Georgian feudalism

Georgian feudalism, or patronkmoba (Georgian: პატრონყმობა from patroni, "lord", "master", and kmoba, "slavery", "serfdom"), as the system of personal dependence or vassalage in ancient and medieval Georgia is referred to, arose from a tribal-dynastic organization of society upon which was imposed, by royal authority, an official hierarchy of regional governors, local officials and subordinates.

[1][2] This was also the Age of Chivalry immortalized in the medieval Georgian epics, most significantly in Shota Rustaveli's The Knight in the Panther's Skin.

The power of the feudal nobles over the peasantry also increased and the cultivators began to loss a degree of personal freedom they had formerly enjoyed.

[1] The Mongol domination in the 13th century dealt a blow not only to Georgia’s prosperity and regional hegemony, but shuttered its social system.

By the 18th century, the Georgian feudal élite had established a new system known as tavadoba, the rule of the princes, in which vassal hierarchy no longer had any substantial force.

[1][3] This hierarchical division of Georgian feudal society was later codified by King Vakhtang VI (r. 1716–24) in an official table of "weregild" or blood money rates, which had the force of law.

The highest official appointed by the king to govern the towns and countryside, the mouravi, was almost always a noble from the upper ranks and often held the position as a hereditary privilege.