Avan-khan III or Yegan III ( Armenian: Ավան խան) was the

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

ruler of

Dizak Dizak (), also known as Ktish after its main stronghold, was a medieval Armenian principality in the historical province of Artsakh and later one of the five melikdoms of Karabakh, which included the southern third of Khachen (present-day N ...

from 1716 to 1744 and the ancestor of Melik-Aslanyan and Melik-Yeganyan families.

Origin

He was born in the village of Artu in the province of Lori in the family of

vardapet A ''vardapet'' (, Eastern Armenian: ; Western Armenian: ''vartabed'', ) is a title given to highly educated hieromonks in the Armenian Apostolic Church. It has been variously translated as 'doctor', 'doctor-monk', 'archimandrite', or 'doctor of ...

Lukas from the Avanid dynasty. According to many authors Melik Avan III returned to

from Lori with his father and family members after a quarrel with his relative Elizbar pertaining to some land. Historian Mirza Adigozal bey writes: "One of these districts is Dizak. Its chieftain is called Melik Yegan. He escaped from Lori and during the reign of

Nader Shah Nader Shah Afshar (; 6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was a ...

and by his command he sat on the throne of the chieftaincy and gained respect."

Biography

Melik Avan moved to the village of Tugh in

where he became a melik. Here his father restored the Gtich monastery. Avan erected a magnificent church in the village and fortified the settlement with circumferential walls. The Palace of Dizak Meliks he built in the same village decorated with Armenian inscriptions is still preserved today. From 1722 to 1728, he participated in the liberation struggle of Armenians against foreign domination under the command of Davit Bek. The military talent of the ruler of the Principality of Dizak was noted by the Persian and Russian courts. During the reign of

Empress of Russia The emperor and autocrat of all Russia (, ), also translated as emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, was the official title of the Russian monarch from 1721 to 1917. The title originated in connection with Russia's victory in the Great Nor ...

Anna Ioannovna Anna Ioannovna (; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much of her administratio ...

he went with his retinue to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, where he met with a wonderful reception. The Russian tsarina for the services rendered by him to

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

during the Persian campaigns granted melik Avan the rank of major general and various orders. The Persian Shah Nader in 1736 appointed him

khan Khan may refer to: * Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name * Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by various ethnicities Art and entertainment * Khan (band), an English progressiv ...

and

beylerbey ''Beylerbey'' (, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords’, sometimes rendered governor-general) was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks and the I ...

of all the provinces of the

Karabakh khanate The Karabakh Khanate (also spelled Qarabagh; ; ) was a Khanates of the Caucasus, khanate under History of Iran, Iranian and later Russian Empire, Russian suzerainty, which controlled the historical region of Karabakh, now divided between modern ...

. He was raised to the baronial dignity of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

by the

Emperor of Austria The emperor of Austria (, ) was the ruler of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The hereditary imperial title and office was proclaimed in 1804 by Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorr ...

under the name of Johann von Giovanni. In 1741, Avan Khan at the invitation of

Elizabeth of Russia Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (; ) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular List of Russian rulers, Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, ...

attended the celebrations on the occasion of her coronation. At the festivities the khan negotiated and held a series of meetings with the queen and high-ranking officials of Russia. After returning to his homeland in

melik Avan-Khan did not live long. He died in 1744 and was buried in the tomb of the church of his fortress Tugh. An inscription on his tombstone reads:

Family

He had at least two wives. One of them was armenian Khanum-aga begum, who is mentioned on the wall of the church of St. Hovhannes in the village of Tugh.

Cyril Toumanoff Cyril Leo Toumanoff ( ka, კირილ თუმანოვი; ; 10 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Georgian-American historian, and academic genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armen ...

mentions his wife Gohar-Khanum. He had many sons: Aram, Esayi, Altoukhan, Bakhtam-bey, Hovsep-bey, Bagr-bey, Arakel-bey, Safar-bey, Bagum-bey, Verdi-bey, and 4 daughters: Tavar-begum, Khan-Baji-begum, Khatun-begum and Hatay-begum. The first two sons successively inherited from their father the titles of meliks. Two other sons were forcibly held hostage at the

Shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

's court were converted to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and elevated in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

to the rank of khan. The remaining sons and their families continued to live in

Karabakh Karabakh ( ; ) is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras. It is divided into three regions: Highland Kara ...

under various surnames.

References

Sources

* Anvar Chiningizoglu. ''Məlik Yeqan və onun törəmələri. "Soy" elmi-kütləvi dərgi,'' 2011, №3, p. 23-34. * Emïn, Joseph (1792). ''Life and Adventures of Emin Joseph Emin, 1726–1809''. Baptist mission Press. pp. 339–341. *

. ''Manuel de généalogie et de chronologie pour l'histoire de la Caucasie chrétien (Arménie - Géorgie - Albanie)''. p. 258. * Hewsen, Robert (1972). ''The Meliks Of Eastern Armenia I''. p. 322. * * {{cite book , author=Raffi , last2=Melkonian , first2=Ara Stepan , title=The five melikdoms of Karabagh, (1600-1827) , publisher=Taderon Press , publication-place=London , date=2010 , isbn=978-1-903656-57-0 , oclc=670483701 , author-link = Raffi (novelist) , title-link = Melikdoms of Karabakh 1744 deaths Meliks of the Principality of Dizak 18th-century monarchs in Asia Khans

Origin

Biography

Family

See also

References

Sources