Rusudan

The title of this article is ambiguous. See also: Rusudan (first name) .

Rusudan ( Georgian რუსუდანი , * 1194 ; † 1245 ) was from 1223 to 1245 Queen of Georgia from the Bagratids dynasty .

Life

She was the daughter of Queen Tamara and David Soslan . She succeeded her brother Giorgi IV. Lascha on January 18, 1223 on the throne. The change of power sealed the end of the Golden Age of Georgia, as Rusudan was endowed with her mother's beauty but not with her statesmanship and proved to be too weak.

War against Khoresmians and Mongols

Coins of Rusudan from 1230

In the first year of their reign there was war with the Kipchaks . Displaced from their habitat by the Mongols , they moved via Aran and Shirvan to Georgia, where they demanded settlement land from the queen. When this was rejected, they turned to pillage Ganja and besieged the city of Qabala . They surprised and defeated a Georgian punitive expedition. When the Kipchaks had devastated the eastern border areas of Georgia and withdrew with rich booty, Georgian troops pursued the enemy, defeated them and took the booty from them again.

In 1223 Georgian troops fought in Armenia , in 1225 before Ganja. Both ventures were unsuccessful.

As Georgia drained its forces in small-scale wars, the Mongol threat drew nearer. In 1220 the mighty empire of Khorezm was broken under the blows of the Mongols, and the four sons of Shah Muhammad II tried to save the paternal inheritance. One of the sons, Jalal ad-Din , came to Azerbaijan in 1225 . Jalal ad-Din wanted to build a new empire here and now also threatened Georgia.

There were several battles. The first at Garni in Armenia in 1225 was a defeat for Rusudan. Jalal ad-Din has not yet seized the opportunity. But on March 9, 1226 Tbilisi fell into his hands after a long siege. 100,000 residents are said to have fallen victim to the massacres. Immeasurable riches fell into the hands of the victor. Queen Rusudan had already fled to western Georgia via the Lichi Mountains on the advice of her princes. In 1227 the Georgians recaptured the city, but had to evacuate it because they were too weak. They set fire to Tbilisi.

In 1228 Jalal ad-Din suffered several defeats against the Mongols. Therefore he tried to forge an alliance of Islamic states against them by trying to win the caliph of Baghdad and the sultan of Ahlat for his goals. But the sultan had raged so much in wars against his Islamic co-religionists that they were more willing to cooperate with Christian Georgia.

In 1228/29 the Choresmiers succeeded in occupying the Derbent passes . When they camped in two parts of the army on the way back on Lake Sevan , the Georgian army succeeded in destroying the western part of the army by a nightly surprise attack, whereupon the eastern part withdrew in an orderly manner.

In order to wipe out the gap, the Choresm sultan began a new campaign against Georgia in 1229. Queen Rusudan tried to gather all available troops, reinforced by Kipchaks, Ossetian contingents and hill tribe warriors. The command was given to Avag Mchargrdzeli, who advanced to meet the attackers. Both armies collided at Bolnissi . After a long struggle, the decision was made in favor of the Choresmians when the Kipchaks overflowed to them. Afterwards Jalal ad-Din tried to conquer the Avag possessions and besieged the fortresses Gagi and Kvarin. Since the siege lasted more than three months, he contented himself with a ransom and in the fall of 1229 left Georgia forever.

Jalal ad-Din suffered its final defeat on August 17th, 1231. He was murdered by a Kurd while on the run .

The years 1231 to 1236 were another time of peace for Georgia. The Georgian state was ruled by Avag, Shanshah and Varam Gageli on behalf of Queen Rusudan. Tbilisi was rebuilt and the Armenian Kars re-fortified. In 1235 Shanshah and Avag conquered the Armenian Sermars (Surb Mari). Georgia had started again to adopt an expansionist policy.

The activities of the Mongols to subjugate the Caucasus began as early as 1235. In the same year they conquered Ganja, which had long been dependent on Georgia. From there they moved to Shamkori in Armenia, which belonged to Varam Gagelis. Since he did not receive military support, the crew had to capitulate after heavy fighting. One fortress after another of Varam's holdings had to surrender. He himself avoided any confrontation with the enemy and eventually fled to western Georgia.

It was there, to Kutaisi , that Queen Rusudan had fled with her court. She ordered the commander of Tbilisi to set fire to the city so that it would not fall into the hands of the Mongols. Georgia was so weakened by the Khoresmian campaigns that it could no longer raise an army against the invaders. The princes holed up in their castles and did not come together to fight together.

The Georgian part of Armenia was conquered as early as 1236. The conquest of Georgia dragged on until 1239, with most of the cities of eastern Georgia falling into the hands of the Mongols without a fight. Only Ivane Jakeli with his mesh core offered serious resistance and surrendered after Queen Rusudan gave her consent.

Thus the whole of eastern and southern Georgia was occupied by the Mongols. The Mongols did not succeed in penetrating western Georgia. Queen Rusudan continued to rule there unreservedly. Georgia was thus divided into an independent western part and an eastern part, dependent on the Mongols, in which the government apparatus of the kingdom was located. In 1242, this state of affairs was confirmed by a treaty negotiated by Avag Mchargrdzeli. Queen Rusudan formally submitted to the Mongols and was able to get her son David VI. was recognized as king in Tbilisi (1243). Eastern Georgia had to pay a tribute of 50,000 gold pieces and had to serve the Mongols in military service. Every tenth man was drafted for the army, which was commanded by the Georgian king.

For his confirmation, David had to go to Batu Khan in the Golden Horde in Sarai , but was sent by him to the Great Khan in Karakorum, where he arrived in 1245. Queen Rusudan also died that same year. She had been married to Muhammad Mughis ud-din Turkan Shah, the son of the Sultan of Erzurum , a sideline of the Rum Seljuks , since 1224 and, in addition to David, had a daughter, Tamara, who later became the wife of Sultan Kai Chosrau II.

Descendants of Rusudan

The descendants of Rusudan are therefore referred to by Georgian historiography as the Seljukids and died out in 1455 with Demetre in the male line. His daughter Gulaschar had married Giorgi, the brother of Alexander I of Georgia (1412–1442). Both son Bagrat VI. occupied the throne of Georgia (1465–1478) after Giorgi VIII (1446–1465) was captured by the Atabeg of Samtzche. Alexander, the son of Bagrat, did not become king of Georgia after him, but king of Imeretia (1478–1510). This line ruled Imereti until 1810.

Web links

Commons : Rusudan  - collection of images

predecessor	Office	successor
Giorgi IV.	Queen of Georgia 1223–1245	David VI.