Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised just one
Speaker 1: quick note of housekeeping before we begin. We are back
Speaker 1: at Rain on me over at the Noble Blood Patreon
Speaker 1: that is patreon dot com, slash, Noble Blood Tales and
Speaker 1: me Danish sports and Caramadnqua. My friend and actor and
Speaker 1: writer are going through every episode of the CW series Rain,
Speaker 1: which is ostensibly about Mary, Queen of scott So join
Speaker 1: us over there. The patreon also has stickers, exclusive March
Speaker 1: and episode scripts. But of course the best possible support
Speaker 1: is just listening, so thank you so much. In movies,
Speaker 1: there is an undeniable difference between the way feminine and
Speaker 1: masculine rage is portrayed. Masculine rage often manifests in more
Speaker 1: physical violence or audible expressions of emotion in battle cries
Speaker 1: or fistfights, outbursts that are usually pretty self explanatory think
Speaker 1: Brave Heart or the entirety of the Fast and Furious franchise.
Speaker 1: Feminine rage, however, when it's shown in popular culture, is
Speaker 1: almost always a little bit weirder and I think sometimes
Speaker 1: more interesting. In October of last year, the BBC published
Speaker 1: an article called Female Rage the Brutal New Icons of
Speaker 1: Film and TV. In the article, the author argues that
Speaker 1: women in film have a history of being viewed as
Speaker 1: weak or passive, with the rare instance of violence typically
Speaker 1: only instigated in direct response to an attack by a
Speaker 1: male counterpart. But the author goes on to write that
Speaker 1: in recent years, directors have utilized female violence quote in
Speaker 1: a way that calls gendered state bareotypes into question and
Speaker 1: champions female rage, particularly over male aggression. This is true
Speaker 1: and seen in movies like Jennifer's Body or in the
Speaker 1: Showtime series Yellowjackets. Female rage isn't something that necessitates physical
Speaker 1: violence in order to be fully captured on screen. Immediately,
Speaker 1: my mind turns to the now pretty ubiquitous gift of
Speaker 1: Margot Robbie giving herself a manic, if not slightly unhinged
Speaker 1: smile in the mirror as Tanya Harding in the movie
Speaker 1: I Tanya. If you haven't seen the film, there's a
Speaker 1: moment where Tanya is desperately smearing rouge on her cheeks,
Speaker 1: her face already flushed with anger and embarrassment. Tanya closes
Speaker 1: her eyes, takes a breath, and then forces herself to
Speaker 1: smile in the mirror. Practicing a smile in the mirror
Speaker 1: is It's something that most of us have done, particularly
Speaker 1: those of us with social anxiety, checking in to make
Speaker 1: sure that we can pass off as calm and collected
Speaker 1: before heading off into the world. Only Margot Robbie's smile
Speaker 1: at that moment is anything but easy. It looks almost painful.
Speaker 1: She's bearing her teeth. Her eyes shine not with excitement,
Speaker 1: but with the specific type of pent up frustration that
Speaker 1: only comes from being buried alive under the consequences of
Speaker 1: actions outside one's control. She's raging, but she's smiling, and
Speaker 1: it's impossible to look away. It's an unfortunate fact of
Speaker 1: history that women are rarely given the opportunity to act
Speaker 1: upon their anger. Women who act as men would in
Speaker 1: certain situations are dismissed as being shrill or irrational at best,
Speaker 1: or murdered at worst. The very word hysterical comes from
Speaker 1: the Greek word hysteria, meaning uterus. In fact, up until
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty, hysteria was a legitimate diagnosis in the Diagnostic
Speaker 1: and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, because calling an entire
Speaker 1: sex dramatic was far easier than actually researching the very
Speaker 1: real medical issues that female bodies suffer. But I digress.
Speaker 1: All this is to say, for millennia, women have had
Speaker 1: to control their anger, keep it under lock and key,
Speaker 1: lest their grievances cause them to be physically hurt or
Speaker 1: disregarded entirely as people. And I can think of no
Speaker 1: better historical figure that exemplifies that situation than the twelfth
Speaker 1: century ruler, Queen Tamar of Georgia. Given the throne at
Speaker 1: just eighteen years old, the young george and Queen was
Speaker 1: forced to marry a man she hardily knew, just to
Speaker 1: be able to keep her power. Then, after years of
Speaker 1: being constantly disrespected in an unhappy marriage, when the court
Speaker 1: finally granted her a divorce, what did her ex husband do? Oh,
Speaker 1: you know, just the usual organized a coup to dethrone
Speaker 1: her and take Georgia for himself. But Tamar couldn't scream,
Speaker 1: she couldn't punch, she couldn't even fire the court who
Speaker 1: insisted that she marry that man in the first place,
Speaker 1: not if she wanted to continue her reign anyway. So
Speaker 1: instead she did as generations of women had done before
Speaker 1: and would continue to do for generations. Long after she
Speaker 1: was gone. Queen Tamar closed her eyes, took a breath,
Speaker 1: forced a smile upon her face, and got to work.
Speaker 1: I'm Danish schwartz, and this is noble blood. The year
Speaker 1: was eleven seventy seven. To orient you in Western history.
Speaker 1: In England, King Henry the second was dealing with the
Speaker 1: fallout of the Great Revolt, while his wife Eleanor of
Speaker 1: Aquitaine was under house arrest. To the east, across the
Speaker 1: Black Sea, the Kingdom of Georgia was in the midst
Speaker 1: of its own struggle for power. Most historians would categorize
Speaker 1: this period in time as being part of Georgia's Golden Age,
Speaker 1: which took place between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. It
Speaker 1: was a period known for its unprecedented economic and cultural growth.
Speaker 1: But Golden or not, there's hardly an age in history
Speaker 1: in which the right to rule isn't being fought over.
Speaker 1: In eleven seventy seven, King George the third of Georgia
Speaker 1: was the kingdom's sovereign, but that year his nephew conspired
Speaker 1: with a group of rebellious noblemen to take the throne
Speaker 1: for himself. The coup would ultimately be stopped by George
Speaker 1: and his court, but the attempt was enough to rattle
Speaker 1: the king into taking action to secure his legacy. Having
Speaker 1: no sons of his own, George took the only action
Speaker 1: he could to solidify his family's claim to the throne,
Speaker 1: breaking tradition and for the first time in Georgia's history,
Speaker 1: naming a woman, his eldest daughter Tamar, as his co
Speaker 1: ruler in eleven seventy eight. And as you can imagine,
Speaker 1: the Georgian court wasn't thrilled with a woman ruling over
Speaker 1: their kingdom, but King George was not blind to that.
Speaker 1: Hence the introduction of Tamar first as his co ruler.
Speaker 1: It served as what we might today call a soft
Speaker 1: launch to her reign, introducing the country and nobles to
Speaker 1: the idea of a woman ruler without fully throwing her
Speaker 1: to the wolves all on her own, and so together
Speaker 1: they did rule successfully for six years. As a unit,
Speaker 1: the father and daughter led the kingdom into an era
Speaker 1: of economic stability and military success. Together their throne seemed impenetrable,
Speaker 1: and then George died in eleven eighty four, and the
Speaker 1: wolves that had been held back for so long finally
Speaker 1: caught the scent of fresh prey. After the death of
Speaker 1: Tamar's father, the Georgian Court quickly made their true thoughts
Speaker 1: on Tamar as a ruler known. The court made several
Speaker 1: demands of their queen, the first of which was to
Speaker 1: hold a new, separate coronation. The point of this new
Speaker 1: coronation would be to specify that Tamar's right to rule
Speaker 1: was given by the Court, not by the divine right
Speaker 1: of God. That way, she would ultimately feel more beholdened
Speaker 1: the Georgian Court and their opinions on how she was
Speaker 1: to govern the people. The second coronation was just one
Speaker 1: of many concessions Tamar would need to make in order
Speaker 1: to maintain her throne. Another compromise came when she agreed
Speaker 1: to appoint a man named Michel Maryanishte as her High Chancellor.
Speaker 1: If this work Game of Thrones, you can think of
Speaker 1: Michael as a little finger figure. Michael was an ambitious
Speaker 1: man to the point of being self serving in his
Speaker 1: role within the Georgian Court, But he knew that he
Speaker 1: held the court's favor, and so he used that to
Speaker 1: persuade Tamar into giving him the role of High Chancellor.
Speaker 1: With whispers of rebellion, echoing off the palace walls. Tamar
Speaker 1: grit her teeth and reluctantly gave Mikel the position, if
Speaker 1: only to keep those surrounding them from actively conspiring her downfall.
Speaker 1: And while his appointment did quell the majority of talk
Speaker 1: to forcibly take Tamar off the Georgian throne, it inversely
Speaker 1: emboldened some of the court members to make even more
Speaker 1: outlandish requests of their queen. The final concession Tamar was
Speaker 1: forced to make was arguably the most radical of all.
Speaker 1: The leader of the Georgian Noble Party, no doubt inspired
Speaker 1: by Michael's success persuading Tamar into conceding him the position
Speaker 1: of High Chancellor, demanded that a second palace be erected
Speaker 1: next to Tamr's. This palace would house the Georgian nobility
Speaker 1: and allow them to decide matters of governance without the
Speaker 1: Queen's input. Essentially, the leader of the Noble Party was
Speaker 1: asking for the Queen to build them their own castle
Speaker 1: so that they could rule the kingdom and she could
Speaker 1: pop in from time to time as a figurehead for
Speaker 1: the state with no actual power. Because if she had
Speaker 1: given Michael an inch, the Georgian court were now going
Speaker 1: to ask for a mile. The suggestion for these two
Speaker 1: parallel palaces proved to be the final straw for Tamar.
Speaker 1: It was not only a metaphorical slap in the face,
Speaker 1: but the request proved to her how close to powerlessness
Speaker 1: she was in the eyes of the Court after all
Speaker 1: the concessions she had made. In retaliation, she gave the
Speaker 1: order to have the Leader of the Nobles imprisoned for
Speaker 1: his request. The Court in turn threatened to depose the
Speaker 1: Queen should she execute her prisoner, which led to negotiations
Speaker 1: and ultimately a compromise between both parties. After being stripped
Speaker 1: of his titles and position, the former Leader of the
Speaker 1: Nobles was released, and instead of a separate palace to
Speaker 1: be built for the sole governing body of the Georgian Court,
Speaker 1: the Queen and the Court came together to form what
Speaker 1: was to be called the Darbasi, a special council that
Speaker 1: would allow both parties to convene and make decisions for
Speaker 1: the state together. So, finally, after a rocky start to
Speaker 1: her reign as sole Sovereign of Georgia, Tamar and the
Speaker 1: Georgian Court finally seemed at relative peace with one another.
Speaker 1: Tamar no longer felt the constant hum of rebellion within
Speaker 1: her ranks, and she allowed herself a moment to breathe
Speaker 1: in and enjoy the quiet that came after a well
Speaker 1: fought victory, though unbeknownst to her, the court not be
Speaker 1: sated for long. Her next battle was coming, and this
Speaker 1: time it was in the form of a man named
Speaker 1: Yuri Bogolyuski. The formation of the Darbasi was quickly followed
Speaker 1: by the Council's first request that Tamar find a suitable
Speaker 1: husband to fill the gaping empty spot next to her
Speaker 1: on her throne, because, of course, that was their first request.
Speaker 1: In addition to simply wanting an heir to continue the
Speaker 1: royal line, the Darbasi no doubt hoped that a husband
Speaker 1: would create an advantageous political alliance with a neighboring kingdom,
Speaker 1: and even if Tamar had advocated for herself to make
Speaker 1: decisions in conjunction with the council, ultimately her input on
Speaker 1: the matter was of little consequence to the Darbasi, which
Speaker 1: is why as soon as a man who happened to
Speaker 1: check all the right boxes made himself known to the court,
Speaker 1: the Council was quick to approve the match. The lucky
Speaker 1: man was Yuri Bogolyuski, the son of a Russian prince
Speaker 1: who had amassed a respectable military reputation. Considering he was
Speaker 1: just twenty four years old, Tamar was vehemently against the betrothal,
Speaker 1: understandable considering a she had never met the man, and
Speaker 1: b all she knew about him was that he had
Speaker 1: been exiled by his uncle and that he was living
Speaker 1: with a nomadic tribe of people known as the Kipchaks
Speaker 1: of her since not exactly the resume of a prince charming,
Speaker 1: but the Darbazi was insistent, and as soon as the
Speaker 1: young suitor found his way to Georgia, the two were
Speaker 1: wed in eleven eighty five, and Yuri took his place
Speaker 1: as king next to Tamar. And then, against all odds,
Speaker 1: something incredible happened. The two fell in love, had a
Speaker 1: hand and full of kids, and lived happily ever co
Speaker 1: ruling as king and queen side by side over an
Speaker 1: age of prosperity. Except no, of course they didn't, because
Speaker 1: this is noble blood, and I'm sure you know political
Speaker 1: marriages like that rarely end well when a so called
Speaker 1: prince charming comes along. Unfortunately for Tamar. Her marriage to
Speaker 1: Yori was just the beginning of her problems. The first
Speaker 1: of their many issues was a problem that had been
Speaker 1: conveniently left off of Yuri's suitor resume. He liked to
Speaker 1: drink a lot. One of Tamar's chroniclers wrote, quote the
Speaker 1: Russian when drunk was utterly debauched and utterly depraved. He
Speaker 1: even went in for sodomitic behavior. End quote. Needless to say,
Speaker 1: their marriage did not produce any children. Some historians argue
Speaker 1: that the marriage its self was likely never even consummated.
Speaker 1: Yuri would blame their childless marriage on Tamar being infertile,
Speaker 1: but as we will later see, that was not the case,
Speaker 1: and it goes without saying. But even if she were
Speaker 1: incapable of having children, it would be no one's fault.
Speaker 1: If anything, the only one at fault would be the
Speaker 1: man who felt the need to openly defame his wife
Speaker 1: to her entire kingdom. Yuri was nothing if not petty
Speaker 1: with a capital P. From the moment they were wed,
Speaker 1: Tamar spent nearly every meeting she had with the Darbazi
Speaker 1: begging for a divorce. At one point, Tamar even sent
Speaker 1: monks to scold her husband in an attempt to curb
Speaker 1: some of his more unsavory behaviors, but ultimately it was
Speaker 1: no use. Yuri's only saving grace came two years later,
Speaker 1: when finally, in eleven eighty seven, the Darbazi granted her
Speaker 1: a divorce and Yuri was sent packing to Constantinople with
Speaker 1: a hefty sum of gold and jewels in compensation for
Speaker 1: their failed marriage. And that should have been the end
Speaker 1: of the story for Uri. But if you couldn't tell
Speaker 1: by the fact that he spread rumors of Tamar's infertility
Speaker 1: just to save face for their failed marriage. He wasn't
Speaker 1: one to let sleeping dogs lie. But we will get
Speaker 1: back to him later. After their divorce, Tamar was once
Speaker 1: again without a husband and without a way to secure
Speaker 1: the Georgian royal line. But for once, things actually seemed
Speaker 1: to be looking up for Tamorrow. By eleven eighty seven,
Speaker 1: the High Chancellor that she had been once forced to appoint,
Speaker 1: Mikhail mari Anishte, had since passed away. That same chronicler
Speaker 1: I quoted earlier remarked here quote nobody grieved neither great
Speaker 1: nor small, for everyone loathed him end quote. But what
Speaker 1: was especially fortunate about his death? For Tamar was that
Speaker 1: now she had greater freedom to choose her next suitor.
Speaker 1: This time she did marry for love, choosing a man
Speaker 1: who just so happened to be the foster son of
Speaker 1: her aunt in a session prince by the name of
Speaker 1: David Soslin So. Two years after her divorce was finalized,
Speaker 1: Tamar married David in eleven eighty nine. But even a
Speaker 1: love match wouldn't stem the wave of trouble that her
Speaker 1: first husband, Yuri, had brewing on the horizon. After his
Speaker 1: exile to Constantinople, Yuri was quick to reconnect with Georgian allies,
Speaker 1: friends he had made during the brief years of his marriage.
Speaker 1: With their help, the jilted ex husband began to formulate
Speaker 1: a plan, one that would, in theory, put him back
Speaker 1: on the Georgian throne he thought he deserved. In eleven
Speaker 1: ninety one, Urori formally launched his attack against Tamar with
Speaker 1: the help of his Georgian supporters. The attack was to
Speaker 1: be held on two fronts, one that would be led
Speaker 1: in the capital to the east and another that would
Speaker 1: take the kingdom's stronghold in the southern districts, and his
Speaker 1: plan may have worked had Tamar not heard of the
Speaker 1: rebellion before Yuri and his men even set foot on
Speaker 1: Georgian soil. As upset as Tamar, no doubt was, at
Speaker 1: the news that her ex husband was orchestrating a coup
Speaker 1: to dethrone her. I hope at least some part of
Speaker 1: her felt vindicated in her initial resistance against marrying Yuri
Speaker 1: in the first place. She had been right, he was
Speaker 1: a terrible husband. The Darbazi were so obsessed with marrying
Speaker 1: her off to the first qualified suitor that came along,
Speaker 1: and now he was attempting to take down the entire kingdom.
Speaker 1: She couldn't necessarily say I told you so, But ordering
Speaker 1: her new husband to lead the defensive troops at the
Speaker 1: capitol hopefully felt just as good. While her husband guarded
Speaker 1: Tamar in the capital, her new high Constable was sent
Speaker 1: to the south with the majority of their forces. Yuri
Speaker 1: and his compatriots were ill equipped to face a Georgian
Speaker 1: militia that was ready for them, and so the southern
Speaker 1: rebels were decimated almost as soon as they began their attack.
Speaker 1: Upon hearing the fate of their forces in the south,
Speaker 1: those in the capital quickly began to abandon their ranks,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't long before the lead commanders and Yuri
Speaker 1: himself were captured, and finally, after years of Tamar being
Speaker 1: subject to the orders of men who claimed to know
Speaker 1: what was best for her and for her kingdom, all
Speaker 1: eyes turned to her, the Queen, to decide exactly what
Speaker 1: they should do next. In the wake of URI's failed coup,
Speaker 1: George's queen was left to decide her former husband's fate.
Speaker 1: Many probably expected Tamar to execute him after his arrest.
Speaker 1: Kings before her had surely done more violence for lesser
Speaker 1: crimes against the crown. Her own allies all but offered
Speaker 1: Tamar Yuri's head on a silver platter in exchange for
Speaker 1: their own freedom. But the Queen was not so easily swayed.
Speaker 1: She would have her revenge exactly how she saw fit.
Speaker 1: In the end, there would be no bloodshed. It may
Speaker 1: seem a bit anticlimactic, but Tamar was famously against execution
Speaker 1: and torture, and so in the end she decided to
Speaker 1: stick to her guns or not, as it were, and
Speaker 1: simply strip the nobles who had fought against her of
Speaker 1: their titles and their lands. And Yuri well, he was
Speaker 1: sent once again back on a boat to Constantinople, only
Speaker 1: this time without his generous alimony. You might find yourself
Speaker 1: a little disappointed in the lack of dramatic ending to
Speaker 1: this fairly epic episode from history. After all, Tamar had
Speaker 1: been through. Its natural for us as a modern audience
Speaker 1: to want Catharsis, to want to see her get a
Speaker 1: more concrete revenge against the deranged ex who literally tried
Speaker 1: to take away her kingdom. If this were a movie,
Speaker 1: I imagine that would be the sort of notes that
Speaker 1: the writer would get from the studio head. Bigger ending,
Speaker 1: more Catharsis. But I like to think Tamar's revenge against
Speaker 1: Yuri was held not in her desire for violence against him,
Speaker 1: but in her determination to create a better life for
Speaker 1: herself without him in it. Tamar would go on to
Speaker 1: have two children with her second husband, David, both of
Speaker 1: whom would take the Georgian throne. During their lifetimes. Tamar
Speaker 1: and David would lead the kingdom through several more military successes,
Speaker 1: and her legacy would be one that lauded her as
Speaker 1: more than just being the first female sovereign of Georgia.
Speaker 1: In my mind, Tamar got exactly what she wanted in
Speaker 1: the end, there was no bloodshed. Instead, she got to
Speaker 1: live the rest of her life with Yuri as merely
Speaker 1: an afterthought. In the words of a poet, it isn't love,
Speaker 1: it isn't hate, It's just indifference. For Tamar of Georgia,
Speaker 1: a woman who had been forced into roles carved for
Speaker 1: her by men for their own gain, her revenge against
Speaker 1: her ex husband was not going to be what defined
Speaker 1: her legacy. Her greatest revenge was the very fact that
Speaker 1: she got to live the rest of her life rarely,
Speaker 1: if ever, thinking about him at all. She didn't have
Speaker 1: to compromise her stances or principles. She got to be
Speaker 1: exactly the kind of ruler she wanted. That is the
Speaker 1: legendary reign of Queen Tomar of Georgia. But stick around
Speaker 1: after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit
Speaker 1: more about her legacy. In doing research for this episode,
Speaker 1: I was initially curious as to why Tomorrow is so
Speaker 1: often only referred to as Tamar of Georgia instead of
Speaker 1: Queen Tamar of Georgia, since as the ruling sovereign, that
Speaker 1: is the title she should take technically have. But when
Speaker 1: I dug deeper, I realized it's a much bigger can
Speaker 1: of worms. As it turns out, in the Georgian language
Speaker 1: there are no grammatical genders, so when sources cite Tamar
Speaker 1: as being the Queen of Georgia, they are imposing the
Speaker 1: gender rules from their own language into Georgian history. In reality,
Speaker 1: Queen Tamar could just as likely be King Tamar, depending
Speaker 1: on the translator or the language of the text it's
Speaker 1: being translated into. But despite the accuracy of her title,
Speaker 1: one interesting piece of information I found actually had to
Speaker 1: do with the currency minted during her reign. The pieces
Speaker 1: found during the period clearly list David Tamar's second husband
Speaker 1: below her name, so even though he was technically the
Speaker 1: King of Georgia, the currency made sure to specify that
Speaker 1: Tamar as queen was the true ruler of Georgia and
Speaker 1: he was more of a consort. It's interesting to consider
Speaker 1: how translations of historical document affect our perceptions of history,
Speaker 1: even on these most basic levels. In thinking about a
Speaker 1: language without gendered grammar, it makes you wonder how much
Speaker 1: weight we put onto these titles to begin with, and
Speaker 1: how much our perception of history is based on the
Speaker 1: language we're using when reading or listening about it in
Speaker 1: the first place, just food for thought. Noble Blood is
Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankee.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is created and hosted by me Danish, with
Speaker 1: additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward,
Speaker 1: Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is edited and
Speaker 1: produced by Noemi Griffin and rima Il Kahali, with supervising
Speaker 1: producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams,
Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.