The life of St Tamar of Georgia
Her reign became remembered as her kingdom's golden age: she led her own armies in the field, secured and enlarged its borders, and built churches and monasteries, extending her patronage even beyond Georgia to holy places in the Holy Land, on Mount Athos, and in Greece and Cyprus. Opposing peoples are said to have come to honor her enough to accept baptism rather than continue against her.
Her first marriage, to the Rus prince Yuri Bogolyubsky, was arranged by her court and ended badly over his drunkenness and misconduct; she had him sent away, provided for, rather than continue the union. She married again, in the years around 1189 to 1191 depending on the source, to David Soslan, a prince of Alania, and this marriage lasted the rest of her reign. Her own people, honoring how fully she ruled rather than merely reigned, called her not queen but king.
She reposed in the early thirteenth century. Most historians favor 1213, though some evidence has been read to suggest a year as early as 1207 or 1210, and the record is not settled. She is venerated also as a healer.
