Constantine I of Kakheti

Who was Constantine I of Kakheti?

Constantine I or Constantine Khan, of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Kakheti in eastern Georgia from March to October 1605.

A son of King Alexander II of Kakheti by his wife Tinatin née Amilakhvari, Constantine was taken, in his childhood to Persia where he was converted to Islam and lived for many years. In 1604, Shah Abbas I of Persia appointed him a commander in Shirvan to fight the Ottoman forces there, and ordered him to secure the Kakhetian participation in the campaign. As Alexander II was reluctant to engage in this conflict, Constantine accompanied by a sizeable Persian entourage arrived in Kakheti, being honorably met by his father and elder brother George at a camp near the border town of Bazari. On March 12, 1605, during the negotiations, Constantine murdered Alexander and George, and declared himself King of Kakheti. However, his subjects refused to recognize a patricide and revolted. The rebellion was led by Ketevan, widow of Constantine’s brother David I, who requested aid from his relative King George X of Kartli. Constantine succeeded in bribing some of the rebel nobles, and, on the shah’s order, led a combined Kakhetian-Qizilbash army against Shirvan.