Armenian Rebellions

Armenian Revolts against Islamic Rule in the Long Eighth Century

This project assesses the characteristics and significances of the Armenian uprisings against Islamic rule over Armīniyya in the long eighth century (c. 692–816 CE). Among the challenges to Umayyad and early ʿAbbāsid rule, the Armenian revolts occupy a unique position at the intersection of Caucasian, Arab, and Byzantine politics and culture. This position is mirrored in the diverse evidence base, which represents a range of perspectives across these various groups, comprising chiefly historiographical and hagiographical texts in Armenian and historiographical texts in Arabic, Greek, and Syriac, and material evidence such as coinage and inscriptions.

Among this period’s multiple instances of contention, three series of events have come to be regarded as ‘canonical’ revolts. This canonical narrative follows the account of Łewond Vardapet, the chief Armenian source for the eighth century. Of these uprisings, the first was that at Vardanakert in 703 CE, when 280 Umayyad soldiers were massacred, leading to attempts to reinvigorate Umayyad authority. The next rebellion began under Mamikonean leadership in 747/8 as Umayyad power waned, and was ruthlessly suppressed by the first ʿAbbāsid Caliph, Abū al-ʿAbbās, in 750 CE. Then, in 774–5 CE, the Mamikoneans once again led a revolt, the defeat of which, at the Battle of Bagrewand, led to the disappearance of the Mamikonean and Kamsarakan families from their long-held positions of prominence. These revolts comprise key nodes around which analyses and comparisons may be built: the first represented a response to Arab conflict with the Byzantine Empire; the second occurred in the context of the third fitna, while the third was perhaps a response to the tax burdens imposed by the new ʿAbbāsid regime, much heavier-handed than its predecessor. The revolts are spread across the best part of the century, occurring under both Umayyad and ʿAbbāsid rule and bridging the very gap between the two; their differing contexts thus make them a rich series of case studies. The revolts should, in turn, be studied in a context that embraces the wider Caucasus, including Caucasian Albania and Georgia: in 794 CE, for example, the revolt of Abū Muslim al-Shārī in Caucasian Albania led to an assault on the Armenian centre of Dvin.

Throughout the analysis of these revolts, the following central questions will be addressed:
How have revolts been identified and ‘canonized’ for this period? What causes led to these rebellions? What entanglements with Armenia’s neighbours, particularly the Byzantine Empire, resulted from these revolts (e.g. military co-operation, migration)? How and why did people choose to remember them? How did the medieval historians of the revolts characterize Armenian identity or identities in the context of rebellion? Which (elite) families took which sides in which revolts, and to what degree did single families become fragmented due to different members taking separate sides? What were the results of the revolts? Did the third fitna and the arrival of the ʿAbbāsids change the dynamics of Islamic rule in Armīniyya and Armenian attempts to resist it?—or, more basically, to what extent did Islamic rule impinge upon Umayyad-era Armīniyya in the first place?

This sub-project is conducted by Dr. Alasdair Grant.