David Gurieli

David Gurieli (Georgian: დავით გურიელი, Davit' Gurieli; Russian: Давид Мамиевич Гуриель, David Mamiyevich Guriel; 1818 – 23 August 1839) was a Georgian nobleman of the House of Gurieli. He was the last titular Prince of Guria from 24 November 1826 to 9 September 1829, but he never actually ruled because of his young age and then due to the Russian occupation of his principality. He reconciled with the Russians and returned from his Ottoman exile as a private citizen in 1832. He was subsequently trained as an officer of the Imperial Russian Army and served in the Caucasus, where he died at the battle of Akhulgo.

David was the second child and only son of Mamia V Gurieli, Prince-regnant of Guria, and his wife, Princess Sofia née Tsulukidze. He was born in 1818, the year when western Georgia was rocked by a rebellion against the Russian Empire of which Guria was a subject since 1811. Mamia maintained loyalty to Russia when the revolt spread to Guria in 1820, but the fighting and destruction plunged him into depression. He died on 21 November 1826, when David was eight years old. Three days later, the princess dowager Sofia declared her son the next ruler and herself the boy-prince's regent. The Russian viceroy, General Aleksey Yermolov, denounced the move as unilateral and invalid until it was approved by an Imperial decree. Eventually, at Yermolov's insistence, Sofia had to share power with the Regency Council presided by herself and consisting of the leading nobles of Guria.

Sofia, offended and indignant at what she saw was an infringement on Guria's autonomy, entered into secret negotiations with the Ottoman government. She also had contacts with the Gurian political exiles who had fled to the Ottoman-controlled district of Kobuleti during the 1820 rebellion. When the Russian and Ottoman empires went to war in April 1828, the Gurian elites became even more divided in their loyalties. A small, but vocal contingent led by Sofia and her chief adviser, Prince David Machutadze, advocated a break with Russia. Unlike Imeretia and Mingrelia, Guria did not raise a volunteer force to join Russian war efforts during the siege of the Ottoman fortress of Poti, immediately north of Guria. Furthermore, Sofie expelled Mingrelian military posts from the shores of Lake Paliastomi and replaced them with stronger Gurian patrols, opening a line of communications with Poti and causing the Russian commander-in-chief Ivan Paskevich to forewarn her of the consequences. Paskevich soon received reports that Sofia had clandestinely placed Guria under the sultan's protection and around 10,000 Ottoman troops were amassing close to the borders with Guria.

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