Dedisimedi

The 16th-century Chronicle of Meskhian Psalter as well as the 18th century Georgian historian Prince Vakhushti and a church inscription from Vale suggest that Dedisimedi's father was Bagrat, son of King Constantine II.

In contrast, Vakhushti's contemporaneous editor of the Georgian Chronicles, Beri Egnatashvili, makes her, erroneously, daughter of Bagrat's son Ashotan and, hence, sister of Saint Ketevan the Martyr.

Kaikhosro's rule over Samtskhe, one of the breakaway states of the Kingdom of Georgia, was marred by incessant Iranian–Ottoman rivalry over the territory, uneasy relations with neighboring Georgian polities, and internecine feuds.

Since he was still young and inexperienced, the actual government of the country was taken over by Dedisimedi and the nobleman Varaza Shalikashvili, whose sister was a favorite wife in Shah Tahmasp's harem.

From 1576 through 1578, civil war raged through eastern Samtskhe between the Jaqeli faction and the aristocratic opposition led by Kokola Shalikashvili, leaving towns such as Tmogvi in ruins.

[1] Eventually, the Jaqeli prevailed, but the decimated country became an easy target for the powerful thrust of the Ottoman army under Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha's command in August 1578.

The nobles of Samtskhe submitted after a token resistance and Lala Pasha made a common cause with Dedisimedi's more able and calculating son Manuchar, a co-regent with his mother.