Principality of Khachen
Խաչենի իշխանություն
1261–1603
Flag of Khamsa, Artsakh, Karabakh
Royal Standard of the Principality of Khachen (Kingdom of Artsakh) during the reign of Grand Prince Hasan Jalalyan Vahtangian (1214-1261)
Territory of the 5 principalities of Karabakh, overlapped by the NKAO
Territory of the 5 principalities of Karabakh, overlapped by the NKAO
CapitalGandzasar (Vank), Haterk, Tsar (Vaykunik)
Common languagesKarabakh dialect
Religion
Armenian Apostolic
GovernmentMonarchy
History 
• Established
1261
• Disestablished
1603
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Kingdom of Artsakh
Melikdoms of Karabakh

The Principality of Khachen (Modern Armenian: Խաչենի իշխանություն, Khach’eni ishkhanut’yun) was a medieval Armenian principality on the territory of historical Artsakh (present-day Nagorno-Karabakh).[1][2][3] The provinces of Artsakh and Utik were attached to the Kingdom of Armenia in antiquity, although they were later lost to Caucasian Albania. In the early medieval period, these provinces were under Sassanid and then Arab suzerainty until the establishment of the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia in the 9th century.[4] From the 12th century, the principality of Khachen dominated the region.[4] The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII addressed his letters to the prince of Khachen with the inscription "To Prince of Khachen, Armenia."[5]

All of the contemporary sources refer to the ruler of the principality an Armenian prince.[3] The Armenian princely family of Hasan Jalalyan began ruling much of Khachen and Artsakh in 1214.[6][7] In 1216, the Jalalyans founded the Gandzasar monastery which became the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Catholicos of Albania, forced to Khachen from Partav (Barda) by the steady Islamization of the city.[4] The Khamsa (The Five) principalities maintained Armenian autonomy in the region throughout the Persian-Ottoman Wars. In 1603 the Persians established a protectorate over the Khamsa and sponsored the establishment of a local khanate in 1750.[4]

The name Khamsa, which was used by Arabs for the state, refers to the five Armenian Melikdoms who ruled the state.

See also

References

  1. ↑ C. J. F. Dowsett, "The Albanian Chronicle of Mxit'ar Goš," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 21 (1958): 482. "Late name of part of pr. Arcax, forming at this time a small independent Armenian principality; the earliest references to Xacen are of the tenth century."
  2. ↑ Abū-Dulaf Misʻar Ibn Muhalhil's Travels in Iran (circa A.D. 950), ed. and trans. Vladimir Minorsky. Cairo: Cairo University Press, 1955, p. 74. "Khajin (Armenian Khachen) was an Armenian principality immediately south of Barda'a."
  3. 1 2 Shnirelman, Victor A. (2001). The Value of the Past: Myths, Identity and Politics in Transcaucasia. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka. pp. 162, 178. Fourth, the region was called Khachen (after the Armenian "khach" which means cross) in the 10th-13th centuries because it was populated by Armenians and ruled by the Armenian princes of the Aranshakhik Dynasty.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Parry, Ken; David J. Melling; Dimitry Brady; Sidney H. Griffith; John F. Healey (2001). The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 335–336.
  5. ↑ Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, De ceremoniis aulae byzantinae, Patrologiae cursiis completus, Series Graeco-Latinaed, vol. 112, ed. J.P. Migne. Paris, 1897, p. 248, Greek: εἰς τὸν ἄρχοντα τοῦ Χατζιένης, Ἀρμενία.
  6. ↑ De Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press. p. 287.
  7. ↑ Hacikyan, Agop Jack; Gabriel. Basmajian; Edward S. Franchuk (2002). The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Sixth to the Eighteenth Century. Wayne State University Press. p. 470.

Further reading

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