{{Short description|King consort of Georgia c. 1223–1226}} {{Infobox royalty |name = Ghias ad-Din |title = |image = |caption = |succession = [[King consort of Georgia]] |reign = {{circa}} 1223 – 1226 |reign-type = Tenure |coronation = |predecessor = |successor = |spouse = [[Rusudan of Georgia]] |issue = [[Gurju Khatun]]<br>[[David VI of Georgia]] |house = [[Seljuk dynasty]] |father = [[Mugith al-Din Tughril Shah]]<ref name="CB33"/> |mother = |birth_date = |birth_place = |death_date = |death_place = |place of burial = |signature = |religion = [[Georgian Orthodox Church]] |}} '''Ghias ad-din''' ({{lang-ka|ღიას ად-დინი}}; {{floruit|1206–1226}}) was a member of the [[Seljuk dynasty]] of [[Sultanate of Rum|Rum]] and husband of [[King of Georgia|Queen]] [[Rusudan of Georgia]] from {{circa}} 1223 to 1226.
A son of the [[emir]] of [[Erzurum]] [[Mugith al-Din Tughril Shah]],<ref name="CB33">{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of the Caucasus: Volume 2: In the Shadow of Great Powers |date=5 October 2023 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-7556-3630-3 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0MLXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 |language=en}}</ref> he converted to [[Christianity]] on his father's order so as he could marry the queen of Georgia. Ghias ad-din's position at the Georgian court was weak and the spousal relationship was strained due to Rusudan's unfaithfulness. He shifted back and forth across the religious and political divide during the [[Khwarezmid Empire|Khwarezmid]] invasion of Georgia in 1226. Around the same time, he was repudiated by Rusudan, and thereafter disappears from records, leaving two children behind, a daughter, [[Gürcü Hatun|Tamar]], and a son, [[David VI of Georgia|David]].
==Origin and name== [[File:Tughril Shah b. Qilij Arslan.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Coinage of [[Tughril Shah]], the father of Ghias ad-Din, and Seljuk ruler of [[Erzurum]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Copper alloy fals of Tughril Shah b. Qilij Arslan, nm, nd H. 1936.105.95 |url=https://numismatics.org/collection/1936.105.95 |website=numismatics.org |publisher=American Numismatic Society |language=en}}</ref>]] 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]].{{sfn|Djaparidze|1995|pp=181–182}} 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.{{sfn|Toumanoff|1949–1951|p=181}} He appears to have been a tributary to Georgia for at least parts of his reign.{{sfn|Peacock|2006|p=130}}
The original name of Rusudan's consort is not recorded in either Georgian or Muslim sources. "Ghias ad-din" is a ''[[laqab]]'' reported by the 13th-century [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|Egyptian]] scholar [[Ibn Abd al-Zahir|ibn 'Abd al-Zahir]]. The Georgian historian Prince [[Ioann of Georgia|Ioann]], writing in the early 19th century, posits that Rusudan's husband was named Dimitri (Demetrius) upon his conversion to Christianity in Georgia.{{sfn|Djaparidze|1995|pp=181–182}}
==Marriage== [[File:Rusudan of Georgia (Gelati Monastery).jpg|thumb|Fresco of [[Queen Rusudan]]]] According to the Muslim sources, Rusudan married a son of the emir of Erzurum {{AH|620}}.<ref name="Richards-244">Ibn Al-Athir, in {{Harvnb|Richards|2010|p=244}}.</ref> The anonymous 14th-century ''Chronicle of a Hundred Years'', part of the [[Georgian Chronicles]], reports that the young Seljuq prince had been held at the Georgian court as a hostage in order to ensure the loyalty of Erzurum. Rusudan liked him and took him as a husband.<ref>''The Chronicle of A Hundred Years'', in {{Harvnb|Metreveli|2008|p=537}}.</ref> The contemporary Arab scholar [[Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (medieval writer)|Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi]] also confirms that it was Rusudan who opted for the Seljuq prince, but [[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".<ref>Ibn Al-Athir, in {{Harvnb|Richards|2010|pp=244, 270}}.</ref>{{sfn|Djaparidze|1995|pp=181–182}}
==Marital life== [[File:David Narin, Gelati Monastery, south-east chapel, west wall.jpg|thumb|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,{{sfn|Djaparidze|1995|pp=181–182}} who is unanimously described by the medieval sources as a beautiful woman devoted to pleasure.<ref>''The Chronicle of A Hundred Years'', in {{Harvnb|Metreveli|2008|p=535}}.</ref> Reporting her scandalous love affairs and adulterous way of life, ibn al-Athir recounts that on one occasion Rusudan was surprised by her husband in bed in the arms of a slave ("[[mamluke]]"). As Ghias ad-din refused to condone this fact, ibn al-Athir continues, Rusudan had him moved to "another town" under strict supervision.<ref>Ibn Al-Athir, in {{Harvnb|Richards|2010|pp=244–245}}.</ref> The Muslim author underscores the "weak position" the Seljuq prince had at the Georgian court.<ref name="Richards-244"/> 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 of Georgia|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.{{sfn|Djaparidze|1995|pp=181–182}}
Ghias ad-din and Rusudan had two children, a daughter, [[Gurju Khatun|Tamar]], and a son, [[David VI of Georgia|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.{{sfn|Djaparidze|1995|pp=181–182}}{{sfn|Toumanoff|1949–1951|p=181}}
==Defection== In 1226, when [[Jalal al-Din Mangburni]], the [[shah]] of the [[Khwarazmian 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 [[Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi|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.{{sfn|Djaparidze|1995|pp=181–182}}
==Notes== {{Reflist|2}}
==References== *{{cite book|last=Djaparidze|first=Gotcha I.|title=საქართველო და მახლობელი აღმოსავლეთის ისლამური სამყარო XII-XIII ს-ის პირველ მესამედში|year=1995|publisher=Metsniereba|location=Tbilisi|url=https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/9045/13/SaqartveloDaMaxlobeliAgmisavletisIslamuriSamyaroXII-XIISaikunisPirvelMesamedshi_Gateqstebuli.pdf|language=Georgian|trans-title=Georgia and the Near Eastern Islamic world in the 12th–13th century}} *{{cite journal|last=Peacock|first=Andrew|title=Georgia and the Anatolian Turks in the 12th and 13th centuries|journal=Anatolian Studies|year=2006|volume=56|pages=127–146|jstor=20065551 | doi = 10.1017/S0066154600000806|s2cid=155798755}} *{{cite book|title=ქართლის ცხოვრება|language=Georgian|trans-title=[[Georgian Chronicles|Kartlis Tskhovreba]]|year=2008|publisher=Artanuji|location=Tbilisi|chapter-url=http://www.science.org.ge/books/Kartlis%20cxovreba/11%20aswlovani%20matiane-2.pdf|editor-first=Roin|editor-last=Metreveli|editor-link=Roin Metreveli|chapter=„ასწლოვანი მატიანე“|trans-chapter=Chronicle of A Hundred Years|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401013934/http://www.science.org.ge/books/Kartlis%20cxovreba/11%20aswlovani%20matiane-2.pdf|archive-date=2012-04-01}} *{{cite book|title=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|year=2010|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|location=Farnham|isbn=978-0754669524|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANzVlFRFt24C&pg=PP1|editor=Richards, Donald Sidney|ref={{harvid|Richards|2010}}}} *{{cite journal|last=Toumanoff|first=Cyril|author-link=Cyril Toumanoff|title=The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia|journal=Traditio|year=1949–1951|volume=7|pages=169–221|doi=10.1017/S0362152900015142|jstor=27830207}}
{{s-start}} {{s-roy}} {{s-bef|before=[[David Soslan]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[King consort of Georgia]]|years=1223/23–c. 1226}} {{s-aft|after=[[Amanelisdze|Tamar Amanelidze]]}} {{end}}
[[Category:13th-century people from Georgia (country)]] [[Category:Kings consort from Georgia (country)]] [[Category:People from the Sultanate of Rum]] [[Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Sunni Islam]] [[Category:Turkish former Sunni Muslims]]