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

Consequences of the Mongol domination regarding the
Armenian lords are described in the following chapter.
After the Saljuq invasions, those Armenian lords remaining
in their patrimonies made accommodation with the new over-
lords and a process of "Armenlzation" or "naxararization"
of the Saljuq nobility took place. This was possible
primarily because from the late llth until the 13th century
no major comparable invasions or disruptions occurred.
Furthermore, as was noted, the Saljuq domination was not
uniform across the Armenian highlands. After merely forty
years, the Saljuq empire was in pieces. Already in the early
12th century, thanks to Georgia, an Armenian center existed
in the northeastern part of the highlands. By the 13th
century many districts of historical northeastern, central
and even southern Armenia were under Armenian political control
again. Such was not the case from ca. 1221 to 1403 when
the Armenian highlands were subjected to frequent invasions,
having as it were, no time to recover from one before the next
was in progress.
The Mongol domination lasted longer than the Saljuqid
and incorporated Armenia into an empire more firmly. For
almost 100 years (1240-1330) Armenia experienced Mongol rule
and misrule. Nor was there a protector for Armenia. If in
the ll-12th centuries Georgia was the deliverer and source
of strength against Islam, in the 13th century the Armenians
looked to the "Christian" Mongols—to the invaders themselves
—for protection. With the Islamization of the Mongols, any
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