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, condition or quality of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show r ...

David IV David IV, also known as David IV the Builder ( ka, დავით IV აღმაშენებელი, tr; 1073 – 24 January 1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th List of monarchs of Georgia, king (''mepe'') of the Kingdom of Ge ...

King of Georgia This is a list of kings and queens regnant of the kingdoms of Georgia (country), Georgia before Georgia within the Russian Empire, Russian annexation in 1801–1810. For more comprehensive lists, and family trees, of Georgian monarchs and ruler ...

, and

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

Shirvan Shirvan (from ; ; Tat: ''Şirvan'') is a historical region in the eastern Caucasus, as known in both pre-Islamic Sasanian and Islamic times. Today, the region is an industrially and agriculturally developed part of the Republic of Azerbaijan ...

as the wife of

Shirvanshah Manuchehr III Manuchihr III (also spelled Minuchihr; ) was the 19th Shirvanshah from 1120 to sometime after 1160. He was the son and successor of Afridun I (). Name Although he was described as ''Manuchihr II'' by researchers like Hadi Hasan, Vladimir Minors ...

, whom she married 1112. She became a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

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, 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. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practiced in Japanese martial arts ...

, married to a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

prince. As luminaries of the East and the West, respectively, they reflect the splendor of their father in the Chronicles. 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 historian and scholar who worked mostly in the Russian Empire. He specialized in Georgian and Armenian studies. Brosset's interest in the Caucasus developed while ...

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 King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

during his victorious campaign at Ani. 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 Kipchak may refer to: * Kipchaks, a medieval Turkic people * Kipchak languages, a Turkic language group * Kipchak language, an extinct Turkic language of the Kipchak group * Kipchak Khanate or Golden Horde * Kipchak Mosque, a mosque in the villa ...

mercenaries. Manuchehr's older son

Akhsitan I Akhsitan I (also spelled Akhsatan; ) was the 20th 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 Georgian princess from the Bagratio ...

was able to secure support from the Ildegizid dynasty of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, 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 (, sometimes spelled in English as Zia Buniatov or Bunyatov; 21 December 1923 in Astara – 21 February 1997) was an Azerbaijani historian, academician, and Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaij ...

, 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 ( ka, კირილ თუმანოვი; ; 10 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Georgian-American historian, and academic genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armen ...

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

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

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) Daughters of kings