Vardan Arewelts'i's

Compilation of History


91.

In 707 A.E. [1258] Hulgegu the brave took Baghdad. [This occurred] 517 years after the Ishmaelite Jap'r [Caliph 'Abu Jafar al-Mansur, 754-775] had built it in the year 194 A.E. [745] by the Tigris river, so they say, a distance of a seven days' journey from old Babylon. Hulegu also killed the caliph Must'asr [al-Musta'sim, 1258] with his own hand. The Christians who dwelled there were spared by the will and intercession of the great queen Doquz.

The caliph is said to be a descendant of the line of Muhammad, who appeared in the year 60 A.E. [611] and [the institution of the caliphate] endured through successors until the year 707 A.E. [1258]. After the Il-Khan Hulegu left the sacking of Baghdad, he went and besieged Mup'arkin, the city of Martyrs [Tigranakert/Martyropolis] that same year for a period of two years. This was because the sultan there, who was of the line of the Edleank' [Ayyubids], had turned against Hulegu's son, Ismuddin, blocked off the city and moreover offered up battle, and this became a matter of God's wrath. For during the besieging of the city the people had eaten clean and unclean animals, then [they ate] the poor, then their elderly, then whomever they could. It reached the point that [g150] even the senior chief presbyter there, struck by the mad flames of glutony and becoming crazed, ate his own relatives. He wrote down confessions on parchment which he wished us to see and [he wanted to] find mercy from the Creator's merciful nature. He gave himself up to groanings and weeping with sighing and endless lamentations until his breath ceased. According to his hope we saw that document of confession, and the hope that he finds mercy from the knower and creator of our nature who is our companion even in death. May the kind Father, from the depths of mercy and endless love have pity on him and may he be expiated by the mystery of the holy church, like all who have taken refuge in repentance may they be confided to the mercy of Christ our God. As for those encountering this [passage], may [readers] look upon it in their inner hearts, saying "Amen".


92.

In 708 A.E. [1259] Hulegu went to Mesopotamia and took cities and districts there, as [other] writers have described in detail. The patriarch of the Armenians, the kat'oghikos [Kostandin I Bardzrberdts'i, 1221-1267] went to Hulegu, blessed him, and was affectionately received by him. With [Hulegu] during the capture of the whole land of Syria was our king, Het'um. He spared the Christian clergy and laity everywhere. May the Lord requite him with a thousand pardons for sins and with long life, according to His will, from generation to generation.

Hulegu turned from the winter lodging-place in the Mughan plain to the summer camp in the district called Dar'in or, according to others, Daran-dasht, for there were caverns and rough places there surrounded by mountains which he liked, and he built structures there after his heart's desire. He decided to build a city there, as a result of which the land was oppressed, man and beast alike, by hauling there masses of wood from afar [g151].

In 709 A.E. [1260] [the Mongols] took Martyropolis following numerous calamities and troubles, not only in the besieging of the city, but [hostilites] between the besieging army of T'at'ars and the Christians with them [who were] fighting each other within and without. [It was here that] the handsome youth Sewada Xach'ents'i, son of the great prince Grigor valiantly battled and was crowned [with the martyr's wreath] maintaining faith and piety toward God and the Il-Khan. May he receive a share of the blood of the martyrs of Christ for his faith and piety. Amen.

During the same year [1260] the army which the Il-Khan Hulegu had left guarding the land of Syria, some 20,000 men, was wiped out. This army was under the great commander called Ket-Buqa (K'it'bugha), a man of the Christian faith who had battled with the sultan of Egypt at the foot of Mt. Tabor. [The sultan had] a countless host while, since the Bughayeank' [partisans of Ket-Buqa] were few in number, the latter were killed and captured. There were, however, those who dispersed, hid, and saved their lives. These came to the king of [Cilician] Armenia and received great hospitality from him, plus horses and stipends. Then, T'at'ars and Christians, they returned to their lord with thanksgiving. And because of this [gesture] the name of Christ's king, Het'um, was greatly glorified abroad and at home.


93.

In the year 700 A.E. [should be 710 A.E., 1261], the royal prince of princes Jalal died the bitter, tortured death of Christ and his martyrs because of a slanderous Tachik who accused and betrayed him to Arghun. [Jalal] was taken to Xazuin in Tachkastan and was cut to pieces there in the night time, his love of Christ being the sole reason for this; for he passed all the time to his old age fasting, praying, giving alms and [praying] standing vigils on Sundays. Therefore God enveloped him in light from On High which descended upon his severed limbs, crowning and attesting his blameless martyr's death. When the murderers saw this they were terror-struck [g152] and threw [the limbs] into a dry well. Subsequently [Jalal's] relatives came, gathered him, took and buried him at his own monastery of Gandzasar in his house's patrimonial cemetary. The same rays of light were seen by those who brought the body. Also in the same year [1261] they killed the sparapet of Georgia, Zak'are', son of Shahnshah, at the court of the Il-Khan Hulegu. Zak'are' was in the flowering beauty of youth, very successful, renowned and recognized by everyone. He was falsely accused of witholding the stipulated tax at the time he went to court. His passing was grieved with the most piteous lamentation in all of Georgia and by [the Zak'arids'] relatives in Armenia, and most especially by the parents that bore him [who mourned] with the most bitterly constricting and racking sobs. Because of [Zak'are's death] his father, Shahnshah, died of a broken heart in these same days and dressed in the same black mourning [garments]. He was the lord of the capital city Ani, the former residence of the king who was the senior king of the Bagratid kings and [lord] of many other lands. The lord of Ani was called Shahnshah, which means king of kings.


94.

The number/date 700, which symbolises perfect peace, and the number/date 10 which is blessed [?710 A.E., 1261] are like God's saints resting on God's Sabbath to be. And the noteworthy folk recorded under these dates are perfected in the prayers of all the saints [?]


95.

In 711 A.E. [1262] Lord Nerse's, the kat'oghikos of Aghuania, died with the bitter torment of dropsy, finding medicine from no doctor but from the draught of Life Eternal of Jesus our God alone, to whom [Nerse's] passed with great hope, with confession, forever as is worthy. He lived his life in meekness and with charity.

In 712 A.E. [1263] the renowned ascetic, a prominent man worthy of a respectable position and calling, Lord Yovhanne's Tuets'i, reposed in Christ [g153]. The grace of God had summoned him to the priesthood, to the position of vardapet, and to the rank of archbishop of the House of Gardman and of other fortresses and districts. He had passed three fasts eating neither bread nor water, and [he also fasted] on Friday and Wednesday. He went to Jerusalem barefoot and the days of Lent [he prayed] standing up and without food in the [church of the] Holy Resurrection. This amazed the Frank people who were there, for not only did [Yovhanne's] remain on his feet and without food, but he also kept silent. He beseeched God for visible belief about [the story of] the descent of light and the lighting of the Armenians' lamp. This [story] which is known to many people was told by the man who keeps the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, a man [Yovhanne's said] who liked us and embraced us and so we asked him the true facts. He said:

["I was instructed to] 'Go and buy lamps. Bring them and hang them up with your own hands.' So I did, buying three lamps and I hanged them over the Holy Sepulcher with the one of the right in honor of the Franks, the one on the left in honor of the Greeks, and the one in the center for the Armenians—as they themselves are used to doing. Then we locked the door and sealed it. And they entrusted me with the [seal-]ring and the key, on Good Friday. On Holy Saturday at nine hours while we were at prayer virtually the entire city and faithful came from a distance. And they said to the keeper of the arch: 'Lord, order [the Sepulcher door] opened for the light has descended.' And I went and opened [the door], breaking the seal and in fact, without a doubt, the lamp in the center was lit and burning with an indescribable beauty."
Through such miracles that man Yovhanne's was glorified and gained renown. He himself related:
"I went to holy Bethlehem and saw the images of the apostles painted on the church wall there. The Tachiks, to dishonor [the pictures], had dug out the eyes. The matter saddened me, [g154] and I prayed to the holy apostles, begging them to reveal to me whether or not it pleased them to have their images painted everywhere. When I returned to Jerusalem that very night I saw in a vision two glorious men coming toward me. And I went before them and said: 'Saints of God, who are you?' And they replied: 'We are Peter and John, whom you beseeched to explain to you [our feelings] concerning our representation by the Christians. We have never liked it and we are annoyed by it. We have revealed [our displeasure] in many places, but they do not listen to us.'"
The monk who accompanied [Yovhanne's] to Jerusalem said that Yovhanne's reached the place barefoot. Then one day he called me and said: "Have a look at my foot, for it hurts and distresses me." When I looked and investigated the swelling with a needle I found very sharp and thick pieces of thorn which came out with a great deal of pus. I was dumbfounded that he had not revealed it before we reached the place, valuing as nothing the smarting pain compared with the love of God and the holy places. So did Yovhanne's walk by an upward and narrow road until deep old age, when he reposed in Christ. He was buried at the well-known monastery called Nor-berd hermitage by the door of the very church that he himself had built. And he constructed many other buildings and did meritorious deeds by the command of Vasak of the royal Bagratids, and with his cooperation. His memory will not be extinguished in the catholic church [but will remain] before God, forever in sweet fragrance.


96.

In the year 713 A.E. [1264] the great Il-Khan Hulegu summoned us by means of a prominent man of the day named Shnorhawor [an individual who was] greatly esteemed by the laity and by the rulers, by Batu, the governor of the North where [Shnorhawor] went and was honored first, then by the Il-Khan Hulegu. [Shnorhawor] took us along with his merchandise and [g155] pack animals. Those accompanying me were vardapets, our brothers Sargis and Grigor, and the senior priest of Tiflis, Te'rte'r. We saw that great one [Hulegu] during the grand days of their [festival of] the first of the month and the first of the year in July by the Roman [calendar] and in [the month of] Arats' according to our [Armenian calendar]. Their days of celebration last a month and are called quriltai (xur'ult'ay), a time for consultations. At the quriltai the Il-Khans, relations of Chingiz-Khan consult, going to the great [khan] to see to what is necessary. [They arrive] with all their nobility. All are newly attired and each day they change to another color garment. Present with numerous and distinguished gifts were all those subservient to them, kings and sultans, as well as—seen with our own eyes—the king of [Cilician] Armenia, Het'um, the king of Georgia, Dawit', and [the] prince of Antioch and many sultans from Persia. At the audience they did not make us bow or prostrate ourselves in accordance with their custom, since Christians (Mong. ark'awunk') bow down to God alone. Wine was brought for blessing, and we performed the blessing. And then [Hulegu] spoke, declaring first: "I have summoned you to see and know me and to pray sincerely for my sake." Perhaps it is superfluous to write down everything, for he said so many things. We replied. They seated us and gave wine. And the brothers with us offered a sharakan [Church hymn], and then the Georgians performed theirs and the Syrians and Romans performed theirs. But that day saw the arrival [of visitors] from all regions, [so many of them] that the Il-Khan observed: "I called you alone. What sort of sign is this that not a day sooner nor a day later, but on the very same day you have come [other people] have come from all parts to see and bless me?" And from the first it seemed a sign that God's heart was well-disposed toward me. [g156] We replied: "It amazes us that you summoned us." Whereupon [Hulegu] said: "I have a private matter that I would discuss with you." One day [we] went to a very deserted spot, far from the army, and by means of but two [interpreters] he spoke with us at length. "My mother," he said, "was a Christian. Though raised by a nurse (dayeak), when I reached maturity I loved my mother. We are no strangers to Christian love. If you have anything to tell me, say it." And he held my hand and we spoke the words which God had authored [for me], namely, that "no matter how much higher you are than other men, you are close to God. The throne of God is stable by just judgement. God has given lordship of the world to all peoples. Up until you [these rulers] were destroyers who placed a pitiful heavy burden on the poor. They died and now they weep before God. So God takes the rule and gives it to another people. As long as you are a builder and merciful toward the poor, God shall not take from you what he has given but instead shall leave it to you. Should He wish to give it to another, He shall. Right at your court set up a man who fears God and loves you such that the man who comes from a disaster with neither petition nor bribe is sent home happy and will remember you. And give overseeing the lands to the very man who sees clearly, is not blinded by bribes and will tell you the truth."

We talked at length about these matters. He said: "I shall keep your words in my heart. How is it that everything you said which was in my heart seemed easy to me? God has spoken with you and appeared to you, hasn't He?" We replied: "We are blameworthy men, although we have read the book of those men who spoke with God and [although] the hearts of kings are in God's hands, God reveals himself to you without writing." Then we said: "I have a word to say before God that He hear and you [as well] which [g157] has no falseness in it." [Hulegu] ordered me to speak and I said: "All Christians and ark'awuns on sea and land are well disposed toward you and pray for you." He replied: "I believe that to be so, but [as for] the ark'awun who are not on the path to God, what prayers do they have about me, and when they pray does God listen? Does or does not the wicked ark'awun bring God down from Heaven to earth? You said that they are on the path to God and that they pray. On this very account our brothers have fought with us, for we are philo-Christian and there is Christianity in our House whereas they are philo-Muslim and there is Islam in their House."

[Hulegu] then said to us: "Why are you dressed in sheepskin and not in gold?" I told him that I was neither a great man nor the lord of [some] position, but merely a monk. Then he declared: "I shall honor you with gold rainment and give a lot of gold." We responded: "Gold and soil are one to us. We want another favor which well suits your greatness [namely to show] mercy on the earth." He ordered that a very plainly sewn linen robe [be readied for me] and that a small amount of money be given, merely enough to buy incense for the church. "Otherwise," [Hulegu said] "what would the country say about how the Il-Khan treated you? And I shall do as you said and send a man to look after the land."

Now when we wanted an order to depart, [Hulegu] summoned us again and apoke. He had in his hand a paiz (balish) and two garments which he had had sewn. We reminded him: "Il-Khan, your money can be cut off and the clothing can become threadbare. We sought gifts which could not be cut off or worn down." He commanded that "Your word has been fulfilled. I have had a yarlix (ar'lex) written. Have it read out and [then] whatever more there is in your heart that too I shall have written. And [g158] I am entrusting your land and you yourself to Saxalt'u and Shahabatin. They shall do whatever you say." We expressed our thanks and came out. It may perhaps appear superfluous that we have written this, but it was to recall the benevolent and mild-mannered great Hulegu, or as an example to others coming after us. Who knows?

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