Gürcü Hatun

Who is Gürcü Hatun?

Gürcü Hatun was a Georgian royal princess from Bagrationi dynasty and Queen consort of Sultanate of Rum being favorite wife of sultan Kaykhusraw II. After his death in 1246 she married the Anatolian strongman Pervane. She was the mother of sultan Kayqubad II and patron to Rumi.

Her title Gürcü Hatun means "Georgian Lady".

She was born as Tamar and had a biblical name popular in Kingdom of Georgia and was named after her grandmother Queen Tamar the Great.

Gürcü Hatun 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, with no further information on how the conversion came about. 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, later became widespread in the Islamic world. After the death of Kaykhusraw in 1246, the government of the sultanate was seized by the Pervane Mu‘in al-Din Suleyman who married Gürcü Hatun.