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

Th» great demographic, military, and political
changes which had taken place in the history of the Armen-
ians in the late 12-early 13th centuries have left
their imprints on the contemporary sources. In the
ll-14th century sources there is Justifiable confusion
over the borders of Armenia. Political boundaries,
of course, do not always embrace neatly definable
regions of ethnic, linguistic, and cultural entities,
and "Armenia" in the 13-14th centuries was a fine example
of this. Because of large scale emigration, resulting
in the creation of new diasporas, one could draw very
wide indeed the cultural boundaries of Armenia, in this
period, even though a delineation of the political
boundaries is well-nigh impossible 1 .
1
As was pointed out above, by the 1220's, Armenians were
dwelling over a sizable territory embracing the Armenian
highlands, Georgia and Cilicla. Some, though hardly all,
of these areas were under Armenian political control, a
circumstance whic created confusion among the contemporaries.
Mzlt '
ar Sol (d.1213) for whom as for other Armenian
clerics the political boundaries were less important than
the demographic, used a new term to designate part of
Armenian-inhabited souther Armenia, alternately controlled
by the Ayyubida and the Shah Armenat"meso-Armenia"(mlHnahayk
'
~
. Arakk' Mxlt'aray 7oal (The Pablea of Mxit'arSol)
iVenice, 1854) p. 160;. With theUongol invasions and
domination of most of Asia Minor, political boundaries
became less distinct. For the 13-l4th centuries, characterized
by the almost perpetual invasions, we are unable to
do more than cite the testimony of confusing and/or confused
sources. To the Arab geographer Yaqut (d,1229) the
uncertain boundaries of Armenia reflect the confusion
occasioned by Georgia's resurgence and expansion Into
previously Armenian-controlled and/or populated areas,
as well as the reality of Armenian majorities In areas
not under Caucasian political control. Moreover, in
Yaqut*s day, the 7th century Arab geographical designation
"
Armeniyya"8till was being used , although the author notes
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