David I Curopalates

David I was the Bagrationi presiding prince of Iberia and kouropalates from 876 to 881, a brief tenure whose violent end set off the feud from which the Georgian monarchy was reborn. He was the son of Bagrat I of Tao-Klarjeti, who had held the same office for half a century, and of an Armenian princess, a daughter of Smbat VIII Bagratuni, so that the two Bagratid houses of Armenia and Georgia were joined in his person. On his father's death in 876 the Byzantine court confirmed him as kouropalates; he inherited the duchy of Lower Tao, where he had grown up.

The five years of his rule are known chiefly from the Georgian chronicles. He pursued a policy friendly to Armenia while retaining Byzantine recognition and paying tribute to the caliphate. In Kartli he found an ally in Liparit I Baghvashi of Argveti, who acknowledged him as his lord, and together they contested Shida Kartli against the Abkhazian king Adarnase Shavliani. He also disputed Trialeti with his cousin Nasra, son of Guaram Mampali, who had been left almost landless by his own father's dispositions and whose sister was married to the Abkhazian ruler.

In 881 Nasra murdered David. The chronicles call the deed treacherous but give no detailed account; modern historians see behind it the rivalry between the two branches of the house and Nasra's fear of losing his remaining lands. Nasra fled to Byzantium and returned with imperial and Abkhazian support, while the emperor passed the title of kouropalates to another cousin, Gurgen I of Tao, rather than to David's young son Adarnase. That son, backed by Ashot I of Armenia, defeated and executed Nasra in 888 and in the same year took the title of king, becoming Adarnase IV, the first king of the Iberians. David's wife is not securely identified; the sources give conflicting accounts, some connecting her with the Abkhazian royal house.