Tamara the Great

Anna Demchenko exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

The name of Queen Tamara is known not only in Georgia. This is perhaps the most iconic historical figure for the Georgians. Many legends are dedicated to Tamara and the places in Georgia that are associated with her name. There is even a holiday in honor of the queen - Tamaroba (the Tbilisi celebration is traditionally held near the temple of Didube Dame, where Tamara married  David, her second husband). The beloved ruler was even canonized, and not only in the Georgian church, but in the Russian Orthodox Church as well.

Tamara was born in 1160, in the royal family of Bagration. Her father was Georgy III, and her mother was the daughter of the Alan King Huddan Burduhan. In honor of the birth of his daughter, Georgy built the church where the Queen later married.

Georgy did not have male heirs. This caused anxiety and instability. In 1177 the princely Orbeli family, headed by the Minister of War and protomandator Ivan Orbeli, rebelled in order to enthrone the nephew of Georgy III Demeter (mostly known under the diminutive version of the name Demna), who was married to the daughter of Ivan. According to the custom of succession, Demna had the right to claim the throne as the son of the elder brother of Georgy. The pretender to the throne was supported by a number of noble and powerful families. The rebels gathered an army of thirty thousand. Orbely was hesitating and Georgy beseieged the fortress Lore, the center of the Orbali lands. According to some sources, Demna wanted peace with Georgy and came down from the fortress asking for mercy. But Georgy did not consider it. As a result, Ivan died, the Orbeli family was exiled and Demna was blinded and died in prison. To avoid further riots with claims to the throne, in 1178 Georgy III declared Tamara his heir and co-ruler and crowned her.

After the death of Georgy III in 1184, Tamara ascended the throne, despite the opposition of some nobles. There was a conspiracy headed by a minister of finance of non-noble origin who was serving her father, Kutlu-Arslan. He created some Persian-like project and demanded that his tent be pitched in a field, where he wanted to deal with questions of mercy and punishment and convey his decisions to Tamara. This would have meant the end of Tamara's rule. However, the conspirators did not manage to restrict the power of the legal queen. “Tamara sent to them two respectable women – Huashaka Tsokoli and Krava – and proposed they surrender, promising not to punish anyone.” The conspirators repented and the queen forgave them.

Tamara was the first woman to rule Georgia alone, and of course many doubted that she would manage. Soon she was forced to marry Prince Yury, the son of Andrey Bogolubsky, who after the death of his father had to hide from Prince Vsevolod. The patriarch and the nobility told Tamara about this, and without her agreement started preparing for the wedding. There was also her relative Alexei, who was the nephew of the Greek Emperor. Some thought Tamara should be married to him. She herself asked to be freed of the necessity of marrying. But Queen Rasudana and the military insisted and made her agree. Because of the misbehaviour of her husband and because he was offending her, Tamara divorced him within three years, in 1187: “Not trusting the prince, who became the body of diabolic service, the otherwise merciful Tamara with tears exiled him, giving him wealth and treasures.” Later, Yury twice tried to dethrone Tamara, but unsuccessfully.

At the court of Queen Rasudana, the aunt of Tamara on the paternal side, the former Queen of Horasan who was bringing Tamara up as a child there, was a knight “from the sons of Efrem,the Ossetians, powerful and brave men. He was a relative of Rusudana through her aunt, who was married in Ossetia, and Rasudana brought him to her palace.” And once again Tamara was against the marriage, saying “God is my witness, I never wanted to get married, neither before, nor now, and I would have asked to be freed of this necessity if it was not for the throne that was given to me by God and then by my parents.”

This time she was also persuaded to get married. David Soslan became a great help to Tamara. They had two children. Their son Georgy was born in 1191 (he ruled as Georgy IV in 1213-1223) and their daughter Rusudan was born in 1194 (she ruled in 1223-1245).

The golden age of the queen started. During her reign Georgia achieved unprecedented prosperity and gained international prestige. The infrastructure of Georgia was greatly improved – new roads, irrigation channels, water pipes, bridges and temples (in Betania, Pitareti and Ikorte). Georgian literature was flourishing – this was when the poets Shota Rustaveli and Ioann Shavteli lived and worked.

Strengthening her power, Tamara wanted to increase the influence of Georgia in the region. In the 1190s she conquered Tebriz and Erzerum, In 1191 the last Seldjuk sultan, Togrul III, was dethroned. This resulted in a war for the throne won by Abu Bakr. He killed his older brother, but the youngest, Amir Mihranu, managed to escape from him in Tbilisi, where he asked for help from Tamara - he had to keep the Shirvan. Tamara agreed. In 1195 a Georgian army headed by David Soslan took Shamkor from Abu Bakr. So Shamkor became a vassal city of Georgia and Amir Mihran became the new atabek in Ganji, but one year later he was poisoned.

In 1199 the brothers Mkhargrdzeli, both generals, marched on Armenia - they took two the major cities of Ani and Dvin and in 1203 made them vassals of Tamara. In 1206 Mkhargrdzeli managed to conquer Kars. Victory was achieved against the Seljuks, who attacked the Georgian vassal town of Erzerum in 1201.

After the overthrow of the Byzantine dynasty of Comnenus in 1185, Alex and David Comnenus, the nephews of Tamara, were first brought to Constantinople in secret to seize the throne of the dynasty of the Angels, and in 1203 fled to the district of Trebizond, to their ancestral lands. In 1204 Crusaders besieged Constantinople, and the Angels that overthrew Comnenus found themselves in a very difficult position. It was the best time to capture distant Trebizond. A Georgian army with David Comnenus seized Trebizond. Thus was founded the Empire of Trebizond, led by the Comnenus dynasty, which remained an ally of Georgia until 1461, when Trebizon was conquered by Mehmed II.

The queen survived her husband. To avoid confusion and the interregnum after his death, Tamara crowned Georgy as her co-regent. The queen died, probably in 1213 (according to other sources - in 1207 or in 1210). Her burial place has not yet been established. In one version, she was buried in Gelati, on the other - in Jerusalem. SirDe Bois wrote to the Archbishop of Besancon: "Now listen to the news, amazing and important. I learned by ear, and then established the truth of this case by credible messengers, that the Christians, called Georgen, with innumerable cavalry and infantry, inspired by God's assistance, and very heavily armed, went against the infidel pagans and already took a hundred and nine fortresses, big cities, of which the strongest were seized, and the weakest turned to ashes. The above-mentioned include the land of Jerusalem and the holy conquer the pagan world. Their noble king is sixteen, he is like Alexander by courage and virtue, but not by faith. This young man carries with him the bones of their mother, the powerful Queen Tamara, who during his lifetime vow to go to Jerusalem and asked her son to take her to the bone Sepulchre. And he said, remembering the mother's request ... it was decided to move her remains, no matter whether the pagans want it or not. "

During her reign Tamara managed to suppress the opposition of the nobility, even to raise the prestige of Georgia in the international arena, to expand the boundaries of the country, to get reliable allies and vassals, many of which would support Georgia for centuries. Tamara is associated with large-scale construction, which is still alive in people's memories, legends of the wisdom and the beauty of the queen and the unrequited love for her of the poet Shota Rustaveli. Tamara is still a national heroine, and the memory of her as a great ruler has been alive for centuries.