Jalal al-Din's first encounter with the
Kingdom of Georgia occurred in 1225, when his army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Georgians at the
Battle of Garni, bringing about the end of Georgia's medieval heyday. Next year, Jalal al-Din marched on to Tbilisi, forcing Queen
Rusudan of Georgia and her court into fight. The Georgian forces, left in defense of the capital, put up a fierce resistance, but Jalal's forces eventually broke into the city with the assistance of local
Muslims on 9 March 1226. The victorious Khwarazmian soldiers sacked Tbilisi and massacred its Christian population. The anonymous 14th-century Georgian chronicle, conventionally known as the
Chronicle of a Hundred Years, laments: "Words are powerless to convey the destruction that the enemy brought: tearing infants from their mothers' breasts, they beat their heads against the bridge, watching as their eyes dropped from their skulls...". According to the Georgian source, Jalal had the dome of the
Sioni Cathedral torn down and replaced it with a throne for himself. At his order the icons of Christ and Virgin Mary were carried out of the cathedral and placed at the bridge over the
Mtkvari river in order to force the Christians to step on them. Those who refused to profane the icons and apostatize to Islam were
beheaded.
Kirakos Gandzaketsi, an Armenian historian from 13th century, also narrated that Jalal al-Din and his soldiers forced Georgians to convert, mistreated women, destroyed churches and removed the signs of
cross. The medieval Georgian chronicler puts the number of those killed at ათნი ბევრნი (''at'ni bevrni''). ==References==