The Life of Ta mar
The daughter of King George III and Queen Burdukhan
of Georgia, Tamar was born in 1166. King George was
concerned that he would be overthrown in favour of his
nephew Demna, and so made two explicit demands:
that the boy be castrated and blinded (he would in
fact die from these wounds) and that his own infant
daughter would become his co-ruler when she reached
the age of 12. Georgia had never previously had a
female ruler – it simply wasn’t the done thing – but
the assumption amongst the elite was that she would
play second-fiddle to her father and then to a suitable
husband. Tamar however, had other ideas.
To the relief of the nobles, the first six years of
Tamar’s rule were uneventful; she ruled alongside her
father. Upon his death in 1184 however, she refused
to embody the meek characteristics they expected of
the so-called weaker sex. She formed alliances with
other senior royals and the head of the Georgian
Church, Michael IV Mirianisdze, reinforcing her
legitimacy to rule. Though at first she was coerced
into an unsatisfactory marriage with the Rus Prince
Yuri, Tamar subsequently accused him publicly of
drunkenness and sodomy. The nobles were forced to
approve her divorce, and exiled the disgraced Yuri to
Constantinople. Though Yuri did twice attempt to
Tamar’s Territories
Given Georgia’s fertile lands and strategic location,
nestled between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea it
was inevitable that neighbouring powers would
eye Tamar’s territories enviously. Rather than
being cowed by their power however, Tamar
embarked upon an ambitious plan of expansion,
making use of her new husband’s previous
experience as a military commander to make and
implement bold moves.return, Tamar found herself a new suitor – the
Alan Prince David Soslan – and together they
kept him at bay. Tamar had married
David for love.
Georgia never had a female
ruler, and the assumption was
that Tamar would play second-
fiddle to her father and then to
a suitable husband