ლეკიანობა
Lekianoba: the raids on Georgia
For more than two centuries, raiding parties from the mountains of Dagestan crossed into the Georgian kingdoms, above all into Kakheti. Georgians called these raiders Leks, and the long period of raids Lekianoba.
Who were the “Leks”?
“Lek” (ლეკი) was the word Georgian chroniclers used for the highlanders of Dagestan. It was an umbrella term, used mostly for Avars, and it does not refer to any single people. Russian reports of the 18th century used the equally loose word “Lezgins” for the same groups.
Many raids on Kakheti began across the Alazani river, in the communities of Jar-Belakan. This was once Georgian land. In the 17th century it came under the control of Avar and Tsakhur settlers, and it became the main base for raids into the valley.
Why the raids happened
- The unified Georgian kingdom had broken apart, and the smaller kingdoms were worn down by wars with Persia and the Ottoman Empire.
- Captives were sold at the slave market of Akhaltsikhe, in Ottoman-held Samtskhe. Livestock and property were taken as plunder.
- Ottoman and Persian rulers sometimes encouraged the raids to weaken the Georgian kings. Georgian princes occasionally hired the raiders against their own rivals.
Most raids were small and fast parties. At times, though, the khans of Avaria led armies of thousands, and they besieged fortresses or demanded tribute.
How Georgia defended itself
King Erekle II (Heraclius) of Kartli-Kakheti spent much of his reign fighting the raiders. In 1774 he created the Morige army (მორიგე ჯარი). Every man of every class served one month a year with his own weapons and food, which kept a standing force on duty. Hired soldiers called nokari were also used, mainly against the raids.
Villages and churches were fortified. Monasteries such as Gremi, Alaverdi, Nekresi and Bodbe stood inside galavani, fortified enclosure walls. In 1762 the town of Sighnaghi above the Alazani valley was walled as a refuge, with about four kilometres of walls and 23 towers. Each tower was named after the village whose people sheltered there.
In the mountains of Tusheti, Pshavi and Khevsureti, stone tower villages protected families and livestock. Erekle released these highlanders from royal dues because they guarded the border.
Key moments
| 1735 | Young Erekle defeats raiders at Kiziqi, his first victory. |
| 1754 | Teimuraz II and Erekle defeat Nursal-Bek, the Avar nutsal (ruler), at Mchadijvari. |
| 1755 | Nursal-Bek besieges Kvareli in Kakheti for about twenty days. He has no siege engines, and Georgian forces drive him off. |
| 1774 | Erekle II creates the Morige army. |
| 1778 | Battle of Ghartiskari. |
| 1785 | Omar Khan of Avaria raids Lori and Upper Imereti. He besieges Vakhani fortress and twice tries to blow up its walls. |
| 1800 | A Russian-Georgian force defeats Omar Khan at Niakhura, on the Iori river. |
| 1854 | The last great raid: Shamil’s men strike Tsinandali in Kakheti and capture the princesses Anna Chavchavadze and Varvara Orbeliani. They are exchanged in 1855. |
How it ended
After Kartli-Kakheti was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801, the raids gradually weakened. A fortified cordon was built along the Alazani and Iori rivers, and Jar-Belakan was subdued by 1830. The raid of 1854, during the long Caucasian War, is usually counted as the end of Lekianoba.
A note on this game
Raid of the Leks is set in this history, seen from the Georgian villages that had to defend themselves. The raiders were people of their time, shaped by feudal rule, poverty and the politics of empires. The peoples of Dagestan have their own memory of these events, and today’s Avars, Lezgins and other Dagestani peoples are not the enemy of anyone. Enemy names follow 18th-century usage.
Sources
- Lekianoba (Wikipedia) · ლეკიანობა (ქართული ვიკიპედია)
- მორიგე ჯარი — the Morige army
- Battle of Kvareli · Battle of Niakhura · Jar-Balakan
- Sighnaghi fortress (Georgian National Tourism Administration)
- The banner of Kakheti after Vakhushti Bagrationi’s atlas (c. 1735–45); The Story of Georgian Heraldry (State Council of Heraldry of Georgia)