Rusudan ( ka, რუსუდანი; ) was the younger daughter of King

George III of Georgia George III ( ka, გიორგი III, tr) (died 27 March 1184), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 8th King ('' mepe'') of Georgia from 1156 to 1184. He became king when his father, Demetrius I, died in 1156, which was preceded by his brother ...

and of his wife, Burdukhan (Gurandukht). Her elder sister was the famous Queen Tamar, who succeeded their father as ruler of Georgia. Born after 1160, Rusudan was married, possibly in 1180, to

Manuel Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; "born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of ...

, the eldest son of Andronikos I, who was the

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

from 1183 to 1185. Manuel and Rusudan had two sons,

Alexios Alexius is the Latinization (literature), Latinized form of the given name Alexios (, polytonic , "defender", cf. Alexander), especially common in the Byzantine Empire. The female form is Alexia (given name), Alexia () and its variants such as Ales ...

, probably born in 1182, and

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, born around 1184. When Andronikos was deposed and killed, Manuel was blinded, and possibly may have died from his wounds. It is said that Rusudan fled

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

with her sons, taking refuge in Georgia. While the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

were camped outside Constantinople between 1203 and 1204 (and would later take the city), Tamar sent Georgian troops to help Alexios and David to take control of Trebizond in April 1204. Combined with their additional conquests this became the new

Empire of Trebizond The Empire of Trebizond or the Trapezuntine Empire was one of the three successor rump states of the Byzantine Empire that existed during the 13th through to the 15th century. The empire consisted of the Pontus, or far northeastern corner of A ...

References

Bibliography

* C. Toumanoff, "On the relationship between the founder of the Empire of Trebizond and the Georgian Queen Thamar" in ''Speculum'' vol. 15 (1940) pp. 299–312. * 12th-century births 12th-century Byzantine people 12th-century Byzantine women 12th-century women from Georgia (country) 13th-century women from Georgia (country) 12th-century people from Georgia (country) 13th-century people from Georgia (country) Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Georgia Komnenos dynasty Year of death unknown Byzantine people of Georgian descent {{Byzantine-bio-stub Daughters of kings