a male ruling title. Etymology The word is derived from ...

'') of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

from 1405 or 1407 until his death in 1412. He is the common ancestor of all surviving branches of the

Bagrationi dynasty The Bagrationi dynasty (; ) is a royal family, royal dynasty which reigned in Georgia (country), Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christianity, Christian ruling dynasties in the world. In ...

. Massingberd, Hugh (ed., 1980). ''Burke's Royal Families of the World, Volume 2'', p. 61. Burke's Peerage. .

Early life

Constantine was the son of King Bagrat V of Georgia by his second wife, Anna of Trebizond. His paternal grandparents were David IX of Georgia and Princess Sindukhtar Jaqeli. His maternal grandparents were Alexios III of Trebizond and Theodora Kantakouzene. In 1400, Constantine was sent as an ambassador to the

Turco-Mongol The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these khanates eventually ass ...

warlord

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

who continued a relentless and devastating war against the

Georgians Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and Peoples of the Caucasus, Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia (country), Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Ge ...

. Afterwards, he vainly demanded from his reigning half-brother George VII to make peace with Timur. In 1402, Constantine together with the prince Ivane I Jaqeli of

Samtskhe Meskheti ( ka, მესხეთი ) or Samtskhe ( ka, სამცხე ), also known as Moschia in ancient sources, is a mountainous area in southwestern Georgia. History Ancient tribes known as the Mushki (or Moschi) and Mosiniks (or Mo ...

submitted to Timur but never took part in the war against Georgia.

Reign

He succeeded on the death of George VII as king in 1407 and launched a program of restoration of what had been ruined and destroyed during Timur's invasions. Towards 1411, he allied with the

Shirvanshah The Shirvanshahs (Arabic/) were the rulers of Shirvan (in present-day Azerbaijan) from 861 to 1538. The first ruling line were the Yazidids, an originally Arab and later Persianized dynasty, who became known as the Kasranids (also referred t ...

Ibrahim I and the ruler of Shaki Sidi Ahmed to counter the

Qara Qoyunlu The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu (, ; ), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a culturally Persianate, Muslim Turkoman "Kara Koyunlu, also spelled Qara Qoyunlu, Turkish Karakoyunlular, English Black Sheep, Turkmen tribal federation tha ...

Turkoman advance into 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 ...

. In the decisive Battle of Chalagan, the allies were routed and Constantine, his half-brother David and the Shirvanshah Ibrahim were taken prisoner. In the captivity, he behaved arrogantly and the infuriated Turkoman prince Qara Yusuf ordered him, David, and 300 Georgian nobles to be executed. Qara Yusuf put Constantine to death by his own hand. Toumanoff, Cyril (1949–51). The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia. ''Traditio'' 7: 174, 176-177.

Family

Constantine was married to Princess Natia Amirejibi, daughter of Kutsna, Prince-Chamberlain (amirejibi) of Georgia. Limited information is available about Natia's family, which may have been from the house of Khurtsidze in

or the Gabelisdze, purported ancestors of the Amirejibi family, in

Shida Kartli Shida Kartli ( ka, შიდა ქართლი, , ; "Inner Kartli") is a landlocked administrative region (''Mkhare'') in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of , S ...

. 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. Kutsna himself served as an ambassador in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

around 1386. Constantine had three sons: Alexander, Bagrat, and George. All three were appointed as co-kings by their father between 1405 and 1408. *

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon from 495 to 454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas, ruler of the Seleucid Empire 150-145 BC * Pope Alex ...

(1386–1446), succeeded his father as the king of Georgia and reigned until his abdication from the throne in 1442 * George, prince * Bagrat, prince

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantine 01 of Georgia 1369 births 1410s deaths Kings of Georgia Executed monarchs Executed people from Georgia (country) People executed by the Qara Qoyunlu 15th-century executions Eastern Orthodox monarchs 14th-century people from Georgia (country) Monarchs taken prisoner in wartime