Download PDF | Jacob Ghazarian - The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia During the Crusades_ The Integration of Cilician Armenians with the Latins, 1080-1393, Routledge; 1st edition 2015.
257 Pages
Prologue
would like to begin by drawing the attention of the reader to the words ‘in Cilicia’ in the title of this work. Although the work traces an important aspect of the history of Armenians during the Middle Ages, the reader should nonetheless be cognizant of the centrality of the truth that the author merely recounts the transient history of a kingdom that took form in a land which was not the traditional homeland of the people whose history he tells.
This opulent, characteristically medieval, history of Armenians is appropriately a history of a kingdom in exile. Persistent forces of circumstance had urged the distraught kings and nobles of the ancient land of Armenia to extract themselves from the crumbling remains of their native homeland and transplant their roots into a faraway land where they felt they might have a reasonable chance to start anew.
Yet their choice of the new land was hauntingly pre-ordained. Cilicia was not altogether an unfamiliar land. As part of the Eastern Roman Empire during the Middle Ages it had served as home to Armenians taken there by the forces of emperors, as it also had often been the choice of their mercenary compatriots in the employ of the imperial armies. The nuclear presence of Armenians in Cilicia was the seed, therefore, that took root out of necessity and grew into a kingdom in as much the same way a perilous symbiotic coexistence develops between two living organisms: when the demise of the host is inevitable, the end of the other is equally assured.
When I came to Oxford in the autumn of 1982 for my first sabbatical leave, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in a reading course in Armenian taught then by Professor Charles Dowsett at the Oriental Institute. From the very start it was a delight. Professor Dowsett’s scholarship was at once infectious and charming. We, six in all, met regularly during the Michaelmas ‘Term in his office on Pusey Lane just behind the world famous Ashmolean Museum.
Though one may have an amusing mental image of what a professor’s office might look like with stacks of books everywhere, and naturally not excluding the floor space, this one was indeed a sight to behold complete with the archetypal yellowing globe precariously perched on a pile of books defying all forces of gravity; surprisingly, it could still be spun along its tilted axis.
Across the window from where I normally sat overlooking the back of the museum, I could see many storage rooms which sheltered what appeared to be extraneous or yet uncatalogued life-size white marble statues of Roman gods, goddesses and emperors. So it was in this ambiance of lost ages that I often listened to Professor Dowsett elaborate on the common derivation of words that are used in so many modern languages. Words such as ypG kin/gin for queen; pbpbu berem/perem to bear; nninli duran/turen for door (German tir); wGwlbv.G ananiwn anonymous; nip out‘ for eight (German acht), etc, left us with an indelible sense of comprehension.
Though my introduction to Michael Chahin’s marvellous book, The Kingdom of Armenia, came many years later in Milwaukee, I soon discovered that he, likewise, was a past student of Professor Dowsett and a classmate of mine during the 1982 reading course. Io me this discovery was doubly rewarding because having read Michael’s book, the idea of exploring the history of the Latin kings of Armenia took a more personal relevance and thus became a necessary pilgrimage. After Professor Dowsett’s retirement in 1990, I had the great pleasure of studying grabar, the classical version of the Armenian language, under the tutelage of his successor Professor Robert W. Thomson of Harvard University.
Thus, given my undeniable good fortunes and the generous co-operation I have received from these two internationally renowned Armenologists, my one and singular remaining thought is that this book, a love’s labour, would be worthy of the space it may occupy in the libraries of those who care to explore Armenian history during the Middle Ages. It is also imperative that I express my deep gratitude and sincere appreciation for the immeasurable hospitality and the heartwarming encouragements I received from His Eminence Archbishop Torkom Manoogian during my repeated visits to the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem in 1997-99. ‘The many hours of intense discussions we had on many aspects of Cilician Armenia gave me a new perspective and a renewed appreciation for Armenian history in Cilicia. I particularly thank the Archbishop for my privileged visits to sites which are often unknown or denied to many visitors of the Holy Land. His courage and generosity were certainly exemplary of his role as a spiritual leader, and for this I am grateful.
My special thanks go to the clerics of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem: Bishop Sevan Gharibian, Fathers Rasmig Boghossian, Vanik Mangassarian and Pakrad Bourjekian, and to the Librarian, Mrs Serarpie Kaladjian. I also thank Kevork Hintlian and Albert Aghazarian for their help. Their collective, congenial and selfless co-operation during my stays in Jerusalem made my work there, to say the least, a much cherished memory. I am also indebted to Professor Moshe Sharon of the Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, whose kind help in my personal unrestricted use of the University’s extensive library collection unequivocally assured me a level of success. Finally, the constant input and advice of Dr Vrej Nersessian, Scholar and Keeper of the Armenian and Hebraic manuscripts in the British Library in London, whose vigilance and goodwill were the cornerstone of my perseverance, shall always remain close to my heart as testimony to his valued friendship.
A final word to the reader: the subject of this work is a history of Armenians in Cilicia. In the first instance, this implies out of necessity that Armenians must have a separate history commensurate with their heritage elsewhere from where their migration to Cilicia had begun at later times. Indeed, the history of that heritage is precisely the reason for the comprehensive general knowledge format we find prevailing in chapter one, but which, nonetheless, is also intended to set the stage for the story of the Armenian kingdom in Cilicia.
Therefore, it becomes instantly imperative that the impact of this kingdom upon the reader is made early so that the glory of its unique historical achievement, which survived for three centuries, becomes at once apparent. This impact is paramount because it is an essential and inseparable aspect of all Armenian history independently of any role that the founding heroes of the Cilician kingdom may have played in the successful execution of the Crusaders’ objectives in the Levant during the Middle Ages. Hence, in the context of the latter, one can see that the present work also deals significantly with the subject of the Crusades. Indeed, a major motivational force behind writing this history in Cilicia is to underscore the fundamental involvement of the Armenians in Cilicia in the successes of the Crusades.
That involvement was without doubt a prerequisite for the establishment of the early crusader principalities in Asia Minor and Palestine. Cilicia’s compelling geographic and strategic position necessitated its interlinking to the political decisions conceived in Europe during the last decade of the 11th century. As a historical phenomenon, a major portion of this interlinking occurred during the 12th century, nearly a century before the Armenian establishment in Cilicia reached its apogee as a kingdom. In the late 11th century the infant and fragile Armenian communities in Cilicia in the grips of the Byzantine Empire fought impossible odds against the might of the empire, and in doing so they saw their many alliances with the crusaders as their way out of the religio-political yoke of Byzantium; thus they inadvertently laid the foundations of their kingdom that was to come a century later. We must not therefore lose sight of their implicit purpose which was to manifest the glory of their heritage in their new kingdom as a unique Armenian experiment. It is for this reason that the contents of chapter two have been presented before those of chapters three and four.
The alternative approach of beginning the narrative text with the subject of the Crusades was ruled out early on. In that format my emphasis, at first glance, might have appeared to be just another treatment of the Crusades and the impact of this generally envisioned European event upon the peoples of Anatolia and Asia Minor. That, I felt, must be resolutely avoided. The highlight of our purpose must remain focused on the history of the Armenian kingdom in Cilicia and on the essence of its collective political, material and military contributions to the Crusades.
Finally, it is to be noted that chapter seven sheds light on the political undercurrents that shaped the historical evolution of Cilician Armenia. The ecclesiastical tone of its purpose renders it unsuitable as the opening chapter of this book, which deals primarily with the socio-political history of the Armenian kingdom in Cilicia. However, the intended purpose and contents of this chapter are not divergent from our central theme. Malignant religious conflicts festered between East and West during the first millennium of Christianity. Yet, ironically, it is in the very nature of these conflicts that we find the answers to the fluctuating fortunes in the history of Cilician Armenia. But it is essential that we first be thoroughly familiar with that history however convoluted might seem the components of its modus operandi. And, there remains to be said only that though it is a monumental challenge to systematically separate the interlacing secular from the ecclesiastical aspect of the Armenian history in Cilicia, in doing so one may only succeed in dismantling the delicate fabric of the ethereal balance that existed between these two aspects of the history of the Armenian kingdom in Cilicia.
J. G. GHAZARIAN Oxford July 1999
Introduction
the people that inhabited the Armenian terrain? Who were its rulers? How did they rule? Who were the major architects in the endless saga of Armenia’s constantly shifting boundaries over the centuries? What part did Cilicia play in shaping the ecclesiastical history of the Armenian Church that continues to affect the diaspora to the present day? ‘These are only select questions from a large list of enquiries that I should think would naturally spring into the minds of those who are familiar with the vast and complex history of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus.
But above all, these deeply relevant questions and their unequivocal answers must be kept forever in focus by those all who claim a cultural kinship with Armenia and the Armenians. Perhaps we can begin contemplating the answers to the above questions by carefully reflecting upon the inherent definitions in the following quotation which introduces the Armenians as:
rmenia: cradle of civilization. Where is this historic land? Who were
A race cradled in adversity, with the tenacity of hammered iron, nor has the hammering been slight. Of all the tribes and peoples and nations which embraced the Christian creed in the early centuries before power brought corruption, the Armenians are among the very few who have never apostatized from their faith.!
The apostles St Thaddeus and St Bartholomew preached the gospel in Armenia between the years 35-60 AD. Early in the fourth century (301 AD) St Grigor Lusavoritch (Gregory the Illuminator), the patron saint of all Armenians, founded the Armenian Church upon the conversion of the king of Armenia, Tirtad III (Tiridates) the Great, to the Christian faith. The king, in his capital city of Vagharshapat, declared his new faith to be also his nation’s supreme religion. Thus, the king’s declaration of Armenia’s national faith had come more than a decade before Emperor Constantine the Great’s Edict of Milan. This edict of March 313 AD had only liberalized Rome’s position towards Christianity by allowing the new religion to coexist in Rome alongside mainstream paganism without its acceptance as Rome’s undisputed state religion. Christianity had to wait nearly seven more decades before it was legislated as the empire’s state religion by the edict of Emperor Theodosius the Great in 381 AD.
In more recent history, the survival of the Armenians was no less a focus of national adversity. It was not so long ago that Adolf Hitler spoke the following words:
I have given orders to my Death Units to exterminate without mercy or pity men, women and children belonging to the Polish-speaking race. It is only in this manner that we can acquire the vital territory which we need. After all, who remembers today the extermination of the Armenians?
Such remarks demand our heightened awareness of the historical developments and the political scenarios which have shaped the evolution of Armenia and its people. I should like to make it clear that it is not my intent to delve in detail into the origins of the Armenians or into the history of their land known as Greater Armenia. Instead, this book intends to offer the reader a succinct account of the political intrigues that engulfed the rulers of the Armenians in Cilicia during the Crusades with the greater emphasis placed on the first three crusades.
The effort here will be to provide a progressive historical narrative that develops the integration of the Armenians of Cilicia with the crusaders of the 11th and 12th centuries, and to offer a potential “eastern perspective’ on the Crusades. Such a perspective must necessarily be bifocal focusing both on the pivotal role of the Armenian Church in the ultimate demise of the Armenian kingdom in Cilicia as well as on the political motives of the Armenian feudal classes of Cilicia which wove a closely knit fabric of interdependencies transcending all ethnic, political and religious boundaries across Byzantium, Cilicia, Cyprus and Jerusalem. With this in mind, I have not aimed at a single consistent system in the use of names but have often chosen the most familiar forms. Hence, Levon = Leon. Likewise, Hetum = Het‘um = Hethum = Hayton; Toros = Thoros; Sempad = Sempat = Sembad; Stepan = Stephen; Zabel = Isabelle = Isabel; Sibyl = Sybille; Amaury = Aimery = Amerlic; Bohemund = Bohemond; Anazarbus = Anazarba; Vahka = Vahga; Hromkla = Hiromcela; Bagrat = Bagrad = Pagrad, etc. The reader should remain cognizant of the subtle differences in the spellings of these and other similarly specific names and accept them in the esprit d’coeur.
The notion that non-Armenian kings have reigned over Armenian kingdoms outside the confines of the ancient historical homeland may sound to the general reader, especially to the younger Armenian generation, a little unfamiliar and perhaps even akin to heresy if his or her concept of Armenian history revolved exclusively around the mythical, neo-Roman and the neoHellenic events which took place in the ancestral lands of Greater Armenia.
Such a reader’s perception of the history of Armenians in Cilicia is more likely to be at best a vague, a less relevant appendage to the more familiar traditional history of the ancient homeland as documented by a number of such Armenian chroniclers as Movses Khorenatsi, Eghishe, Faustus Puzantsi, Eznik Koghpatsi and others. It is precisely for this likely lack of a personal familiarity with the Cilician history of Armenians that the writing of this book was conceived. More specifically, it is the singular purpose of this book to bring into focus the all-important medieval history of the Armenians in Cilicia, and to show how their successes and failures there came to shape the future of their race and the perpetuation to this day of their conviction in the legitimacy of the uniquely Armenian non-Chalcedonian Christianity.
Every Armenian child takes pride in the story of the Battle of Avarayr fought in 451 AD on a field in the vicinity of present-day Nakhichevan. The Armenians, under their commander Vartan Mamikonian, took a heroic position in defence of their Christian faith against the Persian Sassanian king, Yazdagird II, who had insisted on absorbing the Armenians into his state religion, Mazdaism. Though defeated in battle, the Armenians eventually secured the freedom of their religious worship and thus saved Armenian Christendom from extinction. This and other legendary tales of Armenian kings and heroes whose origins date from medieval times are the staple of Armenian historical texts which are told and retold with great ceremonial reverence. It is indeed a history which has been inspired and propelled by the strength of its own opulent spirit and by the richness of its heritage. Its traditions are fashioned in the ethereal spirit of the Christian faith, unbending, determined and always hopeful. This is best exemplified in the soliloquies of the tenth century Armenian mystic Grigor Narekatsi, who wrote:
Let me not conceive and not give birth; Lament and not weep; Meditate and not sigh; Grow cloudy and not rain; Run and not reach; Sacrifice and not emit smoke; Let me not see thee and emerge vacant.}
In contrast to the ancient traditional history, a coherent narrative history of the Armenians between the 11th and 15th centuries is generally sparse, fragmentary and much of its details are unfortunately neglected or skimmed over. The impact of this deficiency has already been alluded above. But I must emphasize that this period of Armenian history, and in particular that of Cilician Armenia, is no less important. On the contrary, the impact of the Armenians in Cilicia on the establishment of the Latin principalities in the Levant is immense and its significance goes far beyond the boundaries of the inspired holy mission that motivated the West to seek Jerusalem.
It is a history rife with ecclesiastical struggles for dominance when the Roman popes and emperors freely dispensed titles and crowns in the name of Christ’s Church to achieve their own selfserving materialistic endeavours, much of it devoid of pious, or even credible, spiritualism. It represented a period of evolution for the Western feudal social order, a time for clash of civilizations, for the emergence of the East, and for the growth of Islamic consolidation and unity of its purpose in the Middle East. It behoves us, therefore, to remain cognizant of, and grateful to, the great efforts put forth by many of our contemporary authors who have given us their version of this history, however brief or biased.
We owe them our gratitude and admiration for their perseverance and diligence in a most difficult task. In this context, therefore, I wish to acknowledge among the many, particularly the works of Nina Garsoian, Sirarpie der Nersessian, Jacques de Morgan, ‘I. S. R. Boase, Rene Grousset, Vahan M. Kurkjian, David Marshall Lang, Christopher J. Walker, Richard G. Hovannisian, Claude Mutafian and Michael Chahin. Finally, how appropriate it is to end this introduction by expressing my profuse delight in Philip Marsden’s most inspiring book The Crossing Place, which in a fashion speaks of the spirit of my written words. Philip’s profound ability in the use of words has gelled for us precisely the essence of the ‘Armenian Spirit’ yet with such delicate reverence to the roots of this ancient culture that in my opinion must leave the reader in a state of utter introspection and awe. He writes:
No other people has been quite so haunted by the demons of disorder as the Armenians, with their centuries of invasions, exiles, massacres, earthquakes. ‘hey have tried constantly to tie down their ever-shifting world with numbers, to palliate themselves with pattern. All their endeavours — art, science, even commerce — have been attempts to tame these demons. Their response to the chaos around them has been to dig, dig deeper, deeper into business, deeper into the mysteries, deeper into knowledge, in the hope that somewhere there is solid rock. So all the ruined churches of Anatolia, these gumbats at Konya, all Armenian architecture with its geometric temples, are not what they first appear. They are not so much a reflection of order as a defiance of chaos; not so much assured as hopeful; not so much a statement, as a prayer.
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