[3] Since Georgia became a Mongol vassal in 1236 and no longer depended so much on the will of the local nobility, Rusudan, fearing that he would want to ascend the throne, sent him into captivity at the court of her son-in-law, Sultan Kaykhusraw II.

[4] The "two Davids", as incumbents for the throne of Georgia, attended the enthronement ceremony of the Mongol Khan Güyük on 24 August 1246, near the Mongol capital at Karakorum, together with a large number of foreign ambassadors: the Franciscan friar and envoy of Pope Innocent IV, John of Plano Carpini and Benedict of Poland; Grand Duke Yaroslav II of Vladimir; the brother of the king of Armenia and historian, Sempad the Constable; the future Seljuk Sultan of Rum, Kilij Arslan IV; and ambassadors of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Musta'sim and Ala ud din Masud of the Delhi Sultanate.

And all this great assembly came with such baggage as befitted a court; and there came also from other directions so many envoys and messengers that two thousand felt tents had been made ready for them: there came also merchants with the rare and precious things that are produced in the East and the West.In order to control the country more easily, due to the apparent succession crisis, although the majority of the nobility did not side with the illegitimate son, the Mongols divided the Georgian nobles into two rival parties, each representing its own candidate for the crown.

[8] Having embarked on an expedition to the Middle East in 1253, Mongke's brother Hulegu Khan was particularly keen to exploit the political and religious divisions of that part of the world.

[9][10] Georgia lost tens of thousands of soldiers in these campaigns, and was left without native defenders against the Mongol forces sent to suppress spontaneous rebellions that broke out due to high taxes and the heavy burden of military service.

[13] When in 1260 Hulegu Khan requested the presence of Georgians and Armenians as part of the Mongol units in the Levant, remembering the losses of his troops in the 1258 Siege of Baghdad, David Ulu rebelled.

[14] A large Mongol army led by General Arghun Aqa invaded Georgia from the south, inflicted a heavy defeat on David and Sargis I Jaqeli in a battle near Akhaldaba, and then brutally plundered the country.

In the same year, 1266, Sargis Jaqeli, prince of Samtkhe, who ruled city of Akhaltsikhe, received special protection and patronage from the new ilkhan of Abaqa Khan.

In 1270, David Ulu led Georgian and Armenian troops in support of the Mongol Abaqa against Tekuder, who had found refuge in Western Georgia.

Their children were: His third wife, Gvantsa, widow of the Georgian noble Avag Zakarian and daughter of Kakhaber, eristavi (duke) of Racha and Takveri, was executed on the orders of Hulegu Khan in 1262.