From dynastic principality to imperial district: The incorporation of Guria into the Russian Empire to 1856.

Abstract

This study examines the process of incorporation into the Russian Empire of the Western Georgian principality of Guria from early contacts to actual annexation. It uses Cyril Toumanoff's concept of dynasticism as the framework for explaining the earlier emergence of Guria as an autonomous principality on the periphery of the borderland region of Caucasia. The study explores how dynasticism functioned in Guria to foster autonomy amidst Ottoman hegemony before Russian encroachment. It then investigates how the Russians utilized dynasticism to inspire loyalty from the princely Gurian families, making the Gurians allies in the process of extending the empire to the Islamic lands of Ottoman Turkey and Persia. Part One (Chapters Two and Three) uncouples Western from Eastern Georgia and surveys Gurian history up to the Russian period. Relying on chronicles, charters, law codes, and travel accounts, this part traces the political development of Guria as a uniquely located principality bordering the Ottoman Empire. It scrutinizes the institutions of dynastic rule and survival strategies deployed by Gurians to preserve autonomy of family and principality. The ruling Gurieli family upheld their precarious autonomy through expedient political alliances with Ottomans and other Georgian dynastic families alike. Part Two (Chapters Four and Five) focuses on the forging of alliances between Russia and the polities of Western Georgia. Based on imperial correspondence, oaths of allegiance, contemporary histories, and travel accounts, these chapters examine the discourse of alliance, imbued with references to Christian piety and Russia's civilizing mission. Western Georgian rulers entered into alliances with the Russians on an ideology of avoiding extinction: Russia was saving the Georgians from imminent peril. Part Two analyzes how Russia sought to integrate Guria into the imperial administration through erratic reforms that triggered revolts even as Gurians rallied to support the Russians in wars against the Ottomans. By preserving the dynastic social structure in Guria even as it dissolved political autonomy, the administration carried out a gradual process of turning the principality into an imperial district. Only after the Crimean War could the imperial regime embark on a deeper transformation of the social structure and economy in Guria.