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

were led or directed by the lame warlord Timur (Tamerlane)
and constituted the last invasions of Armenia from Central
Asia. In his Mongols in History. J.J. Saunders wrote
of Timur:
...His career was a singularly barren one.
The great Chingiz at least created an empire that
imposed ordTr and peace and a rudimentary civilization
on Asia for over a century: Timur's kingdom
vanished with his life, and his imperialism was
imbued with no purpose other than the agglomeration
of sheer power built on the corpses of millions.
Till the advent of Hitler, Timur stood forth in
history as the supreme example of soulless and
unproductive militarism, n.l.
During the first Timurid invasion of 1386-87, Baxijewan
was captured and the fortress of Ernjak was besieged
(though it did not surrender until 1401). The towns and
fortresses of Karbi, B5ni, Garni, Surmari and Koib fell,
and the districts of Ayrarat and Lesser Siwnik' were
devastated 2 . Tiflia was taken and sacked, and Timur — —
had the opportunity to demonstrate his non-discriminatory
policy vis-a-vis killing Muslims. Wherever he went,
Christian and Muslim resistance received equal treatment:
1 J.J. Saunders, 0£.cit., p. 59.
2 The Continuator of Samuel of Ani has the following
entry under 1386/87: "The Turks took the fortress of
Orotan and the great vardapet Kaxik went.as a fugitive
to Car... In the same year T'oxtamil, Khan of Crimea
dispatched troops to Persia. They came and entered
Tabriz...they destroyed and captured more than 20 x 10,000
'men and women, then crossed via Naxijewan and Siwnik',
and went to their own land. In the same year Lankt'amur
148