George V the Brilliant
George V the Brilliant was the king of Georgia in 1318–1346. He was the son of Demetrius II the Devoted. He grew up in Samtskhe, at the court of his grandfather Beka I Jaqeli. In 1299, George V became the king, but his rights did not extend beyond Tbilisi, and therefore he was called the “King of Tbilisi”. He was a wise politician and initially preferred cautious and peaceful relations with the Mongols. He was friends with the Ilkhanate's Grand Vizier, Amir Chūpān (he helped in the campaigns against the Golden Horde, and in 1314 he also participated in the suppression of the rebellion in the Sultanate of Rum).
In 1318, after the accession of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan to the throne, George V reigned with the full power. He inherited a politically disintegrated country. In order to strengthen the central government, he consolidated the regions of Kakheti-Hereti and Armenia (approximately in 1327–1329). In the 1330s, George V also regulated the affairs of the mountaineers and compiled a law book for the population of the Kartli mountain region. Under his rule, the legislative monument “The Treaty of the Sovereign's Court” was created to restore the violated rights of state governance. George V unified Georgia. The time had come to liberate the country from Mongol rule. After the death of Mahmud Ghazan (1304), anarchy reigned in the Ilkhanate. After Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan (1317–1335), the Ilkhanate collapsed.
In 1335, George V stopped paying tribute to the Mongols. The hundred-year rule of the Mongols in Georgia ended. George V organized two embassies to the Sultanate of Egypt (in 1316 and 1320), as a result of which the Georgians received the right to free entry to Jerusalem and permission to restore Georgian monasteries in Jerusalem and Mount Sinai. George V had active contacts with Western Europe: he corresponded with the Pope of Rome, John XXII. Considering the role of Georgia in the fight against the Mongols, the Vatican transferred the Catholic episcopal chair from Smyrna to Tbilisi. He appointed John of Florence as the Catholic bishop in Tbilisi. In 1332–1333, George V was visited by Franciscan missionaries – Ricardo Mercier and Alexander of England. He had diplomatic relations with Philip VI of France. The Georgian royal court was ready to participate with the French in the liberation of the “Holy Lands” of Syria-Palestine with 30 000 soldiers, but this campaign did not take place. The descendants of George V called him “George V the Brilliant” for the great service to the country.
Source: ჟამთააღმწერელი, წგ.: ქართლის ცხოვრება, ს. ყაუხჩიშვილის გამოც., ტ. 2, თბ., 1959; ვახუშტ ი, იქვე, ტ. 4, თბ., 1973.
Literature: კ ი კ ნ ა ძ ე ვ., საქართველო XIV საუკუნეში, თბ., 1989; ქართული დიპლომატიური ლექსიკონი, ტ. 1, თბ., 1997; ჯ ა ვ ა ხ ი შ ვ ი ლ ი ივ., ქართველი ერის ისტორია, წგ. 3, თბ., 1982 (თხზ. თორმეტ ტომად, ტ. 3).
Sh. Khantadze
