Материал: Payaslian S., The History of Armenia From the Origins to the Present

laborers for seven years and to accept Christianity in order to gain their freedom. The refusal to convert would grant the owner authority to resell or keep the slave for free labor.34

Armenia exported a variety of manufactured goods and raw materials, including jewelry, metalwork, glassware, ceramics, and textiles from Dvin; silver from Sper; copper from Gugark; iron from Vaspurakan; horses and mules from Andzevatsik; the tarekh fish from Lake Van and the surmahi from the Kura and the Arax rivers; peaches, apricots, and pomegranates from the Arax and Vaspurakan valleys; wine from Dvin; and walnut wood and red dye (kirmiz) from the Araratian plains. Despite the rapid economic growth and development, the Bagratuni kingdom could not remedy certain institutional and structural deficiencies. The monarchy did not mint its own coins and failed to establish an integrated commerce across Greater Armenia. Nor was it able to institute protectionist policies to reduce the vulnerability of domestic markets and finances to fluctuations in international demand and political instability.35

Rapid economic development and urbanization beginning in the ninth century heightened the saliency of various social and economic issues and generated tensions among competing nakharar families, between the different sectors and social groupings, and between Armenians and their Muslim neighbors. These divisions created a polarized society between the urban mercantile classes and the rural economy dominated by “parafeudal Christian aristocracy surrounded by its traditional peasantry.”36 As the Paulician movement had attracted the lower classes between the sixth and ninth centuries, so did this polarization directly contribute to the strengthening of the Tondrakian movement. Named after the district of Tondrak near Lake Van, this religious sect opposed the rigid and elite-ori- ented feudal Armenian Church hierarchy and found support among the lower classes, leading to protests against both the church and the ruling elite.37

Despite the challenges posed at home, external relations appeared to favor the Bagratunis when Byzantium, concerned by the renewed relations between Ashot II and the Muslims, in 927 dispatched the Armenian general John Kurkuas (Hovhannes Gurgen) to instigate rebellion against the Armenian king and to capture Dvin. After a number of attempts Kurkuas failed to conquer the coveted city. Meanwhile, Yusuf, released from prison in Baghdad, returned to Azerbaijan, where, by sheer coincidence or conspiracy, Sbuk died immediately after Yusuf’s arrival. The latter regained control over Azerbaijan and resumed his invasions, directed first mostly at Siunik and Vaspurakan and subsequently against Ashot II. The Bagratuni king and his supporters successfully, albeit briefly, defended his land, but palace intrigue and machinations by opposing nobles, some in cooperation with Byzantium and others with Yusuf,

considerably weakened Ashot II.38 Armenia was in a highly unstable state when, as fate would have it, in 929 both Ashot II and Yusuf died, and in the course of the following decade the caliphate in Baghdad declined.39

ASHOT III

It was under Ashot III (r. 952–977) that the Bagratuni dynasty became a dominant force in a more united Armenia, which at times included Dvin. Ashot III began his reign with the promulgation of administrative reforms, various social services (e.g., hospitals, sanatoria, and leprosariums), and major construction projects. In fact, his social programs earned him the title of Voghormats (Merciful), but his intentions encompassed broader considerations, most prominently the strengthening and centralization of authority under his rule. Accordingly, he reorganized and augmented the military and reinforced state patronage for the Armenian Church, thereby exerting a considerable influence in its affairs. More significantly, the nakharar houses regained certain key posts lost since the collapse the Arshakuni government, but, unlike the previous dynastic rule, four minor kingdoms in Greater Armenia contended for power and privilege. The title “lord of lords” referred to the heads of the principal nakharar houses in Vaspurakan, Siunik, Lori, and Kars, which were elevated to the status of kingdoms. As part of his overall reorganization in hopes of cultivating strong alliances with the regional elites, Ashot III in 961 granted the title of king of Kars to his brother Mushegh and in 966 the title of king of Tashir-Dzoraget (or Lori) to his youngest son Gurgen; he also elevated the principality of Siunik to the status of kingdom. Despite the division in territory and devolution of authority, Ashot III maintained a strong center at Ani.40

The emergence of the Artsruni kingdom of Vaspurakan in 908 had underscored the need for fundamental reforms in institutions and in relations between the Bagratuni monarchy and the Artsruni offices. In time, certainly by the 960s, the feudal confederal union established by Ashot I had evolved into a fairly integrated federation, which, on the one hand, formalized the stratification and distribution of power horizontally among the Bagratuni monarchy, the nakharar houses of the Artsrunis, and locally autonomous officials in each region, and on the other hand established closer relations vertically between the functionaries of the royal court and the local bureaucracies. The federal structure, cemented by ukht (oath of allegiance) and treaties, facilitated the integration of the emerging kingdoms of Kars and Lori in the 960s and Siunik in the 970s.41 In addition, with the formation of the federation, the Bagratuni royal court appointed members of the other nakharar houses to leadership posts within the royal

ministries so as to further integrate the political system. The Pahlavunis, for example, having replaced the Mamikonians as the more influential house, headed the sparapetutiun and kept the catholicosate within their family from 1065 until 1203 with only one exception.42 The Royal Ministry of Justice, which under the Bagratunis had to take into account the other kingdoms of Vaspurakan, Siunik, Lori, and Kars, could not function effectively and independently of them in matters of law and order pertaining to society at large.43 The structural reorganization implemented by Ashot III appeared to have achieved a certain degree of success in securing the loyalty of the nakharardoms in different regions. In 974, in response to threats from the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimisces (r. 969–976), the Bagratuni government called for the mobilization of forces, and the military of the kingdoms of Vaspurakan, Siunik, Lori, and Kars cooperated with the military command of Ashot III at Ani. By then, Ashot III had consolidated power as the king of Armenia and therefore with great magnanimity could show tolerance toward the lesser kingdoms.44

Among the numerous successes by Ashot III, no other feat has become as much a part of Armenian collective memory as the designation of Ani as the Bagratuni capital city.45 Among the places most favored in Armenian historical memory, only Mount Ararat and the island of Aghtamar on Lake Van can with equal force give flight to Armenian nostalgia and imagination. In 961 Ashot III declared the city of Ani in Shirak province the new capital of Armenia for a number of reasons. Since their rise to power, the Bagratunis had not established an administrative, political, and economic center. As a result, different cities temporarily came to be associated with the monarchy. Bagaran had served as the capital during the reign of Ashot I; Shirakavan (Erazgavork), also on the western banks of the Akhurian River, served as the capital during the reigns of Smbat I and Ashot II, followed by Kars during the early years of Ashot III. The lack of a center as the Bagratuni capital signified the political disunity prevalent among the Bagratunis themselves but more important among the nakharar houses in general. Although the coronation of Ashot III had taken place at Kars in 953, he summoned the catholicos and the nobility to Ani in 961 not so much for a second coronation but rather for coronation as the “King of All Armenians.”46 The famed Matthew of Edessa, who lived in the early twelfth century, commented:

On that day there was a formidable and large assembly in the city of Ani, which at this time was the capital of the Armenians. In this year [Ashot] . . . was anointed king as his ancestors had been anointed and occupied the throne of the former kings of the Armenian nation. There was great rejoicing throughout all Armenia, for the people witnessed the reestablishment of the royal throne of Armenia as it had existed among their

ancestors . . . . On this day he conducted a review of his troops comprising of one hundred thousand select men, [all of them] well-equipped, renowned in combat, and very valiant . . . . When all the surrounding peoples and all the kings of the nations, [i.e.,] the Abkhazes, Greeks, Babylonians, and Persians, heard this, they sent largess and expressions of friendship together with expensive gifts in recognition of the majesty of the Armenian kingdom.47

Amid festive ceremonies and military parades, Ashot launched at Ani one of the most prosperous periods of the Bagratuni kingdom. For material and intangible reasons, no other city possessed sufficient cultural clout or acquired as a cultivated image fitting for royalty as Ani. Dvin certainly could not serve such a purpose; it had remained under Muslim rule since the Arab conquests.48

Ani thus became one of the most important cities in Armenian history. The years following the coronation witnessed major construction projects, including palaces, military installations, churches, public paths, irrigation canals, and roads. The city, along with its suburbs, was a center of artisans of various crafts, commerce and finance, education and culture, while monasteries and churches dotted the landscape. Motivated largely by domestic political and economic considerations, Ashot III allied closely with the catholicosate, and the symbiotic relationship between the monarchy and the church enhanced the political legitimacy of the reigning king and the catholicos. Under the auspices of the Bagratuni monarchy and the catholicosate, churches were built in the region of Lake Sevan, Amberd, and Bjni; cathedrals in Kars, Argina, Ani, and Aghtamar; and monasteries in Tatev, Sanahin, Haghpat, Geghart, and Makaravank,49 creating in Armenian culture the famous metaphoric, albeit exaggerated, claim of the “1001 churches of Ani.” Contrary to the romanticized images, however, the city also had its poor population, most of whom resided in storgetnya (subterranean) Ani. Built in caverns by the river banks, storgetnya Ani consisted of rows of residential rooms, small churches, hotels, and cemeteries, all connected by underground roads and tunnels. By one estimate, such habitable caverns numbered more than 1,000 in the tenth century.50

In matters of foreign affairs, no other issue preoccupied Ashot III and the Armenian nakharar leadership as much as the resurgence of expansionist orientation in Byzantine. Constantinople viewed the decline of the caliphate as an invitation to invade the East. Led by generals Nicephorus Phocas and John Tzimisces, the Byzantine army scored military successes against the Arab forces and secured the eastern borders of the empire. Nicephorus Phocas became emperor in 963, but Tzimisces continued the military campaigns, conquered Cilicia after two years of war in 964 and 965, and succeeded Phocas as emperor in 969. While their forces expanded toward Arab lands, they also gained control over the region of Taron in

966, the region of Manazkert (Manzikert) four years later, and Melitene in 973. Only at Amid did the Byzantine army experience losses.

The decline of the caliphate and the Byzantine attention diverted to it enabled Ashot III further to strengthen the supremacy of the Bagratuni kingdom among the nakharar houses. By the time he died in 977, however, he had not solved several structural problems. The Bagratuni monarchy, its economic successes notwithstanding, failed to integrate the economies of the different regions across Greater Armenia into a single economy. Markets, finances, and wealth remained predominantly regional. Moreover, and related to the economic divisions, the Bagratuni kingdom could not assume automatic military support from the other nakharar houses, as recurring instability in intranational and international affairs magnified the fluidity of loyalties. An external threat against one nakharar house heightened the others’ susceptibility to cooperation with foreign invaders, often sealed with incentives and bribery in various forms, such as military alliances and security and in special cases even grant of a crown and elevation to kingdom. These structural deficiencies and political concerns seemed insurmountable for the Bagratuni kingdom or for Armenia in general.

Smbat II (r. 977–989/90) succeeded his father, Ashot III, in Ani. The coronation took place on the same day the latter died in order to avert a succession crisis, particularly since Smbat feared that his uncle, the Bagratuni king Mushegh of Kars (r. 961–984), would intervene to block the ceremonies. Prior to his accession to the throne, Smbat II as the eldest son had since 950 served as co-ruler with King Ashot and had participated in the affairs of government. He had also cooperated with his younger brother Gurgen to promulgate a series of administrative reforms in the region of Tashir-Dzoraget (or Lori). During his early years on the throne, King Smbat was successful in cultivating mutual respect with the principal nakharar houses at Vaspurakan and Siunik, although tensions with the kingdom of Kars under Mushegh continued to pose a threat to his rule.51

Following the footsteps of his father, Smbat II oversaw large-scale construction projects that fueled rapid economic growth, which in turn enhanced Bagratuni military capabilities. Expanding commercial relations in the capital city of Ani pressed the city boundaries beyond those he inherited. The construction of the Mother Cathedral at Ani, along with other churches, began under his patronage and was completed during the reign of his brother and successor, Gagik I. Further, in order to strengthen the security of the capital, Smbat II oversaw the construction of additional fortresses and wider and higher city walls with double ramparts.52 His accomplishments may be explained in part by his diplomatic dexterity in avoiding entanglements in regional and international conflicts, but at