Azat (; plural ազատք ''azatkʿ'', collective
ազատանի ''azatani'') was a class of
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 ...
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...
; the term came to designate the middle and lower nobility originally, in contrast to the ''
naxarark'' who were the great lords. From the
Late Middle Ages
The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...
on the term and its derivatives were used to designate the entire body of the nobility.
The term is related to the Iranian ''
āzāt-ān'', "free" or "noble", who are listed as the lowest class of the free nobility in the bilingual (
Middle Persian
Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...
and
Parthian) Hajjiabad inscription of King
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; ) was the second Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent u ...
, and parallels to the ''
aznauri'' of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. See the
article in Wiktionary for further etymology.
The ''azatkʿ'' were a class of noble landowners directly subordinate to the princes and to the king, as prince of his own
demesne
A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...
, and at the same time a class of noble warriors, an equestrian order, whose vassalage to the dynasts was expressed, first of all, in the duty, which was also a privilege, of serving the feudal cavalry of their suzerains, as well as in other obligations. It seems plausible that they enjoyed certain minor governmental rights on their own lands.
The ''azatkʿ'' had their share in the major events of the country, such as at the election of the
Catholicos of Armenia according to
Faustus of Byzantium.
[M. L. Chaumont, Toumanoff, Cyril]
ĀZĀD (Iranian Nobility)
Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition. Retrieved on January 13, 2008 (broken link repaired March 3, 2019). During
Shapur II's invasion of the
Kingdom of Armenia,
Arsaces II (Arshak II), his wife
Pharantzem and their son, the future king
Papas (Pap) were holed up with the Armenian treasure in the fortress of Artogerassa defended by a troop of ''azatkʿ''.
Their equivalence with the medieval Western knights was immediately recognized when, as during the Crusades, the two societies, Armenian and Frankish, existed side by side. Thus the Armeno-Cilician Code of the
Constable Smbat (after 1275) explains the meaning of ''azat'' by ''dziavor'', an Armenian adaptation of
chevalier.
References
{{Reflist
Armenian nobility
Armenian noble titles