List of Georgian princely families
Encyclopedia
This is the alphabetic list of the upper class noble houses of Georgia
. They were entitled as tavadi
, roughly translated in English as "prince
" and in Russian as "knyaz
", a title which was eventually conferred upon most of these families under the Imperial Russian
rule (1801–1917).
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...
. They were entitled as tavadi
Tavadi
Tavadi , "prince", lit. "head/chief" [man], from tavi, "head", with the prefix of agent -di) was a feudal title in Georgia first applied in the Late Middle Ages usually translated in English as prince...
, roughly translated in English as "prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
" and in Russian as "knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
", a title which was eventually conferred upon most of these families under the Imperial Russian
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...
rule (1801–1917).
A
- AbashidzeAbashidzeAbashidze is a Georgian family and a former princely house. Appearing in the 15th century, they achieved prominence in the Kingdom of Imereti in western Georgia in the late 17th century and branched out in eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kakheti and Kartli as well as the then-Ottoman-held...
- AbkhaziAbkhaziAbkhazi was a princely family in Georgia, a branch of the Shervashidze family from Abkhazia.According to the genealogical treatise by Prince Ioann of Georgia , the ancestors of the family fled the Islamicization of Abkhazia to the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kakheti were they were elevated, in...
- AgiashviliAgiashviliAgiashvili was a Georgian noble family, whose roots can be traced back to the 12th century. The members were entitled as the joint-High Constables of the Kingdom of Imereti, and held the key fortress of Ts'uts'khvat'i near Kutaisi in western Georgia. After the Russian annexation of Imereti, they...
- Akhvlediani
- AmilakhvariAmilakhvariThe Amilkhvari was a noble house of Georgia which rose to prominence in the fifteenth century and held a large fiefdom in central Georgia until the Imperial Russian annexation of the country in 1801. They were hereditary marshals of Georgia from c. 1433, from which the family takes its name...
- AmirejibiAmirejibiAmirejibi or Amirajibi is a Georgian family, formerly a prominent noble house, which branched off the House of Palavandishvili and rose in prominence in the late 14th century...
- AnchabadzeAnchabadzeAnchabadze , also known as Achba , is an Abkhaz-Georgian family, and the oldest surviving noble house originating in Abkhazia, Georgia.The Anchabadze family is supposed to have its roots in the early medieval ruling dynasty of Abasgia...
- AndronikashviliAndronikashviliThe Andronikashvili sometimes known as Endronikashvili was a princely family in Georgia which claimed their descent from the Byzantine Comnenid dynasty and played a prominent role in political, military and religious life of Georgia...
- ApakidzeApakidze (noble family)Ap'ak'idze is a Georgian family with noble ancestry. According to a family legend, the Apakidze descend from Arp’a-Khan, "a Tatar of Genghis Khan’s times", who embraced Christianity and settled down in Abkhazia whence his descendants moved to Mingrelia where their princely title was confirmed.The...
- Arghutashvili (Mkhargrdzeli-Argutashvili, Argutinsky-Dolgorukov)
- Arshba
- Asatiani
- AvalishviliAvalishviliAvalishvili was a Georgian noble family, which branched off the Panaskerteli-Tsitsishvili house in the 16th century. The initial appanage of the family was located in the historical area called Tori and now known as the Borjomi Gorge with its center at the village of Sadgeri...
B
- BabadishviliBabadishviliBabadishvili is a Georgian noble family claimed to have sprung off the royal Bagrationi dynasty of Kakheti in the 17th century.Prince Ioann of Georgia reports that the Babadishvili descend from the Kakhetian ruler Imām Qulī Khān , “corrected” by some modern genealogists to Joseph, a supposed...
- BagrationBagrationBagration may refer to* Bagrationi dynasty* Prince Pyotr Bagration , a Russian general in the Napoleonic Wars* The Bagrationi, a royal family of Georgia, from whom the Prince was descended...
- Bagrationi-Davitishvili
- Bagration-Imeretinsky
- Bagration-Mukhraneli
- BaratashviliBaratashviliBaratashvili is a Georgian noble family, appearing at the end of the 15th century as a continuation of the Kachibadze , which were possibly related to the Liparitids-Orbeli....
- BebutovBebutovBebutov or Bebutashvili was a Georgian noble family of Armenian ethnicity which played an important role in the economical and social life of the city of Tiflis throughout the 17th and 18th century, and later served in the military of the Russian Empire in the 19th century.The family is known...
(Bebutashvili) - BegtabegishviliBegtabegishviliBegtabegishvili , Begtabegov or Bektabekov was a Georgian noble family of Armenian origin.The ancestors of the family fled the Muslim conquest of Armenia and removed to Georgia in the seventeenth century. They were originally known as Shanshean-Martirozashvili , and possibly also as T’aniashvili...
C
- Chaabalyrkhva
- ChavchavadzeChavchavadzeChavchavadze is a Georgian noble family, formerly a princely one .The family is first attested in the 15th century, during the reign of Alexander I of Georgia. By the time of Leon of Kakheti they appear in the province of Kakheti , where they produced two lines: one in Telavi and Tsinandali;...
- CherkezishviliCherkezishviliCherk'ezishvili was a Georgian noble family, descended from the Circassian chieftains of Great Kabarda, whence the surname, literally meaning "children/descendants of a Circassian" in Georgian. They settled in Kakheti in the seventeenth century, and attained to a princely dingity of tavadi...
- ChichuaChichuaChichua is a Georgian noble family claiming their descent from the princes Chikovani, the second house of the Dadiani of Mingrelia. Professor Cyril Toumanoff considers this surname a local Mingrelian variation of the Chijavadze. They were received among the princely nobility of the Russian Empire...
- Chijavadze
- ChikovaniChikovaniThe House of Chikovani is an important noble house of Georgia in Southeastern Europe. Dukes of Chikovani ruled a historic province, Lečxumi in northwestern Georgia...
- Chkheidze
- Chkhotua
- CholokashviliCholokashviliCholokashvili is a former noble family in Georgia. It claimed an exotic foreign lineage and first appeared in the eastern Georgian province, and later kingdom, of Kakheti in 1320...
D
- DadianiDadianiDadiani was a Georgian family of nobles, dukes and princes, and a ruling dynasty of the western Georgian province of Samegrelo.- The House of Dadiani :...
- Dadishkeliani
- Davidov-Bagration
- DgebuadzeDgebuadze (noble family)Dgebuadze was a Georgian noble family from the province of Mingrelia. They were accepted among the princely nobility of the Russian Empire in 1903....
- DiasamidzeDiasamidzeDiasamidze was a Georgian noble family known from 1443.The family held a fiefdom around Aspindza in Samtskhe , and later acquired the former possessions of the houses of Abuserisdze and Khursidze...
- Dziapsh-Ipa (Zepishvili)
E
- Emukhvari
- Eristavi of Aragvi
- Eristavi of GuriaEristavi of GuriaGuriis Eristavi or Eristavi of Guria, was a Georgian noble family, a branch of the Shervashidze, dynasts in Abkhazia. Their surname derives from the title of eristavi the family held under the suzerainty of the reigning princes of Guria in southwest Georgia. In the 18th century the family bore...
- Eristavi of Ksani
- Eristavi of Racha
G
- Gardapkhadze
- GelovaniGelovaniHouse of Gelovani - is a Georgian princely family from the lower part of the mountainous province of Svaneti, formerly - rulers of Svaneti.The family can be traced back to...
- Gobitashvili
- Goshadze
- GruzinskyGruzinskyGruzinsky was a title and later the surname of two different princely lines of the Bagrationi dynasty of Georgia, both of which received it as the subjects of the Russian Empire. The name "Gruzinsky" derives from Russian, originally and literally meaning "of Georgia"...
- GugunavaGugunavaGugunava was a Georgian noble family possibly descending from the medieval house of Liparitid-Orbeliani. They were established in the Principality of Guria, and were officially confirmed in the princely rank by the Imperial Russian decree of 1850...
- GuramishviliGuramishviliGuramishvili was a Georgian noble family derived from the House of Zevdginidze and known since the 16th century in the eastern provinces of the country....
- GurgenidzeGurgenidze (noble family)Gurgenidze was a Georgian noble family from the eastern province of Kakheti.According to Prince Ioann of Georgia , the family stems of the earlier house of Shilda , which had become extinct by 1744 when the king Erekle II rewarded the loyal service of the certain Solomon Mordlisdze by him the...
- GurieliGurieliGurieli 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...
- Gurji-Revazishvili
J
- Jaiani
- Jambakuriani
- Jambakur-Orbeliani
- JandieriJandieriJandieri was a Georgian noble family known from the seventeenth century as grandees in the Kingdom of Kakheti.According to the genealogical treatise by Prince Ioann of Georgia , the family was elevated, in 1628, to the princely rank by the king Teimuraz I of Kakheti...
- JaparidzeJaparidze (noble family)Jap'aridze was a Georgian noble family known from c. 1400.A family legend recorded by Prince Ioann of Georgia in his genealogical treatise holds it that the Jap'aridze descended from the Mongol officer in Racha called Jap'ar whose scions later converted to Georgian Orthodox Christianity and were...
- JaqeliJaqeliJaqeli was a Georgian noble family, an offshoot of the House of Chorchaneli, that rose to a ruling house of the principality of Samtskhe in the 13th century, and eventually Islamized to become a dynasty of Akhaltsikhe under the Ottoman Empire in the 16th/17th century.-History:"Jaqeli", literally...
- JavakhishviliJavakhishviliJavakhishvili is a Georgian noble family, a branch of the Toreli , known from the 10th century.The surname Javakhishvili, literally "son of Javakh", derives from the 14th-century nobleman Javakh , a participant of Georgia’s resistance to Timur’s attacks...
- JorjadzeJorjadzeJorjadze was a Georgian noble family, considered by a genealogical tradition to have been of Caucasian Albanian origin, settled in the southern Georgian province of Samtskhe in 980 and removed to Kakheti in eastern Georgia in 1466...
K
- KavkasidzeKavkasidzeKavkasidze , later Kavkasidzev , was a Georgian-Russian noble house, founded by a Georgian nobleman Eprem Kalatozishvili who accompanied the crown prince Bak’ar in his Russian exile in 1724....
- KherkheulidzeKherkheulidzeKherkheulidze was a Georgian noble family, originally in the southern province of Samtskhe where they held the locale called Kherkheti. At the end of the 12th century, one of the members of this house is said to have appointed to the Alan district of Nar where he married a local noblewoman and...
- KhidirbegishviliKhidirbegishviliKhidirbegishvili was a Georgian noble family, one of the branches of the House of Zedginidze-AmilakhvariThe family Islamized during the Ottoman conquest of the southern Georgian province of Akhaltsikhe in the 16th century, but then partially removed to Inner Kartli, reconverted to Christianity,...
- KhimshiashviliKhimshiashviliKhimshiashvili was a Georgian noble family,known from the eleventh century. They were enlisted among the tavadi princely houses of Kakheti in eastern Georgia, with their kniaz title recognized by the Russian...
- KhojaminasishviliKhojaminasishviliKhojaminasishvili was a wealthy Armenian mercantile family in Georgia which was ennobled, with the dignity of Prince , by the Georgian king Erekle II in 1775, and confirmed in their title by the Imperial Russian government in 1857.- References :...
- KobulashviliKobulashviliK'obulashvili was a Georgian noble family whose origins can possibly be traced back to K'obul, High Constable of Iberia , commemorated in the inscription from the Monstery of the Holy Cross at Mtskheta....
- KochakidzeKochakidzeK'ochak'idze was a Georgian noble family from the province of Mingrelia . A legend traces their origin to the early 13th-century Khorasanian prince brought in Georgia as a hostage and converted into Christianity.- References :...
M
- MachabeliMachabeliMachabeli was a Georgian princely house which held a large fiefdom in the province of Inner Kartli called Samachablo after their family name....
- MachutadzeMachutadzeMach'utadze was a Georgian noble family known from 1412/1442 in the Principality of Guria where they served as Mayors of the Palace at the Gurieli court. Under the Russian rule, the family was received among the knyaz of the Russian Empire in 1850....
- Magalashvili
- Makashvili
- Maksimenishvili
- Mankaberdeli
- ManvelishviliManvelishviliManvelishvili was a Georgian noble family, originally from the province of Guria, and elevated to the princely rank by Vakhtang VI of Kartli, a Georgian king-in-exile in Russia in the 1720s. In 1738, they became the Russian subjects and were recognized as Princes Manvelov .- References :...
- MarshanMarshanMarshan may refer to:Marshania - a princely surname in the Republic of Abkhazia.*A variant spelling of the surname Marshman or Marshania*Marshan Township, Minnesota...
- Melikishvili
- Mikadze
- MikeladzeMikeladzeMikeladze was a Georgian noble family, known from at least the 14th century, and claiming descent from the Bagratids of Taron. The senior, and the princely, line of the Mikeladze flourished in Imereti , while a collateral branch was later established as the petite nobles Mikelashvili in Kartli...
- Mkheidze
- Mkhetsia
S
- SaakadzeSaakadzeSaakadze may mean:*Tarkhan-Mouravi, a Georgian noble family*Giorgi Saakadze, a 17th-century member of this family...
- Saginashvili
- SologashviliSologashviliSologashvili , also known as Solagashvili or Salagashvili , are a Georgian noble family, known from the 15th century. They were related to the Baratashvili and possibly shared a common origin with them....
- ShalikashviliShalikashviliShalikashvili is a Georgian noble family, originally from Samtskhe in southwest Georgia. With several notable members from the 16th century to the 20th, their descendants have survived in the United States Shalikashvili is a Georgian noble family, originally from Samtskhe in southwest Georgia....
- Sharvashidze (Shervashidze)
- Shelia
- Sidamon-Eristavi (Sidamonidze, Sidomonishvili)
- SologashviliSologashviliSologashvili , also known as Solagashvili or Salagashvili , are a Georgian noble family, known from the 15th century. They were related to the Baratashvili and possibly shared a common origin with them....
- Sumbatashvili
T
- Taktakishvili
- Tarkhnishvili (Tarkhan-Mouravi)
- TavdgiridzeTavdgiridzeTavdgiridze is a Georgian noble family, known since the 14th century. They hailed from the southern provinces of Georgia which fell under the Ottoman rule in the 16th century. This forced many of the Tavdgiridze to relocate to relatively safer areas such as Kartli, Imereti, and Guria...
- TsereteliTsereteliTsereteli is a former noble family in Georgia, which gave origin to several notable writers, politicians, scholars, and artists.- History :According to traditional accounts, the family’s ancestors had been chieftains in Dagestan or Ossetia, who fled the Islamization of their homeland by Tamerlane...
- TsitsishviliTsitsishviliThe Tsitsishvili is a Georgian noble family, with several notable members from the 15th century through the 20th.The Tsitsishvili family was a continuation of the medieval house of Panaskerteli, known in the province of Upper Kartli from the 12th century, who derived their name from the castle of...
- TsulukidzeTsulukidzeTsulukidze is a Georgian surname.Tsulukidze may also mean:*Tsulukidze , a noble family in Georgia- Persons :*Alexander Tsulukidze, Marxist activist*Giorgi Tsulukidze, general*Varden Tsulukidze, general...
- TumanishviliTumanishviliToumanishvili, armenianized Tumanyan or russianized Toumanov or Toumanoff – is an ancient Georgian princely family...
- Turkestanishvili
- TusishviliTusishviliTusishvili was a Georgian princely family, known in the eastern province of Kakheti from 1469. The Tusishvili branched off the House of Zedginidze. They had their estates at Akhmeta and Gagma-Mkhari on the left bank of the Alazani...