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{{About|the Georgian princely house|other uses|Matchabelli (disambiguation){{!}}Matchabelli}}
{{Infobox royal house
| surname = Machabeli
| native_name = მაჩაბელი 
| other_name =
| coat of arms = Gerb Machabelovii.svg
| country = [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]
| styles = 
| founder = 
| final ruler = 
| current head = 
| founding year = 
| dissolution = 
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| cadet branches =
}}
The '''House of Machabeli''' ([[Grammatical number|sing.]] {{lang-ka|მაჩაბელი}}, [[plural|pl.]] მაჩაბლები, ''Machablebi''; {{langx|ru|Мачабелов|Machabelov}}<ref>Dolgorukov (1856)</ref>) was a [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] princely house (''[[tavadi]]'') which held a large fiefdom (''satavado'') in the province of [[Inner Kartli]] (central Georgia) called [[Samachablo]] after their family name.

== History ==
[[File:Tiri Monastery, Georgia 06.jpg|thumb|left|An inscription from the [[Tiri monastery]] mentioning Machabel Tavkhelidze, a purported forefather of the family.]]
The origin of the family is not clear. According to a traditional account, they descended from one of the princes of the Abkhaz-Georgian feudal clan of [[Anchabadze]] who had fled the disorders in [[Abkhazia]]. Another version holds it that the Machabeli were an offshoot of the [[Tavkhelidze]] family who adopted their dynastic name after the village of {{Ill|Achabeti|ka|აჩაბეთი}} on the [[Great Liakhvi River]] where their initial domain was located. Beginning with the 15th century, the Machabeli grew in prominence and held various important posts at the court of the Georgian kings of [[Kartli]].<ref>{{in lang|ka}} J. Gvasalia, მაჩაბლები (''Machablebi''). In: ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია (''Encyclopedia Georgiana''), Vol. 6, page 509. Tbilisi, 1983.</ref> Their fiefdom, Samachablo, covered a significant portion of what is now breakaway region of the so called "[[South Ossetia]]", and enjoyed a degree of autonomy within the Kingdom of [[Kartli]] from c. 1470 to 1800 when Georgia was annexed to [[Imperial Russia]].<ref>[http://www.geogen.ge/indexen.php?id_menu=12&id_menu_up=2&lang=en&id_let=46&abc=1 Origin of the Princes: Machabeli]. Georgian Genealogy. Retrieved on April 1, 2007.</ref> The Machabeli house was confirmed in princely dignity by the Russian [[Emperor of Russia|Tsar]] in 1850.<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.rulex.ru/01130341.htm Мачабели]. Russian Biographic Lexicon. Retrieved on April 1, 2007.</ref>

== See also ==

*[[Ivane Machabeli]], Georgian writer, journalist and translator
*[[Georges V. Matchabelli]], Georgian nobleman and diplomat
*[[Tamarasheni]]
*[[Abkhazi]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*{{in lang|ru}} Хаханов А. С. ([[Alexander Khakhanov]]), [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929120547/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Gruz/XVIII/1740-1760/Dvor_Akty/14.TIF князья Мачабели]. In: [https://web.archive.org/web/20070504094009/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Gruz/XVIII/1740-1760/Dvor_Akty/index.htm Грузинские дворянские акты и родословные росписи]. [[Moscow|М.]] 1893.
*{{in lang|ru}} [[Pyotr Dolgorukov (historian)|Pyotr Dolgorukov]]. ''[[:ru:Российская родословная книга|Russian genealogy book]]''. – Saint Petersburg: Типография Э. Веймара, 1856. – Vol. 3. – p. 480.

[[Category:Families from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Noble families of Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Georgian-language surnames]]


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