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self, and was almost always at war with the Turks and the Empire of Constantinople. The first successors of Roupen bore only the title of princes; afterwards it was changed to that of barons, which was conferred on them by the Crusaders, in consideration of the services which the Armenians rendered them; then, finally, the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa conferred upon them the title of king.

As Christians, the Armenians of Cilicia became the natural allies of the Latins, when they arrived to dispossess the infidels of Palestine, and large numbers of them fought in their ranks. In the reign of Constantine, the successor of Roupen, occurred the crusade conducted by Godfrey of Boulogne, whose forces are said to have amounted to one hundred thousand cavalry, and six hundred thousand infantry. At the head of these, he marched through Asia Minor, taking all the different cities, and at length laid siege to Antioch. Here, his provisions being exhausted, a famine broke out in his camp. Constantine, being informed of this, sent the Latin army an abundance of provisions; and the same was done repeatedly afterwards. In consequence of this kindness, intimate and frequent relations were established. The Roupenian kings contracted alliances with the Latin princes of Antioch, and the Lusignans of Cyprus; and the Count of Edessa, who was an Armenian, connected himself with the French family of Josselin de Courtenay.

The twelfth century, in the history of Armenian literature, deserves to be placed, in all respects, near the fifth or golden age, as it is called. It is distinguished above all other succeeding centuries, as well by the multitude of writings which appeared, as by the brilliant style in which they were composed. In Cilicia and ancient Armenia even, amid the civil commotions to which that land was subject, there were very many cloisters that were really celebrated as seminaries of learning. In these were educated many of the eminent writers of this century. Every one of these cloisters possessed, at that time, valuable collections of manuscripts, containing the best classical works of the Greek fathers and profane writers, which at a former period had been translated into Armenian. In addition to the various branches of sacred and profane learning, the Greek, Latin, and Syriac languages were also pursued in these

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cloisters. Among some twenty or twenty-five authors who distinguished themselves in this century, the two best known perhaps are Nerses IV., the Klajenser, and Nerses of Lampron. When, in the thirteenth century, the Moguls, having already swept over Persia, Georgia, and Armenia, had advancedin to Mesopotamia, and conquered the Sultan of Iconium, the Armenian king, Hetoum I., wishing to turn from his State these hordes which nothing could resist, was forced to acknowledge himself a vassal of the Grand Khan of the Tatars. By treaty, he was bound to furnish the Moguls assistance in all the wars they waged with the Moslems of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. In return, the Moguls showed great kindness to the Armenians for nearly a century, to the time of their becoming Mohammedans. Many of the cities of Syria, that had been taken by the Moguls, were ceded to the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia. By means of this friendship, the condition of the Ararat provinces was greatly improved, and many important privileges were secured to the Armenians throughout the Tatar empire. They were permitted to possess and build churches exempt from tribute, and publicly practise their forms of worship where these things had previously been denied them. Hence the Armenians under Tatar rule, about the middle of the thirteenth century, were in a happy and prosperous condition.

But this alliance of the Armenians with the Tatars in the end was disastrous to the Roupenian kings. On the death of Houlagou, Khan of the Tatars, after his invasion of Syria, the Sultans of Egypt easily took from the Christians the places upon the borders of Syria, and then, wishing to punish the Armenian king for his alliance with the Tatars, and also take revenge for the friendship of the Armenians for the Crusaders, carried fire and sword through all Cilicia. These terrible invasions were frequently repeated during more than a century. The Armenians, deprived of help and sympathy from the Moguls, as the latter ceased to regard their alliance, after having embraced Mohammedanism, and without hope of obtaining help from the Christians of the West, as all further expeditions into Palestine had been given up, at length yielded to the power of their enemies. The king Leon IV., besieged in the fortress of

Gaban, was forced, through want of provisions, to surrender after a siege of nine months. He was made prisoner with all his family, and taken to Cairo, where he remained six years in captivity. Finally, in 1381, he was delivered by the mediation of John I., king of Castile. He passed into Spain to thank his liberator, and from there to the court of Charles VI., who welcomed him "with as much real kindness as magnificence." He died at Paris in 1393, and with him was extinguished the Roupenian dynasty, and the Armenian nationality. Towards the end of the fourteenth century, Armenia fell under the power of different masters. The Kurds in the south founded a principality which was governed by Begs. The Persians took possession of the eastern provinces, the Ottomans and Turkomans of the western.

This division continued till the time of Timour or Tamarlane (1400), when he united all for a little time' under his authority. This conqueror left everywhere, in Armenia and Asia Minor, the bloody traces of his cruelty and inhumanity. In an assault upon the city of Van, it is related that he forced the inhabitants to precipitate themselves from the summit of the high citadel, and that the mass of bodies was raised so high that the last received but little injury. In taking Sivas, he buried alive the Armenian troops, binding together first their necks and heels, and women were fastened by their hair to the tails of young horses, and thus dragged over the plain till they miserably perished.

After this, the wars between the Ottoman Sultans and the kings of Persia long kept Armenia in a most wretched condition. By a fatal consequence of its geographical position, it was the theatre and victim of all these conflicts, which seemed only a repetition of those between the Emperors of Constantinople and the Sassanidae. According as fortune favored one or the other of these rival powers, it passed under Turk or Persian domination, changing masters continually, but with no cessation to the devastations and oppressions it suffered. But of all the wars of the Ottomans against the Persians, no one was more prejudicial to Armenia than that which took place in the first years of the seventeenth century, between Shah Abbas I. and the Sultan Ahmed I. In this, the frontiers of Armenia

were the great subject of discord between the two powers. Shah Abbas, to arrest the march of the enemy by an energetic measure, resolved to destroy Armenia entirely, and convert the country into one vast desert. Agents, with troops, were sent into each province to lead away by force the inhabitants, and burn all the cities and villages. The purpose of the Shah was to prevent all communication between the Armenians and the Turks, and transplant the former into his kingdom. His orders were executed with unheard of cruelty. More than twenty-four thousand families were torn from their homes, and driven by forced marches into Persia. Thousands were put to death at the caprice of the Persian soldiery, and thousands more perished by the way, or suffered a fate worse than death. Through these devastations, repeated from time to time, the ancient kingdom of Armenia became almost entirely depopu lated, and the land, left untilled, lost the fertility for which it had ever been distinguished. Frequent famines also occurred to complete the work of destruction, earthquakes ruined the remaining cities, and hence, many of those who had escaped extermination were compelled to abandon their fatherland. Indeed, as early as the eleventh century, the Armenians began to leave their country. Poland, the Crimea, and the provinces north of the Caspian, received their first colonies, and, as invasions and calamities multiplied, this emigration continued to increase till Austria, Hungary, Italy, France, and even Eugland, had their representatives. They were also found in large numbers in Egypt and in India, and at the present time, with the exception of the Jews, there is perhaps no people so widely dispersed among other nations as the Armenians.

Thus we have lightly touched upon a few points in the history of Armenia through a period of more than four thousand years.

It is not possible, without making this Article too long, to give any extended notice of their present condition, or refer to their various characteristics as a people. The many important changes they have experienced for a century past, and the remarkable vigor and tenacity of national and religious life they manifest at present, we cannot now notice. In concluding, we will say, however, that though the Armenians have had an ex

perience unparalleled in the history of nations in misfortune and suffering, yet, as a people, they still live. Though centuries ago they lost their national existence, yet they have ever possessed all those characteristics which are essential for a vigorous national life. Love of country has ever been the most prominent trait of Armenian character, from the time of Haicus to this day; and now, wherever dispersed, from St. Petersburg to the rivers of Ethiopia, or from Paris to Singapore, they still retain their own language, customs, and habits of activity and industry. In Russia, where there is a population of perhaps 1,200,000, they have great influence, by their wealth, and are elevated to many of the highest civil and military offices of the empire. In England the people have been represented in Parliament by an Armenian. Hungary has sacrificed some of her Armenian nobles to the cause of liberty, and the merchants of this same nation in Vienna, Trieste, Alexandria, Constantinople, Tiflis, and Singapore, are among the richest and most influential. Even in the Turkish Empire, where they have been the most oppressed, they have, notwithstanding, possessed great influence, and at all times have controlled a vast amount of capital; and it is not unfrequently the case at the present day that Pachas and Governors are created and removed at their will.

To this people the Christian world is looking as an important agency in the regeneration of Turkey, and to this people the Church is giving her sympathy, aid, and effective coöperation in the work of setting up the Kingdom of Christ in the Ottoman Empire.

It will be noticed that our esteemed contributor, both in this Article and in the preceding one on page 507, professes only to give the ancient history of the Armenians, as he has derived it from native records, and as it is received among themselves, without undertaking to settle how much is legend, and how much is veritable history. The interest attaching to the early annals of this people is a real and legitimate one, and entitles them to reproduction in our pages; though it must be confessed it is, in considerable part, of the same character with that which belongs to the early mythical and legendary history of Greece and Rome. The facts which those annals contain must be extorted by historical criticism, and by comparison with the stories recorded by other nations. The authentically vouched history of Armenia can hardly be said to begin until the rise of Armenian literature, some centuries after Christ.-ED. N. E.

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