Vakhtang IV of Georgia

Vakhtang IV (Georgian: ვახტანგ IV) (c. 1413 – December 1446), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was King of Georgia from 1442 until his death.

Vakhtang was the eldest son of Alexander I of Georgia by his first wife Dulandukht. He was raised to the co-kingship by his father in 1433. When Alexander I abdicated in 1442, Vakhtang succeeded him to the throne of Georgia, leaving his brothers – Demetrius and George as co-kings. Vakhtang’s rule was threatened by the rivalry among the nobles and general instability in the kingdom.[1] According to the 18th-century Georgian scholar Vakhushti, Vakhtang also faced an attack by the Turkoman prince Jahan Shah of the Kara Koyunlu. Vakhtang met him at Akhaltsikhe in southern Georgia, but a fierce fight did not reveal a victor. In the night, Jahan Shah left the battlefield and returned to Tabriz.

Vakhtang IV married Sitikhatun, daughter of Prince Zaza I Panaskerteli in 1442, outlived her by two years and died without issue in 1446, being buried, together with Sitikhatun, at the Bana cathedral in Tao (now in Turkey).[1] He was followed by his rivaling brothers Demetrius and George. This marked the beginning of a fierce and extended struggle for hegemony in Georgia, which eventually ended with the partition of the Georgian kingdom.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Toumanoff, Cyril. "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia." Traditio 7 (1949–51): 184-185
  2. ↑ Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), The Making of the Georgian Nation, p. 45. Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-20915-3
Preceded by
Alexander I		 King of Georgia
1442–1446 		Succeeded by
George VIII
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