View source for Demetrius, Duke of Imereti

{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Demetrius
| birth_date   =
| death_date   = 1455
| death_place  =
| spouse       =
| issue        = Gulashar
| father       = [[Alexander I of Imereti]]
| mother       = Ana [[House of Orbeliani|Orbeliani]]
| religion     = [[Georgian Orthodox Church]]
| dynasty      = [[Bagrationi dynasty|Bagrationi]]
}}
'''Demetrius''' ({{lang-ka|დემეტრე}}, ''Demetre'') (died 1455) was a Georgian royal prince of the [[Bagrationi dynasty]]. He was a duke of [[Kingdom of Imereti|Imereti]], with intermissions, from 1401 to 1455.
Demetrius was a son of King [[Alexander I of Imereti]] (died 1389), who had broken away from the [[Kingdom of Georgia]] during [[Timur's invasions of Georgia|Timur's invasions of that country]] in 1387. After his uncle, [[George I of Imereti|King George I]], was killed in 1392, Demetrius was carried away by another uncle, [[Constantine II of Imereti|Constantine]], to seek refuge in the [[North Caucasus|Caucasian mountains]]. They were able to return to Imereti in 1396, when Constantine was proclaimed king. He died childless in 1401, leaving the throne to the young and weak Demetrius. His accession was prevented, however, by King [[George VII of Georgia]], who, once freed from a protracted war with Timur, invaded Imereti. The [[Dadiani]] of [[Principality of Mingrelia|Mingrelia]] and Imeretian nobles captured Demetrius and delivered him to George, who treated him with consideration and sent him to a safe retreat in [[Somkhiti]], in [[Kartli]]. [[Alexander I of Georgia]], who married Demetrius's sister Tamar c. 1415, restored him to Imereti as a vassal ''[[eristavi]]'' ("duke"). He remained loyal to the Georgian crown and died in 1455.<ref name="Vakh">{{cite book|last=Bagrationi|first=Vakhushti|script-title=ru:История Царства Грузинского|trans-title=History of the Kingdom of Georgia|year=1976|publisher=Metsniereba|location=Tbilisi|page=42|url=http://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/3067/1/Istoria_Carstva_Gruzinskogo.pdf|authorlink=Prince Vakhushti of Kartli|editor=Nakashidze, N.T.|language=Russian}}</ref>
A claim by the early-18th-century Georgian historian, [[Prince Vakhushti]], that [[Bagrat VI of Georgia|Bagrat VI]], the forefather of the subsequent dynasty of Imeretian kings, was Demetrius's son is false. The version was adopted by [[Marie-Félicité Brosset]] in the 19th century and survived into the 20th. It has been rejected by a number of scholars and [[Cyril Toumanoff]] eventually elucidated Bagrat's true origin as a grandson of [[Constantine I of Georgia]].<ref name="toum">{{cite journal|last=Toumanoff|first=Cyril|author-link=Cyril Toumanoff|title=The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia|journal=Traditio|year=1949–51|volume=7|pages = 190–197}}</ref>
== References ==
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{{Reflist}}
[[Category:1455 deaths]]
[[Category:Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Imereti]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:14th-century people from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:15th-century people from Georgia (country)]]
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