The will of Eustathios Boilas in the context of Byzantine-Georgian political relations in the 11th century

Introduction . The article considers the data of the Will of the Byzantine nobleman Eustathios Boilas about his possessions in the Byzantine theme Iberia and Great Armenia in the context of political relations between Byzantium and the Georgian Kingdom in the 1040s and 1050s. Methods . The comparison of the texts of different written traditions is carried out. The data of the Will of Eustathios Boilas is analyzed in the context of “Chronicle of Kartli” from the corpus of the Kartlis Tskhovreba and the other sources. Analysis . The comparison of information from all the texts indicates that Boilas’ possessions even reached beyond the theme of Iberia, in particular, to the Northern Tao and part of Klarjeti. From the late 30s of the 11th century this territory became the arena of a cruel Georgian civil conflict between the Georgian king Bagrat IV and the Byzantium ally, the Duke of Kldekari Liparit IV Baghuashi. The defeat of Liparit in this conflict between 1053 and 1057 forced Byzantium to abandon its new acquisitions in Northern Tao, as a result of which, among other things, Eustathios Boilas lost several of his lands, which were transferred to Bagrat IV and his allies. Results . As the study shows, the borders of the theme Iberia and Great Armenia in the period from 1047 to 1053/1057 expanded to the north, including the territory of the Northern Tao and possibly part of Klarjeti, which was ruled by the Byzantine ally Liparit. The combination of data from both Byzantine and Georgian texts assumes to revise the generally accepted point of view about the administrative boundaries of the Iberia and Great Armenia theme.