House of Jaqeli

The House of Jaqeli (Georgian: ჯაყელი) was a Georgian princely (mtavari) family and a ruling dynasty of the Principality of Samtskhe, an offshoot of the House of Chorchaneli.

History

"Jaqeli", literally meaning "of/from Jaqi", was originally a territorial epithet. The family received this name from the castle of Jaqi on the Jaqis-tsqali, one of the left affluents of the Mtkvari (Kura) (now in Turkey). The Jaqeli traced their origin to the late 9th-century nobleman Beshken, of the Chorchaneli, whose descendants possessed the valleys of Jaqi, Postkhovi (modern Posof, Turkey), and Uraveli (near Akhaltsikhe, Georgia). The title "Jaqeli" first appears in the names of Beshken (I), lord (eristavi) of Tukharisi, and Murvan, lord of Q'ueli and Beshken's possible son. Next we hear of Beshken (II), Murvan’s possible son, who died fighting the Seljuk Turks in Javakheti in 1118. From the 1050s to the 1190s, the Jaqeli took part in several feudal uprisings against the Bagratid kings of Georgia. Eventually, under the queen Tamar of Georgia (1184-1213), the family, in the person of Botso, fell in dishonor, and the title of Jaqeli as well as most of their possessions passed to their relatives of the House of Tsikhisjvari (Tsikhisjvreli), also a Chorchaneli offshoot. The dispossessed family of Botso Jaqeli came to be known as Botsosdze, last heard of with Memna, who died during the defense of Tbilisi against the Khwarezmid ruler Jalal ad-Din Manguberdi in 1226; and with his brother Botso.