- Andronikashvili
The Andronikashvili ( _ka. ანდრონიკაშვილები) sometimes known as Endronikashvili (ენდრონიკაშვილები) was a princely family in Georgia which claimed their descent from the Byzantine
Comnenid dynasty and played a prominent role in political, military and religious life of Georgia. After the Russian annexation of Georgia (1801), the Andronikashvili were confirmed in the dignity ofknyaz Andronikov ( _ru. Андрониковы) in 1826.Origin
The surname Andronikashvili, literally meaning "children [descendants] of Andronikos", is certainly attested in the sixteenth-century documents, but the oral tradition has it that the family descends from Alexios Komnenos, the illegitimate son of the
Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos (ruled 1183-1185) by his mistressTheodora Komnene ,Queen Dowager of Jerusalem. After the deposition and brutal murder of his father, Alexios is said to have taken refuge at the court of his relativeGeorge III of Georgia who granted him a large estate in the eastern Georgian province ofKakheti . In spite of the extremely fragmentary nature of the early Andronikashvili pedigree, ProfessorCyril Toumanoff (1976) has accepted the Comnenid version as plausible, but the evidence marshaled by Kuršankis (1977) suggests that this might have been only a legend. [Kelsey Jackson Williams (2006), A Genealogy of the Grand Komnenoi of Trebizond. "Foundations - the Journal of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy" – [http://fmg.ac/FMG/Journal/02-03.htm Vol. 2, No. 3] .]Status and possessions
The Andronikashvili family estates were located in the southeastern portion of Kakheti, one of the three kingdoms that emerged after the demise of a unified
Kingdom of Georgia later in the fifteenth century. Their aboriginal appanage was known as "Saandroniko" (საანდრონიკო) or "Saendroniko" (საენდრონიკო) and comprised several villages including Melaani, Chalaubani, and Pkhoveli. In the sixteenth century, the family acquired the office ofHigh Constable (mouravi ) ofK’iziqi which became hereditary in the main line (sometimes known as Abelashvili, აბელაშვილები). A century later, a branch (also known as Zurabashvili, ზურაბაშვილები) attained to a similar position inMartqopi .Along with the
Cholokashvili andAbashidze families, the Andronikashvili were regarded asgrandee s of the first class of theKingdom of Kakheti . They held key political, diplomatic and military posts at the court and were distinguished for their particular loyalty to the royalBagrationi dynasty with which they had ties of marriage. In the 1780s, they functioned as military governors ofGanja Khanate which was briefly subjugated by KingErekle II to Georgian control. Several representatives of the family served also asbishop s of Bodbe, Ninotsminda, Alaverdi and Nekresi.After the Russian annexation of Georgia (1801), the Andronikashvili were confirmed in the dignity of
knyaz in 1826 and mostly served in the Russian army. [ [http://www.rulex.ru/01010519.htm Андрониковы, князья] . "Russian Biographic Lexicon". Accessed on July 24, 2007.]Following the
Bolshevik takeover in the 1917October Revolution , the head of the family, Jesse Andronikashvili (Andronikov), managed to send his family toFrance , while himself spent several years in Soviet prisons before being shot in 1937. His son,Constantin Andronikof (1916-1997) was a French diplomat, the Dean ofSt. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute inParis , and translator ofSergei Bulgakov 's theological writings into French.Notable members
*
Zakaria Andronikashvili (c. 1740-1800), military commander
*Zaal Andronikashvili (died 1803), military commander
*Ivane Andronikashvili (1798-1868), general in the Russian service
*Alexander Andronikashvili (1892-1923),anti-Soviet guerrilla leader
*Elepter Andronikashvili (1910-1989), physicist
*Constantin Andronikof (1916-1997), diplomat in the French service and a major French translator of Russian religious thought.References
See also
*
List of Georgian princely families
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