Azat (title)
Azat ( Armenian ազատ ; pl. Ազատք azatkʿ , collectively: ազատանի azatani ) was a class of Armenian nobles ; the title originally referred to the middle and lower nobility ranks in contrast to the Naxarark ʿ (Nacharar), who belonged to the high nobility. From the late Middle Ages onwards , the term and its derivatives were used for all nobles.
Concept history
The term is related to the Middle Persian āzāt-ān , "free" or "noble". This is how the lowest dignitaries were referred to in the inscriptions of Hajjiabad by King Shapur I (240-270) and there are parallels to the " Aznauri " of Georgia .
function
The azatkʿ were a class of noble landowners who were directly subordinate to the princes and the king, with the king acting as the prince of his own demesne . At the same time, they were also the noble mounted warriors, whose vassal relationship with the rulers was expressed by the fact that they were allowed to serve in the feudal cavalry of their princes, which was considered a privilege. They also had other duties. Apparently they also exercised certain sovereign functions on their own lands. Faustus of Byzantium writes that the azatkʿ also had a certain say in the great events of the state, such as the election of the Catholicos (Ամենայն Հայոց Կաթողիկոս) of the Armenian Apostolic Church . When Shapur II invaded the Kingdom of Armenia , Arshak II , his wife Pharantzem and their son, who later became King Pap , were defended by a troop of azatkʿ together with the state treasure in the fortress Artogerassa .
The similarities with the medieval western knights were highlighted during the Crusades , where the two cultures, Armenian and Frankish, coexisted. This is why the Armeno-Cilician canon of law by Constable Smbat Sparapet (after 1275) uses the previous description for azat , an Armenian adaptation of the term "Chevalier" (knight).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c M. L. Chaumont, Cyril Toumanoff: AÚZAÚD . Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition.
- ^ Noel Lenski: Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century AD University of California Press 2003: 170. ISBN 0-520-23332-8