Mirimanidze


The Mirimanidze were a Georgian noble family of Armenian ethnicity whose members rose in prominence in the service of Iran’s Safavid dynasty. Hailing from Somkhiti, the clan produced numerous high-ranking figures in the Safavid state, and especially flourished in the 17th century, during the reign of the kings Abbas I, Safi and Abbas II. Due to the complex character of the family's identity, they were often described in different terms by contemporaneous historians. In the late Safavid era, Hosaynqoli Khan, vali of Kartli, confirmed the family as belonging to the t'avadi.
With members of the Mirimanidze clan having returned to Christianity from Shia Islam, they were included in the Treaty of Georgievsk as the Melikishvili. This inclusion in the Georgievsk Treaty guaranteed for their noble status later in the Russian Empire as the Melikovs along with a branch, the Loris-Melikovs.

History

The Mirimanidze were originally hereditary Meliks of Somkhiti, a region nowadays located around the Armenian-Georgian borderlands. At the time, Somkhiti was located in the most southern part of Georgian Lower Kartli, and was therefore subjected to Safavid influence and rule from its earliest days. Somkhiti originally meant "the place where the Armenians live", and in the 18th century, the termination was largely replaced with "Somkheti" as a Georgian exonym for Armenia. Armenians in general were referred to in Georgian as Somekhi. The word "Mirimanidze" itself refers to Malek Miriman, who was permitted to rule Somkhiti by king Tahmasp I. The family is therefore named after him.
Though ethnically Armenian, numerous Safavid historians at the time described the family's origins, and they did so quite differently and not unanimously as compared to each other. Iskander Beg attributed Georgian roots to one member of the family, while Molla Jalal referred to Tahmaspqoli as Armenian. Arakel of Tabriz, who was of Armenian origin himself referred to the Mirimanidzes as Georgian nobles, whereas Fazli Khuzani called Tahmaspqoli and his relatives as being either Georgian, Armenian or Kartlian. This all to evidently illustrate the complex character of the family. Though the Mirimanidzes gained their status from the Safavids and were primarily known for their role in the Safavid ranks, they were also acknowledged as being one of the powerful noble families at the local court of the valis/kings of Kartli. The "code of Vakhtang VI", composed in the early 18th century, placed the Mirimanidze clan amongst the greatest nobles.
The first Safavid gholam of the family was Tahmaspqoli, titled Anīs ol-Dowleh, and was an influential Safavid official who served king Abbas I closely, though he had begun his service before Abbas I's reign. He was the uncle of the most prominent member of the family, Mirman Mirimanidze, who was thus the grandson of Malek Miriman.
Members of the Mirimanidze family later converted back to Christianity, adhering to the Georgian Orthodox Church. After the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801, the family's noble status was confirmed by the Treaty of Georgievsk of 1783, in which they were described as Melikishvili, lit. "sons of Melik". A branch of the family started to adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, and came to be known as Loris-Melikov. The Loris-Melikov branch produced several noted individuals in the Russian Empire, most notably Count Mikhail Loris-Melikov.

Notable Members