Gurju Khatun
| Gurju Khatun | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Likely depiction of Gurju Khatun, Kırkdamaltı Kilisesi.[1] | |||||
| Consort of Sultanate of Rum | |||||
| Tenure | 1237–1246 | ||||
| Born | Tamar c.1220 Kingdom of Georgia | ||||
| Died | c.1286 (aged 65-66) | ||||
| Spouse | Kaykhusraw II Pervâne | ||||
| Issue | Kayqubad II | ||||
| |||||
| Dynasty | Bagrationi dynasty | ||||
| Father | Ghias ad-Din | ||||
| Mother | Rusudan of Georgia | ||||
| Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church, later Islam | ||||
Tamar Gurju Khatun (Georgian: გურჯი-ხათუნი, romanized: gurji-khatuni; also Gürgü Hatun, fl. 1237-1286) was a Georgian royal princess from the Bagrationi dynasty and principal consort of the Sultanate of Rum as the favorite wife of sultan Kaykhusraw II, whom she married after the death of Muhammad II of Khwarazm in 1237.[2][3] After his death in 1246 she married the Anatolian strongman Mu'in al-Din Parwana. She was the mother of sultan Kayqubad II and patron to Rumi.
Her title Gurju Khatun means "Georgian Lady" in Turkic languages.
Life
[edit]She was born as Tamar (Georgian: თამარი, Tamari), had a biblical name popular in Kingdom of Georgia and was named after her grandmother Tamar the Great.[4]
Gurju Khatun was the daughter of Queen Rusudan of Georgia and the Seljuk prince Ghias ad-Din, a grandson of Kilij Arslan II.
She was a sister of King David VI of Georgia.
Like most Georgians, Tamar initially remained an Eastern Orthodox Christian but is known to have converted to Islam at a later point, after unproven accusations (by her own mother) of a secret affair between her and her cousin David Ulu, which put an end to her previously harmonious relationship with her husband. She was reportedly beaten by him and ordered to leave her previous faith. He only let her choose which denomination of Islam she wanted to convert to. Gurju Khatun chose Sufism. It is said that the sun on the Seljuk coins of that time symbolizes Tamar, while the lion stands for the sultan himself. This emblem, known as shir-u hurshid (Lion and Sun), later became widespread in the Islamic world (though its origins date back to much earlier times). After the death of Kaykhusraw in 1246, the government of the sultanate was seized by the Mu'in al-Din Parwana who married Gurju Khatun.
She is known to have patronized science and art, and to have been on friendly terms with the famous Sufi poet Rumi in particular. She also sponsored the construction of the poet’s tomb in Konya.[5]
Family
[edit]Gurju Khatun had married in 1237 his Seljuk cousin Kaykhusraw II, Sultan of Rum, she had a son from this marriage:
- Kayqubad II (c. 1238-1239 – 1254/1256), Sultan of Rum (1249–1254).
She subsequently married the Mu'in al-Din Parwana (d.1277), she had another son from this marriage:
- Mehmed Bey, who became the heir of Mu'in al-Din Parwana.
Lastly, she may have married the Byzantine dignitary Basil Giakoupes.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Badamo, Heather A. (2023). Saint George between empires: image and encounter in the medieval East. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0271095226.
- ^ Georgia and the Anatolian Turks in the 12th and 13th Centuries by A.C.S. Peacock, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 56 (2006), pp. 127-146
- ^ Cosmopolitanism and the Middle Ages, John M. Ganim, 51
- ^ ჯაველიძე ე., ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 4, გვ. 579-580, თბ., 1979 წელი.
- ^ H. Crane "Notes on Saldjūq Architectural Patronage in Thirteenth Century Anatolia," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, v. 36, n. 1 (1993), p. 18.
- ^ Badamo, Heather A. (2023). Saint George between empires: image and encounter in the medieval East. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0271095226.
It is possible, even likely, that the Tamar portrayed here is the same woman who married the Seljuk Sultan Giyath al-Din Kaykhusraw II in 1238. In Seljuk sources she is known as Guji Khatun ("the Georgian Lady"). (...) She was married first to Kaykhusraw II and then to Mu'in al-Din Sulayman (d. 1277), the parwāna, the Mongol-appointed admin-istrator and de facto ruler of the Sultanate of Rüm in the third quarter of the thirteenth century. In 1277, the Ilkhan Abaqa executed the parwāna, and it is possible that, after his death, she married the local elite depicted here.
External links
[edit]
- რატომ გააწკეპლინა გურჯი ხათუნის მეუღლემ მოლა ნასრედინი და რატომ განარისხა რუსუდან მეფე მისმა ქალიშვილმა ეკა სალაღაია, 2010-06-03
- What is behind the sun and lion figure?
- Marek, Miroslav. "An ancestry chart of her". Genealogy.EU.
 | This biography of a member of a Georgian royal house is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 13th-century women from Georgia (country)
- Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Georgia
- Converts to Sunni Islam from Eastern Orthodoxy
- Former Georgian Orthodox Christians
- Princesses from Georgia (country)
- People from the Sultanate of Rum
- 13th-century people from Georgia (country)
- Muslims from Georgia (country)
- Rumi
- Georgia (country) royalty stubs
- Remarried royal consorts
- Daughters of queens regnant
- Seljuk dynasty