Gobron

Gobron () also known as Mikel-Gobron or Michael-Gobron () (died November 17, 914) was a Christian Georgian military commander who led the defense of the fortress of Q'ueli against the Sajid emir of Azerbaijan. When the fortress fell after a 28-day-long siege, Gobron was captured and beheaded, having rejected inducements to convert to Islam. Shortly after his death Gobron became the subject of the hagiography authored by Bishop Stephen of T'beti and a saint of the Georgian Orthodox Church, which commemorates him on November 17 (O.S., which equates to November 30 on the Gregorian calendar). His martyrdom is also mentioned by the medieval Georgian and Armenian chronicles.

==Biography== Gobron is the subject of "The Passion of the Holy Martyr Gobron, who was Abducted from the Castle of Q'ueli" (წამებაჲ წმიდისა მოწამისა გობრონისი, რომელი განიყვანეს ყუელის ციხით), composed by Bishop Stephen of T’beti (Stepane Mtbevari) at the behest of the Georgian Bagratid prince Ashot I of Tao between 914 and 918. The narrative unfolds against the background of the 914 military expedition undertaken by Yusuf Ibn Abi'l-Saj, the Sajid emir of Azerbaijan. This campaign was among the last major attempts of the Abbasid Caliphate to maintain its weakening control over Georgian lands, which at the time were divided among rival native kingdoms and Muslim-held territories.