Levan of Kartli

Levan, also known by his Muslim name Shah-Qoli Khan was a Georgian royal prince and the fourth son of the king of Kartli Shahnawaz.

Biography

In 1675, Levan was confirmed as a janisin of Kartli during the absence of his reigning brother, George XI, at the Persian military service in Afghanistan. Summoned to Isfahan in 1677, he had to accept Islam and take the name Shah-Qoli Khan. Thereafter he was appointed as naib of Kerman, Iran, and, as a commander of Georgian auxiliary forces, he secured the eastern provinces of the Persian empire from the rebellious Baluchi tribesmen from 1698 to 1701. For a short time in 1703, he was again a janisin for his absent brother in Kartli. As a reward for his military service, the Safavid shah Soltan Hoseyn made Levan, in 1703, a divanbeg of Persia, and his son, Khusrau Khan, darugha of Isfahan.
During his governance in Kartli, he patronised Catholic missioners in the Caucasus. He also encouraged scholarly activities in Georgia, and helped his cousin, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, to create a Georgian dictionary, which is still widely used in Georgia. Although officially a convert to Islam, Levan covertly remained Christian and composed the prayers to St John the Baptist, St Peter, St Paul and other Christian saints.

Family

Levan was married twice. He married, in 1672, Tuta, daughter of Kaikhosro I Gurieli, Prince of Guria. She died on 11 October 1678. Their children were:

Kaikhosro of Kartli, King of Kartli from 1709 to 1711;
Vakhtang VI, King of Kartli from 1716 to 1722;
David ;
Domentius IV of Georgia, Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia
Princess Khvaramze, wife of Prince Sadzverel Chijavadze.

Levan married Tinatin, daughter of the Georgian nobleman Giorgi Avalishvili, in 1680, after the death of Tuta. She had previously been married to Prince Iotam Palavankhosroshvili, with one son, Bezhan, whose daughter Ana-Khanum would marry King Teimuraz II of Kakheti as his second wife in 1746. Tinatin bore to Levan several children:

Jesse of Kartli, King of Kartli from 1714 to 1716 and 1722 to 1727;
Simon, regent of Kartli;
Teimuraz.
?Alexander, a general in the Safavid service, otherwise considered to have been a son of Levan's brother Luarsab.

Levan also had several natural children by unknown concubines:

Rostom, general in the Safavid army;
Toma ;
Constantine, who married in 1725 a certain Khvaramze;
Adarnase, general in the Russian army;
Princess Khoreshan.