Armenian Nobility - The Institutions and Structure of The Armenian Nobility - Internal Divisions

Internal Divisions

The Armenian nobility had an internal division. The social pyramid of the Armenian nobility was headed by the king, in Armenian arqa. The term arqa originates from the common Aryan root that has equivalents in the name for monarchs in other Indo-European languages: arxatos in Greek, raja in Indo-Aryan, regia or regnum in Latin, roi in French, and reis in Persian.

The sons of the king, i.e. princes, were called sepuh. The elder son, who was also the crown prince and was called avag sepuh, had a particular role. In the case of king's death the avag sepuh automatically would inherit the crown, unless there were other prior arrangements.

The second layer in the social division of the Armenian nobility was occupied by bdeshkhs. Bdeshkh was a ruler of a big borderland province of historical Great Armenia. They were de facto viceroys and by their privileges were very close to the king. Bdeshkhs had their own armies, taxation and duties system, and could even produce their own coins.

The third layer of the Armenian aristocracy after the king and the bdeshkhs was composed by ishkhans, i.e. princes. Ishkhan normally would have a hereditary estate known as hayreniq and residence caste - dastakert. Armenian princely houses (or clans) were headed by tanuter. By its meaning the word tun (house) is very close to tohm (clan). Accordingly, tanuter meant "houselord" or "lord of the clan".

Organizationally, the Armenian nobility was headed by Grand Duke - metz ishxan or ishxanac ishxan in Armenian, who in some historical chronicles is also called metzametz. He was the marshal of Armenian nobility and had special privileges and duties. For example, in case of king's death and if there was no inheriting sepuh (crown prince), it was the grand duke who would temporarily take the responsibilities and perform the duties of the king until the issues of succession to the throne are resolved. In reality, however, the successions to the throne would be arranged in advance or would be resolved in the course of feuds and intestine strives.

Thus, the social pyramid of the nobility of Great Armenia includes the following layers:

  • Arqa (king)
  • Bdeshkh (viceroy)
  • Ishkhanats ishkhan (grand duke)
  • Ishkhan (prince)

This division, however, reflects the specific tradition of Great Armenia in its early period in history. Naturally, in time the social structure of nobility was undergoing changes that would the specifics of Armenian territories, historical era, and the specifics social relations. For example, in medieval times the names and composition of the nobility of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (Kilikia) underwent certain changes:

Great Armenia

  • Arqa
  • Bdeshkh
  • Ishkhanats Ishkhan (or Metz Ishkhan)
  • Ishkhan

Cilician Armenia

  • Tagavor or Inqnakal
  • Bdeshkh
  • Paronats Paron (or Metz Paron)
  • Paron

Cilician Armenia adopted many peculiarities of west European classification of the nobility, such as paron (deriving from "baron"), ter or sinyor (senior), berdater (castle lord) etc. Besides, in Cilicia emerged Armenian knighthood which was also considered to be part of the nobility despite the fact that knights themselves - called dziawor и hetzelwor - did not always originate from parons.

Some other features also suffered changes. For example, whereas the salutation for the noblemen in Great Armenia was tiar or ter, in Cilician Armenia a new form of salutation was added to these, namely paron. The latter became the most popular form of greeting and gradually changed its meaning to the equivalent of "mister" in modern Armenian.

In late mediaeval Armenia and in the new age a variety of nobility titles existed in different nahangs (provinces) of the country. For example, in Artsakh of the Khamsa period (i.e. period of "five principalities") the title of ishkhan (prince) was used in its local equivalent - that of melik (a 'devaluated' Arabic word for king). Below melik - or sometimes in parallel with it - was the title of yuzbashi (from? the Turkish officer rank, literally "lord of the hundred" warriors).

With the annexation of eastern Armenia - i.e. Karabakh, Yerevan, Nakhichevan and Kars provinces - into the Russian Empire the titles, traditions and social institutions of the Russian nobility become dominant among the Armenian aristocrats as they were integrated into the imperial nobility Russian (rather western) style.

Read more about this topic:  Armenian Nobility, The Institutions and Structure of The Armenian Nobility

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