Baratashvili

The Kachibadze are first attested in the early 14th century inscription from the Pitareti monastery and, according to the Georgian scholar Simon Janashia, originated in Abkhazia.

Early in the 16th century, the Baratashvili estates, known as Sabaratiano, included hundreds of villages with 2,500-3,000 peasant households and some 250-300 noble vassals in Lower Kartli in the south of Georgia.

They were listed among the top five great nobles, tavadi, of the Kingdom of Kartli and played a prominent role in the political and cultural life of Georgia; they were High Constables of Somkhiti-Sabaratiano, and also majordomos and Lords Chief Justice at the royal court.

A branch of the Baratashvili, Barataev (Баратаевы), was also established in Russia by an expatriate prince Melkisedek (Mikhail), who followed King Vakhtang VI in his Russian emigration in 1724.

[1] After Russian annexation of Georgia, the Georgian Baratashvili were confirmed among the princely nobility (knyaz Baratov, Баратовы) in the decrees of 1826, 1827, 1829, and 1850.