Tamar ( ka, თამარი) was a daughter of the Western Georgian King Alexander I of Imereti, and the

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 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, as the second wife of

Alexander I of Georgia Alexander I the Great (, ''Aleksandre I Didi'') (1386 – between August 26, 1445 and March 7, 1446), of the Bagrationi house, was king ('' mepe'') of Georgia from 1412 to 1442. Despite his efforts to restore the country from the ruins left by ...

Biography

Tamar was born at the end of the 14th century. Her father was Alexander I of Imereti, King of

Western Georgia West Georgia may refer to: *University of West Georgia, a public university in Carrollton, Georgia, U.S. **West Georgia Wolves, athletic teams of the University of West Georgia * West Georgia Technical College, a community college in Waco, Georgia, ...

who reigned de facto from 1387 until his death in 1389. Little is known about her mother, Anna, the daughter of an Orbeliani prince. Around 1414/1415, Tamar was married to King

, who had reigned since 1412. She bore the king four children. In 1442, Alexander abdicated his kingdom which he left to the eldest son he had from his first wife, Dulandoukht, daughter of Beshken Orbelian,

Vakhtang IV Vakhtang IV ( Georgian: ვახტანგ IV) (c. 1413 – December 1446), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king (''mepe'') of Georgia who reigned from 1433 to his death, associated to the throne of his father Alexander I from 1433 to the lat ...

. Alexander therefore retired to a monastery under the name of Athanasius and died in 1446, thus leaving Tamar at the mercy of his stepson. However, she survived her two stepsons Vakhtang and

Demetrius Demetrius is the Latinization of names, Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male name, male Greek given names, given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning "devoted to goddess Demeter". Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, ...

, and it was during the reign of her own son, George VIII, in 1455, that she died.

Family

Tamar had three sons from her marriage with King

: * George VIII, 20th King of

and first king of independent

Kingdom of Kakheti The Kingdom of Kakheti ( ka, კახეთის სამეფო, tr; also spelled ''Kaxet'i'' or ''Kakhetia'') was a late medieval and early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centered at the province of Kakheti, with its capital first at ...

. *

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia ( ka, სრულიად საქართველოს კათოლიკოს პატრიარქი) is the Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi and the head of Georgian Orthodox Church. The of ...

consecrated in 1426. * Zaal (born – died after 1442), he was made a co-king by his father in 1433.Toumanoff, "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids", ''Traditio'' 7: 190.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Authority control 1380s births 1455 deaths Queens consort of Imereti Women from Georgia (country) in politics 14th-century people from Georgia (country) 14th-century women from Georgia (country) 15th-century people from Georgia (country) 15th-century women from Georgia (country) Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Imereti