History of Armenia, by Father Michael Chamich; from B. C. 2247 to ...

PREFACE.
XXXlX
and the rack. In short, a general ghvoni overspread
Armenia till
the rise of the Bagratian kings.
The fifth part comprises 160 or 220 years, commencing
at the reign of Ashot, the first king of the race of
the Bagratians.
Ashot was elevated to the royal dignity
under the auspices of the Caliph of Bagdad. During
the reigns of the Bagratian kings, Armenia was for a time
allowed to taste the sweets of peace and consequent
prosperity, yet she was soon disturbed by internal
factions and dissensions, by the incursions of foreign
enemies, and by the cruelties of those powers lo which
she was tributary. The calamities of Armenia were
finally crowned by the barbarous oppression of the
Greeks, who being actuated by a spirit of inveterate
enmity excited by religious
differences, committed such
dreadful enormities in this unhappy land, as caused
the destruction of the Bagratian monarchy, which was
followed by the most horrid invasions.
The sixth part embraces a period of 300 years,
commencing with the reign of Reuben the First. The
Reubenian princes usually held their court in the
country of Cilicia, and were not invested with the
absolute power of kings. A political intercourse was
maintained with the Crusaders, whom the Armenians
assisted with provisions during the time of a sore famine.
Notwithstanding the wisdom and valour of the Reubenian
princes, Armenia was constantly distressed by
internal commotions, by hordes of invaders, by the
incursions of Jenkhiz Khan and the other monarchs
who wielded the sceptre of Scythia, by the cruelties of