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

more important even than Samuel's own work are the
anonymous continuations made by a number of subsequent
writers, covering the periods 1179/80-1304/5 and 1257—
1424/251. Mxit'ar Ayrivanec'i's Chronology extends from
Biblical times to the year 1289 and, as Samuel's work,
provides details on political, military, and socio-economic
matters, confirming or amplifying what is known from
2
other sources . Smbat Sparapet's Chronicle (the Royal Chronicle)
was compiled by the influential brother of Cilician king
6f his own work Samuel claims to have been an eye-witness
to the capture of Ani by Georgian kin§ Georgian 1161/62,(
„ ,_.. . 1893)p.l37.
Other biographical details are lacking. In the opinion
of Ter-Mik'elean, editor of a semi-critical edition of
the text, Samuel may have been born around 1100, dying
around 1190 (SA, Introduction, p. 6).
Ter-Mik'elean'a edition was based on the approximately 13
manuscripts now housed at the Matenadaran in Erevan, Armenia,
yet the editor noted the existence of other unused copies
in Venice and Paris (SA, Introduction, p. 24). He believed
that all copies stemmed from a single exemplar. None of
the manuscripts predate the 17th century, and all are to
a greater or lesser degree corrupt (ibid, pp. 7-24). In
preparing his gdition, Ter-Mik'elean made two useful alterations
in Samuel's work. He eliminated all calendrical
systems found in that work except the Armeniai,which proved
to be the most accurate, and arranged the historical information
as separate entries placed to the right of the date.
Samuel of Ani'a chronicle was translated into French by
M. Brosset, Collection d'hiatoriens Armeniens (St. Petersburg,
1876) vol» II pp. 340-453.
2 Almost nothing is known about Mxit'ar. See Manandyan,
Critical... vol. 3 P. 372. The French translation is by
M. Brosset, Histoire chronologiaue par Mkhithar d'Airivank
(St. Petersburg, 1869).
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