Its first recorded ruler,
Sahl Smbatean, slaughtered the
Caucasian Albanian (
Mihranids) royal family in 822 and declared himself "
Shah of
Arran", currying favour with the
Caliphate by betraying the
Zoroastrian Babak Khorramdin he was recognized as the ruler of Arran. Sahl later incurred Arab distrust, was arrested and sent to Baghdad; he was succeeded by his son
Adarnase I and grandson,
Grigol Hamam. The principality gained significant strength and prestige by 893, allowing Prince Grigol Hamam to be crowned as the king. Alarmed by the increasing power of the Heretian kingdom,
Kvirike I, the ruler of the neighbouring
Kakhetian principality, allied himself with King
Constantine III of Abkhazia and, in 915, campaigned against King
Adarnase II Patrikios. The allies occupied and divided the country but for a short time as Adarnase Patrikios soon reconquered what had been lost. The kingdom survived Kakhetian attacks but lost Caucasian Albania to its
Sallarid (
Iranian Azerbaijan) neighbour. Adarnase married
Queen Dinar, a daughter of
Adarnase III of Tao, with whom he had a son
Ishkhanik.
Dinar. Ishkhanik was the son and successor of Adarnase Patrikios. Under Ishkhanik, Hereti was forced to recognize the supremacy of the stronger neighbour,
Principality of Daylam, ruled by the Salarid dynasty. According to
The Georgian Chronicles,
Queen Dinar, during the reign of her son Ishkhani, converted Hereti to the
Eastern Orthodox confession and abandoned the
Oriental Orthodox confession in the 10th century. In 950, Ishkhanik took advantage of the bitter power struggle in the Sallarid state, and ceased to pay tribute effectively restoring his independence. The next Heretian ruler,
John (Ioane Senekerim, 951–959), during his reign kingdom of Hereti reached a climax of power and prestige, mainly after the annexation of the right bank of Caucasian Albania. Armenian historian
Movses Kaghankatvatsi calls him "restorer of the Kingdom of Albania". Later he annexed parts of Kakheti and adopted the title of "King of the
Tsanars". John had good relations towards the representatives of the Sallaried Dynasty and with
David III Kuropalates of
Tao. Like his father and his grandmother Queen Dinar, he contributed a lot to the conversion of his kingdom. He died in 959 without an heir. The area then was contested between the ruler of Kakheti,
David ( 976–1010), and the Georgian king
Bagrat III who sought to bring all Georgian lands into a
single monarchy. The next Kakhetian ruler, already titled as the king,
Kvirike III the Great (1010–1037) finally absorbed Hereti into his
Kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti in the 1020s. When the Georgian king
David the Builder brought the kingdom under his control in 1104, Hereti became a
saeristavo (i.e. a duchy) within the Georgian realm. Georgian rule of Hereti was interrupted by
Atabegs of Azerbaijan,
Khwarezmid Empire and
Ilkhanid rule. After the final disintegration of the unified Georgian monarchy in 1466, Hereti came under the
Kakhetian crown. Afterwards, the name of the province itself has gradually disappeared from the historic records and public usage due to successively
Kara Koyunlu,
Aq Qoyunlu,
Safavid,
Afsharid, and
Ottoman rules. ==Rulers of Hereti==