Levan I Dadiani

Levan I Dadiani (also Leon; Georgian: ლევან [ლეონ] I დადიანი; died 1572) was a member of the House of Dadiani and ruler of Odishi, that is, Mingrelia, in western Georgia. He succeeded on the death of his father, Mamia III Dadiani, as eristavi ("duke") of Odishi and ex officio mandaturt-ukhutsesi ("Lord High Steward") of Imereti in 1533. Dadiani's break with the king of Imereti brought about his downfall and imprisonment in 1546. He was able to escape and regain his possessions, securing Ottoman support for his independence from Imereti.

Levan was a son of Mamia III Dadiani by his wife, Elisabed. He succeeded on Mamia's death in an expedition against the Circassians in 1533. These mountainous tribes from the North Caucasus continued to pose a challenge to Levan, but more immediate threat to his hold of power came from his overlords, the kings of Imereti, one of the three breakaway kingdoms of medieval Georgia. By the time of Levan's accession to power, the Dadiani had achieved significant autonomy and his contemporary king of Imereti, Bagrat III, was determined to bring the crown's recalcitrant subjects under control. Levan continued to be styled as eristavt-eristavi ("duke") of Mingrelia and mandaturt-ukhutsesi ("Lord High Steward") of Imereti, but by defying Bagrat's call to arms during a war waged by an alliance of Georgian rulers against the expanding Ottoman Empire in 1545, Levan reneged on his vestigial duties as a vassal to the king.

Bagrat, defeated by the Ottomans at Sokhoista, avenged Dadiani a year later: he invited Levan to a summit at Khoni, incarcerated him in Gelati's bell-tower, and offered his vassal, Rostom Gurieli of Guria to divide up Mingrelia. Gurieli, wary that he would be the next target of Bagrat's centralizing efforts, declined the offer and advised the king to release Dadiani. Around 1550, Bagrat's yet another foe, Kaikhosro II Jaqeli, Prince of Samtskhe, bribed the Imeretian nobleman Khopilandre Chkheidze to help Dadiani escape and then persuaded Gurieli to give him a free passage to Mingrelia, where Levan was quickly reinstated.

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