Georgios I of Makuria

Who was Georgios I of Makuria?

Georgios I was a ruler of the Nubian state of Makuria. The events about the king are preserved in the writings of the Egyptian historians Al-Maqrizi, el-Balawi and Ibn Taghribirdi. Their description of the events is not always conclusive and they provide at several points contradditory information, making it for the modern historian difficult to reconstruct the events.

In his youth, his father Zacharias III appointed him co-regent and dispatched him on the long journey to Baghdad. For several years Egypt had been wracked by civil war and Zacharias had halted payments of the baqt. Once Ibrahim had gained control over Egypt he demanded the baqt be resumed and the payment of all arrears. In an attempt to reduce these demands, Georgios was sent to meet the Caliph. It is not certain if he traveled all the way to Baghdad or whether he simply went to Cairo; either way his journey had a major effect, and a new treaty was signed canceling the arrears and changing the terms of the baqt so that it only needed to be paid once every three years.

There is another story of Georgios being captured in his youth and brought to Baghdad as a prisoner.