''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgian

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

office, roughly equivalent to the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

'' and normally translated into English as "

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. The ...

" or less commonly as "

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarchy, it was the title of the third rank of prince and governor of a large province. Holders of the title were

ex-officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, or council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ''List of Latin phrases (E)#ex officio, ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the off ...

commanders of a military '

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

', wore a distinctive dress, ring, belt and spear and rode a particular breed of horse. Some high-ranking eristavis were also titled as eristavt-eristavi (), i.e. "duke of dukes" or archduke but it is improbable that the holder of the title had any subordinate eristavis. Erismtavari (; literally, "chief of the people" or grand duke) was a similar title chiefly endowed upon the pre- Bagratid

rulers A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the inst ...

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

(Eastern Georgia) and later used interchangeably with the ''eristavi''. The title gave origin to the surname of four Georgian noble houses— Eristavi of Aragvi, Eristavi of Ksani,

Eristavi of Racha The House of Chkhetidze ( ka, ჩხეტიძე) was an ancient Georgian noble family known in West Georgia from the tenth century. Members of the family held the title of Knyaz in the Russian Empire, granted to them in 1850 and 1861. The old ...

, and

Eristavi of Guria The House of Guriis Eristavi ( ka, გურიის ერისთავი) or Eristavi of Guria, was a Georgian noble family, a branch of the Shervashidze, dynasts in Abkhazia. Initially in the XV century, during the reign of House of Gurie ...

—confirmed in their princely ranks under the Russian rule in the 19th century. These families were often known simply as Princes Eristov in Russia but they did not have the same origin.

References

* Djavakhishvili, I. (1928) History of Georian law. Book 2. volume 1. Tbilisi. * GSE, (1979) volume 4, page 192, Tbilisi. Noble titles of Georgia (country) Georgian-language surnames {{Georgia-noble-stub Georgian words and phrases Military history of the Kingdom of Georgia

See also

References