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them V. Kikndze who also holds that he was enthroned in 1318 [21, 58).
Different opinion is carried out by G. Arakhamia, who considers Giorgi Mt-
sire to be the initiator of sending the envoys in the first case [8, 104).
We can not abstain but share V. Kiknadze’s and G. Japaridze’s view-
points, that long talks were held for the redemption of the Holy Cross
Monastery [21, 63; 14, 298], as well as their opinion concerning Giorgi the
Brilliant’s activities concerning the Holy Land, but we are far from agreeing
that Georgian missions of 1316/17 and 1320 were also inspired by him.
We should keep in mind that right at that time East Georgia, together with
the Il-khans, were confronting the Golden Horde raids. 
In 1318/19 Uzbek-Khan invaded Shirvan and Arran and reached the
Kura River. Next year Choban raided Transcaucasus to give support to Abu-
Said, and Uzbek had to retreat. Then, in 1325,  Choban raided through Geor-
gia to Derbent, and reached as far as Tergi River [4,80; 5,264; 21, 43-44]. It’s
inevitable that Georgians were participating in the raid – after all, military
operations were carried on through Georgia. Thus, it’s hard to believe that
the king of East Georgia would send his envoys at such a time and with the
Golden Horde companions. 
Taking into consideration the given circumstances, we are inclined to
think that the talk is about the king of Western Georgia, Constantine, whose
activities towards Egypt were quite clear. But the point is that the interre-
lation between the East and the West Georgian kingdoms are not of that
kind: confrontation started even in 1360s c., and then, King Giorgi the Bril-
liant had to use all his power and diplomatic skills to unite the two – part
by part, so to say.
As for his activities concerning the Holy Land issues, they are more ex-
pectable to have started in after the long talks between the Il-khans and the
Sultan of Egypt came to the end. In 1323 they signed treaty and everlasting
peace was proclaimed. Thus, we conceive  that the scholars who think  that
Giorgi the Brilliant was the one who actually redeemed the Monastery of
Holy Cross  are partly right [24, 175-176; 32, 251; 30, 18] since the position
of the monastery became more sustained in his times.
Arab historian Ibn Al-Dawadari claims that the same year - 723/1323
Abu Said’s envoy came to the Sultan of Egypt and asked for peace, and the
treaty was the result of this visit 13, 49; 33, 131; 119-148].  The peace was
established for many years between those two states. It’s also mentioned
that Choban played favorable part in signing this treaty, and King Giorgi,
according to Georgian and Arab sources, held close contacts with him; some
even claim that the Monastery case was solved with his personal effort. We
may presume that this was the very reason for the destruction of Pope’s
plans for raiding Egypt in 1223, as the Il-khans and the Georgians would
not support the coalition. 
We share opinion of V. Kiknadze, that the envoys of  Giorgi the Brilliant
came to the Sultan of Egypt not with one, but with several requests; the sta-
tus of the Cross monastery was still on agenda (21,64). Although the
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monastery was possessed by the Georgians by that time, Giorgi the Brilliant
probably asked once again for confirmation of their rights.  
According to al-‘Ayni, in 1322/23 Uzbek of the Golden Horde re-
proaches the Sultan of Egypt for not allowing his ambassador to build a
mosque within Jerusalem, while letting Georgians to reconstruct the church
[21, 65]. There is no mention of the name of the king there, but by that time
it could well be Giorgi V. 
All in all, Giorgi the Brilliant, who’s enthroning was partly due to
Choban the Vezir of the Il-khans, kept loyalty to him – till his death in 1327.
Flexible policy and diplomacy helped the King to solve the row of local
problems: according to evidence by Vakhusti, being enthroned he sup-
pressed the Samtskhe governors who perpetually confronted Il-khan Öl-
jaitu, being separated from the common political space and achieved their
obedience, then ‘repressed and enslaved all who was intractable within
Caucasus and made them all to render tribute’ [34, 256].  All these were in
the Il-khans’ interests, as since 1262, the Golden Horde, the owner of the
much part of the North Caucasus,   permanently raided their territories.  At
the same time Giorgi expelled Ossetians from the Georgian territory and
solved his longstanding problem.
Some of the Georgian feudal lords’ secession from the king may well be
explained by the grudge between Choban and Il-khan families - Georgian
warlords might have taken the latter’s side. Their treason could be an expla-
nation why the son of Choban, Mahmud, the appointed ruler of Georgia in
those years, couldn’t reach the ruler of Golden Horde Uzbek Khan. One can
find the related evidence in the Arabic sources: (al-‘Umari, al-Qalqashandi):
“When his father got into trouble, he was seeking protection at the court of
Sultan Uzbek Khan but failed. Danger could not be avoided and he lost his
life and that couldn’t be escaped”. “As Giorgi had taken advantage, he invited
the nobles of Her – Kakhi and Somkhiti, who adjoint Chingizids, to Tsivi and
massacred them”, - one can read in the late interpolation of some manu-
scripts of “Kartlis Tskhovreba”. [27, 325]. It’s supposed “Chingizids in this
context doesn’t mean Mongols as a whole, but descendants of Chingiz Khan
and the Georgian nobles adjoint Chingizids against Choban. Taking apart a
short time after defeat of Choban, nevertheless, King Giorgi had no signifi-
cant problems with the Il-khans – in spite of the fact that he refused to pay
tribute and maintained considerable autonomy. Even in time when Giorgi
V was in the West Georgia and was dealing with unification of the country,
Mongols didn’t appoint another king in the East Georgia.  According to the
order of the Pope in 1328-29 Tbilisi Episcopacy was subordinated to Sul-
taniye Arch-Episcopacy, as the East Georgia was considered to be under Il-
khans’ control. 
The Georgian nobles could betray the Georgian King in other times as
well. That could happen many times when the Georgian King was repulsing
the invaders from the North. One can suppose that Giorgi V massacred the
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