Khachen (Haterk)

Who he is

Name

Vakhtang, son of Hasan of Haterk

Title

Prince (ishkhan) of Khachen, lord of Haterk and Upper Khachen

Since

1182, when his father Hasan (Hasan the Great) left an inscription at Dadivank and retired there as a monk

Born

Not pinned

Family

Son of Hasan of Haterk (Hasan the Great). Brothers Grigor (Grigor the Black, who received the northern share of the inheritance per Hewsen), Grigoris, Khoydan and Vasak (Kirakos). Wife Arzu Khatun, daughter of the prince Kurd and sister of Davit and Sadun (Kirakos); in 1214 she builds the main church of Dadivank in memory of her husband and her sons Hasan and Grigor. Hasan-Jalal, prince from 1214, is called son of Vakhtang (Tangik) by Khorishah, daughter of Sargis Mkhargrdzeli and sister of Zakare and Ivane; whether this is the same Vakhtang (with two wives) is not settled.

Confidence

medium

Kirakos names Vakhtang of Khachen, lord of Haterk, with his brothers among the patrons who helped Mkhitar Gosh finish the church of Nor Getik (Goshavank), dated 1191 (Wikipedia 'Haterk').

Overlord

Not pinned: the princes of Khachen sit inside the atabeg's Arran and owe him tribute when he can take it; the marriage of Vakhtang (or his namesake) to Khorishah ties the house to the Zakarid brothers, who are not yet their overlords.

What it holds

• Haterk and Upper Khachen on the left bank of the Tartar, with Dadivank
• Through kin: the branches of Tsar (upper Tartar) and Khokhanaberd (the Khachen river, where Gandzasar is later built); their lords on 1 January 1200 are not pinned

How it was acquired

Hereditary in the line of Hasan the Great; divided among his sons in 1182.

Allies and rivals

Kin by marriage of the Mkhargrdzeli brothers and of the house of Kurd; patrons of Mkhitar Gosh. Under the atabeg's eye from Ganja.

How things stand that morning

Vakhtang holds Haterk; the other branches hold Tsar and Khokhanaberd. The atabeg's governors hold the plain below.

Wealth

Mountain pastures, villages and forests; the monasteries' estates.

Military

Mountain castles (Khokhanaberd, Jraberd and others); no figures.

Threats

• The atabeg's demands for tribute
• Turkmen grazing in the lowlands

Places of note

• Dadivank: The house's monastery and burial place; Hasan's inscription of 1182; Arzu Khatun's cathedral of 1214 (later)
• Gandzasar: Site of Hasan-Jalal's later church (1216-38) near Khokhanaberd

Where the sources disagree

• Hewsen (via Wikipedia) has Hasan I split his land in 1182 between Vakhtang II 'Tangik' (the southern half, most of Khachen) and Grigor the Black (the northern half); the Wikipedia 'Haterk' page and Kirakos speak of Vakhtang lord of Haterk with brothers Grigor, Grigoris, Khoydan and Vasak, married to Arzu Khatun. The Tangik who married Khorishah Zakarian may be the same man or a namesake.

Evidence: Inscriptions (Dadivank 1182 and 1214) and Kirakos are good; the division among the branches and the overlordship in 1200 are not pinned.

On the map: The three branches are drawn as rough blocks; the boundaries between them are not recorded.

Primary sources for Eldiguzids

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
• History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
• The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
• The Historical Compilation of Vardan Areveltsi, Vardan Areveltsi (about 1267 to 1271). A short universal history that for the 12th and 13th centuries follows Samuel of Ani, Michael the Syrian (which Vardan helped translate into Armenian in 1248) and Kirakos. Read online
• Comfort of Hearts and Sign of Joy: a History of the Seljuks, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rawandi (Ravandi) (1203 to 1204, dedicated to Kaykhusraw I of Rum). A history of the Great Seljuks from their origins to the death of the last sultan Toghril III in 1194, begun at Hamadan and finished for Kaykhusraw of Rum when the author moved to Anatolia. Read online
• History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. Read online
• Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online