RUSUDAN – THE PATEMAL AUNT OF KING TAMAR AND HER ROLE IN THE LIFE OF THE ROIAL COURT OF GEORGIA

Abstract

According to Georgian chronicler of the 17th c. Parsadan Gorgijanidze, following the demise of Tamar’s father Giorgi III, Tamar’s paternal aunt Rusudan desired to rule Georgia: “Queen Rusudan - the sister of King Giorgi - desired to reign in her father’s and brother King Giorgi’s stead”.
There is no such information in any of the stories of the Georgian Chronicles (the Life of Kartli) describing the years under consideration. At the same time, Parsadan had access to some sources which are no longer available to us, which gives us the opportunity to complete and correct some pages from the history of Georgia. We have tried to check the accuracy of the aforementioned information provided by Parsadan and demonstrate the extent to which the material at our disposal allows for the likelihood of Parsadan’s version.
It should be assumed that Shota Rustaveli’s poem “the Knight in the Panther’s Skin” sheds light upon what official chroniclers are trying to avoid. The fact that Rusudan was a strong and influential person at the royal court can be evidenced not only by the poem (Davar), but also by the relevant parts of the Georgian Chronicles (the Life of Kartli). Rusudan was the very person who would have been able to gather and bring out forces dissatisfied with the reality at the king’s court. Nonetheless, the Georgian Chronicles (the Life of Kartli), which is the official version of the country’s past, does not say anything about it. It cannot be ruled out that the uprising started with the assassination of Giorgi III. Information on this assumption is not available either in the Georgian Chronicles (the Life of Kartli) or in the poem that was created soon after the historical developments in question. However, the relevant parts of the Georgian Chronicles (the Life of Kartli) openly speak about the widespread discontent over King Giorgi’s policy. At the same time, in the absence of Giorgi III, it was obviously easy to get Tamar out of the way. The composition of the first historian of Tamar and the data of a chronicler of Lasha-Giorgi’s epoch seem to lead to this very assumption.
The juxtaposition of the data of King Tamar’s chroniclers and “the Knight in the Panther’s Skin” gives rise to an assumption that in the reign of Giorgi III, after the suppression of the revolt of the Orbels, despite the expulsion of a large number of the rebels, there were still many of their supporters in the country. This seems to have given hope to his sister Rusudan – the daughter of Demetre I – to seize the royal throne. This was the reason behind the large-scale uprising at the beginning
of Tamar’s reign.
The uprising that took place at the beginning of Tamar’s reign seems to have had two stages. Presumably, the initial goal of the uprising of the noble was to enthrone Rusudan. Yet, later on, some other dissatisfied strata joined the rebellion. These were merchants and representatives of the the upper strata, which was no longer in the plans of the leaders of the uprising. Therefore, the latter chose to reconcile with the opponents. The situation was changed by Tamar’s second marriage, after which Rusudan remained an influential person at the court.