This part of the study examines several
aspects of the history of the lords or naxarars of Armenia
in the 13-14th centuries: (1) who were the naxarars on
the eve of the 13th century invasions (during the so-called Zak'arid
revival) and where were their lands; (2) how did the naxarars
react to the Turco-Mongol invasions/migrations of the 13th century;
(3) how did the Mongols (both before and after Islamization) attempt
to control the naxarars; and finally, (4) what were the
reactions of the naxarars to Mongol policies?
Considerable debate exists among Armenists
regarding many aspects of the history of Armenia·s nobility.
The derivation and thus the literal meaning of the term naxarar
itself is debated. The genesis of the naxarars too has
been depicted differently by the foremost invest- igators of the
institution or phenomenon of naxararism, by Nicholas Adontz,
Hagop Manandyan, and [157] Cyril Toumanoff (255). Most important,
the essence of the term, its real rather than literal meaning
has been perceived and described differently by these scholars
(256). Adontz, [158] Manandyan and Toumanoff likewise disagreed
on the duration of the naxarar "system". Adontz
wrote:
The naxarar system existed in Armenia from antiquity until the Mongol invasions. Like any institution developing in accordance with conditions of place and time, the naxarar system often changed in character and passed through several phases (257).
Manandyan hypothesized that the participation
of the naxarars in the Mongols' many campaigns and the
heavy taxes of the period combined to initiate the system's collapse
(258). The final liquidation of the system in his view came after
the mid-fourteenth century, when Armenia became a battleground
for numerous nomadic Turkic groups, though Manandyan noted certain
"survivals" of "naxarar customs" in
the inaccessible mountain regions of Eastern Armenia and Qarabagh
(259). Toumanoff wrote:
This social structure perished with the brutal Byzantine and Seljuq destruction of the Armenian polity in the eleventh century. Some vestiges of it, however, survived the catastrophe, both in Armenia and, through emigration, elsewhere (260).
[159] It is not our purpose here (and
in any case it is beyond our present competence) to write the
complex and often-changing history of Armenia's nobility from
pre-Christian times to the 14th century. However, to place in
sharper focus what is to be understood by the term naxarar
in the 13-14th centuries, we shall contrast briefly the classical
Arsacid (4-5th century) naxarar with his Zak'arid successor.
The socio-economic essence underlying
the concept of the term naxarar underwent numerous changes
from the 5th through the 13th centuries. The naxarar of
the Zak'arid restoration differed fundamentally from the Arsacid
lord. The Arsacid naxarar was the ancestral lord of clan
domains which he did not personally own, and therefore could not
alienate by sale or other means. If the truly great naxarar
associated with the Armenian monarch, it was on terms of equality.
As they never allowed their "natural lords" to forget,
some of the grand naxarars descended from clans as old
as, or older than, the Arsacids. For this reason, when naxarars
accepted positions at the Arsacid Court, the act was usually a
recognition on the king's part of the naxarar's right by
birth and position to the office. The naxarardoms tended
to be self-sufficient economies, and trade in that period was
of an international transit type through naxarar domains,
of importance to the naxarars only due to the toll and
customs revenue they could derive [160] from it. Their principal
wealth was land, and the labor of dependent peasants living on
that land (261).
Quite different were the lords of the
Zak'arid revival. The nobility of the early 13th century consisted
of different elements. One substantial group included men of ambition
and military talents from newly-arisen families, who were rewarded
by their Zak'arid overlords with grants of land and/or the rights
of administration (see below). Before and after receiving lands
and villages, this category of 13th century lord derived much
wealth from booty taken during military campaigns. Another element
is referred to in the sources from the 12th century as mecatun,
which means literally "of a great House". In fact, these
were men of great financial wealth, who formed the upper class
in the many Armenian cities which had recuperated from the Saljuq
dislocations. These men too lacked antique pedigrees, and did
not belong to the old naxarar families. Their wealth had
been gained through trading and money-lending and, in contra-
distinction to the Arsacid lords who did not engage in trade,
a substantial part of the mecatuns' assets were in cash.
However, these merchants reinvested their capital in land, buying
not only entire estates, but also shares of establishments (such
as mills) (262). An [161] inscription (1215) of one mecatun,
Tigran, from the historically unknown family Honenc', on the wall
of the church of St. Gregory in Ani, indicates the far-flung and
multi-faceted nature of mecatun wealth (263). From the
inscription of another mecatun, we learn that ca. 1242
a certain Umek purchased the church of Getik for "40,000
red [gold] ducats", a currency which clearly indicates that
such merchante as Umek were participating in the lucrative international
trade with Italian city-states (264).
The nobility of the Zak'arid period
included descendants of the ancient dynastic families: Mamikonids,
Bagratids, Arcrunids, Orbeleans, and others. In my opinion, by
the 13th century these groups are probably best considered extended
families rather than clans in the Arsacid sense. Nonetheless,
dynasties as hoary as these (some of which by then were more than
13 centuries in duration) had a strong conscioueness of their
own past, which they knew from the ancient histories. Most likely
these names commanded rather profound emotions among the Armenians,
and their bearers probably posseased a certain status for sentimental
reasons alone,not held by other segments of the nobility. Probable
too is the existence within such families of certain ceremonies,
[162] rituals and regalia--especially within some of the Siwnik'
and Xach'en dynasties--unshared by the merchants or Zak'arid warriors.
Yet another segment of the Zak'arid nobility was composed of prominent
clerics, representatives of various families, administering their
family holdings as religious foundations (see below).
Nicholas Marr was of the opinion that
in the immediately pre-Mongol and early Mongol periods the transfer
of princely and noble estates into the hands of merchant-capitalists
was taking place (265). This is probably true. However, the tendency
for urban merchants to invest in land, and the probably concomitant
tendency for the landed naxarars to diversify into trade
makes any drawing of lines impossible. Indeed, the new meaning
of the term hayrenik' in this period reflects the same
confusion. In the 5th and subsequent centuries hayrenik'
referred to a lord's ancestral patrimony. It consisted of lands.
But in the early 13th century, hayrenik' referred to both
moveable and immoveable property, hereditary or purchased, and
included money and shares in business enterprises as well (266).
Thus at the opening of the 13th century, the term naxarar
had something of a catchall sense, exactly as the term melik
did, two centuries later (267).
[163] Unlike the territorial units of
Arsacid Armenia studied by Adontz, which in some cases had been
the poasessions of different ethnic groups from time immemorial,
the naxarardoms of the late 12th and 13th centuries were
in many--though not all--cases the creations of the Zak'arid brothers,
Zak'are and Iwane. The men chosen by the Zak'arids to administer
and rule parts of northern and northeastern Armenia were not the
elderly nahapets or the descendants of ancient tribal chieftains
of Arsacid times who occupied office by right as much as by appointment.
Rather, they were successful military commanders who had served
under Zak'are and Iwane in the reclamation of Armenia from the
Saljuqs. Many were men of ambition and action, lacking illustrious
pedigrees. Frequently they were given charge of lands they themselves
captured; often they were attached to the Zak'arids through marriage
ties, as is illustrated below.
The properties under the overall jurisdiction
of amirspasalar Zak'are and later of his son Shahnshah
were located in the northwestern parts of the reconquered lands:
Lorhi, Ani, Aragacotn, Bagrewand, Caghkotn, Kogovit, Surmari,
lands from the Virahayoc' mountains to the southern border of
Caghkotn, from Bolorpahakic' to Erewan. Ani was the center of
this realm. Subject to Zak'are's house were both newly-created
families (such as the Vach'uteans) and old naxarar families
(such as the Pahlawunids, [164] Arcrunids, Mamikonids and others)
(268). The first of these families was founded by one Vach'e,
a loyal follower of Zak'are but of an unknown background, who
was given by his lord all the districts of Aragacotn, Shirak,
Nig and Amberd as far as Erasxajor (269). He was made prince of
princes of Zak'are's realm. The Pahlawunids, ruling around Marmashen,
Bagnayr and Lmbat, had acquired hereditary control over the office
of bishop of Ani and Shirak, and occasionally were mayors of Ani
(270). The Arcrunids, who ruled the fortressess of Mahkanaberd
and its environs north of Lake Sewan, were connected to the Zak'arids
by marriage ties (271). The Mamikonids held two small areas, one
by Dsegh, the other south of Garhni, around Urcajor (272).
[165] Under the jurisdiction of atabek Iwane Zak'arean and later of his son Awag were the eastern areas: Bjni, Geghark'unik', Vayoc' Jor, most of Arc'ax, Siwnik', Naxijewan, Dwin, and Erewan. The center of this realm was first Dwin and later Bjni. Subject to Iwane·s house were the Orbeleans, Xaghbakeans, Dop'eans and others (273). The Orbeleans, who originally had been the Zak'arids' overlords in Georgia were, in the changed situation of the late 12th and 13th centuries their subordinates in Armenia. Around 1184 atabek Iwane Zak'arean under authorization from the Georgian Crown granted to the successful general Liparit 0rbelean lands in eastern Vayoc' Jor, Kotayk', Geghark'unik' and Kayean (274). Liparit married the daughter of the prince of princes of Siwnik' and became the founder of the Siwnik' Orbelean line (275).
Another of Iwane's subordinates was
Vasak Xaghbakean, originally from the Xach'en area, who had helped
in the reconquest of Vayoc' Jor, Bjni, and Dwin. As a reward he
was given lands in western Vayoc' Jor, Shahapunik', Varazhnunik'
and parts of Kotayk' and Ayrarat. This family came to be known
as Prhoshean after Vasak's energetic [166] son, Prhosh (1223-84)
(276). Another small branch of the Zak'arids descended from Zak'are's
and Iwane's first cousin (father's brother's son) also named Zak'are,
ruled lands in Tawush, P'arhisos and Gardman. The center of its
realm was Gag fortress. This line became known as Vahramean after
Zak'are Gageli's son, Vahram of Gag (277).
A number of new and old naxarar
families became associated with the Zak'arids through marriage
alliances with three of Zak'are's and Iwane·s sisters. Their
sister Vaneni was married to Abas II Kiwrikean of Macnaberd (278);
Dop'i married Hasan, prince of the old naxarardom of Arc'ax
in eastern Armenia, receiving
as dowry a large area on the southern shore of Lake Sewan and
Sot'k' district in Siwnik'. Her descendants are knowm as the Dop'eank'
(279). Xorishah Zak'arean, another sister, was [167] married to
Vaxt'ang lord of Xach'en district. The family was named after
Hasan Jalal, the issue of this union. The Hasan Jalaleans ruled
southern Xach'en (280).
In the early 13th century the Zak'arids
had influence in southern Armenia too, though how much and how
deeply it was felt cannot be ascertained clearly. As a result
of his carelessness on a campaign against Xlat' in 1209/10, atabek
Iwane was captured by the Muslim lord of that city. Among the
terms stipulated for Iwane's release was the hand of his daughter
T'amt'a. T'amt'a was married to Melik Ashraf of Xlat', and became
the real ruler of parts of the Shah-Armen state during periods
of dislocation, from 1212 to 1231 (281). Another Armenian "state"
existed in the Van area, centered mostly at Aght'amar, but probably
possessing property in the numerous Armenian cities under its
spiritual jurisdiction, i.e., in the cities surrounding Lake Van:
Berkri, Archesh, Arcke, Xlat', Hizan, etc. This was the religio-political
entity known as the kat'oghikosate (or anti-kat'oghikosate)
of Aght'amar, a creation of the Arcrunids (282). This surrogate
state existed in addition to [168] an Arcrunid-Mamikonid mountain
naxarardom in Sasun, to the west. Furthermore, the brothers
Zak'are and Iwane (and also T'amt'a) were themselves of Arcrunid
background. Their mother was Sahakduxt, daughter of Sadun I Arcruni/
Mahkanaberdeli (283). The exietence of such families, whose properties
and political-spiritual-financial jurisdictlon embraced large
parts of the Armenian highlands on the one hand must have presented
unique opportunities for trade and more intimate ties. On the
other hand, it provided unlimited opportunities for intra-family
and inter-family conflicts (284).
Of the various Turco-Mongol invasions
occurring in the 1220's and 1230's, the most destructive were
those undertaken by Jala'l al-Din Mangubirdi of Khwarazm and by
the Mongols. How did the naxarars react to them, and how
did the new conquerors of Armenia deal with the naxarars?
According to Kirakos Ganjakec'i, Step'annos Orbelean and the History
of K'art'li, the Armeno-Georgian army comnaanded by atabek
Iwane outnumbered Jalal al-Din's force. But naxarar squabbles
and jealousies appear to have been an important cause of defeat.
Some sources politely and piously speak of divine intervention
wlhich managed to change the shouted command "charge"
into "flee" (285). In fact, because of enmity between
the atabek Iwane and his relations Iwane and Shalva (Vahram
Gageli's first cousin), the atabek Iwane refused to participate
or to allow those troops under him to fight. Other detachments
under lesser commanders fled or fought chaotically (286). Following
their desertion, the prominent naxarars withdrew to the
security of their inaccessible fortresses (287).
[170] Jalal al-Din's destructive activities in Armenia and Georgia hardly can be considered a strategy to win popular support. Jalal himself was a desperate fugitive from the Mongols. He did, however, entertain hopes of creating a state in his conquered areas, and, as Kirakos noted, he did establish an administration of sorts in Ganjak (288). In those areas where Muslim enclaves lived surrounded by Christian majorities--Tiflis, for example-- he was able to rely on Muslims as a base of support. Kirakos and the History of K'art'li both state that Jalal was able to capture Tiflis with the complicity of resident Persians who opened the city gates and regarded him as their liberator (289). However areas ruled by Muslims regarded him and his uncontrollable Turkmen warriors as a danger, and allied to fight him (290). Jalal al-Din was not unaware of the Caucasian nobility. According to Kirakos, when he captured Xlat' on the northeastern shore of Lake Van, he married that city's figurehead ruler, Iwane's daughter T'amt'a Zak'arean (291). According to the History of K'art'li, Jalal also hoped to marry the queen of Georgia, Rusudan, and even urged Awag to serve as match-maker, but Rusudan was unwilling (292).