Princes, Queens, Bishops, Sultans: Seljuks in Syunik‘ and the Rise of the Monastery of Noravank‘

The article analyzes the rise of the Noravank‘ Monastery in Vayots‘ Dzor (region of Syunik‘, Armenia) as a major holy site in the period of Seljuk incursions and conquest of Armenia in the 11th-12th centuries. This political-military context, on the one hand, caused a highly competitive, volatile, and often violent dynamics between the local Armenian nobility and the newly arrived military men in some way connected to the Seljuks. On the other hand, there were put in place strategies of accommodation and containment of violence, among them partially overlapping legal practices regarding pious foundations. I argue that the patronage and land grants to monasteries by Armenian military and religious élites were one of the strategies of resistance and accommodation to Seljuk rule, efforts to maintain the inalienability of land and control of territory, as well as a means of positioning themselves in the factional struggles at the local and/or regional level versus the Seljuk court in Isfahan. In the first part of the paper this hypothesis is tested through a detailed study of the actions and death of king Senek‘erim of Syunik‘ (1072-1094/6), his relationship to the sultan Malikshâh (1073-1092), and his endowments to the monastery of Tat‘ew that are compared to the Muslim tradition of waqf. In the second part, I look at bishop Hovhannês Kapants‘i’s efforts to establish a taxexempt status on and expand the lands belonging to the monastery of Noravank‘ with the support of the Seljuk court. This is done through the analysis of a historiola reported by the 13th-century historian Step‘anos Ôrbêlean. It details Hovhannês Kapants‘i’s voyage to Isfahan, his miraculous healing of the sultan’s son, and his use of the written record in establishing rights to land-control and its use. Hovhannês’ actions eventually led to the transformation of a local holy site to the major religious center of Noravank‘. Lastly, the article highlights the importance of élite women (Armenian or Seljuk) in situations of contested authority and legitimacy of titles, as well as their role as economic agents.