VTHE CONFLICTING FORCES

Some great changes were slowly taking place in the East as well as in the West. These changes were to give a different aspect to the history of future nations. As we have seen the Parthian Empire had been overthrown; Persia proper regained her independence. The Parthian branch of the Assacide dynasty in Armenia also came to an end after a reign of almost six centuries (150B.C.-432A.D.). On the other hand the Roman Empire was too large to be under one emperor; the leading people of the empire were divided into two, the Greeks and the Latins. The division of the empire into the eastern and western was not only natural, but also desirable. The Greek city Byzantium was rebuilt and honorably made the capital of the Eastern empire, and called Constantinople[44]after the name of Emperor Constantine the Great (aboutA.D.328). This metropolis of the Eastern Empire soon became a worthy rival of Rome, both in civil and ecclesiastical matters.

The above brief survey of these conflicting forcesâ€”andothers which will be mentioned in their orderâ€”show that they were naturally of two kinds, namely, political and religious. Though we may make such a division, and even admit, that politics can be divorced from religion, yet we must confess that this has not been done in the East to this present time. It may be, therefore, stated that Christianity, as a religion, was, and is, one of the most powerful of the conflicting forces in the East. It is true that its Founder is called the Prince of Peace, and He was and is, and ever shall be, yet the very principles of His religion uncompromisingly militate against the domestic, social and political evils. The baser naturesâ€”many of them, even among the so-called Christiansâ€”therefore, run to the sword to settle their disputes.

The enforcement of the religion of Christ upon the millions by Constantine or other emperors did not change their hearts. It is to our credit to confess, that though the Armenians nationally accepted Christianity, and no doubt it had taken a firm root in the hearts of the most of the people, yet there were many Vasags that had clung to their idols, and had not failed to give much trouble to the truly patriotic followers of Christ. It was due to this lack of true Christianity that increased troubles arose between the Greek and Armenian Christians.

The Greeks feared and hated the Armenians, for the latter were in alliance with the Persians when they invaded Greece; and later the conquests of the distinguished monarchs of Armenia, like Tigranesthe Great and others, over the Greeks, recorded by their own historians in a more exaggerated manner than by the Armenians themselves,[45]would most naturally make them to foster such a deep rooted malice in their hearts and cause them to wish for opportunities to avenge themselves. We do not fail to find them doing so whenever an opportunity was offered them.

Hardly would Armenia sound pleasantly to the ear of the Persian any longer. Armenia had lived in peace with Persia for centuries. The reason of these comparatively peaceful relations between these two countries was two-fold; both the Armenians and Persians were Aryans and co-religionists. But Armenia, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, had apostatized from her former religion, Zoroastrianism, and forsaken her devotion to Magism. The revival of Zoroastrian faith and its enforcement upon the inhabitants of the country in Persia was insisted upon by the founder of the Sassanian dynasty. In his charge to his son and successor before his departure from this life Artaxerxes dilated on the subject of religion, maintaining and enforcing it upon the Iran or non-Iran to become worshipers of the Zoroastrian faith as a necessary basis for the stability of the empire. His successors were found very faithful and zealous in their endeavors to execute their masterâ€™s orders. In Armenia, however, the fire-temples and the temples of the leading deitieswere swept out of existence, and Christian churches and schools were established all over the country. Zoroastrianism had received such a blow from the hand of King Jesus that it had fallen in pieces, like Dagon of Ashdod, before the ark of the Lord in the days of old, and now seven hundred Magi and an immense army of the Persians could not gather its fragments or keep the fires unquenched on its altars in Armenia.

The establishment of a Christian empire, in the West by the Greeks, would most naturally force upon the Persians the idea that these two nations now united by a common faith will be their formidable enemies. But how naturally do the heathen think, and how unnaturally do the so-called Christians act, is shown by the succeeding events of the conflicting forces in Western Asia. It was perfectly natural for the Persians to think, that a common religion or faith should produce a harmonious relation between, and a united action of, these two nations. Accordingly did the Persians look upon the Armenians with the profoundest suspicion and dealt towards them with relentless cruelty.

We have made passing reference to one other disturbing cause, namely, some of the nobility in Armenia, unfortunately not being in full sympathy with the faith of the majority, did ignobly act by uniting with the Persian hordes (whether with a mercenary object in view or with a blind zeal for the restoration of the abolished Zoroastrianism), thus aggravating the misery of their own people andcausing much bloodshed in the country. Such persons are found in all ages and among all nations, but fortunately have not been many.

It will be impossible, in a small work like this to enumerate all the agencies, the internal (and not less infernal), and the external and occasional causes which precipitated the country into indescribable misery. However, we have endeavored to review some of these facts, which, the reader bearing in mind, will have the key to unlock the mystery of the Armenian troubles and miseries.

After the political existence of Armenia was brought to an end, the country was divided between the Eastern Empire and Persia, the former having the western part of the country, and the eastern part being occupied by the latter. The usurpers of Armenia tried to govern their respective possessions by various methods, but they succeeded better when they had native rulers, or princes had their contingent forces under them. Whenever their respective sovereigns called upon them to assist in their wars, they responded with readiness. There was, however, this trouble in either province: the ever-ready endeavor on the one hand to bring the independent Armenian church under the influence of the Greek Church; and in the Persian province of Armenia, under some fanatic rulers, who attempted to apostatize them from their chosen faith; otherwise the Armenians seemed to have enjoyed a tolerable freedom. This form of government lasted until newactors and more conflicting forces began to appear on the stage.

A new and a more formidable force than Zoroastrianism made its appearance in the form of a religion in the East. Western Asia seems to have been made for a theater and almost all the great actors in the annals of the dramatic history of the world enacted theirrolesthere. Towards the close of the sixth century the sunny and sandy plains of Arabia became the home of a male child who was to be a hero, a warrior, a law-giver, and the founder of a new religion which shaped the destiny of millions of human beings and flooded many a country with the blood of its inhabitants. â€œMohammed, half imposter, half enthusiast, enunciated a doctrine, and by decrees worked out a religion, which proved capable of uniting in one the scattered tribes of the Arabian desert, while at the same time it inspired them with a confidence, a contempt for death, and a fanatic valor, that rendered them irresistible by the surrounding nations.â€[46]This self-made and self-called apostle of Arabia, Mohammed, had the greatest difficulty in finding few adherents in his native city, Mecca,[47]he found the opposition to his claims too great and his life in danger and fled to Medina, where he received a welcome. At the head of his adherents he commenced to attack unawares wayfaring merchants on their way from the northerncountries; of course, seeing that these merchants are of his former opponents. The plunder and the booty taken from the robbed or conquered were freely distributed among his followers. This surely was a great inducement to the pillage-loving and war-delighting Arabs to swell the army of Mohammed. His followers have been doing the same ever since, unless restrained by a superior force. Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia, one after the other, within a comparatively short time, fell under the sway of the followers of Mohammed.

Bagdad was made the capital of the successors, or Caliphs of Mohammed, from whence the hordes of Arabs or Saracensâ€”so were they called by the western writersâ€”spread death and destruction east, west, and north. The first Saracenic invasion into Armenia took place during the caliphate of Omar (A.D.640), under the generalship of Abdurahman, who marched through Assyria and entered Armenia unopposed. Diran Mamiganian with some difficulty mustered a small force hardly as large as one-third of that of the enemy, but he made a noble defense of his country against the new enemy of the home and religion. Alas! in the little army of Diran there was another like Vasag, a man by the name Sahurr, who hastened the defeat and the annihilation of noble Diranâ€™s little force; the fire and the sword of the enemy soon swept the country. Abdurahman returned to Bagdad with 35,000 Armenian captives.

The Saracenic policy was quite different from that of the Persians. The latter were not so intenselycruel, and were anxious to unify the two peoples by the enforcement of their religion upon the Armenians. But the Saracens were the very prototype of the Turks in cruelty and in oppression. They kept on their regular incursions and inroads into the country at short intervals, and spread death and destruction, and carried many away as captives or hostages; these captives and hostages were often forced to become Mohammedans, or they were massacred. A picture drawn by the wildest imagination will fall far below the suffering of the people and the atrocities of the followers of Mohammed. The Armenians were often willing to let everything else go if they were left with their preferred faith, the religion of Christ. Even then they were not left alone. They often, compelled to do so, took arms to defend their religion and rights and perished, sword in hand. Thus it was and is since the introduction of Christianity into Armenia: â€œThe history of Armenia presents but a melancholy picture to the friend of humanity. Rapacious neighbors, the enemies of Christianity, found a theater for their unheard-of cruelties and oppressions in that beauteous land, the inhabitants of which were equally exposed to the outrages of Paganism and Islam.â€

The condition of the provinces of Armenia governed by the Greeks was hardly better. The Saracens were pushing their way northward and westward. The Greeks were becoming unbearable on account of their prejudices and persecutions occasioned by such comparatively trifling differencesfrom the Greek Church, in the rituals and ceremonies of the Armenian Church. The state of things, indeed, was in a most deplorable condition.

The Armenians were subdued and ruled over with a rod of iron, by the Saracens, but they were by no means completely conquered or crushed. The love for independence and self government was still rife in them. They made several attempts at different times to revolt. Their attempts failed and they paid dearly for them. But towards the middle of the ninth century the reign of the Caliphs of Bagdad was weakened by dissensions. A prince of the Pagradit family had proved himself very prudent as a governor of Armenia, so much so that he had received from the Caliph the title of â€œPrince of Princes,â€ in 859, and in 885 he was crowned as King of Armenia. Ashdod I the King of Armenia was the first of the Pagradit (Pagradeonian) dynasty.

The Pagradit family was old, influential and rich, according to our Herodotus, Moses of Khoren, King Hâ€™rache brought a small colony of the Hebrews from Judea when he returned with the armies of Nebuchadnezzar inB.C.597,[48]and a prince by the name Shampat was the head of this Pagradit family. This dynasty lasted only from 885-1045, and had a stormy time, yet it shows what a grand and glorious period it must have been. Hundreds of churches in the city of Ani and its suburbs, magnificent castles, palaces, forts and numerous defenses of the city and throughout the country, though to-day in ruins,eloquently declare the glory of the Pagradit dynasty of Armenia in the middle ages.

There is something marvelous in the annals of the Armenian history. Though they are surrounded by hostile and uncivilized nations and with such internal and infernal dissensions and contentions, yet the spirit of bravery, courage and unconquerable love of liberty, as it were, sprang up from the very ashes and the dust of the burnt and ruined cities and towns; yea, even from the carcass-covered and blood-drenched soil of Armenia. Thus it was that during this dynasty a marvelous civilization flourished amid the savage and barbarous nations, and this dynasty would have maintained its independence to the present had the rulers found any sympathy or toleration in the western Christian nations.

It was in the period of this dynasty that the Mongolian Tatar tribes, who were scattered over the plains and table-lands of central and northern Asia, began to move westward in search of plunder and pasture-lands. These tribes had distinctive names in their own country, but after leaving that they began to be denominated by the names of their leaders, like Seljukians, after Seljuk; Othmanlis or Ostmanlis, after Othman or Osman. They were pastoral in their occupations; warlike in disposition; rapacious and predatory in their habits; nomadic in their mode of life, and surely pagans in practice of religion. They first settled in Persia, and there they came in contact with the religion of Mohammed. They accepted it and entered the Mohammedanarmy. They excelled the Arabs in enthusiasm, in intolerance, and cruelty, especially upon the Christians. Indeed, the entry of the Mongolian hordes, or the Turks into Western Asia was and still is the worst of all evils and the severest of all the calamities that ever was inflicted upon the Armenians or any other Christian nation in western Asia.

But the downfall of that dynasty which had maintained its existence over a century and a half was not brought about by the hands of the merciless Arabs, nor even by those of the barbarous Turks, though cruel and savage they were. In those days, they did not often do with treachery what they could not with bravery. Even the Turks were somewhat more honest than they are now.

Cakig,[49]the last king of this dynasty, had made himself both popular and beloved on account of his just and wise administration of the government. The Greek Emperor, Monamaches, demanded from Cakig for some pretense the surrender of the Capital Ani. Cakigâ€™s reply to the Emperor was â€œI can never be prevailed upon quietly to relinquish my paternal inheritance to any individual.â€ Hereupon the emperor sent a large force against the king; however, the troops were defeated. He again tried by force to accomplish his object, but his attempt was unsuccessful; he then entered into an alliance with the Mohammedan governor of the districts bordering on the provinces of Cakig to ruin the latter;but this also proved to be a failure. Then the emperor pretended to be appeased and entered into friendship, inviting the king on a visit to Constantinople. Cakig doubted the apparent friendship and the sincerity of the emperor, but alas, some of his chiefs who had conspired against him and were sharers of the guilt of the emperor prevailed upon him. Confiding in the solemn assurances of the emperor, and in compliance with the requests of his chiefs, he went to Constantinople. First he was exiled by this perfidious emperor to an island, then to Asia Minor. This dethroned king, deprived of his rightful crown and scepter and paternal inheritance, after a period of thirty-five years of exile, was assassinated by the Greeks.

While King Cakig was an exile the Greeks took possession of the capital, the City of Ani, and a large territory. The Seljukian Turks, who had settled themselves in Persia, were increasing in number and in power, finding the country in a defenseless condition, invaded Armenia. At this first incursion they desolated twenty-four provinces; at their second attack ruined many cities and towns and carried an immense number of the inhabitants into captivity. In the third, they laid siege to the city of Arzu, where many had taken refuge, it being a walled city. The inhabitants made a desperate resistance, but the enemy was too strong, and the Armenians, too fatigued to fight any longer, surrendered. The Seljukian Turks, after having taken possession of the city, displayed a barbarism which was a trueexample and an equal to those of later cruelties of the Mongolian Tatars. Of the one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants and those who had taken refuge in the city, some were butchered in cold blood, some were roasted to death, and the rest carried into captivity. This doleful calamity, one of many, took place in the year of our Lord, 1049.

Several times during every year, the Seljukian Turks and Tatars repeated their incursions, devastated and plundered the country, and indiscriminately massacred the people or enslaved them. Togrul Beg, for fourteen years, before he went to meet the Judge of Nations, tormented, tortured and butchered the Christian Armenians, and dyed the land of Ararat crimson with the blood of her inhabitants. These persecutions and massacres compelled the people to migrate into safer districts. Some of the Armenian princes who were assuming royal titles, instead of uniting their forces against a common enemy, fell prey to the foe, or exchanged their vast territories with the Greek emperor for other provinces. Thus King Sennacherib transferred his immense estates of Vaspuragian and took instead of them the city of Sebastea (now Sivas) and the country about it, extending to the banks of the Euphrates on the east.

The Armenians were rapidly increasing in the provinces of Cappadocia and Cilicia on account of the frequent invasions and incursions of the Seljukian Turks. Alp Arslan, the nephew of Togrul Beg, succeeded him 1063. In the following year, ArpArslan (valiant lion) invaded Armenia, laid siege to the royal city of Ami, and took it. â€œIt is impossible to describe the destruction and slaughter wrought by the hands of these barbarians, the blood of thousands and ten thousands dyed the waters of Aphour (the river that runs through the city), and the magnificent buildings were set on fire, and numerous bodies, the carcasses, were covered under the ashes and ruins.â€[50]Arp Arslan invaded Armenia, again, in battle against the Greeks and captured emperor Romanus Diogenes (1071) and wrested the entire country from the Greeks. His fearful career came to an end by the dagger of a captive enemy in the following year in Turkestan. His son, Malick Shah, succeeded him, and extended the empire from the shores of the Mediterranean on the west to the borders of China on the east. â€œIn religion Seljukian sovereigns surpassed the other moslems of their age in fierce intolerance, and thereby inadvertently provoked the famous Crusades of the western nations. Upon wresting Jerusalem for a time from the dominion of the Egyptian Caliphs, they visited with such hardships the resident and pilgrim Christians, that Europe armed for their deliverance from oppression.â€[51]

Many of the Armenians, driven by these powerful invaders and oppressors, had made their way into Cappadocia and Cilicia, and both in the plains and also in the Tauros Mountain districts they formeda strong colony. A young man, who was a relative and a companion with two others, of the unfortunate King Cakig, had made his escape from the plans of the assassins who intended to kill these also after they had done away with the king, found refuge in the mountains. This man, whose name was Reuben, was a center of attraction among the Armenians, a man of warlike disposition and personal prowess, and bent on vengeance. He resided with his son Constantine in Cilicia; his condition must have been very much like that of David when he was a fugitive from the face of Saul. Reuben cautiously avoided conflicts with the Greeks when he was not sure of success, but such contests that he had with them he was invariably victorious. He attacked and wrested the fortress of Parzherpert (lofty fort), and from this time (A.D.1080) he styled himself Reuben the First, assuming independent reign over the Armenians, who were increasing year by year. Thus began the Reubenian dynasty of the Armenians in Cilicia.

It was during the reign of Constantine, the son and successor of Reuben I, that the immense army of the Crusaders for the first time marched into Western Asia, took the city of Nice and various other places, and laid siege to Antioch. But a terrible famine broke out in their camp. When Constantine and his chiefs were informed of the condition of the Crusaders, he sent an abundance of provisions to the army of the defenders of the Cross. This last dynasty of the Armenians in Cilicia coversa period of almost three centuries. It was by no means in a favorable condition, while Western Asia was in a fearful turmoil and agitation, the conflicting forces by no means disappearing.

The Seljukian Turks, after losing their capital, Nice, made Iconium (which over ten centuries before had listened to the famous missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, tell the story of the Cross) their capital, and made it resound with the â€œezzenâ€ of the â€œMuezzinâ€ from the numerous minarets. It became a source of great trouble to the Armenians. The Greeks, inflamed with like hatred and malice as before, were more or less in constant conflict with them. The Armenians, over-exultant on account of the presence of the Christian forces of the Western nations in the East, were willing to enlist in aid of their cause by entering into an alliance with them, but by doing so they intensified the jealousy and hatred of the Greeks and the wrathful cruelty of the Turks. Moreover, the suspicions of some that these foreigners were anxious to bring the Armenian church under the control of the Pope of Rome were sustained by the facts revealed in due time.

It may be interesting to give a sample of the zeal of the Armenians in their effort to assist the Crusaders and the consequences: King Leo I of Cilicia was in an alliance with the Latin princes of Antioch. The emperor of Constantinople was bent on recovering that famous city from the Crusaders. Consequently to accomplish his purpose he marched on to Cilicia with a large army. The emperor and hisgenerals seem to have been strategists and good warriors. They wrested the city of Antioch and reduced many Cilician provinces and took Leo and his two sons, Reuben and Toros, captives and carried them to Constantinople (1136). The cruel Greeks, after tormenting and torturing their captives, deprived the crown-prince, Reuben, of his eye-sight, then, still not satisfied, they put him to death in the presence of his father, the king. This barbarity so affected him that he died heart-broken in his dungeon (1141). The history of Armenia presents a melancholy picture to the friend of humanity and Christianity; especially when you find some so-called Christians worse than pagans, you still feel thankful that they are at least nominally Christians; what would have happened if they were heathen? Arp Arslan did not treat Emperor Romanus in that manner, because he was not a Greek Christian.

A new tremendous army of the Mongolians, under the command of Genghis Khan, made its appearance in Western Asia; and spread all over Persia, Armenia, Caucasus, Russia, and part of Asia Minor destruction, devastation, and death; committing wholesale massacres, consuming the cities and towns by fire, and carrying away hundreds and thousands into captivity. â€œSeven years in succession was the conqueror (Genghis Khan) busy in the work of destruction, pillage, and subjugation, and extended his ravages to the banks of the Dnieper.â€ Armenia has been, over and over, inundated with the blood of her inhabitants, enriched with the carcasses of her peopleupon her face; her beautiful and bright sky was often rendered dark by the smoke of the conflagrations of her immense cities and numerous towns, kindled by her enemies; her fair sons and graceful daughters were torn away from her maternal bosom, carried into captivity and sold for slaves; her magnificent churches and monasteries were converted into mosques and â€œtekes.â€ Yet the â€œThe House of Togarmahâ€ marches on through these tremendous seas of injustice, oppression, persecution, cruelty, and bloodshed, from a remote antiquity to the end of the fourteenth century of our era, lifting up the old, centuries-old flag of liberty, torn to pieces and ready to fall into an irreparable dissolution.

Toros, the son of the unfortunate King Leo I, effected his escape from the Greek army and returned to Cilicia (1145). He gathered about him a nucleus and gradually recovered Cilicia from the Greeks and after a reign of twenty-three years, he died in peace (1168). Reuben II succeeded his uncle, Mileh, and reigned until his retirement in 1185, and his brother Leo II followed him. It was during the reign of Leo II that Saladin, the sultan of Egypt, captured Jerusalem from the Crusaders (1187), a terrible slaughter of the Christians had been committed by the defender of the Mohammedan faith, which caused the western nations to call for the third crusade, headed by Frederick I, surnamed Barbarossa, a German emperor of Rome. He marched with his army opposed by the Greek emperor and the sultan of Iconium. From the latter place he sent a letter toLeo II, asking his assistance and telling of his need of supplies. Leo, Catholicos and Bishop Nerses, with abundant provisions, set out to meet him. But they did not have the pleasure of seeing him; for he was drowned while crossing a stream. What a pity! He was going to fight in defense of the Oriental Christians, not to put a crown on Saladinâ€™s head, nor a wreath on his tomb; he was not going to offer his unsought-for friendship to the bloodthirsty followers of Mohammed, neither was he going to encourage them to massacre the lowly followers of the lowly Nazarene. Yet he was drowned. Surely â€œGod moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.â€ We do not question His wisdom nor His goodness.

No doubt the object of the popes, who urged the Western sovereigns to raise crusades against the Mohammedans, and kept them engaged in this unsuccessful enterprise for a long time at the expense of immense wealth and the sacrifice of millions of human lives, was two-fold; to exercise their sublunary power over these potentates, and to further their influence over other Christian nations in the East. But they failed in both of these purposes. There came a time when the popes had no influence over the kings of Europe. And the Crusaders in the East rendered their names detestable forever, both to Christians and to non-Christians.

â€œIn 1204A.D., the Capital (Constantinople) was captured by the Crusaders, whose conduct fixed an indelible stain upon the name of the Franks throughout the East,especially as it is contrasted with that of the Mohammedans, who, a few years before, had conquered Jerusalem. When Saladin entered the latter city the church of the Holy Sepulchre was respected, and the conquered Christians remained in possession of their property; no confiscations were made of the wealth of the non-combatants. But the vaunted chivalry of the Papal church plundered a Christian city without remorse, desecrated its shrines, and maltreated its inhabitants, while the profane cry of â€˜God Wills It,â€™ was raised to excite each other to act the part of brigands and debauchees. Sacred plate, golden images of saints, and silver candelabra from the altars; bronze statues of heathen idols and heroes, precious works of Hellenic art; crowns, coronets, thrones, vessels of gold and silver; ornaments of diamonds, pearls, and precious stones from the imperial treasury and the palaces of the nobles; jewelry and precious metals from the shops of the goldsmiths; silks, velvets and brocaded tissues from the warehouses of the merchants, together with coined money, were accumulated in vast heaps as spoils to be divided by the victors. A few of the crusading clergy endeavored to moderate the fury which the bigoted prejudices of the Latin Church had instilled into the minds of the soldiery against the Greeks, but many priests were as forward as the most abandoned of the troops in robbing the temples of a kindred faith.â€[52]

Our Saviourâ€™s words were literally fulfilled; with what measure the Greeks so often had measured and dealt with the Armenian, it was meted to them by the hands of the Crusaders; yet such a conduct of the Crusaders with the Christian, and undoubtedly a conduct a good deal worse than this towards Mohammedans, accounts for the determination and furyof the latter against the Christians. The reply of Meleck Nasr Mohmud, the Egyptian Sultan, to an application of the Armenian king Leo V, for a treaty of peace was the following: â€œI will never make peace with you until you promise on oath not to hold any correspondence or communication with Western nations.â€ Often did the Mohammedan powers imagine that the Armenians had again stirred up the Western nations, that they were marching against them in greater forces than ever before, and then they would attack the cities and towns of the Armenians and commit all manner of atrocities, thinking that that might be their last opportunity.

After the withdrawal of the Western nationsâ€”or rather their being driven out from the Eastâ€”in full satisfaction of their complete failure, either to maintain their position or ameliorate the oppressed condition of the Oriental Christians under the Mohammedans, the latter had first little difficulty in destroying the independence of the Armenians in Cilicia. By various incursions of the Mohammedans of Egypt into Cilicia, the Armenians were reduced in strength and in numbers; finally a vast army of the enemy marched against them. Those missionary soldiers of Mohammed, indeed brutes in character and nature, though clad in clayey garments of human forms, spread themselves all over the country. No city, town, or village, or building of any value, whether church, monastery or dwelling, and no human being of any age or either sex that fell into their hands, was spared; they slaughtered every human being andburnt to ashes every building or razed it to the ground. In the execution of their unfortunate victims they did not leave any mode of torture untried. â€œThe deceitful above all things and desperately wicked heartâ€ of a depraved human creature could not have suggested any other method of torment and torture that these Mohammedans did not devise and experiment upon their captives. The Turks of to-day must have been studying their predecessors in faith and practice. King Leo VI and the garrison surrendered on condition that their lives would be spared; the Egyptian general promised this on oath; Leo was fettered, and with his family carried to Cairo in the eleventh year of his reign (A.D.1375).

The king and family, after serving a period of imprisonment at Cairo, were freed by the mediation and valuable presents of the King of Spain. Leo with his queen and daughter, went to Jerusalem; there he left them at their own request, then visited the European countries. On the 19th of November,A.D.1393, he ended his mortal career in Paris. â€œLeo King of Armenia, was of a small stature, but of intelligent expression and well-formed features. His body was carried to the tomb clothed in royal robes of white, according to the custom of Armenia, with an open crown upon his head and a golden scepter in his hand. He lay in state upon an open bier hung with white and surrounded by the officers of his household, clothed, all of them, in white robes. He was buried by the high altar of the Church of the Celestine.â€

FOOTNOTES:[44]According to ancient authorities, Byzantium was built by a Grecian colony about 658B.C.[45]An Armenian historian says, Tigranes translated thirty thousand inhabitants of Cappadocia, the Greek historian three hundred thousand.[46]Rawlinson, â€œThe Seventh Oriental Monarchy,â€ p. 546.[47]Mohammed was born in Mecca 570, he fled to Medina 622. â€œHegiraâ€ (the flight), and he died in the latter cityA.D.632, after two weeks of intense suffering which began before his death. See Chap XII, p. 204.[48]See p. 52.[49]The Kings of this dynasty: Ashod I, Sumpat I, Ashod II, Abas, Ashod III, Sumpat II, Cakig I, John Sumpat, Cakig II.[50]Balasanian, â€œHistory of Armenia,â€ p. 285. (This work is written in Armenian language.)[51]Milner, â€œThe Turkish Empire,â€ p. 5.[52]Milner, â€œThe Turkish Empire,â€ London, pages 238-9.

[44]According to ancient authorities, Byzantium was built by a Grecian colony about 658B.C.

[45]An Armenian historian says, Tigranes translated thirty thousand inhabitants of Cappadocia, the Greek historian three hundred thousand.

[46]Rawlinson, â€œThe Seventh Oriental Monarchy,â€ p. 546.

[47]Mohammed was born in Mecca 570, he fled to Medina 622. â€œHegiraâ€ (the flight), and he died in the latter cityA.D.632, after two weeks of intense suffering which began before his death. See Chap XII, p. 204.

[48]See p. 52.

[49]The Kings of this dynasty: Ashod I, Sumpat I, Ashod II, Abas, Ashod III, Sumpat II, Cakig I, John Sumpat, Cakig II.

[50]Balasanian, â€œHistory of Armenia,â€ p. 285. (This work is written in Armenian language.)

[51]Milner, â€œThe Turkish Empire,â€ p. 5.

[52]Milner, â€œThe Turkish Empire,â€ London, pages 238-9.

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