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

presence, Smbat complained about the harassment of the
churches , and received from Mongke "a decree freeing
all the churches of Armenia and the priests", a statement
o
repeated twice . With encouragement from Baiju's wife,
Smbat rennovated Siwnik''s religious eeat Tat'ew (then
in a dilapidated condition)*. Kirakoa and the History
of K*art*J4 very clearly state that as a result of emir
Arghun's census of 1255, neither Church nor clergy
was to be taxed . However, in 1257 when Hasan Jalal
visited Batu-Khan in the Horth, he pointed out that Berses,
kat'olikos of Albania still was being harassed. He was
given a written order that such harassment should stop'.
1 SO p. 155.
3 SO p. 158.
4 KG P. 363; "This [emir] Arehun designated what was proper
[for tax collection] in all four Khanates, for-he was a
just man, But as for monks, friars, and Church foundations,
he did not place them under taxation, nor the ialan [tax]
either. The same went for sheikhs and dervishes"! He
freed [from taxation] all those Believers called the Servants
of God" (KG p. 235J Mur. p. 108).
286
5 KG p. 359: "...[Hasan] also received a document guaranteeing
freedom for lord Neraes , kat 'oiikos of Albania, for all
his properties and goods, that he be free and untaxed and
allowed to travel freely everywhere in the dioceses under
his authority, and that no one disobey what he said".