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

_ Remember too that your brother, the great
jQxan fiatu'a aon CBerke] has sent many emissaries
and given great gifts [to David] so that they
give [Mm] the Serial [pass] and the western
highway, and that both are in his (David's) hands
...for should the army of Batu's ulus and that
of the [Georgian] king unite, there shall be
great disorder. 1.
In the very last years of the 13th century onoe again the
Georgian king attempted alliance with the Northern
Tatars, sending his son and brother to them. Despite
his disloyalty, the II-Khans were sufficiently concerned
to seek reconciliation with the king "so that the king
would swear an oath of loyalty to Ghazan, and not
• 2
permit passage to Batu's grandson, the great Khan Toqta .
With the deterioration of the soirees in the 14th century,
references to alliances with the Northern Tatars disappear.
However, the Northern connection remained a double-edged
sword, as the events of the late 1380's were to prove.
Was the Georgian royal family alone among the lords
to attempt using the Golden Horde for leverage? Apparently
not. Hasan Jalal believed that he could achieve maneuver-
ability similarly. It was from Batu that Hasan received
in.1tt status (ca. 1257) although eventually he too was
nma nstel i Tp'xis. ef sok'a o$ anddimac'an. k/ 'anzi and
awurs end ays mefreal er tann".
*
KC pp. 245-46; Mur. p. 118.
KG pp. 303-304; Mur. p. 169.
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