From the history of Behbudyan dynasty in Georgia

Abstract

Thus, summarizing the key issues in the history of the Behbudian dynasty in the 17th century, we can state: The combination of Armenian and Georgian sources allows us to roughly outline the migration of the Behbudians to Georgia. Therefore, it turns out that the kin of Behbudians migrated to Georgia from Western Armenia, probably from Shirak region. Another branch of this dynasty continued its activity in Persia, where representatives of the Behbud family are mentioned as being from Georgia. Accordingly, there is a high probability that the Behbudians who settled in Persia migrated from Georgia. In the 17th century, in Georgia the kin of Khoja Behbud, who was the manager of the mint of the Georgian court, carried out an active role. He and his sons maintained close ties with St. Etchmiadzin and stood out with their donations. The successors of Khoja Behbud held high military positions, both in the Georgian court and in Persia. Moreover, already in the 18th century, his descendants occupied the position of the mayor of Tpghis. All published sources regarding the denominational affiliation of the Behbudyan family state that during the period under study, they were steadfast followers of the Armenian Church. In Tpghis, they started building a church, according to the 17th-century manuscript records, the representatives of this kin were the patrons of most of the Armenian churches in Tpghis. The examination of the sources showed that the initiative to build St. Stepanos convent belongs not Khoja Behbud's son, but his grandson Melik Ashkarbek and one of the sons of Ashxarbek, Melik Agha.