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

It is not .our purpose here (and in any ease it is
beyond our present competence) to write the complex and
often-changing history of Armenia's nobility from pre--
Christian times to the 14th century. However, to place
in sharper focus what is to be understood by the term
naxarar in the 13-14th centuries, we shall contrast
briefly the classical Arsacid (4-5th century) naxarar
with his Zak'arid successor.
The socio-economic essence underlying the concept
of the term naxarar underwent numerous changes from the
5th through the 13th centuries. The naxarar of the
Zak'arid restoration differed fundamentally from the
Arsacid lord. The Arsacid naxarar was the ancestral
lord of clan domains which he did not personally own,
and therefore could not alienate by sale or other means.
If the truly great naxarar associated with the Armenian
monarch, it was on terms of equality. As they never
allowed their "natural lords" to forget, some of the
grand naxarara descended from clans as old as, or older
than, the Arsacids. For this reason, when naxarars
accepted positions at the Arsacid Court, the act was
usually a recognition on the king's part of the naxarar's
right by birth and position to the office. The naxarar-
doms tended to be self-sufficient economies, and trade
in that period was of an international transit type
through naxarar domains, of importance to the naxarars
only due to the toll and customs revenue they could derive
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