DOCUMENTS ABOUT KARTLI REGENT LEVAN PRESERVED IN THE VATICAN PROPAGANDA FIDE HISTORICAL ARCHIVE

Abstract

With the presented article we aim to begin the process of publishing previously unknown or little-known documents preserved in the Propaganda Fide Historical Archive. This endeavor is anticipated to be of significant interest to researchers studying the history of late medieval Georgia.
The letter preserved in the Propaganda Fide Historical Archive was dispatched by Levan Batonishvili, the youngest son of Vakhtang V Shahnavaz (1658-1675), from Georgia to Pope Clement XI, the head of the Catholic Church. During this period, Kartli had been conquered by Iranian forces, and an Iranian garrison was stationed in Tbilisi, oppressing the Christian Georgians. Following the death of Vakhtang V Shahnavaz, Giorgi XI ascended to the royal throne of Kartli with the Shah of Iran’s permission, although he struggled to adapt to Iranian rule. Levan Batonishvili’s letter reveals that the king of Kartli faced humiliation at the Persian court due to the mistreatment of Georgian peasants by Iranian authorities. The Shah  demanded that the king of Kartli send his younger brother Levan as a hostage.
Consequently, Levan was sent to one of Iran’s fortresses. The Batonishvili family, fearing the possibility of captivity, fled from Georgia. In his correspondence to the Pope, Levan articulates the significant hardships and suffering he endured during
this tumultuous period. He was compelled to renounce Christianity and convert to Islam; however, he emphasized that this conversion was only outward, deeply affecting the Georgian prince. The Shah, recognizing Levan Batonishvili’s conviction
in the superiority of the Roman Catholic Church, monitored him closely. In response to his precarious situation, Levan requested that the Pope designate a Catholic clergyman to assist him, although this clergyman would need to wear secular clothing to avoid raising suspicions of re-Christianization, which could provoke the Shah’s anger and pose a significant risk to his family.

The history of the creation of Levan Batonishvili’s letter is also interesting. The documents accompanying the letter reveal that Levan, being in Isfahan, sent a signed and sealed blank sheet to Vakhtang VI and probably Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani and asked them to write a letter to the Pope on his behalf. The information presented in the archival documents and the comparative analysis of calligraphy attested that the letter of Levan was most probably written by Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani.