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

and overwhelmingly Armenian in the period covered by
this study 1 .
1
IS. p. 15 . In C. Cahen's opinion, the number of
Turkmen invaders/migrants throughout the ll-12th centuries
remained small: "Several tens of thousands, certainly;
but that they numbered several hundreds of thousands is
doubtful,.."QM p. 33). "It is difficult to believe that
movements of peoples at that period can have involved more
than a few tens of thousands of individuals in any one
operation, at the most two or three hundred thousands,
even though the texts give the impression of enormous
masses (it should be remembered that regular armies in
battle contained at the most a few thousand men)"(FT p.
143). See also JMH p. 261 n. 718 where Yryonis has
compiled figures from the sources concerning the invasions.
In the 11-12th centuries Turkish settlement in Armenia ..
sgems to have been very limited. Cahen notes that Azarbaijan
to the east became and remained the ethnic base for
the Turks of Asia Minor in this period (PT p. 79).
Furthermore, in the early 12th century when Turkish immigration
in Iran itself had become stabilized, "the Turks
established in Asia Minor no longer permitted any others
to come among them and divide their spoils" (PT p. 90).
Turkmen "settlements" (or perhaps, "concentrations" would
be more apt, since the Turkmen were nomads) were established
" when and if [the Turkmen tribe] could secure a winter base
after its summer raids. Until it could acquire and defend
a winter base in Anatolia, the tribe usually left Asia
Minor at the end of the summer raiding season. Once located,
the tribes usually established a semianual transhumant
pattern between their summer yayla in the mountains and
their winter base in the plains"(DIE p. 279). For a list
of possible Turkmen settlements-temporary and "permanent"
-cited by ll-15th century sources see DMH p. 281 n. 791.
The nedieval Armenian translation of the KC, known as"
' Juanaer". mentions Turkmen concentrations and their
yaylaa in northern and northwestern Armenia. Speaking
of the success of Georgian king David II the Builder
(1089-1123) in expelling these elements, the text reads:
" In that period some 10,000 Turks raided in Ttelk'CTrialeti).
David was at KaSarmad. When he heard about them he came
at night with but few troops, and in the morning, with
God's aid, beat them until evening. The few survivors
fled at night. Similarly, in the Tayk' country there were
tens of thousands of Turkish troops which had descended
into the Tayk' country. [David] went and struck them, and
took their goods, andthe country of Georgia filled up with
good things....But while the great David was celebrating
the feast of Easter at Naxedran, they brought him news that
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