Background
Eldest son of Demetre II the Self-sacrificing by his Trapezuntine wife, he was appointed by the Ilkhan ruler Gaikhatu as king of Georgia as reward for his military service during the Rümelian uprising in 1293.
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David David VIII of Georgia
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There was also a Caucasian Albanian Catholicos Davit VIII, who ruled between c. 1331 – c. 1401. David VIII (Georgian: დავით VIII. 1273–1311), from the Bagrationi dynasty, was King of Georgia in 1293–1311.
In 1295, he supported Baidu Khan in an internal conflict in the Ilkhanate. However, Baidu was killed and Ghazan became a khan.
Ghazan ordered the Georgian king to arrive to his capital Tabriz.
Remembering the fate of his father, David refused to comply and began preparations for war. Ghazan Khan responded with a punitive expedition, and ravaged the country. Supported by the Mongols, Ossetes attacked Shida Kartli province and occupied the Liakhvi River gorge.
David entrenched himself in the Mtiuleti mountains and defeated a large Mongol force in a desperate guerilla fighting at Tsikare.
Then, the Khan declared him deposed and appointed David"s younger brother Giorgi V as king in 1299. Although backed by the Mongol forces, the power of Giorgi did not extend out of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, and the Khan replaced him by another brother, Vakhtang III, in 1302.
The new king led a Mongol army against David, but could not penetrate deeply into the largely mountainous provinces held by the rebels, and a truce was negotiated. David was married twice, first to the Mongol princess Oljath, and then to a daughter of the Georgian nobleman Hamada Surameli.
