Editing Tamar of Georgia (section)

=== Trebizond and the Middle East ===
{{main|Byzantine–Georgian wars#Georgian expedition to Chaldia and the founding of the Trebizond Empire}}
[[File:Iviron Aug2006.jpg|thumb|The [[Iviron monastery]] on Mount Athos, a major center of Christian culture favored by the Georgian crown.]]Among the remarkable events of Tamar's reign was the foundation of the [[Empire of Trebizond]] on the [[Black Sea]] coast in 1204. This state was established by [[Alexios I of Trebizond|Alexios I Megas Komnenos]] (r. 1204–1222) and his brother, [[David Komnenos|David]], in the northeastern [[Pontus (region)|Pontic]] provinces of the crumbling [[Byzantine Empire]] with the aid of Georgian troops. Alexios and David, Tamar's nephews,<ref>Tamar's paternal aunt was the [[Komnenos|Komnenoi]]'s grandmother on their father's side, as it has been conjectured by {{harvnb|Toumanoff|1940}}.</ref> were fugitive Byzantine princes raised at the Georgian court. According to Tamar's historian, the aim of the Georgian expedition to Trebizond was to punish the [[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine emperor]] [[Alexios IV Angelos]] (r. 1203–1204) for his confiscation of a shipment of money from the Georgian queen to the monasteries of [[Antioch]] and [[Mount Athos]]. However, Tamar's Pontic endeavor can better be explained by her desire to take advantage of the [[Western Europe]]an [[Fourth Crusade]] against Constantinople to set up a friendly state in Georgia's immediate southwestern neighborhood, as well as by the dynastic solidarity to the dispossessed [[Komnenos|Komnenoi]].<ref>{{harvnb|Eastmond|1998|pp=153–154}}; {{harvnb|Vasiliev|1935|pp=15–19}}.</ref>

Tamar sought to make use of the weakness of the Byzantine Empire and the Crusaders' defeat at the hands of the Ayyubid [[Sultan of Egypt|sultan]] [[Saladin]] in order to gain Georgia's position on the international stage and to assume the traditional role of the Byzantine crown as a protector of the Christians of the [[Middle East]].<ref name="Pahlitzsch-38-39">{{harvnb|Pahlitzsch|1996|pp=38–39}}.</ref><ref name="Eastmond-96">{{harvnb|Eastmond|1998|p=96}}.</ref>  Christian Georgian missionaries were active in the [[North Caucasus]] and the expatriate monastic communities were scattered throughout the Eastern [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]]. Tamar's chronicle praises her universal protection of Christianity and her support of churches and monasteries from [[Egypt]] to [[Bulgaria]] and [[Cyprus]].<ref name="Eastmond-122-123">{{harvnb|Eastmond|1998|pp=122–123}}.</ref>[[File:MinzarHamatzleva ST 04.jpg|thumb|The [[Monastery of the Cross]] in Jerusalem was formerly populated by the Georgian monks and patronized by Queen Tamar.]]The Georgian court was primarily concerned with the protection of the Georgian monastic centers in the [[Holy Land]]. By the 12th century, eight Georgian monasteries were listed in [[Jerusalem]].<ref>{{harvnb|Eastmond|1998|p=122}}.</ref> Saladin's biographer, [[Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad|Bahā' ad-Dīn ibn Šaddād]], reports that after the Ayyubid conquest of Jerusalem in 1187, Tamar sent envoys to the sultan to request that the confiscated possessions of the Georgian monasteries in Jerusalem be returned. Saladin's response is not recorded, but the queen's efforts seem to have been successful: [[Jacques de Vitry]], who attained to the [[Latin Catholic Diocese of Acre|bishopric of Acre]] shortly after Tamar's death, gives further evidence of the Georgians' presence in Jerusalem. He writes that the Georgians were – in contrast to the other Christian pilgrims – allowed a free passage into the city, with their banners unfurled. Ibn Šaddād furthermore claims that Tamar outbid the Byzantine emperor in her efforts to obtain the relics of the [[True Cross]], offering 200,000 gold pieces to Saladin who had taken the relics as booty at the [[Battle of Hattin]] – to no avail, however.<ref name="Pahlitzsch-38-39" /><ref name="Eastmond-122-123" />