Gregor Pakourianos

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Gregory Pakourianos ( Greek Γρηγόριος Πακουριανός , Armenian Գրիգոր Բակուրյան , Grigor Bakurian, Georgian გრიგორი ბაკურიანი , Bulgarian Григорий Бакуриани , † 1086 ), was a politician and military commander of Armenian-Georgian origin in Byzantine services. He is primarily known as the founder of the Georgian Orthodox Batschkowo Monastery in Bulgaria and as the author of a statute (Typikon).

Life

Gregor Pakourianos was born as the son of a well-known aristocratic family in the Tao / Tayk area, which had been annexed by Byzantium as the subject of Iberia since 1001 . He had been in military service since at least the early 1060s and served in the Byzantine-controlled Georgian, Armenian, and Syrian territories and the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. He took part in the unsuccessful defense of Ani against the Seljuks leader Alp Arslan in 1064. He later served under Michael VII Doukas and Nikephoros III. in various responsible positions on the eastern and western borders of the empire. Since the advance of the Seljuks forced the Byzantines to evacuate the fortresses in eastern Anatolia and the Theme Iberia, he handed the city of Kars over to the Georgian King Giorgi II in 1072/73 , but this did not prevent the invaders from conquering the city .

Later he was involved in a coup that overthrew Nikephorus III. The new emperor, Alexios I , appointed him "Megas Domestikos" (army commander in chief) of the entire west and gave him numerous other lands in the Balkans. He owned numerous estates in different parts of the empire and enjoyed a variety of privileges from the emperor, including exemption from certain taxes.

In 1081 he commanded the left flank in the battle against the Normans at Dyrrachium . A year later he ousted the Normans from Moglena, today's Greece. He died in 1086 in the Battle of Belaitoba against the Pechenegs . He is said to have stormed forward so hard that he hit a tree.

He was also known as a patron and advocate of Christian culture. Together with his brother Apasios, he made a significant donation to the Iviron monastery on Mount Athos in 1074 . In 1083 he founded the Orthodox Petritzos Monastery (today Batschkowo Monastery ) and wrote the monastery rules for it ( Typikon ). He signed in Armenian letters, not in Greek.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ André Guillou: La Civilization Byzantine . Arthaud, 1974, ISBN 2-7003-0020-3 .
  2. ^ Robert W. Edwards The Vale of Kola: A Final Preliminary Report on the Marchlands of Northeast Turkey : Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 42, 1988, p. 139
  3. ↑ "... this man was" small indeed in stature, but a mighty warrior, "[Iliad 5: 801] as the poet says, and descended from a noble Armenian family." Medieval Sourcebook: Anna Komnene : The Alexiad, Book 2, IV. Translated by Elizabeth AS Dawes, 1928. Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies, New York, 2006 [1]
  4. ^ Cyril Alexander Mango : The Oxford History of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-814098-3 , p. 12.

literature

  • Akaki Shanidze, "Au sujet du batisseur de monastere de Petritsoni Grigol Bakourianis-dze (en Bulgarie)," BK 38 (1980), 36; idem, "Le grand domestique de l'occident, Gregorii Bakurianis-dze, et le monastere georgien fonde par lui en Bulgarie," BK 28 (1971), 134;
  • Anna Komnena , “The Alexiad”, Translated by ERA Sewter, Penguin Books Ltd., London, 1969, (reprinted in 2003), p. 560.
  • Louis Petit, Typikon de Grégoire Pacourianos pour le monastère de Pétritzos (Bachkovo) en Bulgarie, original texts, Viz. Vrem., XI, Suppl. No 1, SPB 1904, pp. XXXII + 63
  • Gautier, P. Le typikon du sébaste Grégoire Pakourianos. - Revue des études byzantines, T. 42 (1984), pp. 5-145
  • Nina Garsoian. “The Byzantine Annexation of the Armenian Kingdoms in the Eleventh Century”. In: The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, vol. 1, New York, 1977, p. 192
  • Н.Я. Марр. Аркаун - монгольское название христиан…, СПб., С. 17 -31.
  • Арутюновой - Фиданян, В. А. Типик Григория Пакуриана. Введение, перевод и комментарий. Ереван, 1978, p. 249.

Web links

  • Anna Comnena. “The Alexiad”, Translated by ERA Sewter, Penguin Books Ltd., London, 1969, (reprinted in 2003), p. 560. Online [2]
personal data
SURNAME Gregor Pakourianos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Γρηγόριος Πακουριανός (Greek); Գրիգոր Բակուրյան (Armenian); Григорий Бакуриани (Bulgarian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Armenian-Georgian politician and military commander
DATE OF BIRTH 11th century
DATE OF DEATH 1086