Downloaded from Brill.Com09/26/2021 09:26:45PM Via Free Access 238 Appendix 1

Appendix 1 The Role of the Armenians in the Russian Move into the South Caucasus

After the mid-eleventh century the Armenians had no secular rulers in their historic homeland. Their Muslim overlords, therefore, had to deal with Armenian religious leaders as the representatives of their people. Thus, both the Safavid shahs1 and the Ottoman sultans2 viewed the supreme patriarch, or Catholicos, who resided at the Holy See of Ejmiatsin, as the khalifeh, or caliph, of the Armenian people. During his campaign which removed the South Caucasus from Ottoman control, Shah ʿAbbas I learned that the Armenians of Julfa, a town on the left bank of the Aras River, previously in Ottoman hands, had amassed their wealth by exporting Iranian silk to Europe. Hearing that the Ottomans had sent a large force against him, the Shah forcibly removed the population of numerous Armenian villages in Nakhjavan and Yerevan across the Aras River into the interior. He also ordered the entire 2,000 house- holds of the town of Julfa to be relocated in three days’ time to Iran.3 In the winter of 1605 he settled the Julfans across the Zayandeh River, from his capital, Esfahan.4 Following this campaign, the Shah also rewarded the Armenian meliks, or petty nobles of the five mahals or districts in mountainous Qarabagh5 who had resisted the

1 For example, see Shah Tahmasp’s decree in MA, folder, 1a, doc. 12; see also Shah Abbas’ decrees, MA, folder 1a, docs. 34, 37, 39; Shah Safi’s decree in ibid., doc. 49; Shah Abbas II’s decree in ibid., doc. 68. 2 For a list of Ottoman decrees, see Simeon of Erevan, Jambr, G. Bournoutian, trans. (Costa Mesa, 2009), 373–391. The Ottomans had established the millet system for their non-Muslim subjects. For details, see B. Ye’or, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam (Rutherford, 1985). 3 Arakel of Tabriz, Book of History, G. Bournoutian, trans. (Costa Mesa, 2010), 71–79. 4 Such transfer of populations was done primarily to reduce the economic well-being of the enemy and to increase one’s own tax base. Catherine the Great transferred thousands of Armenians from the Crimea to the Don Region, while ʿAbbas Mirza also ordered the transfer of the Jebra‌ʾilu tribe in Qarabagh to Qaradagh. See Chapters 1 and 6. It is important to add that some 200 years later, the Russians encouraged the descendants of the Armenians, who had settled in Azarbayjan, to repatriate to Yerevan and Nakhjavan. 5 The five mahals were collectively known as the khamseh (see map 5). The first mahal was Dizak [Dizaq], which belonged to the Avanean family, who had fled Lori and Somkheti and had arrived in Qarabagh ca. 1535. In the 18th century, Melik Yegan Avanean joined Nader Shah in his siege of Ganjeh and was rewarded by the Shah, see Mohammad Kazem Marvi, ʿAlam-aray-e Naderi, I (Tehran, 1991), 410. The second mahal was Varanda [Varandeh] whose meliks came from the Shahnazean family. Originally from the settlement of Mazraʿ in the

Ottomans, by granting them jurisdiction over their Armenian subjects.6 Shah ʿAbbas and his successors also recognized the patriarch at Gandzasar in Qarabagh as having authority over his flock in Ganjeh and Qarabagh. The Shah’s relatively benign policy toward the resettled Julfans bore fruit and the new town prospered and became an Armenian enclave under royal protection known as New Julfa. The main item of trade was raw silk, which, in 1619, had become a royal monopoly, and the bulk of which was transported through the Ottoman Empire. Several decades later, groups of Armenian merchants from New Julfa had established a global trading network of agents between Asia and Europe.7 One of the routes went from Tabriz to Bursa or Smyrna;8 another took silk from Gilan and Shirvan to Bursa,

Lake Sevan region they had offered Shah ʿAbbas hospitality and had been rewarded with the title of beg. Eskandar Monshi mentions a Melik Shahnazar as an officer in charge of reserve troops, AA, II, 885. The third mahal, the largest, was Khachen [Khachin] whose meliks came from the Hasan-Jalalean clan. They claimed to be a branch of the royal house of Siunik. The fourth mahal was Chraberd/Jraberd [Chalehberd] whose meliks came from the Haikazean-Israyelean house. They built a fort in Jermuk and Chraberd and one of their family members, Melik Allah Qoli, helped Nader in his war with the Ottomans and was duly rewarded, Mirza Mohammad Mehdi Kowkabi Astarabadi, Tarikh-e Jahan-gosha (Tehran, 1991), 246–254. The fifth mahal was Golestan (also known as Talesh), whose founder, Melik Abov, belonged to the Beglarean clan from Shirvan. For more details, see Karabag-name, 159–164 and Javanshir, 50–62. See also Akty, I doc. 874. 6 MA, folder 2a, docs. 25a, 27. 7 For the most comprehensive and accurate account of this trade network, see Sebouh Aslanian, From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean: The Global Networks of Armenian merchants from New Julfa (Berkeley, 2011). According to a newly published primary source in Persian, Shah ʿAbbas, in the year 1028 AH (1619), sent an order to the viziers and kalantars of Gilan, Shirvan, Ganjeh, Qarabagh, Nakhjavan, as well as the governors of Tabriz and Ardabil, which forbade anyone but Armenian merchants from buying or selling silk. The bulk of the silk trade was handed to Khoja Safar and Khoja Safar of New Julfa; see Afzal al-Tavarikh, II, 782. Aslanian, citing Pietro della Valle, notes that the Armenians had gained the right in a public auction conducted by ʿAbbas, Aslanian, 38. Although Shah Safi (r. 1629–1642) permitted Europeans to export silk as well, they were not able to compete with this Armenian global network, Aslanian, 2. 8 The journal of an Armenian merchant from Agulis (in Nakhjavan) describes the route in detail. His caravan, containing silk from Esfahan, Kashan and Tabriz, went through Yerevan, Erzurum, Tokat, Amasya, Çorum, Kayseri, Afyon [Afyonkarahisar] to Smyrna. After that the wares were taken by ship to Venice and from there by land to Amsterdam. The return journey from Amsterdam to Smyrna was by sea. It went through Cadiz, Malaga, Alicante and Livorno. See Zak’aria of Agulis, The Journal of Zak’aria of Agulis, G. Bournoutian, trans. (Costa Mesa, 2003), maps 1–5.

George A. Bournoutian - 9789004445161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 09:26:45PM via free access The Armenians and the Russian Move into the South Caucasus 239 via Tiflis, Kars, Erzurum, Sivas, Tokat and Angora [Ankara].9 The most frequently-used route was through Baghdad and the Levant traversing through Aleppo.10 Taking advantage of peaceful relations between Iran and Russia,11 the Armenian merchants sent a representative with various offerings, including the famed “Diamond Throne” to Tsar Alexei, hoping to obtain transit rights for their goods through Russia.12 Several years later, in May 1667, they obtained a trade convention that had long evaded the English and Dutch traders;13 mainly, the sole right to transport silk via the Caspian Sea to Astrakhan and then to Moscow.14 From there they could take their goods to Archangel (via Yaroslavl) or to the Swedish port of Narva (via Tver and Novgorod).15 Although the Armenians had promised to transport 4,000 bales16 of raw silk via Astrakhan, paying a minimum of five kopeks17 per pud in duty to the Tsar’s treasury, the actual volume ended up being far less. In February 1673, following continued Russian threats to cancel the silk trade agreement, the Armenian merchants signed a new agreement. Their representatives took an oath on the Bible promising that

9 R. Matthee, The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 1600–1730 (Cambridge, 1999), maps 2 and 5. 10 Ibid. maps 3 and 5. For more details, see W. Floor, The Economy of Safavid Persia (Wiesbaden, 2000). 11 An agreement was concluded between Tsar Alexei Romanov and Shah ʿAbbas II. 12 The gifts had arrived in Astrakhan on August 7, 1659. They included 15 flasks of Shiraz wine, 3 flagons of aromatic vodka, 4 flagons of rose-flavored vodka, a bottle of orange- flavored vodka, eastern perfumes, Indian sugared ginger and other exotic fruits. The throne, which was presented on March 28, 1660, was valued by the royal gold and sil- versmiths to be worth 22,943 rubles, 6 altyns (18 kopeks) and 3 dengi (1.5 kopeks). The multi-folio document is located at RGADA, fond: 100, opis: 1; delo: b, ff. 1–4, 21–34, 36–37. For a partial English translation, see Bournoutian, Armenians and Russia, doc. 5. Another source estimates the value to have been 24,443 rubles, SAAN, II, 287. 13 Although between 1618 and 1626 Shah ʿAbbas had received three Russian embassies with trade proposals, no concrete agreement had emerged. For the English and Dutch efforts, see CHI, VI, 459–465. 14 SAAN, I, 3. 15 The agreement is located in RGADA, fond 100, opis: 1, delo: 1–4, ff. 1–35. For a partial English translation, see Armenians and Russia, doc. 10. The route is illustrated in Matthee, map 4. 16 Each bale weighed just over 200 lbs. Estimates of the amount of silk produced in Iran varied widely; see R. Matthee, pp. 39–43. For more details on the silk trade, see W. Floor, “The Dutch and the Persian Silk Trade,” C. Melville, ed. Safavid Persia (London, 1996), 323–368. 17 The duty varied according to quality of silk, the highest quality (sharbafi) sold for 45 tomans per batman (weighing just over 12 lbs.), while the lowest (kharvari/legia) sold for 28.8 tomans; Matthee, 38. Each toman was worth 50 ʿabbasi and each ʿabbasi was worth 200 dinars. The value of Iranian currency varied depending on the period, see Edmund Herzig, “The Armenian Merchants of New Julfa, Esfahan: A study in pre-modern Asian trade,” (PhD. Diss. Oxford, 1991), 438–440; see also R. Matthee, W. Floor and P. Clawson, The Monetary History of Safavid, Afsharid and Qajar Iran (London, 2013).

George A. Bournoutian - 9789004445161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 09:26:45PM via free access 240 Appendix 1 thereafter they would transport all their silk via Russia, provided that the Russians would deduct their transport losses from the duty agreed upon in the 1667 treaty and would safeguard the route from Astrakhan to Moscow.18 Despite such promises, the bulk of Iranian silk and Indian cloth, for reasons of safety and climate, continued to be transported over land via Aleppo, Bursa and Smyrna.19 The decline of the Safavid dynasty, which had begun in the last years of Shah Soleiman (r. 1666–1694), intensified during the reign of the docile Shah Soltan-Hosein (r. 1694–1722). The latter, who had fallen under the influence of zealous Shiʿi mullahs, soon demanded the conversion of the Georgian regent, Wakhtang,20 and permitted the Iranian officials to persecute his Armenian subjects. In addition, unsafe roads and extortions forced a number of wealthy Armenian merchants to emigrate from New Julfa to India, Russia and Venice, while some Armenians sought the protection of European missionaries and diplomats by converting to Catholicism.21 The weakening of central authority in Iran affected the Armenians living in the South Caucasus as well.22 In the summer of 1677 Catholicos Hakob,23 together with a number of meliks of Qarabagh, met secretly at the Holy See of Ejmiatsin in order to form a delegation and seek aid from Christian Europe. The delegation reached as far as Constantinople in 1680, when Hakob died and the mission was abandoned. However, one young man, Israyel Ori, who had accompanied the delegation and who belonged to the Proshean

18 RGADA, fond 100, opis 1, delo 3, ff. 12–15; see also Armenians and Russia, doc. 20. 19 There were several reasons for this. Immediately after the trade convention, Moscow had to face the four-year long uprising by Stepan Razin, a Don Cossack, who, with his Cossack followers, raided and plundered settlements along the Volga River and the Caspian Sea, thus halting much of the proposed trade. The main obstacles, which remained even after Razin’s execution, were the type of vessels used by the Armenian merchants on the Caspian. These could not survive storms and resulted in damage or loss of the merchandize. Moreover, the lack of Russian ports on the Caspian and the Baltic, the freezing of the Volga in winter, the extortion and carelessness on the part of Russian officials along the Volga, and the occasional pirate attacks from the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea also discouraged the Armenians from transporting their wares via Russia. 20 Wakhtang VI acted as regent during the second reign of Giorgi XI (1709–1711). During that time, he revised the legal code, which became known as Wakhtang’s code. In 1712 he went to Esfahan to be confirmed as the new vali of Georgia. When Shah Soltan Hoseyn insisted that he convert to Islam, Wakhtang refused and was kept in Esfahan until 1719. After that he outwardly accepted Islam, took the name of Hoseyn Qoli Khan and returned to Kartli as the vali, Lang, 104–109. Wakhtang would play a decisive role in the fall of the Safavids and Peter’s invasion of Iran, see Chapter 1. 21 Father Thaddeus Krusinski, the procurator of the Jesuits in Esfahan, has left a vivid account of the decline of Iran and the treatment of the Armenians in Esfahan, Ganjeh and Agulis in Nakhjavan, see The History of the Revolutions of Persia, 2 vols. (London, 1733), II, 44–47. 22 Ibid., I, 109–112. 23 Hakob of [New] Julfa (1655–1680).

George A. Bournoutian - 9789004445161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 09:26:45PM via free access The Armenians and the Russian Move into the South Caucasus 241 meliks of Siunik,24 went on to Europe where he served as a soldier in a number of European armies, while seeking the aid of European rulers to free his people from Muslim rule.25 After an absence of almost two decades Israyel Ori returned home. He found no backing for his plan from the new Catholicos at Ejmiatsin, Nahapet of Edessa (1691–1705), who had regained his throne thanks to the Safavid shah and who, therefore, did not wish to alienate the Iranians.26 Ori then went to Qarabagh, where he found support from a number of meliks and high-ranking clergymen.27 In April 1699, Ori and eleven Qarabaghi meliks met in the village of Angeghakot in Siunik. The meliks agreed to send Ori back to Europe and gave him documents affirming their readiness to accept a European prince as the ruler of Armenia. Some, but not all, even discussed the possibility of a rapprochement with the Latin Church. They also signed a petition addressed to Peter the Great, which introduced Ori and begged the Russian ruler to assist Ori in his mission.28 In the meantime, as the Armenian population in Russia continued to increase in size and wealth, thanks to the trading activities of the Armenian merchants of New Julfa, the two Armenian religious leaders in the South Caucasus, that is, the catholicoi at Ejmiatsin and Gandzasar began to vie for jurisdiction over the Armenians resid- ing in Russia in order to collect their lucrative donations and dues. Each Catholicos had sent a letter to Tsar Alexei (r. 1645–1676) representing himself as the leader of the Armenians.29 Peter’s later correspondence with the meliks of Qarabagh and the more cautious attitude of the religious hierarchy at Ejmiatsin, prompted Catholicos Esayi of Gandzasar to inform the Armenians of Astrakhan and Moscow that he and not the Catholicos at Ejmiatsin was responsible for their welfare.30 Esayi sent his own prelate to Russia, who convinced Russian officials that Ejmiatsin was loyal to Iran. Despite all

24 He was born in the region of Qapan. 25 The “Armenian liberation movement,” led by Ori and other well-meaning but politically naïve individuals throughout the 18th century, has been a subject of a number of books; for example, see A. Hovhannisyan, Drvagner hay azatagrakan mtki patmutyan, 2 vols. (Yerevan, 1957–1959). 26 K. Maksoudian, Chosen of God (New York, 1995), 87, Simeon of Erevan, Jambr, G. Bournoutian, trans. (Costa Mesa, 2009), 169–176. 27 It is important to note that although the Holy See at Gandzasar had, in the 16th century, become subordinate to Ejmiatsin, some of its catholicoi, continued to challenge Ejmiatsin’s authority by claiming jurisdiction over the Armenians living in Qarabagh and Shirvan (see below). 28 Ezov, docs. 5–8. English translation in Armenians and Russia, doc. 40. 29 Petros of Gandzasar’s letter in Armenian, dated December 2, 1672, is in RGADA, fond: 100, opis 1; delo: 3, ff. 4–5. Hakob of Julfa’s letter (in Latin), written in 1673 is in ibid., delo: 2, ff. 5–6. 30 Ibid. fond 100, delo: 3, f. 237.

George A. Bournoutian - 9789004445161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 09:26:45PM via free access 242 Appendix 1 the efforts of the Holy See at Ejmiatsin, Peter and his immediate successors recognized Gandzasar’s prelate as the spokesman for the Russian Armenians. Meanwhile, Ori, accompanied by Vardapet Minas Tigraneants of the St. Hakob Monastery and four other men, went to Bavaria and then sought the aid of Emperor Leopold I. The latter pointed out, however, that in order to liberate Armenia, the European army had to march through Russia. He advised Ori to first gain Peter’s agreement for such a plan and gave him letters to the Russian ruler and the meliks.31 Upon arriving in Moscow, Ori and Vardapet Minas handed Leopold’s letter to Peter’s chancellor, Fyodor Golovin,32 and awaited his response. Ori also sent a plea to Peter himself asking the Russian ruler to liberate Armenia from Muslim tyranny.33 Realizing the infeasibility of a European army traveling all the way to the South Caucasus, Ori, in his petition to Peter, dated August, 6, 1701, proposed an 18-point plan by which armed Armenians and Georgians would join Russian troops and, together, would place their lands under Russian suzerainty. The plan called for a 25,000-man Russian army, com- posed of 15,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantrymen, with field artillery, which would secretly move southward in the autumn of 1701. The Russian force would be divided into two groups. The first, consisting of 5,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantrymen, would march to Niyazabad [Nizavoi]34 and from there seize Shamakhi, where they would be met by Armenian volunteers. From there the army would split into four groups and move into Ganjeh, Lori, Qapan and Nakhjavan, where they would be joined by over 100,000 armed Armenians from the seventeen Armenian districts in the South Caucasus. The local Armenians would supply all the necessary provisions, including horses. The four groups would then assemble in Nakhjavan, in order to block any Iranian troops crossing the Aras from the Julfa landing and, after that, they would take the fortress of Yerevan, the key Iranian bastion in Armenia and add the local Armenian population to their ranks. The remaining 15,000 men would go to Georgia via the Darial Gorge and join the 30,000-man Georgian army. He concluded that the Russian troops could eas- ily take Tabriz and Gilan, since the Georgians and Armenians in the shah’s army would not fight against their own people.35 Peter, who had just started his Great Northern War against Sweden, assured Ori and Minas that after the conclusion of that war he would embark on his expedition to

31 Ezov, docs. 14–17. 32 Ibid. doc. 32 (dated July 22, 1701). 33 Ibid. docs. 35–36. English translation in Armenians and Russia, doc. 46. 34 The Russian version appears as Nizavoi. The port, located south of Darband (see map 6) had played an important economic role from the time of Shah Tahmasp I, but had lost its significance with the decline of the Safavids. 35 Ori, who had not given up on the West, returned to Europe in 1704 and even asked the as- sistance of Pope Clement XI. In 1706, a discouraged Ori returned to Russia and placed all his hopes in Peter. For the complete text, see Ezov. doc. 43.

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Niyazabad.36 The Russian officials also told Ori that the Armenians should study the terrain and prepare to take part in this future campaign. Ori and Minas informed the meliks, who, on June 7, 1703, sent a letter to Peter in which they promised full cooperation and added that they were able to provide provisions for an army of 300,000 men.37 In June 1707, in order to gain further intelligence, Peter, whose envoy had been re- buffed in Esfahan,38 decided to send Ori to Esfahan. He hoped that as an Armenian who was familiar with the terrain, languages and customs of Iran, Ori would not only gather important information, but would also contact Iran’s Armenian leaders and evaluate their attitude toward Russia. Ori, together with fifty men, traveled to Esfahan via Astrakhan, Shamakhi, Qarabagh, Ejmiatsin and Tabriz, that is, precisely the route of his proposed Russian invasion. After meeting with various Armenian leaders in the South Caucasus and Azarbayjan, Ori arrived in Esfahan in 1708. The Iranian officials did not trust Ori, while the Catholic missionaries and European merchants felt his purpose was to increase Russian influence in the capital.39 In the end, Ori used his po- sition to enrich himself and some of his companions by importing a great quantity of merchandize to Iran without paying any duty,40 as well as personally exporting Iranian goods, duty free, to Astrakhan.41 Ori died upon his return to Astrakhan in 1711, and was buried at the Armenian church in that city. His work was continued by Minas Vardapet, who, in 1716, was named as the Prelate of the Armenians in Russia by Catholicos Esayi Hasan-Jalalean (1701–1728) of the Holy See at Gandzasar.42 Minas accompanied Peter on his 1722–1723 campaign, but after Peter’s retreat and his treaty with the Ottomans, he remained in Russia as the Armenian Prelate from Gandzasar. After the expulsion of the Ottoman from the South Caucasus, Nader rewarded the support demonstrated by

36 For the text see Ezov. doc. 59 (dated March 1702). 37 Ibid. doc. 98. Partial English translation in Armenians and Russia, doc. 53. Such exaggerated numbers made Peter doubt the Armenian claims. 38 Bushev, 101, 120–121. 39 Lockhart, 63–65. 40 Krusinski, I, 173–175. 41 For a complete list of the merchandize, including silk, cotton goods, carpets, cloth, veils, shawls, muslin and sashes, see Armenians and Russia, doc. 69. Ori had also purchased twenty horses for Peter, which he brought to Astrakhan, ibid. doc. 70. 42 After his appointment, the rift between the two holy sees assumed a more serious char- acter. Minas, who had the ear of the Russians, accused Bishop Hovakim, the Armenian prelate from Ejmiatsin, of being an Iranian spy and had him arrested. Hovakim died in a Kazan jail and Peter and his immediate successors viewed Gandzasar as the sole representatives of the Armenians in Russia and the South Caucasus. Since, until the reign of Catherine the Great, the catholicoi at Ejmiatsin were under the control of either Iran or the Ottoman Empire, Gandzasar and its prelates continued to have the ear of the Russian officials. For more details, see G. Bournoutian, “The Armenian Church and Czarist Russia,” Between Paris and Fresno: Armenian Studies in Honor of Dickran Kouymjian (Costa Mesa, 2008), 431–436.

George A. Bournoutian - 9789004445161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 09:26:45PM via free access 244 Appendix 1 the Armenians of Yerevan and Ejmiatsin.43 He also issued decrees rewarding the anti- Ottoman activities of a number of Qarabaghi meliks and reaffirming their autonomy.44 Empress Elisabeth’s russification policy, however, halted the construction of new Armenian churches, sought to reduce the Armenian squadrons and encouraged the Armenian troops to convert to the Orthodox faith.45 The reign of Catherine the Great saw a revival of Russia’s contacts with both the Armenians and Georgians. Several individual Armenians once more sought to obtain Russian aid to free their land from Muslim rule. The first among them was Joseph (Hovsep) Emin. Emin was born in Iran, but had moved to India and then to England, where he had befriended Edmund Burke and, thanks to the sponsorship of the Duke of Northumberland, had been admitted to the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. After serving as a volunteer in the war against France, Joseph, in 1759, traveled to Ejmiatsin, via the historical Armenian lands in the Ottoman Empire. His plan was to form an Armeno-Georgian coalition against their Muslim overlords. The new Catholicos at Ejmiatsin, Hakob of Shamakhi (1759–1763) was agreeable to the plan and, in the summer of 1760, not only approached Teimuraz II46 and Erekle II of Georgia, but also sent a letter to Empress Elisabeth asking her to help the Christians of the South Caucasus.47 The Georgian and Russian monarchs, however, who were occupied with domestic issues, as well as foreign conflicts, did not respond. Having achieved little, Emin returned to London in 1761. He did not give up hope, however, and, following Ori’s example, he decided to make direct contact with Russia. On September 1, 1761 he wrote a letter to Alexander Golitsyn, the Russian ambassador to England, asking him to give him a letter of introduction to Russian officials in St. Petersburg.48 Golitsyn sent a French translation of Emin’s letter (which was written in English) to the Russian chancellor, Michael Vorontsov.49 In 1763, Emin, together with a group of Armenian volunteers from the Caucasus, arrived in Tiflis. Neither Erekle II, nor the new Catholicos at Ejmiatsin, Simeon of Yerevan (1763–1780), wished to upset the arrangements in the

43 See Nader’s decrees in MA, folder 1g, docs. 353–355, 358, 361; folder 1z, doc. 886, 976. Ejmiatsin’s rights were also confirmed by Karim Khan Zand and Aqa Mohammad Khan Qajar, see ibid., folder 1z, doc. 591; ibid., folder 1d, docs. 524, 528, 532. 44 See Nader’s decrees in MA, folder 2b, docs. 162, 181, 182, 188. 45 RGVIA, fond 796, opis 21, delo 60, ff. 63–64; fond 10, opis 2/109, delo 2, f. 548. 46 During that time Teimuraz had gone to St. Petersburg to gain Russian support for eastern Georgia. He died in January 1762 and Erekle II became the ruler of the united Kartli-Kakheti. 47 MA, folder 243, doc. 18; Russian translation in V.K. Voskanyan, ed. Armiano-Russkie otnosheniia vo vtorom tridtatiletii XVIII veka, III (Yerevan, 1978), doc. 228. 48 RGADA, fond: 1263, opis 1, delo 8177, ff. 1–2. 49 The Russian translation is in Nersisyan, Armiano-russkie otnosheniia v XVIII veke, IV (Yerevan, 1990), doc. 8.

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South Caucasus established by Karim Khan Zand.50 They also did not dare to incite the Ottomans or rupture their own relations with neighboring khans51 without a concrete guarantee and the full support of a Russian army; Emin’s project thus ended in failure.52 In 1766, the decline of the Holy See of Gandzasar, which had occurred due to the conflict between the meliks and Ebrahim Khan of Qarabagh,53 prompted Catholicos Simeon of Ejmiatsin to petition Catherine to recognize Ejmiatsin as the sole representative of the Armenians in Russia and the South Caucasus. Two years later Catherine issued a decree by which Ejmiatsin regained its authority.54 On November 12, 1770 she issued a decree that permitted the Armenians to build churches in Moscow and St. Petersburg.55 Catherine’s benevolent policy toward the Armenians in Russia enabled a number of Russian Armenian merchants, some of whom had left Iran or had settled in Astrakhan, to attain a substantial degree of economic and political power. The most important of these were the Lazarev family of Moscow, who manufactured silk (in addition to being jewelers), Movses Sarafov a merchant from Astrakhan and the Shahamirean family of Madras.56 After her war with the Ottomans (1768–1774), Catherine, in 1778, in order to un- dermine the economy of Turkish-controlled Crimea, relocated the Armenian com- munity of that region to a new settlement along the Don River, which was named New Nakhichevan (now part of Rostov-on-Don). Her wars with the Ottomans and her move to establish ties with Georgia encouraged the Catholicos at Ejmiatsin, Simeon of Yerevan, to appoint Archbishop Iosif Argutinskii (Hovsep Arghutean), a scion of the Russian princely family Argutinskii-Dolgorukii, as the prelate of the Armenians living in Russia. Argutinskii befriended Gregory Potemkin, and, in 1780, together with Ivan Lazarev, participated at a meeting organized by Potemkin concerning Russian policy

50 See Chapter 1. 51 Erekle’s relations with the khans of Qarabagh and Yerevan fluctuated between friendship and enmity, see Appendix 2. 52 Ibid., docs, 11–19, 25. In 1770, Emin returned to Calcutta, via Iran and died there in 1908. His memoires, published in London in 1792, were revised by his great-great granddaughter, Amy Apcar, and published in Calcutta in 1918 under the title Life and adventures of Joseph Emin, 1726–1809, Written by Himself. 53 See Appendix 2. 54 MA, folder 2, doc. 6, ff. 79–84 and folder 3, doc. 7a, ff. 1–3 and 5–6. See also G.A. Ezov, Nachalo snoshenii Echmiadzinskago patriarshago prestola s russkim pravitelstvom (Tiflis, 1901). 55 PSZRI, XIX, no. 13525. 56 Ibid., XVI, no. 11937; XVIII, no. 13384; XIX, no. 13464. See also Armenians and Russia, docs. 275, 292–293.

George A. Bournoutian - 9789004445161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 09:26:45PM via free access 246 Appendix 1 regarding the Armenians and other Christians in the South Caucasus. Together, they envisioned a Russian Armenian Christian enclave.57 In 1782, Iosif participated in the negotiations for the 1783 Russo-Georgian treaty. Learning of the Russo-Georgian talks, the five meliks of Qarabagh, Catholicos Hovhannes X Hasan-Jalalean of Gandzasar,58 as well as Armenian leaders in Ganjeh and Sham al-Din, informed Paul Potemkin and Archbishop Argutinskii that if the Russians marched into Qarabagh, the Armenians would supply them with wheat, barley, millet, spelt, beans, fruit, beasts of burden and armed men. They added that they had fed Nader’s 300,000-man army for three years without any problem. They promised to have 30,000 armed men ready to join the Russian campaign.59 Such exaggerated promises prompted Gregory Potemkin to write the following letter to Empress Catherine:

I have ordered General Paul Potemkin to gain the cooperation of Ebrahim Khan of Shushi.60 At the appropriate time, his province, populated by Armenians, will be ruled by the Armenians and will start the revival of Christian rule in Asia. Such is the promise I have given the meliks of Karabag in the name of Your Majesty …61

Following the Georgievsk treaty and after the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792, Potemkin put Argutinskii in charge of the resettlement of Turkish Armenians in the city of Grigoriopol.62 Argutinskii had an audience with Empress Catherine and was responsible for the construction of the Armenian cathedral in New Nakhichevan.63 Taking advantage of the Russo-Georgian treaty and assisted by Potemkin, Argutinskii, who

57 Born in Georgia in 1743, Argutinskii became a bishop in 1769 and, in 1773, was appointed as Ejmiatsin’s prelate in Russia. In 1778 he also became the spiritual leader of the Armenians of Crimea and, in 1780, led the Armenian emigration from the Crimea to Russia. In 1789, he established the first Armenian press in Russia in Astrakhan; see Leo, Hovsep katoghikos Arghutean (Tiflis, 1902); G. Aghaneants, ed. Diwan hayots patmutean, IX/1 (Tiflis, 1911); SAAN, II, 69–70. 58 After being informed that the Armenian leaders had contacted Russia, Ebrahim Khan killed the catholicos in 1786. Although the khan placed his own puppet as catholicos, the Armenians did not recognize him and the See was left without a leader until 1794. In 1781 Ebrahim Khan had also killed Melik Isaiah of Dizak. 59 RGADA, fond 15, opis 1, delo 149, ff. 190–191; fond 23, opis: 1, delo 13, III/1, f. 142. Partial English translations in Armenians and Russia, docs. 335–336. 60 The Russians did not refer to Ebrahim as the khan of Qarabagh, only of Shushi. They viewed the Armenian meliks as autonomous rulers of their domains in Qarabagh. 61 RGVIA, fond 52, opis 2, delo 32, f.1 (dated May 31, 1783). 62 SAAN, III, 331–332; PSZRI, XXIII, nos. 17246, 17260. 63 Ibid., 335.

George A. Bournoutian - 9789004445161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 09:26:45PM via free access The Armenians and the Russian Move into the South Caucasus 247 had been assured by the meliks of Qarabagh of logistical support, drafted a proposal for an Armeno-Russian treaty that would restore an Armenian kingdom under Russian protection. Russia would send 6,000 men, while the Armenians would bear all the ex- penses. Argutinskii, who possessed the only press with Persian fonts in Astrakhan, printed Catherine’s manifesto, which was then disseminated by General Valerian Zubov. Argutinskii accompanied the Russian troops, made contacts with Erekle and some of the khans and relayed the information to Zubov.64 However, Catherine’s death, as well as that of Argutinskii, ended that episode of Armenian aspirations. The arrival of Russian troops in eastern Georgia during the reign of Giorgi XII, served as a catalyst for a number of Armenian meliks to leave Qarabagh with their subjects and seek refuge in Georgia. Melik Jamshid of Varanda and Melik Fridon (Pridon) of Golestan65 recounted their tribulations at the hand of Ebrahim Khan and petitioned Emperor Paul and King Giorgi to permit them to move to Georgia.66 Paul, who like Catherine,67 viewed the Armenians as a medium for economic growth, urged Giorgi to grant the petition.68 The Emperor and Giorgi permitted them, together with their immediate families and followers, to settle in Georgia, where they received a sub- sidy and number of villages.69 After Emperor Alexander and Tsitsianov made it clear that Russia had no plans to retreat from Georgia, more Armenians left Pambak-Shuragöl, Qazzaq and Shams al- Din. Armenians from Qarabagh also continued to migrate to Georgia following an im- perial decree to General Gudovich, which stated that all Armenian refugees were no

64 See his letters to and from generals Gudovich, Bulgakov and Rimskii-Korsakov, as well as to Erekle II, Catholicos Ghukas, Salim Khan and others in AVPRI, fond 100, opis 3, delo 462, ff. 34–40, 46–48, 50–53, 56; delo 463, ff. 3–4; SAAN, II, 148–149. See also S.H. Ghukasyan, “Hovsep Arghuteane rusakan zorkeri 1796 t. Andrkovkasyan arshavanki zhamanak,” Patma-banasirakan handes 3 (1987), 83–94. See also Chapter 1. 65 Akty, I, docs. 871–873. The meliks had previously petitioned Erekle II, AVPRI, fond: Relations with Georgia, opis: 110/3, delo: 454, ff. 101–102. 66 On May 1, 1797 Paul decreed that the Armenians of Derbent could settle in Astrakhan and Kizliar, PSZRI, XXIV, no. 17947. On October 19, 1797, Paul ordered Gudovich to grant Russian citizenship to the meliks of Qarabagh, PSZRI, XXIV, no 18189. See also AVPRI, fond 100, opis 3, delo 464, ff. 5–9. On February 26, 1798, Paul issued a decree in which he af- firmed Russia’s recognition of Ejmiatsin as the Holy See of the Armenians and placed it under Russian protection, PSZRI, XXV. no. 18402. 67 Catherine had also encouraged the Armenians to settle in Georgia where they would have their own autonomous districts under Russian protection, Butkov, II, 450. 68 See Paul’s decree giving special privileges to the Armenians in Mozdok, Astrakhan, and Kizliar in Akty, II, addendum, doc. 32. 69 Akty I: docs. 875–877; Melik Abov and his clan also moved Georgia and were also given land; see ibid: doc. 878. As the Armenian population of Tiflis grew, the Georgians, in the last quarter of the 19th century, began to resent the Armenians.

George A. Bournoutian - 9789004445161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 09:26:45PM via free access 248 Appendix 1 longer subjects of their meliks but were now subjects of the Russian Empire.70 During the second siege of Yerevan, some Armenians left that khanate and settled within the borders of eastern Georgia. Sources are clear that the majority of Armenians, unlike the Georgians and espe- cially the Tatars, welcomed the Russians and viewed them as rescuing their people from centuries of Muslim rule. They acted as informers, went to the Russian side during the siege of Ganjeh and saved Kariagin and his men from being captured by ʿAbbas Mirza’s troops. It is important to note, however, that the overwhelming majority of the Armenians were peasants and although they sympathized with the Russians, they did not take up arms against the Iranians.71 Furthermore, Russia’s promises to the Armenians did not always bear fruit. In fact, the anti-Armenian decrees of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century revealed that the decisions of the Emperor, the commander-in-chief of the Caucasus, or the ministers in St. Petersburg could turn Russia against the Armenians in the South Caucasus.72 70 In 1810, 69 Armenian families from Khachen settled in Borchalu on the order of Major-general Fyodor Akhverdov, the Civilian Governor of Georgia NAG, fond 2, opis 1, delo 757, f. 5. 71 Only some 100 Armenians from Georgia took part in the First Russo-Iranian War; see Chapter 4. 72 See the recent study by S. Badalyan Riegg, Russia’s Entangled Embrace: The Tsarist Empire and the Armenians, 1901–1914 (Ithaca, 2020).

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