Levan IV Dadiani ( ka, ლევან IV დადიანი; died 1694) was Prince of Mingrelia from 1681 until 1691, when he was forced to abdicate and retire to

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 ...

, where he died. A natural son of the preceding

Levan III Dadiani Levan III Dadiani ( ka, ლევან III დადიანი), born Shamadavle (შამადავლე) (died 1680) was Prince of Mingrelia, of the House of Dadiani, from 1661 to 1680. His reign unfolded against the background of a series ...

, he was the last of the First House of Dadiani to rule Mingrelia, a principality in western Georgia. The succeeding dynasty were the Chikovani, who assumed the surname of Dadiani and continued to rule Mingrelia until 1867.

Reign

After the death of Levan III Dadiani and murder of his rightful heir, Manuchar, at the hands of

Giorgi III Gurieli Giorgi III Gurieli ( ka, გიორგი III გურიელი; died 1684), of the Georgia (country), Georgian House of Gurieli, was Principality of Guria, Prince of Guria from 1669 to 1684 and King of Imereti from 1681 to 1683. He was energe ...

, Prince of Guria, Levan IV Dadiani, the only surviving son of his namesake father, was installed as Prince of Mingrelia by his cousin Giorgi Lipartiani, of the Chikovani family, who had risen to influence and prestige under Levan III. Lipartiani became the ''de facto'' ruler of the principality, reducing Levan IV's power to insignificance. Having eliminated opposition by killings and harassment in the name of Levan and having enriched himself by slave-trading, Lipartiani forced Levan IV to abdicate in 1691. Levan first fled to

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial rol ...

in eastern Georgia and then retired to the Ottoman capital of Constantinople, where he died in 1694.

Family

Levan Dadiani was married to Princess Tinatin (1678–1760), daughter of King Bagrat V of Imereti. She became a nun in 1704 under the name of Nino and arrived in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in the suite of the exiled king

Vakhtang VI of Kartli Vakhtang VI ( ka, ვახტანგ VI), also known as Vakhtang the Scholar, Vakhtang the Lawgiver and Ḥosaynqolī Khan (; 15 September 1675 – 26 March 1737), was a Georgian monarch (''mepe'') of the royal Bagrationi dynasty. He ru ...

in 1724. Levan had a natural son, Giorgi Dadiani (1683 – 12 June 1765), who emigrated, in 1700, to Russia, where he became known as Prince Yegor Dadian and attained to the rank of major-general. His descendants flourished in Russia.

References

{{s-end 1694 deaths House of Dadiani 17th-century people from Georgia (country) Princes of Mingrelia