He succeeded his father Liparit I Dadiani and continued his predecessors' efforts to garner more autonomy as the united Kingdom of Georgia was approaching to its end.
Of these title-turned-surnames, the former signified his rule in Odishi and the latter emphasized his suzerainty over Guria, a fief of the secundogeniture of the Dadiani in possession of Shamadavle's younger brother, Mamia Gurieli, and his progeny.
[3] Accounts of Mingrelia of Shamadavle's times are found in the contemporary reports by the European visitors who testify an economical, social, and moral decline in the war-torn Georgian states.
[4] Shamadavle was the unnamed son of the Mingrelian ruler (Bendia, Rex Mingraeliae cum suo filio) mentioned in the Latin correspondence related to the proposed crusade of Pope Pius II against the Ottomans in 1460.
[6] The Bendian of these accounts is a rendition of Bendiani, a title of the Dadiani, while the man whom Contarini met was Shamadavle, who, indeed, died in 1474 as reported by Prince Vakhushti in his chronicle.