139 On Saljuqid slave-trading in Asia
Minor see DMH pp. 174-79, and also my article, "The Slave
Trade in Armenians in the 11-14th Centuries" in a forthcoming
issue of the quarterly Ararat during 1980.
140 The daughter of Kiwrike, king of
the semi-autonomous northeastern Armenian state of Tashir-Joraget
is one example. With great reluctance her father surrendered her
to sultan Alp Arslan (in 1064/65)[ Patmut'iwn Matt'eosi Urhayec'woy
(The History of Matthew of Edessa (Jerusalem, 1869) pp. 174-75
[Hereafter MEd also Juansher, p. 113; Another example may be Gohar
khatun (d. 1118/19), wife of sultan Malik Shah's son, Isma'il
(MEd, p. 427). It is clear from the testimony of Abu'l Fida that
already by the mid-11th century, Armenian women (most probably
Muslim Armenians, or Islamized slave-women) were being taken as
brides by the now Turkicizing Caliphas of Baghdad, supreme chiefs
of orthodox Muslims: l. Kat'r an-Nada (d. 1057/58), mother of
Caliph al-Kayim (Nalbandyan trans. of Abu'l Fida, Arabakan
aghbyurner, Erevan, 1965) p. 215 and n.20; 2. Arjivan, mother
of Caliph Moktadi bi-Amr Allah Abu'l Kasim (d. 1094/95) p. 217
and n.26; 3. the mother of Caliph Mostadi bi-Amr Allah Abu Muhammad
al-Hasan ibn Yusuf ibn Mostakid (d. 1180), p. 222 and n. 50. The
fact that succession in the Caliphate tended to pass hereditarily
from father to son meant that throughout the 11-12th centuries,
many of the Caliphs were of some Armenian descent. However, it
must be underlined that Armenian extraction did not necessarily
mean that the individual identified with the Armenians, or even
that he or she was aware of the relation.
141 DMH pp. 240 ff. Also on the gulams
see Sp. Vryonis, "Seljuk Gulams and Ottoman Devshirmes",
Der Islam, XLI (1965) pp. 224-52.
142 Most notably Abu'l Fida, who specifically
notes the Armenian descent of certain Caliphs as well as of prominent
functionaries in Muslim governments. The Armenian literary historians
are loathe to mention the reality (and of course the extent) of
conversion. However, that intermarriage with Muslims was indeed
becoming a problem is clear from certain articles in the so-called
Penetential of Dawit' of Ganjak, C.J. F. Dowsett ed.,
(Louvain 1961) Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum 0rientalium, vol.
216, Scriptores Armeniaci tomus 3. This work, which deals
primarily with the degrees of penance necessary for various offenses
was written at the beginning of the 12th century in or near Ganjak.
Dr. Dowsett writes: "As the many passages in the Xratk'
kanonakank' [Penitential] dealing with the relations between
Christians and infidels (usually specified as Kurds) show, Dawit'
lived his life in a time of troubles for his church and nation.
The Christians were subject not only to the contamination of their
food, vessels, and holy places by Muslims, and the misfortune
of seeing Armenian women become their wives, mistresses or nurses:
the church might clearly at any time be threatened by what Dawit'
calls "hopeless tyrants" (ch. 37), and attacks on Christians
were not unknown (ch. 59)". The relevant entries are:·
(16) Concerning an Armenian woman who lives with a Kurd [and will
not separate from him] for the sake of Christianity, p. 16; (17)
Concerning a woman who dwells with a Kurd, p. 17; (18) Concerning
a woman who fornicates with a Kurd, p.17; (19) Concerning those
who voluntarily give their daughters to infidels, p.17; (19) Concerning
those who feed the children of infidels at the breasts, p.18.
That many of the same problems had continued through the 12th
century is clear from the inclusion of identical or similar entries
in the Law Book of Mxit'ar Gosh (d. 1213).
Religious conversion in this period
was not unidirectional. There was also Turkish conversion to Christianity,
both forced and voluntary. Juansher, speaking of the deeds of
David II the Builder (1089-1125) notes David's attempt to Christianize
the shamanist Qipchaq Turks of the north Caucasus: "Now [David]
kept with him on Georgian soil 40,000 Qipchaqs with their families
and sons plus 500 young children whom he raised at his court as
Christians, and others still day by day were baptized and studied
the faith of our Lord. He armed the 40,000 and designated spasalars
for them and repelled Persia and T'urk'astan with them".
Juansher, p. 119. Similarly, voluntary conversion of Turks to
Monophysitic Christianity was not unknown. The Armenian Church
has canonized the Turkish martyr Yordanan who was slain in Karin/Erzerum
on Good Friday, 1182, 143 Armenization which resulted from intermarriage
with Armenian noble families and from the naxararization
of foreigners occurred in some of the Arab emirates of southern
Armenia and among some of the Kurdish Shaddadids in the 10th-12th
centuries. See Ter-Ghewondyan, Emirates, pp. 45-50, 97-98,
119, 124;Minorsky, Studies, pp. 39, 43, 47 n.1, 51, 80-106
passim.
144 Turks also intermarried with Greeks
and Georgians. Greek sources style the offspring of such unions
mixovarvaroi. "Though this phenomenon of intermarriage
and the appearance of a new generation of mixovarvaroi is
only briefly mentioned by the sources, one must assume that it
was no rare or isolated occurrence. These mixovarvaroi
suffered occasionally from a dichotomy of
political sympathy and allegiance, but
in the long run their appearance in Anatolia resulted in a process
that favored the growth of the Muslim population at the expense
of the Christian population, because Muslim society dominated
politically and militarily. It is interesting, but unprofitable,
to speculate about what would have happened to the Anatolian mixovarvaroi
under different political circumstances" (DMH p. 176). Vryonis
continues elsewhere: "There is every reason to suppose that
intermarriage took place rather extensively from the very beginning
of the Turkish occupation of Anatolia and for several centuries
thereafter. Anna Comnena speaks of the offspring of such unions
as mixovarvaroi, and the twelfth-century Balsamon refers
to their curious practises. When the Greek historian Nicephorus
Gregoras passed through Bithynia en route to Nicaea in the middle
of the fourteenth century, just one generation after the conquest
of Nicaea, he observed that the population consisted of Greeks,
mixovarvaroi (Graeco-Turks), and Turks. Thus intermarriage
of Muslim and Christians at every level of society played a very
important role in the integration and absorption of the Greek
Christian element into Muslim society" (DMH
pp. 228-29). The Turkish-language equivalent
of mixovarvaroi may have been ikdish, signifying
a gelding or cross-bred animal, particularly a mule, See PT pp.
192-93.
145 DMH, pp. 227-34, Furthermore, certain
Christian families of western and central Asia Minor, cited as
"Greeks" in Greek sources, such as the Tornikes, Taronites,
Phocades, Musele, Skleroi, etc, were in fact of Armenian descent,
even if no longer identifying as such. See A. P. Kazhdan, "Armiano-vizantiiskie
zametki", PBH #4(1971) pp. 93-105, and the same author's
recent study, Armiane v sostave gospodstvuiushchego klassa
Vizantii v XI-XIIvv. [Armenians in the Composition of the Ruling
Class of Byzantium in the XI-XII Centuries] (Moscow, 197 );
P. Charanis, The Armenians in the Byzantine Empire (Lisbon,
1963).
146 According to S. Eremyan, "Liparit
zoravari hajordnere ev Danishmanyan tohmi cagman xndire [The
Successors of General Liparit and the Problem of the Origin of
the Danishmandid Line]", Teghekagir #8(1947) pp. 65-79,
Malik Danishmand was none other than the Armeno-Georgian Hrahat/Rat
Orbelean/Liparitean. The Turkish scholar Halil Yinanc; Selcuklular
Devri, [cited by I. Melikoff in La Geste de Melik Danismend
( Paris, 1960 ) p. 76 ] probably following
the 18th century Armenian historian
M. Ch'amch'ean has suggested that Danishmand was an Armenian captive
of war-possibly an Arcrunid or Bagratid--who converted to Islam,
and then reconquered his own clan's holdings in Cappadocia from
Byzantium. However, Dr. Irene Melikoff, compiler of the critical
edition of the Danishmend-name disputes Yinanc (op.cit.,
pp. 71-78). Nonetheless, she is unable to explain satisfactorily
why the earliest sources-Armenian---would make such a claim if
not true. I am hard pressed to explain why Danishmand's junior
contemporary, Matthew of Edessa (MEd, p. 368) followed by the
13th century Vardan Arewelc'i (VA, p. 112) who are always hostile
to Armenians faltering in the Apostolic faith, would have bothered
to mention Danishmand's Armenian descent. Whatever the truth of
the matter, it is of interest that the Danishmandids were so closely
associated with the Armenians in popular Turkish tradition.
147 Irene Melikoff, "Georgiens
et Armeniens dans la litterature epique des Turcs d'Anatolie",
BK 36-37 n.s. XI-XII (1961) p. 30.
148 X.A. Musheghyan, "Dramayin
shrjanarhut'yune Hayastanum IX-XIV darerum [The Circulation of
Money in Armenia in the IX-XIVth Centuries]", PBH #4(1971)
pp. 49-50; HAP pp. 579-80.
149 T 'urshyan, op.cit., pp.
123, 126, 128-29.
150 DMH p. 236 n. 563. One might also
compare the style of dome characteristic of Armenian churches--the
gmbet'--to the Saljuq kumpets and turbes,
Compare e.g., plates 15, 16, 17 in S. Der Nersessian's The
Armenians (New York, 1970) to PT p. 394 pl. 24, p. 399 pl.
30, p. 402 pl. 34, p. 403 pl. 35.
151 Juansher pp. 118-19; KG pp. 162-63.
152 Juansher p. 121; HAP. pp. 525-26.
153 T'. X. Hakobyan, Hayastani patmakan
ashxarhagrut'yun [Armenia's Historical Geography] (Erevan,
1968) pp. 302, 303, 305, 310-11.
154 MEd p. 447; Juansher p. 122;VT p.
28; W. E. D. Allen, A History of the Georgian People (New
York, 1971, repr. of 1932 ed.) pp. 85-108 passim. A certain
amount of conflict resulted from confessional differences between
Georgians and Armenians, which secular leaders were unable to
resolve, See Appendices A and B.
155 While, strictly speaking, it is
more precise to refer to the lords as naxarar/didebuls
(in light of their Armeno-Georgian backgrounds and affiliations)
and to provide the double Armenian and Georgian forms of their
surnames, since this study examines aspects of the Armenian background
only, we shall hereafter prefer the Armenian forms except in cases
where the source warrants another usage. HAP. pp. 527-28, 530-31;
H. G. Margaryan, "Mijfeodalakan payk'are Georgi III-i
zhamanak ev K'urd amirapete [The Inter-feudal Struggle in
the Time of Georgi III, and the Amirapet K'urd]", Lraber
#11(1975) pp. 48-60.
156 VA p. 138; SO p. 137; Ibn al-Athir,
year 599(1202-3) pp. 507-8; HAP p. 534.
157 Alishan, Hayapatum, colophon
#313, p. 448; A. Abrahamyan, "Ruk'n-ed-Dini partut'yune
[The Defeat of Rukn al-Din]",Teghekagir, #5-6 (1941)
pp. 78-83;HAP p. 536.
158 Ibn al-Athir, year 601 (1204-5)
pp. 509-11; year 605 (1208-9) pp. 517-22. In any case, it does
not seem that this area was under direct Georgian military control
for very long, HAP p. 537.
159 KG p. 164;VA p. 138; Ibn al-Athir
(p. 510) followed by Bar Hebraeus (p. 361) incorrectly reports
that "Zakare the Less" died during the seige of Xlat'.
Abu'l Fida (Nalb. trans., p. 228) without naming Zak'are, styles
him the "king of Georgia". During the Xlat' campaign,
Iwane was captured. The marriage of T'am't 'a was part of the
peace terms proposed by the Shah Armen. Eventually T'amt'a became
ruler of the Shah Armen state in her own right, ruling from ca.
1212-31 (T'urshyan, op.cit., pp. 126-31).
160 KG pp. 184-86; VA chp. 83 pp. 139-40;
HAP p. 538; S. Eremyan, Amirspasalar Zak'aria Erkaynabazuk
[Amirspasalar Zak'aria Mxargrceli] (Erevan, 1944) pp. 58-60.
On the naxarars in this period see chapter three below
and also Appendix A.
161 As was pointed out above, by the
1220's, Armenians were dwelling over a sizable territory embracing
the Armenian highlands, Georgia and Cilicia. Some, though hardly
all, of these areas were under Armenian political control, a circumstanee
which created confusion among the contemporaries. Mxit'ar Gosh
(d.1213) for whom as for other Armenian clerics the political
boundaries were less important than the demographic, used a new
term to designate part of Armenian-inhabited southern Armenia,
alternately controlled by the Ayyubids and the Shah Armens: "meso-Armenia"
(mijnahayk' , Arakk' Mxit'aray Goshi (The Fables of
Mxit'ar Gosh) (Venice, 1854) p.160). With the Mongol
invasions and domination of most of Asia Minor, political boundaries
became less distinct. For the 13-14th centuries, characterized
by the almost perpetual invasions, we are unable to do more than
cite the testimony of confusing and/or confused sources. To the
Arab geographer Yaqut (d.1229) the uncertain boundaries of Armenia
reflect the confusion occasioned by Georgia's resurgence and expansion
into previously Armenian-controlled and/or populated areas, as
well as the reality of Armenian majorities in areas not under
Caucasian political control. Moreover, in Yaqut's day, the 7th
century Arab geographical designation "Armeniyya" still
was being used, although the author notes
[92] that its constituent parts were
debated:"It is said that there are a Greater and Lesser Armenia.
On one side reaching from Barda'a to Bab al-Abwab and on the other
as far as the country of Rum and the Caucasus mountains and the
country of lord Sarir. Some say that Greater Armeniya is composed
of Akhlat/Xlat' and its environs; while Lesser Armeniya of Tiflis
and its environs. There are also those who say that there are
three, even four Armeniyas. The first consists of Baylakan, Kabalan
and Shirvan and the regions subject to them; the second: Jurzan
Suddabil, Bab Firuz-Kuban and al-Lak'z; the third: Basfurjan,
Dabil, Siraj, T'ayr, Baghravand and Annashavan; in the fourth
is the grave of one of the Prophet's comrades, Safvan ibn al-Muatt'al
...also Shimshat', Kalikala [Erzerum], Sisakan, Davil, Nashava,
Siraj, T'ayr, Baghravand, Xlat', and Bajunayis, formerly were
under the Greeks' domination, but the Rumi's united them to the
Shirvan princedom" (Yaqut, Nalb. trans. pp. 16-17). Among
the cities and districts of Armeniya Yaqut listed as having Armenian
Christian populations are: Archesh (p.12), Erzinjan (p. 14), Erzerum
(p.15), Aflughunia (near Nisibis, p. 21), Bayburt (p.28), Balu
(p.30), Bitlis(p. 33), Chapaghjur (p.46), Xlat' (p.60), Dwin (p.62)
Zavazan/Anjewac'ik' (p. 76), Samosata (p. 79), As-Suwaida (near
Harran, p.81), Taron (p. 92), Kaghzvan (p. 96), Kabala (near Darband,
p. 99), Kars (p. 99), Mokk ' ( p. 110 ) , Mush ( p. 111 ), Manazkert
( p. 111 ) . Yet the same author speaks of Azarbaijan as extending
"west as far as Erznjan" ( p.10 ).
To William of Rubruck, Sebastia/Sivas
was located "in Lesser Armenia" (WR p. 276) and Erzerum
"belongs to the Sultan of Turkie" (WR p. 266), but the
same author continues: "You must know of the Turks that not
one man out of ten among them is a Saracen; nearly all are Armenians
and Greeks" (WR p. 280). Speaking about the population of
Marsengen (between Kars and Erzerum) he noted: "All the people
in the burg were Christians--Armenians, Georgians,
and Greeks. The Saracens had only the
lordship" (WR p. 273). Interestingly, William describes his
host Sahnsah of Ani not as an Armenian but as "a Georgian
prince" (WR. p. 271) . The celebrated Venetian Marco Polo
travelled across the Armenian highlands in the year 1294/95, and
his account pertains to the mid to late 1290's: "Let me begin
with Armenia. The truth is that there are actually two Armenias,
a Greater and a Lesser [Cilicia]". On the same page, while
describing the northeastern borders of Lesser Armenia or Cilicia,
Marco Polo wrote: "Lesser Armenia is bounded on the south
by the Promised Land...on the north-east and east by eastern
Turkey, with the towns of Kaisarieh
and Sivas and many others, all subjects to the Tartars" (MP
p. 46 ) Marco Polo mentions the Armenian populations of Konya,
Kayseri/Caesarea, and Sivas. He notes the Armenian city of Erzinjan,
seat of an archbishop. and the other large cities of Greater Armenia,
Erzerum and Archesh (MP p. 47). In describing the population
of the city Tiflis, he mentions the Armenians [93] before the
Georgians (MP p. 50), and observes the presence of Armenians in
Tabriz (MP p.57).
The late 13th century Geography,
attributed to Vardan Arewelc'i apparently in part under the influence
of the 7th century Anania of Shirak, and in part in reflection
of the demographic spread of Armenians in the late 13th century,
draws the borders of Armenia very wide indeed: including all of
historical Armenia plus Edessa and Aleppo (Geog., p.21) Cilicia
(p. 24), Azarbaijan (pp. 15-16) and much of Georgia (pp. 17-18).
Vardan concludes his Geography
with the crucial expression: "these
are the lands and districts of Armenia/of the Armenians (ashxarhn
ew gawark'n Hayoc')". Indeed, though he does provide
the Arabic or Turkish forms of some Armenian place names, he nowhere
mentions that in his day most of historical western Armenia no
longer was under Armenian political control [see Vardan's usages
Arzrum for Karin (p. 18), Tiarpakir for Aghjnik' (p. 21), Malat'ia
for Melitene (p. 21), Sewast for Sebastia (p. 23)].
Het'um the Historian, writing in the
early 14th century, extends Armenia from the Darial pass in the
Caucasus to "Media", and includes (as does Vardan) the
city of Tabriz, then an area of Armenian population (Het'um, p.
14). In describing the "Kingdom of the Turks" [Rum],
Het'um wrote: "In the Turkish kingdom dwell four peoples:
the Greeks, Armenians, Jacobites ...and the Turks (p. 21).
Ibn Battuta, who visited Asia Minor
in the early 1330's wrote of Erznjan (then almost 300 years under
non-Armenian rule): "a large and populous city, most of whose
inhabitants are Armenians" (Ibn Battuta, p. 437). To Qazvini
in the 1340's, Armenia was divided into two sections. Greater
Armenia was the Lake Van basin with its capital at Xlat', thgugh
it extended "from Arzan-ar-Rum [Erzerum] to Salmas, and from
Arran to the further end of the Akhlat [Xlat'] district"
(Qazvini, p. 100). The "chief dependencies" of Lesser
Armenia were Sis, Cyprus and Trebizond (!), Qarin and Tarun (p.
100, 258). Schiltberger (who visited the Armenian highlands in
1402-1405) calls Erznjan the capital of Lesser Armenia (Schiltberger,
p. 21) which also embraced Bayburt and Kamax (p. 43). Elsewhere
he wrote: "In Armenia are three kingdoms, one is called Tiflis,
the other is called Sis, the third is called Ersingen..:and that
is Lesser Armenia (p. 86). Clavijo noted large concentrations
of Armenians in the Tabriz area (Clavijo p. 154, 309). He described
Khoy as a city of Upper Armenia with a majority of Armenians (p.
148). He noted populous Arrnenian villages south of Khoy (p. 330)
and stayed in Armenian villages during
his transit of central Asia Minor and
the Caucasus (pp. 111- 148). Contradictions within and among the
source resulting from the frequent changes in the area's,political
and military history, preclude a more specific definition of Armenia
in the 13-14th centuries.