Vasak Bagratuni

Events 

Date of Birth: about 670-675.

Place of Birth: unknown.

The estimated date is given by Settipani.

Date of Death: unknown.

Place of Death: unknown.

Relationships

Father: unknown.

Settipani argues that he was Varaztirots III. There have been other suggestions.

Mother: unknown.

Brother: Bagrat.

This relationship is recorded by Lewond (p. 123).

Spouse: unknown.

Children: 

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)

Ashot III Bagratuni (the Blind) (born about 690 - died 762)

Evidence

from Lewond (p. 123): 

Yazid, in turn, assigned from among the Armenian nobles Isahak son of Bagarat, as Prince of Armenia. He was a descendant of the same house of Prince Ashot who was, in turn, the son of his [Isahak’s] father’s brother.

from Lewond (p. 113): At that time Caliph Hisham sent Merwan of Muhammad to rule over the 

Armenians instead of Sa’id whom they called al-Harashi. When Merwan arrived in the city of Dvin, the Armenian nobles came to meet him. He spoke with them peacefully, called Ashot son of Vasak who was from the house of Bagratids and, by orders of Hisham, gave him the authority of a patrician over our land of Armenia together with high honours. When, however, the sons of Smbat heard of the honours conferred upon Ashot and the latter’s importance to Hisham and to governor Merwan, they acted extremely insolently toward him, to the extent that Muhammad’s son (Merwan) became aware of their contention. …

(p. 118):

While confusion persisted among the mob of the sons of Ishmael regarding the unfaithful war, the sons of Smbat were set free from the prison in which they had been held as hostages….Later, as war went on repeatedly among them [the Arabs], [the sons of Smbat] managed to free themselves and flee to Armenia. A short while after their arrival in Armenia, they went to the province of Vaspurakan where they created torment and great anguish among the people by harshly imposing taxes on them….

Later, as they [sons of Smbat] followed the course of events pertaining to the mob and their conflicta, they started again to revolt against Ashot's reign, creating scandal everywhere concerning his person. They attacked him at night while [Ashot] was sleeping and having scattered his troops inb the districts. They had intended to kill him, but the guard, being aware [of the conspiracy], cautioned the Prince against the attacking marauder. [Ashot] escaped from their clutches, thereby saving his life. In the meantime, [the sons of Smbat] plundered much booty from Prince Ashot's treasury and returned. [Ashot], knowing of their conspiracy and particularly that they were trying to take revenge against him maliciously in time of peace, became wary of them for a few days. Taking his princess and the entire family, as well as the supplies of his household, he went to the fortressc of Dariwnk' 5 and put guards in charge of its safetyd. He then went to Syria to meet with Caliph Merwan of the Arabs and to report to him about the disturbance that had occurred between him and his nobles6. As the patrician arrived on the battlefield with his troops, the forces of Merwan won many victories and defeated the enemy, for they had heard about the arrival of the Armenian patrician, having come for help with his fifteen thousand armed select cavalrymen7 • As this was revealed to Merwan's enemies, they withdrew from the battle and suffered heavy attacks that very day. Thus, being exhaustede, they ceased fighting for a while.

When Prince Ashot was in Syria, the son of Mslim (Ishak) had appointed Grigor from the house of the Mamikonids prince of the Armenian troops in place of Ashot8 • But when Merwan was informed of the accusationf against the sons of Smbat and what David, Grigor's brother, had done to him [Ashot], he sent messengers to Ishak son of Mslim, who was the governor of Armenia, ordering him to arrest David and deliver him into the hands of a certain Oqba to be sentenced according to the given orders. As he received the orders, [Ishak] did not delay [the execution], but had him [David] arrested deceitfully at once. [Ishak] handed him over to the merciless executioner who, in turn, put David in painful chains and imprisoned him for a few days. He then wrote to Merwan for further orders. [Merwan] ordered to have him amputate the feet and the hands of David and then hang him from a tree until he died. It was this kind of pitiful and ignominious death that befell him.

(p. 120):

…Grigor, anxious to conclude the conspiracy [against Ashot] for quite some time, soon gathered his troops and followed him like a crow from mountain to mountain. He reached his [Ashot's] refuge at night and surroundedbthe place where he was resting, depending on the hesitation of [Ashot's] troops which had refrained from helping him [Ashot]. He [Grigor] arrested [Ashot], handed him over to the servants of David, and gave orders to blind him.

from the Georgian Chronicles (The History of King Vaxt‘ang Gorgasali) (p. 248-9):

Then there came to him a mt‘avari who was from the family of the prophet David, by the name of Adarnase, the nephew of Adarnase the Blind, whose father was related to the Bagratids. He had been appointed by the Greeks as erist‘avi of the regions of Armenia, and during the invasion of Qru he had taken refuge with the sons of Guaram curopalates in Klarjet‘i…. The nephews of Adarnase the Blind, who had burnt their uncle’s eyes, came from Taron to Šakixi, three brothers, and settled there at the command of Arc‘il. 

The word “nephew” above has variant readings in different manucripts: in one, it is the Georgian word for ‘brother’s son’, in another ‘sister’s son’, and in a third ‘grandson’. 

Toumanoff (p. 346) prefers the reading grandson. He notes that “Adarnase the Blind’ must be Ashot III the Blind, and the “nephews/grandsons” the “sons of Smbat” in Lewond’s account.

This is a problem, because Ashot III was not the brother of Smbat VI. Ashot’s father was Vasak and Smbat’s father was Varaztirots III.  Toumanoff (p. 350) solves this by noting that in Georgian, ‘nephew’ can mean ‘first cousin once removed’, and so makes Vasak a brother of Varaztirots III, the father of Smbat VI. This would make Ashot III’s blinders his first cousins once removed. However, Settipani (p. 576) notes that this results in chronological impossibilities. He makes Vasak a brother of Smbat VI, arguing that the Juanšer, the author of the Georgian account, was writing centuries later and made an error.

References

History of Lewond, The Eminent Vardapet of the Armenians (Z. Arzoumanian tr.) (1982).

Rewriting Caucasian History: The Medieval Adaptation of the Georgian Chronicles. The Original Georgian Texts and the Armenians Adaptation. (Robert W. Thomson tr. and comm.) (Clarendon Press, 1996).

Settipani, Christian. “The Seventh-Century Bagratids between Armenia and Byzantium” in 2013, Constructing the Seventh Century, Travaux et Mémoires XVII, (C. Zuckerman ed.), (Paris, 2013), p. 559-578.

Toumanoff, Cyril. Studies in Christian Caucasian History (Georgetown U.P., 1963).