Liparit IV
Duke of Kldekari
995 CE to 1061 CE
Liparit IV, sometimes known as Liparit III, is an 11th-century Georgian general and political figure who is at times the most valuable support of King Bagrat IV of Georgia (1027-1072) and his most dangerous rival.
He is of the House of Liparitid-Baguashi (later Orbeli or Orbeliani), and thus, a hereditary duke (eristavi) of Kldekari and Trialeti.
World
The Great Crossroads
View →Related Events
Showing 4 events out of 4 total
Liparit seizes the key fortress of Artanuji, thereby becoming the virtual ruler of the southern and eastern provinces of Georgia.
Bagrat IV, defeated in the battle, will not be able to restore his authority in the kingdom until 1059, forcing the renegade Duke Liparit into exile in Constantinople.
Liparit IV, Duke of Kldekari, had appeared on the political scene of Georgia in the late 1020s when he, as a holder of the fortress of Kldekari and later as a commander-in-chief of the royal armies, had proven himself as the defender of the boy king Bagrat IV and his regent, Dowager Queen Mariam.
His successful resistance to the invading imperial troops in 1028 and a victorious campaign against the Shaddadid dynasty of Arran in 1034 have made Liparit the most powerful noble in Georgia.
In 1038, Liparit had been on the verge of capturing the Georgian city of Tbilisi, which has been under Muslim sway for centuries, but the Georgian nobles, fearing his growing power, had thwarted the plan and persuaded the king to make peace with the emir of Tbilisi.
As a result, Liparit has turned into a sworn enemy of Bagrat and begins actively cooperating with foreign powers for vengeance.
In 1039, he had pledged his support to Bagrat’s half-brother Demetrius who enters Georgia with an imperial army to seize the crown.
The emperor Constantine IX sends a message to the Georgian warlord Liparit, whom the imperial forces had aided in his struggle against the Georgian king Bagrat IV, to unite against the advancing Seljuqs, but orders Liparit to pursue a defensive strategy until the arrival of Georgian reinforcements.
The Seljuq forces effect the complete destruction of Artze, a vibrant commercial center in the imperial thema of Iberia (near the modern-day Erzurum, Turkey).
A combined imperial and Georgian army of fifty thousand under the command of Aaron, Katakalon Kekaumenos, and Liparit, meets the Seljuqs head-on at Kapetrou (modern-day Hasankale) on September 10, 1048.
In a fierce nocturnal battle, the Christian allies fail to achieve any serious success, and Ibrahim Yinal is able to safely leave the imperial territory, laden with spoils and captives, including the Georgian commander Liparit.
The emperor later sends ransoms to Toğrül, who refuses them, however, and releases Liparit on condition that he will never again fight the Seljuqs.
During Ibrahim’s expedition, tens of thousands of Christians are said to have been massacred and several areas have been reduced to piles of ashes.
The devastation left behind by the Seljuq raid was so fearful that the Byzantine magnate Eustathios Boilas will describe, in 1051/52, these lands as "foul and unmanageable... inhabited by snakes, scorpions, and wild beasts."
The Arab chronicler Ibn al-Athir reports that Ibrahim brought back one hundred thousand captives and a vast booty loaded on the backs of ten thousand camels.
(Paul A. Blaum (2005).
Diplomacy gone to seed: a history of Byzantine foreign relations, A.D. 1047-57. International Journal of Kurdish Studies.)