Georgian-Byzantine wars were fought between the Georgian Kingdom and Byzantium in 1021-1022 and 1028-1030 for the southwestern Georgian provinces of Tao-Klarjeti county.

The Byzantine Emperor Basil II occupied Georgian Princedom of Tao after the death of David III the Kuropalates in 1000. The Georgian-Byzantine disputes over the David’s succession developed into a military conflict in 1014, when Georgia’s King Giorgi I invaded the disputed area and defeated an imperial army. However, once the Byzantine annexation of Bulgaria was completed in 1018, preparations for a larger-scale campaign were set in train. In the autumn of 1021, Basil II of Byzantium attacked the Georgian borders, defeated Giorgi I and his Armenian allies and overran the provinces of Tao , Artaani and Javakheti . However, the first incursion proved to be inconclusive and Basil launched another offensive in the spring of 1022. The Byzantines won a crushing victory and forced Georgia to negotiate a peace agreement. Giorgi handed over several fortresses and his son Bagrat as a hostage for three years.

Prince Bagrat returned home to become King Bagrat IV of Georgia in 1025. However, powerful party of oppositional feudal lords refused to recognize his suzerainty and invited Byzantine army in Georgia in 1028. Bagrat’s desperate resistance and the death of Emperor Constantine VIII made his successor Romanus III to end the Georgian campaign in 1029. Georgia’s queen mother Mariam visited Constantinople and negotiated a peace treaty between the two countries in 1029.

See also

• History of Georgia

External Link

• http://www.roman-emperors.org/basilii.htm