George II Gurieli
prince of Guria
George II Gurieli (Georgian: გიორგი II გურიელი, romanized: giorgi II gurieli; died 1600), of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1564 to 1583 and again from 1587 to 1600. Succeeding on the death of his father Rostom Gurieli, George's rule over his small principality, located in southwest Georgia, was a period of conflict with the neighboring Dadiani of Mingrelia and increasing assertiveness of the Ottomans whom Gurieli submitted in 1581. His reign was interrupted, from 1583 to 1587, by a Mingrelian invasion, but George was able to resume the throne with Ottoman support.
Accession
George II Gurieli succeeded on the death of his father Rostom Gurieli in 1564. The entire length of his reign saw continuation of political strife, territorial disputes, plots and counterplots, jealousies and feuds among the rulers of a now-fragmented Georgia, occurring against the background of the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into western Georgia and the Ottoman–Safavid rivalry in the Caucasus. In modern historiography, he is sometimes assigned the regnal number "III" by virtue of his being the third George with the style of Gurieli, the first being a son of Kakhaber I Gurieli in the 14th century and the second being George Gurieli, ruling from 1483 to 1512.
Conflict with Dadiani
In 1568, Gurieli supported his nominal royal suzerain, King George III of Imereti, against Levan I Dadiani, who was expelled from Mingrelia. Beyond political and territorial disputes, the Gurieli–Dadiani conflict also had personal dimensions: Gurieli's pride was wounded by repudiation of his sister by her husband, Levan Dadiani's son George; George Gurieli responded by marrying and then divorcing Levan's daughter. The ousted Dadiani returned with an Ottoman force and compelled Gurieli to buy peace for 10,000 dirhams.
Shortly after Levan's death in 1572, George Gurieli invaded Mingrelia and deposed Levan's successor and his former son-in-law George Dadiani in favor of Mamia IV Dadiani, whom he then gave his sister in marriage.
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