206 Spuler p. 26; KG's text ends with an incomplete description of this invasion, p. 399; VA ch. 98: "Now at the beginning of 1266/67, the governor of the North named Berke (Bark'a) who had held the position of Batu and Sartakh and was a Muslim, heard about the death of great Hulegu and he came with a multitude [of troops] to the Kur river to display his forces to the troops on this side of the river--troops of Abaqa and his brother Ismud, to show that he was alive after the death of their father. And Berke came and trampled them with little care, as far as Hechn. All the Muslims there prayed in joy. But those [people] on this side were terrified by this and walled off the length of the river called Shibar and kept in all readiness throughout the winter. Then Berke, having lost hope, returned to his place. And in the summertime he died. They say that in behavior he was not an agitator, and that he loathed blood-letting" (VA p. 162).

207 KC; "During this period the great Khan Berke came forth on the Darband highway to avenge [the deaths of] Xut'ar, Balal-, and Ghul. Learning of this, Abaqa-Khan summoned his army and king David, and set out. But when he realized the size of Berke's army and its might, he did not cross the Kur, but went up the banks, leaving troops where the Kur and the Arax join, from there to Mc'xet'a. Berke ravaged the Shirvan country, Heret'i, Kaxet'i, and the whole bank of of the Iori. The army came as far as Tiflis. Countless Christians were killed, while Berke-Khan encamped in the Garej mountains. Then God pitied the land and Abaqa-Khan. Berke was seized with some sort of illness and he died. Now his troops when they saw their Khan's decease, picked up the corpse and passed through the Darband Gates. So the land was pacified" (KC pp. 254-55; Mur. p. 126). SMP p. 356.

208 HAP III p. 632; SEPHA pp. 161-62; SMP p. 357; According to the KC, in the period prior to the death of king David (d.1270), Teguder, brother of Baraq-Khan of Turan, rebelled against Abaqa. The latter had granted Teguder summer camping grounds on the Ararat mountains, wintering quarters on the bank of the Arax plus Naxijewan, and tax-collecting rights over the country belonging to Baraq there. Teguder and his brother unsuccessfully plotted to overthrow Abaqa. When the plot failed, Teguder went to Shavsheti and Acharia in Georgia and persuaded the lord Sargis Jagheli to allow him to pass through. Meanwhile Abaqa sent a force including Shahnsah's son Iwane the mandat'urt'-uxuc'es and under the command of Chormahhun's son Shiremun, in pursuit. Teguder was defeated and lost many men in a landslide. However he and the survivors managed to reach David in Kutais where he was royally entertained. "Frequently king David went to Teguder and managed all the rituals and ceremonies, and so served before him... The same was done by the queen, the daughter of the great Palaeologus, ruler of Constantinople" (KC pp. 261-62; Mur. p. 133). Now as soon as Shiremun returned to Abaqa with the good news that Teguder was out of the way, a road-guard on the Khorasan highway arrived saying that Baraq was on the move. Abaqa summoned David and the Georgian army and they went, with the Georgians serving as advance-attackers. While this was going on, Teguder sent three commanders to raid Javaxet 'i. Teguder then ravaged K'art'li (KC pp. 265-66; Mur. pp. 135-37).

209 HAP III p. 632; Allen p. 117; GA ch. XVI pp. 375-77.

210 HAP III p. 634; SMP p. 363.

211 Ibid. KC p. 284; Mur. p. 152.

212 SMP pp. 370-71.

213 Het'um pp. 56-59; Abu'l-Fida (Nalb. p. 238); BH p. 454 describes the capture and robbery of a caravan of Christian merchants from Cilicia and Rum in 1276: "And at [this] time (1276) the captain of the host of the fortress of Zaid (Xarberd) whose name was Bishar, a wicked man and a shedder of blood, an old man, one hundred years old, made up his mind to flee to the Egyptians. For he had in his heart a hatred of Mar Sarkis the bishop of the Armenians in the city of Arzengan, who was a great man and who was honored by the king of the Huns (Mongols). He determined to kill him and then to go away. And, taking certain of his free men with him, he went to the country of Arzengan. He heard that the saint was in one of his monasteries preparing for Palm Sunday, and he lay in wait for him on the road. And when the holy man rose up on the second day [of the week] of the Sabbath of the Passion to go into the city, his son who was great and famous, was also with him. And he said unto the holy man, his father, 'Do thou go into the city, and I want to go and occupy myself in such and such a village, where they want to consecrate the church which they have built'. And his father gave him permission to go, and he was not to stay too long. And when they had separated from each other, three Turkish horsemen came and met the holy man, and they dismounted and went to kiss his hand. And they said unto him, 'An ambassador hath come and he asketh for thee and thy son also to read the yarlikh (i.e.,a Mongol patent or administrative order) which he hath with him'. And the holy man said, 'My son hath gone to such and such a village, but behold I will come'. And when they had journeyed on a little farther, there fell upon them about two hundred Turkish horsemen, and they killed the holy man and the thirty souls, elders, monks, and other slaves, who were with him. And they cut off his head, and they took it and went and seized that village and they surrounded the church (wherein was the son of the holy man) very carefully. And when they entered the church they could not find him because there was a heap [of grain] there, and he had hidden himself inside it. And when they wanted to depart, one of those accursed infidels said, 'let us set fire to this heap first, and then we will go forth'. And having set fire to it the young man came forth only half alive. And the Turks said unto him, 'Where is your father?' And he replied, He has gone into the city'. Then they cast down before him his [father's] head. And when he saw [it] he shrieked and fell down on the head of his father. And then and there, as he fell down, they hacked him limb from limb. And after these things that wicked old man Bishar took his [diss. p. 135] sons and all his company of soldiers and departed to the lord of Egypt" (BH pp. 455-56). See also SA p. 162. According to BH, in the late l3th century, bands of Turkmens, Mongols and Kurds were quite active in western Armenia and northern Syria to Cilicia. In 1282 nomadic Turkish bands were raiding around Xarberd (p. 465); 1285 raiding Arbil (p. 475); 1288 Mongols and Kurds were warring near Mosul (p. 477); 1289 marauding around Melitene/Malatya (p. 483-84); in 1290 Mongols despoiled Kurdish farmers in Diyarbakr (p. 485); in 1291 Geikhatu went against the Turkmens of Rum (p. 492), but in 1295 the Mongols and Turkmens were still warring (p. 508);

Throughout the 13th century the Saljuqid state was constantly being undermined by uncontrollable Turkmen warriors, who in fact, eventually brought that state down. The sources note Turkmen rebellions/rampages in 1239-40, 1261-62, 1276, 1277, 1286, 1290 (see DMH pp. 134-35;PT pp. 279, 280, 282, 286-88, 291, 293, 295-97. C. Cahen has observed that the Turkmens benefitted from the disorganization of cohesive societies (PT p. 299). Elsewhere, discussing the ethnic evolution of Asia Minor he wrote: "There has already been occasion more than once to mention in passing the new peoples which the Mongols' invasion had driven into Asia Minor, at first by thrusting them back before their own advance, later by carrying them along in their own ranks. Some were Iranians, others Turkmens, and there were even Mongols who were not solely garrison troops, but who settled down with their livestock and families in the eastern half of the country. In terms of numbers, there thus ensued an increase--which is impossible to calculate--in these ethnic groups as compared with the stable numbers of the natives; and there were also certain qualitative modifications. Leaving aside the Mongols, the new Turkmens were not the exact counterparts of the old ones, economically and culturally"...(PT p. 314).

"The 0ghuz are not the only Turkish people to have supplied Asia Minor with settlers. Among the Turkish tribes some of whose members settled down there with the Mongols, there were some who derived from other Turkish peoples, such as the Uighur. There can and indeed must have been an absorption of the Cumans/Qipchaqs whom Theodore Lascaris had installed on the southern frontiers of the State of Nicea for the express purpose of resisting the Turkmens. Moreover, the Mongols, who at the start were an undifferentiated army of occupation, as their Empire disintegrated, themselves seem to have become divided and reorganized into groups of tribes. Some of these were named as being still in Anatolia at the end of the 14th century in the histories of the qadi Burhan al-Din or of the Karamanids sometimes being associated with the Turkmens, sometimes hostile to them, in eastern and central Anatolia, and emancipated from the princes even when the latter were Mongols. Finally, many Kurds had been displaced. The distribution of the tribes found in Diyarbakr in the 14th century was no longer the same as had been known hitherto, and was already as known in the 16th century. Moreover, it will be remembered, the Kurds penetrated into Armeman regions where they had never previously been recorded" (PT p. 316).

214 BH p. 481; SO 176-77; KC pp. 286-92; Mur. pp. 154-59.

215 HAP III p. 636. Arghun, of course, had done the same: SO p. 172. For the end of the 1290's (c. 1296) both Orbelean and the KC speak of depredations caused by Mongol rebels (SO pp. 217-20; KC pp. 297-300; Mur. pp. 163-65).

216 E. A. Wallis Budge, The Monks of Kublai Khan (London, 1928), Introduction; A.C. Moule, Christians in China before 1550 (New York, 1930) ; J. J. Saunders' article, "The Decline and Fall of Christianity in Medieval Asia", Journal of Religious History #2 (1968) pp. 93-104; See SMP ch.7, A. Bausani, "Religion under the Mongols", pp. 538-49.

217 SMP pp. 370-71.

218 SMP pp. 379-80, 542. During the first part of Ghazan's reign, persecution was severe (SA p. 164). King Het'um of Cilician Armenia was able to calm Ghazan's wrath temporarily, according to BH p. 505. Anti-Christian persecutions had occurred prior to Ghazan's reign, in 1288 in Mosul (BH p. 482). See Armenian Neo-martyrs, bishop Grigor Karnec'i (d. 1321/22) pp. 121-22.

219 Step'annos has recorded that Nauruz received Ghazan's permission to extirpate Christianity: "Within our borders, they robbed the churches of Naxijewan, enslaved and tormented the priests; and they hauled off the doors of the chapels and demolished the altars. However, the great chieftains did not allow those churches to be pulled down which were respected by the Georgian troops. They also came to the great [religious] seat of Siwnik'and wanted to pull down the church, but through bribes and violence we did not let them. They looted the monasteries in the district of Naxijewan, but the other Armenian lands on the other side of the Arax river were left alone, thank God" (SO p. 221). SO then describes how the Syrian Catholicos was tormented by the Mongols. King Het'um of Cilicia, enroute to Baidu was at the Syrian Catholicosate at the time. "They seized the bishop of Apostles' [church] lord Tirac'u and vilified him by various indignities, and took all of his things. As for his monastery which contained the sepulcher of the blessed apostle Thaddeus, they pulled down the structure, ruined, robbed, and totally destroyed it" (SO p. 221). King Het'um informed Baidu about the attacks, and he simply claimed that it was Nauruz' doing, that he was ignorant of the matter. A decree was promulaged permitting freedom of worship. Meanwhile the philo-Christian Xut'lushah married Baidu's daughter, and there was peace for Armenia. See also KC pp. 299-304; Mur. pp. 165-69.

220 HAP III p. 637; Rashid III p. 171; SO pp. 224-25.

221 SMP p. 533; HAP III pp. 640-41; 14CC #55 p. 41.

222 Alisan, Hayapatum, p. 526 14CC p 104.

223 SA p. 165 and BH p. 507 state that already in Ghazan's day this practise was adopted and included the Jews, who never had been a protected people under the Mongols. SA p. 168; 14CC #178 p. 138, #61 p. 46, #62 p. 47, #89 p. 66, #125 p. 92, #130 p. 96, #135 pp. 101-102. "..In this year [1318/19] the entire Christ-glorifying flock was troubled by the breath of Gharabandaghul, Khan of the Nation of the Archers. Inspired by Satan, he ordered that taxes be collected from all Christians because of their faith in Christ, and he ordered that a blue mark/badge be sewn on the shoulders of Believers. Beyond this, they took taxes from clerics, without the Khan's order. Then the thrice-blessed, holy patriarch Zak'aria went after the Khan as far as Babylon [and remained] one whole year. He received from him a yarligh(arhlrhex) freeing the clerics and priests from taxation, but they collected from the laymen and youths...And in the spring of this year they collected the tax, but in autumn the Khan died. Then there came Aghlaghlu, Sint'amur and Hasant'amur with 1,300 men, and collected the tax a second time, but without limit, and no one resisted them. The monks who were free, whom they captured, they tortured with unbelievable torments and collected limitless fines. The blessed congregation [of Varaga] fell into their hands. They arrived, suddenly, secretly, at night. Everyone fled, but those they seized they tortured so, that we are unable to relate it...Others who had fled did not dare return to the monastery for [the Mongols] kept coming, day and night troubling us. Horrified by them, in fear and trembling we spent morning and evening on the blessed mountain, in caves, and crevices of rock. But they came every day and opened all the church doors and small rooms and looted whatever they found...And we bore many other sorrows, harassments and trials from all sides, in summer and winter a fugitive, and sleeping out in the open on the blessed mountain...For a long time we bore these and other troubles, and for the love of the holy Cross, taking refuge in It, we did not leave this holy congregation, [People from] the city and country fled hither and thither, a silent meeting-place remained; but we stayed firmly in place out of love for the holy Cross" (14CC #178 p. 138).

Spuler writes: "On embracing Islam [the Mongols] became of one faith with the numerous Turks of Iran, who had long been solidly Muslim; and when the two peoples thus ceased to be kept apart by religion, they fused into a new amalgam, whose everyday tongue was Turkish. At the beginning of the 14th century, the various Turkish tribes which, together with later arrivals, have formed the backbone of the present Turkish-speaking element in the population of Persia began to take definite shape. The province of Azarbaijan, which as the center of Il-Khanid power became the main focus of Turco-Mongol colonization, has remained solidly Turkish-speaking ever since, the Mongol speech having soon given way to the Turkish" (Spuler, p. 36).

224 On Ghazan's reforms see Spuler p. 37; SMP ch. 6 pp. 483-537, I.P. Petrushevsky, "The Socio-Economic Condition of Iran under the Il-Khans", especially pp. 494-500. For Armenia in particular, HAP III pp. 538-40; SEPHA pp. 273-82.

225 HAP III p. 641; Colophons speak of religious persecution in Berkri (1318) 14CC #180 p. 144, Sebastia (1320) #202 p. 162, #284 p. 226; Lorhi, #310 p. 249, Sebastia again #316 p. 256, and Karin (1335) #333 p. 270. Erzinjan was being harassed by Chobanids already in 1326/27 (SA p. 167). The city was beseiged again in 1334 and again in 1336 (SA p. 168 ).

226 Spuler pp. 39-40.

227 See Alisan, Hayapatum, #353 p. 527 where prince K'urd II claims to have serve militarily from 1292-1335. With the Islamization of the Mongols, references to Christian naxarars' service in the army disappear; See KC pp. 311-17, 319-24; Mur. pp. 175-81, 183-87.

228 SMP pp. 413-17; 14CC #339 p. 276, #347 p.281, #348 p. 283, #350 p. 285, #379 p. 306.

229 HAP IV (Erevan, 1972) ch. 1 pp. 15-23, L. A. Xach'ikyan, "Hayastane Chobanyanneri ev Jelairyanneri tirapetut'yan zhamanakashrjanum [Armenia in the period of the Domination of the Chobanids and Jalayirids]". HAP IV pp. 15-16; Sebastia/Sivas was starved into submission in 1339 (SA p.168). 14CC #378 pp. 304-305.

230 HAP IV p. 17; Erzinjan was beseiged and burned in 1339/40-1341/42 (SA p. 168); 14CC Erzinjan #400 p. 325, Sebastia #414 p. 334, Bayberd #433 p. 346, Vayoc' Jor #448 p. 369, Divrigi #449 p. 369.

231 HAP IV p. 18; VT pp. 169-70; According to SA p. 16 in 1348/4 there was famine; scribes from Aght'amar report harassments in the early 1350's: 14CC #485 p. 405, #489 p. 408, at Erzinjan #493 p. 411; Aght'amar: #496 p. 414.

232 HAP IV p. 18.

233 HAP IV pp. 19-20; Spuler pp. 40-41, 54-55; SA p. 169; 14CC #519 p. 433.

234 HAP IV p. 20.

235 HAP IV p. 21; SA p. 170.

236 HAP IV p. 21; 1368 harassment of Christians in Mush 14CC #590 p. 483; 1370 Ekegheac' district, #601 p. 491; Aght'amar #607 p. 495; Kamax #681 p. 546.

237 HAP IV pp. 30-31; Mokk' 14CC #643 p. 520; Taron #652 p. 525.

238 HAP IV pp. 22-23; SA p. 171; 14CC #700 pp. 559-60; TM pp. 12, 98.

239 J.J. Saunders, op.cit., p. 59.

240 The Continuator of Samuel of Ani has the followin entry under 1386/87: "The Turks took the fortress of Orotan and the great vardapet Kaxik went as a fugitive to Car... In the same year T'oxtamish, Khan of Crimea, dispatched troops to Persia. They came and entered Tabriz...they destroyed and captured more than 20 x 10,000 men and women, then crossed via Naxijewan and Siwnik' and went to their own land. In the same year Lankt'amur came to Tabriz and Naxijewan and thence in one day captured as far as Karbi and Bjni, to Garhni, Surmari and Koghb. Thence he went to Georgia and made holy war (ghaza arar) against the city of Tiflis. Capturing the king Bagrat, he made him convert to Islam (tachkac'oyc'), then he went and wintered in Mughan. At the onset of the next year, on the day of Easter, he came to Siwnik' and spread all about. He went after the Turkmens as far as the Amida river, turned back on the city of Van, and beseiged it for 25 days. He captured it on a Thursday...and threw everyone down from the fortress: 7,000 men. Then he went to the land of Samarkand. After six years, once again Timur came forth, descending into Baghdad where he killed many people and built six minarets out of heads. He went to Syrian Mesopotamia and killed many people there. Now the son of sultan Ahmad was in the fortress of Ernjak. The Georgians came and took it. When Timur heard this he was angered and came forth in great rage. He went to Georgia causing much ruin and harm with sword, fire, and captive-taking. He demolished the grandest churches in Tiflis and thence descended to Syria. He approached Jerusalem but did not enter. Then he turned back with much booty and went to T'axt. The next year he went to Rum and took Kamax and many other places. In Sebastia he buried more than 2,000 people alive, then returned to his place. The next year he returned to Rum and captured khan Yeltrum who had countless cavalry and troops. He dispersed and captured all" (SA pp. 171-72). 14CC #709 pp. 567-68; Armenian Neo-martyrs, Vanak bishop of Bjni (d. 1387/88) p.136; HAP IV pp. 24-25.

241 HAP IV p. 26; "The commencement of copying this gospel occurred in the year 1386/87 (A.E. 836) in a bitter time when many places were devastated because of our sins. A wicked Mahmetakan tyrant named Lank-T'amur arose in the East with countless troops and enveloped Persia as far as the Rum country. Coming to Armenia he demolished and enslaved everything and pitilessly put to the sword all all the Armenians and Tachiks whom he found. Oh, who can relate all his evil and the damage he occasioned in various places. Now...this was finished in the Kajberunik' country at the retreat called Manuk Surb Nshan, consecrated by the apostle Thaddeus, and at the foot of [the church of] Georg the General, during the patriarchate of Armenians of lord Zak'aria, when the country was controlled by Ghara-Iwsiwf (Qara Yusuf), a wicked, bitter, loathsome wrecker of the land...May God not cause us to witness again what we have seen" (14CC #7I0 p. 569).

242 14CC #711 p. 570.

243 SA p. 171; 14CC #717 p. 573, #735 p. 590; 15CC A. pp. 286-87, 277-78; TM p. 30.

244 HAP IV p. 27.

245 TM p. 32.

246 HAP IV p. 28; l4Cc #756 p. 607, #762 p. 611, #765 p. 613, #772 p. 618.

247 Spuler p. 67.

248 HAP IV p. 29.

249 14CC # 778 p. 621.

250 HAP IV p. 29 n. 43; Allen p. 124; l4CC #784 p. 629.

251 HAP IV p. 30.

252 HAP IV p. 31.

253 HAP IV pp. 31-32.


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