Siege of Tbilisi (1386)


The Siege of Tbilisi was the successful siege of the city of Tbilisi, capital of the Kingdom of Georgia, by the Turco-Mongol conqueror Tamerlane, which ended on 22 November 1386. The official history of his reign, Zafarnama, represents this campaign in Georgia as a jihad.

History

In late autumn 1386, a huge army of Timur attacked Georgia. Timur set out from Kars and assailed Samtskhe, the southernmost principality within the Kingdom of Georgia later in 1386. From there, he marched to Tbilisi which the Georgian king Bagrat V had fortified. Tbilisi was besieged and taken on 22 November 1386, after a fierce fight. The city was pillaged and Bagrat V and his family were imprisoned. The Georgian Chronicle and Armenian Thomas of Metsoph mention the apostasy of the king but represent it as a clever ruse which enabled him to earn a degree of trust from Timur. Bagrat was given some 12,000 troops to reestablish himself in Georgia whose government was run by Bagrat’s son and co-ruler George VII during his father’s absence at Timur’s court. The old king, however, entered in secret negotiations with George who ambushed Bagrat’s Islamic escort, and freed his father.