[131] During the reign of Hulegu's son
and successor Abaqa (1265-82) more examples of centrifugation
among the Mongols became manifest. In the very first year of his
rule, Abaqa was obliged to deal with another invasion of the Caucasus
from Berke (206). With the latter's death in Tiflis in 1266,
the troops of the Golden Horde retreated (207). [132] No sooner
had this situation been resolved, however than one of Chingiz-Khan's
great grandsons, Teguder, rebelled in 1268. Teguder's holdings
included parts of southern Georgia and the Gegharkunik' area around
Lake Sewan in Armenia (208). Armeno-Georgian troops aided in the
suppression of this rebellion, just as they had fought for the
Il-Khans against Berke (209). In both instances the Armenian and
Georgian agriculturalists were the primary
losers, since [133] their particular districts were expected to
feed and accomodate one or another party of Mongols, yet as a
consequence of this were ravaged by the mutually inimical Mongol
armies as punishment for aiding enemies.
The situation outlined above continued
more or less unchanged until the reign of Ghazan-Khan (1295-1304).
For the rest of Abaqa's reign and during those of his successors
Ahmad , Arghun, and Geikhatu, we see
Armeno-Georgian forces fighting and suffering defeat from the
Mamluks (1281) (210); fighting the next year in the Far East against
yet another Mongol state ruled by the descendants of Chingiz'
grandson Chaghatai (211); and fighting the armies of the Golden
Horde, which in 1287 once again attempted to invade Caucasia (212).
In this period other woes befell the Armenians, both peasant and
noble. As a result of the strengthening of the Muslim Mamluks
in Egypt, Islamic Turkic elements in Asia Minor began to take
heart, to form secret alliances with their co-religionists against
the Mongols, and to loot and pillage whenever they thought they
could succeed. The brunt of Turkmen violence was the [134] sedentary
Christian population, especially the Armenians, who had distinguished
themselves as Mongol supporters (213). [136] Ironically, in the
late13th century the Caucasian naxarar/didebuls too were
punished--not by Turks--but by their own Mongol overlords. This
must be explained by the very nearness of many lords to
the Il-Khan court and their great intimacy with its members. Thus
in 1289, when Arghun-Khan crushed a plot against him organized
by the emir Buqa, he also executed king Demetre of Georgia who
had married Buqa's daughter and was, rightly or wrongly, implicated
(214). Similarly, when Geikhatu succeeded his brother Arghun as
Khan in 1291, he in turn killed off Arghun's prominent supporters,
among whom were many Armenians (215).
The reign of Ghazan-Khan (1295-1304)
is regarded by Mongol scholars as a watershed, during which important
changes took place. Some changes, such as the Islamization of
the Mongols, were of a permanent nature. 0thers, such as fiscal
reforms, were ephemeral and did not take root among Ghazan's successors.
[137] It is a known fact that at the
time of the Mongol conquests in the early 13th century the Mongols
were characterized by their religious tolerance, or perhaps, indifference,
They themselves were for the most part shamanists, although some
prominent families among them were Nestorian Christians, having
received the faith from Syrian missionaries to Central Asial (216).
Consequently, throughout the 13th century, certain individual
Mongol leaders exerted themselves to further certain Christian
lords (both clerical and secular) subject to them. The
Khans themselves adroitly manipulated
the anti-Muslim sentiments of their Christian subjects for their
own military and foreign policy objectives (217). This situation
changed with the Islamization first of Ahmad-Khan (1282-84), and
then, irrevocably, with Ghazan's conversion. Christianity quickly
passed from the status of a favored religion to that of a tolerated
religion. Anti-Christian persecutions began almost at once, and
though checked during part of Ghazan's reign, they became the
rule rather than the exception under his intolerant successors
(218). Now that the [138] insatiable appetite for plunder
of the Mongol nomad warriors could not be assuaged in successful
wars against foreign enemies, it could at least be unleashed upon
a new class of domestic enemies--the Christians. ln Caucasia the
"instrument of the anti-Christ" was a Persian Muslim
named Nauruz, whose fanaticism seems to have been as much for
the amassing of a personal fortune as for the promulgation of
Islam (219). [139] His depredations in Georgia and Armenia provoked
yet another rebellion which, like the two preceding ones, was
crushed at the expense of extreme suffering to people, livestock,
crops and property (220). Religious persecution intensified during
the second part of the reign of Ghazan's successor, his brother
Muhammad Khuda-Banda ("servant of God", 1304-16). In
1307 Khuda-Banda, or Karabanda ("servant of an ass"
) as the Armenian sources styled him, resumed collection of the
jizya or head-tax on non-Muslims, something Ghazan had
tried but was obliged to discontinue (221). The sources report
that even month-old children were registered for payment of the
jizya (222) .Furthermore, Christians were now required
to wear identifying patches of blue or black material on their
clothing (223). [140] Needless to say, such unenlightened policies
did indeed create a new class of domestic enemies at a time when
the Il-Khanid state could hardly afford it.
[141] Among the ephemeral changes instituted
during Ghazan's reign was fiscal reform. This was undertaken on
the prudent advice of Ghazan's chief vizier, the historian Rashid
al-Din, a Jewish convert to Islam. Rashid attempted to check some
of the most egregious abuses of the nomadic fiscal system, characterized
by the repeated collection under force of imprecisely
stipulated taxes; the billeting of hordes
of official "emissaries" or elchis on local populations;
and the wanton destruction of crop lands (224). But the early
14th century was already late for correcting abuses now over a
century old, especially since the reforming spirit did not find
favorable reception among Mongol nomad chieftains. Moreover, one
should bear in mind that neither of the changes occurring in Ghazan's
time--Islamization as well as the beginning and end of fiscal
reform---took place to the exclusion of those other features of
Mongol nomadism outlined above. Far from it, religious persecution
and economic chaos operated in addition to the other abuses. Thus,
for example, in 1319 during the reign of Khuda-Banda's young son
Abu Sa'id (then a boy of 15) , [142] a Mongol chieftain named
Qurumshi rebelled in the Caucasus. The Gegharkunik' area of Armenia
and parts of southern Georgia were ravaged. The very next year
another Mongol rebellion flared up. caused by a disgruntled basqaq
or tax-collector. Northern Armenia and eastern Georgia were devastated
(225). Il-Khanid foreign policy too was on a disaster course,
with the state's powerful neighbors, Mongols (Chaghatais, Golden
Horde) and Egyptians arming for war (226). Meanwhile Armenians
and Georgians still were expected to fight in the army to defend
the Il-Khanid state (227).
[143] Following the death of Abu Sa'id
in 1335, a period of nine years of internecine warfare broke out
among various nomadic elements vying for power. Between 1335 and
1344 no less than 8 Khans were enthroned, only to be deposed or
murdered, shortly afterwards. But the collapse of the Il-Khans,
far from signalling freedom from oppressive rule for the Armenians,
meant only that that land now became the theater of warfare for
the various new contenders (228).
During the first part of the 14th century,
the first set of new contenders consisted of two nomadic clans,
the Jalayirids and the Chobanids. The eponymous founders of both
these clans had come to northwestern Iran, the Caucasus and Asia
Minor during the 13th century. As a result of devastating battles
fought between these clans in Armenia in 1338, the Chobanids emerged
as temporary victors. The Chobanids, under the leadership of one
Hasan-i Kuchak, reunited many parts of the fragmented Huileguid
state (including Armenia) (229). However, their victory did not
mean the disappearance of the rival Jalayirids. In 1340 Hasan-i
Kuchak waged war against Jalayirid holdings in [144] Diyarbakr.
The Muslim area in southwestern Armenia was ravaged.
In 1343 Hasan-i Kuchak raided
parts of western Armenia under Jalayirid control, capturing Karin/Erzerum
and Sebastia/Sivas (230). In 1344 with Hasan's murder, real
power passed to his brother Malik-Ashraf
who ruled 13 years with ferocious cruelty. Not only did he battle
Jalayirids, but he turned his wrath on the remnants of the once-great
Armenian noble houses in Ani and Bjni in the north and northeast.
These towns were ravaged in the early 1350's (213). The unwise
and unpopular actions of the Chobanids estranged a sizeable portion
of the nomadic aristocracy. To escape Malik-Ashraf's persecutions,
many Mongol nobles fled westward from Iran to Armenian Naxijewan
and to Caucasian Aghbania (232). Flight, however, was not the
limit of their response, Mongol nobles went [145] north to Khan
Jani-Beg of the Golden Horde, beseeehing him to invade Azarbaijan
to "liberate" them. Thus in 1357 the Caucasus once more
was overrun by invasion from the north. Jani-Beg put an end to
the Chobanids that year, set up a new governor, and departed (233).
Now the Jalayirids became the new contenders
for the Il-Khan legacy. In 1358 Jalayirids fought the soldiers
of Jani-Beg in Tabriz, Naxijewan and Qarabagh, expelling them
and seizing much of the Chobanids' holdings in Armenia and Iran
(234). However the Jalayirid state was nothing but an ever-shifting
network of uneasy alliances among nomadic bands. Centrifugal pressures
split it into numerous parts around 1374, after which nomadic
tribes of Mongols, Turkmens and Kurds warred against one another
and against the sedentary Armenian population (235).
From the standpoint of destructiveness,
two Turkmen groups played a major role in Armenia in the late
14th century. One was the Qara Qoyunlu ("Black Sheep")
Turkmens who had established themselves in the
central and southern Armenian districts in the late 13th century.
Throughout the [146] 14th century they raided districts in southern
Armenia and by the mid-1380's had extended their rule over parts
of central Armenia (236). The other nomadic group was the Ottomans.
The latter were a part of the Ghuzz tribesmen who had first come
into Asia Minor in the 11th century, but greatly increased with
new arrivals during the 13th century. By the beginning of the
14th century, the Ottoman entity had emerged as the strongest
of the many small statea to arise on the ruins of the Sultanate
of Rum. Throughout the 14th century the 0ttomans continued to
expand at the expense of other Turkmen principalities. Toward
the end of the century, they controlled areas of western Armenia,
such as Sebastia/Sivas, Erzinjan, and Melitene/ Malatya (237).
The confused situation thus created
in the Caucasus and in Asia Minor did not go unnoticed by Khan
Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde. In 1385, with an army of 50,000,
he invaded Azarbaijan via Darband and
Shirvan. After taking Tabriz, his marauding army divided into
sections, one group going via Marand to Naxijewan and Siwnik',
which latter district was plundered from south to north. Khan
Tokhtamysh's divided army reunited in Qarabagh and then
[147] returned north via Shirvan. With
them went 200,000 slaves including tens of thousands of Armenians
from the districts of Parakahayk', Siwnik', and Arc'ax (238).
From 1220, when the Mongols first appeared
in the Caucasus, to 1385 when Tokhtamysh invaded, a period of
165 years had elapsed. During this time different parts of Armenia
had experienced no less than 12 foreign invasions, and the severity
of Mongol rule had triggered three Armeno-Georgian rebellions.
Mongol centrifugation had resulted in two major uprisings of Mongol
nomads resident in the Caucasus itself. Moreover, with the collapse
of the Il-Khan state in the 1330's, a condition of "internal
war" had existed in most parts of historical Armenia, as
mutually antagonistic bands (and armies) of Mongol, Turkmen and
Kurdish nomads fought one another and the sedentary native population.
Religious persecution and economic chaos had long since become
the norm. Armenia now lay supine. However, a new storm was about
to break.
In 1386-87, 1394-96 and 1399-1403 Armenia
was subjected to what were perhaps the most brutal invasions yet.
These [148] were led or directed by the lame warlord Timur (Tamerlane)
and constituted the last invasions of Armenia from Central Asia.
In his Mongols in History, J. J. Saunders wrote of Timur:
"...His career was a singularly
barren one. The great Chingiz at least created an empire that
imposed order and peace and a rudimentary civilization on Asia
for over a century: Timur's kingdom vanished with his life, and
his imperialism was imbued with no purpose other than the agglomeration
of sheer power built on the corpses of millions. Till the advent
of Hitler, Timur stood forth in history as the supreme example
of soulless and unproductive militarism" (239).
During the first Timurid invasion of
1386-87, Naxijewan was captured and the fortress cf Ernjak was
besieged (though it did not surrender until 1401). The towns and
fortresses of Karbi, Bjni, Garhni, Surmari and Koghb fell, and
the districts of Ayrarat and Lesser Siwnik' were devastated (240).
Tiflis was taken and sacked, and Timur had the opportunity to
demonstrate his non-discriminatory policy vis-a-vis killing Muslims.
Wherever he went, Christian and Muslim resistance received equal
treatment: [149] either the resisters were exterminated, or entire
populations were led off into Central Asia
to live and die in slavery. After wintering in Mughan Azarbaijan,
Timur's generals crossed into the Kajberunik' and Chapaghjur districts
of southern and southwestern Armenia, where they fought unsuccessfully
against the Qara Qoyunlu Turkmens (241). Some Timurid detachments
reached as far north [150] as Karin/Erzerum, Iooting, pillaging,
and taking slaves as they went (242). In 1387 Timur beseiged the
Kurdish emir Ezdin at Van. When he took the citadel after 26 days'
beseigement, the women and children were enslaved, while some
7,000 males of all faiths were killed by being hurled from the
walls (243). After Timur left Asia Minor in 1387, severe famine
ensued, since due to the disruptions he had caused, crops were
not planted, and now there was nothing to harvest (244). Cannibalism
was reported in some areas (245).
[151] The country hardly had recovered
from this when, in 1394, Timur returned. Entering western Armenia
from northern Mesopotamia, he took Erzinjan, parts of Basen district
and Awnik fortress; Kars, Surmari, Koghb, Bagaran and Ayrarat
were ravaged; and the Qara Qoyunlu Turkmen areas, centered at
Archesh, north of Lake Van, were attacked (246). At this point
Timur turned upon Khan Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde who had
been raiding Shirvan. The Timurids defeated Tokhtamysh and sacked
his principal cities, Astrakhan and Sarai (247).
Timur appointed Miran, his half-mad
son, as governor of Iran, Iraq, Armenia and other parts of the
Caucasus. In 1396 Miran continued operations against Ernjak in
the south and expanded warfare against the Kurdish emir of Bitlis
(248). In 1397 southern Vaspurakan was ravaged and Ani in the
north fell (249). Strangely, all powers of resistance had not
been completely broken by the Timurids. In 1399 king Georgi VII
of Georgia attacked the Timurid beseigers of Ernjak fortress,
temporarily freeing those inside from the 13 year seige (250).
[152] But when Timur learned about the retaking of Ernjak, he left Samarqand and headed for the Caucasus. In revenge he attacked northeastern Armenia and southern Georgia, killing, destroying, and taking slaves. More than 60,000 Caucasians were led into slavery this time (in 1400), and many districts of northern Armenia were depopulated (251). Subsequently,Timur headed for western Armenia where he took Sebastia/Sivas and Melitene/Malatya from his arch-enemies, the Ottomans (252). After conquering Aleppo, Damascus, Merdin, Baghdad, Timur decisively beat and captured the Ottoman sultan, Bayazid I in 1402. The next year Georgia was invaded again and its king finally submitted to Timur.
During 1403-1404 Timur wintered in Qarabagh
before returning to Saraqand (253). He died there in 1405 at the
age of 70, having left a trail of blood and pyramids of decapitated
heads across Asia and the Middle East.
[153] Although the focus of this chapter
has been on the invasions of the 13-14th centuries, the survey
commenced with the Saljuq invasions of the 11th century and with
the remark that they were a sort of "dress rehersal"
for the later invasions. In what ways were the invasions qualitatively
similar and dissimilar vis-a-vis treatment of the Armenians? All
of the invasions from the 11th through to the 14th centuries contained
a Turkmen element which at times was "controllable"
by the leaders of the invasions, but at times uncontrollable.
This element worked to the detriment of settled societies (such
as Armenia's) and to later Turco-Mongol governments as well.
The Saljuq invasions and conquest of
Armenia occurred over a period of 50 years (ca. 1020-70), The
initial Mongol invasions and conquest occurred over a shorter
period, 1236-60. Both the Saljuq invasions and the 13th century
Mongol invasions were facilitated by a weakened Armenia. In the
11th century, Armenia had been weakened by the policies of Byzantium.
In the 13th century, the five year rule of Jalal al-Din destroyed
the Caucasian potential for resisting the Mongols. The Turco-Mongol
invasions of the 14th century also encountered an Armenia weakened
and exhausted--this time by the experience of Mongol domination.
[154] Consequences of the Mongol domination
regarding the Armenian lords are described in the following chapter.
After the Saljuq invasions, those Armenian lords remaining in
their patrimonies made accommodation with the new overlords and
a process of "Armenization" or "naxararization"
of the Saljuq nobility took place. This was possible primarily
because from the late 11th until the 13th century no major comparable
invasions or disruptions occurred. Furthermore, as was noted,
the Saljuq domination was not uniform across the Armenian highlands.
After merely forty years, the Saljuq empire was in pieces. Already
in the early 12th century, thanks to Georgia, an Armenian center
existed in the northeastern part of the highlands. By the 13th
century many districts of historical northeastern, central and
even southern Armenia were under Armenian political control again.
Such was not the case from ca. 1221 to 1403 when
the Armenian highlands were subjected
to frequent invasions, having as it were, no time to recover from
one before the next was in progress.
The Mongol domination lasted longer
than the Saljuqid and incorporated Armenia into an empire more
firmly. For almost 100 years (1240-1330) Armenia experienced Mongol
rule and misrule. Nor was there a protector for Armenia. If in
the 11-12th centuries Georgia was the deliverer and source of
strength against Islam, in the 13th century the Armenians looked
to the "Christian" Mongols--to the invaders themselves--for
protection. With the Islamization of the Mongols, any [155] hope
for protection, or even for equal, just treatment disappeared.
Finally, unlike the Iranizing Saljuqs
of Asia Minor who created an era of economic prosperity in the
12th-early 13th centuries, the Mongols commenced their domination
by looting many of the Armenian cities.
Subsequently they literally taxed the life out of the various
societies under their control--seemingly unaware of the ultimate
consequences for themselves, as well as for the subjugated population.