bagrat’s reign, a period of uttermost importance in the history of georgia, brought about the final victory of the georgian bagratids in the centuries-long power struggles. anxious to create more stable and centralized monarchy, bagrat eliminated or at least diminished the autonomy of the dynastic princes. in his eyes, the most possible internal danger came from the klarjeti line of the bagrationi, represented by the king’s cousins, sumbat and gurgen. although seem to have acknowledged bagrat’s authority, they continued to be styled as kings, and sovereigns of klarjeti. to secure the succession to his son, george, bagrat lured his cousins, on pretext of a reconciliatory meeting, to the panaskerti castle, and threw them in prison in 1010. their children managed to escape to constantinople, but sumbat and gurgen died in custody by 1012.