Queen Tamar: The Confident Female Ruler of the Georgian Golden Age

Queen Tamar was a ruler of Georgia who lived between the 12th and 13th centuries AD. This monarch presided over what is today known as the Georgian Golden Age. This was a period that began in the 12th century AD with the reign of King David IV (the Builder), and ended shortly after the death of Queen Tamar in the early 13th centuries AD. Within this golden age, the period of Tamar’s reign has sometimes been regarded as the point when the Kingdom of Georgia was at its zenith.

Co-Ruling Georgia

Queen Tamar was born in 1166 AD to King George III and Queen Burdukhan. Tamar was the royal couple’s first child, and it has been claimed that the Georgian king decided that when his daughter reached the age of 12, she would be his co-ruler.

The king made such a decision as he had intended Tamar to inherit his throne. The Kingdom of Georgia, however, had not yet had a female ruler, and George hoped to ensure that the nobles would accept her as their next ruler. Thus, in 1178 AD, Tamar co-ruled the Kingdom of Georgia with her father.

George III (fresco from the Kintsvisi Monastery) (Public Domain)