The Mongol System of Government in Transcaucasia in the middle of the 13th Century
https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2025-1-8-20
Abstract
Introduction. This article analyzes major events in Transcaucasia's socio-economic or political history after the Mongol conquest, which had a crucial impact on the subsequent historical developments of this region. Materials and methods. The article employed historical-critical, historical-comparative, and analytical methodologies to analyze often contradictory and fragmented information in medieval sources. Results. Being interested in effective socio-economic exploitation of the region, the Great Khaans sought to make changes in the military-feudal elite squad that had formed in Transcaucasia and Iran after the Mongol conquest and to remove civil and financial powers from this elite. Arghun Aqa came to Iran or Transcaucasia as Güyük Khan's representative for neutralizing the resistance of the group led by Baiju Noyan and conducted a census in 1254 to establish taxation norms. These regional governance changes in Iran and Transcaucasia sparked a fierce conflict between the Great Khaans along with Batu Khan, who led the Ulus of Jochi to claim authority over the region. This stage of the struggle between the Great Khaans and the Ulus of Jochi resulted in compromise. The basqaq, a representative of Batu Khan, was to collect part of the taxes from Transcaucasia. The Georgian-Armenian feudal nobility of Transcaucasia was also drawn into the struggle between these two factions of the Mongol elite. Seeking to preserve their privileges, they aligned themselves with one or the other of the aforementioned warring parties.
About the Authors
Lernik A. Mkrtumyan
Armenian State University of Economics (128, Nalbandyan St., 0025 Yerevan, Republic of Armenia)
Armenia
Armenia
Cand. Sc. (History), Associate Professor
Artak V. Maghalyan
National Academy of Sciences, Institute of History and the (24g, Marshal Baghramian Av., 0019 Yerevan, Republic of Armenia)
Mesrop Mashtots Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (53, Mashtots Av., 0019 Yerevan, Republic of Armenia)
Armenia
Armenia
Cand. Sc. (History), Research Associate
References
1. Sources
2. General History of Vardan the Great. N. Emin (trans). M: Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages, 1861. 218 p. (In Russ.)
3. Gandzaketsi Kirakos. History of Armenia. L. Khanlaryan (trans., pref., comm.) M: Nauka, 1976. 357 p. (In Russ.)
4. Ala ad-Din Ata Malik Juvayni. Genghis Khan: the History of the World Conqueror. M.: Magister-press, 2004. 700 p. (In Russ.)
5. Kartlis Tskhovreba. Tbilisi: Ardanudji, 2008. 454 p. (In Russ.)
6. Ioan de Plano Carpini. History of the Mongols. M: Vostochnaya Literatura, 2022. 383 p. (In Russ.)
7. History of the Mongols by the Monk Magakia of the 13th century. K. Patkanov (trans. and expl.). St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1871.106 p. (In Russ.)
8. History of the Province of Sisakan, Stepanos Orbelyan, Archbishop of Syunik (comp.). Tiflis: ed. Aganyan. 1910. 619 p. (In ancient Armenian language)
9. Rashid ad-Din. Compendium of Chronicles. Vol. 3. M.; L.: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1946. 340 p. (In Russ.)
10. Rashid ad-Din. Compendium of Chronicles. Vol. 1 Book 1. M., L.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1952. 222 p. (In Russ.)
11. Corpus of Armenian Inscriptions, Vayotc Dzor. S. Barkhudaryan (comp.). No. 3. Yerevan: Academy of Sciences of the Arm SSR, 1967. 428 p. (In Arm.)
12. Corpus of Armenian Inscriptions. Artsakh. S. Barkhudaryan (comp.). No. 4. Yerevan: Academy of Sciences of the Arm SSR, 1982. 347 p. (In Arm.)
13. The Secret History of the Mongols. Frencis Woodman Cleaves (comm.). London: Harvard-Yenching Institute, 1982. 279 p. (In Eng.)
14. References
15. Babayan L. H. The Social-Economic and Political History of Armenia in the 13th–14th Centuries. Yerevan: Haypethrat, 1964. 598 p. (In Arm.)
16. Bartold V. V. Works on the history and philology of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples. Vol. V. Moscow: Nauka, 1968. 759 p. (In Russ.).
17. Grigoryan G. M. Historical Sketches on the History of Syunik in the 9th–15th Centuries. Yerevan: Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, 1990. 391 p. (In Russ.)
18. History of Georgia from Ancient Times to the 60s of the 20th Century. Tbilisi: Educational and Pedagogical Literature, 1962. 254 p. (In Russ)
19. Manandyan Ya. A. Works. Vol. 3. Yerevan: Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, 1977. 507 p. (In Arm.)
20. Manandyan Ya. A. Works. Vol. 4. Yerevan: Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, 1981. 519 p. (In Arm.)
21. Maslova S. A. The Mongol Administration of the Conquered Lands: Darucas and Basqaqs. Istoricheskyi Vestnik. 2014. Vol. 10. Pp. 80–109. (In Russ.)
22. Melikset-Bek L. M. Georgian Sources on Armenia and the Armenians. Yerevan: Melkonyan Foundation, 1936. 270 p. (In Arm.)
23. Sketches on the History of Georgia, Georgia in the 11th–15th Centuries. Vol. 3. Tbilisi: Metzniereba, 2002. 564 p. (In Russ.)
24. Pochekaev R. Yu. Batu. Khan who Was not a Khan. M: Eurasia, 2006. 351 p. (In Russ.)
25. Tiesenhausen V. G. Collection of Materials Relating to the History of the Golden Horde, based on Arab Sources. Vol. 2. St. Petersburg: Stroganov Publishing House, 1884. 564 p. (In Russ.)
26. Tiesenhausen V. G. Collection of Materials Relating to the History of the Golden Horde, based on Arab Sources. Vol. 2. Moscow, Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1941. 308 p. (In Russ.)
27. Shahnazaryan A. I. Power of the Vahramians under the Domination of Mongols. Herald of the Social Science. 1983. No. 12. Pp. 26–41 (In Arm.)
28. Allen W. E. A History of the Georgian People. Milton Park: Routledge, 2023. 432 p.(In Eng.)
29. Bayarsaikhan D. The Mongols and the Armenians (1220–1335). Boston: Brill’s Inner Asian Library, 2011. 288 p. (In Eng.)
30. Bennett K. The Tiflis Dirhams of Möngke Khān (Numismatic Notes and Monographs). New York: American Numismatic Society, 2020. 188 p. (In Russ.)
31. Grierson Ph. Byzantine Coinage. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1999. 76 p. (In Eng.)
32. Jakson P. The Dissolution of the Mongol Empire. Central Asiatic Journal. Vol. 22. 1978. Pp. 183–236. (In Eng.)
33. Lane G. Arghun Aqa. Mongol Bureaucrat. Iranian Studies. Vol. 32. 1999. No. 4. Pp. 459–482. (In Eng.)
34. Morgan D. Who Ran the Mongol Empire? Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 1982. Nо. 1. Pp. 127–136.
35. Ostrowsi D. The “tamma” and the Dual-Administrative Structure of the Mongol Empire. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. University of London. Vol. 61. 1998. No. 2. Pp. 262–277 (In Eng.)
Review
For citations:
Mkrtumyan L.A., Maghalyan A.V. The Mongol System of Government in Transcaucasia in the middle of the 13th Century. Mongolian Studies. 2025;17(1):8-20. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2025-1-8-20
Views:
29
Email this article 