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Demetrius (son of Alexander I of Georgia)

king of Imereti

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ1106993 ↗
Source-derived summary

Demetrius (Georgian: დიმიტრი, romanized: dimit'ri) (c. 1413 – 1453), also known as Demetrius III, was the second son of Alexander I of Georgia by his first wife Dulandukht Orbelian. He was co-king with his father from 1433 to 1442 and with his brother Vakhtang IV from 1442 to 1446. On Vakhtang's death, Demetrius became a de jure king of Georgia but his accession to the throne was precluded by his younger brother George VIII.

Biography

Demetrius first appears in the charter dated to 1413. Traditional Georgian historiography founded by Prince Vakhushti in the 18th century erroneously makes him a younger brother of George VIII and frequently omits him from the list of the kings of Georgia. Demetrius was co-opted by his father Alexander I in 1433. He was sent by him as ambassador to Shah Rukh, son of Timur.

After Alexander I's renouncement of the throne in 1442 in favor of Vakhtang IV, Demetrius remained a co-king with the latter, whereas Alexander's third son, George VIII, was made a co-king appanaged in Kakheti. Upon the death of Vakhtang IV in 1446, Demetrius III was to become de jure king-regnant of Georgia, but the throne was seized by George VIII, inaugurating a series of conflicts which would eventually lead to the dissolution of the kingdom of Georgia by the close of the 15th century. Demetrius retired to the western province of Imereti. He was killed by a horse while hunting in 1453 (or 1452).

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Demetrius (son of Alexander I of Georgia)” is king of Imereti. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Demetrius, Alexander and Georgia, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1413, 1453, 1433, 1442—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1413-01-01. For this dossier, Demetrius, Alexander and Georgia is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “king of Imereti” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1106993. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1413, 1453, 1433 and 1442.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Demetrius (son of Alexander I of Georgia)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Demetrius (son of Alexander I of Georgia) primary sources, Demetrius (son of Alexander I of Georgia) archive and Demetrius research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Demetrius (son of Alexander I of Georgia)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.