The Reports of European Travelers and Catholic Missionaries on the Purchase of Captives in Western Georgia (17th century)

Abstract

After the collapse of the unified state of Georgia, feudal anarchy ensued in Western Georgia. The principalities of Guria, Odishi, and
Abkhazia endeavored to achieve complete independence from the King of Imer, and waged war against him. The kings of Imer, representing the central government, sought to exert full control over Western Georgia, but were unfortunately unable to do so. The Ottoman Empire supported the region, promoting its decentralization, which led to the practice of selling compatriots as captives from the principalities to the Ottoman Empire. This dire situation, foreshadowing the catastrophe of Western Georgia, met fierce opposition from the kings of Imer and the Catholicos of LikhtImereti and Abkhazia. In the 15th century, a church assembly convened in Bichvinta, attended by the Catholicos of Abkhazia, Eudemon, and the Catholicos of Georgia, Malachi, vehemently condemned the purchase of captives, and formulated the “Catholic Law,” outlining punishments for those involved in such transactions. Regrettably, these efforts failed to yield results. Catholic missionaries such as Patri Joseph Giudici, Don Christopher de Castelli, Archangelo Lambert, Giudice of Milan, and Don Pietro Avitable, along with European travelers, including Jean Baptiste Tavernier, Jean Chardin, and others, vividly describe the dire situation in the 18th century. Preventing the purchase of captives relied on the presence of a strong central government, which was absent at the time. Consequently, immoral individuals perpetuated the harmful tradition of selling their compatriots abroad for their own benefit