House of Sharvashidze

The House of Sharvashidze or Chachba or Shervashidze () was a Georgian-Abkhazian ruling family of Principality of Abkhazia. The family was later recognized as one of the princely families of the Russian Empire at the request of King Heraclius II of Georgia in accordance with the list of Georgian noblemen presented in the Treaty of Georgievsk.

History
Although the surname is given in a standard Georgian form (particularly, the typical –dze suffix meaning "a son"), in the 12th century the family is said to have derived its original name from Shirvanshahs, a dynasty of Shirvan. 

Anchabadze disputes this genealogy and argues that Sharvashidze was a local dynasty (they had another purely Abkhazian name Chachba) that had invented a foreign ancestry which is not unusual in feudal genealogies. 

The first representative of the dynasty assumed the princely powers under the authority of the Georgian kings circa 1325. It was not, however, until the final decomposition of the unified Georgian feudal state in the late 15th century, when the Abkhazian princes obtained their full independence, only to soon become vassals of the Ottoman Empire. That Turkish overlordship brought major changes in their palace culture and political leanings, with the Sharvashidze gradually losing their ties with the Christian Georgian nobility.

In the late 18th century, the Sharvashidze princes embraced Islam, but shifted back and forth across the religious divide, as the Russians and Ottomans struggled for controlling the area. The pro-Russian orientation prevailed, and Abkhazia joined Imperial Russia in 1810 while the Sharvashidzes () were confirmed in the Russian princely rank in accordance with the Russo-Georgian Treaty of Georgievsk.

According to Nikoloz Sharvashidze (Head of the House of Sharvashidze) the elder descendants of the Aslan-Bey branch of the family live in Georgia, while the junior branch is said to have gone extinct in Turkey.

Princes of Abkhazia 

 Otagho I Sharvashidze
 Otagho II Sharvashidze (circa 1213)
 Dardin Sharvashidze (circa 1213 - 1243)
 Arghunai Sharvashidze
 Rabia Sharvashidze
 Solomon Sharvashidze
 Arazkhan Sharvashidze
 Beslak Sharvashidze 
 Karabey Sharvashidze
 Putu Sharvashidze (circa 1580–1620)
 Seteman Sharvashidze (circa 1620–1640)
 Sustar Sharvashidze (circa 1640–1665)
 Zegnak Sharvashidze (circa 1665–1700)
 Rostom Sharvashidze (circa 1700–1730)
 Manuchar Sharvashidze (circa 1730–1750)
 Zurab Sharvashidze (circa 1750–1780)
 Kelesh Ahmed-Bey Sharvashidze (circa 1780–1808)
 Aslan-Bey Sharvashidze (Nikoloz) (1808–1810)
 Sefer Ali-Bey (George) (1810–1821)
 Umar-Bey (Demetreus) (1821–1822)
 Mikhail Sharvashidze (1822–1864)
Abkhazia incorporated into the Russian Empire (1864)

22. Giorgi Sharvashidze (George) (1866–1918)

23. Aleksandr Sharvashidze (Alexander) (1918–1968)

Direct descendants through the elder line of Aslan Bey Sharvashidze 

24. George Konstantinovich Sharvashidze (1973–2010)

25. Teimuraz Georgievitch Sharvashidze (2010-)

26. Nikoloz Sharvashidze

Notable members of the family 
 Dardin Sharvashidze - Anti-Mongol Warrior.
 Otagho Sharvashidze 
 Kelsey Ahmed-Bey Sharvashidze - One of the greatest rulers of Abkhazia who heralded its peak expansion and diplomatic communication with Napoleon's Ambassador Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta in Costantinopole.
 Aslan-Bey Sharvashidze
Gülistu Kadın - biological mother of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI Vahidettin

See also 
Principality of Abkhazia
List of Princes of Abkhazia
Eristavi of Guria
Abkhazi

References

Sources 
 Georgi M. Derluguian, The Tale of Two Resorts: Abkhazia and Ajaria Before and Since and the Soviet Collapse. In: The Myth of "Ethnic Conflict": Politics, Economics, and "Cultural" Violence, edited by Beverly Crawford and Ronnie D. Lipschutz. University of California Press/University of California International and Area Studies Digital Collection, Edited Volume #98, pp. 261–292, 1998
 The Oath of Allegiance of Prince Sefer-Ali Bek to the Russian crown, August 23 1810 (text)
Russian Biographical Dictionary
 Stanislav Vladimirovich Dumin. Pyotr Grebelsky. The Noble Houses of the Russian Empire. Moscow, Russia: 1994.  Думин С. В., Гребельский П. Х. Дворянские роды Российской Империи. — Москва, 1994

 
Noble families of Georgia (country)
Russian noble families
Georgian-language surnames
Abkhazian nobility