Tamar ( ka, თამარი) (died after 1161) was a

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

David IV David IV, also known as David the Builder ( ka, დავით აღმაშენებელი, ') (1073–1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th king of United Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125. Popularly considered to be ...

King of Georgia This is a list of kings and queens regnant of the kingdoms of Georgia before Russian annexation in 1801–1810. For more comprehensive lists, and family trees, of Georgian monarchs and rulers see Lists of Georgian monarchs. Kings of Iberia ...

, and queen consort of

Shirvan Shirvan (from fa, شروان, translit=Shirvān; az, Şirvan; Tat: ''Şirvan''), also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical Iranian region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both pre-Islam ...

as the wife of

Shirvanshah Manuchehr III Manuchihr III was the nineteenth independent Shah of Shirvan. Reign Manuchihr III was in a shifting balance of power between the Kingdom of Georgia and the Seljuks. Manuchihr III was mostly under the influence of his wife, Tamar, the daughter of ...

, whom she married 1112. She became a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

at the monastery of Tigva in Georgia in widowhood.

Biography

Tamar's marriage to the shirvanshah is recorded by the 12th-century ''Life of the King of Kings David'', part of the

Georgian Chronicles ''The Georgian Chronicles'' is a conventional English name for the principal compendium of medieval Georgian historical texts, natively known as ''Kartlis Tskhovreba'' ( ka, ქართლის ცხოვრება), literally "Life of Kar ...

, which eulogizes Tamar and her sister

Kata ''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practised alone. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practised ...

, married to a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

prince, as luminaries of the East and the West, respectively, reflecting the splendor of their father. After her husband's death, Tamar returned to her native country and eventually became, in 1152, a nun at the monastery, which she had founded at Tigva in eastern Georgia, as indicated in the Georgian chronicles as well as by an inscription from that monastery, first published by

Marie-Félicité Brosset Marie-Félicité Brosset (24 January 1802 – 3 September 1880) was a French orientalist who specialized in Georgian and Armenian studies. He worked mostly in Russia. Early life and first works Marie-Félicité Brosset was born in Paris int ...

in 1851. The ''History of the Five Reigns'', written around 1223, mentions Tamar's death as a nun in a passage which follows the record of the death of her brother Demetrius I (c. 1156), but she was still alive in 1161, when she met her nephew

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

during his victorious campaign at

Ani Ani ( hy, Անի; grc-gre, Ἄνιον, ''Ánion''; la, Abnicum; tr, Ani) is a ruined medieval Armenian city now situated in Turkey's province of Kars, next to the closed border with Armenia. Between 961 and 1045, it was the capital of th ...

. The modern historian O. Vil'chevsky has posited that Tamar's return to Georgia was precipitated by a political turmoil in Shirvan that followed Manuchehr's death. Tamar found herself involved in a power struggle among her sons, favoring the younger, who joined her in an attempt to unite Shirvan with Georgia with the help of Kipchak mercenaries. Manuchehr's older son

Akhsitan I Akhsitan I (also spelled Akhsatan; fa, اخستان یکم, Aḵestān) was the Shirvanshah after 1160, and thought to have reigned until the years 1197–1203/04. He was the son and successor of Manuchihr III (). His mother was Tamar, a Geor ...

was able to secure support from the Ildegizid dynasty of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, winning the contest for the throne and forcing Tamar and his younger brother into flight to Georgia. According to the historian

Ziya Bunyadov Ziya Musa oglu Bunyadov ( az, Ziya Bünyadov sometimes spelled in English as Zia Buniatov or Bunyatov) (21 December 1923, Astara – 21 February 1997, Baku) was an Azerbaijani historian, academician, and Vice-President of the National Academy of ...

, Manuchehr and Tamar had five sons—Akhsitan, Shahinshah, Paridun, Parruhzad, and an anonymous son who died in infancy—and two daughters, whose names have not come down to us. According to the genealogist

Cyril Toumanoff Cyril Leo Toumanoff (russian: Кирилл Львович Туманов; 13 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Russian-born Georgian historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, ...

, one of her sons, established in Georgia, was enfeoffed of

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

and became forefather of the Shervashidze family.

Ancestry

Notes

References

* * * * * * * {{Authority control Shirvanshahs Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Georgia Queens consort 12th-century women from Georgia (country)