Heraclius II of Georgia

Heraclius II , also known as The Little Kakhetian (; 7 November 1720 – 11 January 1798), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Kakheti from 1744 to 1762, and of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti from 1762 until his death in 1798.

From being granted the kingship of Kakheti by his overlord Nader Shah in 1744 as a reward for his loyalty, to becoming the penultimate king of the united kingdoms of Kakheti and Kartli in eastern Georgia, his reign is regarded as the swan song of the Georgian monarchy. Aided by his personal abilities and the unrest in Iran following Nader Shah's death, Heraclius established himself as a de facto autonomous ruler, unified eastern Georgia politically for the first time in three centuries, and attempted to modernize the government, economy, and military. Overwhelmed by the internal and external menaces to Georgia's precarious independence and its temporary hegemony in eastern Transcaucasia, he placed his kingdom under the formal Russian protection in 1783, but the move did not prevent Georgia from being devastated by the Persian invasion in 1795. Heraclius died in 1798, leaving the throne to his moribund heir, George XII.

Early years Heraclius was born on 7 November 1720 in Telavi, capital of the Kingdom of Kakheti, son of Teimuraz II and his wife, Tamar of Kartli, daughter of Vakhtang VI. His childhood and early teens coincided with the Ottoman occupation of Kakheti from 1732 until 1735, when they were expelled by Nader Shah's Persian troops in two successive campaigns in 1734 and 1735, by which the latter quickly reestablished Persian rule over Georgia.

Teimuraz sided with the Persians and was installed as a Persian vali (governor) in Kakheti, while Kilij Ali-Khan (Khanjal) was made that of neighboring Kartli. However, many Georgian nobles refused to accept the new regime and rose in rebellion in response to heavy tribute levied by Nader upon the Georgian provinces. Nonetheless, Teimuraz and Heraclius remained loyal to the shah, partly in order to prevent the comeback of the rival Mukhrani branch, whose fall early in the 1720s had opened the way to Teimuraz's accession in Kartli.

From 1737 to 1739, Heraclius commanded a Georgian auxiliary force during Nader's expedition in India and gained a reputation of an able military commander. He then served as a lieutenant to his father and assumed the regency when Teimuraz II was briefly summoned for consultations in the Persian capital of Isfahan in 1744. In the meantime, Heraclius defeated a coup attempt by the rival Georgian prince Abdullah Beg of the Mukhrani dynasty and helped Teimuraz suppress the aristocratic opposition to the Persian hegemony led by Givi Amilakhvari (1689–1754). As a reward, Nader granted the kingship of Kartli to Teimuraz and of Kakheti to Heraclius in 1744,

Nader's death and reign in Kakheti Yet, both Georgian kingdoms remained under heavy Persian tribute until Nader was assassinated in 1747. Teimuraz and Heraclius took advantage of the ensuing political instability in Persia to assert their independence and expelled Persian garrisons from all key positions in Georgia, including Tbilisi. In close cooperation with each other, they managed to prevent a new revolt by the Mukhranian supporters fomented by Ebrahim Khan, brother of Adel Shah, in 1748. They concluded an anti-Persian alliance with the khans of Azerbaijan who were particularly vulnerable to the aggression from Persian warlords and agreed to recognize Heraclius's supremacy in eastern Transcaucasia. In 1749, he occupied Yerevan, and in June 1751, Heraclius defeated a large army commanded by a pretender to the Persian throne and his former ally, Azat-Khan in the Battle of Kirkhbulakh. After these particular events, Heraclius could largely afford to ignore the changing situation to the south of the Aras River. In 1752, the Georgian kings sent a mission to Russia to request 3,000 Russian troops or a subsidy to enable them to hire Circassian mercenaries in order to invade Persia and install a pro-Russian government there. The embassy failed to yield any results, however, for the Russian court was preoccupied with European affairs.

Coinage Heraclius II's "curiously ambivalent position" in these decades is reflected in the coins issued by him in his realm. Silver coins were struck with the name of Ismail III on it, or with the Zand-style inscription ya karim ("O Gracious One"), whereby an epithet to God was invoked, which actually referred to Karim Khan Zand. These coins were minted in Tbilisi up until 1799 – some twenty years after Karim Khan Zand's death. In the same decades, the copper coins struck at Tbilisi bore three types of iconography; Christian, Georgian, "and even" Imperial Russian (such as the double-headed eagle). By minting the silver coins with a reference to Karim Khan Zand on it they were usable for trade in Iran, whereas the copper coins, struck for only local use, reflected Heraclius II's political orientation towards Russia.

Court, efforts and final years While maintaining certain Persian-type pomp at his court, he launched an ambitious program of "Europeanization" which was supported by the Georgian intellectual élites, but was not overwhelmingly successful because Georgia remained physically isolated from Europe and had to expend all available resources on defending its precarious independence. He strove to enlist the support of European powers and to attract Western scientists and technicians to give his country the benefit of the latest military and industrial techniques. His style of governing resembled that of contemporary enlightened despots in Central Europe. He exercised executive, legislative, and judicial authority and closely supervised the activities of government departments. Heraclius's primary objective in internal policy was to further centralize the government through reducing the powers of the aristocracy. For this purpose, he attempted to create a governing élite composed of his own agents to replace the self-minded aristocratic lords in local affairs. At the same time, he encouraged peasant-vassals to supply the military force necessary to overcome the aristocracy's resistance and protect the country from incessant marauding assaults from Dagestan known to Georgians as Lekianoba. In the words of the British historian David Marshall Lang, "his vigilance in the care of his people knew no bounds. On campaign, he would sit up at night watching for the enemy, while in time of peace, he spent his life in transacting business of state or in religious exercise, and devoted but a few hours to sleep."

Heraclius died in 1798 still convinced that only Russian protection could ensure the continued existence of his country. He was succeeded by his weak and sickly son, George XII, after whose death Tsar Paul I annexed, in 1801, Kartli-Kakheti to Russia, terminating both Georgia's independence and a millennium-long rule of the Bagrationi dynasty.

Reforms

During his reign, Heraclius enacted several reforms. Printing in Tbilisi resumed in 1749 and Heraclius set up his press. He wanted to print canonical liturgical texts and to standardize a language. During his rule, over 40 titles were printed, almost all liturgical, in runs of up to 1000. Heraclius strengthened royal authority and organized it on Russian lines. He launched efforts to repopulate the lands of Kartli-Kakheti, abandoned due to constant wars and other social reasons. For this purpose, he appointed agents, Mkrelebi, who were tasked with returning refugee serfs in Nakhichevan and Karabakh back to their lands, even with violence. He also lured migrants with tax exemptions for them. Heraclius approved violence to stop serfs from complaining, but landowners were blamed for runaways and a severe punishment was employed on them for sexually abusing their serfs. Heraclius had hard time disciplining his nobles. He forbade selling serfs without land twice in 1754 and 1770. He, the Catholicos and the Darbazi announced that prisoners of war and slaves would become free peasants on crown lands. Under Heraclius’s rule, freemen were more common as some Church peasants and veteran soldiers became freemen, but in overall most of the peasants remained still serfs.

Heraclius modernized agriculture by growing new varieties of grain in Tusheti. Grain became cheaper and famines ended. Peasants paid taxes in fruit or walnuts. Factories were producing sugar, glass, cloth and armaments. Half of a tonne of silver was produced each year. For this purpose, Heraclius invited Greek miners from Levan to work in gold and silver deposits in Akhtala. Inheritance laws were passed which introduced protections for properties of merchants against the crown. Customs duty was set at two and a half percent and revenues increased in the 1760s. Under Heraclius, mdivanbegis sasamartlo (chief secretary's courts) was formed, while the king’s Darbazi was functioning as a permanent supreme court and privy council. There were two ministers of foreign affairs: one Christian and one Muslim. Heraclius also created a police force. Ancient universities of Tiflis and Telavi were restored, where Bachmeister was taught.

Heraclius's policies and exploitation of peasants by landowners often resulted in rebellions: when lord Eliozashvili demanded more than the usual 50 days' work on his estates, serfs revolted and attacked his family, burned his church and stole casks of wine. In 1773, Pshav tribesmen destroyed castle of their lord and held him hostage, while in 1777, Ksani peasants revolted against the initiative of Heraclius to reestablish Duchy of Ksani, abolished by his father. In 1780, Heraclius introduced bonds which compelled the wealthy to lend three tumans to the state, which also faced opposition.

In 1770s, Heraclius reformed his army with Russian advisers, training manuals and ranks. He created a regiment of guards based on the European model. An army was permanently paid, although it was still allowed to loot. Tbilisi had a gunpowder factory, although in a state of ramshackle. In 1774, Heraclius introduced mandatory conscription – one man from household served one month per year on his own expenses. Civic development lagged behind and plague resulted in 4,000 deaths in 1770.

Due to the Lezgin raids on population and unwillingness of the peasants to submit to the conscription, Heraclius heavily relied on recruiting foreign mercenaries, particularly among Cherkess clan, which was more civil than Lezgins and had a close sympathy towards Georgians.

Family In 1740, Heraclius first married Ketevan (died 1744), daughter of Prince Zaal Pkheidze. They had two children:

Princess Rusudan, who died young; Prince Vakhtang the Good (1742–1760).

In 1745, Heraclius married secondly Anna (1730–1749), daughter of Prince Zaal Abashidze. They had three children:

Erekleoba is an annual, traditional public feast celebrated at Hereclius II's palace in Eastern Georgia's city of Telavi on November 7 to pay tribute to his memory.