Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia

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Բագրատունիների Թագավորություն Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia ← 845 – 1045 → Flag Bagratuni Armenia circa 1000 Capital Kars Ani (from 961) Language(s) Armenian Religion Christianity Government Monarchy King  - 885-890 Ashot I  - 890-914 Smbat I  - 914-929 Ashot II  - 928-953 Abas I  - 953-977 Ashot III  - 1042-1045 Gagik II Historical era Medieval Armenia  - Established 845  - Disestablished 1045 Currency Hyperpyron 'Abbasid Dinar

The Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia (Armenian: Բագրատունիների Թագավորություն), also known as Bagratid Armenia, was an independent state established by prince Ashot I Bagratuni in 885 following nearly two centuries of foreign domination of Greater Armenia under Arab Umayyad and 'Abbasid rule. With the two contemporary powers in the region, the 'Abbasids and Byzantines, too preoccupied to concentrate their forces in subjugating the people of the region and the dissipation of several of the Armenian nakharar noble families, Ashot was able to assert himself as the leading figure of a movement to dislodge the Arabs from Armenia.^[1]

Ashot's prestige rose as he was courted by both Byzantine and Arab leaders eager to maintain a buffer state near their frontiers. The Caliphate recognized Ashot as "prince of princes" in 862 and, later on, king in 884. The establishment of the Bagratuni kingdom later led to the founding of several other Armenian principalities and kingdoms: Lori-Tashir, Taron, Vaspurakan, Kars, Khachen and Syunik.^[2] Unity among all these states was sometimes difficult to maintain while the Byzantines and Arabs lost no time in exploiting the kingdom's situation to their own gains. Under the reign of Ashot III, Ani became the kingdom's capital and grew into a thriving economic and cultural center.^[3]

The first half of the eleventh century saw the decline and eventual collapse of the kingdom. With emperor Basil II's string of victories in annexing parts of southwestern Armenia, King Hovhannes-Smbat felt forced to cede his lands and in 1022 promised to "will" his kingdom to the Byzantines following his death. However, after Hovhannes-Smbat's death in 1041, his successor, Gagik II, refused to hand over Ani and continued resistance until 1045, when his kingdom, plagued with internal and external threats, was finally taken by Byzantine forces.^[4]

[edit] Background

[edit] Arab rule

Main article: Arab conquest of Armenia

The weakening of the Sassanian Empire during the 7th century led to the rise of another regional power, the Muslim Arabs. The Umayyad Arabs had conquered vast swaths of territory in the Middle East and, turning north, began to periodically launch raids into Armenia territory in 640. Theodore Rshtuni, the Armenian Curopalates, signed a peace treaty with the Caliphate although the continuing war with the Arabs and Byzantines soon lead to further destruction throughout Armenia. In 661, Armenian leaders agreed to submit under Muslim rule while the latter conceded to recognize Grigor Mamikonian from the powerful Mamikonian nakharar family as ishkhan (or prince) of Armenia.^[5] Known as "al-Arminiya" with its capital at Dvin, the province was headed by an ostikan, or governor.

However, Umayyad rule in Armenia grew in cruelty in the early 700s. Revolts against the Arabs spread throughout Armenia until 705, when under the pretext of meeting for negotiations, the Arab ostikan of Nakhichevan virtually massacred the whole adult body of the Armenian nobility.^[6] The Arabs attempted to conciliate with the Armenians but the levying of higher taxes, impoverishment of the country due to a lack of regional trade, and the Umayyads' preference of the Bagratuni family over the Mamikonians (other notable families included the Artsruni, Kamsarakan, and Rshtuni) made this difficult to accomplish. Taking advantage of the overthrow of the Umayyads by the 'Abbasids, a second rebellion was conceived although it too was met with failure partly because of the frictional relationship between the Bagratuni and Mamikonian families.^[7] The rebellion's failure also resulted in the near disintegration of the Mamikonian house which lost most of the land it controlled (members of the Artstruni house were able to escape and settle in Vaspurakan).

A third and final rebellion, stemming from similar grievances as the second, was launched in 774 under the leadership of Mushegh Mamikonian and with the support of other nakharars. The 'Abbasid Arabs, however, marched into Armenia with an army of 30,000 men and decisively crushed the rebellion and its instigators at the battle of Bagrevand on April 25, 775, leaving a void for the sole largely intact family, the Bagratunis, to fill.^[8]

[edit] Rise of the Bagratunis

Main article: Bagratuni Dynasty

The Bagratuni family had done its best to improve its relations with the 'Abbasid caliphs ever since they took power in 750. The 'Abbasids always treated the family's overtures with suspicion but by the early 770s, the Bagratunis had won them over and the relationship between the two drastically improved: the Bagratuni family members were soon viewed as leaders of the Armenians in the region.^[9] Following the end of the third rebellion, which the Bagratunis had wisely chosen not to participate in, and the dispersal of several of the princely houses, the family was left without any formidable rivals. Nevertheless, any immediate opportunities to take full control of the region was complicated by Arab immigration to Armenia and the caliph's appointment of emirs to rule in newly-created administrative districts (emirates). Fortunately for the Armenians, the number of Arabs residing in Armenia never grew in number to form a majority nor were the emirates fully subordinate to the Caliph.^[10] As historian George Bournoutian observes, "this fragmentation of Arab authority provided the opportunity for the resurgence" of the Bagratuni family headed by Ashot Msaker (the "Meat-Eater").^[11]

Ashot began to annex the lands that formerly belonged to the Mamikonians and actively campaigned against the emirs as a sign of his allegiance to the Caliphate, who in 804 bestowed upon him the title of ishkhan.^[12] Upon his death in 826, Ashot bequeathed his land to two of his sons: the eldest, Bagarat Bagratuni received Taron and Sasun and inherited the prestigious title of ishkhanats ishkhan, or prince of princes, whereas his brother, Smbat the Confessor, became the sparapet of Sper and Tayk.^[13]

The brothers, however, were unable to resolve their differences with one another nor able to form a unified front against the Muslims. A new Armenian rebellion against Arab rule broke out in 850 led by Bagarat and Ashot Artsruni of Vaspurakan but like previous rebellions, it failed: an Arab army led by the Turkic general Bugha al-Kabir captured Bagarat, Smbat, and other Armenian princes and brutally put down rebellion.^[14]

[edit] Establishment of a kingdom

Armenian fortunes were reversed in 867 with the accession of the Armenian emperor of Byzantium Basil I, whose successful military campaigns against the Arabs conclusively weakened 'Abbasid rule in Armenia. In 857, Smbat had been succeeded by his son Ashot I, who took a measured approach to gradually retake territories formerly held by the Arabs. He assumed the title prince of princes in 862 and appointed his brother Abas sparapet, as they began to push the Arabs out from their base in Tayk.^[2] His initial efforts to expel the ostikan of Arminiya failed, although this did not dissuade him in taking advantage of the Byzantine-Arab rivalry.^[15]

Early on, he was courted by a Byzantium desperate to secure its eastern flank so as to direct its full strength against the Arabs; although Ashot avowed his loyalty to the empire, Byzantine leaders continued their long-standing demand that the Armenian Church make religious concessions to the Eastern Orthodox Church.^[16] A synod of Armenian church leaders was convoked and a letter laden with equivocal wording sent to Constantinople was able to sustain a temporary agreement between the two churches. In any case, religious differences mattered little to the Byzantines in consideration of the menace the Arabs continued to pose.^[17] In 884, the Caliph Al-Mu'tamid, reacting to the demands of Armenian princes and religious leaders and, more importantly, the security risks in allowing Armenia to fall under the Byzantine orbit, sent a crown to Ashot, recognizing him as king.^[15] This act was not lost on Basil who similarly sent a crown to Ashot. Ashot relocated his throne to the fortress-city of Bagaran and it was here where his coronation ceremony was held sometime in 885 or 886.^[18]

Thus, Ashot restored the Armenian monarchy and became Armenia's first king since 428.^[19] He secured the favor of both the Byzantines and Arabs but ultimately showed loyalty to Basil and chose to conclude an alliance with the Byzantines in 885.^[20] Ashot was not the sole Armenian prince of the region (other principalities existed in Syunik, Vaspurakan, and Taron) yet he commanded the full support of the other princes who recognized his authority in his becoming of king.^[21] With his status of king, his authority also carried over to the neighboring states of Georgia, Caucasian Albania and several of the Arab emirates.^[15] Ashot's reign was brief and upon his death in 890, he was succeeded by his son Smbat I.

[edit] Armenia under Smbat I

Smbat I was coronated king in 892, following a brief attempt by his uncle Abas to disrupt his succession to the throne. Smbat continued his father's policy of maintaining cordial relations with Byzantium but he remained mindful of the Arabs' fears of the Armeno-Byzantine alliance. Speaking with the Arab ostikan Muhammad Ibn Abi'l-Saj (Afshin), Smbat convinced him that the alliance would not only be for the dual benefit of Byzantium and Armenia but would also work to the economic favor of the Arabs: "[I thought that] I might obtain with ease those items that you yourself and the Caliph needed from the land of the Greeks....I wished to clear the way for merchants of your faith, so that that they may have access to their land, and enrich your treasury."^[22] Smbat also achieved a major victory when on on April 21, 892, he recaptured the historic city of Dvin from the Arabs.

Smbat's successes shortly came to a halt when Afshin decided that he could not countenance a powerful Armenia so close to his domains. He retook Dvin and managed to take Smbat's wife as a hostage until she was released in exchange for Smbat's son and nephew. The wars against Armenia continued even after Afshin's death in 901, when his brother Yusuf Ibn Abi'l-Saj became ostikan of Arminiya. While Yusuf's reign was not immediately hostile, Smbat committed a series of blunders which led to several of his allies to turn their backs on him.^[23] Having sought to placate his eastern ally, Smbat of Syunik, by ceding to him Nakhichevan city, Smbat inadvertently drove Gagik Artsruni of Vaspurakan into Yusuf's arms since the city was a part of Gagik's domains. Yusuf took advantage of this feud by awarding Gagik a crown in 908, thus making him King Gagik I of Vaspurakan and creating an Armenian state opposed to the one led by Smbat.^[24]

As Yusuf began a new campaign against Smbat in conjunction with Gagik in 909, neither the Byzantines nor the Caliph sent aid to Smbat; several Armenian princes also chose to withhold their support. Those who did ally with Smbat were dealt brutally by Yusuf's powerful army: Smbat's son Mushegh, his nephew, Smbat Bagratuni, and Grigor II of Western Syunik were all poisoned.^[25] Yusuf's army ravaged the rest of Armenia as it advanced towards Blue Fortress, where Smbat had taken refuge, and besieged it for some time. Smbat finally decided to surrender himself to Yusuf in 914 in hopes of ending the Arab onslaught; Yusuf, however, showed no compassion towards his prisoner as he tortured the Armenian king to death and put his headless body on display on a cross in Dvin.^[26]

[edit] Resurgence under Ashot Yerkat

Yusuf's invasion of Armenia had left the kingdom in ruins and this fact resonated among the Armenian princes who were left aghast in witnessing the Arab ostikan's brutality. Gagik I was especially shaken and he soon disavowed his loyalty to Yusuf and began to campaign against him. With Yusuf distracted by the resistance put up by his former ally, Smbat's son Ashot II felt it appropriate to assume his father's throne. Ashot at once began to drive the Muslims out of his domains. Support for Ashot also arrived from the west: the Byzantine empress Zoe had watched the Arab invasion of Armenia unfold with consternation and so she ordered the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos to write an official letter to the Armenian Catholicos to form a new alliance with Armenia.^[27] The Catholicos responded amicably and in 914, Ashot accepted an invitation by Zoe to visit Constantinople. There, Ashot was well-received and a Byzantine force was created to assist Armenia in defeating the Arabs. The force, accompanying Ashot and led by the Domestic Leo Phocas, moved out the next year and marched along Upper Euphrates, entering Taron with scant opposition from the Arabs.^[28]

Meanwhile, Yusuf's efforts to crush Gagik had failed miserably; instead, Yusuf turned his attention to Ashot and attempted to weaken his position by crowning Ashot's cousin, Ashot Shapuhyan, king of Armenia. Ashot Shapuhyan's and Yusuf's armies, though, were unable to stop the Byzantine advance, which stopped short of capturing Dvin due to the onset of winter. Nevertheless, the force had returned Ashot to a powerful position in Armenia and managed to inflict heavy casualties against the Arabs.^[29] This still left Ashot, the anti-king, in control in Dvin and civil war raged on from 918 to 920, when the pretender finally conceded defeat. Numerous other rebellions in Armenia also took place but Ashot was able to defeat each one of them. In 919, Yusuf had instigated a failed rebellion against the Caliph and was replaced by a far more well-disposed ostikan, Nasr. Nasr recognized Ashot as the legitimate ruler of Armenia and awarded him with the title of Shahanshah, or "king of kings."^[30]

Ironically, the Byzantines were distressed with Ashot's close relations with the Arabs and dispatched a new force under the Armenian Domestic of the Scholae John Kourkouas to disrupt Ashot's position as king and to support the rebels fighting him. In 922, Kourkouas reached Dvin in an unsuccessful attempt to capture a city that was defended by both the Arabs and Ashot. In 923, the Caliph, facing troubles at home, released Yusuf, who traveled back to Armenia to unleash his fury against Armenia and especially Gagik I.^[31] He began demanding tribute from the Armenians rulers rule but faced considerable resistance by Ashot II. Time and again, Ashot was able to defeat and rout the Arab armies sent against him for several years. Finally, in 929, Yusuf died and an immense power struggle ensued between rival Iranian and Kurdish families in Azerbaijan, thus reducing the Arab threat to Armenia. Byzantine emperor Romanus Lecapenus also turned his attention from the east to fight the Arabs in Syria.^[32] Ashot's efforts to preserve and defend the kingdom earned him the epithet "Yerkat", or Iron;^[2] he died in 929 and was succeeded by his brother, Abas I.^[33]

[edit] Bagratid Armenia at its zenith

[edit] Stability under Abas

Abas I's reign was characterized with an unusual period of stability and prosperity that Armenia had not enjoyed for decades.^[34] His capital was based at the fortress-city of Kars and Abas achieved numerous successes on both the foreign and domestic fronts. In the same year that he became king, Abas traveled to Dvin, where he was able to convince the Arab governor there to release several Armenian hostages and turn over control of the pontifical palace back to Armenia. Conflict between the Arabs were minimal too, with the exception of a military defeat Abas suffered near the city of Vagharshapat. He was far less conciliatory towards the Byzantines, who had repeatedly demonstrated their unreliability as allies by attacking and annexing Armenian territories. Fortunately for him, Romanus of Byzantium was more focused on fighting the Arab Hamdanids, leaving Abas virtually free to conduct his policies without foreign hindrance.^[35]

Another foreign threat that Abas steadfastly confronted was an invasion by king Ber of Abkhazia in 943: a new church had been completed in Kars under Abas' orders and prior to its consecration, Ber had appeared with an army along the river of the Araxes, demanding that the new church be consecrated under Chalcedonian rite.^[36] Abas refused to make any concessions and ambushed Ber's forces in a dawn assault. Several more skirmishes took place, wherein Ber was finally captured by Abas' men. Abas took the king to his new church and told him that he would never see it again, blinding him and sending him back to Abkhazia.^[37] Abas died in 953, leaving his kingdom to his two sons, Ashot III and Mushegh.

[edit] Armenia's Golden Age

Ashot III's official investiture as king of Armenia took place in 961, following the relocation of the Holy See from Vaspurakan to Argina, near the city of Ani.^[38] That same year, Ashot had also relocated the capital from Kars to Ani.

[edit] Economy

The expanded trade between Byzantium and the Caliphate established several trades routes which ran across Armenia. The most important route began from Trebizond, in Byzantium, and from there it connected to the cities of Ani, Kars, and Arcn. The city of Kars allowed trade to move north, to ports on the Black Sea and to Abkhazia; other routes were connected to cities in Anatolia and Iran; and the main route leading from the Caliphate to Russia was known as the "Great Armenian Highway."^[39]

Ani did not lie along any previously important trade routes, but because of its size, power, and wealth it became an important trading hub. Its primary trading partners were the Byzantine Empire, the Persian Empire, the Arabs, as well as smaller nations in southern Russia and Central Asia.^[3] Armenian-populated Dvin also remained an important city on par with Ani until the 10th century, as given in a vivid description by the Arab historian and geographer, al-Mukadasi:

Dabil [Dvin] is an important city, in it are an inaccessible citadel and great riches. Its name is ancient, its cloth is famous, its river is abundant, it is surrounded by gardens. The city has suburbs, its fortress is reliable, its squares are cross-shaped, its fields are wonderful. The main mosque is on a hill and next to the mosque is the church....By the city is a citadel. The buildings of the inhabitants are made of clay or stone. The city has main gates such as Bab ['Gate']-Keydar, Bab-Tiflis and Bab-Ani.^[40]

[edit] Culture

The Cathedral of Ani, completed in 1001 by Trdat the Architect, provides an excellent example of the thriving Armenian culture that flourished under the leadership of the Bagratunis.

The Arab raids and invasion of Armenia as well as the devastation wrought upon the land during the Byzantine-Arab wars had largely stifled any expression of Armenian culture in fields such as historiography and architecture. These restrictions disappeared when the Bagratuni kingdom was established, ushering in a new era of Armenian culture.

The lack of a strong Arab presence saw the rise of numerous historians, who wrote and documented the relations between Armenia and other countries and described many events that took place from the seventh to eleventh centuries. Such historians included Aristakes Lastivertsi, who wrote on the relationship between Armenia and Byzantium and the Tondrakian movement; Catholicos Hovhannes Draskhanakertsi, whose History of Armenians is an important primary source on the early years of the Bagratuni kingdom; Stepanos Taronetsi (Asoghik)'s Universal History proved equally as valuable for the information it contained on the different peoples of the Balkans, Anatolia, and Middle East; and Movses Kaghankatvatsi's History of the Caucasian Albanians remains the only known source on the Caucasian Albanians.^[41]

Armenian architecture during the Bagratuni era was especially prominent as "most of the surviving churches in present-day Armenia are from this period."^[42] The city of Ani was renowned for its "40 gates and 1,001 churches."^[19]

[edit] See also

• Bagratuni Dynasty
• Kars
• Lori-Tashir
• Principality of Khachen
• Taron
• Vaspurakan

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

• VirtualANI: Dedicated to the Deserted Medieval Armenian City of Ani On the architecture of Ani as well as general Armenian architecture.