Melik

Melik

Мelik (Armenian: Մելիք melikʿ, Georgian: მელიქი meliki (prince), from Arabic: ملك‎ malik (king)) was a hereditary Armenian noble title, in various Eastern Armenian principalities known as melikdoms encompassing modern Yerevan, Kars, Nakhchivan, Sevan, Lori, Artsakh, Tabriz and Syunik starting from the Late Middle Ages until the end of the nineteenth century. After the invasions of the Seljuk Turks, Persians and Mongols, these families saw themselves as holding onto the last bastion of Armenian independence in the region.

The realm of the meliks was almost always semi-independent and often fully independent, they had their own court, known as a darpas, army, castles and military fortifications known as skhnakhi, carried out justice in the form of trials and collected tax. The relationship between meliks and their subordinates was that of a military commanding officer and junior officer, and not of feudal lord and a serf. Peasants were not allowed to own land, but otherwise were free and owned property. Meliks preserved their rights and privileges after Eastern Armenia became part of the Russian Empire, many of them, especially meliks from Karabakh became Russian generals.