Katsia II Dadiani (; died 6 December 1788) was a Georgian prince who ruled the Principality of Mingrelia from 1758 to 1788.
A member of the House of Chikovani-Dadiani, which had governed Mingrelia since the late 17th century, he was the son of Prince Otia Dadiani, whom he succeeded upon his death in 1758. Inheriting a principality torn by internal conflicts, Katsia initially served as a close ally of his suzerain, the young King Solomon I of Imereti, whom he assisted during the Battle of Khresili and later supported at the royal assembly of 1759, during which the Kingdom of Imereti prohibited the slave trade.
Despite a policy largely aligned with that of other Georgian states, Katsia was forced to join the Ottoman Empire during its invasion of western Georgia in 1765. This led to a protracted war between Mingrelia and Imereti lasting until 1776, and to the schism of the Western Georgian Orthodox Church (1769–1774), despite multiple mediation efforts by the Catholicate of Abkhazia, the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, and Russian Empire.
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, Katsia II shifted allegiance to the Russian forces under General Tottleben, who encouraged a Mingrelian uprising against Solomon I and joined Dadiani in the siege of Poti, which ended in disaster for the Russians. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca placed Mingrelia under nominal Ottoman protection, though in practice this had little effect, as only Poti remained under Turkish control.
In 1780, Katsia and Solomon successfully repelled a major Abkhaz–Circassian invasion supported by the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Rukhi. Subsequently, Katsia intervened in Abkhazia to install Zurab Sharvashidze on the princely throne.
Following Solomon's death in 1784, Katsia proclaimed David II as King of Imereti in opposition to the legitimate heir, triggering a series of noble revolts and an attempted Ottoman invasion aimed at placing Prince Kaikhosro Abashidze on the Imeretian throne. Under David II's reign, Katsia II Dadiani expanded his wealth and territories, secured the de jure independence of Mingrelia, and sought the protection of the Russian Empire.
Early Life and Military Career
Born at an unknown date during the first half of the 18th century, Katsia Dadiani was the eldest son of Prince Otia Dadiani and his wife, Gulkhan Chkheidze, daughter of Duke Shoshita III of Racha. He was thus raised within a family deeply involved in the civil conflicts that devastated western Georgia during the reign of Alexander V of Imereti.
Little is known about his early life, but Katsia gradually gained influence within the Principality of Mingrelia—a territory formally dependent on the crown of Imereti yet pursuing an increasingly independent and defiant policy as his father aged. With the accession of Solomon I to the Imeretian throne in 1752, royal policy became openly opposed to Ottoman dominance, as demonstrated by the 1757 ban on the slave trade, one of the main sources of commercial revenue from Anatolia.
That same year, the Ottomans attempted to overthrow Solomon by force. In December, they launched a large-scale invasion of Imereti with 40,000 men under the command of Haji Ahmad, Pasha of Akhaltsikhe, while Solomon secured military support from Mingrelia and the neighboring Principality of Guria. Too old to lead his troops in person, Otia Dadiani sent Katsia at the head of a battalion of Mingrelians and Lechkhumians, accompanied by Khutunia Sharvashidze, Count of Samurzakano—a frontier march between Mingrelia and Abkhazia. On 14 December, Katsia joined the royal forces on the plains of Okriba. Together, they confronted the Ottomans at the Battle of Khresili.
Despite the numerical superiority of the Ottoman forces, the Georgian alliance achieved a decisive victory. During the battle, Solomon personally killed the Ottoman pasha, while the contingent of Khutunia Sharvashidze displayed remarkable heroism that proved crucial to the outcome, though the count himself was killed in combat. The victory at Khresili strengthened Solomon I's position on the throne, and in 1758 he concluded a mutual defense pact with the Georgian monarchs Teimuraz II of Kartli and Heraclius II of Kakheti—an alliance that shaped the political landscape of western Georgia for the remainder of the eighteenth century.
Reign
Accession and early reign In 1758, upon the death of his father, Katsia succeeded him as Prince of Mingrelia under the name Katsia II Dadiani. He inherited a principality precariously situated between the crown of Imereti, which he formally recognized as his suzerain, and the Ottoman Empire, which controlled the coastline of the Black Sea. Despite the royal edict of 1757, the trade of Mingrelian slaves to Trebizond and Constantinople remained particularly active.
At the same time, Katsia II demonstrated his independence by nationalizing the cultivation of tobacco in the provinces of Tsalenjikha and Djgali, which had previously been under Ottoman monopoly. The continual unrest within and around Mingrelia forced Dadiani to move his court frequently from village to village. During these displacements, he developed close relations with the peasantry of his principality, often accepting their hospitality personally.
King Solomon I, viewing the victory at Khresili as an opportunity to consolidate his power, convened on 4 December 1759 a legislative assembly in Kutaisi composed of the leading noble and ecclesiastical figures of western Georgia, attended by Katsia II and the major nobles of Mingrelia. Over the course of a month, the assembly enacted numerous socio-economic and religious reforms, reorganizing the Catholicate of Abkhazia as an executive branch of the royal government, re-establishing the Eparchy of Kutaisi (under direct royal control), and exempting the Church from taxation.
The most significant reform adopted by the assembly was an agreement between the king, Katsia II, and Prince Mamia IV of Guria to prohibit the slave trade throughout western Georgia. On 5 December, Katsia II formally recognized Solomon I before the assembly as the “undisputed sovereign” of all western Georgia.
Following the Assembly of 1759, Katsia II pursued a policy of conciliation with the other Georgian monarchs—a rare instance of South Caucasian unity after centuries of internal conflict. In 1760, he joined Solomon I and Duke Rostom of Racha in providing a 15,000-man contingent to assist King Heraclius II of Kartli-Kakheti in his invasion of Ganja. In November 1765, Katsia divorced the Abkhazian noblewoman Darejan Sharvashidze to marry Princess Elisabeth, sister of Heraclius II, thereby strengthening this intra-Georgian alliance.
Conflict with Solomon I The alliance between the Georgian rulers changed in 1765, when an Ottoman army of 40,000 soldiers invaded western Imereti, overthrew the Prince of Guria despite Katsia's military intervention, and threatened Mingrelia. To prevent the devastation of his principality, Dadiani allowed the Ottomans to encamp in Mingrelia during the winter, from where they prepared for a full invasion of Imereti. In the spring of 1766, the Turks, under the command of General Hasan Pasha, entered the kingdom with the support of Mingrelia and captured the citadel of Sveri.
Within weeks, they reached the capital, Kutaisi, deposed King Solomon, and proclaimed his cousin Teimuraz as King of Imereti. After the Ottoman withdrawal, Katsia Dadiani, George V of Guria, and Rostom of Racha continued to support Teimuraz. The alliance between Mingrelia and the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti soon collapsed following the death of Elizabeth Orbeliani, after which Katsia refused to return her “very rich dowry.”
Despite his deposition, Solomon remained in Imereti, waging a fierce guerrilla campaign against the usurper with the aid of Lezgin mercenaries. In 1767, the dethroned king regained his crown, and thanks to the intervention of Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire refrained from aiding Teimuraz. On 28 January 1768, Katsia Dadiani, Teimuraz, and Rostom of Racha were defeated by Solomon and his army of Lezgins at the battle of Chkheri.
Upon regaining power, Solomon attacked the Duchy of Racha in 1769. Fearing that the next royal campaign would target Lechkhumi—a Mingrelian county bordering Racha—Katsia supported Duke Rostom with an Abkhazian detachment. Rostom, however, was defeated and took refuge in Mingrelia, while his duchy was officially annexed to the Kingdom of Imereti. The king continued consolidating his authority, expanding the influence of his allied clans, which alarmed Katsia.
In 1769, Dadiani renounced the 1759 pact that had recognized Solomon's sovereignty, to which the king responded by officially abolishing the Principality of Mingrelia—though this remained only de jure. This political dispute soon escalated into open warfare.
The chronicler Iovane Khojevani provides detailed accounts of Katsia II's raids across the Imeretian frontier, particularly around Khoni. Prince Archil, the king's brother, led royal forces against Dadiani in 1769–1770, employing Lezgin mercenaries. In 1770, he ravaged the village of Kvitiri near Kutaisi, while the capital itself was repeatedly evacuated in fear of Mingrelian assaults. Katsia II only ceased his raids temporarily when faced with the threat of an Imeretian invasion of Mingrelia. During this period, Ottoman influence grew significantly among the regional nobility.
Western Georgia in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) The conflict between Katsia II and Solomon I unfolded within a much broader geopolitical context. In 1768, war broke out between Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, making Georgia one of the fronts of the confrontation. Following the example of his eastern neighbor Heraclius II, Solomon allied himself with Orthodox Russia against the Muslim enemy, while Katsia, in opposition to the central authority, became a natural ally of the Turks. Russian plans for an early intervention in Imereti were abandoned due to Katsia's raids.
On 3 October 1769, Russo-Imeretian troops laid siege to the citadel of Shorapani, a Turkish stronghold in the heart of Imereti. In response, Suleiman Pasha of Akhaltsikhe gathered Katsia, Manuchar II Sharvashidze, Prince of Abkhazia, and forces from Trebizond to launch a joint invasion of the small kingdom. Solomon was forced to abandon the siege and, on 20 December, engaged Katsia's 9,000 troops, defeating them and ordering pursuit of the Mingrelians. The king ravaged Mingrelia and temporarily captured Katsia.
In early 1770, Heraclius II sent his son George and Catholicos Anton I to western Georgia to reconcile Dadiani and Solomon and unite them against the Turks, securing a fragile truce. Nevertheless, Katsia refused to assist the Georgians at the Battle of Aspindza on 20 April. Following Heraclius II's victory at Aspindza, he sent Katsia II a gold and silver sword as both a symbol of triumph and a warning against any pro-Ottoman sympathies in Mingrelia.
After the Russian general Tottleben returned to Georgia in March 1770, Katsia sent an emissary to his base at Tskhinvali to pledge allegiance to Empress Catherine II. Together, Russian and Mingrelian forces expelled the Turks from Rukhi and Anaklia. Tottleben then acted as mediator between Katsia and Solomon; the latter agreed to the alliance only in exchange for an increase in Russian troops stationed in Imereti.