The Turco-Mongol Invasions and the Lords of Armenia in the 13 ...

eturned north via Shirvan. With them went 200,000
slaves including tens of thousands of Armenians from
the districts of Parskahayk4, Siwnik*, and Arc'ax1.
From 1220, when the Mongols first appeared in the
Caucasus, to 1385 when Tokhtamysh invaded, a period of
165 years had elapsed. During this time different parts
of Armenia had experienced no less than 12 foreign
invasions, and the severity of Mongol rule had triggered
three Armeno-Georgian rebellions. Mongol centrifugation
had resulted in two major uprisings of Mongol nomads
resident in the Caucasus itself. Moreover, with the
collapse of the II-Khan state in the 1330/s, a condition
of "internal war* had existed in most parts of historical
Armenia, as mutually antagonistic bands (and armies) of
Mongol, Turkmen and Kurdish nomads fought one another
and the sedentary native population. Religious persecution
and economic chaos had long since become the norm.
Armenia now lay supine. However, a new storm was about
to break.
In 1386-87, 1394-96 and 1399-1403 Armenia was subjected
to what were perhaps the most brutal invasions yet. These
pp. 12, 98.
IV pp. 22-23; SA p. 171; 14CC #700 pp. 559-60;
8
147