About George IV of Guria
Lived 1650 – 1726 (aged 75–76). George IV of Guria was a monarch and royalty.
George IV Gurieli (; died 1726), of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1711 to 1726, and a king of Imereti in western Georgia in 1716. He was installed as regent of Guria by his father, Mamia III Gurieli, then the king of Imereti, in 1712. In 1716, he seized the crown of Imereti, but was forced to abandon the enterprise later that year. Returning to Guria, his rule was challenged by a faction of local nobility, which included his mother Elene and brother Kaikhosro III Gurieli. He was finally able to crush the opposition after making peace with Bezhan Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia.
Early rule George was the eldest son of Mamia III Gurieli, Prince of Guria, and Princess Helen Abashidze, daughter of Prince Giorgi-Malakia Abashidze. When Mamia seized the throne of Imereti in October 1712, George was made by his father as regent of Guria to the opposition of his younger brother, Levan. On Mamia's death on 5 January 1714, George Gurieli became prince-regnant. In 1716, the Imeretian opposition led by Bezhan Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia, and Prince Zurab Abashidze invited the Ottoman troops in their successful bid to depose King George VI of Imereti, the late Mamia Gurieli's rival, and crowned George Gurieli as king at Kutaisi. His reign lasted for only three months; the dethroned king George VI's Rachian supporters ambushed and looted Gurieli's treasure, bound to Kutaisi, at Salominao, while a Gurian escort were captured and sold in slavery. The alarmed Gurieli fled Kutaisi back to Guria, while Imereti was divided by Dadiani, Abashidze, and the duke of Racha.
Coup in Guria Back in his native principality, George Gurieli faced a coup engineered by his own mother, Helen, on whose instigation Dadiani, Abashidze, and the duke of Racha intervened with their troops to expel George and replace him with his younger brother, Kaikhosro III Gurieli, the unfrocked monk and Helen's favorite son. George fled to Akhlatsikhe under the protection of an Ottoman pasha. There he met his exiled predecessor as king of Imereti, George VI, who married Gurieli's sister Tamar. Akhaltsikhe's own power struggle deprived the two Georges of any meaningful support. Gurieli moved to Erzurum and, with the troops provided by the local pasha, quickly reconquered Guria, forcing his mother and brothers into exile.
Mamia IV Gurieli, Prince of Guria, who reigned intermittently between 1726 and 1776. George V Gurieli, Prince of Guria, reigned multiple times (1756–1758, 1765–1771, and 1776–1788).
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Important facts
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped George IV of Guria's
Frequently asked questions
Who was George IV of Guria?
King of Imereti
When was George IV of Guria born?
George IV of Guria was born in 1650.
When did George IV of Guria die?
George IV of Guria died in 1726 in Batumi.
What was George IV of Guria's occupation?
George IV of Guria was a monarch and royalty.
Sources & further reading
· Wikipedia: George IV of Guria
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). George IV of Guria. https://biography.guide/george-iv-of-guria/
MLA: "George IV of Guria." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/george-iv-of-guria/.
Chicago: "George IV of Guria." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/george-iv-of-guria/.
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