Continuation

A series of victories

In 1185, atabeg Abu—Bekr attacked on the territory of the vassal of Georgia - the kingdom of Sharshan. After that, atabeg began a campaign already on the territory of Georgia, and then Tamara sent her commander John Mkhargrdzeli and her husband David Soslan to intercept him, who defeated the superior forces of the enemy. In addition to the victory, they annexed cities such as Dvin and Ani to the kingdom of Tamara. And the lands of Abu-Bekr were forced to recognize their vassal status. Seeing Georgia gaining power on the one hand, and the constant threat from Persia on the other, Armenia voluntarily becomes part of the Georgian kingdom.

Georgia under Tamar and her glorious military leaders, the brothers Mkhargrdzeli, became one of the most important kingdoms of the Middle Ages.

But neither Persia nor the co-religionists from Byzantium perceived the changes taking place properly, treating Georgia as their equals in any way, but as a zone of their political interests - this greatly disappointed Queen Tamara. And she gives another task to one of the brothers, Zachary Mkhargdzeli, and looking ahead, he copes with it superbly. Having organized effective and lightning-fast military operations, Zacharias annexed some regions of northern and western Iran to Georgia, and there, taking advantage of the weakness of Byzantium, he annexed the following cities to the kingdom of Tamara: Kars, Trebizond, Limnia, Samsun, Kotiora, Kerasunt and Heraclea. But then Tamara showed restraint, deciding not to include the conquered cities to her state directly, she ordered the creation of a buffer state - the Kingdom of Trebizond. At the head of which was placed Alexey Komnen, formerly brought up at the court of Tamara.
Never have the territories of Georgia stretched over such vast lands: from Derbent to Erzurum, from the Black to the Caspian Seas.

Almost 15 million people lived on the lands of the Georgian kingdom. The fame of the successes of the young queen and her faithful companions has reached most of the rulers of distant countries.

Soon the Rum Sultan Rukn Ed-Din gathered a huge Muslim army and moved to the southern borders of the Georgian kingdom, where he was met by the armies of Zaharie Mkhargrdzeli and David Soslan. They won another victory for the glory of Queen Tamara and her kingdom.

Salahaddin Ayubi and rod Zakaryani-Mkhargrdzeli

The Great Sultan Salahaddin Ayubi, a Yazidi by origin, who later converted to Islam and became a Kurd, learned about the Great Tamara and her Yezidi military leaders in the east. Before the start of the war with the Crusaders, Salahaddin agreed with Tamara: about her neutrality and non-interference in the upcoming conflict. When the Great Sultan completed the task of taking Jerusalem, Queen Tamara decided to repay the debt. She sent her court poet and diplomat Shota Rustaveli to Sultan Salahaddin with a request to return to Georgia all its ecclesiastical possessions in the Holy Land of Palestine. Many sources also report money in 2000 gold coins brought to Salahaddin.

However, the result exceeded all expectations: the Sultan returned to Georgia all the churches and monasteries belonging to it in the Holy Land, in addition, representatives of the Georgian kingdom were allowed to enter Jerusalem on horseback with waving banners and with their weapons. For all other non-Muslim pilgrims, such conditions were impossible. In addition, all Georgian pilgrims were accompanied by the Sultan's guards when visiting the Ayyubid lands.

Now we need to clarify the reasons for Georgia's diplomatic success. And here we find the solution to what happened in the historical chronicles, where we see stories about how the famous Georgian Yezidi family intermarried with the rulers of Near Asia - the Ayyubid dynasty. Of course, this happened as a result of the settlement of the conflict, where the main condition set by the Ayyubids was the marriage of the daughter of John Zakaryani-Mkhargrdzeli - Tamty, for the nephew of Salahaddin Ayyubi. It was after this marriage that the fate of Christians in the Palestinian land, especially Georgians, changed for the better.

This is what the historical chronicles of that time tell us, namely Kirakos Gandzaketsi, an Armenian historian, 13th century.:

"The arrival of the wife to the house of the sultans brought great benefits: it became easier for Christians who were under their rule, and even more so for the Taron region, because the monasteries located there and taxed were made easier, and for half [of the population] they were abolished altogether. [The sultans] ordered the subject [rulers] not to offend or oppress the pilgrims going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The rights of the Georgians increased even more, because Ivan fell into the Chalcedonian heresy, into which the Georgians were defeated… Therefore, they especially revered the Georgians, and [the latter] were free from taxes in all their cities, as well as in Jerusalem. And this woman's name was Tamta.
And so, friendship and harmony were established between the kingdom of Georgia and the possession of the sultans"

Results of the reign

Soon David Soslan dies, saddened Tamara begins to think about the receiver. She does the same as her father once did — she makes her son Geogrgy (Lasha) her co-ruler.
In 1213, the legendary Queen of Georgia will be gone. And her devoted Yezidi military leaders will grow old and will not be able to fully help the young prince Lasha.

Meanwhile, the invincible Mongols are getting closer and closer to the borders of the kingdom. In one of the battles with the Mongols, the Georgian troops will be commanded by the young tsar George Lasha, but there will be no Zakarian brothers-Mkhargrdzeli, there will be no father David Exiled, but the worst thing for him, there will be no wise mother who always found a way out of any situation.

Unfortunately, Georgia, under the blows of the Mongols and the Turkic peoples, will lose many territories conquered under Queen Tamara and will never be able to reach such heights.

And the glorious family of Zakaryani-Mkhargrdzeli will continue to rule in the lands of Kurdistan and Armenia until 1360, they will give rise to other famous families of Vahramians, Hasan-Jalalyans, and in the XVII century will be an influential princely family of the Russian Empire. But this is a completely different story.

Source Wikipedia, History of Georgia

Author: K. Isaev