FROM THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL RELATIONS IN THE NOBILITY OF THE TUMANISHVILIS (PEASANTS)

Abstract

After the disintegration of a united Georgia in the second half of the 15th century, the kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti, Imereti, and the Samtskhe-Saatabago principality emerged. From this time a system of nobility was created in Georgia, including the feudal system of the Tumanishvilis. In addition to the size of the land that determined the strength of this or that nobility, the number of serfs also played a great role. Although, in Georgian historiography in the direction of studying the categories of peasants there are numerous works of the researchers - Iv. Javakhishvili, N. Berdzenishvili, G. Jamburia, D. Gvritishvili, V. Guchua, E. Khoshtaria, G. Akopashvili, D. Gogoladze, etc. we still do not have a unified picture of the organizational structure of the Tumanishvilis’ serfs and peasants.

    Based on the documentary sources and scientific literature verified in the present paper, we have had an attempt to study the social and legal status of the peasants of the Tumanishvilis’ nobility, the ways how they became the property of the Master. It is known that there were different categories of peasants in feudal Georgia. As a result of our research, the following structural units of serfs and peasants were identified in the nobility of the Tumanishvilis: bought, resident, Khizani (a landless peasant),  Bogano (an uneducated, small-scale, economically disadvantaged peasant),  Nebieri (a peasant who voluntarily enslaved the feudal lord on certain conditions) or serf of mercy, the defendant (free or self-sacrificing peasant), Natskalobevi (a peasant who was rewarded by the king or a great feudal lord for any service rendered to the feudal lord), Tarkhani or Azat (free peasant in medieval Georgia).

     Keywords: Nobles Tumanishvilis, land, serf-peasant, purchased, resident, Khizani, Bogano, Nebieri, the defendant, Natskalobevi, Tarkhani.