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.


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