Saint Ketevan the Martyr

Ketevan the Martyr (Georgian: ქეთევან წამებული, romanized: ketevan ts'amebuli) (c. 1560 – September 13, 1624) was a queen consort of Kakheti, a kingdom in eastern Georgia. She was regent of Kakheti during the minority of her son Teimuraz I of Kakheti from 1605 to 1614. She was killed in Shiraz, Iran, after prolonged tortures by the Safavid suzerains of Kakheti for refusing to give up the Christian faith and convert to Islam. She has been canonized as a saint by the Georgian Orthodox Church. Ketevan was born to Prince Ashotan Bagration of Mukhrani and married Prince David Bagration of Kakheti, the future David I, King of Kakheti from 1601 to 1602. After David's death, she engaged in religious building and charity. However, when David's brother Constantine I killed his reigning father, Alexander II, and usurped the crown with the Safavid Iranian support in 1605, Ketevan rallied the Kakhetian nobles against the patricide and routed Constantine's loyal force. The usurper died in battle. According to the Safavid official and chronicler, Fażli Ḵuzāni, Ketevan showed characteristic mercy to Constantine's surviving supporters and his Qizilbash officers. She ordered that the wounded enemy soldiers be treated accordingly and accepted in service if they desired. The Muslim merchants, who suffered in the war, were compensated and set free. Ketevan had Constantine's body laid to rest and sent to Ardebil. After the uprising she negotiated with Shah Abbas I of Iran who was the suzerain over Georgia, to confirm her underage son, Teimuraz I, as king of Kakheti, while she assumed the function of a regent. In 1614, sent by Teimuraz as a negotiator to Shah Abbas, Ketevan effectively surrendered herself as an honorary hostage in a failed attempt to prevent Kakheti from being attacked by the Iranian armies.