Tamar (Georgian: თამარი, Tamari) was born circa 1160 to George III, King of Georgia, and his wife, Burdukhan of Alania. The name Tamar is of Hebrew origin and, like other biblical names, was favoured by the Georgian Bagrationi dynasty because of their claim to be descended from David, the second King of Israel.
Tamar's youth coincided with a major upheaval in Georgia. In 1177, her father was confronted by a rebellious faction of nobles. The intention was to dethrone George III in favour of the King's nephew, Demna, who was considered by many to be a legitimate royal heir of his murdered father, David V. Demna's cause was just a pretext for the nobles to, led by the pretender's father-in-law Ivane Orbeli, to weaken the crown. George III managed to crush the revolt and embarked on a repression campaign on the defiant aristocratic clans. Ivane Orbeli was put to death and the surviving family was driven out of Georgia. Demna was castrated and blinded on his uncle's order; he did not survive the mutilation and soon died in prison. Once the rebellion was suppressed and the pretender eliminated, George went ahead to co-opt Tamar into government with him. Tamar was crowned as co-ruler in 1178, aged 18. By doing so, the King attempted to anticipate any dispute after his death and legitimise his line on the throne of Georgia.
Tamar's youth coincided with a major upheaval in Georgia. In 1177, her father was confronted by a rebellious faction of nobles. The intention was to dethrone George III in favour of the King's nephew, Demna, who was considered by many to be a legitimate royal heir of his murdered father, David V. Demna's cause was just a pretext for the nobles to, led by the pretender's father-in-law Ivane Orbeli, to weaken the crown. George III managed to crush the revolt and embarked on a repression campaign on the defiant aristocratic clans. Ivane Orbeli was put to death and the surviving family was driven out of Georgia. Demna was castrated and blinded on his uncle's order; he did not survive the mutilation and soon died in prison. Once the rebellion was suppressed and the pretender eliminated, George went ahead to co-opt Tamar into government with him. Tamar was crowned as co-ruler in 1178, aged 18. By doing so, the King attempted to anticipate any dispute after his death and legitimise his line on the throne of Georgia.
For 6 years, Tamar was a co-ruler with her father. When he died, in 1184, Tamar continued as the sole monarch and was crowned a second time at the Gelati cathedral, near Kutaisi. She inherited a relatively strong kingdom, but the centrifugal tendencies fostered by the nobles were far from being quelled. There was considerable opposition to Tamar's succession. This was sparked by a reaction against the repressive policies of her father and encouraged by the new sovereign's other perceived weakness, her sex. As Georgia never had a female ruler, a part of the aristocracy questioned Tamar's legitimacy, while others tried to exploit her youth and supposed weakness. The involvement of Tamar's influential aunt, Rusudan, and the Georgian Catholicos-Patriarch was crucial for legitimising Tamar's succession to the throne. However, the young Queen was forced into making significant concessions to the aristocracy.
Tamar was also pressured into dismissing her father's appointees; one of the few untitled servitors of George III to escape this fate was the treasurer Qutlu Arslan, who now led a group of nobles and wealthy citizens in a struggle to limit royal authority by creating a new council, karavi, whose members would alone deliberate and decide policy. This attempt at "feudal constitutionalism" was aborted when Tamar had Qutlu Arslan arrested and his supporters were deceived into submission. Yet, Tamar's first moves to reduce the power of the aristocratic elite were unsuccessful. She failed in her attempt to use a church assembly to dismiss the Catholicos-Patriarch and the noble council, darbazi, asserted the right to approve royal decrees. Even the Queen's first husband, the Rus' prince Yuri, was forced on her by the nobles.
Following the dynastic imperatives and the ethos of the time, the nobles required Tamar to marry in order to have a leader for the army and to provide an heir to the throne. Their choice fell on Yuri, son of the murdered prince Andrei I Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal, who then lived as a refugee among the Kipchaks of the North Caucasus. The choice was approved by the Queen's aunt and the prince was brought to Georgia to marry Tamar in 1185. Yuri was an able soldier, but a difficult person and he soon ran afoul of his wife. The strained relationship paralleled a factional struggle at the royal court in which Tamar was becoming more and more assertive of her rights as Queen regnant. The turning point in Tamar's fortunes came with the death of the powerful Catholicos-Patriarch whom the Queen replaced, as a chancellor, with her supporter, Anton Gnolistavisdze. Tamar gradually expanded her own power-base and elevated her loyal nobles to high positions at the court, most notably the Zakarids-Mkhargrzeli.
In 1187, Tamar persuaded the noble council to approve her to divorce Yuri. He was accused of drunkenness and sodomy and was sent off to Constantinople. Assisted by several Georgian aristocrats anxious to check Tamar's growing power, Yuri made her coup attempts, but failed and went off to obscurity after 1191. The Queen chose her second husband herself. She chose David Soslan, an Alan prince. He was a capable military commander, and became Tamar's major supporter; he was instrumental in defeating the rebellious nobles who rallied behind Yuri.
Following the dynastic imperatives and the ethos of the time, the nobles required Tamar to marry in order to have a leader for the army and to provide an heir to the throne. Their choice fell on Yuri, son of the murdered prince Andrei I Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal, who then lived as a refugee among the Kipchaks of the North Caucasus. The choice was approved by the Queen's aunt and the prince was brought to Georgia to marry Tamar in 1185. Yuri was an able soldier, but a difficult person and he soon ran afoul of his wife. The strained relationship paralleled a factional struggle at the royal court in which Tamar was becoming more and more assertive of her rights as Queen regnant. The turning point in Tamar's fortunes came with the death of the powerful Catholicos-Patriarch whom the Queen replaced, as a chancellor, with her supporter, Anton Gnolistavisdze. Tamar gradually expanded her own power-base and elevated her loyal nobles to high positions at the court, most notably the Zakarids-Mkhargrzeli.
In 1187, Tamar persuaded the noble council to approve her to divorce Yuri. He was accused of drunkenness and sodomy and was sent off to Constantinople. Assisted by several Georgian aristocrats anxious to check Tamar's growing power, Yuri made her coup attempts, but failed and went off to obscurity after 1191. The Queen chose her second husband herself. She chose David Soslan, an Alan prince. He was a capable military commander, and became Tamar's major supporter; he was instrumental in defeating the rebellious nobles who rallied behind Yuri.
Tamar and David had two children: Giorgi-Lasha (1192 or 1194) and Rusudan (1195).
David's status of a king consort, as well a his presence in art, on charters and on coins, was dictated by the necessity of male aspects of kingship, but he remained a subordinate ruler who shared the throne and derived his power from his wife. Tamar continued to be styled as mep'et'a mep'e - King of Kings.
Once Tamar succeeded in consolidating her power and found support in David, the Zakarids-Mkhargrzeli, Toreli, and other noble families, she revived the expansionist foreign policy of her predecessors. Early in the 1190s, the Georgian government began to interfere in the affairs of the Ildenizids and of the Shirvanshahs, aiding rivaling local princes and reducing Shirvan to a tributary state. The Ildenid atabeg Abu Bakr attempted to stem the Georgian advance, but suffered a defeat at the hands of David at the Battle of Shamkor in 1195. Although Abu Bakr was able to resume his reign one year later, the Ildenizids were only barely able to contain Georgian attacks.
David's status of a king consort, as well a his presence in art, on charters and on coins, was dictated by the necessity of male aspects of kingship, but he remained a subordinate ruler who shared the throne and derived his power from his wife. Tamar continued to be styled as mep'et'a mep'e - King of Kings.
Once Tamar succeeded in consolidating her power and found support in David, the Zakarids-Mkhargrzeli, Toreli, and other noble families, she revived the expansionist foreign policy of her predecessors. Early in the 1190s, the Georgian government began to interfere in the affairs of the Ildenizids and of the Shirvanshahs, aiding rivaling local princes and reducing Shirvan to a tributary state. The Ildenid atabeg Abu Bakr attempted to stem the Georgian advance, but suffered a defeat at the hands of David at the Battle of Shamkor in 1195. Although Abu Bakr was able to resume his reign one year later, the Ildenizids were only barely able to contain Georgian attacks.
In 1199, Tamar's armies led by 2 Christianised Kurdish generals, Zak'are and Ivane Zakarid-Mkhargrzeli, dislodged the Shaddadid dynasty from Ani, the once capital of the Armenian Kingdom, and received it from the Queen as their fief. From their base at Ani, the brothers surged ahead into the central Armenian lands, reclaiming one after another fortresses and districts from local Muslim rulers. Alarmed by the Georgian success, Süleymanshah II, the resurgent Seljuqid sultan of Rûm, rallied his vassal emirs and marched against Georgia, but his camp was attacked and destroyed by David at the Battle of Basian. The chronicler of the Queen describes how the army was assembled at the town of Vardzia before marching on to Basian and how Tamar addressed the troops from the balcony of the church.
Among the remarkable events of Tamar's reign was the foundation of the Empire of Trebizond on the Black Sea coast in 1204. This state was established by Alexios I Megas Komnenos and his brother, David, in the northeastern Pontic provinces of the crumbling Byzantine Empire with the aid of Georgian troops. Alexios and David, Tamar's cousins, were fugitive Byzantine princes raised at the Georgian court. The aim of this Georgian expedition to Trebizond was to punish the Byzantine emperor, Alexios IV Angelos, for his confiscation of a shipment of money from the Queen to the monasteries of Antioch and Mount Athos.
Among the remarkable events of Tamar's reign was the foundation of the Empire of Trebizond on the Black Sea coast in 1204. This state was established by Alexios I Megas Komnenos and his brother, David, in the northeastern Pontic provinces of the crumbling Byzantine Empire with the aid of Georgian troops. Alexios and David, Tamar's cousins, were fugitive Byzantine princes raised at the Georgian court. The aim of this Georgian expedition to Trebizond was to punish the Byzantine emperor, Alexios IV Angelos, for his confiscation of a shipment of money from the Queen to the monasteries of Antioch and Mount Athos.
Tamar sought to make use of the weakness of the Byzantine Empire and the Crusaders' defeat at the hands of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in order to gain Georgia's position on the international stage and to assume the traditional role of the Byzantine crown as a protector of the Christians in the Middle East. Tamar's chronicle praises her universal protection of Christianity and her support of churches and monasteries from Egypt to Bulgaria and Cyprus.
Georgia's political and cultural exploits of Tamar's epoch were rooted in a long and complex past. Tamar owed her accomplishments most immediately to the reforms of David IV and, more remotely, to the unifying efforts of David III and Bagrat III, who became architects of a political unity of Georgian kingdoms and principalities in the opening decade of the 11th century. Tamar was able to build upon their successes. By the last years of Tamar's reign, the Georgian state had reached the zenith of its power and prestige in the Middle Ages. The royal title was correspondingly aggrandized, emphasizing the Georgian crown's hegemony over the neighbouring lands. Thus, on the coins and charters issued in her name, Tamar is identified as:
Georgia's political and cultural exploits of Tamar's epoch were rooted in a long and complex past. Tamar owed her accomplishments most immediately to the reforms of David IV and, more remotely, to the unifying efforts of David III and Bagrat III, who became architects of a political unity of Georgian kingdoms and principalities in the opening decade of the 11th century. Tamar was able to build upon their successes. By the last years of Tamar's reign, the Georgian state had reached the zenith of its power and prestige in the Middle Ages. The royal title was correspondingly aggrandized, emphasizing the Georgian crown's hegemony over the neighbouring lands. Thus, on the coins and charters issued in her name, Tamar is identified as:
By the will of God, King of King and Queen of Queens of the Abkhazians, Kartvelians, Arranians, Kakhetians, and Armenians; Shirvanshah and Shahanshah; Autocrat of all the East and West, Glory of the World and Faith; Champion of the Messiah.
The Queen never achieved autocratic powers and the noble council continued to function. However, Tamar's own prestige and the expansion of patronq'moba - a Georgian version of feudalism - kept the more powerful dynastic princes from fragmenting the Kingdom.
With flourishing commercial centres now under Georgia's control, industry and commerce brought new wealth to the country and the court. Tribute extracted from the neighbours and war booty added to the royal treasury, giving rise to the saying that the peasants were like nobles, the nobles like princes, and the princes like kings.
With this prosperity came an outburst of the distinct Georgian culture, emerging from an amalgam of Christianity, secularism, as well as western and eastern influences. Despite this, the Georgians continued to identify with the Byzantine west, rather than the Islamic east. It was in that period that the canon of Georgian Orthodox architecture was redesigned and a series of large-scale domed cathedrals were built. The Byzantine-derived expression of royal power was modified in various ways to bolster Tamar's position as a woman ruling in her own right. Despite Georgia's Byzantine-leaning culture, the country's intimate trade connections with the Middle East is evidenced on contemporary Georgian coinage, whose legends were composed in Georgian and Arabic. The contemporary Georgian chronicles enshrined Christian morality and patristic literature continued to flourish but it had lost its earlier dominant position to secular literature. Secular literature was highly original and the trend culminated in Shota Rustaveli's epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin (Vepkhistq'aosani), which celebrates the ideals of an Age of Chivalry and is revered in Georgia as the greatest achievement of native literature.
Tamar outlived her consort, David, and died of a devastating disease not far from her capital, Tbilisi. She had previously crowned her son, Giorgi-Lasha coregent. Tamar's historian relates that the Queen suddenly fell ill when discussing state affairs with her ministers. She was transported to Tbilisi and then to the nearby castle of Agarani, where Tamar died and was mourned by her subjects on 18 January 1213. She was 52 or 53 years old.
Tamar was canonised by the Georgian Orthodox Church as the Holy Righteous Queen Tamar; her feast is commemorated on 14 May.
Thus far, nobody knows where Tamar's grave is. She belongs to everyone and to no one: her grave is in the heart of the Georgians. And in the Georgians' perception, this is not a grave, but a beautiful vase in which an unfading flower, the great Tamar, flourishes.
Grigol Robakidze, 1918.
 |
Tamar of Georgia
Khrusi
c. 1895
|
Comentários
Enviar um comentário