David IV of Georgia - Accession To The Throne

Accession To The Throne

Watching his kingdom slip into chaos, George II, ceded the crown to his 16-year old son David in 1089. Although the historical tradition founded by Prince Vakhushti in the 18th century and followed by Marie-Félicité Brosset in the 19th makes David succeed George upon his death, a number of surviving documents suggest that George died around 1112 and he retained the royal title until his death, but he played no significant role and real power remained with David. Moreover, David himself had been a co-ruler with his father sometime before his becoming a king-regnant in 1089; a document of 1085 mentions David as "king and sebastos", the latter being a Byzantine title, frequently held, like other imperial dignities, by the members of the Georgian royal family. David's formal cooption into government may have occurred even earlier, in 1083, when George II left Georgia for the negotiations at the court of the Seljuq sultan Malik-Shah I.