The lord of Kherkhemi fortress and village must have been the nobleman Kherkhemeli, whose descendants formed the princely family of the Kherkhemelisdze in Samtskhe. The family is mentioned in the "Kartlis Tskhovreba": around 1306 the Turks invaded Tao. In the chronicler's words, "the Turks who had passed by Vashlovani went down to Murghuli and Niagaliskhevi, into trackless places, and were slain by the Kherkhemelisdze nobles." It seems the Georgians, led by the Kherkhemelisdze, won here one of the battles of a great invasion. In the 1516 register of the estates and flock of the Mtskheta Patriarchate in Samtskhe, the Kherkhemelisdze domain, with its burial ground, monastery and court church, was already held by the Taktirsdze family — probably meaning the Samtskhe village of Kherkhemi, the fortress and its surroundings. The Kherkhemelisdze are not mentioned thereafter.