Tamar

Who he is

Name

Tamar (Tamar the Great), of the Bagrationi house

Title

King (mepe) of the Abkhazians, Kartvelians, Rans, Kakhs and Armenians, Shirvanshah and Shahanshah

Since

Co-ruler from 1178; sole ruler from her father's death in 1184

Born

About 1160 or about 1166

Family

Daughter of George III and Burdukhan, daughter of an Alan king. Husband David Soslan (David Soslan). Children: George Lasha, born 1192 (or 1194), and Rusudan, born 1194 (or about 1195).

Confidence

high

Her household that winter: Zakare Mkhargrdzeli (amirspasalar, mandaturtukhutsesi), Ivane Mkhargrdzeli (msakhurtukhutsesi), the chancellor-archbishop of Chqondidi (Antoni Glonistavisdze, likeliest), a treasurer not pinned.

What it holds

• Tbilisi, the capital, its citadel (the Kala), the Metekhi quarter and the royal palaces (David Soslan married Tamar at the Didube palace by the city)
• Mtskheta, the seat of the Catholicos, with the cathedral of Svetitskhoveli
• Kutaisi, the western capital, the palace of Geguti and the royal monastery of Gelati (the crown's burial place)
• Samshvilde and Dmanisi in Kvemo Kartli, crown castles since the fall of the Orbeli in 1177 (governors not pinned)
• Ujarma, the royal fortress in Kakheti
• The Darial fortress and the road through the Gates of the Alans
• The royal domain (sakhaso) in every province, the Kipchak settlers' service, the tolls of the Kura and the caravan roads, the Tbilisi mint
• The tribute of Shirvan

How it was acquired

Inheritance from George III (1184). Tbilisi was taken from the Muslims by David IV in 1122; Kvemo Kartli's castles came to the crown in 1177.

Allies and rivals

Allies: her husband, the Mkhargrdzeli brothers, the Toreli and Akhaltsikheli, the church. Rivals: the remnants of the 1191 rebel party (the Dadiani, the Abulasanisdze, Botso Jaqeli's kin), and abroad the Eldiguzid atabeg Abu Bakr.

How things stand that morning

Secure. The revolts are past and the army is victorious. Tamar is in Tbilisi or on the move between Tbilisi, Kutaisi and the frontier (her whereabouts on 1 January 1200 are not recorded).

Wealth

The caravan trade through Tbilisi (silk, cloth, horses, slaves), the Kura tolls, the market and baths of Dmanisi, the tribute of Shirvan, the spoils of Shamkor and the Armenian campaigns, the royal estates' grain, wine and flocks.

Military

The royal guard and household; she summons the banners of the eristavi and the Mkhargrdzeli army. Castles: the Tbilisi citadel, Samshvilde, Dmanisi, Ujarma, Darial, Geguti.

Threats

• The atabeg Abu Bakr
• Discontented nobles of the 1191 party
• The heir's youth: George is seven

Household

• Amirspasalar and mandaturtukhutsesi: Zakare Mkhargrdzeli
• Msakhurtukhutsesi: Ivane Mkhargrdzeli
• Chancellor (mtsignobartukhutsesi-Chqondideli): the archbishop of Chqondidi, Antoni Glonistavisdze (likeliest; years not pinned)
• Treasurer (mechurchletukhutsesi): not pinned
• The royal guard (monaspa) and the court poets and historians (Shota Rustaveli is placed at her court by tradition; the date of The Knight in the Panther's Skin is not pinned)

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1200 (k'oronikon 420)Copper coins with the monograms of Tamar and David, dated 420 of the Georgian era, are struck.Depends on: Routine Stopped by: Nothing likely

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201Tamar grants Ani to Zakare as a fief.Depends on: Ani held through 1200 Stopped by: The loss of Ani

Places of note

• Palace of Geguti: Royal palace near Kutaisi, where the 1191 rebels proclaimed Yury
• Gelati monastery: Royal monastery and academy, founded by David IV in 1106; Tamar's second coronation
• Samshvilde: Crown castle of Kvemo Kartli
• Ujarma: Royal fortress in Kakheti
• Darial fortress: The Gates of the Alans on the road over the Caucasus

Where the sources disagree

• Her birth is given as about 1160 and about 1166; the date of her death as 1213 (most), 1207 or 1210.

Evidence: Two court histories and many charters; the governors of the crown castles on 1 January 1200 are not named.

On the map: The royal domain was scattered estates in every province; only the main blocks are drawn.

Primary sources for Georgia

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (Michael the Great), Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199 (about 1180 to 1195). The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Read online
• The History of Derbent and Shirvan, as preserved in Munejjim-bashi's Jami al-duwal, Anonymous (an 11th-century author of Derbent, excerpted by Munejjim-bashi, died 1702) (about 1075; preserved in an Ottoman compilation of the 1670s). The only local history of the Shirvanshahs and the emirs of Derbent, surviving as extracts in a 17th-century Ottoman compilation.
• The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
• History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
• The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
• The Historical Compilation of Vardan Areveltsi, Vardan Areveltsi (about 1267 to 1271). A short universal history that for the 12th and 13th centuries follows Samuel of Ani, Michael the Syrian (which Vardan helped translate into Armenian in 1248) and Kirakos. Read online
• The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online