The lion, serving Tamar the queen, holds her sword and shield.
Well, a singer, what deed should she serve?
The braids of the regal are agate, the fever is brighter than lalov.
He who sees the sun revels in nectar.
- Shota Rustaveli
Tamara, the first lady of Georgian history, was born around 1165. She came from the ancient Georgian dynasty of Bagratids. Tamara's mother was the daughter of the Ossetian king Burdukhan. Very little information has survived about Tamara's childhood, but we know that she lost her mother early and was replaced by her aunt Rusudan, a prominent political figure during the reign of Tamara's father George III. She managed to give Tamara an excellent education.
To begin with, a short excursion to Iveria (Georgia) of the 12th century. What was the internal structure of Iberia in the era of its heyday?
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Even King David the Builder divided the kingdom into several administrative provinces, entrusting their administration to separate eristavs (voivodships). The Eristavs always strove for an independent existence, independent of the royal power. The main one was Kartalinskoe. The one who held this post bore the title of Eristav Eristavov. All state duties were received by him.
Eristavstvo was divided into moravstva (zemstvo administration). The responsibilities of the moravs were the executive and lower judicial powers. In filling all these positions, the antiquity of the clan was respected, but personal merit was valued more. This was the reason that from time to time one or another surname was brought to the fore. The heredity of positions begins in the XII century and becomes the reason for the decline of Georgia.
The master's power was unlimited. The duties were determined by custom, and even the king could not demand that which was not sanctified by custom.
Militarily, Georgia was divided into sardars. The rank of the Sardar was the highest and later belonged to the hereditary best princely families. The highest judicial power in Georgia belonged to the tsar. If the cases were tangled, then he referred them to the Supreme Court. The sentences were presented to the king, without whose approval they did not enter into force.
The very enthronement of Tamara is quite remarkable. The fact is that the rightful heir to the throne was Demna, the son of David, the elder brother of George III. But the tsar died suddenly, leaving the young tsarevich in the care of brother-regent George III, Tamara's father. Tsar-regent George III gave Demna to be raised in a noble family Orbeliani, promising to give him the reins of government on the day of his majority. Demna had already reached the age of 18 when there was a rumor that Tsar George did not intend to give up power. He understood that the easiest way was to continue the Bagratid dynasty with the help of the marriage of a daughter and a nephew, but in this case Tamara would remain only the king's wife, whose destiny is to give birth to children and spend time in palace intrigues and gossip. As the chroniclers unanimously point out, the princess from her youth showed an interest in government and did not want to be content with secondary roles. Apparently, having succumbed to the persuasions of his daughter, the king began to prepare the ground for her coronation.
In 1177, a conspiracy was formed to enthrone Prince Demeter (Demna). The head and soul of the conspiracy was amirspasalar (commander of the troops) Ivane Orbeliani, Demna's father-in-law. Of course, the eminent father-in-law had other, more practical goals, including, of course, - to see his child on the throne. Near Demna not only Orbeliani, but also other noble feudal lords, they have 30,000 troops, and they are full of determination - each in the name of their own benefits - to remove their sovereign, the father of young Tamara.
However, Georgy III, Tamara's parent, turned out to be much more agile and enterprising than his opponents. He himself gathered detachments loyal to the throne and moved towards the fortress of Lore, where the main forces of the conspirators were concentrated. The long siege began.
The energetic actions of George III disorganized the conspirators. The too cautious Gamrekel Toreli was the first to leave them, some others followed him, and finally, the conspirators learned that the brothers Mhargrdzeli, glorified in battles, also came to the king with a confession. The alarmed amirspasalar sent messengers to the neighboring Muslim rulers. He tried to win them over to his side, but in response he received only florid and non-binding words of approval, to which the Islamic East is generous, and the siege of Loret continued - with everything that accompanies a long siege: hunger and thirst, vexation and fear. George managed to destroy the conspirators, brutally suppressing the rebellion. According to the chronicler, Demna was blinded and sent to prison, he soon died.
The path to succession to the throne was now clear for Tamara. Under the disapproving murmur of the courtiers, George methodically placed devoted and knowledgeable, often ignorant people to key posts, but it was necessary to enlist the support of the Church. The support of the Church was simply necessary, since for the first time in history the very order of succession to the throne was forcibly changed.
Even at the beginning of his reign, George destroys such a privilege of clergy as immunity, and imposes taxes on all church organizations. This privilege, immunity, freedom from personal and property obligations, was widespread in Byzantium. Under Constantine the Great, the clergy were exempted from military service, civil service, and taxes. Now the Church protested against the abolition of this privilege. After the support of the candidacy for the royal throne of Tamara by the catalikos-patriarch Mikel, the king made some concessions.
George III was the first to change the ancient custom of giving the crown. At the cost of blood, cruelty and mutual political curtsy with the Church and the nobility, a woman enters the royal throne of Iberia.
In 1178, George III, while still alive, crowned his daughter to the kingdom. It was a symbolic act, designed, as far as possible, to protect the heiress from impending encroachments on her rights, and not an early assignment of powers. This often happened in the medieval Christian world. So, the young princess Tamara, at the age of 13, becomes the crowned Queen Tamar.
The princess, intelligent by nature, perfectly understood the politics of her father and learned patience, humility and endurance, so necessary for any ruler.
Since 1184, after the death of George III, Tamar became the sole ruler of Georgia. The feudal lords considered this moment convenient for the restoration of the lost rights under David and George III. The grandfather and father of Queen Tamara by force sought to destroy the desire of the nobility for autonomy. During the reign of Father Tamar, the rights of Darbazi (the royal council) were sharply limited by the royal power.
It was made clear to Tamara: she will rule when they know they want it. The plan for reorganizing management and limiting the tsarist power was that next to the tsar's palace the so-called. "Caravi" - a council at which the main issues of state administration were to be resolved, and the queen would only be reported on the decision, and she had to fulfill it. The implementation of such a plan implied a sharp restriction of the royal power and, naturally, Queen Tamar could not accept it. Georgia was on the brink of a civil war; the threat of an armed uprising was very high. The stage of tiresome negotiations began. At the cost of heavy concessions - it was necessary to send the people loyal to the throne and to appease the churchmen - Tamar was crowned the kingdom a second time. New Catholicos Mikael,who demanded the position of the first vizier of the state for the support of the tsarina, constantly put a spoke in the wheel, depriving him of the opportunity to make independent decisions. In addition, the beloved Tsarevich David Soslani, the only surviving representative of the Bagratids, was removed from the courtyard from the Ossetian branch. But the negotiations yielded results: the idea of creating a "caravi" failed, but the rights of Darbazi, the tsar's council, were expanded. From now on, the queen made all important decisions "in unity and with the consent of Darbazi." Inner peace in the state has been achieved.however, the rights of Darbazi - the royal council were expanded. From now on, the queen made all important decisions "in unity and with the consent of Darbazi." Inner peace in the state was achieved.however, the rights of Darbazi - the royal council were expanded. From now on, the queen made all important decisions "in unity and with the consent of Darbazi." Inner peace in the state has been achieved.
Fate is testing Tamar again - the nobility decided that it was time for the queen to go down the aisle. Wars at that time were constantly fought, and a woman at the head of the army was not serious. We need a king, strong, well-born, since he was to become the most influential person in the kingdom after the queen. According to the chronicler, at one of the meetings, the emir of Kartli and Tbilisi named the contender for the hand of Tamar - the son of Grand Duke Andrei Bogolyubsky - Yuri. Naturally, there were many applicants, but the fathers of the fatherland, the members of Darbazi, reasoned as follows: there, behind the mountains, a young co-faithful Russia is growing stronger, and far-sighted foresight prompts to establish a connection with it. The fastest and most reliable way to do this is through dynastic marriage.
It was rumored that the prince somehow angered his father, and he was only glad to part with him, but we must assume that the throne of the descendants of David will reason him, and the name Yuri, which sounds unusually soft for the Georgian ear, easily changes to weighty George, like the late father of the queen. With such a heavenly patron, life in the Iberian kingdom will quickly go smoothly. Merchants were sent for Yuri. In 1185 Yuri was brought to Georgia and married to Queen Tamar. Tamar herself was against such a sudden marriage. She believed that first it was necessary to study Yuri's personality well, but she still had to yield to Darbazi's decision.
The nobility was greatly mistaken, believing that in gratitude for the throne, Yuri would become a pawn in their hands. The handsome Russian prince turned out to be a tough nut to crack.
The wedding took place, a grandiose wedding feast was made noise. Weekdays have come. The handsome Rusich aroused everyone's attention and curiosity. The members of the Council, overcoming the language barrier and torturing the interpreters, tried to introduce him to the course of state affairs. Young nobles arranged for the tsar hunting, lists and friendly feasts, but … a whisper crept through the palace that there was something wrong between the young. Rusich, of course, is not bad, but why does he avoid his wife, does not come to her for weeks, and when he does - the servant says with bewilderment - he does not undress and does not go to the royal bed? Unless, drunk, wipes away his tears and sings something drawn out … Maybe? What could be?
After two years of his strange, ambiguous marriage, Tamar dissolves it. The prince was expelled to Byzantium (closer there than to Russia). However, Yuri did not accept the divorce.
It is not surprising that the relationship between Tamar and Yuri still provides food for a variety of interpretations. Why did the young riotous rake not dare to touch his beautiful wife? What deprived him of his strength? The chronicles (after all, we are talking about the private life of the queen, canonized) are delicately silent.
Now Tamar's hands were untied. She slowly, without haste, dismissed the clergy, removed the officials imposed on her from the courtyard and returned the people loyal to her father to key posts.
"I am the father of orphans and the judge of widows," Tamar said, cutting taxes. In addition, Tamar had already learned by this time: love for crowned heads is, at best, a side story. Providence entrusted her with the fate of the kingdom inherited from a great ancestor. In her environment, people who remembered David the Builder were less and less likely to come across, but everywhere the results of the transformations he had begun were visible. To direct them further is from now on her field. Everything that she learned in this life, what she learned from the spiritual fathers and secular counselors, will “go” to the completion of what her great-grandfather started. There is no way to list here everything, even only the most significant, that happened in the era of Tamara.
With her cares, the shortest road from central Georgia to the southern region of Meskhetia was laid, irrigation canals hundreds of kilometers long and water pipes supplying water to monasteries were built, bridges were built (some of them have survived in their original form to this day). Temples - masterpieces of architecture - were built in Betania, Pitareti, Ikorta. Their domes and windows are adorned with the most skillful ornamentation. Jewelry, chasing and dazzling cloisonné enamel from the “era of Queen Tamar”! "Such work can not be found in Byzantium itself" - believed in the old days.
Under her, arts, sciences, and crafts flourished, but literature flourished. In her era, monasteries barely had time to rewrite and translate manuscripts that came here from all over the world. The conditions for takeoff were created by David the Builder, who collected an excellent library, sent forty gifted young men to study in Greece, and founded academies in Gelati and Ikalto. Grains thrown into fertile soil sprouted: Georgian literature was replenished with wonderful poems by Shavteli and Mose Honeli, and the peak of the national creative take-off, of course, was "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" by Shota Rustaveli. The poet, in love with Queen Tamar, sang his beloved in this work. Centuries will pass and "The Knight …" will be called the best love poem of medieval Europe.
And, finally, in 1189, Tamar married a second marriage with the Ossetian prince David Soslani, from the side branch of Bagrationi (David's father Janderon is the grandson of Prince David, who fled to Ossetia, the grandson of Tsar George I). Tamar and David were brought up together with aunt Rusudan. Some historians claim that our heroine from a young age was in love with her playmate. One way or another, their marriage turned out to be extremely happy and successful. The loudest victories of Tamar, all her great deeds are associated with the name of David. In this marriage, 2 children were born: Tsarevich George and Princess Rusudan, who later became the rulers of Georgia one after another. The queen got her share of marital and maternal joy. Her husband did not have a great state mind, but was distinguished by military valor and courage, and was a loving husband and father.
Meanwhile, Yuri was not going to put up with his fate. He tried twice to return to Georgia. He had many supporters here. Some of the large feudal lords supported Yuri, and in 1191 rebelled against Tamar. The rebels blessed him for the kingdom in Geguti and then opposed Tamar, but the queen managed to rally her supporters around herself and with their help defeated the rebels. Yuri's associates were removed from high posts and deprived of their estates. In 1193, Yuri once again tried to return to Georgia. This time, he appeared from Hereti's side, but no one supported him. This time Tamara herself led the troops and, showing remarkable talent as a commander, defeated her former spouse on the outskirts of Tbilisi. He suffered a final defeat and finally disappeared without a trace. Further information about him has not been preserved in history.
The political situation inside the country was improved. Now Queen Tamar took up external affairs.
If you want peace, prepare for war. The wisest thing is to surround your country with allies and vassals. To do this, you need to come to an agreement with some rulers, threaten others, and defeat others (later Tamerlane will use the same tactics).
10 years after her accession to the throne, Queen Tamara opens an offensive policy. She managed to keep the lands inherited from the ancestors inhabited by the Georgian tribe, mountain peoples and a significant part of Armenia.
In total, over three years of intense hostilities, the Georgian army under the banners of Tamara and the leadership of David Soslani won many victories: Shirvan, Shamkhor, Ganja, Dvin.
The weakening of the Byzantine Empire opened the way for Georgia to the southeastern shores of the Black Sea. These lands were mostly inhabited by Georgian tribes - Laz. To secure the south-western borders, Queen Tamar creates here the Trebizond kingdom, to the throne of which she elevates her relative Alexei Comnenus, from the ancient Byzantine dynasty. Komnenos and his brothers were still babies in Georgia, where they were brought up. The mother tongue was Georgian, and the queen was brought up by her aunt, so the union turned out to be reliable. This empire lasted until 1462, when it was destroyed by the Ottoman Turks.
Kars, Tabriz (Tabriz), Khlat, Qazvin, Rom-Gur, Erzurum … Now the northern border of the Bagrationi state stretches from Nikopsia (in the area of modern Gantiadi) to Derbent, from the Black to the Caspian Seas, and in the south it reaches the sources of the Euphrates and Tigris (echoes those victories: before the capture of Kazan, Tsar Ivan the Terrible inspired his soldiers with a story about "the courageous queen of Iverskaya").
In 1206 David Soslan died. In the same year, Queen Tamar put her son George-Lasha on the throne as co-regent and … went into the shadows, now forever.
Tamar died not yet an old woman. By the end of her life, the ruler almost constantly lived in the cell of the cave city of Vardzia, being in constant communion with God. Chronicles note that the queen was distinguished by extreme modesty and unpretentiousness. She evaluated her food every day, and distributed the cost to people, not from the state treasury, but from what she rescued from the sale of her handicrafts. It seemed that with the death of her husband, life left Tamar herself.
She died on January 18, 1213 in the Tabakhmela fortress near Tbilisi. The funeral service was held in the ancient capital of Georgia, Mtskheta, in the ancient sunny temple of Svetitskhoveli. The Georgian church canonized the queen.
Tamar knew that Muslims who could not defeat her during her lifetime would try to take revenge upon her death and would want to desecrate the royal tomb. Therefore, she bequeathed to bury her in secret so that people would not know where her grave is. The synodal council met all day, deciding how to protect the sovereign's coffin from possible plunder, and at night, as legends say, ten processions with ten coffins came out of the gate of Svetitskhoveli and disappeared into the night.
And here is her last riddle: the chroniclers left a detailed biography of the queen, but no one in Georgia knows where she is buried.
Sometimes historians say something uncertainly about the family crypt of David Soslani, but if this crypt were the burial place of Tamar, it would have become a place of pilgrimage from the very beginning. The people who loved her never knew where to go to bow to the deceased. Instead of royal remains - one radiance of the name.
One of the most beautiful mountain legends says that Queen Tamar did not die, but sleeps somewhere in a golden coffin, and when the grief and suffering of her people multiply in the world, she will wake up from her sleep, return and lead the Golden Age.