The Unification
In 1008, Gurgen died, and Bagrat succeeded him as King of Kings of the Georgians, becoming thus the first king of a unified realm of Abkhazia and Kartli (in their broadest sense these two included Abkhazia proper/Abasgia, Egrisi/Samegrelo, Imereti, Svaneti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Guria, Ajaria, Kartli proper, Hither Tao, Klarjeti, Shavsheti, Meskheti, and Javakheti) what was to be henceforth known as Sakartvelo – "all-Georgia".
After he had secured his patrimony, Bagrat proceeded to press a claim to the easternmost Georgian principality of Kakheti and annexed it in or around 1010, after two years of fighting and aggressive diplomacy. This formidable acquisition brought Bagrat’s realm to the neighbourhood of the Shaddadid emirate of Arran in what is now Azerbaijan, whose ruler al-Fadl I b. Muhammad (986–1031) raided Kakheti following its incorporation into Georgia. Bagrat drove back this incursion and, in alliance with the Armenian king Gagik I (989–1020), successfully campaigned against the Shaddadid city of Shamkir, levying a tribute upon it. Yet Bagrat’s foreign policy was generally peaceful and the king successfully manoeuvred to avoid the conflicts with both the Byzantine and Muslim neighbours even though Thither Tao remained in the Byzantine and Tbilisi in the Arab hands.
Bagrat’s reign, a period of uttermost importance in the history of Georgia, brought about the final victory of the Georgian Bagratids in the centuries-long power struggles. Anxious to create more stable and centralized monarchy, Bagrat eliminated or at least diminished the autonomy of the dynastic princes. In his eyes, the most possible internal danger came from the Klarjeti line of the Bagrationi, represented by the king’s cousins, Sumbat and Gurgen. Although seem to have acknowledged Bagrat’s authority, they continued to be styled as Kings, and Sovereigns of Klarjeti. To secure the succession to his son, Giorgi, Bagrat lured his cousins, on pretext of a reconciliatory meeting, to the Panaskerti Castle, and threw them in prison in 1010. Their children managed to escape to Constantinople, but Sumbat and Gurgen died in custody by 1012.
Bagrat was also known as a great promoter of Georgian Orthodox culture. Not only did he encourage learning and patronize the fine arts, but he built several churches and monasteries throughout his kingdom with the "Bagrati Cathedral" at Kutaisi, Bedia Cathedral in Abkhazia, and Nikortsminda Cathedral in Racha being the most important.
Bagrat III died in 1014 in the Panaskerti Castle in Tao. He was entombed in the previously mentioned Bedia Cathedral in today’s Abkhazia.
Read more about this topic: Bagrat III Of Georgia