Vakhtang VI of Kartli

Vakhtang VI
Portrait in royal regalia c. early 1700s
King of Kartli
Reign	1716 - July 1724
Coronation	1716
Predecessor	Heraclius I
Successor	Jesse
Born	(1675-09-15)15 September 1675
Died	26 March 1737(1737-03-26) (aged 61) Governorate of Astrakhan, Russian Empire
Burial	Church of Assumption of Astrakhan
Consort	Rusudan of Circassia
Dynasty	Bagrationi
Father	Levan of Kartli
Mother	Tuta Gurieli
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic, Islam
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Vakhtang VI (Georgian: ვახტანგ VI), also known as Vakhtang the Scholar, Vakhtang the Lawgiver and Ḥosaynqolī Khan (Persian: حسینقلی خان‎, translit. Ḥusayn Qulī Khān‎) (September 15, 1675 – March 26, 1737), was a Georgian monarch of the royal Bagrationi dynasty. He ruled the East Georgian Kingdom of Kartli in the time of the kingdom's vassalage at the hands of Persia from 1716 to 1724. One of the most important and extraordinary statesman of early 18th-century Georgia, he is known as a notable legislator, scholar, critic, translator and poet. His reign was eventually terminated by the Ottoman invasion following the disintegration of Safavid Persia, which forced Vakhtang into exile in the Russian Empire. With Russia still short of reaching its Imperial zenith, Vakhtang was unable to get the tsar's support for his kingdom and instead had to permanently stay with his northern neighbors for his own safety. On his way to a diplomatic mission sanctioned by Empress Anna, he fell ill and died in southern Russia in 1737, never reaching Georgia.

Son of Prince Levan, he ruled as regent (janishin) for his absent uncle, George XI, and his brother, Kaikhosro, from 1703 to 1712. During these years, he launched a series of long-needed reforms, revived economy and culture, reorganised administration and attempted to fortify the central royal authority. In 1707–1709, he substantially revised the legal code (dasturlamali, aka “Vakhtang’s code”) which would operate as a basis for the Georgian feudal system up to the Russian annexation. He was summoned by the shah Husayn in 1712 to be confirmed as wali/king of Kartli. The shah would not grant the confirmation, except on condition of Vakhtang embracing Islam, which having refused to do, he was imprisoned, and, after a brief regency of Prince Simon, his brother Jesse (Ali Quli-Khan), who complied with the condition, was put in his place in 1714. Jesse governed Kartli two years, during which he suffered from internal troubles and the inroads of the Dagestani tribes, otherwise known as Lekianoba.