Gulchara ( ka, გულჩარა; ) was a Georgian noblewoman from the

Kingdom of Kartli The Kingdom of Kartli ( ka, ქართლის სამეფო, tr) was a late medieval and early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centred on the province of Kartli, with its capital at Tbilisi. It emerged in the process of a tripar ...

, who played a role in the Georgian– Ottoman–

Safavid The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

diplomacy in the early 17th century and helped forge a 1612 treaty during the Ottoman–Safavid War. Gulchara was close to King

Simon I of Kartli Simon I the Great ( ka, სიმონ I დიდი, tr), also known as Svimon ( ka, სვიმონი, tr; 1537 – 1611), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a Georgia (country), Georgian List of monarchs of Georgia, king (''mepe'') of Kingd ...

. A contemporary Persian historian reports her being a relative of Simon's family, while the Portuguese envoy in Persia, António de Gouveia, claims she was Simon's concubine. Mainstream scholarship in Georgia identifies Gulchara, a name or sobriquet based on

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Gol-chehra, "rose-faced", as being the same person as Simon's granddaughter and Giorgi X's daughter, Tinatin (or Elene), who is known to have visited Simon during his confinement in

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 ...

. Present-day historian David Blow presents her as a wife of Simon. Simon I of Kartli, caught in the Ottoman–Safavid rivalry and anxious to preserve his kingdom's precarious autonomy, ended up as a prisoner of the

Yedikule Fortress Yedikule Fortress ( or ''Yedikule Zindanları''; meaning "Fortress of the Seven Towers") is a fortified historic structure located in the Yedikule neighbourhood of Fatih, in Istanbul, Turkey. Built in 1458 on the commission of Ottoman Sultan Me ...

at Constantinople in 1600. Gulchara, who had once accompanied Simon to the Safavid capital of

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

, was brought to Constantinople to care for the aged king. She quickly befriended Sultan Mehmet III's mother and garnered respect and trust at the court, impressing the European diplomats in Constantinople with her "beauty, grandeur, and eloquence". Faced with disaster in the Ottoman–Safavid War, Mehmet's mother decided to approach Shah

Abbas I of Persia Abbas I (; 27 January 1571 – 19 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the fifth Safavid shah of Iran from 1588 to 1629. The third son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he is generally considered one of the most important rulers i ...

through the latter's aunt Zeynab Begum (who wielded considerable influence in the Safavid royal court) by using Gulchara as envoy. Mehmet III's mother promised Gulchara, that if she would succeed in her mission, the Ottomans would release "her husband" from captivity. On Gulchara's first mission to meet Shah Abbas, she was allowed to include Simon. But Ahmet's ministers feared Simon might reveal too much to Abbas and Simon was recalled back to Yedikule after seven days' journey into the mission. After several diplomatic trips and the Ottoman military failures, in 1612 a peace party in Constantinople, which included Gulchara, persuaded the sultan to accept peace terms, which recapitulated those of the 1555

Treaty of Amasya The Peace of Amasya (; ) was a treaty agreed to on May 29, 1555, between Shah Tahmasp I of Safavid Iran and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire at the city of Amasya, following the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1532–1555. Overvi ...

. Her efforts were too late for the ailing king Simon, who died at Yedikule at the age of 74 in 1611. Gulchara's subsequent fate is unknown.

References

Sources

* {{cite book , last = Blow , first = David , title = Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who became an Iranian Legend , year = 2009 , isbn = 978-1845119898 , publisher = I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. , location = London, UK , lccn = 2009464064 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=K_kBAwAAQBAJ 17th-century people from Georgia (country) Diplomats for Georgia (country) Women from Georgia (country) in politics Women diplomats from Georgia (country) 17th-century women from Georgia (country)