Vakhtang VI
Vakhtang VI the Scholar (in Georgian: ვახტანგ VI მწიგნობარი) (1675-1737), was King of Kartli (in eastern Georgia (country)) in 1716-1724. In 1703-1714, he was the regent in the absence of King Giorgi XI.
He was a representative of the Kartlian line of the Bagrationi family.
Formally accepted Persian sovereignty, he tried to reassert central authority, stop permanent assaults from the North Caucasian Muslims and establish the diplomatic ties with Russia and Western European nations.
Vakhtang VI reformed the administration, revised the legal code (the so-called Vakhtangs Code), and erected irrigation works and converted wastelands to cultivation.
He was known as a prominent scholar, poet, critic and translator. He established the first Georgian typography in Tbilisi in 1712.
Vakhtang sided with Russia in her wars with Persia and Turkey in the early 1720s. He hoped that Peter the Great would protect Georgia from both Persians and Turks. However, the Tsar made peace with Turkey and cut short his Persian campaign and left a tiny Georgian kingdom in the face of devastating Turkish invasion in 1723. Vakhtang had to flee to Russia in 1724. Given no help but allowed to settle there, he died in the city of Astrakhan in 1737. His family and descendants were absorbed into the Russian nobility. The famous General Petr Bagration was one of them.
See also