had to make peace with the Mongols and returned to Tbilisi, effectively splitting the country into two parts with both rulers titled as kings of Georgia. Later life By the Ilkhan request, David Ulu's army was dispatched to defend the fortifications of Siba against the Golden Horde in 1263. In 1265, the Georgian forces serving as a vanguard of the Ilkhanid army, defeated Berke, Khan of the Golden Horde, and expelled his troops from Shirvan. A heavy burden of Mongol dominance led to a political and economic crisis in the kingdom. As a result of a dispute with the royal court, the province of Samtskhe seceded and submitted directly to the Ilkhan rule in 1266. Thus, Georgia further disintegrated to form three separate political entities. David VII Ulu died of a bowel infection at the age of 55 in the spring of 1270. He was buried at Mtskheta. He was succeeded by his son Demetre II. Marriage and children He was married four times. His first wife, Jigda-Khatun, either a Mongol woman or a daughter of the Sultan of Rum, died in 1252. In the meantime (1249/50), he bigamously contracted a union with an Alan woman, Altun, whom he repudiated in 1252. His third wife Gvantsa, widow of the Georgian noble Avag Mkhargrdzeli and daughter of Kakhaber, eristavi (duke) of Racha and Takveri, was executed on the orders of Hulagu Khan in 1262. In 1263, David married Esukan, daughter of the Mongol noyan Chormaqan. He had two sons and two daughters, including: Giorgi (1250–1268) (by Altun), heir apparent, died before his father's death in 1268, Tamar (by Altun) was married twice: a son of Arghun noyan in c. 1273, and later the Georgian noble Sadun of Mankaberdi, regent of the kingdom in 1269–1278. Demetre (by Gvantsa) succeeded him in 1270. References External links History of Georgia – XIII-XV centuries Kings of Georgia 1215 births 1270 deaths Eastern Orthodox monarchs Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Georgia Illegitimate children of Georgian monarchs 13th-century people from Georgia (country)