Şerif Bey, Sherip Khimshiashvili ( ka, შერიფ ხიმშიაშვილი), or Prince and Duke Sherif () (1829 or 7 January 1833 – 1892) was a Georgian nobleman (''

Beylerbeyi Beylerbeyi is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Üsküdar, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 5,168 (2022). It is located on the Asian shore of the Bosporus, to the north of the Bosphorus Bridge. It is bordered on the ...

'' ) of the Khimshiashvili Dynasty from

Adjara Adjara ( ka, აჭარა ''Ach’ara'' ) or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა ''Ach’aris Avt’onomiuri Resp’ublik’a ...

in the Ottoman service. He defected 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 ...

during the

Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

and, thereby, was able to retain his property and accede to the rank of a general after the Russian takeover of Adjara.

Early life and Ottoman service

Prince Şerif was born in

Khulo Khulo ( ka, ხულო ) is a townlet ('' daba'') in Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia, 88 km east of the regional capital Batumi, in the upper valley of the Adjaristsqali River. The town and adjoining 78 villages form the ...

to Ahmed Paşa, Prince and an Ottoman general and a semi-autonomous hereditary ruler (''

beylerbey ''Beylerbey'' (, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords’, sometimes rendered governor-general) was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks and the I ...

'', "lord of the valleys") of Upper Adjara, At the time of his father's death in 1836, Şerif Bey was still in his minority and his mother administered the family's estates, while his uncle, Kor Hussein Bey, ''bey'' of the Penek valley, was regarded as the head of the Khimshiashvili princedom and dukedom. By the time Şerif Bey reached the age of majority, the autonomous rule of ''derebeys'', which Kor Hussein Bey had defended with arms in his hands, had largely been subdued to the central Ottoman government in the ''

tanzimat The (, , lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pash ...

'' reforms. Şerif Bey, as a '' sanjak bey'' of Upper Adjara (Acara-yı Ülya) served in the Ottoman ranks against the Russians during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

(1853–56). Through his possessions passed a key road from the Ottoman-held

Batum Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the second-largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest, north of the border ...

to the Russian-controlled

Akhaltsikhe Akhaltsikhe ( ka, ახალციხე ), formerly known as Lomsia ( ka, ლომსია ), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region () of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is the administrative center of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality and ...

. "Part of this road has, with uncommon skill and diligence, been brought into excellent order, so as to allow the transport even of heavy artillery, by Shereef Beg, the hereditary Mudeer or Governor."—the British consul in Trebizond,

Gifford Palgrave William Gifford Palgrave (; 24 January 1826 – 30 September 1888) was an English priest, soldier, diplomat, traveller, and Arabist. Early life and education Palgrave was born in Westminster. He was the son of Sir Francis Palgrave (born Jew ...

, reported in 1868.

Russian service

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, Şerif Bey refused to serve the Ottoman cause and supported the Russians in their unsuccessful attempt to occupy

and Adjara. An Ottoman detachment razed the bey's mansion in Skhalta as he fled to Akhaltsikhe. By the Treaty of Berlin of 1878 Adjara became part of the Russian Empire. In November 1878, Şerif led a delegation of Adjarian notables to meet Georgian writers and public figures in Tiflis on the occasion of reunion of Adjara with the rest of Georgia under the Russian rule. Şerif Bey's services were rewarded by the Russian government by granting security to his land holdings and the rank of major-general to which Şerif Bey, now known as Sherif-Beg Adzharsky, was promoted in February 1879. He was enlisted with the Caucasian Military District from 1879 to May 1891. In 1883, he converted to

Orthodox Christianity Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

and was baptized as Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Adzharsky. Sherif-Beg had 17 children. Two of his sons, Jemal-Beg (died 1924) and Temur-Beg (1860–1921) had military and political careers in Georgia and Turkey. Sherif-Beg died in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

and was buried at his summer mansion in Mtisubani near Khikhani in Adjara. Khimshiashvili's former house in Skhalta, built in 1873, now houses his memorial museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khimshiashvili, Sherip People from Adjara Ottoman governors of Georgia Muslims from Georgia (country) Former Sunni Muslims from Georgia (country) Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Sunni Islam 19th-century births 1892 deaths Imperial Russian Army generals Georgians from the Ottoman Empire People of Adjarian descent