Gulchara
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Gulchara ( ka, გულჩარა; ) was a
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
noblewoman from the
Kingdom of Kartli The Kingdom of Kartli ( ka, ქართლის სამეფო, tr) was a late medieval/ early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centred on the province of Kartli, with its capital at Tbilisi. It emerged in the process of a triparti ...
, who played a role in the Georgian– Ottoman
Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
diplomacy in the early 17th century and helped forge a 1612 treaty during the Ottoman–Safavid War. Gulchara was close to King
Simon I of Kartli Simon I the Great ( ka, სიმონ I დიდი), also known as Svimon ( ka, სვიმონი) (1537–1611), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a Georgian king of Kartli from 1556 to 1569 and again from 1578 to 1599. His first tenure wa ...
. A contemporary Persian historian reports her being a relative of Simon's family, while the Portuguese envoy in Persia, António de Gouveia, claims she was Simon's concubine. Mainstream scholarship in Georgia identifies Gulchara, a name or sobriquet based on
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
Gol-chehra, "rose-faced", as being the same person as Simon's granddaughter and Giorgi X's daughter, Tinatin (or Elene), who is known to have visited Simon during his confinement in
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
. Present-day historian David Blow presents her as a wife of Simon. Simon I of Kartli, caught in the Ottoman–Safavid rivalry and anxious to preserve his kingdom's precarious autonomy, ended up as a prisoner of the
Yedikule Fortress Yedikule Fortress ( tr, Yedikule Hisarı or ''Yedikule Zindanları''; meaning "Fortress of the Seven Towers") is a fortified historic structure located in the Yedikule neighbourhood of Fatih, in Istanbul, Turkey. Built in 1458 on the commission ...
at Constantinople in 1600. Gulchara, who had once accompanied Simon to the Safavid capital of
Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...
, was brought to Constantinople to care for the aged king. She quickly befriended Sultan
Mehmet III Mehmed III (, ''Meḥmed-i sālis''; tr, III. Mehmed; 26 May 1566 – 22 December 1603) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the L ...
's mother and garnered respect and trust at the court, impressing the European diplomats in Constantinople with her "beauty, grandeur, and eloquence". Faced with disaster in the Ottoman–Safavid War, Mehmet's mother decided to approach Shah
Abbas I of Persia Abbas I ( fa, ; 27 January 157119 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the 5th Safavid dynasty, Safavid Shah (king) of Safavid Iran, Iran, and is generally considered one of the greatest rulers of Iranian history and the Safavi ...
through the latter's aunt Zeynab Begum (who wielded considerable influence in the Safavid royal court) by using Gulchara as envoy. Mehmet III's mother promised Gulchara, that if she would succeed in her mission, the Ottomans would release "her husband" from captivity. On Gulchara's first mission to meet Shah Abbas, she was allowed to include Simon. But Ahmet's ministers feared Simon might reveal too much to Abbas and Simon was recalled back to Yedikule after seven days' journey into the mission. After several diplomatic trips and the Ottoman military failures, in 1612 a peace party in Constantinople, which included Gulchara, persuaded the sultan to accept peace terms, which recapitulated those of the 1555
Treaty of Amasya The Peace of Amasya ( fa, پیمان آماسیه ("Peymān-e Amasiyeh"); tr, Amasya Antlaşması) was a treaty agreed to on May 29, 1555, between Shah Tahmasp of Safavid Iran and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire at the cit ...
. Her efforts were too late for the ailing king Simon, who died at Yedikule at the age of 74 in 1611. Gulchara's subsequent fate is unknown.


References


Sources

* {{cite book , last = Blow , first = David , title = Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who became an Iranian Legend , year = 2009 , isbn = 978-1845119898 , publisher = I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. , location = London, UK , lccn = 2009464064 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=K_kBAwAAQBAJ 17th-century people from Georgia (country) Diplomats of Georgia (country) Women from Georgia (country) in politics Women diplomats from Georgia (country) 17th-century women from Georgia (country)