David Bagrationi ( ka, დავით ბაგრატიონი, ), also known as David the Regent ( ka, დავით გამგებელი, ) (1 July 1767 – 13 May 1819), was a Georgian royal prince (

batonishvili ''Batonishvili'' ( ka, ბატონიშვილი, ) is a title for royal princes and princesses who descend from the Kings of Georgia from the Bagrationi dynasty. ''Batonishvili'' is suffixed after or before the given names e.g. David ' ...

), writer, scholar, and

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

of the Kingdom of

Kartl-Kakheti The Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti ( ka, ქართლ-კახეთის სამეფო, tr) was created in 1762 by the unification of the two eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti. From the early 16th century, according to t ...

from 28 December 1800 to 18 January 1801. The eldest son of the last Kartli-Kakhetian, King George XII by his first wife

Ketevan Andronikashvili Princess Ketevan Andronikashvili ( ka, ქეთევან ანდრონიკაშვილი; 1754 – 3 June 1782) was a Georgian noblewoman and the first wife of the future king George XII of Georgia. She is known for the victory of ...

, he was educated in

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(1787–1789), and served there as a colonel of the

Russian army The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

from 1797 to 1798. He was proclaimed as

Heir Apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

by his father on 22 February 1799 and confirmed by the Russian

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Paul I Paul I may refer to: *Paul of Samosata (200–275), Bishop of Antioch *Paul I of Constantinople (died c. 350), Archbishop of Constantinople *Pope Paul I (700–767) *Paul I Šubić of Bribir (c. 1245–1312), Ban of Croatia and Lord of Bosnia *Paul ...

, an official protector of Georgia, on 18 April 1799. In 1800, he attempted to modernize the law and administration. He became a

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

the same year. On his father's death in December 1800, David became the head of the Royal House of Bagrationi but was not allowed to ascend the throne of Kartli-Kakheti. David ruled briefly between the time of his father's death (28 December 1800) and the arrival of General Knorring (24 May 1801).Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), ''The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition'', p. 357.

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 ...

, In November 1800 the Russian Tsar had prohibited him from doing that without Russian consent. On 18 January 1801, he was surprised by a decree of Paul I declaring the annexation of the Kingdom to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He tried to remain in power as de facto head of state. In May 1801, Russian General

Karl Knorring Karl Fyodorovich von Knorring (; 22 May 1746 - 12 February 1820) was a lieutenant-general of the Russian Empire. Career Karl Heinrich von Knorring was born into the Knorring family, which belonged to the Baltic German nobility. Karl's elder broth ...

removed him from power and established a provisional government headed by General Ivan Petrovich Lasarev. Prince David was brought to

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under a military escort on 18 February 1803. From 1812 to 1819, he held a seat in the

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of the Russian Empire. He married in 1800 Princess Elene Abamelik (1770—1836), and died childless in 1819. He was buried at the

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. Influenced by the ideas of

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, he was the first Georgian translator of

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

. He was also an author of a research on Georgian history ( Georgian, 1814), ''Review of the Georgian Law'' (

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, 1811—1816), ''Abridged Manual of Physics'' (Georgian, 1818), and several poems.

Ancestry

References

Literature

*Takaishvili, E. Chronological list written by Davit Batonishvili, son of King Giorgi. . Vol., 1912, p. 54-55; *

Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia'' ( ka, ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, tr, ქსე) is the first universal encyclopedia in the Georgian language, printed in Tbilisi from 1965, the editor ...

, Vol. , ch., 1978. — p. 338. *Sikharulidze F., Potskhishvili A., Encyclopedia "Georgia", vol. 2, ch., 2012. — p. 279. {{DEFAULTSORT:David of Georgia, Prince Politicians from Tbilisi Male writers from Georgia (country) 19th-century historians from Georgia (country) Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti David Bagrationi 1767 births 1819 deaths Writers from Tbilisi Regents of Georgia Imperial Russian Army generals Georgian generals in the Imperial Russian Army Georgian lieutenant generals (Imperial Russia) 18th-century regents 19th-century regents 18th-century historians from Georgia (country) Heirs apparent of Georgia (country) who never acceded Burials at the Feodorovskaya Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra