Georgian Golden Age
In addition to military expansion, this period saw the flourishing of medieval Georgian architecture, painting and poetry, which was frequently expressed in the development of ecclesiastic art, as well as the creation of the first major works of secular literature.
As a result of these processes, by the 15th century Georgia fractured and turned into an isolated enclave, largely cut off from Christian Europe and surrounded by hostile Islamic Turco-Iranic neighbors.
As he came of age under the guidance of his court minister, George of Chqondidi, David IV suppressed the dissent of feudal lords and centralized the power in his hands to effectively deal with foreign threats.
[4] David IV made particular emphasis on removing the vestiges of unwanted Eastern influences, which the Georgians considered forced, in favor of the traditional Christian and Byzantine overtones.
Although his reign saw a disruptive family conflict related to royal succession, Georgia remained a centralized power with a strong military, with several decisive victories against the Muslims in Ganja, gates of which were captured by Demetrius and moved as a trophy to Gelati.
The successes of her predecessors were built upon by Queen Tamar, daughter of George III, who became the first female ruler of Georgia in her own right and under whose leadership the Georgian state reached the zenith of power and prestige in the Middle Ages.
She not only shielded much of her Empire from further Turkish onslaught but successfully pacified internal tensions, including a coup organized by her Russian husband Yury Bogolyubsky, prince of Novgorod.
Tamar's Pontic endeavor can also be explained by her desire to take advantage of the Western European 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 Comnenoi.
[8][9] The country's power had grown to such extent that in the later years of Tamar's rule, the Kingdom was primarily concerned with the protection of the Georgian monastic centers in the Holy Land, eight of which were listed in Jerusalem.
[12] Jacques de Vitry, the Patriarch of Jerusalem at that time wrote:[13] There is also in the East another Christian people, who are very warlike and valiant in battle, being strong in body and powerful in the countless numbers of their warriors...Being entirely surrounded by infidel nations...these men are called Georgians, because they especially revere and worship St.
George...Whenever they come on pilgrimage to the Lord's Sepulchre, they march into the Holy City...without paying tribute to anyone, for the Saracens dare in no wise molest them...With flourishing commercial centers now under Georgia's control, industry and commerce brought new wealth to the country and Tamar's court.
While her contemporary Georgian chronicles continued to enshrine Christian morality, the religious theme started to lose its earlier dominant position to the highly original secular literature.
After the fall of Byzantium, Georgia definitively turned into an isolated, fractured Christian enclave, a relic of the faded East Roman epoch surrounded by hostile Turco-Iranic neighbors.
