Byzantine-Armenian relations (VII.-XIII. centuries)

The birth and spread of Islam is one of the most important factors affecting the Byzantine-Armenian relations. While Iran was replaced by a new power in the east, Byzantium gave more importance to its relations with the Armenians on its borders against this new neighbor. Although the early periods of the Muslim Arabs were good for the Armenians, from the VIIIth century onwards the Armenians slowly moved over to the Byzantine side and began to play an important role in the empire as a politico-military. The period of the Macedonian Dynasty was a time when relations peaked and people of Armenian origin showed their presence in all institutions of the empire. Towards the XIth century, a new power called the Seljuks entered Armenia. The arrival of the Seljuks in Anatolia radically changed the Byzantine-Armenian relations. The Seljuks broke the connection between Byzantium and Armenia in a very short time and became the new protector of the Armenians. Although Byzantium established a new settlement in the southern part of Anatolia, under the name of Minor Armenia, with the end of the same century and the beginning of the XIIth century, the Crusaders also showed their influence in Minor Armenia. The Crusaders could not completely cut the relations between Byzantium and Armenians, but the Seljuks succeeded in doing this with the Battle of Myryokephalon in 1176 and put an end to the Byzantine-Armenian relations that lasted for centuries. Although Armenians live in the western parts of the empire, this is not a significant population in terms of bilateral relations. The aim of this study is to examine the Byzantine-Armenian Relations between the VIIth and XIIIth centuries from political, military, socio-economic and religious perspectives. Keywords: Byzantine, Armenian, Seljuk, Crusader, Armenia