Badass Women of History #7: Queen Tamar

Modern day Georgia

There is large strip of land, just south of Russia proper, north of Turkey, and in between the Black and Caspian seas, known as the Caucasus. It is a land that has been rife with conflict and war from as far back as when human civilization arrived there to this very day. It is also a place of exotic and unique beauty and culture. The good and the bad, the culture and the wars, all stem from it being a crossroad between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; a mix of peoples, ideas, and religions, that sometimes meld and sometimes clash. In the middle of this region is the country of Georgia. Georgia is a nation of people who relatively recently regained their independence from Russia in 1991, but whose history goes back to 1088 and who saw the height of their power in the late 12th and early 13th century; during which these fierce Eastern Orthodox Christians had their own empire that feared neither the viking Rus city-states to the north or the the fanatically Muslim Selijuq Turks to the south. For Georgia it was a time of greatness that saw their territory more than double, its treasury filled to the brim and an explosion of art, music, poetry, and literature. And at the center of it all, the architect of their success, was Queen Tamar.

King George III

On the cusp of this pinnacle ruled King George Bagrationi III. In 1177 the Bagrationi dynasty had just had its first crises of succession and civil war. The king's brother, Prince Denma, supported by a powerful group of nobles, tried to seize the throne for himself, claiming George was a bastard and not a true heir of their father; the legitimacy of this claim is unverifiable. After a couple of months and few short battles that saw most of the rebel lords captured, surrendered, or killed, Denma and his father-in-law, Ionae Orbeli, held up in a fortress in Lorhe (modern day Lori, Armenia). As the royal army approached, Denma feared what was left of his forces would not last long and so sent word to the leaders of the various Selijuq Turkish nations to their south, including the overlord of them all the Sultanate of Rum (the precursor of the Ottoman Empire) for aid in exchange for land in southern Georgia. But the king and his forces overtook the fortress before any help could arrive and Denma and Ionae begged for mercy. Upon hearing of Denma's defeat the Turks turned around to head back to their home territories, but word had still reached the king of the Muslim army's movements and in investigating learned of his brothers overtures to the Turk. Incensed that his brother would willingly give over the lives and ruler-ship of their fellow Orthodox Christians to the Muslim Turks, King George ordered his brother Denma be castrated, blinded, and imprisoned for life and that his entire branch of the family be banished. Denma would die a few months later in prison from infection of his punitive wounds. But George still worried about the loyalty of the nobles around him and what they may do when he was gone.

Gelati Cathedral

To preserve his family dynasty he had his 18 year old daughter Tamar crowned as co-ruler, insuring their was no break in continuity of rule between his death and the crowning of his successor and so there was no mistake who he demanded that successor be. When the nobles questioned his actions on the basis of Tamar being a woman the king replied,

"It does not matter whether a lion is a male or female; one knows a lion by its claws and you shall know Tamar by her actions"

The quote has got me curious about Tamar's earlier life which we know nothing about, did he know or witness something in her youth that made him comfortable to leave his volatile kingdom in his daughter's hands in an age where woman were not highly thought of militarily; and then to compare her to a lion? We will never know. Anyway, for the next 6 years Tamar would sit at her fathers side as his equal, but also as his apprentice, learning everything she needed to know to lord over her families realm and to protect its citizen's Christian faith. Then in March of 1184 King George passed away and Queen Tamar was crowned for a second time in Gelati Cathedral.

Qutlu Arslan (left)

It was not long since putting her father in the ground when already there was talk of dissatisfaction and criticism among the nobles and the clergy about being ruled by a woman, and rumors started to spread of the possibility of a coup. She needed to act quickly, as any of these men could have an army within the palace within days to over throw her. Problem was Tamar did not know who she could trust, which nobles were loyal and which were plotting against her. One name that did seem to come up repeatedly as a leader of the malcontents was her father's treasurer, Qutlu Arslan. Instead of implicating him in the open at court, she privately sent him messages that she would be willing to negotiate a power sharing deal with him and the other scheming nobles, insisting that they come in person so to make sure all grievances and wishes could be heard. Qutlu agreed and sent word to his secret co-conspirators. As they arrived at the palace they were shown to a private hall were they were entertained by dancers and given plenty of food and drink. Then her personal handmaidens were sent as negotiators and go-betweens; they explained the Queen's noted absence that she needed to keep up appearances at court in the main throne room, and could not be seen by the public showing weakness by abdicating some of her power. Tamar kept up the ruse for little over three days, pretending to negotiate, hearing offers relayed to her by her maidens and sending back counter offers. But it was all a delay as now she knew which nobles were still loyal and sent for their armies to surprise attack the troops of the rebel lords in their various locations, while their masters were busy feasting and thinking they had Tamar over a barrel. Finally, the Queen sent for Qutlu and his allies to appear in the throne room. They happily obliged, not knowing what had transpired throughout the kingdom the past couple of days. When the nobles arrived, to their shock and horror, the high ranking officers of their individual forces were on their knees in front of the Queen begging for mercy. She had Qutlu arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment and torture. Those nobles who swore upon the cross to never raise arms against her were allowed to leave, those that didn't were executed. She was half way to consolidating her power now that the nobles were in line; now to exert her control over the clergy.

The head of the Georgia Orthodox Church was Patriarch Michael IV Mirianisdze, who had been one of the most open and fiercest of critics of King George when he crowned his daughter. Michael did not oppose Tamar on any theological ground, but was of the belief that the princess would never have the strength to hold the kingdom together or defend the faith from the rising Muslim hoard to the south. He had worked to undermine her rule well before her father died, insisting that she needed to find a husband who could be crowned king before she could properly take the throne and some suspect that it was the priests under his command that passed communication between Qutlu and some of the nobles that were more distant from the capital of Tiblisi, hoping that if enough military and political pressure were placed on her she would come to him to negotiate a peace; were he could propose a marriage to one of the rebel lords of his choosing. It had not played out the way he had hoped and now was looking for a next move. Tamar was quit aware of the old holy man's schemes but again, like with Qutlu's respected status, could not risk indicting a revered member of the clergy in open court. Instead, she would play him at his own game. She called a Synod, a gathering of all the high ranking clergy of the country. At the Gelati Cathedral she humbled herself before the great priests of the land and their master, Patriarch Michael, stating:

"Judge according to righteousness, affirming good and condemning evil. Begin with me – if I sin I should be censured, for the royal crown is sent down from above as a sign of divine service. Allow neither the wealth of the nobles nor the poverty of the masses to hinder your work. You by word and I by deed, you by preaching and I by the law, you by upbringing and I by will, care for those souls whom God has entrusted to us, and together we will abide by the law of God, to escape eternal condemnation.… You as priests and I as ruler, you as stewards of good and I as the watchman of that good.”

The clergy were smitten with her humility and were in awe of her high esteem for them, for the rest of her reign the rank and file priests would do everything they could to support her. As for Patriarch Michael, he was not wholly convinced and wanted proof of her commitment to heed the church's advise (what he really meant was his guidance). But Tamar was not done, she held aloft a sealed scroll and claimed it was a marriage decree, conferring on whom ever the patriarch chose to be her husband a title and certain powers. The conditions were simple: her suitor had to be of noble christian birth, not be from the Georgia aristocracy, and not heir to the throne of any other existing nation. Michael was floored with glee, he had gotten what he wanted. But it dawned on him, he did not have the knowledge or contacts  to find a suitor that fit all the criteria of a noble outside of Georgia's ruling class. He turned to the one person Tamar knew he would have to go to for advice, her aunt Rusudan, who had diplomatic connections with the various Rus territories all over the northern Caucasuses and beyond. Many believe Rusudan was most likely in on Tamar's long term plan, but the patriarch suspected nothing. Rushadan told Michael of the "perfect match", an exiled Russian prince, who had his own small army and an axe to grind against Georgia's northern neighbors.

Prince Yuri Bogolyubsky was the commander of an army with no home. His grandfather had been ruler of the The Grand Principality of Kiev (a large chunk of modern day Ukraine), but both his grandfather and father had both died defending their realm from invasion from the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal. With his family's realm annexed into Vladimir-Suzdal, Yuri took what little was left of his former nation's military and wandered as a mercenary army, hoping to earn enough money and gain enough foreign support to one day reconquer his home. But so far, while many were willing to hire him and his men to help with minor peasant rebellions or defend against encroachments from the mongol Golden Horde, none wanted to make an enemy of Vladimir-Suzdal or have the increasingly belligerent and haughty Yuri involved in inter-Rus politics; the Russian nobility had basically disowned his family as one of their own. So when word reached him of the the proposed marriage he more than jumped at the chance. In fact, to prove his worthiness to Patriarch Michael, on his way south to Georgia he decided to conqueror two small principalities, Durdzuketi and Kundzeti, as a gift to the nobles of Georgia so those lands could be used as trade routes to the Rus lands. Before then all trade was done through their ally, Ossetia-Alania, who exacted a steep yet fair toll. But his and Patriarch's enthusiasm would soon come crashing down after the marriage ceremony and the patriarch unsealed the marriage decree to anoint Yuri with his new title and powers. Yuri was not named king, but king-consort and made protector of the frontiers. What this meant was he was not even co-ruler, he was subordinate to Tamar and he held no rank among the Bagrationi's families personal troops, just command of the militia's along Georgia's borders, first response peasants that were little more than cannon fodder to hold up any advancing force until the nobles could get their troops into position. This was not the glorious marriage alliance Yuri thought it would be to bring his family its former power. Yuri was enraged, and at the wedding feast made a drunken and violent spectacle of himself. Patriarch Michael, who himself felt tricked by Tamar and her aunt calmed Yuri and assured him that he would handle the Queen. Yuri and his army were sent to Leketi and Shirvani along the Caspian Sea, that if he could conquer them thus expanding Georgia from sea to sea, it would go along way in bringing the queen around. Yuri agreed and his army, along with the armies of a couple of nobles who were still trying to get back into the Queens good graces after Qutlu's failed coup, traveled east.

Queen Tamar with King David Soslan of Ossetia-Alania

Queen Tamar strung along the Patriarch for months as reports came back to court from the east of not only tales of Yuri's victories, but also of whispers of cruelty and drunkenness. Patriarch Michael would die before  the eastern conquests were complete and the next day the Queen asked for an annulment from her now loyal priesthood on grounds of the marriage not being consummated and Yuri's excessive drinking made him an unworthy match. The priests agreed and word was sent to Yuri of his dismissal. Enraged Yuri turned his army around to attack Tbilisi, but due to the rushed nature of the attack and half the Georgian nobles with him fearing what would happen to them after another failed coup, the insurrection was easily repelled. He was forced to negotiate and the Queen, who expressed regret for the series of events that had him leave his homelands of the Rus city states, offered him Georgian nobility status and gave him the post of royal ambassador to the Byzantine Empire; he and his forces were to leave for Constantinople and establish joint military relations between the nations. Yuri agreed and headed west, however this was a lie, he partnered with the rulers of the small nation of Circassians and gathered the forces of Georgian nobles who still wanted Tamar overthrown and from there made plans to conquer the country he felt was his by marriage. It was at this time Tamar received a welcomed guest to her Palace, Prince David Soslan of Ossetia-Alania. He had apparently been keeping tabs on Yuri since the conquest of their mutual neighbors, Durdzuketi and Kundzeti. When the Russian gained the Circassins as an ally, he saw the potential for his nation to be in a precarious strategic position, and so implored his aging father to allow him to seek a partnership with Georgia. Soslan was a distant relative of Tamar's, as his mother was also descended from Tamar's great-grandfather King George I. The 18th century Georgian historian Prince Vakhushti wrote of David "all that the Latin Crusader knights strove to be in spirit and body, Prince David was naturally." He was charming, polite, pious, gallant, a remarkable horseman, and a patron of the arts. Her aunt even praised him as "Hewn from stone and reared on wolf's milk." Tamar was smitten and agreed to the alliance on the condition that the Prince would court her and seek approval from the nobles and clergy to marry her. It would not take long for the marriage to happen and the Kingdom of Georgia and the Kingdom of Ossetia-Alania were joined together a few months later when David's father died and he made King. Tamer was made Queen-consort of Ossetia-Alania, and David, King-consort of Georgia. The two rode out with both nations military and drove Yuri from the Caucasuses, never to be heard of in history again. They would have two children together, George (who would become the IV) and a daughter named after her aunt, Rusudan. Their marriage would be the beginning of a golden age of prosperity for the entire region. It looked to be a fairy-tale happy ending, if not for the long feared and theorized Muslim threat from the south that finally reared its head, as the Turks saw the Orthodox Christian rise as a threat to their power and planned supremacy for the world.

King David Soslan and the Georgian/Armenian military

David would continue Yuri's wars against Shirvani and Azerbijan to expand Georgia's eastern frontiers. It finally came to an end with the Battle of Shamkor in June of 1195, were David's superior logistical and tactical mind out maneuvered a vastly numerically superior force. Azerbijan's Muslim overlords fled to the Selijuq Turks and the countries leaders agreed to be vassals of Queen Tamar. Hearing of Georgia's victories and prosperity, two Kurdish generals, the Mkhargrdzeli brothers, in Shah Armen (modern day Armenia), converted to Christianity and overthrow the Muslim lords who were vassals of the Sultan of Rum, Rukn ad-Din Suleiman Shah II. They pledged their loyalty to Queen Tamar and the Georgian Orthodox Church. It was a major coup for the Queen. For the next couple of years, almost a decade, David and the Mkhargrdzeli brothers marched the Georgian/Armenian/Ossentian army across most of the Caucasuses, expanding and consolidating Queen Tamar's power. It was a mini crusade that in their minds was freeing the christian lands from the barbaric Rus in the north and the heathen Muslims to the south. The people enjoyed an unrepresented time of plenty and wealth, numerous slaves were freed from Russian and Muslim slavers. Battle flags of Rus warlords and Islamic emirs, whose sight oft times terrified the people of the Caucasuses, now hung as trophies in churches and the halls of local lords; and a number of treasures thought lost during the early years of Muslim expansion were retrieved, including the 8th century jewel encrusted Icon of Our Lady of Khakhuli. But while the Rus backed away and stayed clear of the Georgian border, the Selijuq Turks looked on with hatred and indignation as they no longer held the populace in fear.

Icon of Our Lady of Khakhuli

Those Muslim Emirs who had lost territory to the Georgians held council with their overlord Sultan Rukn ad-Din Suleiman Shah II and a joint statement of the Selijuq Turk nations, signed by the Sultan of Rum was delivered to the Queen to remind her of her place and demand that while her and her subjects could continue to practice Christianity in a limited capacity, they must all acknowledge and swear fealty Islamic rule. She rejected the "warning", sending a message back to the Sultan saying

"Your proposal takes into consideration your wealth and the vastness of your armies, but fails to account for divine judgment, while I place my trust not in any army or worldly thing but in the right hand of the Almighty God and the infinite aid of the Cross, which you curse. The will of God--and not your own--shall be fulfilled, and the judgment of God--and not your judgment--shall reign!”

 The shocked Sultan sent a second demand, to be personally read out by one of his top Emirs to the Queen who delivered the statement in a condescending and haughty manor. This time the sultan's message was full of venom, calling her "a simpleton" and saying women can't rule because they are too "feeble minded". The envoy ended the letter with the Sultan's ultimatum, that if she did not either covert to Islam and marry him or become his Christian concubine, he would destroy her and her people. So enraged was Tamar's court that one of the Mkhargrdzeli brothers ran over and punched the Muslim noble in the face so hard that he sprawled out on the floor with several teeth knocked out. David grabbed the man off the floor and told him to tell the Sultan he would kill him on the battlefield and threw the envoy out of the courtroom.

Sultan of Rum

Erzurum Castle

In 1202, the Sultan's forces amassed in the valley of Basiani, just inside the Turkish border with Georgia, 37 miles north from his nearest stronghold, Erzurum castle. It was an estimated 400,000 strong spread out in various locations within the valley, waiting for more troops to come in. Meanwhile, David and Tamar could only amass about 65,000 on short notice, waiting for more to come in from the countryside and their vassal territories. They knew if the Sultan crossed over and started marching on Georgian towns the entire war would become a bloodbath quickly.  Tamar and David led their much smaller army to the cliff-side city of Vardzia. It was thought that if they can engage the Turks there, taking a fortified defensive position they may hold out long enough for the rest of the army to arrive. It was a desperate position, but options were limited. David and Mkhargrdzeli brothers were not at all convinced they could hold long and considered negotiating a peace. That night Tamar claims to have received a vision and told her husband to "have faith enough to leap into the jackal's jaw, God would not allow such a lowly creature to consume a lion." That morning Armenian scouts were able to identify which of the camp clusters was the senior officers and the Sultan himself. David came up with a

daring plan to attack the Sultan directly. The men wear nervous and feared that they would all be surrounded in a matter of minutes. Tamar, took off her shoes and climbed bare foot to the top of the cliff roof of the church and roused her and her husbands soldiers:

“My brothers! Do not allow your hearts to tremble before the multitude of enemies, for God is with us.... Trust God alone, turn your hearts to Him in righteousness, and place your every hope in the Cross of Christ"

The soldiers had no more doubt of King David's plan now. Queen Tamar climbed down and dressed in battle gear rode along side her husband to Basiani Valley. At northern the entrance of the Valley, Tamar stayed behind with a contingent of troops to stop any Turks from leaving the valley into Georgia and prayed for David's victory. David broke his troops into three sections with him commanding the middle and each of the Mkhargrdzeli brothers commanding the sections on his flanks. David charged in a surprise dawn attack. The Turks awoke to confusion and hurriedly tried to gear up and fight back. As the Turks started fighting back David feigned retreat making the enemy over confidant enough to try and chase them down without forming ranks. He led them into a bog and turned to fight. Meanwhile the Mkhargrdzeli brothers came in on both the Turkish flanks. During a pitched battle the Sultan's personal battle standard was seized and the Sultan himself injured, causing panic among his men. Other smaller camps tried to get around the battle to hit King David from behind but were harried and pushed back by Queen Tamar and her auxiliary force. The whole Turkish army disbanded in chaos and fell back to Erzurum castle, trying to figure out what just happened. The Turks would make numerous unsuccessful attempts to penetrate Georgia's borders during the years after, but never with the size of force they had as many of the emirs had lost faith in the Sultan.

Alexios I Megas Komnenos

Since then Queen Tamar fashioned herself as the true protector of Christendom in the middle east, a title zealously claimed by the Byzantine Emperor. Shipments of supplies and money sent to the crusader Outremer states from Tamar were constantly seized by the Byzantines masquerading as pirates or bandits. Tamar sent diplomatic envoys to the emperor to talk peace, but the emperor rejected the importance of such a backwater wannabe empire. So in 1204, Tamar financed an expeditionary force led by exiled Byzantine princes, Alexios Komenos and his brother David, to retake a portion of their former home. With the help of the Georgian military, the brothers claimed the entire southern coast of the Black Sea from the Empire and the Turks until a settlement was reached, negotiated by Tamar, that created the Trebizond Empire. Again Tamar had shown that she was a power to be reckoned with and respected by all sides. Her material support and trade with Outremer was never harried again, and the Emperor was willing to share the title of protector.

The Vani Gospels and The Knight in Panther Skins

Tamar's signature on her letter to John the Unworthy

 During the later half of her reign she used Georgia's vast wealth to care for the poor and to construct a multitude of churches and monasteries. One story goes that during a tour of her kingdom her caravan rode through a small village inhabited by the very poor. She stopped by the local church, which was dilapidated and near falling down. She had the priest call the heads of each family in the village to see her. Once assembled, she handed her ruby encrusted belt to a bodyguard to pluck out each gem. One ruby was given to each family and the gold of the belt given to the church. She was also a great patron of the arts, commissioning numerous works of art; music in  Latin, Georgian, and Arabic; and literature. Two famous works that came from her patronage is the Vani Gospels and the epic poem "The Knight in Panther Skins". The Vani Gospels were written by a Georgian monk, living abroad in Constantinople, whose name in history is only known as John the Unworthy. Tamar had wanted to fund his poor monastic mission in Constantinople, but John would not take her money believing it was for holy man to be charitable, not receive charity. So Tamar wrote to him that she would pay to have a manuscript of the 4 gospels written in Georgian and with many color illustrations. When the work was completed and delivered to the Queen she sent back a payment 5 times more than the agreed upon price.

Poet Shota Rustaveli

"The Knight in Panther Skins", written in 1205, is considered the greatest piece of literature to come from that part of the world with literary experts having called it the Beowulf of the Caucasus and being "the Georgian image of how the world ought to be". Famed Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli was enamored with the Queen and all she had done for their nation over her reign and so dedicated his epic work to her. The tale takes place in a fictitious land heavily inspired by Arabia and India, but events that take place around the main characters are all allegories to the Queens rule. The love interest herself, Nestan-Darejan, was the embodiment of all the virtues he saw in his Queen. The tale is an exhibition of medieval Georgian ideals, of their sense of loyalty, chivalry, and romance.

King George IV

In 1207, with her beloved husband dead and she herself starting to feel her age, Tamar decided to do as her father had done, crown her eldest child as co-ruler. Just like when she was younger, George would sit next to her as her equal and apprentice, learning everything he could from his famous and accomplished mother. Ironically, also just like with her and her father, this would also last 6 years before the queen died of an unknown disease, that was reported to have devastating affects to her body. As for her burial site, that is a mystery, as her tomb has not been located in the family mausoleum in Gelati Cathedral. Some historians and archeologists believe she was buried in a hidden niche underneath the rest of her forbearers, kept secret to prevent Muslims or the rising threat of the Mongols from desecrating it. But there is one tale told, but unverified by any other sources, that she may be buried some where upon the grounds of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. A letter written by a French knight in Palestine to the Bishop of Besancon in France talks about the  Georgian army marching across Muslim territory to Jerusalem, destroying any that tried to block their path. Now we do know the Georgian army, led by King George IV, did try to come to the aid of the crusaders during this time and had reached Jerusalem only to immediately turn around back to Georgia due to the coming Mongol invasion. But the French knight claims that the army held before them a casket containing the great Queens remains, declaring it was her holy relic, that led them victoriously across enemy territory to the holy city. He then goes on to tell the bishop that as quickly as they got their, the Georgians left, but without the casket. As I said before, except for this letter, there is no other record of the casket leaving Georgia, but as with many mysteries of the middle ages who knows.

From the rule of her son to even today Tamar remains one of the most popular girl names in the Caucasus and she is considered thee most iconic figure in Georgian nationalism. Many orthodox churches claim her a saint, titling her as The Holy Righteous Queen, and her feast day is May 14th; during which young woman receive a blessing to be strong champions of christian faith and receive a loaf of blessed bread. Many plays, poems, and operas have been written about her but during the soviet occupation these were highly censored or altered, especially around the figure of the Russian Prince Yuri. But since Georgia's independence a revival of veneration has accrued and the old works have been restored to their original texted and played out proudly throughout Georgia, Armenia, and parts of eastern Europe; much to the frustration and rejection of Russian and Turkish diplomats who see her as a controversial figure whose legend serves only to stand in the way of good relations. Never the less she is a national hero, who undeniably, took her small kingdom out of obscurity and made the mighty quake.