As soon as [Baiju] assumed authority,
he immediately mustered troops from all the peoples under his
domination and went to [that part of] the land of the Armenians
which was under the domination of the sultan of Rum. Having reached
the Karin district he besieged T'eodupolis which is now called
Karin city, and settled in around it. He sent ambassadors to the
inhabitants, telling them to come out in obedience. But [the residents]
did not want to [surrender] and instead sent the emissaries back
with insults. Then they got up onto their walls and further insulted
[the Mongols].
As soon as [the Mongols] saw that the
people did not welcome peace, the chiefs divided the city wall
on all sides in order to demolish it. Working swiftly, they erected
many catapults, destroyed the wall, entered the city, and mercilessly
put everyone to the sword. They ravished goods and property and
set the city on fire. At that time the city was very densely populated,
being filled not only with Christians and Tachiks, but everyone
from the entire district had assembled there.
In the city were countless holy Gospels
[belonging to] the [242] great and small. The foreigners took
the expensive ones [g279] and sold them cheaply to the Christians
in their army. [The Christian soldiers] happily took them and
distributed them throughout their own districts, dividing them
up among the churches and monasteries. May Christ reward the Christian
princes Awag, Shahnshah, Aghbugha (Vahram's son), and Grigor Xach'enets'i
(Dop'i's son) who was a pious man. For these princes and their
troops bought out of captivity as many men, women, children, bishops,
priests and deacons as was possible. Freeing all of them, they
were allowed to go wherever they chose.
[The Mongols] not only destroyed the city of Karin, but many other districts under the domination of the sultan of Rum. Yet the sultan was unable to do anything since, trembling with fear of them, he had hidden himself; some even said that he had died. Now once the T'at'ar army had done this deed, in glee and with much booty, it returned to Aghbania, to their wintering place, to that fertile and fruitful plain called Mughan. And they spent the winter there. [g280]
When [the Mongols] heard this, in no
way did they become aroused or boast [to the ambassadors]. Baiju-noyin,
their head, merely replied: "You speak grandly; however,
the victory will go to whomever God grants it".
Thus one after another ambassador arrived
to make [the Mongols] hasten for war, though they did not hurry
in any way; rather, they peacefully gathered their troops and
those under [g281] their domination, and came to a lush place
in the land of Armenia with all their bags and baggage in order
to fatten their horses. Then they tranquilly approached the camp
of the sultan. The latter had left his accustomed place and had
come to that part of Armenia which was under his domination, [244]
[to an area near Erzinjan], close to a village named Ch'man-katuk
[Kose Dagh]. He came with a countless multitude, with women and
concubines, gold and silver and all the valuable possessions he
had. For diversion, he also brought along wild animals and many
other creeping things, even mice and cats, for he wanted to show
himself as fearless to the troops.
General Baiju, consistent with his deep
knowledge, divided his soldiers into many groups, putting them
under the foremost brave commanders, while the foreign troops,
comprising various nationalities, were divided up among [the loyal
troops] so that they not work any treachery. Then selecting the
valiant and brave from all of them, he made a vanguard which went
and battled with the sultan's troops and put them to flight. The
sultan himself fled, escaping [g282] by a hairsbreadth and leaving
his throne and belongings there. [The Mongols] pursued the fugitive
troops and mercilessly cut them down, putting them to the sword;
then they turned to loot the fallen.
As soon as the main body of the army
arrived and saw that the sultan had fled and his army was beaten,
they spread throughout the area raiding and looting. They pulled
apart [245] many districts and gathered gold and silver and expensive
garments, as well as camels, horses, donkeys and countless animals.
They came and besieged the city of Caesarea in Cappadocia. Because
the inhabitants did not surrender, they took it forcibly and put
the population to the sword, ravishing whatever was in the city
and leaving it deserted. Then they came to Sebastia, and since
the inhabitants of the city had surrendered in advance (coming
out to them with gifts and presents) the people were not punished,
although part of the city was looted. Conquering the city in their
own name, they set up overseers and left.
They came and besieged Eznka (Erzinjan)
and fought numerous battles for it. The inhabitants of the city
dealt many blows to the T'at'ar army. Then [the Mongols] started
to treacherously call the people out of the city on the pretext
[g283] of frienship; and since the inhabitants had no aid from
any quarter, they agreed to come. [The Mongols] fell upon them
and cut them down, man and woman, sparing only a few lads and
girls whom they took into captivity and slavery.
Thus after destroying and enslaving many districts and lands, they came to the city called Divrigi (Tiwrike). Once the inhabitants knew that it was impossible to resist them [246] militarily they wished to surrender. [The Mongols] took many goods from them, but left the city unharmed, while they themselves returned with much booty and in high spirits to their winter camps in Armenia and Aghbania, since the wrecking and destruction of all peoples had come from the Lord. The Christians among their troops freed many people from captivity, both openly and in secret, priests and clerics. This was especially true of the grandee princes Awag, Shahnshah, Vahram and his son Aghbugha, the Xach'ents'is Hasan Jalal and his forces and relatives Grigor, Jalal's mother's sister's son Dop'i, and other princes and their troops [who freed as many] as they were able. This occurred in 692 A.E. [=1243].
When king Het'um heard this, he was
deeply saddened and said: "It would have been better for
me had they asked for my own son Lewon than for those others".
However, since he was afraid [of the Mongols] and so that a refusal
would not occasion any great harm, he reluctantly handed them
over with many presents besides to those who had come to take
them. [The sultan's relatives] were taken and exhibited to Baiju
and to the other chiefs. As soon as [the Mongols] saw them, they
were happy and greatly honored the ambassadors of the king, establishing
stipends and horses for them during the winter, so that when spring
came they could return to their own land. Thus friendship was
established with the king. They gave him a written ordinance according
to their religion which they call el-tamgha. [g285]
And so [the Mongols] waited until springtime when once more they went against the sultan and his land.
When Lewon died and his daughter Zapel
was ruling, the prince of princes Kostandin, having united with
kat'oghikos Yovhannes [g286] and other princes, enthroned
his own son Het'um, a youth, and sent him as a husband to Zapel
in place of the son of the prince who had been seized and put
in jail. [Kostandin] likewise wished to have as an ally his father-in-law
Het'um's son (named Kostandin like himself). He gave him Lambron
as private property and made him his son's coronant. But after
awhile this man rebelled against his sister's son king Het'um,
as was their ancestral custom. Although Kostandin, the king's
father, as well as the king himself greatly strove to bring the
rebel to accept submission [249] he would not, for he had received
help from the sultan of Rum, and so remained in rebellion.
As soon as the sultan of Rum had fled
the T'at'ars, the king took all the villages and fields of Lambron
under his control with the exception of the rebel fortress. Then
Kostandin sent ambassadors to the king to request reconciliation
and to place his sons in the king's service while he himself stayed
in the fortress. But the king did not agree to this. [Kostandin]
sent envoys two or three times but neither the king nor his father
would consent.
So Kostandin went to Konya (Konn) to
the sultan of Rum who was then an enemy of the Cilician king since
the latter had given the sultan's mother to the T'at'ars. He took
[g287] the sultan's troops and came to Cilicia unexpectedly while
the king's soldiers were dispersed to their own dwellings. He
entered the land, destroyed many awans and fields by fire,
murder, and enslavement. He killed and plundered many Christians,
occasioning such evil in the land because of a grudge.
Now when the king saw these evils, he assembled his soldiers and valiantly came against the enemy multitude, putting all of them to the sword. Only the rebel prince and [250] a few men with him were able to flee. In this way Kostandin was beaten by the king seven times, after which he entered his fortress and did not dare emerge.
38. Concerning the reign of Dawit'.
The resourceful and wily Nation of the
Archers had sent to Rhuzudan, queen of the Georgians, many times
telling her to come to them or to give her young son Dawit' to
them with troops. But she did not do so, and instead sent a few
soldiers to them with Iwane's son Awag who was in the T'at'ar
army, saying: "Until the ambassador whom I sent to the Khan
your king returns, I cannot come to you".
When [the Mongols] had defeated [Rhuzudan's] son-in-law the sultan of Rum, and had taken many of his cities, they sent prince Vahram as an envoy to him, bidding him to submit. [g288] When he came, he brought with him [Dawit'], the son of [the former] king of the Georgians, Giorgi Lasha (Rhuzudan's brother), whom she had treacherously sent to the sultan of Rum with her daughter to destroy him so that he would not bring harm to her realm. He had been imprisoned by the sultan.
[251] Vahram brought [Dawit'] and made
the situation known to the T'at'ar forces, saying: "the son
of our king was exiled and deprived of his kingdom". So [the
Mongols] enthroned him in opposition to his aunt and ordered him
annointed according to Christian custom. They ordered all of his
father's princes to obey him and [ordered] him to reside in the
city of Tiflis. Then the grandee princes who were obedient to
the T'at'ars, namely Awag who was a general, Shahnshah, son of
Zak'aria, Vahram and his son Aghbugha, took him to Mtsxit'a, summoned
the kat'oghikos of the Georgians, and annointed him king.
His name was Dawit'.
Now when [Dawit's] aunt Rhuzudan heard about this she fled to Ap'xazet' and Suanet' with her son (the other Dawit') and sent ambassadors to the other T'at'ar commander Bat'u [of the Golden Horde], a relative of the Khan, who controlled the toops in Rhuzk' and Oset'k' and Darband, since he stood [g289] after the Khan. She offered him her submission. [Bat'u] ordered her to reside in Tiflis, and the others did not oppose this since the Khan had died meanwhile.
Now [Nerses] since he sat in the Miap'or
district, in the monastery named Xamshi (which was under the authority
of Awag) did not dare to go without asking [Awag], so that his
departure not be taken ill. [Nerses] hid from [the Mongols] and
told the church officials to explain that he was not at home,
but had gone to Awag. And [the Mongols] sent to him two and three
times with threats [ordering him] to come to them.
Then [Nerses] received a command from
Awag and went to them in the Mughan plain, bearing gifts according
to his means. [253] However, he did not encounter Rhaban there,
for the latter had gone to Tabriz (Tawrezh). Therefore [Nerses]
went [g290] to the Great Court and stood before Elt'ina khatun.
She received him gladly and honored him with great respect, seating
him above all the grandees who had assembled by her because of
the wedding of her son Bora-noyin. For she had taken the
daughter of a certain notable named Ghutun-noyin as a wife
for her son; and she had given her own daughter as wife to another
noble named Usuf-noyin. Therefore she said to the kat'oghikos:
"You have come on a felicitous day". And [Nerses] wisely
responded: "I chose this day of your joy, and then came".
Now [Elt'ina khatun] entrusted
him and his officials to her brothers Sadeghagha and Gorgogh,
who were Christians, newly-arrived from their land, while she
might concern herself with the marriage that joyous day. [The
brothers] took [Nerses] and greatly honored him.
When they were somewhat lightened of [other] concerns, they gave [Nerses] gifts and an eltamgha so that no one would harass him, and they gave him a Moghal T'at'ar guide who took him throughout his dioceses in the land of the Aghbanians. [g291] Because, for a long while neither [Nerses] nor his predecessors [254] had dared to circulate through their dioceses due to the bloodthirsty and bestial nation of Tachiks. Now [Nerses] passed throughout his diocese returning peacefully to his residence in Xamshi monastery.
40. Concerning their raiding in the
Vaspurakan area and in many districts.
At the beginning of the second year
after the flight of sultan Ghiyath al-Din, they went through the
Bznunik' area to the city of Xlat'. They took it and gave it to
T'amt'a (Awag's sister) who previously was ruler of the city,
when she was married to Ashrap' Melik'. She subsequently had been
captured by the Khwarzamian sultan Jalal al-Din, then captured
again by [the Mongols] and sent to the Khan, where she stayed
for many years.
[As soon as] Rhuzudan, queen of the
Georgians, sent prince Hamadola as an envoy to the Khan, upon
his return Hamadola requested T'amt'a from the Khan. He brought
her with him with orders from the Khan that whatever had been
hers while wife of Melik'Ashrap' be given back to her.
[255] They obeyed the commands of their
king and gave to her Xlat' and the districts surrounding it. They
themselves spread out raiding the areas of Syrian Mesopotamia,
Amida, Edessa, Nisibis (Mtsbin) and the Shambi country and [g292]
many districts besides in vain, for although no one opposed them
with warfare nonetheless because of the summer heat, many of them
were sun-struck. Men and horses died.
They went to their lodging places and passed the winter. And they gave an order concerning the [re]construction of the city of Karin, T'eodupolis. The dispersed and hidden and those who had avoided captivity assembled, and the bishop of the city, lord Sargis, whom Zak'are's son prince Shahnshah brought [also] went [there]. And they commenced to rebuild the ruined and devastated city.
41. Concerning the canonical orders
of the kat'oghikos of the Armenians, Kostandin.
When Kostandin, the virtuous kat'oghikos
of the Armenians saw the ruin of Armenia and the sufferings which
[the people] were bearing from taxation and the T'at'ar army,
he pondered [the problem] and realised that sin was the cause
of it all; [256] for each person carefully meditated on evil [means]
of achieving his will. For the order of marriage of the blessed
law had ended and, like heathens, blood relations intermarried,
and whoever so desired separated [from their spouse], and they
took whomever they wanted. Nor was there concern for the propriety
of fasts. They mingled with the heathens [g293] indiscriminately.
Furthermore, what was the greatest wickedness of all, bishops
were ordained for [payment of] silver, the gifts of God were sold
to the unworthy. Minors and ignorant people, who could not speak
coherently in the presence of men were set up as intercessors
between God and man; and unworthy priests (who kept prostitutes
and patent whores) sat doing priests' work. And there were many
other evils committed by the great down to the small according
to this [quotation], that "Priests and people alike have
become crazed and there is no one to reprimand them".
For these reasons, [kat'oghikos
Kostandin] hastened to write encyclical letters and universal
canons. He sent with the letter the learned and brilliant vardapet
Vardan, who, by reason of prayer had gone to Jerusalem to worship
the sites of the Holy Land. After visiting the holy places, he
came to Cilicia to the Christ-crowned king Het'um and his brothers.
He went to the kat'oghikos who rejoiced exceedingly at
his [257] sight. The kat'oghikos kept [Vardan Arewelts'i]
with him a long time, binding the latter to himself with affection,
for he never wanted him to depart.
To accomplish his aims [of reform, the kat'oghikos] sent [Vardan] and his attendants and wrote to all the cities, venerable monasteries and glorious princes [of Greater Armenia] that they not ignore the prescribed rules which were for the salvation of their souls; and that because [the kat'oghikos] was an old man, they should accept the vardapet in his stead. This is what he wrote.[ We omit the encyclical (which deals with doctrinal matters) and resume the translation in chapter 43.]
43. Canons of Kostandin, kat'oghikos
of the Armenians.
...Vardan vardapet and those
sent by the kat'oghikos with him came to the East and traversed
the districts of Armenia giving the canonical orders to all the
bishops, monks and princes, and they demanded of all written approval
of the prescribed rules. Because everyone had strayed from the
Truth and was possessed by the disease of greed and the love of
silver, the order seemed hard. However, no one dared to scorn
it. On [258] the outside they honored it and gave a written document
with oaths and anathemas to accept the order. [Accepting were]:
the bishop of the city of Karin, Sargis; the other Sargis, bishop
of Ani; the bishop of Kars, Yakob; the bishops of Bjni Vanakan
and Grigor; the bishop of Anberd, Mkrtich'; the bishop of Haghbat,
Hamazasp; and other bishops in various regions as well as the
principal monasteries: Sanahin and Getik, and Haghartsin, Kech'arhu,
Hawuts' T'arh, Ayrivank', Yovhannavank', Saghmosavank', Horhomosi
vank' and those around them. Likewise [accepting] were lord Nerses,
kat'oghikos of the Aghbanians, bishop Yovhannes called
Tuets'i, the great and renowned vardapet Vanakan, the prince
of princes Awag, and other princes. [g310]
The wise vardapet Vardan took
this document of approval and sent it to kat'oghikos Kostandin
in Hrhomkla. Then he himself came to his place of solitude in
the Kayean valley. This piace was named St. Andrew (Andre) and
stood opposite the unassailable fortress of Kayean. He stopped
there and instructed many who studied his doctrine.
At the coming of the second year, 696
A.E. [=1247], the virtuous kat'oghikos Kostandin sent presents
to the churches in the East, by means of his attendant T'eodos.
[He sent] silken cloth of variegated colors,expensive cowls for
the [259] honored monks for use in the blessed service. [Kostandin
also sent] an encyclical so that [the church at] the tomb of the
Apostle Thaddeus and the surrounding districts and cities be given
to him as a diocese, and [he sent] much gold for the building
of a portico which vardapet Yovsep' constructed after the
devastation caused by the Turks and the Georgian raids, because
for a long time the place was uninhabited and barren.
Yovsep' went to a T'at'ar commander
named Anagurak-noyin whose summer quarters were close by
the tomb of the blessed Apostle Thaddeus. By [Anagurak-noyin's]
command, [Yovsep'] cleaned the church and held the opening ceremony,
built a monastery and assembled many clerics in it. [g311]
The T'at'ar man enlarged the roads on all sides [so that] all pilgrims come amongst his troops without fear, He strictly commanded that no one wishing to come be harassed, and he humbled himself to them with love. And many of them came and baptised their sons and daughters, and many who were possessed by devils and were sick became healed, and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ was glorified. Furthermore the entire T'at'ar army was not inimical to [260] the Cross and the Church. Instead, they greatly revered them and offered gifts; there was no hostility among them.
44. Regarding the tax collectors who
came from the Khan.
As soon as Guyuk-Khan took control of
the great kingdom of the T'at'ar army in their own land, he forthwith
sent out tax collectors to his troops in the various regions and
lands which they had subdued, to take one tenth of all the property
of the troops as well as taxes from the districts and kingdoms
conquered by them: from the Iranians, Tachiks, Turks, Armenians,
Georgians, Aghbanians and from all peoples under them. The chiefs
of the tax collectors were severe and rapacious men. One was named
Arghun and was the leader of all the rest, [g312] while the other
[chief] was Bugha who was yet more wicked than that [other] Bugha
who came against Armenia in the days of Jap'r the Ishmaelite and
who ruined many lands. Similarly this [Mongol] Bugha came to the
T'at'ar troops, entered the homes of the nobles, and pitilessly
took whatever pleased him. Yet no one dared say anything to him
for he had assembled brigands from among the Iranians and Tachiks
who mercilessly performed deeds of cruelty and were [261] especially
inimical toward the Christians.
Therefore they provoked him against
the pious prince Hasan, called Jalal. [Bugha] seized him in the
great court before all the nobles and subjected him to numerous
punishments. He demolished [Hasan's] inaccessible fortresses:
the one called Xoyaxana in Persian, Ded, Tsiranak'ar and his other
fortresses. And they so levelled them that not even a trace appeared
that anything had ever been built there. Taking much gold and
silver from [Hasan] they barely spared his life. The grandee nobility
could do nothing to help him, so terrified were all the spectators.
[Bugha] similarly wanted to seize Awag,
the prince of princes and [to subject him] to tortures and flogging.
But the grandee nobility notified him [saying]: "Fear not;
but [g313] assemble all of your forces and go thus to see [Bugha].
Should he try to seize you, then you seize him". Acting on
this advice, [Awag] went to him with many soldiers.
When Bugha saw this, he became frightened and said to him: "What is that multitude of soldiers for? Could it be that you are rebelling from the Khan and have come to kill us"? Awag replied: "Why have you assembled a multitude of [262] evil-doing Iranians to come to treacherously seize us"? As soon as Bugha realized that his treachery was manifest [to Awag], he spoke to him of peace, but in his mind he was ever planning evil against him and awaited an appropriate moment to execute his wicked intention. While [Bugha] thus plotted evil the righteous judgement of God overtook him. Suddenly wounds appeared on his throat and the wicked one suffocated dying wickedly. This is how the impious man died. And may he not see the glory of God.
45. Regarding the Georgian kings' journey
to the Khan.
The kingdom of Georgia, which a short
time before had been wealthy, was at this time weakened. It had
entered into the yoke of servitude to the T'at'ar army in the
East whose leader, after the death of Chormaghun,was Baiju-noyin.
[g314]
At this time the monarch of the Georgians
was a woman named Rhuzudan who had concealed and fortified herself
in the impregnable areas of Suanet'ia. Envoys came to her from
the two sides of the T'at'ar military--from the great general
[of the Golden Horde] named Bat'u who was in the [263] northern
regions, a close relative of the Khan, [a man] who ruled over
everyone such that not even the Khan sat on his throne without
[Bat'u's] order; and [emissaries] from the other general named
Baiju who was in the Armenian areas. [Both emissaries told Rhuzudan]
to come to them in peace and friendship and to rule her lordship
by their command.
But since [Rhuzudan] was a beautiful
woman, she did not dare go to either one of them for fear of being
violated. Instead, enthroning her little son Dawit', she sent
him to general Bat'u.
Now when the chiefs who were with Baiju-noyin
in the Eastern regions (who had seized all the lands of the Armenians)
and the princes of the Georgian realm with them saw that the queen
had not come to them but instead had sent her son to Bat'u, they
were displeased. They sent to the sultan of Rum, Ghiyath al-Din,
and had brought thence Rhuzudan's brother's son, son of the [former]
king of the Georgians, Lasha Giorg, whom Rhuzudan [previously]
had sent [to Rum] with her daughter [g315] the wife of sultan
Ghiyath al-Din. [Ghiyath al-Din] had placed Rhuzudan's nephew
into confinement, so that there [264] would be no plot against
his mother-in-law over the kingdom.
They retrieved him and gave him his
father's realm and sent him to their king, the Khan, to confirm
him in his rule. Then they themselves urgently sent envoys one
after the other to queen Rhuzudan [telling her] to come to them
willingly or unwillingly. Similarly Bat'u sent her [other] son
to the Khan and himself summoned Rhuzudan to go to him.
[Rhuzudan] thus harassed on two sides
took poison by her own will and departed this life. She wrote
a will addressed to Awag and entrusted to him her son, should
he return from the Khan.
And [the two Davids] went to Guyuk-Khan
who received them with love. He legislated that they should rule
the kingdom by turns--first Dawit' son of Lasha Giorg, the elder
of the two; then, following his death, his father's sister's son,
the other Dawit', son of Rhuzudan, should he still be alive. The
treasury of the kingdom was divided into three parts. [The Mongols
received] the venerable and priceless throne and the marvellous
crown (the likes of which no other kings possessed and which,
they say, belonged to Xosrov, father of Trdat the Great, king
of the Armenians). [This crown] had remained there secretly due
to the fortification of the place, had [265] [subsequently] fallen
to the kings of the Georgians and remained there until recent
times. This [crown] and [g316] other valuable goods from the treasury
were sent to the Khan, while the remainder was divided between
themselves. When [the two] returned [to Georgia] this is what
they did, with the mediation of Awag, Iwane's son.
And Dawit' son of Lasha reigned in the city of Tiflis while the other Dawit' sat in Suanet'ia.
46. Concerning the journey to the Khan
undertaken by Smbat, general of Armenia, and the son of sultan
Ghiyath al-Din.
Het'um, king of the Armenians, who reigned
in Cilicia, sent his brother general Smbat to the Khan with noteworthy
gifts. [Smbat] peacefully traversed the length of the journey
and was greatly honored by [the Khan]. [Smbat] returned with great
glory and faithful written commands giving him numerous districts
and many fortresses which previously had belonged to king Lewon
but after his death had been [266] taken from them by the sultan
of Rum, 'Ala al-Din.
Sultan Ghiyath al-Din died and left
two young sons. Because there was strife between them, one went
to the Khan and received from him his father's authority. [This
son] returned with Smbat, the general of the Armenians. [g317]
They came to Baiju-noyin and the other nobles who confirmed
the order of their king, and provided troops to accompany them
to the country of their rule.
As soon as they reached the city called
Erznka, they heard that the brother of sultan Ghiyath al-Din had
formed marriage ties with [the family of] Lascaris (Leshkare),
king of the Byzantines who ruled at Ephesus and with the latter's
aid had become sultan in Konya (Konn). Meanwhile his own young
brother sat on the traditional throne in Alaya. Therefore he feared
to go there. Instead, he halted at Erznka to see what would happen.
And general Smbat entered his country [and went] to his brother king Het'um.
47. Concerning the destruction wrought
by the T'at'ars in Georgia.
[267] While the land was recovering a little
from the raids and plunderings stirred up by the earth-consuming
fire, [then] people took refuge in this [circumstance], more so
than in God. The princes deprived and robbed the poor and from
this extortion they bought expensive clothing and they dressed,
ate, drank, and boasted greatly, as is [g318] the arrogant custom
of the Georgians. God made them fall from their lofty elevation
and recognize the measure of their weakness, those who were not
taught by the past. Satan aroused them, satan in whom they had
placed their hopes. Suddenly all the nobility of the T'at'ar army
held a council, armed, and wanted to universally ravage the lands
of the Armenians and the Georgians, lands obedient to them. For
the king of the Georgians with all the princes wanted to rebel.
[The Mongols] were recruiting to come and destroy [the Armenians
and Georgians] since it was apparent that all the princes were
going for a levee to the king of the Georgians, Dawit', in Tiflis.
While [the princes] were drinking wine,
their spirits rose and foolish men among them said: "Having
such a multitude of troops, why do we serve [the Mongols]? Come,
let's fall upon them suddenly, destroy and exterminate them, and
we shall have our own lands".
[268] The great prince Awag intercepted
this plot. The T'at'ar army happening to be in the place was informed
about it and the army notified its chiefs.
When the princes' troops had returned
to their own places, [the Mongols] wanted to destroy everyone
generally, They arrested the princes who happened to be with them,
and sent summonses to those who were not there for them to come
quickly,
Now merciful God did not let the matter
go to the end. This is how He stopped it. [g319]
One of the senior leaders, general of
the entire army named Chaghatai, who was Awag's friend, came amidst
the armed troops and said to them: "We have no order from
the Khan to kill those who are obedient to us, stand in service
to us, and pay taxes to the Khan. Furthermore, the details of
their rebellion is not certain. But if we destroy them without
cause, you will be responsible to the Khan". Hearing this,
they ceased pursuring the matter.
The mother of Awag, named Xoshak', went
to them to assure them of her son's loyalty and that he would
soon be [269] arriving--which in fact happened, since prince Awag
quickly came up and demonstrated his loyalty to them with many
testimonies.
King Dawit' and the other princes arrived.
[The Mongols] bound all of them tightly hand and foot with thin
cords, according to their custom. They left them bound thus for
three days, ridiculing and insulting them for their arrogance
and rebellious plans. Then taking all [the rebels'] horses and
ransoms, they let them go. [The Mongols] then attacked the Georgian
areas falling upon many districts, those which [g320] had rebelled
and those which had not. They killed many people and took even
more captive; a countless multitude of men, women and children
they drowned in the river. This occurred in 698 of the Armenian
Era [=1249].
After this the prince of princes Awag
died and was buried in the mausoleum of his father Iwane at Pghndzahank'.
They gave his authority to Zak'are son of Shahnshah, his father's
brother's son, for Awag had no [legitimate] sons, but only a baby
daughter and a son from some illicit liason, about whom (after
his death) they said that [the child] was from him.. [The text
is damaged here.] which his sister took and raised. Subsequently,
[270] [the authority] was taken from Zak'are and given to Awag's
wife who was named Gonts'a.
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