Princes and nobles

Princes

The most reliable account of the noble past of the Beridzes (ბერიძე) comes from Vakhushti Batonishvili (ვახუშტი ბატონიშვილი). In his description he names the Beridzes among the tavadi, or princes, who stood under the Gurieli (გურიელი). He gives no date for their origin. Popular articles often claim that Vakhushti places them among the ruling princes of the 12th–14th centuries. That date is a later insertion by the researcher I. Akhuashvili (ი. ახუაშვილი) and does not belong to Vakhushti's own text. Historical documents confirm that the Beridzes held a princely domain, a sathavado (სათავადო), in the Principality of Guria (გურია), and high offices at the Gurieli's court.

• Bezhan Beridze XVII B
• Vominija Beridze XVII B
• Mamuka Beridze XVIII A
• Bezhan Beridze XIX B
• Rostom Beridze XVIII B

Decline

In the 17th century the Beridzes (ბერიძე) still held high offices at the court of the Gurieli (გურიელი). At the turn of the 17th–18th centuries these offices passed to the Nakashidze (ნაკაშიძე). A common view holds that the offices were lost in 1664. That is inaccurate, because the documents name Giorgi Beridze (გიორგი ბერიძე) as master of guests, mestumretukhutsesi (მესტუმრეთუხუცესი), until 1684. The princely Beridzes became aznauri and passed into the service of the Eristav-Sharvashidze (ერისთავ-შარვაშიძე). The family entered the period of the Russian Empire with this status. The settlement of 6 December 1850, which confirmed the list of the princes and nobles of Guria (გურია), includes the Beridzes among 46 aznaur houses.

• Giorgi Beridze XVII A
• Otar Beridze XVII A
• Ioane Beridze XVII B

Coat of arms

The Beridzes (ბერიძე) have no historically attested family coat of arms. The Caucasian Armorial (Kavkazskii gerbovnik), compiled in 1922, brings together 129 arms of 88 houses and does not name the Beridzes. The absence reflects a historical fact. By 1850 the Beridzes held the rank of aznauri, not tavadi, and the armorial was devoted to princely heraldry alone. The illustration „ბერიძეების გერბი“ [rendering: coat of arms of the Beridzes] is an image created by the user Akaki Beridze (აკაკი ბერიძე) and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on 31 October 2016. It is shown on two pages of Georgian Wikipedia. It has no historical basis and cannot count as an authentic family emblem.

Kartli and Imereti

The history of the surname took different courses in Kartli (ქართლი) and Imereti (იმერეთი). According to I. Akhuashvili (ი. ახუაშვილი), writing in 1997, the Beridzes (ბერიძე) of Kartli were aznauri of the Tsitsishvili (ციციშვილი) and the Amilakhvari (ამილახვარი). We have not checked this account ourselves. For Imereti, it is often written that the Beridzes were aznauri of the Tsereteli (წერეთელი) and the garrison of Sveri fortress (სვერის ციხე). In fact this claim rests on no source. The National Library's dictionary describes Sveri fortress but does not connect it with the Beridzes. In the documents the Beridzes of Imereti appear mostly as peasants. From the 19th century they also appear as aznauri in the lists of Kutaisi (ქუთაისი) governorate.

• Davit Berisdze Tsikhela XV A
• Demetre Beridze XV A
• Gogita Beridze XVI B
• Bezhana Beridze XIII–XVI B

Lechkhumi and Samegrelo

Outside Guria (გურია), the firmest documentary confirmation of a noble past for the surname comes from Lechkhumi (ლეჩხუმი). In the register of Lechkhumi surnames published by the National Archives of Georgia, the Beridzes (ბერიძე) stand in the aznauri column. In the village of Gveso (გვესო) they appear as aznauri together with the Chikovani (ჩიქოვანი). In Tsageri (ცაგერი) the name is written among other known aznaur houses. In these archival registers the Lechkhumi Beridzes never appear in the peasant column. This shows only the rank recorded in this register.

• Giorgi Beridze XVIII–XIX B
• Giorgi Beridze XIX B
• Vukol Mikheilis Dze Beridze XIX–XX B

Begs

Accounts of the status of the Beridzes (ბერიძე) in Adjara (აჭარა) rest mainly on oral tradition. Folk memory recalls some branches as begs during the period of Ottoman rule. No historical document confirms this claim, and its wide circulation is linked to an entry added to Wikipedia in 2016. There is also indirect evidence. The encyclopedic article „აჭარის ბეგები“ [rendering: The Begs of Adjara] states that at the end of the 19th century the Beridzes were counted among the beg families. Even so, confirmed historical sources are too scarce to prove that the Adjaran Beridzes were begs. The claim should be treated as part of family legend.

Adjara →