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EDITOR'S NOTE
The history of the numerous and extensive Arab emirates established in Mediaeval Armenia has rarely received a study commensurate with its importance, although their existence has long since been familiar to scholars. This relative neglect can, in part, be explained by the unsatisfactory character of the contemporary material. For Arabic and Byzantine sources, events in Armenia were geographically remote and of secondary interest to writers whose attention was focused primarily on the dominant events of their respective societies. Armenian ecclesiastical historians, on the other hand, understandably dwelt but reluctantly, and not always accurately, on the painful themes of the conquest of Armenia by Islam and of the newcomers’ assimilation into the native naxarar society. In more recent times, few scholars have had the linguistic and historical competence to deal simultaneously with the complex mass of Armenian, Byzantine and Arabic materials. Yet only through a comparative treatment of this heterogeneous information could even a partial outline of the complexities of Armenian mediaeval society be obtained.
As a result of his background and training, Dr. Aram Ter Ghewondyan, who has long been concerned with the Arabic holdings of the Mastoc’ Institute of Ancient Manuscripts of the Armenian SSR (Matenadaran) and has recently published a new Arabic version of the History of Armenia attributed to Agaf angelos (Erevan, 1968), is particularly well qualified to undertake this difficult task. Painstakingly he has gathered together the scattered and fragmentary references in the sources to present as much information as possible on the Arab Emirates in Bagratid Armenia. The original edition of this work was published in Armenian with the title Arabakan Amirayut ‘yunnere Bagra-tunyac' Hayastanum (Erevan, 1965) under the auspices of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR. The aim of the present English version of this study is to make Ter Ghewondyan's extensive investigations accessible to scholars unfamiliar with Armenian and consequently to facilitate further research into a crucial aspect of Mediaeval Armenian history.
The only liberties taken with the original text in the present edition have been the inevitable minor stylistic adjustments required by the passage from one language to another. In some cases the paragraphing has also been modified for the sake of greater clarity and compactness. No attempts have been made to edit the text beyond the correction of trifling misprints, the occasional addition of references and clarifications, and the substitution of more recent or familiar editions of sources in the Notes and Bibliography. In all cases these modifications have been set off by square brackets, parentheses being preserved for the author's own comments.
Although complete uniformity has proved unattainable, the pattern generally followed for toponymy and onomastica has been to give the Armenian version for Armenian terms [e.g. Manazkert rather than Manâsdjird], and Arabic forms for Muslim ones [e.g. Abu Said rather than Abused], except where required by the context. In cases of familiar classical names, the traditional form has been maintained [e.g. Edessa rather than al-Ritha]. This has also been the practice for accepted English forms and spellings where consistency would have produced unwarranted pedantry [e.g. Azerbaïdjan, Baghdad, Constantinople, emir, John not Yovhannës, etc.]. In all cases of possible confusion alternate forms have been given, and all variants have been recorded in the Index of Proper Names. For the sake of convenience, authors' names have been given a single form [e.g. H. Manandyan as against J. Manan-dian) irrespective of the alterations required by the diverse languages in which they wrote.
Armenian names have been transliterated according to the Hilbschmann — Meillet — Benveniste system. Arabic ones are given insofar as possible according to the system of the Encyclopedia of Islam (2nd. revised edition) even for the names not yet reached by this revision.
N. G. G.
Author's Preface
The history of the Arab emirates established in Bagratid Armenia is set forth in the present work on the basis of Armenian, Arabic, Byzantine and other primary sources. Questions concerning the supposed origin of the Arab emirates, the inter-relations of these emirates with the kingdom of Armenia, as well as the internal social and economic life of the emirates have been examined in detail.
The appendices of this book contain the genealogies of the emirates a brief chronology of the city of Dwin, and a list of sources and secondary literature.
Introduction
I The Sources
The problem of the study of the Arab emirates in Bagratid Armenia is connected on the one hand with the period of the Arab domination in Armenia, and on the other, with the history of the Bagratid kingdom. Consequently, we must use the sources relating to the one and the other as the bases for this study. Among these are to be found literary (Armenian, Arabic, Byzantine, etc.), epigraphic (Armenian, some Arabic), numismatic (Arabic), and archaeological (Dwin, Ani, etc.) materials.
Among literary sources, the first place evidently belongs to the Armenian V histories, especially to those of the seventh to the eleventh century.
The earliest historical source relating to our subject is the History of the seventh century known under the name of Sebêos. Even though no doubts have been expressed concerning the date of this History, the identity of the author has been open to considerable question. According to Kr. Patkanyan, the first and second sections of this History are not the work of Sebêos (1), and the opinion has also recently been stated that Sebeôs is not its author altogether (2).
The most important historian for the period of the Arab domination in Armenia is the Vardapet Lewond. According to N. Akinian, this histo-i rian had been in Constantinople and had become acquainted there with the Letters of the Caliph ‘Umar and of the Emperor Leo [III] the Isaurian which are included in his History. These documents probably have some real foundation, but they cannot be taken as authentic works (3).
Not a single historical work dating from the ninth century has come down to us. A manuscript history, to which some philologists attributed the name of Sapuh Bagratuni, was brought to Ejmiacin from the hermitage of Lim at the time of World War I (4). But this thesis was correctly rejected at that time both in Armenia and in the Diaspora (5).
The most important source for the last period of Arab domination is the work of Thomas [Tovma] Arcruni, The History of the Arcrunis, whose composition is closely connected with Gagik Arcruni’s effort to create an …
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