Constantine II of Kakheti

Who was Constantine II of Kakheti?

Constantine II also known as Mahmād Qulī Khān in Iran, was a king of Kakheti in eastern Georgia of the Bagrationi Dynasty from 1722 to 1732.

A son of Erekle I by a concubine, he was born and raised as a Muslim convert at the Safavid court of Iran. In 1703, Shah of Iran Husayn appointed him a darugha of his capital Isfahan. In 1722, he was confirmed by the shah as King of Kakheti following the death of Constantine’s brother David II. At the same time, he was bestowed with the governorship of Erivan, Ganja, and Karabakh. He frequently feuded with his western neighbor and kinsman, Vakhtang VI of Kartli, who was declared by the Persian government deposed in 1723. On the shah’s orders, Constantine marched to take control of Vakhtang’s capital Tbilisi. On May 4, 1723, he captured the city, but failed to evict Vakhtang and his son Bakar from the province of Shida Kartli. Meanwhile, the Ottoman army invaded the Georgian lands in order to eliminate the Persian hegemony there. Constantine tried to negotiate with the Ottoman commander Ibrahim-Pasha and surrendered Tbilisi on June 12, 1723.