Rioni River
One of the earliest mentions of the Mikeladze family can be found in the 1325/6 synodal records from the Tbeti Cathedral (now in Turkey) whereby King Michael of Imereti sanctions a reparational payment ("sasiskhlo", a Georgian equivalent of weregild) by a certain Gogitashvili to Mikeladze. The Mikeladze's princely domain in Imereti, known as Samikeladzeo (სამიქელაძეო; "of Mikeladze"), was centered on the village of Kulashi on the right bank of the Rioni River, where their familial castle and church were located. They were incessantly involved in the civil wars that plagued Imereti from the 15th century into the 19th. After the Russian conquest of Imereti in 1810, the family was integrated into the Russian nobility and confirmed as a princely house (knyaz) in 1850.