Alexander V of Imereti (c. 1703/4 – 1752), of the Bagrationi Dynasty

Bagrationi Dynasty

The Bagrationi dynasty was the ruling family of Georgia. Their ascendency lasted from the early Middle Ages until the early 19th century. In modern usage, this royal line is frequently referred to as the Georgian Bagratids, a Hellenized form of their dynastic name.The origin of the Bagrationi...

, was King of Imereti (western Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

) from 1720 to 1741 and again from 1742 until his death in March 1752.

The eldest son of George VII of Imereti

George VII of Imereti

George VII , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was King of Imereti in the periods of 1707-11, 1712-13, 1713-16, and 1719–1720....

, he was brought up at the court of Vakhtang VI of Kartli

Vakhtang VI of Kartli

Vakhtang VI , also known as Vakhtang the Scholar and Vakhtang the Lawgiver, was a Wāli of Kartli, eastern Georgia, as a nominal vassal to the Persian shah from 1716 to 1724. Traditionally, he has been still styled as king of Kartli...

 and enjoyed his support in the power struggle in Imereti. He visited Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 in the 1710s in order to seek Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 aid against the Gurieli

Gurieli

Gurieli was a Georgian noble family and a ruling dynasty of the southwestern Georgian province of Guria which was autonomous and later for a few centuries independent, as well as a few ducal rulers of the dynasty rose in the 17th-18th centuries to be kings of the whole western Caucasus in place...

 usurpers of the crown of Imereti. In August 1719, he returned with a detachment of Turkish auxiliaries, deposed George VIII Gurieli

Giorgi IV Gurieli

Giorgi IV Gurieli , of the House of Gurieli, was a prince of Guria from 1711 to 1726, and a king of Imereti in western Georgia in 1716 and 1720. He was installed as prince of Guria by his father, Mamia III Gurieli, then the king of Imereti, in 1711. He was briefly dispossessed by his brother,...

 in June 1720, and was crowned king of Imereti. However, from 1721 to 1728, the government was effectively run by Bejan I Dadiani

Dadiani

Dadiani was a Georgian family of nobles, dukes and princes, and a ruling dynasty of the western Georgian province of Samegrelo.- The House of Dadiani :...

, Prince of Mingrelia

Principality of Mingrelia

The Principality of Mingrelia was a historical state in Georgia ruled by the Dadiani dynasty. Established as an independent Principality in 1557 by Levan I Dadiani as a hereditary mtavari , it remained independent until it became subject to Imperial Russia in 1803...

. When Alexander assumed full ruling powers, Bejan's son and successor Otia defied him and his pro-Turkish policy, and attempted to remove Alexander from the throne. Alexander managed to force him into submission in 1732 and brought, for the time being, a feudal anarchy to an end.

In the early 1730s, the king effectively withdrew his loyalty from the Ottomans, refused to accept the Persian suzerainty and attempted to make an alliance with the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. In 1738, he sent Bishop Timothy Gabashvili to St. Petersburg with a plan of joint actions against the Ottomans. However, the 1739 Russo-Turkish Treaty of Belgrade

Treaty of Belgrade

The Treaty of Belgrade was the peace treaty signed on September 18, 1739 in Belgrade, Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia , by the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Habsburg Monarchy on the other....

 rendered the mission abortive. Indignant at his diplomacy in Russia, the Ottomans sponsored a coup that deposed Alexander in favor of his brother George IX

George IX of Imereti

George IX , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was King of Imereti in 1741. The third son of George VII of Imereti by his wife Tamar , he was enthroned after his brother Alexander V was ousted in the Ottoman-sponsored coup. Later that year, he was rescinded and Alexander regained the crown...

. The Persian ruler Nadir Shah quickly took Alexander's side and protested to the Ottoman government. In 1742, Alexander was restored, but faced a revolt, in 1746, by his brother Mamuka who ruled as a rival king in parts of Imereti until the fratricide war ended in Alexander’s victory in 1747. Yet, the general instability and occasional outbreaks of aristocratic disobedience continued to trouble the rest of Alexander's reign.