Ghias ad-Din

Ghias ad-Din
Ghias ad-Din
Mugith al-Din Tughril Shah
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Church

Ghias ad-din (

Tamar, and a son, David

.

Origin and name

Tughril Shah, the father of Ghias ad-Din, and Seljuk ruler of Erzurum.^[2]

The consort of Queen Rusudan was a younger son of

'Abdu'l Harij Muhammad Mughis ad-din Tughril Shah, the Seljuq emir of Erzurum, and his wife, a daughter of Sayf al-Din Begtimur, the ruler of Ahlat.^[3] Tughril Shah had received Elbistan in appanage upon the division of the sultanate of Rum by his father Kilij Arslan II in 1192, but he exchanged it, c. 1201, for Erzurum.^[4] He appears to have been a tributary to Georgia for at least parts of his reign.^[5]

The original name of Rusudan's consort is not recorded in either Georgian or Muslim sources. "Ghias ad-din" is a

Ioann, writing in the early 19th century, posits that Rusudan's husband was named Dimitri (Demetrius) upon his conversion to Christianity in Georgia.^[3]

Marriage

Queen Rusudan

According to the Muslim sources, Rusudan married a son of the emir of Erzurum AH 620 (1223/1224).
Ali ibn al-Athir states that the emir of Erzurum himself proposed the marriage in order to defend his country from the Georgian encroachments. After the Georgians rejected the emir's request on account of his being a Muslim, he ordered his son to convert to Christianity, the fact that is described by ibn al-Athir as "a strange turn of events without parallel".^[8]^[3]

Marital life

King David VI of Georgia was the son of Ghias ad-Din and Rusudan.

Ghias ad-din is reported by the Georgian annals to have been a handsome and physically strong man. Around 17 years old at the time of marriage, he was younger than Rusudan,
mamluke"). As Ghias ad-din refused to condone this fact, ibn al-Athir continues, Rusudan had him moved to "another town" under strict supervision.^[10] The Muslim author underscores the "weak position" the Seljuq prince had at the Georgian court.^[6] Evidence suggests he was devoid of the high status and prestige enjoyed by earlier Georgian king-consorts, especially Rusudan's father David Soslan, the husband of Queen Tamar. The Georgian sources do not afford him the title of a king and do not report him being an army commander or otherwise involved in state affairs. His name does not appear on coins issued in the name of Rusudan.^[3]

Ghias ad-din and Rusudan had two children, a daughter, Tamar, and a son, David. Tamar married her cousin, Kaykhusraw II, sultan of Rum, and became better known by her sobriquet Gurju Khatun. David became the king of Georgia after Rusudan's death in 1245 and the forefather of the first dynasty of the Kingdom of Imereti in western Georgia.^[3]^[4]

Defection

In 1226, when
Khwarezmid Empire, conquered the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, putting Queen Rusudan into flight to her western dominions, Ghias ad-Din reconverted to Islam and, according to the chronicler al-Nasawi, obtained aman (security) from Jalal ad-Din. However, after the Khwarezmid shah departed to lay siege to Ahlat, Ghias ad-Din returned to Christianity, redefected to the Georgians, and informed them about the weakness of a Khwarezmid garrison in Tbilisi. Rusudan seems to have repudiated the marriage with Ghias ad-Din around the same time, and he becomes unheard of thereafter.^[3]

Notes

^
ISBN 978-0-7556-3630-3
.

^ "Copper alloy fals of Tughril Shah b. Qilij Arslan, nm, nd H. 1936.105.95". numismatics.org. American Numismatic Society.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Djaparidze 1995, pp. 181–182.

^ ^a ^b Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 181.

^ Peacock 2006, p. 130.

^ ^a ^b Ibn Al-Athir, in Richards 2010, p. 244.

^ The Chronicle of A Hundred Years, in Metreveli 2008, p. 537.

^ Ibn Al-Athir, in Richards 2010, pp. 244, 270.

^ The Chronicle of A Hundred Years, in Metreveli 2008, p. 535.

^ Ibn Al-Athir, in Richards 2010, pp. 244–245.

References

Djaparidze, Gotcha I. (1995). საქართველო და მახლობელი აღმოსავლეთის ისლამური სამყარო XII-XIII ს-ის პირველ მესამედში [Georgia and the Near Eastern Islamic world in the 12th–13th century] (PDF) (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba.

Peacock, Andrew (2006). "Georgia and the Anatolian Turks in the 12th and 13th centuries". Anatolian Studies. 56: 127–146.
S2CID 155798755
.

Kartlis Tskhovreba] (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Artanuji. Archived from the original
(PDF) on 2012-04-01.

Richards, Donald Sidney, ed. (2010). The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-kamil Fi'l-ta'rikh, Part 3: The Years 589-629/1193-1231: the Ayyubids After Saladin and the Mongol Menace. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing.
ISBN 978-0754669524
.

JSTOR 27830207
.

Royal titles
Preceded by David Soslan	King consort of Georgia 1223/23–c. 1226	Succeeded by Tamar Amanelidze

[CB33-1] 
ISBN 978-0-7556-3630-3
.

[2] "Copper alloy fals of Tughril Shah b. Qilij Arslan, nm, nd H. 1936.105.95". numismatics.org. American Numismatic Society.

[FOOTNOTEDjaparidze1995181–182-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Djaparidze 1995, pp. 181–182.

[FOOTNOTEToumanoff1949–1951181-4] Toumanoff 1949–1951, p. 181.

[FOOTNOTEPeacock2006130-5] Peacock 2006, p. 130.

[Richards-244-6] Ibn Al-Athir, in Richards 2010, p. 244.

[7] The Chronicle of A Hundred Years, in Metreveli 2008, p. 537.

[8] Ibn Al-Athir, in Richards 2010, pp. 244, 270.

[9] The Chronicle of A Hundred Years, in Metreveli 2008, p. 535.

[10] Ibn Al-Athir, in Richards 2010, pp. 244–245.

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