Bagrat (died 1116), also known as Pakrad, was an Armenian adventurer and brother of

Kogh Vasil Kogh Vasil, or Vasil the Robber (; died on 12 October 1112), was the Armenian ruler of Raban and Kaisun at the time of the First Crusade. Biography Origins The father of Kogh Vasil was the brigand leader Łazarik (Ghazar, i.e. Lazarus), called ...

. Kogh was among a number of Armenian princes who had established small city-states in the region during the collapse of centralised

Abbassid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes i ...

power following the rise of the

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture. The founder of th ...

. Once in the Emperor

Alexios Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and constant warfare throughout his reign, Alexios wa ...

' service, Bagrat met Baldwin of Boulogne during the

Siege of Nicaea The siege of Nicaea was the first major battle of the First Crusade, taking place from 14 May to 19 June 1097. The city was under the control of the Seljuk Turks who opted to surrender to the Byzantines in fear of the crusaders breaking into the ...

. After befriending Baldwin, Bagrat entered his service and joined him in his march to the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

. Two great fortresses were taken during this march: Ravendel and Turbessel. Baldwin granted Ravendel to Bagrat and Turbessel to a local Armenian noble who had joined him, named Fer. Early in 1098, while Baldwin considered an offer from Thoros, ruler of

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

, to come to his aid, Bagrat expressed discontent with that course of action. Some sources claim that Bagrat went further, installing his son as ruler of Ravendel and refusing entry to the fortress to Baldwin and his men.Edgington 2019, p. 35 Fer, the Armenian noble who ruled Turbessel, reported to Baldwin that Bagrat was conspiring against him with Turks. Bagrat was asked to surrender the fortress he had been given and, when he refused, was arrested by Baldwin's troops and tortured. Later, Bagrat escaped or was released and took to the mountains, where he was soon joined by his brother. Bagrat may have become lord of Khoros (Cyrrhus) in 1116. There is some dispute over whether this Bagrat was the same man. Regardless, he was defeated by Baldwin, and Khoros was absorbed into the

County of Edessa The County of Edessa (Latin: ''Comitatus Edessanus'') was a 12th-century Crusader state in Upper Mesopotamia. Its seat was the city of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey). In the late Byzantine period, Edessa became the centre of intellec ...

in 1117.Runciman 1952, pp. 129–130

References

Bibliography

* Albert of Aachen, ''Historia Ierosolimitana'', ed. and trans. S. Edgington, Oxford: Oxford Medieval Texts, 2007 * {{Setton-A History of the Crusades , volume = 1 * Edgington, Susan B. ''Baldwin I of Jerusalem, 1100-1118'', Routledge, 2019 * MacEvitt, Christopher, ''The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010 * Runciman, Steven, ''A History of the Crusades, Volume One: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem'', Cambridge University Press, London, 1951 * Runciman, Steven, ''A History of the Crusades, Volume Two: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187'', Cambridge University Press, London, 1952 *

Tyerman, Christopher Christopher J. Tyerman (born 22 May 1953) is a British academic and historian focusing on the Crusades. In 2015, he was appointed Professor of History of the Crusades at the University of Oxford. Life and career Tyerman was an undergraduate a ...

, ''God's War: A New History of the Crusades'', Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2006 1116 deaths Armenian nobility