10 May 2003, 23:48
The Vaspurakan empire
The Armenian feudal state of dynasty of Artsrunids which arised in 908 in the area of Vaspurakan. The Vaspurakan empire covered east basin of lake Van; in the east of its border reached lake Urmia, in the north - river Araks. It was in vassal dependence on an empire of Armenian Bagratids. Under Senekerim (968-1021) in the Vaspurakan empire there were about 10 cities, 4 thousand settlements, 72 fortresses, 115 monasteries, the country was very richly populated. Through the Vaspurakan empire there was a southern branch of an important caravan trading way. High development in the Vaspurakan empire was achieved with craft manufacture and trade. Under Gagik Artsruni (908-943) there were constructed the cities of Vostan, Akhtamar, Van. The culture had considerably grown; its greatest representatives were architect Manuel and poet Grigor Narekatsi. With the development of large feudal landed property enslaving peasants had amplified, class struggle had sharply become aggravated. The Vaspurakan empire had captured antifeudal and antireligious movement of tondrakies. In the beginning of 11 century the Vaspurakan empire ran the attacks of the Turkic tribes from the East. In 1021 the empire joined to Byzantium and stopped its independent existence.
