The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia

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The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia
Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan (Mongolia)
In the mid-thirteenth century the Mongols, named by Grigor Aknerts‘i the
contemporary Armenian historian as a Nation of Archers, became widely known to the
world for building the most extensive land empire in history. According to Morgan “the
major difference between the Mongols and previous conquerors is that no other nomadic
empire had succeeded in holding both the Inner Asian steppe and the neighbouring
sedentary lands simultaneously.”1 The Mongol tribes of the Naimans, Keraits, Merkits,
Tatars, Oirats, Taiji’uts, Onggirats, Jalayirs, Onguts, Besuts and many others were
amalgamated into the Yeke Monggol Ulus (the Great Mongol State) in 1206. They
controlled territory that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Adriatic Sea, from Korea
through most of Asia, excluding India to Eastern Europe including Hungary.
There was a power vacuum in most lands conquered by the Mongols. China was
disunited and relatively weak due to the internecine strife between the Chin (Jin) and Sung
dynasties.2 Central Asia was fragmented into several Khanates and city-states. In the
Middle East, the Abbasid dynasty that had ruled from Baghdad for five centuries was in
decline. Russia was also disunited and fragmented. All of these areas suffered from a lack
of centralised control, which was exploited by the Mongols.
The interaction of the Mongols with the Greater Armenians happened after the
occupation of territories in Central Asia, which put the Mongols in contact with the
Khwārazmians, in pursuit of whom the Mongols entered the Caucasus.3 At that time,
Greater Armenia was politically and territorially divided into several parts, of which the
Seljuks (Saljuqs) of Rūm ruled in the West;4 the Georgian Bagratids in the North and East;5
and the Ayyubids’ domination prevailed in the Southern lands. However some of the
1 Morgan, 1986: 5.
2 Ibid., 1990: 50–51.
3 After the massacre of the merchants and of the Mongol embassy, Chinggis Khan sent his envoys to the
Khwārazm-Shāh protesting at his deceitful action and demanding the surrender of Īnālchik, the governor of
Utrār, but his envoys were killed by order of the Shāh, according to Nasawī, or were freed after their beards
had been shaved, according to Ibn al-Athīr; Barthold, 1977: 399.
4 The first Seljuk Turks arrived in Caucasia probably in the late 1020s; Peacock, 2005, 211. The migration of
Turks to Asia Minor that occurred between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries also directly involved a change
in the policy, demography and economy of the Armenian people who populated vast areas across that region.
From ca. 1016 onward, most of the Armenian highlands underwent several invasions of various Turkic
speaking people from different regimes; Cahen, 1968: 27, 32–50.
5 The growing Georgian military power in the late eleventh century established temporary supremacy in eastern
Asia Minor. Georgia was transformed into a powerful pan-Caucasian empire; Toumanoff, 1966, 623. During
the reign of David the Builder (1089–1125), the Armenian territories of Loŕi, Agarak, the Kiurikian holdings,
eastern Gugark, western Utik, Gag, Kavazin, Kayan, Terunakan, Norberd, Tavush and many others were freed
of nomadic Turkomans by the Georgian army from 1110–1123; Babayan, 1976, 525. During the reigns of
Demetrē (1125–1155) and Georgi III (1156–1184), the Georgian conquest continued, when the Armenian
lords of the Zak‘arian (Mkhrgrtseli), Orbelian (Orbeli), and Artsruni (Mankaberdeli) were brought within the
ruling structure of the country. When the Georgian Bagratids achieved their apogee under Queen Tamar
(1184–1213), the Armenian Zak‘arid brothers Zak‘arē and Iwanē were appointed as the commanders of the
Armeno-Georgian armies; Step’annos Orbelian, 1910, 391–392; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 162–163.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
2
Southern territories were under the powerful control of the Armenian ishkhans (princes).6
Of these the Tornikids /Mamikonians ruled in Sasun and the Artsrunids in the districts of
Mokk and Rshtunik‘ in Vaspurakan.7
The Mongol invasion of Greater Armenia took place over twenty years and was
achieved by various means: by raids, by diplomatic pressure, and by military action. In his
doctoral thesis on the Turco-Mongol invasions of Armenia, R. Bedrosian analyses the
Mongol conquest of Armenia within a chain of co-related Turco-Mongol incursions into
Armenia that occurred at the beginning of the thirteenth century after the Seljuks’ invasion
although he states that these invasions were hardly co-ordinated.8 Overall, he identifies
them as ‘invasion-migration’.9 Disagreeing with this view, which is more relevant to the
Seljuks, I have tried to analyse the actual size of the Mongol army that invaded Armenia.
It is difficult to assess the number of Mongols who came to Greater Armenia or their
physical presence during the conquest. Without doubt, it fluctuated within the limits of the
nomadic army that included households, women and children.10 It is also debatable whether
these armies aimed to settle in Armenia or to move forward following the conquest.
Therefore, this paper examines the Mongol conquest of Greater Armenia as a separate
matter, ignoring its connection with the conquests of Armenia by the Khārazmians, by the
Seljuks or by some Turkomans later in the above-mentioned period; but considering it
instead as an essential part of the Mongol conquest of the world.11
The actual Mongol occupation of Armenia started in 1220, when the scouting
expeditions of Commander Sübedei entered to the land of Gugark from Albania
(Aghvank‘).12 This year (669 Arm) also is given by Step‘annos Episkopos and Kirakos
Gandzakets‘i.13 The years given in Grigor Aknerts‘i (1250–1335) as 663 Arm. (1214),14
and in Mkhit‘ar Ayrivanets‘i (fl.13th–14th century) as 1211,15 are not supported by any other
sources and need to be considered as scribal errors, for they both describe the battle of
Georgio-Armenian troops against the Mongols near the river Kotman, which took place in
6 Cf. Hewsen, 2001: 107–109. Contemporary Armenian sources refer to the lords as the ishkhans, the princes.
To my knowledge in the sources, which were at my disposal, there is no single reference claiming them as
nakharars. There is disagreement among scholars about the duration of the nakharar system both as a concept
and as a terminology; however, it is very unlikely that the nakharar system, which existed in Armenia from
antiquity, lasted until the Mongol invasion; Adonts, 1970: 183; Garsoïan in Hovannisian, 1997: 150.
Therefore, I use the term ishkhans for princes and lords.
7 Ter-Ghewondyan, 1955: 85–96.
8 Bedrosian, 1979: 94.
9 Ibid.: 64.
10 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 203; For the actual size of the Mongol armies, see Turnbull, 1980: 22–24; The
whole Mongol population did not participate in actual conquest, but only the army; Hildinger, 1997: 11.
11 The invasion of the Caucasus by the Qipchak Turks in 1222 was not part of the Mongol conquests. Defeated
by the Mongols, they withdrew to the Caucasus. The Khwārazm-Shāh Jalāl al-Dīn penetrated Armenian lands
several times from 1225 to ca. 1230, fleeing from the Mongols. However, it was rather a consequence, than a
part of the Mongol conquests.
12 Sebastats‘i in Hakobyan, 1956: 137. Aghvank‘ in the Armenian sources refers to Caucasian Albania;
Barkhutareants‘, 1902: 9.
13 Step‘annos Episkopos, 1951, 38; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 201.
14 Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 22.
15 Mkhit‘ar Ayrivanets‘i, 1860: 65.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 3
1221.16 The most corroborated dates for this event are recorded by Vardan Arevelts‘i (c.
1200–1271) and by the anonymous author from Sebastia in his Chronicle.17 The latter
states that, in the year 669 Arm. (1220), twenty thousand Tatars under Commander Sübedei
came to the land of Gugark.18
It is important to note that the above-mentioned expedition of the Mongols to
Khwārazmian territory signified not only the incursion of the Mongols into Western Asia
but also their emergence in the Caucasus. Through the Caucasus, they launched campaigns
against the Qipchaks, Bulgars, Mordvins and the Bashkirs in 1229–1237. Then they
devastated Rus’ [Russia] in 1238–1240 and entered the territories of Eastern Europe in
1240–42.19
The Mongol Raids towards Armenia
In earlier literature relating to the Mongol conquest, the Mongols were frequently
represented as a monolithic barbarous force under the name Tatars (Tartars). Actual study
of the Mongol invasion of Armenia reveals that, under the general name ‘the Mongols’ or
‘the Tatars’, there existed a range of individuals or groups of people representing different
tribes at different times and thus different powers pursuing different goals.
In general, the decision to launch a Mongol expedition was made at the quriltai
(assembly) or by the order of Chinggis Khan (r. 1206–1227). From the sources, it is
understood that, in the year of the Hare (1219), in pursuit of ‘Alā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad
Khwārazm-Shāh (r. 1200–1220), Chinggis Khan sent General Jebe as a vanguard, Sübedei
as Jebe’s rearguard, and Toghachar (Toghuchar) as Sübedei’s rearguard.20
16 Kotman (Touz) is a river near the fortress of Terunakan; Manandian, 1952, 183–4. The name of the place of
battle is recorded differently in the Armenian sources; it is the river Kotman in Vardan Arevelts‘i, the river
Kroman in Step‘annos Episkopos, and the plain of Kotman opposite the castle of Terunakan in Grigor
Aknerts‘i.
17 Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 142.
18 Sebastats‘i in Hakobyan, 1956: 137. On the actual incursion of the Mongols, see below.
19 Buell, 1992, 19; Jackson (The Mongols and the West), 2005: 40.
20 MNT, 2004: 90, § 257; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 2: 209. In the quriltai of 1206 on the bank of the river
Onon when Chinggis Khan was proclaimed the Great Khan of all the Mongols, Jebe also known as Jirgudai of
the Besüt tribe and Sübedei from the Urianqat tribe were granted the title of Miangatyn Noyan or Commander
of a Thousand among the ninety-five commanders; MNT [military terms], 2004: 266; MNT, 2004: 35, §145;
SHM, 2001: 118; MNT, 2004: 65, § 202.
Toghachar in Muslim sources is identified as Toghachar Küregen, a son-in-law of Chinggis Khan;
Juvaynī/Boyle, 1997: 174; Nasawī, 1996: 91. Toghachar was from the noble Qongirat tribe, the male
representatives of which used to marry the girls of Chinggis Khan’s family; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 1:
162. The account given in Kirakos Gandzakets‘i that the Mongols came to Albania through the Derbent
(Darband) Gates, is contradicted by the Muslim sources of Ibn al-Athīr (1160–1233), al-Kāmil fi’l-ta’rīkh,
and Rashīd al-Dīn (ca. 645/1247–718/1318), Jāmi‛ al-Tawarīkh. According to them, the Mongols more
correctly came to Armenia from the direction of Tabriz through the Mughan (Mūghān) Steppe; Ibn al-Athīr,
1940: 140; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 2: 227.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
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After Toghachar was dismissed for disobeying orders,21 Jebe with one tuman
(tümen/tūmān) (ten thousand) soldiers and Sübedei with another tuman marched towards
Arran/Arrān. On their way they met the Georgian and Armenian army and defeated it.
Armenian and Muslim sources do not name the location of this first Mongol battle with the
Caucasians. According to Rashīd al-Dīn and Ibn al-Athīr the Mongols defeated a Georgian
army of ten thousand men [half the size of the Mongol army] on a short reconnoitring
expedition, and returned to Tabriz.22 According to Kirakos Gandzakets‘i many well
organised soldiers suddenly passed from Caucasian Albania to Armenia putting to the
sword ‘men and beasts’. First they came up to the city of Tiflis and then they went to the
borders of the city of Shamkor.23 The Muslim sources do not give the exact date of this
military incident. Armenian sources say that this battle took place in December 1220 and
January 1221.24 According to Kirakos Gandzakets‘i after this battle Jebe and Sübedei dwelt
in a very safe place, known by the Mongols as Beghamej, which was between the cities of
Partaw (Barda‛a) and Bailakan (Bailaqān) in Arran.25 This they used as a base from which
to launch attacks.
According to Rashīd al-Dīn’s narration of the Jāmi‛ al-Tawarīkh Chinggis Khan
ordered the above mentioned Mongol generals to return through Dasht-i Qipchak (Qïpchak)
and to join him in Mongolia only after the capture of Sultan Muḥammad.26 In fact, as a
result of the Mongol siege, the Khwārazmian Empire fell, causing its rulers to flee. Since
Muḥammad Khwārazm-Shāh had fled to a lonely island in the Caspian Sea and had died
there in 1220, and his son Jalāl al-Dīn (1220–31) had fled to India in 1221,27 the Mongols,
after passing through Hamadan, withdrew to the Mughan plain.28 Most likely the severe
winter of 1220–21 made Jebe and Sübedei choose the Mughan plain as a winter camping
ground, which was found to be suitable for launching reconnoitring expeditions westwards,
in which Armenia was discovered by the Mongols for the very first time.
According to the Muslim sources Jebe and Sübedei afterwards besieged Maragha,
Hamadan, Nakhichevan, Ardabil, Sarab and Bailakan in August-September 1221. Then
Jebe and Sübedei attacked the city of Ganja (Gandzak), from where they went again to
Georgia and crushed the Georgians.29 Consulting contemporary Armenian sources, it
becomes clear that, the second and larger battle occurred on the plain of Khunan, according
to Kirakos Gandzakets‘i; but on the banks of the Kotman river, according to Vardan
21 Toghachar disobeyed the order of Chinggis Khan to act peacefully as the rearguard of Jebe and Sübedei in
their reconnoitring expedition in 1219, and infringed on the territories of Amīn Malik (Amīn al-Mulk, a
cousin of a Qanglï Turk, malik of Herāt; Boyle, 1968: 318; Nasawī, 1996: 215–216). Due to this, Chinggis
Khan wished to have Toghachar executed, but forgave him and demoted him from his command; MNT, 2004:
90, §257; SHM, 2001: 250. According to Rashīd al-Dīn, Togachar was killed in battle by the highlanders of
Ghūr soon after; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 2: 220. As Nasawī and Juvaynī state, he was killed in battle by
an arrow near Nīshāpūr in November (1220); Nasawī, 1996, 93; Juvaynī/Boyle, 1997: 175.
22 Ibn al-Athīr, 1940: 137; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 2: 227.
23 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 201.
24 Step‘annos Episkopos, 1951: 38; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 201; Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 142.
25 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 202–203.
26 Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 2: 209.
27 For Jalāl al-Dīn’s conquest of Panjāb and Sind, see Jackson, 1990: 45–54.
28 According to an Arabic source, there was a cold winter and snow in Hamadān; Ibn al-Athīr, 1940, 137.
29 Ibn al-Athīr, 1940: 137–142; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 2: 227–229.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 5
Arevelts‘i and Step‘annos Episkopos.30 Manandian’s study shows that both the Khunan
valley and the river Kotman can be found along the banks of the river Kur. 31
Thinking that the Mongols would stay in Arran until the spring, the Georgians began
gathering an army, asking for help from the governors of Azerbaijan (Āzarbāījān) and
Khlat (Akhlāt).32 But Jebe and Sübedei started their expedition to Georgia immediately.
They had with them some Turkish and Kurdish reinforcements.33 In the plain of Khunan,
the army of Lasha (r. 1213–1223) the Georgian king and Iwanē Zak‘arian the atabeg met
two tumans of the Mongol army.34 With five thousand men, Jebe set up an ambush while
Sübedei went forward with the rest of the army. When the battle started, the Mongols used
their old expedient of feigned retreat, and the Georgians chased them up to the river
Kotman until Jebe’s sudden advance from the ambush ended the battle.35 The king and
Iwanē fled, leaving Prince Vagram Gagets‘i to fight on the right flank.36 Having pursued
the rest of the Georgian army, the Mongols withdrew soon after.
It is worth mentioning here that Jebe and Sübedei carried a cross among their front line.
This ruse is referred to in Western scholarship in relation to King David’s army and Prester
John.37 The Georgian queen, Rusudan, and the atabeg, Iwanē Zak‘arian, must have been
confused to see a cross in the hands of the invaders. According to Kirakos Gandzakets‘i
false information had preceded the Mongols, that they were Christians who carried a
portable tent-church and a miracle-working cross and had come to avenge their fellow-
Christians from the tyranny of the Muslims.38
The Armenians were not ready to face the Mongols. A complaint about the Mongol
invasion was addressed to Pope Honorius III (1216–1227) by Iwanē, and later it was left to
the queen to explain the reason why no precautions were taken.39 It is not clear whether the
‘cross’ idea was executed deliberately as a consequence of good intelligence gathering with
the intention of misleading the Armenians and Georgians, or whether the Mongol front line
30 Step‘annos Episkopos, 1951: 38; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 201; Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 142.
31 Manandian, 1952, 183. According to Hakobyan, Kotman is the right tributary of the river Kur; Hakobyan,
1951, 55. Galstyan states that it is the modern river Touz, which passes through the fortress Terunakan;
Galstyan, 1962: 114, n. 81.
32 Ibn al-Athīr, 1940: 137.
33 Ibid 138.
34 According to some sources, it was a Georgian army of sixty thousand men; Step‘annos Episkopos, 1951, 39;
Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 21.
35 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 203; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 2: 228.
36 Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 142.
37 In 1141, when the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar was defeated by a Qara Khitan Emperor, it was believed that a
Christian king called John, who was also an ordained priest, existed in Central Asia. The Latin world wanted
to believe in this legend and from the 1160s, circulated within Catholic Europe a Letter of Prester John, a
forgery, which was copied and translated into several languages during the next two or three centuries;
Jackson (The Mongols and the West), 2005: 20–21. In 1221, when the Crusaders were in Egypt, another
legend spoke of the Mongols as the army of a mysterious David, the Christian King in India, who was on his
way to aid the Crusaders; Morgan, 1990: 178. On various articles about Prester John, see Spuler, 1960, 29;
Beckingham and Hamilton, 1996; Morgan, 1996: 159–167; Rachewiltz, 1971: 30–40; Jackson, 1999: 711.
38 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 202.
39 Mutafian, 1999: 149; Jackson (The Mongols and the West), 2005, 49. Reality showed that the Mongols were
not saviours of the Christians at all. This disappointment for the Armenians gave rise to the idea that the Lord
in his anger had roused the Mongols in order to rebuke them; Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 20.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
6
was composed of representatives of Nestorian Christian tribes. However, as Jackson states,
this strategy remained one of the tactics of Mongol diplomacy and warfare.40
In 1222, when the Mongols returned to Armenia and Georgia, their scouts found that
the Georgians and Armenians were ready to fight, so they decided not to wage war and
went ‘somewhere else.’41 In fact, the troops of Jebe and Sübedei went to the Gates of
Derbent.42 On their way to Derbent, they besieged the city of Shamakha in Shirvan. After
many days of brave defence by the inhabitants the city fell to the Mongols.43 In 1223, after
defeating the Russian troops on the river Kalka, Jebe and Sübedei departed to the East to
join Chinggis Khan.44 Their scouting expedition through Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and
the Northern Caucasus to Russia was completed. The army of Jebe and Sübedei did not stay
in Armenia any longer. 45
After the withdrawal of the Mongols from the Caucasus, the political condition of the
region was very tense. In 1222 the Qipchaks, pursued by the Mongols, crossed into
Georgia, Shirvan and Arran. The Georgio-Armenian lords, after their defeat of the
Qipchaks, continued their expeditions to the city of Gandzak and to Azerbaijan in 1222–
1225. 46 However, they faced another danger from Jalāl al-Dīn Khwārazm-Shāh. In 1225,
after his failure to find shelter in Northern India, Jalāl al-Dīn returned to Iran and took part
of Khuzistan and then Azerbaijan (Maragha and Tabriz).47 Taking advantage of the
situation following the Georgians’ defeat by the Mongols, he also took the cities of Dvin,
Gandzak, Nakhichevan, Loŕi, and Tiflis. 48After a short break, in 1226 he failed to capture
Ani, Kars, Khlat and Manazkert (Manzikert/Malāzgird). 49
The Mongol Conquest of Armenia
The next Mongol general to be sent in pursuit of Jalāl al-Dīn Khwārazm-Shāh was
Chormaghan (Chormaghun) (fl. 1218–1242). Chormaghan came to Armenia as conqueror
after invading Turkistan and Northern Iran. The lands he controlled in Iran and
Transcaucasia later paved the way for the Chinggisids to establish the Il-Khanate in the
middle of 1250s. In the Secret History of the Mongols, he was known as Chormaghan
40 Ibid: 49.
41 Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 142.
42 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961. 203.
43 Ibn al-Athīr, 1940: 141.
44 The withdrawal from the Caucasus probably had to be sanctioned by Chinggis Khan, and approved by the
quriltai (great assembly) of January /February 1221, which was held near the river Benaket (Syr Darya) when
Chinggis Khan decided to go back to Mongolia; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 2: 226.
45 Afterwards, Sübedei headed the expedition to North China in 1233; Munkuev, 1965: 66. He marched on
Carpathia towards Hungary and Poland in 1241; Liddell Hart, 1927: 22. Sübedei died in 1248, when he was
72/73 years old; Yüan Shih, chapter 121: 1a–5a. Jebe probably died after 1231, when he was sent by Ögedei to
invade Northern China; MNT, 2004: 95, §272.
46 Sebastats‘i in Hakobyan, 1956: 138; Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 142–143.
47 Ibn al-Athīr, 1940: 153–155; Manandian, 1952: 187.
48 Melikset-bek, 1936: 52–53; Ibn al-Athir, 1940: 158–159; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 226. Gandzak city was
plundered many times in 1225, first by the Georgians; Ibn al-Athīr, 1940: 151; by the Khwārazm-Shāh,
pursued by the Mongols; and later in 1231, by Chormaghan; Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 144.
49 Manandian, 1952: 190.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 7
Qorchi (quiver-bearer) of the Öteged tribe,50 or of the Sunit tribe according to Rashīd al-
Dīn.51
When Jochi, Chaghatai and Ögedei, the three eldest sons of Chinggis Khan, joined the
latter in Ṭāliqān in 1221, after they brought the Khwārazmian capital Gurganj into
submission, but failed to set aside a share for Chinggis Khan, the latter condemned them.
Chormaghan Qorchi, along with two other qorchis, Qongqai and Qongtaqar, supplicated
Chinggis Khan as follows:
Like young falcons about to enter training, your sons are on the point of learning how to go to
war. Why then do you reprimand your sons, and constantly dishearten them? We fear that
your sons, being afraid, will neglect their thoughts. Our enemies extend from where the sun
sets to where it rises. When you incite us, your huge sheep-hounds [generals], go out against
the enemy, Heaven and Earth increase our strength and our one wish is to bring you gold,
silver, satin, and other goods, together with people and kinsmen. If you ask, ‘which people?’
we reply that the presence of Caliph-sultan of the people of Baghdad is reported in the West -
let us go to war against him […] He [Chinggis Khan] sent Chormaghan to attack the Baghdad
people and the Caliph-sultan.52
From this account, it is apparent that, firstly, Chormaghan was a high-ranking
commander very close to the great Khan, even able to petition him, and, secondly, that
Chinggis Khan sent Chormaghan to complete the conquest of Northwestern Iran. Since
Chormaghan was quite sure about the wealth of that region, one can speculate that he had
already participated in the expeditions to the Middle East and knew the terrain, and most
likely, was with Jebe and Sübedei in their first reconnoitring raid to the Caucasus.53
The fact that Chormaghan was sent to this region by Chinggis Khan is confirmed by
Grigor Aknerts‘i. In his narrative, he says that Chormaghan departed from Armenia and
went back to Chinggis Khan, who approved his peaceful proposal to stay in the land of
Armenia and “gave Č’awrman his kindly wife Aylt‘ana Xat‘un [Altuna Xatun] and dubbed
him Č’awrmaghan”.54
Later, Ögedei Khan (r. 1229–1241), who succeeded his father as Great Khan, sent in
1229 another two commanders, Ogotor and Mönqetü as rearguards for Chormaghan while
the latter was campaigning against Jalāl al-Dīn.55 According to Juvaynī, Ögedei dispatched
armies to all the countries of the world and sent Chormaghan with a number of amirs and
thirty thousand warriors to Khurasan (Khurāsān) and Iraq, where Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn was
50 SHM, 2001: 253; Qorchi is transcribed as ghurchi in Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961, 279.
51 Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 1: 98.
52 MNT, 2004: 91: § 260; SHM, 2001: 252.
53 The same conclusion has been reached by May, 1996: 14.
54 Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 25. Babayan argues that Chormaghan departed to meet Ögedei Khan not Chinggis
Khan, who died in 1227, and that Grigor Aknerts‘i mistook the names of the Mongol Khans; Babayan, 1969:
144. In my opinion, his argument is not plausible, since the Secret History of the Mongols supports Grigor’s
statement; MNT, 2004: 91, § 260; SHM, 2001: 252. The event described by Grigor Aknerts‘i does not suggest
that it happened after 1227 and examples of Chinggis Khan presenting a wife to his generals and vassals are
found frequently in the Secret History of the Mongols. Cleaves suggests that ghan /qan added to Chorman
may be used to indicate precisely the degree of affection and intimacy applied in the Armenian text. For
names, see Cleaves, 1954: 151, 132–175. Aylt‘ana (Altuna) Xatun or Eltina Xatun (in Kirakos Gandzakets‘i),
was a pro-Christian wife of Chormaghan, who held authority after her husband’s deafness in 1242; Kirakos
Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 290.
55 MNT, 2004: 147: § 270; SHM, 2001: 262. The set of triples applies in this case as well.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
8
still active.56 In September and October 1229, Jalāl al-Dīn Khwārazm-Shāh took Khlat.57
Soon after retreating from the onslaught of Chormaghan, Jalāl al-Dīn fled to Amida. He
was probably killed there in 1231 by local bandits.58 The most powerful opponent of the
Mongols in this region was thus eliminated.59
In 1230, three years after Chinggis Khan’s death, Azerbaijan was already permanently
reoccupied under Commander Chormaghan.60 He set up his camp with all its families,
goods, and herds in the fruitful and fertile plain of Mughan.61 Ögedei-Khan issued a decree
that Chormaghan should remain in that land as garrison commander.62 Azerbaijan was
found to be a very suitable place to settle. Strategically, it was important because of its
pasturelands. Moreover, it was a crossing point connecting Iran with Armenia and Georgia.
Mongol activity in the Caucasus recorded in connection with Chormaghan in 1231
started with the conquest of the city of Gandzak. There is disagreement in Armenian
sources over the date of capture of the city of Gandzak by Chormaghan. Mkhit‘ar
Ayrivanets‘i says nothing about the capture of Gandzak. Grigor Aknerts‘i states that it
happened three years after the Kotman valley battle [in 1224], which is less than certain.63
Sebastats‘i says it happened in 1229.64 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i does not give any precise date,
stating that, after the capture of the city, the Mongols departed, and that, a few years after
the destruction of Gandzak, the Mongol army divided up the lands of Armenia, Georgia and
Albania by lots. He continues that the city remained desolate for four years, and then the
Mongols ordered the citizens to rebuild it.65 Based on Step‘annos Orbelian’s Chronicles,
Manandian argues that Gandzak was plundered by Chormaghan in 1231.66 But the most
plausible year of 680 Arm. (1231) is found in the Annals by Step‘annos Episkopos,67
because the capture of Gandzak happened after Chormaghan had disposed of the remnants
of the Khwārazm-Shāh in 1231, and the great camp of Chormaghan was transferred to the
city of Gandzak, which had previously been devastated and afterwards restored.68
56 Juvaynī/Boyle, 1997: 190.
57 Nasawī, 1996: 240–243.
58 According to Vardan Arevelts‘i, Jalāl al-Dīn fled towards Amida (modern Diyarbakir/Diyārbakr) and died
there; Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 144. According to Nasawī, Jalāl al-Dīn was captured in the mountains of
Amida and was killed by the Kurds; Nasawī, 1996: 287.
59 At that time, Chormaghan occupied most of Iran above the 32nd parallel. Chormaghan already controlled
Khurasan, Mazandaran, Kirman, and Fars as well as Ray, Qum and Hamadan. Isfahan held out until 1237;
May, 1996: 23, 31.
60 Patton, 1991: 52.
61 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 234–235.
62 As tamghachi, in MNT, 2004: 96: § 274; SHM, 2001: 267. The Great Khan, knowing that the land was said to
be good and its possessions fine, ordered Chormaghan to send him each year yellow gold, gilt, naqut (gold
brocade), brocades, damask, small pearls, large pearls, sleek Arab horses with long necks and legs, dull brown
work-horses, camels, small-humped camels, pack-mules and riding mules; MNT, 2004: 96: § 274; SHM,
2001: 267. When Khurasan was subjugated, Ögedei-Khan was told about the wrestlers of Khurasan and Iraq,
and he sent a messenger to Chormaghan and ordered him to send one of them; Juvaynī/Boyle, 1997: 227.
63 Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 21.
64 Sebastats‘i in Hakobyan, 1956: 139.
65 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 235–237.
66 Manandian, 1952: 194.
67 Step‘annos Episkopos, 1951: 40.
68 Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 26.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 9
In Armenian sources, the name of the city of Gandzak is recorded in two different ways,
Gandzak and Gandzak-shahastan [shahristān]. Vardan Arevelts‘i and Sebastats‘i mention
Gandzak-shahastan:69
The Tatars, under the command of general Chormaghan, in 674/1225, after a short siege took
Gandzak-shahastan.70
According to Sebastats‘i, in 1229, “countless multitudes under the leadership of
Charmaghan entered Gandzak-shahastan, seized it and brutally slaughtered the inhabitants,
taking women and children into captivity. Mystical pictures of their plunder appeared: the
earth cracked and black water came out; a poplar tree (
ծառ
մի
սոսի
) called chandari,
which was near the city turned around and stood again as before; this has happened three
times, then it fell and did not stand any more.”71 A similar story is found in earlier work of
Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, where he describes Gandzak as a city densely populated with
Iranians and a small number of Christians. He says that before the Mongols arrived, “an
extremely large poplar tree (
ծառ
մի
սօսի
), chandari, had turned around three times. Then
suddenly the T‘at‘ars arrived and besieged the city with numerous war machines from all
sides for a week. After the capture they departed.”72
Armenian sources provide only scarce information about Chormaghan’s activities in the
Caucasus from 1231 until 1236. One of the Armenian colophons, dated 1231, states:
[…] In this year appeared a nation called T‘at‘ar, [which] caused the Persian king [Jalāl al-
Dīn] to flee, who plundered the land of Persia and reached the Mediterranean lands as far as
the places Edessa and Samosat, slaughtered many Turks, Kurds, and Christians, and besieged
many.73
Step‘annos Episkopos states that, in 680 Arm. (1232), the Mongols entered Khlat and
destroyed much.74 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i mentions only the fact that the disorder in
Armenia increased because Commander Chormaghan had become deaf from his wounds.
His disability may explain why Chormaghan did not complete his task of subduing the
‘people of Baghdad’ and the caliph, which was a major reason for him to be sent to
Western Asia by the order of Chinggis Khan.75 However, from 1232 he was steadily
approaching Greater Armenia. Until 1242 Chormaghan was in charge of all affairs in the
region. After his sickness, his wife, together with children and officials, held authority in
the region.76
69 Shahastan is an Armenian borrowing from Persian shahristān, large fortified city; Sanjian, 1969: 453.
Patkanov claims that Gandzak-shahastan in Armenian sources stands for the city of Tabriz, which is not
relevant to our case; Patkanov, 1873: 117, n. 10. However, in Orbelian, Tabriz is called Davrezh shahastan;
Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 419.
70 Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 144. The scribe mistook the year. In 1225, Gandzak was taken by Jalāl al-Dīn, not
by Chormaghan; Sebastats‘i in Hakobyan, 1956: 138.
71 Sebastats‘i in Hakobyan, 1956: 139. One assumes that this natural phenomenon was an allegorical prediction
of disaster or calamity.
72 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 235–237.
73 Mat‘evosyan, 1984: 175.
74 Step‘annos Episkopos, 1951: 40.
75 MNT, 2004: 91: § 260; 94: § 270.
76 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 265.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
10
The Mongol Noyans in Armenia
As stated earlier, according to Juvaynī Chormaghan came to the region with an army of
three tumans or thirty thousand men.77 The number of this detachment assumes that there
were three main commanders in charge of a tuman or 30 commanders in charge of every
thousand soldiers, although it is not clear how many of them Chormaghan placed in
Armenia. However, it is fortunate that Armenian historians provide some of the names of
Mongol noyans (commanders) to whom Armenian land was allotted in 1236. These noyans
in a short, one-year period conquered the northern and eastern parts of Armenia, which
were under the Georgian crown. According to contemporary Armenian sources, Georgian
and Armenian lords chose less destructive ways to resist the Mongols. The Georgian Queen
Rusudan (r. 1223–1245) was a witness to Chormaghan’s presence in the region. She and
many lords of Georgia and Armenia fled to their fortresses in fear of the Mongols.78 This
withdrawal gave the Mongols a chance to chase the fugitives using their own famous
tactics: dividing districts up among themselves and conquering them one by one. This
implies that the Mongols knew the terrain well before they conquered it.
Grigor Aknerts‘i records that ‘110 chieftains’ with winter residences in Mughan divided
the country, and that ‘thirteen chieftains divided the countries of the Georgians and the
Albanians, highland and lowland, among themselves’.79 The main organiser of this
conquest remained Chormaghan, who, at that time, had established himself on the shores of
Lake Geghark‘unik‘ (Sevan).80 According to contemporary Armenian sources,
Chormaghan sent out his military detachments under various noyans to capture the key
fortresses of the Armenian lords. Kirakos Gandzakets‘i gives extended accounts of the
Mongol noyans’ siege of cities and fortresses one by one, and of the techniques they
applied.81 The following is his description of the Mongol noyans’ conquest of the Armenian
lands according to their order of submission.
The lands of Awag Zak‘arian, the son of Iwanē, were taken by Itughata Noyan from the
Jalayir tribe, whose name is also given as Tulata (Dolata).82 Awag Zak‘arian fled to his
fortress Kayen along with the people of the district. Itughata Noyan and his men blocked
the access to water of the fortress and commanded the ‘people to come down and live
among them’, which was another technique applied by the Mongols to force castles and
their inhabitants to surrender.83 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i describes the way the inhabitants and
animals, cut off from the water supply, began to suffer from thirst and the Mongol noyan
gradually took their horses and all their livestock, which were valuable to the Mongols.84
The lands of Vahram Gagets‘i, a nephew of Iwanē’ Zak‘arian, consisting of the city of
Shamkor, the fortresses of Tavush, Katsaret‘, Terunakan, Ergavank‘, and the impregnable
77 Juvaynī/Boyle, 1997: 190.
78 Mkhit‘ar Ayrivanets‘i, 1860: 66.
79 Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 26.
80 Ibid.: 255.
81 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 241–243; 253–255; 258–261.
82 Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952, v.1, part 1, 98; Dolata Noyan in Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 144.
83 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 255.
84 Ibid,: 255.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 11
forts of Gavazin and Gag85 fell to the lot of Molar Noyan, or probably Molghor Noyan,
who was from the Sunit tribe.86
The Mongols’ main tactic in taking the cities was to surround the location or block the
entrance to the city, as Molar Noyan did with the city of Shamkor. The city was under the
authority of Vahram and his son Aghbugha, who were in Gardman at the time of the
Mongol siege and who refused to help the residents of Shamkor despite their appeal.
Moreover, Vahram ordered them not to resist. Molar Noyan ordered his men to fill the
trench that surrounded the city walls with wood and branches so that they might easily
climb onto the walls. However, at night the citizens of Shamkor hurled down fire and
burned the brushwood. Seeing this, Molar ordered each soldier to bring a load of soil and to
throw it into the trench until it reached the level of the wall.87 After the capture of Shamkor,
Molar Noyan attacked the Kiurikian Prince Vasak‘s fortresses of Matsnaberd and Nor
Berd.88
The Zak‘arid city of Loŕi fell into the hands of Chaghatai Noyan of the Arulat tribe.89 It
is recorded in the sources that Chaghatai had heard about the fortifications of Loŕi because
Prince Shahnshah Zak‘arian had kept his treasury there. 90 Prince Shahnshah himself fled
westward to Adjaria with his family, leaving the city under the supervision of his father-in-
law.91 After all his preparations, Chaghatai Noyan ordered his men to dig at the base of the
walls of the city until they collapsed. This was another effective Mongol tactic for
besieging cities and fortresses. Chaghatai Noyan took the city and Shahnshah’s treasure,
and he did the same to the cities of Dumanis, Shamshulde and Tiflis.92
Similarly the city of the Surb Mari (Holy/Blessed Mary) fell to Qara Noyan or Ghara
Baghatur from the Baarin/Sukanut tribe.93 The city had been under the rule of Shahnshah
[and Awag].94
The cities of Ani and Kars, the centres of Zak‘arid authority, were looted and captured
by Chormaghan, who used catapults and siege techniques in bringing down the fortresses.95
The same was done in the territories of Utik. Gardman, Charek (the Northern part of
Artsakh), Getabak and Vardanashat (Southern Utik),96 fell into the hands of Ghatagha
Noyan, who was perhaps Ghadaqan Qorchi or Qatagan, a relative of Jebe, from the Besüt
tribe.97
85 Ibid.: 241, 263. On the Zak‘arid Princedoms, see Babayan, 1976: 541–550. The first cousin of Iwanē and
Zak‘arē Zak‘arians, named also Zak‘arē, ruled lands in Tawush, P‘aŕisos and Gardman. The centre of his
realm was Gag fortress. This line became known as Vahramean after Zak‘arē Gaghets‘i’s son, Vahram of
Gag; Babayan, 1976: 541.
86 Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952: v.1, 100.
87 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 241–242.
88 Ibid.: 243; Vardan Arevelts‘i: 1991, 144.
89 Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952: v.1, 100.
90 Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 144; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 253.
91 Melikset-bek, 1936: 54.
92 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 253–254.
93 Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952: v.1, 189; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 260–261.
94 Step‘annos Episkopos, 1951: 41.
95 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 258–259.
96 Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 144.
97 Rašīd al-Dīn, 1952: v.1, 195; Ghadaghan Qorchi in Juvaynī/Boyle, 1997: 590.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
12
The lands of Khachen, namely the fortress of Khokhanaberd, fell to Jukh-Bugha
Noyan.98 He waged war against fortified places filled with fugitives and against the people
of Prince Hasan Jalal, a nephew of Zak‘arē and Iwanē. He used a massive army with many
siege machines and weapons, and enslaved or killed those he defeated.99
In almost all cases in which the Mongols undertook a siege, this was followed by
negotiations with the Armenian lords, requiring them to submit in exchange for sparing
their possessions, including their lands and people. However it was not always true that,
after a voluntary submission, the Mongols kept their promises. This happened at the city of
Kars. After learning what the Mongols had done to Ani, the inhabitants of Kars hastened to
give the keys of the city to them in the hope that they might be spared. Nevertheless, the
destiny of Kars was similar to that of Ani, though not because of the booty that attracted the
Mongols. Perhaps in order to discourage densely populated cities from confronting and
resisting in future, the Mongols slaughtered the inhabitants, took some remaining residents
into captivity, and then ravaged and ruined the city.100Later, after the Mongols had left the
city, the troops of the Sultan of Rūm, Ghiyāth al-Dīn Kay Khusraw II (1237–1246), arrived
and mercilessly took into slavery all those who had escaped the Mongols.101
On the whole, the Mongols took fortresses and cities without having to engage in large
battles. The occupation of the Armenian lands in general did not last long. The Armenian
lords were clever enough to show their loyalty to the conquerors and in this way did get
back their lands, as was the case with the Orbelians, who retained Siwnik‘ province102
which had fallen into the hands of Aslan (Arslan) Noyan.103 This happened in a very
unusual manner. In 1236, Elikum, the eldest son of Liparit, one of the Siwnik‘ princes
fortified the impregnable fortress of Hrashkaberd. Having found that it was impossible to
capture this fort, Aslan Noyan sent messengers to negotiate with Elikum, saying that as he
would not leave this land, given him by God, “the sooner you and your family come out to
us the better and you will be rewarded”. Elikum agreed with this proposal and asking for
his safety to be assured, he went with many gifts to Aslan Noyan. Seeing this, the Mongol
commander received Elikum with honour and, moreover, appointed him as a leader of his
troops.
Aslan Noyan and Elikum subjugated all lands up to the city of Ani, Vayots‘ Dzor, and
Eghegis up to Ereron, a village situated opposite Garni. However all of these lands Aslan
Noyan returned to Elikum saying that ‘both those taken by the sword and those purchased
by gold are equally the dominion of the people, now whatever place may be taken by my
98 The origin of Jukh-Bugha is uncertain.
99 This information is not found in primary sources but is mentioned in Chamchiants, 1789/1984: 210.
100 This slaughter might have had the opposite effect, encouraging resistance or revolt, because the population
would be killed anyway.
101 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 260.
102 After the death of King Gregory IV (c.1105/24–c.1166), the territories of the kingdom of Siwnik‘ passed to
the Muslims. Around 1200, Elikum I Orbelian received the Siwnik‘ districts of Chahuk and Ernjak (Julfa)
from the atabeg of Azerbaijan. Liparit, the son of Elikum was granted by the Georgian Queen T‘amar the
districts of Orotn (Vorotn) and Bargiwshat in addition to Hrashkaberd in Chahuk. Elikum II (d.1243) obtained
from the Mongol noyan Aslan Vayots‘ Dzor and Egeis in 1236. Elikum’s brother Smbat II (1243–1273)
received from the Mongols Orotn, Egegis, Vayots‘ Dzor, Urts, Vedi and other lands; Step‘annos Orbelian,
1910: 404; Hewsen: 1975–76; 220–21; Grigoryan, 1990: 65–69; 84–89.
103 According to Armenian and Muslim sources, the origin of Arslan is impossible to identify.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 13
sword will be your patrimony’.104 After that, the lands came under the dominion of the
house of the Orbelians.
Single or individual submissions by Armenian lords and their direct negotiations with
local Mongol governors made it easy for the Mongols to divide and rule. However, this
brought about a unique situation where the land was formally under Mongol overlordship
but was actually ruled by local Armenian lords.
To sum up, in the course of 1236 the Mongol commanders conquered the Georgian
territories of the Zak‘arids, along with the regions of Geghark‘unik‘ (Sevan), Arts‘akh,
Siwnik‘, Khachen, and Utik‘; the cities of Ani, Kars, and Kayen; Shirvan with the city of
Shamakha; Arran with the cities of Gandzak (Ganja) and Shamkor; Mughan and
Azerbaijan. The Mongols’ conquest of Estern and Northern Armenia progressed either by
force or by negotiation and met with no major opposition. From 1242 to 1245, the Mongols
advanced further to the West and South of Armenia.
At the beginning of 691 Arm. (1242), because of his deafness, Chormaghan was
replaced by Baiju Noyan from the Yisüt/Besüt tribe.105 After Baiju had assumed authority,
he mustered troops from all of the peoples under his dominion and went to the western part
of Greater Armenia, which at that time was under the dominion of the Sultan of Rūm,
Ghiyāth al-Dīn Kay Khusraw II (r.1237–1246).106
In 1242/43, Baiju first besieged T‘eodupolis (Karin/Erzurum), erecting numerous
catapults and ordering his men to demolish the city walls.107 According to Kirakos
Gandzakets‘i, he demolished the walls and mercilessly put everyone to the sword. Baiju’s
army destroyed goods and property and set fire to the city in revenge for the perceived
insult to the Mongol ambassadors he had sent to demand a peaceful submission. At that
time, the city was densely populated by several different communities, Christians and
Muslim.108 With regard to the Christians, it is said that in the city there were many valuable
Gospels written in gold; the Mongols took the valuable ones and sold them cheaply to the
Christians amongst their troops, who then distributed them to their own district churches
and monasteries.109 The Armenian Princes Awag, Shahnshah, Vahram’s son Aghbugha,
and Dop‘i’s son Grigor Khachenets‘i ransomed from captivity as many men, women,
children, bishops, priests and deacons as they could.110
104 Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 404.
105 It is Bach‘u in Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 26; Bach‘u-ghurchi in Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 279; and Bach‘aw
nuin in Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 147. Western travellers depicted his name as Baachu; Rubruck in Komroff,
1989: 200–2001; Jackson (Rubruck), 1990: 263. Baiju was a relative of Jebe; he was appointed as commander
by Ögedei Khan and participated in the capture of Baghdad with Hülegü; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1952: v.1, part 1, 99.
Baiju is one of the Mongol noyans with extensive references in Arabic, Seljuk, Persian and Armenian sources;
Korobeinikov, 2002: 126–129. In 1254, one of Baiju’s residences was in the city of Kars; Kirakos
Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 367. Baiju stayed as chief commander in Armenia until 1257; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i,
1961: 374. Mamluk sources say that Baiju was converted to Islam; Melville, 2008, (in press). With thanks to
Dr. Melville, I have been able to consult his chapter “Anatolia under the Mongols” prior to its publication in
the Cambridge History of Turkey, v.1, 2008.
106 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 279; Manandian, 1952: 219.
107 Grigor Aknerts‘i wrongly dates the siege of Karin by Baiju to 688 Arm. (1239).
108 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 279.
109 Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 28.
110 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 280.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
14
After the two-month siege of Karin (Erzurum), the key to expansion to Asia Minor,
Baiju destroyed many other districts under the rule of the sultan of Rūm and returned to
Mughan with much booty.111 He spent the winter at his base in Azerbaijan, but in the spring
of 1243, he returned to crush the forces of the Seljuk Sultan of Rūm, Ghiyāth al-Dīn Kay
Khusraw, at Köse Dagh, near Erznka (Erzinjan/Erzincan).112
Although the Mongols were outnumbered, General Baiju divided his soldiers, putting
them under pre-eminent and brave commanders. To avoid treachery, he intermingled the
troops who were made up of various nationalities. Then, selecting the most valiant and
brave ones, he organized a vanguard, which battled with the Sultan’s troops, causing the
sultan to flee.113 If Kirakos attributes the success in Köse Dagh to Baiju’s profound
knowledge of warfare, Grigor Aknerts‘i attributes the victory to the Georgio-Armenian
army.114 But, according to Āqsarā’ī, the cause of the Seljuks’ failure in Köse Dagh was
disunity within the sultanate.115 Ibn Bībī is in agreement with this; he says that various
discords and upheavals within the Seljuk state led to the defeat.116 The anonymous Seljuk
author blames the Seljuk sultan for his passivity and his amirs for their imperious advice
that aided the Mongols’ triumph in Köse Dagh.117 These various sources put forward the
advantages and disadvantages for the defeat from their own points of view.
After this victory at Köse Dagh, the Mongols under Baiju besieged Caesarea
(Kayseri/Qaysāriyya) in Cappadocia.118 Then they came to Sebastia (Sivas); since the
inhabitants had surrendered in advance, coming out with gifts and presents, the people were
spared, although part of the city was looted. After conquering the city, the Mongols set up
overseers and left.119
The defeat of the Seljuks at Köse Dagh had important political consequences for the
history of Asia Minor.120 It was the turning point that led to the submission of the Seljuk
Sultanate of Rūm to the Mongols.121 Baiju now established himself as the representative of
the Great Khan in the lands of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Syria, Rūm and Western Iran.
By 1243, the major cities of central Asia Minor, Erznka, Melitene and Divriği had also
fallen to the Mongols. In 1244, Baiju started to launch a number of raids on Ayyubid
territory, as he moved south. In 1245, he captured Khlat, which was under the political
111 Ibid., 280. Step‘annos Episkopos states that, after the capture of Karin, the Mongols took with them many of
the writings [manuscripts] and church ornaments; Step‘annos Episkopos, 1951: 41.
112 Cahen, 1968: 138.
113 The Sultan escaped to Ankara seeking further assistance, while his mother, wife and daughter sought refuge in
Cilicia. Kay-Khusraw died in the winter of 1245–1246; Cahen, 1968: 138, 271.
114 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 281–83; Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 29.
115 Āqsarā’ī, 1944: 61–62.
116 Ibn Bībī, 1956: 510–512; Melville, 2006: 158.
117 Melville in Pfeiffer, 2006: 158.
118 When the inhabitants did not surrender, the Mongols took the cities forcibly and put the populations to the
sword, destroying whatever was in the cities and leaving them deserted; Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 147.
119 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 281–283. Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 147.
120 Cahen, 1968: 138.
121 In 642 H. (1244), the Seljuks issued a new coinage in Rūm to pay tribute money to the Mongols; Kolbas,
2006: 123.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 15
domination of the Ayyubids, and also Amida, Uŕha (Ruha/Edessa), and Naṣībīn (Nisibis).122
After the submission of the Seljuk Sultanate to the Mongols, Baiju held an important
position among Mongol representatives in West Asia. In May 1247, he received an
embassy from Pope Innocent IV, headed by the Dominican monk Ascelin.123 According to
a letter sent to Innocent in July 1247, Baiju had a residence in Sisian, near Nakhichevan.124
In 1254, another of his residences was in the city of Kars.125 Baiju stayed as chief
commander in Armenia until 1257.126 Later, in 1258, he participated actively in the Mongol
campaign against the caliph of Baghdad.
By the middle of the thirteenth century, all of Greater Armenia had fallen under the rule
of the Mongol noyans. Further names of Mongol noyans who were allotted Armenian lands
are given by Grigor Aknerts‘i: namely Khul/Xul, (who ‘called himself a brother of God’),
Balakhē, Tut‘ar, T‘agughar, Ghataghan, Bawraghan, Asut’u (who was the companion of
the Khan), Chaghatai (who was surnamed Khan), Sanit‘ay, little Chaghatai, Asar, Xut‘t‘u,
T‘ut‘tu, Awgawtai, Xojay, Xurumchi, Xunan, T‘enal, and Angurag.127 Many on this list are
not found in other contemporary Armenian sources. Since the names are mentioned briefly,
it is difficult to identify who was who, although Awgawtai, Xojay, Xurumchi, Angurag and
many others might have been well known people in Mongol and Muslim sources. Yet
another spelling of Ghataghan as Ghada-khan who raided the city of Khamakh in 705 Arm.
(1256), is found in Sebastats‘i.128 Step‘annos Episkopos mentions the same Ghada-khan
who destroyed the city of Erznka in 706 Arm. (1257).129 In his Chronicles, the seventeenth-
century author David Baghishets‘i gives the names of Iskrar Noyan and Ghutun Noyan,
together with Chormaghan.130 It is worth noting that a Mongol noyan Eljigidei is mentioned
by Kirakos only once as Elch‘i-Gada, whilst he talks about the revolt against Möngke Khan
by the Mongol princes. It implies that the Mongol commander Eljigidei (Eljigidai)131 was
not well known to the Armenians.
Eljigidei, who had previously participated with Chinggis Khan in his expedition to
Tangqut and China, was now ordered by Güyük Khan (1246–48) to replace Baiju.132 Güyük
appointed Eljigidei as his representative in the West, responsible for Anatolia, Georgia,
Armenia, Aleppo and Mosul. He was dispatched to head the reinforcements for the Mongol
armies already stationed there, so that the local rulers would be directly answerable to him
122 In 694 Arm. (1245), the Mongols captured Khlat, and handed it over to T‘amt‘a, the sister of Awag, who was
a former ruler of the city after her marriage to Ashrap‘ Melik; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 292–93. She was
sent to the Mongol Khan and stayed there for many years; Sebastats‘i in Galstyan, 1962: 26;
123 Saint-Quentin, 1965: 94–118.
124 Ibid.: 115; Lupprian, 1981: 190; Jackson (Rubruck), 1990: 31; Korobeinikov, 2002: 126.
125 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 367.
126 Ibid.: 374. On Baiju’s activities in Anatolia after 1257, see Melville, 2008 (in press).
127 Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 26, 38.
128 Sebastats‘i in Hakobyan, 1956: 142.
129 Step‘annos Episkopos, 1962: 35.
130 Davit‘ Baghishets‘i, 1956: 346.
131 According to Rashīd al-Dīn, there was a Mongol commander called Eljigidei, who was from Jalayir tribe and
who was sent to Iran with instructions to assume supreme command in demolishing the Muslim forts,
beginning with the Ismā‛īlīs; 1952: v.1, 95; 1960: 120; 1996: 50, 570. For Eljigideis, two Mongol generals,
see Jackson, 1998: 366–67.
132 MNT [military terms], 2004: 305.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
16
for their tribute.133 However, his name is known in the first place for his message sent to
Louis IX (1226–1270) in 1248, in which he wished success for the crusade and gave
assurance of protection for Christians under Mongol rule.134 While he was on the road to
Iran, Eljigidei received news of the death of Güyük Khan, and stayed where he was to see
who would take the throne. Möngke Khan (1251–1259) was enthroned with the assistance
of Batu Khan (d.1255), the son of Jochi (d.1227).135 According to Kirakos Gandzakets‘i,
learning that Eljigidei was among the rebel princes who were against his enthronement,
Möngke Khan ordered Eljigidei to be sent to him. Eljigidei was seized and killed, because
among the rebel noyans were his two sons.136
The Mongol conquest of Armenia, which occurred from 1220 to 1245, was not a single
concerted effort. It had several interrelated phases. Mongol scouting expeditions found
Armenia a suitable place from which to mount campaigns not only into Georgia but also
into Anatolia, which was accomplished in 1243, bringing the Seljuk Sultanate of Rūm into
submission. Armenia, as part of the region, was now incorporated into the Mongol Empire.
Armenian Lords and Mongol court
In examining the establishment of the Mongol protectorate in non-Mongol lands, one
can see that a conventional set of demands was made for newly conquered peoples or lands.
These demands included the local king’s or lord’s personal presentation at the Mongol
court; the delivery of hostages, usually sons of the nobility; the provision of armed forces;
the submission of household registers and payment of taxes; and the provision of stations
(yams) for the Mongol governors. This study analyses the first of these requirements: the
personal visits of Armenian lords to the Mongol court and their policy towards the new
reality of the Mongol presence in their lands between 1236 and 1256. Consideration is
given to their individual and collective decisions to ally with the Mongols and to make
explicit use of this co-operation, although there were some conflicts among the Armenian
princes that led to local revolts against the Mongol regime and against the Georgian crown
(1245 and 1259–1261).
During and after the completion of the Mongol conquest of the Caucasus some of the
Georgio-Armenian princes, recognizing the authority of the Mongols, decided to support
the Mongol regime and in this way to secure their rights and lands. One of the key
decisions of the lords, either on Mongol demand or on a voluntary basis, was to visit the
Mongol Great Khans. This factor is identified by Dr. Bedrosian as one of the methods of
the de-nakhararization of Greater Armenia, by which the Mongols aimed in various ways
to remove powerful men from the Caucasus.137 This statement is debatable. Firstly because
the process of de-nakhararization had been started before the Mongols’ arrival.138 Secondly
because it reflects only the external factors of the process. In my opinion there was an
133 Melville, 2008, (in press).
134 Jackson, 1998: 336; 1999: 713–714. The envoys of Eljigidei claimed that Eljigidei and Güyük Khan were
Christians. The letter was forwarded to Louis’ mother, Queen Blanche in France, who in her turn forwarded it
to the English King Henry III (1216–1272); Jackson (The Mongols and the West), 2005: 98–99.
135 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 357.
136 MNT [military terms], 2004: 305.
137 Bedrosian, 1979: 195.
138 Adonts, 1970: 183.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 17
internal factor as well. Apart from being required by the Mongol overlords, the travels of
the Armenian lords to Mongolia also aimed to resolve personal or local matters. The far-
reaching result of these journeys was to remove their own potential Georgian or Armenian
competitors from the political arena, an aim which perfectly suited Mongol policy.
Awag (d. 1250), the son of Iwanē Zak‘arian (d. 1234), was the first Caucasian noble to
submit to the Mongols. Kirakos Gandzakets‘i gives a detailed account of how this
happened.139 In 1236, Awag, seeing that the Mongols continued to besiege his stronghold
Kayen, even after taking his daughter and gifts, sent one of Khachen’s nobles, Grigor called
Tghay, to meet the Mongol leader Chormaghan, who was camped at that time by the shores
of Lake Geghark‘unik‘ (Sevan). When the great Commander Chormaghan heard about
Awag’s intention to submit, he ordered his troops to stop besieging the fortress. Soon after,
Awag was received by Chormaghan. An interesting conversation between Awag and
Chormaghan followed, which can be interpreted from different angles. I am interested in
seeing how the interaction between the conqueror and his subject proceeded. The Mongol
commander asked Awag why he had not come earlier, when he crossed the borders of his
land. Awag replied:
That time you were remote, my father was alive, and he served you [the Mongols] in all ways,
and since he has died, I will serve you according to my ability, and now, as you have come to
my land, here I come to you.140
As has been said above, Awag’s father Atabeg Iwanē Zak‘arian faced the Mongol
advance into Armenia. He fought against Jebe and Sübedei. There is no record in
contemporary Armenian sources of the exact relationship between Iwanē Zak‘arian and the
Mongols; however, Awag’s answer shows that his father had already given service to the
Mongols. Chormaghan told a proverb to Awag. “I came to the dormer window, you did not
come. I came to the door, behold, you have come”.141 This proverb is associated with a
famous Mongolian saying, sükh dalaital üher amar [the cow rests until the axe swings],
which means “rest until real danger comes”. When the Mongol commander ordered a meal
in Awag’s honour he sat the latter below all his nobles. Awag was offered a large quantity
of meat ‘both from clean and unclean animals’ and khmuzs [kumis], fermented mare’s milk,
but Awag said that the Christians were not accustomed to eat such food or to drink such a
beverage; they ate meat from permitted animals and drank wine.142 Therefore, Chormaghan
gave an order to bring what he requested. The next day, Awag was seated above many
nobles, and day after day he was honoured more and more until he sat among the ranks of
the great lords. 143
The plausibility of this conversation is contentious, but, surely, Kirakos wants to
highlight the pride and bravery of the Armenian prince and the details of his submission.
Referring to the customs of the Mongols and Armenians, Kirakos tries to engage with the
cultures of both sides, and thus to show the diversity of the people coming into contact for
139 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 254–57.
140 Ibid,: 256. Iwanē Zak‘arian died in 1234; Manandian, 1952: 410.
141 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 256.
142 Ibid.: 256. Friar William of Rubruck gave the same answer to the Mongol host’s offer, namely that the
Christians do not drink kumis, and that once they had drunk it they would renounce their Christian faith;
Rubruck in Komroff, 1989: 77. The same answer was given by al-Kāmil Muhammad, the Ayyubid ruler of
Mayyāfāriqīn to Mönkge Khan; Jūzjānī, 1970: 1266.
143 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 254–257.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
18
the first time. We can assume that the Mongol recognition of Armenian nobility by the
Mongols was a very important start in the relationship between conqueror and subject.
Perhaps the way Awag was received by the Mongols had a significant influence on the
other lords’ decision-making.
Indeed Awag Zak‘arian was the first Caucasian lord to exemplify individual submission
to the Mongols. This act secured Awag’s land.144 He obtained a status of invulnerability for
all his dominions and established a strong friendship with Chormaghan. In return, Awag
was obliged to take his troops with him to march against the city of Ani and to participate
in the conquest of the West [Asia Minor].145 After the escape of Queen Rusudan (1223–
1245) to Swanetia out of fear of the Mongols, Awag became the most influential figure at
the Georgian royal court.146 He was de facto ruler of Armenia, and the Mongol
administrators sent him to the Great Khan. The exact date of Awag’s journey to Mongolia
is not known, although he paid this visit before the replacement of Chormaghan by Baiju,
presumably in 1240/41. According to Kirakos Gandzakets‘i Awag himself was happy to
make this journey so that his visit would help the situation in his country.147 In fact, the
Great Khan, presumably Ögedei Khan (r. 1229–1241), received the prince with affection,
gave him a Mongol wife and sent him home.148
It is worth mentioning that the practice of giving vassals a Mongol girl in marriage was
exercised extensively by Chinggis Khan and his successors.149 However, to my knowledge,
there are no records in the Armenian historical annals or church council documents about
the regulation of Mongol-Armenian marriages. In view of the fact that the children of such
marriages were baptised, one can conclude that these mixed marriages were accepted by the
Armenian Church.150
After his return from the Mongol court, Awag restored his lordship over his dominion.
Nevertheless, in 1245, with increasing anarchy caused by tax collectors as Kirakos
Ganzakets‘i testifies, Awag fled to Queen Rusudan, who was still living in a fortress. The
Mongols considered this action as rebellion, so Awag wrote a letter to the Khan explaining
that his action was not a revolt, but that he was only escaping from disorder. A messenger
called Tonghus-aqa came from Güyük Khan (r. 1246–48) to Awag with proof of his
immunity. In return, Awag was obliged to convince the Queen to submit voluntarily to the
Great Khan.151 But Queen Rusudan died in 1245 before this order came, Awag himself died
in 1250.152
Awag’s submission had a domino effect on the other lords. The Armenian princes, such
as Shahnshah (d. 1261), the son of Zak‘arē, Vahram Gagets‘i (fl. 1240–50) and his son
Aghbugha, and Hasan Jalal, the prince of Khachen, all followed his example in 1236.
144 Ibid.: 257.
145 Awag participated in Baiju’s conquest; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 280.
146 Ibid.: 238. Queen Rusudan, being under constant pressure from the Mongols, took poison voluntarily and left
a will entrusting the kingdom to Awag Zak‘arian; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 316.
147 Ibid.: 262.
148 Ibid.: 263.
149 MNT, 2004: 78: § 235, 79: § 238, § 239.
150 Vasil Tatar, the son of Smbat Sparapet by his Mongol wife, was baptised and knighted in 1265 and was a
general-in-chief of the Cilician Armenians; Smbat Sparapet in Der Nerssessian, 1973: 373–74.
151 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 266.
152 Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 148; Sebastats‘i in Hakobyan: 1956: 140.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 19
On seeing that the other lords retained their lands, the Armenian princes of the Orbelian,
Pŕoshian, Dop‘ian, Vach‘utian and Jalalian houses, aimed to co-operate with Mongol
administrators in order to retain their principalities, which had been under the suzerainty of
the Zak‘arids during the previous century.153 It was understood that they could regain their
own land from the Mongol commanders, as mentioned above concerning a deal between
Elikum Orbelian and Aslan Noyan.154 This desire of the Armenian lords was welcomed by
the Mongols who gave them enchü (injü) status, that of the Khan’s personally owned
people, which in Orbelian’s History of the Siwnik‘ Province is interpreted as tēruni or
lordly.155 Although this status meant that the Mongols imposed some direct obligations on
these lords, it did give to the latter, who had previously allied with the Georgian King, and
to their lands some privileges,such as immunity in terms of tax and sovereignty vis-à-vis
the Mongols. The outcome of this act brought about the detachment of ties they had formed
earlier, for the princes started to break their attachment to the Georgian King, allying
themselves with the Mongols.
This was true as well for Hasan Jalal Dawla (d. 1261) of the Khachen province, the next
Armenian noble to support the Mongols. Receiving honour and trust from the Mongols, in
practice Hasan Jalal arranged his own affairs. According to the Armenian source, he was
the one who supported the Mongol elchis or messengers, and did whatever was possible for
them, whether this meant providing food or horses.156 Perhaps because of this, or because
he exercised some privileges in arranging his own and Mongol affairs, Amir Arghun (d.
1275), the administrator of Mongol taxation, disliked him and treated him harshly.157 In
1251, in order to escape from Amir Arghun, Hasan Jalal paid a visit to Sartakh of the
Golden Horde.158 Sartakh took Hasan Jalal to his father, Batu Khan (r. 1205–1255), who
returned to Hasan Jalal his patrimony of Ch‘araberd, Akanay and Karkaŕn, which
previously the Seljuks and the Georgians had taken from him.159 Using his close
relationship with Sartakh, he succeeded in separating Khachen from Georgia and the
Zak‘arid Princes, as reflected in his title. Armenian inscriptions of Mama-Khatun, the
153 Hovsep‘ean, 1928: 16–17. Iwanē Zak‘arian granted the Orbelian house the lands in eastern Vayots‘ Dzor, in
Kotayk‘, Geghark‘unik‘ and Kayen in 1184; Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 397. In the 1210s, the Pŕosians or
Khaghbakeans helped the Zak‘arians in the re-conquest of Vayots‘ Dzor, Bjni and Dvin (Dwin). As a reward,
they were given lands in western Vayots‘ Dzor, Shahapunik‘, Varazhnunik‘ and parts of Kotayk and Ayrarat.
The head of the Vach‘uteants‘ family, Vach‘ē was a loyal follower of Zak‘arē who gave him all the districts
of Aragatsotn, Shirak, Nig and Anberd as far as Eraskhadzor. Iwanē’s sister Dop‘i married Hasan, the prince
of Arts‘akh in eastern Armenia, receiving a large area on the southern shore of Lake Sevan and the district
Sot‘k in Siwnik‘. They were known as Dop‘ians’. Another sister of Iwanē married Vakht‘ang, the lord of
Khachen province; the house took on the name of Jalalians after Hasan Jalal; Babayan, 1976: 546–550.
154 Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 402–403.
155 Ibid.: 409; For enchü/injü, see Scherbak, 1997: 194; cf. Doerfer, 1963: v. 1: 220–225. The etymology of
enchü is Mongolian emčü, which means a private property; Lessing, 1973: 635. Shiraiwa suggests that injü/
īnjū is Persianised form of the Mongolian emčü and Rashīd al-Dīn gave the term three meanings, namely
‘personal property’, ‘crown land’, and ‘immediate vassal’; Shiraiwa, 1988: 371–376.
156 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 269, 284.
157 Ibid: 373.
158 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 358. This was a master stroke of Hasan Jalal, to use the conflict between two
Mongol powers in Iran and in Russia. The Caucasus became an occasional arena of conflicts between the Il-
Khanate and the Golden Horde from 1261 until 1266.
159 Ibid.: 1961: 359.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
20
daughter of Hasan, in Gandzasar, dated 1280 and 1286, mention his name as ‘Prince of
Princes, the Lord of Khachen’. In the inscription of Amaghu-Noravank‘, dated 1292, Mina-
Khatun, the other daughter of Hasan, refers to her father as ‘Great King’.160
In 1255, when Sartakh went to visit Möngke the Great Khan, Hasan Jalal joined him
with his family, as is mentioned in the colophons of a Gospel in 1261.161 He was granted
enchü status by Möngke Khan (r. 1251–59) in 1255. In return, he was obliged to perform
military service every year.162 His position was secured by the marriage of his daughter to
Bora Noyan, the son of Chormaghan.163 However, his daughter’s marriage could not
guarantee his life. In 1261, because of his failure to pay tax to the Mongols, and mainly
because he had lost the protection of Sartakh who died in 1257, Hasan Jalal was tortured
and killed by Amir Arghun in Qazvin.164
Another prince to whom Möngke Khan granted enchü status was Smbat Orbelian of the
Siwnik‘ province, who visited Qara-Qorum in 1251/52. He went there to secure his land
from Gontsa, the wife of the late Awag, who had infringed on his territory. In the narration
of his journey written by Step‘annos Orbelian, Smbat, in return for a valuable precious
stone [a ruby] presented to the Great Khan, retained the lands of Vorotan up to the
boundaries of Borotna and Bghen, within which the Siwnik‘ court of Tat‘ew was located.
Besides this, he received Eghegis with the district of Vayots‘ Dzor; P‘oghahanos; Urts;
Vēdi with the valley of Ererawn; and many villages in Kotaik and Geghark‘uni.165
Just before the vital shift of Mongol power from Baiju to Hülegü in Greater Armenia,
Smbat Orbelian secured sovereignty over his dominions from the Zak‘arid suzerains and
the Georgian king by his second journey to Möngke Khan in 1256.166 The independence of
the Orbelian prince was reflected in his title as ‘King Smbat‘ in the inscription in Noravank
in 1275.167 Smbat remained an important vassal of the Mongols in the time of the Il-Khans.
He was sent by Hülegü Khan (r. 1256–65), the first Mongol Il-Khan, to Ala Taq (Daŕn
Dasht), to assist the latter in building a large royal palace.168
Having support from Hülegü Khan to implement his political goals, Smbat Orbelian
encountered a serious opponent, Sadun Artsruni /Mankaberdeli (d. 1284), the atabeg and
army commander of Awag. Seeing that Smbat possessed strong ambition, Sadun Artsruni
decided to support Gontsa, the wife of the late Awag, who later married the Georgian King
David (r. 1259–70).169 While Smbat was in Qara-Qorum, Sadun replaced him as the
guardian of Khoshak,170 the daughter of Awag and Gontsa, according to an anonymous
160 Orbeli, 1963: 158; CIA, 1982: 80.
161 Mat‘evosyan, 1984, n. 258: 311–312, Orbeli, 1963: 155–156, 163 n. 26.
162 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 269. Hasan Jalal had already participated with Baiju in the battle of Ch‘man-
katuk (Köse Dagh) between the Seljuks of Rūm and the Mongols in 1243; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 283–
84.
163 Ibid., 1961: 391.
164 Vardan Arevelts‘i, 1991: 152; Hasan Jalal’s son At‘abek brought his father’s body to be buried in Jalal’s
ancestral cemetery at Gandzasar monastery; Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 390–391.
165 Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 411.
166 Ibid., 414.
167 Kostaneants‘, 1913: 118; Grigoryan, 1990: 72, 75.
168 Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 415.
169 Melikset-bek, 1936: 58.
170 The names of Khoshak and Sadun, the atabeg, are found in the inscription of the church of the Mother of God
in Noratus; Avagyan, 1978: 277.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 21
Georgian source of the thirteenth century, and Sadun was consequently recognised by the
Georgian Court.171 Thus, Sadun became an influential figure in the political arena. Later, he
was also recognised and honoured by Hülegü when he defeated the most valiant Mongol
wrestler.172 The wrestling match at the Mongol Court was perhaps equivalent to the
Christian knights’ jousting tournaments. Being a successful wrestler in the ring meant being
a good warrior in the field. Therefore, according to Grigor’s perception, Sadun’s victory
impressed the Mongols. This may serve as another example of an Armenian historian’s
insights into the development of Mongol-Armenian relations as well as it may illustrate
Armenian lords’ internal rivalry.
When Abaqa Khan (r. 1265–1282) succeeded to the Il-Khanid throne, Sadun befriended
Shams al-Dīn Juvaynī, the
ṣ
ā
ḥ
ib-dīvān (executed in 1284), whom Khoshak, Sadun’s
protégée, married in 1269.173 After Hülegü’s death, Smbat Orbelian lost his influential role
in the political life of Armenia, and Sadun became the favourite of Abaqa Khan. Moreover,
he strengthened his position as atabeg of Georgia.174 The cities of Kars, Telavi and
Bailaqan were separated from royal Georgian control and given to Sadun Artsruni.175
In order to re-establish the Orbelian House’s authority, a brother of Smbat, Tarsaich,
showed his loyalty to Abaqa Khan by participating many times in his battles.176 On
becoming regent in 1270, Tarsaich enthroned young King Demetrē II (r. 1270–1289) on the
Georgian throne.177 Tarsaich was welcomed by Arghun Khan (r. 1284–1291), who gave
Demetrē all the territories of the Zak‘arids, Gagets‘i and Sadunians (Artsrunids).178
Demetrē also appointed Tarsaich as atabeg of the Georgian lands.179
As can be seen, the above examples are cases of individual submission and of
negotiations to ally with the Mongol Empire. Individual contacts between Armenian lords
and either the Mongol Khan or his representatives during the early period of the Mongol
presence secured Greater Armenia from major Mongol repression. Later, obtaining support
from the Il-Khans, the Armenian lords once again secured authority over their Houses and
lands.
As a result, the use of Mongol power guaranteed several Armenian lords not only
security in their own lands, but also an extension of their patrimony by removing their local
opponents from the political arena. In the long run, this policy of the local princes suited the
Mongols. They preferred to have their own suzerainty over the Armenians and to see the
Armenian lords attached to them rather than to the Georgian court, ensuring that the
Georgio-Armenian lords were more disunited.
171 Melikset-bek, 1936: 58.
172 Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 49.
173 Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 418. Khoshak and Shams al-Dīn Juvaynī had a daughter Khuandze and a son
Zak‘arē; Rashīd al-Dīn, 1946: 115–116; Melikset-bek, 1936: 60; Babayan, 1969: 175.
174 Melikset-bek, 1936: 60.
175 Ibid.
176 Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 423. The first wife of Tarsaich, Aruz Khatun, was not a Mongol (as Babayan and
others suggest) but an Ismaelean from Siwnik’; Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 416.
177 Ibid., 426.
178 Ibid.
179 Ibid.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
22
Mongol-Armenian Affairs
Mongol-Armenian affairs were influenced by many other factors. One of the methods of
maintaining good relations was the use of diplomatic marriages between the Caucasian
nobility and the Mongols. The sources mention several examples where the Armenians
took Mongol spouses. Awag was given a Mongol wife by Güyük Khan (r. 1246–48).180
Bora Noyan, the son of Chormaghan was married to the daughter of Hasan Jalal.181 Smbat
Sparapet was given a Mongol wife and had a son by her called Vasil Tatar who died in a
battle with the sultan of Egypt in 1269.182 The daughter of the Georgian king Demetrē was
married to Bugha Noyan.183 These marriages facilitated support for Mongol rule and also
served the Armenians’ cause.
It would be very useful to find some contemporary ecclesiastical sources permitting the
Armenian aristocracy to have a polygamous marriage to a Mongol as well as a Christian
wife. The only observation that can be made is that the state of being a vassal or being
under the military and political dominion of the conquerors, meant that the Armenian
Church had to deal with this phenomenon through unwritten rules or regulations, since it
allowed the baptising or knighting of the children born from such marriages, as is
illustrated in the case of the son of Smbat Sparapet,184 Vasil Tatar who was buried in
September 1269 in the holy Monastery of Mlich’.185
According to the statements of Armenian historians the monks and lords of Greater
Armenia were also employed by the Mongols as their diplomats and secretaries. Thus, in a
village called Lorut South of the Tavush fortress, Molar Noyan captured the cleric Kirakos
Gandzakets‘i, who was to serve his secretarial needs, writing and reading letters throughout
the summer of 1236.186 In 1246, Lord Vahram Gagets‘i was sent to Caesarea to represent
Baiju in negotiations for the liberation of David, the son of King Lasha, from prison.187 The
priest Barsegh was known as Batu Khan’s emissary (
դեսպան
); he accompanied King
Het‘um (r. 1226–1270) on his journey through Caucasian Albania and the Gate of Derbent
to Batu’s headquarters.188
The Armenian Church supported the collaboration of the Armenian lords with the
Mongols. Undeniably, the fact that some of the Mongol chiefs had Nestorian Christian
wives assisted the Christians in the Caucasus. Thus in 1242 the help of Altuna Khatun
made possible the return of Nersēs the Catholicos of Caucasian Albania to his seat. While
Nersēs was hidden in the monastery of Khamshi in Awag’s territory, Altuna Khatun invited
him to her camp in Mughan. With Awag’s permission, he visited her on a special day when
she was celebrating the weddings of her two children. Altuna Khatun asked her two
brothers, both Christians and newly arrived from Mongolia, to honour the Catholicos, and
180 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 263.
181 Ibid., 391.
182 Smbat Sparapet in Galstyan, 1962: 9, 122. Vasil Tatar was baptised and knighted in 1265 and was a general-
in-chief of the Cilician Armenians, Smbat Sparapet in Der Nerssessian, 1973: 373, 374.
183 Step‘annos Episkopos, 1951: 48–49.
184 Smbat Sparapet in Der Nerssessian, 1973: 373, 374.
185 Smbat Sparapet in Galstyan, 1962: 64.
186 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 243–252. Vanakan Vardapet and Kirakos Gandzakets‘i were in Mongol captivity
for one year; Davit‘ Baghishets‘i, 1956: 346.
187 Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 33.
188 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 366, 370; Smbat Sparapet in Galstyan, 1962: 49.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 23
afterwards she gave Nersēs the document with the altamgha [red seal], proving his
immunity from any Mongol harassment.189 In 1247, when Catholicos Kostandin (1221–67)
of Cilicia saw the ruins of Armenia and the sufferings of the people, he circulated canonical
orders throughout the districts of Armenia to all bishops, monks and princes to bring church
affairs into order. He sent presents of silk clothes, expensive mantles and quantities of gold
for the monastery of St. T‘adeos in Greater Armenia. After the construction work had been
completed, the monastery was opened with the assistance of the Mongol commander,
Angurag Noyan, who had summer quarters near this monastery.190 In the early 1250s Smbat
Orbelian received a decree that freed all the churches and priests of Armenia from taxes.
With the encouragement of General Baiju’s Christian wife Smbat renovated Siwnik‘s
religious seat, Tat‘ew.191 The Armenian monk Sergius [Sargis], who played a very active
role in the court of Möngke Khan in Qara-Qorum, even attempted to baptise the Mongol
Khan in 1254.192 In 1264, Hülegü received some Armenian clerics, including Vardan
Vardapet, in order to explore the disposition of the ecclesiastics towards the Mongol
policy.193 These examples of support for Christianity show that both in Greater Armenia
and in Cilicia, the Mongols dealt efficiently with Christian issues. They illustrate the
circumstances in which Mongol-Armenian collaboration might be carried out more easily.
Conclusion
The attachment of Armenia to the Mongol Empire was brought about by conquering
Armenian strongholds one by one as the ishkhans took refuge in their fortresses. Pursuing
the Armenian lords, the Mongol noyans brought them into submission either by the sword
or through negotiation. The success of the invasion can be studied from various
perspectives. Politically, the very passive rule of the Georgian Queen Rusudan and the
absence of a unified defence policy for the country contributed to the victory of the
Mongols in Armenia.
In practice, the Mongols’ adoption of certain models of military tactics was another
reason for their success in Greater Armenia. .194 The target for attack would be discussed
carefully, and sufficient time allocated to preparing men and horses, as Baiju ordered before
his march to Köse Dagh. The timing of expeditions was always related to the animals’
grazing season, since the core of the Mongol army consisted of cavalry. Attacks on small
citadels preceded attacks on key or big cities and fortresses, as in case of Molar Noyan in
Armenia. The population of occupied lands was used as a supporting labour force or a
home guard that reinforced the Mongol infantry, as was the case in Armenia; and these
home guards participated in Chormaghan’s and, later, in Baiju’s conquests. 195 Often they
189 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 290–292.
190 Ibid., 311–312.
191 Step‘annos Orbelian, 1910: 412.
192 Rubruck in Komroff, 1989: 138–146.
193 Vardan Arevelts‘i, 2001: 204–209.
194 This general pattern for battles was applied in Central Asia and Southern Russia; Vernadsky, 2001: 122–26.
195 A local or domestic army was always in the vanguard, such as Awag’s detachment used by Chormaghan to
take Ani and Kars. Later on, Armenian and Georgian troops under Commander Baiju were placed in the front
lines in the battle of Ch‘mankatuk; Grigor Aknerts‘i, 1974: 29.

Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan
24
were used as ‘human arrow shields’ and for handling the most dangerous war vehicles.196
Military weapons used by the Mongols were more advanced than their opponents’,
especially for besieging fortresses.197 The mobility of the lightly armed Mongol army was
also a crucial factor in defeating its more heavily armed opponents.198
Psychologically the Armenians were not ready to face the Mongols. As Kirakos
Gandzakets‘i states, the Armenians’ hopes that the Mongols would be avengers for the
Christians from the tyranny of the Turks turned out to be false.199 Realising that the new
enemy was unbeatable, they decided that God had given the Mongols power and the only
way left for the Armenians was to reconcile themselves to this and to be obedient.200
With the advance of the Mongols into non-Mongol territories, a system of conquest
emerged. As Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, Grigor Aknerts‘i and other contemporary Armenian
sources indicate Armenian lands were divided by the Mongols into lots during their
conquests. This partition can be analysed from several viewpoints. Firstly, it was a part of
the Mongols’ military tactics, by which they safeguarded not only mobility for themselves
but resisted their opponents’ consolidation. Secondly, as the sources indicate, the division
was informal. The Armenian lords retained their occupied lands; a fact that allows one to
state that Mongol rule in Greater Armenia from 1236 to 1243 resulted in almost no change
in the lifestyle of Caucasian Armenians.201 The method of land division that occurred in the
earlier stages of Mongol expansion may be explained also by the nomadic mindset of the
steppe people, in which the concept of maintaining the conquered land and its people had
not yet been developed. At this stage, the Mongols sustained supremacy over their
conquered lands in a passive way rather than with direct rule. In our case the existing
indigenous system of Armenian rule was preserved at local level but was taken under
Mongol lordship.202 This ‘indirect rule’ relates to the third point of view; in which the
Mongols considered the conquered territories in general as their personal possessions.203
Regardless of this notion, the Mongol penetration of Greater Armenia was a ‘conquest’ and
by no means a ‘migration’ as Bedrosian indicates.
This system of personal territorial possession is particularly illustrated in the case of
Greater Armenia before 1256; there was a direct relationship between the Armenian lords
and the Mongol noyans. Early Mongol commanders exercised great freedom in acting and
making decisions regarding local matters. Each had autonomous power in their respective
areas that perfectly served the Armenian lords.
Tracing the names of the Mongol chieftains who conquered Armenia, it is interesting to
note that none of them was from the Chinggisid dynasty or the Borjigid tribe. This fact was
taken into account later when prince Hülegü of the Chinggisid lineage was sent to Iran, and
Armenia was incorporated as part of the Il-Khanate.
196 Koh Byong-ik, 1969: 154.
197 More on Mongol siege machines in Kennedy, 2002: 132–36; Kirpichnikov, 1976.
198 Liddell Hart, 1927: 32.
199 Kirakos Gandzakets‘i, 1961: 202. For Prester John, see Morgan, 1996: 159–170; Jackson, 1997: 425–432. For
‘King David’ or the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, see Jackson, 2001: 93–105; 2005: 143.
200 Ibid., 23.
201 Bedrosian, 1979: 116.
202 The category of territorial ruling among the Mongol noyans was applied also in the Chaghatai Khanate (1224–
1369) and in the Ulus of Jochi /Golden Horde (1243–1502); Koh Byong-ik, 1969: 157.
203 Schurmann, 1956: 305.

The Mongol Conquerors in Armenia 25
The Greater Armenian lords decided to deal with the new pressure by taking individual
approaches and responsibilities. The surrender of Greater Armenia proceeded by individual
and separate territorial submissions. With regard to this, it is worth stressing that these
individual submissions were made in a timely way, before the Mongols devastated the
whole country, giving the lords a chance to safeguard most of the Armenian lands.
Thus the strategy of the Greater Armenian lords towards the Mongol presence was co-
operative rather than confrontational. In fact, the assistance given by Awag Zak‘arian to
Chormaghan and Güyük Khan; of Hasan Jalal to Sartakh and to Möngke Khan; of Smbat
Orbelian to Möngke Khan and Hülegü; and of Pŕosh Zak‘arian and Sadun Artsruni to
Hülegü and Abaqa Khan illustrate effective Mongol-Armenian partnerships.
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