George IV of Georgia
King of Georgia
George IV (Georgian: გიორგი IV, romanized: giorgi IV; 1192 – 18 January 1223), also known as Lasha Giorgi (Georgian: ლაშა გიორგი), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1213 to 1223.
Early life
George was the son of Queen Tamar of Georgia and her consort David Soslan, George was declared as a coregent by his mother in 1207. According to the Georgian chronicles, the prince's second name Lasha meant 'illuminator of the world' in the Abkhaz language (a-lasha meant light).
He had a princely domain in Javakheti, centered around Alastani, for which he was known by the title of javakht' up'ali, i.e., "the Lord of the Javakhians" as suggested by a type of silver coins struck in his name.
Reign
After Tamar's death, George IV became the ruler of Kingdom of Georgia, George continued Tamar's policy of strengthening the feudal Georgian state.
The feudal lords supporting George were Sargis Tmogveli, Shalva and Ivane Akhaltsikheli, Sula Surameli, Botso and Memna Jaqeli. Lasha's opponents were Ivane I Mkhargrdzeli and Varam Gageli.
At Tamar's death, the atabeg of Ganja, Muzaffar al-Din Uzbek, stopped paying tribute. King George called Darbazi – the supreme royal council – where he proposed punishing the atabeg of Ganja immediately. The nobles approved a campaign and George IV set out to ravage Ganja with an ample army.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “George IV of Georgia” is king of Georgia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through George, Georgia and King, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “king of Georgia” 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.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q714595. VIAF identifies the subject as 690153363077237520004. The Library of Congress control number is n83141746. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1192, 1223, 1213 and 1207.
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.
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This entry incorporates text from “George IV 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.