George I of Georgia

George I გიორგი I
King of Georgia
A symbolic representation of George I fleeing on horseback from Emperor Basil II after defeat, Skylitzes Chronicle
King of Georgia
Reign	7 May 1014 – 16 August 1027
Predecessor	Bagrat III
Successor	Bagrat IV
Born	998 or 1002
Died	16 August 1027 Mqinwarni or Itaroni
Burial	Bagrati Cathedral, Kutaisi
Spouse	Mariam of Vaspurakan Alda of Alania
Issue	Bagrat IV Guarandukht Martha Kata Demetrius
Dynasty	Bagrationi
Father	Bagrat III of Georgia
Mother	Martha
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Church

Giorgi I (Georgian: გიორგი I) (998 or 1002 – 16 August 1027), of the House of Bagrationi, was the king of Georgia from 1014 until his death in 1027. He spent most of his thirteen-year-long reign waging a bloody and fruitless territorial war with the Byzantine Empire.

Giorgi was born in 998 or, according to a later version of the Georgian chronicles, 1002, to King Bagrat III. Upon his father’s death on 7 May 1014, he inherited the kingdoms of Abkhazia, Kartli and Kakheti united into a single state of Georgia. As his predecessor, Giorgi continued to be titled as King of the Abkhazians (Ap'xaz) and Georgians (K'art'velians). Contemporary sources, however, frequently omitted one of the two components of this title when abbreviating it.

The new sovereign’s young age was immediately exploited by the great nobles, who had been suppressed under the heavy hand of Bagrat. Around the same year, the easternmost provinces of Kakheti and Hereti, not easily acquired by Bagrat, staged a revolt and reinstated their own government under Kvirike III (1010/1014–1029), who also incorporated a portion of the neighbouring Arran (Ran), allowing him to claim the title of King of the Kakhetians and Ranians. Giorgi was unable to prevent the move and sought an alliance with this kingdom, rather than attempting to reincorporate it into the Georgian state, thus leaving a long-standing claim to Kakheti and Hereti to his successors.

The major political and military event during Giorgi’s reign, a war against the Byzantine Empire, had its roots back to the 990s, when the Georgian prince David III Kuropalates, following his abortive rebellion against Emperor Basil II, had to agree to cede his extensive possessions in Tao and the neighbouring lands to the emperor on his death. All the efforts by David’s stepson and Giorgi’s father, Bagrat III, to prevent these territories from being annexed to the empire went in vain. Young and ambitious, Giorgi launched a campaign to restore the Kuropalates’ succession to Georgia and occupied Tao in 1015–1016. He also entered in an alliance with the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt, Al-Hakim (996–1021), that put Basil in a difficult situation, forcing him to refrain from an acute response to Giorgi’s offensive.