Kingdom of Kars ( hy, Կարսի թագավորություն), alternatively known as the Kingdom of Vanand ( hy, Վանանդի թագավորություն), was a medieval

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

n kingdom formed in the year 963 by the son of

Abas I of Armenia Abas (, died 953) was king of Bagratid Armenia from 928 to 953. He was a member of the Bagratid ( Bagratuni) royal dynasty. He was the son of Smbat I and the brother of Ashot II the Iron, whom he succeeded. In contrast to the reign of his prede ...

, Mushegh Bagratuni (d. 984). The capital of the kingdom was

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography (Strabo), part of ...

, currently part of modern-day

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. In 963, shortly after the Bagratuni seat was transferred to Ani, Kars became the capital of a separate independent kingdom called Vanand. However, the extent of its actual independence from the

Kingdom of Ani The Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia, also known as Bagratid Armenia ( xcl, Բագրատունեաց Հայաստան, or , , 'kingdom of the Bagratunis'), was an independent Armenian state established by Ashot I Bagratuni of the Bagratuni dynasty ...

is uncertain: it was always in the possession of the relatives of the rulers of Ani, and, after Ani's capture by the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

in 1045, the Bagratuni title "King of Kings" held by the ruler of Ani was transferred to the ruler of Kars. In 1064, just after the capture of Ani by

Alp Arslan Alp Arslan was the second Sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty. He greatly expanded the Seljuk territory and consolidated his power, defeating rivals to the south and northwest, and his ...

(leader of the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

), the Armenian king of Kars, Gagik, paid homage to the victorious Turks so that they would not lay siege to his city. In 1065 Gagik ceded his kingdom to the Byzantine Empire, but soon after Kars was taken by the Seljuk Turks.

Rulers

References

See also