The son of Queen
Rusudan by her
Seljuk husband,
Ghias ad-din, David was crowned at
Kutaisi, as joint sovereign by his mother in 1230. Fearing that her nephew
David would claim the throne at her death, Rusudan held the latter prisoner at the court of her son-in-law, the Seljuk sultan
Kaykhusraw II, and in 1243 sent her son David to the
Mongol court of
Batu Khan in
Karakorum to get official recognition as
heir apparent. She died in 1245, still waiting for her son to return. He was retained for three years at the Mongol court in
Karakorum, until he was able to attend the enthronement of
Guyuk Khan with his cousin David VII in August 1246. He developed friendly relations with the
Golden Horde and the
Bahri dynasty of
Egypt, and repulsed the Ilkhanate attacks. In 1269, David gave shelter to
Teguder, relative of the
Chagatai Baraq Khan, who had rebelled against the Ilkhan ruler
Abaqa Khan. When Teguder's force began terrorizing the Georgian population, David sided with Abaqa's general
Shiramun Noyan. Despite this, Abaqa attempted to overthrow David with the help of the renegade lord of
Racha Kakhaber Kakhaberisdze, and sent two expeditions against Imereti in the 1270s. Nevertheless, David VI Narin succeeded in retaining his independence and attempted to restore Georgian influence in the
Empire of Trebizond. For this purpose, he marched to
Trebizond during Emperor
John II Comnenus’ absence at
Constantinople in April 1282; and although he
failed to take the city, the Georgians occupied several provinces. In 1282, during
John's absence from
Trebizond, David VI tried to restore Georgian influence in the empire, David invaded the empire in April 1282 and captured many provinces (including the historical
Chaneti) and
besieged the capital. Though David failed to take the city, the
Georgians succeeded in annexing the eastern part of the empire. to seize the crown from her half-brother. She became empress for a few months, though soon in 1285 John II returned to the empire and regained power, and Queen Theodora took refuge in Georgia. He died at
Kutaisi in 1293. David was succeeded by his son,
Constantine I. David is buried within the chapel (
eukterion) of St. Andrew at the Cathedral of Nativity of the Theotokos of
Gelati, east of the southern entrance to the church. ==Marriage and children==