Abstract:
The object of our work is the charter of Mtis St. George monastery (in
Western Georgia). It represents very valuable source for history of medieval
Georgia. Unfortunately, the original of the document is lost and we do not have
its original text.
Five copies of this document are known. Those are as follows:
1-2. Two copies (Sd-2898/99) that are kept in National Centre of
Manuscripts in Tbilisi.
3. A text of a copy made by monk of Gelati Zaqaria in 1806, that was lost
in 1922 near Giorgievsk.
4. A copy (H16(G28;H39)-2.Лл.13-16) of 1840, that is kept in Asian
Museum of St. Petersburg.
5. The oldest document K-608 kept in Historical Museum of Kutaisi.
Based on these copies, Sargis Kakabadze produced a text, which seems to
be very close to original one.
We have found the description of the undoubtable original of the charter.
This description (fond №1541, case №16), made in the 19th century by priest
Giorgi Gabadadze, combines information about document’s text and its physical
condition. Nowadays it is kept in the Central Historical Archive of Georgia.
This new source gave us an opportunity to fill the charter’s text with new
words and names, that were absent in copies.
With present paper, we want to produce newly established text of this
charter.
