Thread by @Arby_K

A princess of an ancient kingdom, the last of her family, crowned Queen by her father. The first Queen Regnant, ruling over a land that is now divided into three nations and a bit more, and creating a new Empire, at least in name, for her nephew.

Story in the evening ...

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1334686462999052288

Princess Thamar was born around 1160 to King Giorgi and his wife, Burdukhan. Her cousin, Demne, had been blinded and castrated after a failed rebellion in 1177, leading to Thamar being crowned as co-ruler by her father in 1178. She would inherit the throne in 1184. 1/10

Her nation was the successor state of the the ancient Kingdom of Iberia that ruled in the Caucasus from 302 BC and Thamar's family, Bagrationi, had been ruling Iberia since 813 and could trace their ancestry in the female line to King Mirian III, who ruled Iberia in 361 AD. 2/10

In 1185, Thamar would marry a Rurikid prince, Iurii Andreievich, but repudiate the marriage soon. Iurii would lead couple of failed rebellions against Thamar before disappearing from the history books. She would later marry a cousin, Davit Soslan of Ossetia. 3/10

Thamar would continue the work of her great grandfather, Davit, in expanding her nation's rule in the Caucasus. The 1190s would be spend waging war against the neighbouring kingdoms with Thamar accompanying the troops and Davit leading them on field. 4/10

By 1204, her position in the Caucasus had become unassailable, having defeated the Seljuk Sultan of Rum at Basian. But an event far off in Constantinople would now have an impact on her life. 5/10

After Emperor Andronikos was deposed in Constantinople in 1185, his grandsons, Alexios & David Komnenos, were refugees at their aunt's court. With the fall of Constantinople to the Crusading Latins, Thamar would lead her nephews to battle and found the Empire at Trebizond. 6/10

Though Constantinople would be retaken in 1261 by the Empire at Nicaea, the Komnenos would hold on a decade longer in Trebizond, till 1463, before Ottoman conquest. In 1213, Thamar would leave her son, Giorgi, the throne, with her nation at its greatest position. 7/10

But the position would be short, as a decade later, the Caucasus would be over run by the Mongol Horde led by Subutai and Jebe. After defeat at Khunan, Giorgi would be succeeded by his sister Rusudan, while an illegitimate son would later rule the eastern half of the nation. 8/10

Though reunited in 1329, they would soon be divided into three; Kartli, Kakheti and Imereti in 1490, surviving as vassals initially of the Persian Shahs and the Ottomans, but later assimilated into Russia in the 19th century. 9/10

Thamar's realm is now divided between three fragmented nations with regions like Abkhazia, which had merged with Iberia in 1008, looking to stay independent. Incidentally, Davit Soslan is supposed to be a Bagrationi as well, making the dynasty one of the oldest in Europe. 10/10