David IX

David was the only known son of George V of Georgia and his mother may have been a princess of Trebizond.{{cite book |first=Donald |last=Rayfield |title=Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-78023-070-2|page=145}}

He ascended the throne succeeding on the death of his father in 1346. However, the kingdom's stability and prosperity left by his father was not to last, as the Black Death swept through the area in 1348, decimating the population and producing a severe economic crisis.

Little is known about David IX's reign, during his reign Georgia minted coins for its neighbors, the short-lived Khans of Azerbaijan. Under David IX, Georgia lost the Laz territory to Trebizond empire. The Georgian kingdom retained its vassal territories, such as Alania.

In 1349–1350 David paid Ilkhan Anushirwan an annual tribute of 400,000 dinars not to invade Georgia. Several of the coins of Anushirwan were minted in Tiflis.{{cite journal |last1=Lang |first1=David M. |title=Numismatic History of Georgia (Georgia under the Mongols) |journal=ANS Numismatic Notes and Monographs |date=1955 |volume=128-132 |pages=69-71|url=https://archive.org/details/ANSNumNotesVols128to132/page/n273/mode/1up}} Many of Georgia southern territories: Kars, Nakhchivan, and Garni now belonged to the Ilkhanate. The last Ilkhanid ruler Ghazan II also minted coins in his own name in Tiflis in 1356-1357.{{Cite journal|last1=Akopyan|first1=Alexander V.|last2=Mosanef|first2=Farbod|date=2015|title=Between Jūjīds and Jalāyirids: the Coinage of the Chopānids, Akhījūq and their Contemporaries, 754–759/1353–1358|url=https://www.academia.edu/13580159|journal=Der Islam|volume=92|issue=1|doi=10.1515/islam-2015-0008 |issn=1613-0928|pages=215-216}}

Despite the mentioned difficult situation, David IX was engaged in state building work. According to the inscription of 1350 of the Tmogvi fortress, at the direction of King David, the walls of the castle were renovated. The king also paid attention to the facts of seizure of church estates by secular feudal lords during Mongol rule. He returned to the Mtskheti church the peasants and lands from the Dzami and Khedureti valleys given by David VII Ulu to the noble nobility, the Mtskheti church to Orbodzleli (King David paid 1200 tetri to Orbodzleli to give him the church estates).

According to Vakhushti of Kartli, King David's wife was Queen Sindukhtar, who seems to have been the sister of Agbugha, the prince of Samtskhe. One of the king's daughters, Gulshar, was married to Ioane of Ksani, and the other, Gulkhan-Eudokia, was married to Manuel, the youngest son of the Emperor Alexios III of Trebizond. This marriage, of course, was a political act and meant to strengthen the political union between Georgia and the Empire of Trebizond.

During David's reign, according to Vakhushti of Kartli, there was a solar eclipse in Georgia in 1357.

David died in 1360 in Geguti. He is buried in Gelati Monastery, he succeeded by his son, Bagrat V the Great.

File:Silver Dirham of Anushirwan, Tiflis, 1344-1353.jpg, minted in Tiflis in 1344-1353.]]

File:Jalayirids Chubanids Muzaffarids in 1353.png, Chobanids and Muzaffarids in 1353.]]

There is no known coinage of David IX. This could be explained by the numerous invasions, which resulted in foreign coinage being struck in Georgia, and particularly in the Georgian capital Tiflis (modern Tbilissi).{{cite journal |last1=Lang |first1=David M. |title=Numismatic History of Georgia (Georgia under the Mongols) |journal=ANS Numismatic Notes and Monographs |date=1955 |volume=128-132 |page=76|url=https://archive.org/details/ANSNumNotesVols128to132/page/n274/mode/1up |quote=These Tatar invasions help to explain why no coins have come to light bearing the name of the Georgian king David IX (1346-60), the successor of Giorgi the Brilliant. Nor have any been discovered that can be attributed with any confidence to Bagrat V (1360-93).}}

During the period from 1349-1356, Mongol Ilkhanid coins were minted in Tiflis, in the name of Anushirvan, the Ilkhanid puppet ruler put in place by the Chobanids.{{cite journal |last1=Lang |first1=David M. |title=Numismatic History of Georgia (Georgia under the Mongols) |journal=ANS Numismatic Notes and Monographs |date=1955 |volume=128-132 |page=69|url=https://archive.org/details/ANSNumNotesVols128to132/page/n273/mode/1up}} Several of his coins were minted in Tiflis. in {{cite journal |last1=Lang |first1=David M. |title=Numismatic History of Georgia (Georgia under the Mongols) |journal=ANS Numismatic Notes and Monographs |date=1955 |volume=128-132 |pages=69-71|url=https://archive.org/details/ANSNumNotesVols128to132/page/n273/mode/1up |quote=The last of the decayed Il-Khans was Anushirvan, or Nushirvan (1344-1357), a figurehead ruler of dubious pedigree set up at Tabriz by the tyrant Ashraf Chupani. His reign was brought to an abrupt conclusion by the invasion of Jani-Beg of the Golden Horde in 1357. His silver coinage shows progressive signs of degeneration.}}

In 1356, coins of the Golden Horde ruler Jani Beg were minted in Tiflis.{{cite journal |last1=Dundua |first1=Tedo |last2=Avdaliani |first2=Emil |title=Coins of Muslim Rulers Struck at Tbilisi Mint (General Overview) |journal=Institute of Georgian History, Proceedings, Special Issue III |date=2016 |volume=11 |issue=11 |page=570 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324796004_Coins_of_Muslim_Rulers_Struck_at_Tbilisi_Mint_General_Overview| quote=In A.H. 757 (=1356) coins at Tbilisi mint were struck in the name of the ruler of the Golden Horde Jani Beg Juchid, next – in the name of Berdi Beg Juchid (date on the coin is unreadable) (Money of the Juchids).}} In 1356-57, coins of the Ilkhanid Ghazan II were again minted in Tiflis, but this time following Golden Horde designs.{{Cite journal|last1=Akopyan|first1=Alexander V.|last2=Mosanef|first2=Farbod|date=2015|title=Between Jūjīds and Jalāyirids: the Coinage of the Chopānids, Akhījūq and their Contemporaries, 754–759/1353–1358|url=https://www.academia.edu/13580159|journal=Der Islam|volume=92|issue=1|doi=10.1515/islam-2015-0008 |issn=1613-0928|pages=215-216}}

During the period 1357-1358, the Jalayirids took control of Transcaucasia, replacing the Il-Khanids.{{cite journal |last1=Lang |first1=David M. |title=Numismatic History of Georgia (Georgia under the Mongols) |journal=ANS Numismatic Notes and Monographs |date=1955 |volume=128-132 |page=75|url=https://archive.org/details/ANSNumNotesVols128to132/page/n273/mode/1up |quote=The most powerful of the minor dynasties which carved up the disrupted Il-Khanid empire was that of the Jala’irs, the descendants of Shaykh Hasan Buzurg. These princes made Baghdad their capital, but gained control over much of Persia and Transcaucasia. For a short time after the suppression of Anushirvan, the mints at Tiflis and at Qara-Aghach were under Jala’irid control. Dirhems struck in the name of Shaykh Hasan, and, apparently anonymously, by his successor Uwais were minted in both places in A.H. 757-8/ 1356-7.}} Minting in Georgia therefore fell under the prerogative of the Jalayirid Sultanate, and coins in the name of Shaykh Hasan and his successor Shaykh Uvais were minted in Tbilissi.{{cite journal |last1=Dundua |first1=Tedo |last2=Avdaliani |first2=Emil |title=Coins of Muslim Rulers Struck at Tbilisi Mint (General Overview) |journal=Institute of Georgian History, Proceedings, Special Issue III |date=2016 |volume=11 |issue=11 |page=570 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324796004_Coins_of_Muslim_Rulers_Struck_at_Tbilisi_Mint_General_Overview |quote=Finally, for a short period of time money issue in Georgia became the prerogative of the Jala’irids. This is well testified by the coins struck at Tbilisi in the name of sheikh Uvais. Silver coins (Money of the Jala’irids) were already struck in his name at Tbilisi in A.H. 759 (1357/58).}}

David IX was married to Sindukhtar, daughter of Ivane I Jaqeli, Prince of Samtskhe-Saatabago. They had three children:

• Bagrat V of Georgia, King of Georgia (1360–1393)
• Gulkhan-Eudokia of Georgia (d. 1395), who was betrothed first to Andronicus Comnenus and after he died his paternal half-brother, Emperor Manuel III of Trebizond, whom she married in 1379. Both were sons of Alexios III of Trebizond, the first was an illegitimate and the second a legitimate son by Empress Theodora Kantakouzene
• Gulshar, she was married to Ioane Kvenipneveli, Duke of Ksani.

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{{succession box |

before = George V the Brilliant|

title = King of Georgia|

years=1346–1360|

after = Bagrat V the Great}}

{{S-end}}

{{Kings of United Georgia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:David 09 Of Georgia}}

Category:Kings of Georgia

Category:1360 deaths

Category:Year of birth unknown