George VIII of Georgia
| George VIII გიორგი VIII |
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|---|---|
| King of Kings of Georgia | |
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| King of Georgia | |
| Reign | 1417–1476 |
| Successor | Alexander I |
| Issue | Alexander I of Kakheti |
| Dynasty | Bagrationi |
| Father | Alexander I of Georgia |
| Mother | Tamar |
| Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church |
| Signature |  |
George VIII (Georgian: გიორგი VIII, Giorgi VIII) (1417–1476) was the last king of the united Georgia, though his kingdom was already fragmentised and dragged into a fierce civil war, from 1446 to 1465. Defeated by his rivals, he was left with an eastern province Kakheti alone, where he reigned as George I from 1465 until his death, founding a local branch of the Bagrationi royal house.
He was the third son of Alexander I of Georgia by his second wife Tamar. Though Demetre, Alexander’s second son, seems to have been a rightful successor to his elder brother Vakhtang IV, George actually held power after Vakhtang’s death in December 1446. The process of the disintegration of the Georgian kingdom had already begun and was close to reach its climax. The most troublesome were revolts by the western Georgian nobles and the atabegs of Samtskhe. The latter even attempted to create a separate church for his princedom, but the efforts of the Georgian Catholicos Patriarch David IV prevented the Georgian Orthodox Church from being split into two.
George’s reign coincided with a major turning point in Near East history: in 1453 the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and put an end to the Byzantine Empire, with the emperor Constantine XI, to whom George’s daughter was betrothed, dying in battle. The Georgian politicians, preoccupied in their own power struggle, seem to have underestimated the event which would leave Georgia isolated from Christian Europe for almost the three subsequent centuries. Yet, Georgia was considered as a possible participant of a large anti-Ottoman crusade planned by the Pope Pius II and Western European powers. For this purpose, Ludovicus Bologninus was sent to hold talks in Georgia and George VIII agreed a truce with his internal opponents. Georgians hoped to mobilise in total 120,000 soldiers to fight sultan Mehmed the Conqueror and proposed even to continue the Crusade on Jerusalem. The coalition was never formed, however, and the fratricidal struggles within Georgia were soon resumed.
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