Vakhtang V of Kartli (1618–1676)
Born 1618 CE, died 1676 CE.
Vakhtang V (Georgian: ვახტანგ V; died September 1676), also known as Shah-Navaz Khan (Georgian: შაჰ-ნავაზ ხანი, romanized: shah-navaz khani), was a king (mepe) of the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli, a Prince of Mukhrani under the names Vakhtang II and Bakhuta Beg, and a statesman in Safavid Iran. He belonged to the House of Mukhrani, a collateral branch of the royal Bagrationi dynasty. Vakhtang V was the first king of Kartli from the Mukhrani line, a dynasty that ruled Kartli until 1727. Born into the princely house that had governed the region of Mukhrani in central Georgia since the early 16th century, Vakhtang was the eldest son of Prince Teimuraz I, Prince of Mukhrani. He did not immediately succeed his father upon the latter’s death in 1625 but came to power around 1634 during the Persian invasion. An ally of the pro-Persian government of Kartli, Vakhtang was named heir by the childless King Rostom Khan in 1653. Before assuming administrative authority over the Kingdom of Kartli, he was required to convert to Islam. During his five-year regency, Vakhtang sought unsuccessfully to reconcile with the powerful Georgian nobility, which had remained unified only under Rostom’s rule.
Text from the Wikipedia article Vakhtang_V, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.