114 Standard reference works on the
Saljuq invasions include Claude Cahen's Pre-Ottoman Turkey
(London, 1968) [Hereafter PT] plus numerous articles by the same
author (bibliography PT pp. 441-50); The Cambridge History
of Iran, vol. 5 (The Saljuq and Mongol Periods) J.A.
Boyle, ed. (Cambridge, 1968) [SMP]. Speros Vryonis' The Decline
of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization
from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century (Los Angeles,
1971) [DMH] details the impact of the Oriental invasions on the
Greek population of Asia Minor. On Armenia in particular see vol.
III of the History of the Armenian People [Hay zhoghovrdi patmut'yun]
( Erevan, 1976) [HAP] chapter 26 pp. 40-60 by S. V. Borhnazyan,"Hayastani
nvachume seljuk-turk'eri koghmic' [The Conquest of Armenia
by the Saljuq Turks]".
115 See K. N. Yuzbashyan, "Deilemity
v povestvovanii Aristakesa Lastiverttsi [The Dailamites in
Aristakes Lastivertc'i's Narration]", Palestinskii Sbornik
[PS] #7(70) 1962 pp. 146--51; S.G. Agadzanov and K. N. Yuzbashyan,
"K istorii tiurskikh nabegov na Armeniiu v XIv [Toward
the History of the Turkish Raids on Armenia in the 11th
Century]", PS #12 (1965) pp. 144-57, The administrative inclusion
into one territorial unit of parts of Caucasian and central Armenia
with the Caucasian areas of Iberia, Atrpatakan and Aghbania dates
from the 6th century A.D. when this unit constituted one of four
military-administrative districts in the Sasanian Persian empire.
After the Arab conquest of Iran and Armenia, Caucasian Armenia
and formerly Byzantine Armenia to its west remained in approximately
the same association styled by the Arabs "Armeniya"
despite the fact that neither Iberia to the north ("Armeniya
II") nor Aghbania to the east ("Armeniya I") was
ethnically Armenian. Thus "Armenia" was but a part of
what Arabic authors styled "Armeniya". The two terms
should not be confused. During the more than 200 years of Arab
domination (ca. 650-886), Atrpatakan to the east frequently was
united with Armeniya, and its occasionally dependable Muslim lords
sometimes were given limited control over parts of Caucasian Armenia.
As Aram Ter-Ghewondyan of Erevan has noted, the attempts of Atrpatakan's
Muslim emirs to subjugate Armenia found reflection in the works
of 10th century Arab geographers--such as al-Istakhri, Ibn Hawkal,
and al-Mukadasi--who regarded Armenia, Arran and Atrpatakan as
one province (see A. Ter-Ghewondyan, "K'ust-i Kapkoh varch'akan
miavori verapruknere Xalifayut'yan zhamanak [Survivals of
the Administrative Unit of Kust-i Kapkoh in theTime of the Caliphate]",
Teghekagir #9 (1958) pp. 73-77. The role played by Atrpatakan/Azarbaijan
bordering Caucasian Armenia on the east in the pre-Mongol period
is of interest since the region's already great importance was
in time enhanced further. Atrpatakan/Azarbaijan which had Islamized
early, became a base of sorts for the Caliphate for controlling
Caucasian Armenia, Aghbania, and Iberia. Subsequently, be it from
the Kurdish Muslim Shaddadids who established control over the
Aghbanian city of Ganjak/Ganja in the
mid-10th century or from another branch
of the same family which gained control of the city of Dwin in
the mid-11th century, Armenia was under constant Muslim pressure
from the east. Even before the emergence of the Saljuq Turks as
a force in the area, exactly what was "Armenian" and
what was "Azarbaijani" territory was not always clear.
Armenia's eastern border was in a constant state of flux. The
expansion or contraction of lands held there by Armenian or Azarbaijani
Muslim lords was conditioned primarily by the ambition and martial
prowess of a given lord or lords.
116 R. Husseinov [Husseynov], "La
conquete de l'Azerbaidjan par les Seldjoucides", Bedi
Karthlisa [BK] 48-49 vol. XIX-XX (1965) pp. 99-108; HAP. pp.
442-3. During the more than 200 years of Arab domination, the
geographical and demographic conception of Armenia was subject
to alteration in historical southern Armenia also. Southwestern
Armenia especially became an area of heavy settlement by Arab
tribes. Coterminously the Armenian element in the southwestern
districts (the old Armenian districts of Aghjnik' and Hanjit especially)
thinned. Indeed, during this period the Armenian place names themselves
were replaced by Arabic ones there. Unlike the previous conquerors
of Armenian lands, the Arabe left colonies and emirates behind
them, which, as Dr. Ter-Ghewondyan stated, "opened the first
serious crack in Greater Armenia.. The Arab emirates drove in
the wedge which gradually widened to provide room not only for
the Kurds, but also for the Saljuqs, the presence of whose emirates
in Greater Armenia became one of the main causes for the Armenian
state's failure to survive in the 12th and 13th centuries"
(Aram Ter-Ghewondyan, The Arab Emirates in Bagratid Armenia,
N. Garsoian, trans. (Lisbon, 1976) p. 150). Prior to the appearance
of the Saljuq Turks in the 11th century, a number of emirates
had existed in southern and southwestern Armenia. Among them were
the Kaysite emirate, including the cities of Manazkert, Xlat'
and Xnus; and the emirate of Aghjnik' or Arzn, embracing the cities
of Mayyafariqin, Arzn and Balesh/Bitlis. Southern Armenia then,
fairly early had become an area of foreign settlement. This tendency
was to accelerate with time.
117 HAP pp. 444-60, passim; M. Canard,
"La campagne armenienne du sultan Saljuqide Alp Arslan et
la prise d'Ani en 1064" Revue des Etudes Armeniennes
[REA], n.s. (1965) pp. 239-59; C. Cahen, "Une campagne du
seldjukide Alp-Arslan en Georgie", BK 41-42 n.s. XIII-XIV
(1962) pp. 17-20; R. Husseinov, "Consequences de la bataille
de Mantzikert (1071) entre Alp-Arslan et Romain IV pour la transcaucasie",
BK vol. XXVII (1970) pp. 93-100. Also see Toumanoff's excellent
article in Congress, "Background to Mantzikert",
pp. 411-26.
118 Armenian political control over
much of the Armenian highlands had been reestablished during the
dissolution of a powerful Arab empire beginning in the late 9th
century. The Bagratid state, the most powerful of the several
Armenian kingdoms which arose in the 9-l0th centuries, apparently
remembered well not only the legendary glory of Armenia's ancient
Arsacid kingdom, but also the more recent extensive unit of Armeniya,
which had been named for Armenia, its
most important part. Very much as the
Muslim emirs of Atrpatakan/Azarbaijan attempted to control parts
of eastern Armenia, basing their somewhat dubious claims on their
occasional duties as tax collectors in the period of Arab supremacy,
or on the more respectable claims of legitimacy through intermarriage
with local naxarar houses, so the Bagratids attempted--with
considerable success--to gain control of the non-Armenian parts
of Arab Armeniya (see Ter-Ghewondyan, "Kust..."
pp. 76-77). Already by the early 9th century, a branch of the
Bagratid family had established itself on the Iberian throne.
During the peak of Bagratid power, under king Gagik I (990-1020),
that family controlled in addition to Iberia, an extensive state
stretching from Basen district in the west, to near Partaw/Barda'a
in Caucasian Aghbania in the east, south to Manazkert and north
to Shamk'or city. In addition, that kingdom had a number of vassals
such as the princedoms of Xach'en, Kogovit, Bagrevand, Gardman
and the emirate of Goght'n, while other areas such as the kingdoms
of Vanand and Tashir-Joraget, the Kaysite emirate and the principality
of Taron were ruled by Bagratid family members and relations
by marriage. Remaining areas of the
Armenian highlands such as Vaspurakan in the south and Siwnik'
in the east were also under Armenian rule, although their relations
with the Bagratids and with each other frequently were strained
and hostile. Consequently, during the 10th century, despite the
fact that Armenian political power was reestablished in the heart
of the Armenian highlands, and that areas with sizeable and growing
non-Armenian population (such as Aghjnik'/Diyarbakr) became subject
to some type of Armenian suzereignty, it would be incorrect to
speak of "the Armenian state" in the 10th century.
There were several Armenias at the time.
On the numerous independent and semi-independent
Armenian states in the 11-12th centuries see; a. Lorhi: Gh. Movsesian,
"Histoire des rois Kiurikian de Lorhi", REA, VII (1927)
pp.209-66; b. Siwnik': Gh. Alisan, Sisakan
(Venice, 1893), T'.X. Hakobyan, Syunik'i t'agavorut'yune [The
Kingdom of Siwnik' (Erevan, 1966); c. Arc'ax: M. V. Barxutareanc'
Arc'ax
(Baku, 1895), B. A. Ulubabyan, Xach'eni ishxanut'yune X-XVI
darerum [The Princedom of Xach'en in the X-XVI Centuries]
(Erevan, 1975); d. Vaspurakan and Sasun: HAP ch. 28 pp. 482-87,
A.N. Ter-Ghewondyan, "Xedenekyan Arcruninere Vaspurakanum
[The Xedenekean Arcrunids in Vaspurakan]" and "Sasuni
T'orhnikyannere [TheT'orhnikeans of Sasun]", and V. Petoyan,
"Sasuni T'orhnikyan ishxanut'yune [The T'orhnikean
Princedom of Sasun]",Teghekagir #2(1955) pp. 85-96.
119 PT p. 27, pp. 32-50.
120 DMH pp. 258-85.
121 DMH pp. 155-65. Also pp. 166-67,
which contain a listing of towns, villages and provinces destroyed,
pillaged, enslaved, massacred or beseiged.
122 V. T'emuryan, "Hayeri artagaght'e
depi gamirk' 11rd darum [The Emigration of Armenians to Cappadocia
in the 11th Century]", Teghekagir #2(1955) pp. 75
-83; V.K.Iskanyan, "Arcrunyac' artagaght'i masin [On
the Arcrunid Emigration]" Patma-banasirakan Handes
[PBH] #3(1965) pp. 67-82. Without a doubt, prior to the Saljuq
invasions of the 11th century, it was Christian Byzantium in the
west which posed the greatest threat to the various Armenian kingdoms
and princedoms. Indeed, it is clear not only to modern scholars,
but the very contemporaries themselves recognized the fact that
Byzantium's ill-conceived policies vis-a-vis the Armenian kingdoms
were responsible in large measure for the success of foreign conquest
and penetration of Asia Minor. Already in the mid-l0th century,
Byzantium had seized the south- western Armenian district of Taron,
To it were added other western Armenian districts such as Derjan,
Mananaghi, Hashteank' and Paghnaturn. Although frequently governed
by Bagratids appointed by Byzantium, the prefecture of Taron including
the above-mentioned districts experienced Byzantine administration
for over 100 years before the Saljuq conquests. Coterminous with
Byzantine military pressure on parts of western and northern Armenia,
the Empire attempted to induce various powerful Armenian lords
to will their hereditary lands to itself in exchange for new lands
elsewhere. Thus did the last king of Vaspurakan, Senek'erim Arcruni
leave southern Armenia to settle in Byzantine Sebastia (1021)
which was given to him "in per- petuity". Supposedly
tens of thousands of.Armenians from Vaspurakan accompanied Senek'erim.
By a similar route, the Empire acquired the Ani-Shirak kingdom
in 1040. The last ruler of that state also received lands in
Byzantine Cappadocia, and also quit Greater Armenia with thousands
of his followers. The consequences of Byzantine pressure from
the west were twofold. First, numerous parts of Greater Armenia
were stripped of their natural military defenders, thereby facillitating
Saljuq penetration. Second, various areas of Cappadocia, North
Syria, Cilicia and Georgia became Armenized or re-Armenized with
tens of thousands of emigrants from Greater Armenia. The pace
of emigration quickened with the Saljuq invasions. See succeeding
two notes. Also R.W.Thomson, "The Influence of their Environment
on the Armenians in Exile in the Eleventh Century", Congress,
pp. 432-38.
123 The complex history of Cilicia lies
beyond the purview of this study. In the absence of any thorough
modern study of that kingdom, one might consult G.G. Mikaelian,
Istoriia Kilikiiskogo Armianskogo gosudarstva [History of the
Cilician Armenian Government] (Erevan, 1952), or S. V. Borhnazyan,
Soc'ial-tntesakan haraberut'yunnere kilikyan haykakan petut'yunum
[Socio-Economic Relations in the Cilician Armenian State]
(Erevan, 1973). On Mongol-Cilician relations
see Galstyan's Armenian article in PBH
#1(1964) and the English translation of it in the Armenian
Review, vol, XXIX No. 1-113 (1976), "The First Armeno-Mongol
Negotiations", pp.26-37. Political and demographic conditions
on the northern border served to confuse what was "Armenian"
in that area also. As Cyril Toumanoff has demonstrated [in his
Studies in Christian Caucasian History (Georgetown, 1963),
part V.: "The Armeno-Georgian Marchlands", pp. 437--
99], between Armenia and Iberia from northeast to northwest stretched
a series of border districts which were neither Armenian nor Georgian,
but Armeno-Georgian, as their double names attest. Possessed of
mixed Armenian and Georgian populations, such border districts
over the centuries passed from Armenian to Georgian political
control (or vice versa). Among these districts were: Tayk'/Tao,
Kola/Kogh, Artani/Artahan, Javaxet'i/Jawaxk ', T'rialet 'i/T'rheghk',
Ashoc'/Aboc'i, Tashir/Tashiri, Gogarene, Kolbap'or, Jorap'or and
Gardman.
A very strong Armenian presence existed
in Iberia at least from the Arab period on, when many Armenian
families settled there. Among these were offshoots of the Amatunis,
Arcrunis, Bagratids, Kamsarakans, and Mamikoneans. C. Toumanoff
estimates that about 1/5th of the Georgian royal (Bagratid) and
princely dynasties were of Armenian origin [C.Toumanoff, "Caucasia
and Byzantium", Traditio 27(1971) p.129 n.73]. The
tendency for Armenian emigration northward to Iberia accelerated
with time. Concomitantly the creation of great Armeno-Georgian
dynasties relfected the growing Armenian influence in Iberia..
In the immediately pre-Saljuq period,
the greatest threat to Armenia in the north came not from Iberia,
but from the political manoeuvrings of Byzantium. In the year
1000, upon the death of the Georgian Bagratid ruler of Tayk'/Tao,
David the Curopalate, David's hereditary state of Upper Tao as
well as his Armenian territories--Karin, the districts of Basen
and Apahunik' with the city of Manazkert as its capital--passed
to the Empire by "will". In 1021 the Byzantine emperor
Basil II invaded the north and annexed the districts of Tayk'/Tao,
Kola/Kogh, Artani/Artahan and Javaxet'i/Jawaxk'. Between 1041
and 1043, Byzantium attacked the city of Ani three times but was
repelled each time. In 1045 through treachery, the Ani-Shirak
kingdom was annexed. The same year the Pahlawunid princedom of
Bjni in northeastern Armenia succumbed. Its territories had included
the districts of Nig, parts of Varazhnunik', Kotayk' plus Kayean
and Kaycon fortresses. In addition to Toumanoff's Studies
one should consult his important articles in Traditio,
especially "Caucasia and Byzantium", and in the Cambridge
Medieval History, vol IV, The Byzantine Empire, part I (Cambridge,
1966) ch. XIV "Armenia and Georgia" pp. 619-24 for background.
See also Appendix A of this study.
124 HAP ch. 30, "Hay gaght'avayrere
merjavor Arevelk'um [Armenian Settlements in the Near East
": 1. O. X. T'op'uzyan "Mijagetk'i ev Asoriki' haykakan
gaght'avayrere [Armenian Settlements in Mesopotamia and Syria]"
pp. 506-515; 2. A.N. Ter-Ghewondyan, "Hayere Egiptosum
[The Armenians in Egypt]", pp. 516-20; M.J. Laurent, "Byzance
et Antioche sous le curopalate Philarete", REA, IX(1929)
pp. 61-72.
125 PT. p. 154. In .C . Cahen's opinion,
the number of Turkmen invaders/migrants throughout the 11-12th
centuries remained small: "Several tens of thousands, certainly;
but that they numbered several hundreds
of thousands is doubtful..." PT p. 33). "It is difficult
to believe that movements of peoples at that period can have involved
more than a few tens of thousands of individuals in any one operation,
at the most two or three hundred thousands, even though the texts
give the impression of enormous masses (it should be remembered
that regular armies in battle contained at the most a few thousand
men)" (PT p. 143) . See also DMH p. 261 n. 718 where Vryonis
has compiled figures from the sources concerning the invasions.
In the 11-12th centuries Turkish settlement
in Armenia seems to have been very limited. Cahen notes that Azarbaijan
to the east became and remained the ethnic base for the Turks
of Asia Minor in this period (PT p. 79). Furthermore, in the
early 12th century when Turkish immigration in Iran itself had
become stabilized, "the Turks established in Asia Minor no
longer permitted any others come among them and divide their spoils"
(PT p. 90). Turkmen settlements (or perhaps "concentrations"
would be more apt, since the Turkmen were nomads) were established
"when and if [the Turkmen tribe] could secure a winter base
after its summer raids. Until it could acquire and defend a winter
base in Anatolia, the tribe usually left Asia
Minor at the end of the summer raiding
season. 0nce located, the tribes usually established a semianual
transhumant pattern between their summer yayla in the mountains
and their winter base in the plains (DMH p. 279). For a list of
possible Turkmen settlements--temporary and "permanent"--cited
bv 11-15th century sources see DMH p. 281 n. 791. The medieval
Armenian translation of the KC, known as "Juansher",
mentions Turkmen concentrations and their yaylas in northern
and northwestern Armenia. Speaking of the success of Georgian
king David II the Builder (1089-1125) in expelling these elements,
the text reads: "In that period some 10,000 Turks raided
in Trheghk' [Trialeti]. David was at Nach'armad. When he heard
about them he came at night with but few troops, and in the morning,
with God's aid, beat them until evening. The few survivors fled
at night. Similarly, in the Tayk' country there were tens of thousands
of Turkish troops which had descended into the Tayk' country.
[David] went and struck them, and took their goods, and the country
of Georgia filled up with good things...But while the great David
was celebrating the feast of Easter at Naxedran, they brought
him news that the Turks had slain Beshken in Jawaxet' and had
come and encamped on the shores of the Arax. He went against them,
destroying and capturing their entire army... He struck at the
Turks in [their] wintering grounds of T'ughark' and filled up
with booty. On the 13th of February and on the same septenary
of fasting, he took Kapa city and filled up Georgia with gold
and silver. On May 5th he raided Layizhk' as far as K'urdawan
and Xshtalan and returned to K'art'li in wealth. The same year
he went to Ashorni and beat the army of Turks until there were
not left [even] mourners in their tents....Now the Turkmens ascended
the mountains of Armenia in summertime and in wintertime descended
to the warm meadows by the banks of the Kur river--but not without
great preparation due to fear of David. However, that year they
were without a care because of the king's distance. The king returned,
skirting Mt. Lixt before him, and came to K'art'li. He found
prepared troops in the month of March and went to Xunan and did
not allow [any] of the multitude of Turks to live. He crossed
to Partaw and discovered in the villages, fugitives from the Turks.
He put them to the sword and returned in peace" (Juansher,
p.118-20).
126 See the introduction and also ch.
3 below.
127 PT pp. 234-48.
128 0n the emirate of Ganjak to 1075
see V.Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian History (London, 1953)
pp. 1-77; thereafter, SMP pp. 169-71, 176-83 passim; HAP pp.
475-79.
129 PT pp. 101-2, 126-32;SMP pp. 111-12;
HAP pp. 465, 469-70, 486-91 passim.
130 H.G. T'urshyan, "Shah-i-Armenner
[The Shah-i-Armens]", PBH #4 (1964) pp. 117-33; PT pp. 46,
107, 127; A.,N.Ter-Ghewondyan "Shah Armenneri amirayut'yune
Xlat'um [The Emirate of the Shah Armens at Xlat']" ,
HAP pp. 487-90.
131 PT pp. 96-107; HAP pp. 469-70, 579-80.
132 S. V. Bornazyan, "Salduxyannere
Karinum [The Saltukids in Karin]", HAP pp. 490-91; PT
106-8, 115, 118; HAP p. 492, PT. p. 127; PT pp. 108-12, 236-37,
242-44.
133 PT passim. H. Masse, "Le sultan
seldjoukide Keykobad Ier et l'Armenie", REA IX(1929) pp.
ll3-29.
134 H. M. Bart'ikyan, "Hayastane
Byuzandakan tirapetut'yan nerk'o, 3. Kronakan k'aghakanut'yune
[Armenia under Byzantine Domination, 3. The Religious Policy]"
HAP pp. 435-39; H. Berberian, "Le Patriarcat armenien du
sultanat de Roum",REA n.s. #3(1966), pp. 233-43.
135 On the nature of Turkish "Islam"
see DMH pp. 270-73; PT p.8.
136 Throughout most of Armenia's history,
the pressure to alter the country's apostolic Monophysitism had
come from three directions: (1) in the west, from Orthodox Chalcedonian
Byzantium; (2) in the east from Iran and Atrpatakan/Azarbaijan
(first Zoroastrian, later Muslim) and (3) in the south from Muslim
Syria and the Arab emirates established in southern Armenia. Over
the centuries, many Armenians living in areas bordering thes three
regions, or settled within these states themselves had, for reasons
of expediency or conviction "apostasized". See Toumanoff's
"Armenia and Georgia", passim.
137 Bart'ikyan,op. cit., DMH pp. 92-93.
138 DMH pp. 93-110.