Barjik

Barjik (died 731/732) was a Khazar prince who flourished in the early 8th century, he was the commander of Khazar armies during Arab–Khazar wars.

Dunlop and Blankinship argue that he might have been the ''khagan'' mentioned in the Arabic sources leading the battles against the Arab armies while al-Tabari claims that he was "the son of the Khagan"; his exact status and position is unknown though he may have been the Khagan or Khagan Bek.

Career

Barjik first appears in 713/714 as part of the Khazar army in Arab sources, in which Maslama led an expedition which captured Derbent after a short siege, reportedly after a resident showed him a secret underground passage. The Armenian historian Łewond claims that the Arabs, realizing that they could not hold the fortress, destroyed its walls. Maslama then drove deeper into Khazar territory.

The Khazar ''khagan'' (possibly Barjik) confronted the Arabs at the city of Tarku but, apart from a series of single combats by champions, the two armies did not engage for several days.The imminent arrival of Khazar reinforcements under the general Alp' forced Maslama to quickly abandon his campaign and retreat to Iberia, leaving his camp with all its equipment as a ruse.

In 715, the Khazars led by Barjik invaded and raided Albania with an army claimed to be 80,000 strong soldiers. In 717, Barjik raided Adharbayjan in force. With the main Umayyad army, occupied at Constantinople, Caliph could only spare 4,000 men to confront Barjik. The Arab commander Hatim ibn al-Nu'man managed to defeat and drive back the Khazars.

In 721/22, situation escalated and Khazars with Barjik as their commander, invaded Armenia that winter, and decisively defeated the local governor.

Caliph sent al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah, one of his most celebrated generals, north with 25,000 troops in response. The Khazars retreated to the area of Derbent, that was captured by Muslims previously now under siege. Learning that the local Lezgin chief was in contact with the Khazars, al-Jarrah set up camp on the river Rubas and announced that the army would remain there for several days. Instead, he arrived at Derbent in a night march and entered it. From there, al-Jarrah launched raiding columns into Khazar territory ahead of the bulk of his army.

Barjik met al-Jarrah's army at the river al-Ran, one day's march north of Derbent, after joining in force with other armies. According to al-Tabari the Arab strength was 25,000. The Khazars, commanded by Barjik , reportedly numbered 40,000. The Arabs were victorious, losing 4,000 men to the Khazars' 7,000. Advancing north, the Arab army captured the settlements of Khamzin and Targhu and resettled their inhabitants elsewhere.

Finally, the Arab army reached Balanjar, the capital of Khazars. Barjik defended their capital by surrounding the citadel with a wagon fort of 300 wagons tied together with ropes, a common tactic among nomads. The Arabs broke through, storming the city on 21 August 722. At that time, so many Khazar prisoners were taken that al-Jarrah ordered some of them drowned in the Balanjar River.

The Umayyad army under Al-Jarrah intended to advance to Samandar, the next major Khazar settlement, but cut his campaign short when he learned that the Barjik was gathering large forces, which forced Al-Jarrah into retreat. The Arabs had not yet defeated the main Khazar army, which (like all nomad forces) did not depend on cities for supplies. The presence of this force near Samandar and reports of rebellions among the mountain tribes in their rear forced the Arabs to retreat to Warthan, south of the Caucasus. On his return, al-Jarrah reported on his campaign to the caliph and requested additional troops to defeat the Khazars. This is an indication of the severity of the fighting and, according to Blankinship, that the campaign was not necessarily the resounding success portrayed in Muslim sources.

Hearing the news of Al-Jarrah marching through Darial Gate, Barjik raided south of the Caucasus in response, but in February 724, al-Jarrah decisively defeated Barjik in a days-long battle near the rivers Cyrus and Araxes. Later, al-Jarrah captured Tiflis and brought Caucasian Iberia and the lands of the Alans under Muslim suzerainty. These campaigns made al-Jarrah the first Muslim commander to cross the Darial Pass, secured the Muslim flank against a possible Khazar attack through the pass, and gave the Arabs a second invasion route into Khazar territory.

In 725, the caliph replaced al-Jarrah with his own half-brother Maslama, governor of the Jazira. Maslama's appointment is considered by modern historians to attest to the importance placed by the caliph on the Khazar front, since he was not only a member of the rulingy dynasty, but also one of the most distinguished generals of the Umayyad empire. The following year, Barjik launched a major invasion of Albania and Adharbayjan. The Khazars laid siege to Warthan with mangonels. Al-Harith defeated them on the Araxes and drove them north of the river, but the Arab position was clearly precarious.

Barjik assumed command of the again front in 727. The ''Khagan'' (allegedly Barjik) was faced personally for the first time with the Maslama himself as both sides escalated the conflict. Maslama took the offensive, probably reinforced with Syrian and Jaziran troops. He recovered the Darial Pass (which had been apparently lost after al-Jarrah's 724 expedition) and pushed into Khazar territory, campaigning there until the onset of winter forced him to return to Adharbayjan.

Maslama's second assault, the following year, was less successful; Blankinship calls it a "near disaster". Arab sources report that the Umayyad troops fought for thirty or forty days in the mud, with continuous rain, before defeating the on 17 September 728.

The impact of their victory is questionable, however, as Barjik ambushed Maslama when he retreated, and the Arabs abandoned their baggage train and fled through the Darial Pass to safety. After this campaign, Maslama was replaced yet again by al-Jarrah. Despite his energy, Maslama's campaigns failed to produce the desired results; by 729, the Arabs had lost control of the northeastern parts of the South Caucasus and were again on the defensive, with al-Jarrah having to defend Adharbayjan against a Khazar invasion.

In 729/30, Barjik led a massive army of allegedly 300,000 men, which forced the Maslama into again retreat south of the Caucasus and defend Albania.

It is unclear whether the Khazar invasion was through the Darial Pass, the Caspian Gates, or both. Arab sources say that the invasion was led by Barjik through the Caspian Gates and Łewond identifies Tar'mach as the Khazar tarkhan who led the army through Darial Pass. Al-Jarrah apparently dispersed some of his forces, withdrawing his main army to Bardha'a and then to Ardabil. Ardabil was the capital of Adharbayjan, and most of the Muslim settlers and their families (about 30,000) lived within its walls. Informed of Arab movements by the prince of Iberia, Barjik moved around al-Jarrah and attacked Warthan.

After a three-day battle, from 7 to 9 December 730, Barjik destroyed al-Jarrah's 25,000-man army Al-Jarrah was among the fallen and his head was severed by Barjik and put on a stick to scare away the Muslims, which reportedly enraged them. Command passed to his brother, al-Hajjaj, who could not prevent the sacking of Ardabil. The 10th-century historian Agapius of Hierapolis reports that the Barjik took as many as 40,000 prisoners from the city, al-Jarrah's army, and the surrounding countryside. The Khazars raided the province at will, sacking Ganza and attacking other settlements. Some detachments reached Mosul in the northern Jazira, adjacent to the Umayyad heartlands in Syria. Barjik reportedly defeated another Muslim army during Battle of Mousul, but this might have been the same battle.

The defeat at Ardabil—news of which spread even to Byzantium—was a shock to the Muslims, who faced an army penetrating deep into the Caliphate for the first time. Caliph Hisham again appointed Maslama to fight Barjik as governor of Armenia and Adharbayjan. Until Maslama could assemble enough forces, veteran military leader Sa'id ibn Amr al-Harashi was sent to stem the Khazar invasion. With a lance reportedly used at the Battle of Badr as a standard for his army and with 100,000 dirhams to recruit men, Sa'id went to Raqqa.

Death

Barjik had dispersed small detachments after his victories, plundering the countryside, and the Arabs defeated them one by one. Sa'id recovered Akhlat on Lake Van, then moved northeast to Bardha'a and south to relieve the siege of Warthan. He encountered a 10,000-strong Khazar army near Bajarwan and defeated it in a surprise night attack, killing most of the Khazars and rescuing their 5,000 Muslim prisoners (who included al-Jarrah's daughter).

Barjik retreated north, with Sa'id in pursuit. Muslim sources record a number of other, heavily embellished attacks by Sa'id on improbably large Khazar armies; in one, Barjik was reportedly killed in single combat with the Umayyad general. Generally considered "romance rather than history", by historians, they may be contemporary, but imaginative, retellings of Sa'id's campaign. According to Blankinship, "The various battles fought and rescues of Muslim prisoners achieved by Sa'id in these sources seem to all go back to a single battle near Bajarwan".

Dunlop and Blainkinship argues that Barjik managed to retreat into fortress of Derbent, where he fortified himself with a Khazar garrison of 1,000 men and their families, waiting for the main army to arrive for help. Maslama advanced north before being forced to retreat after a confrontation with the main Khazar army under the . Leaving their campfires burning, the Arabs withdrew in the middle of the night and quickly reached Derbent in a series of forced marches. The Khazars shadowed Maslama's march south and attacked him near Derbent, but the Arab army (augmented by local levies) resisted until a small, elite force attacked the s tent and wounded him. The Muslims, encouraged, then defeated the Khazars. The Khagan previously mentioned may have been Barjik who died of wounds, shortly after.

The ''khagan'' mentioned throughout the war, might have been Barjik. There was no other recorded Khagan at that time, Barjik's predecessor Busir died in 711, Barjik succedeed as the ''khagan'' or ''khagan-bek'' in 711 or 715. Parsbit was a Khazar noblewoman and 'the mother of the infant-khagan' during 730s. Barjik, who might have been the khagan or the son of khagan as his successor was already an adult during this time, which makes it impossible for an infant-khagan to exist during his lifetime. Barjik died in early 730s and was succeeded by Bihar (Khazar), and Parsbit was known for being a regent thouroughout 730s. It is possible that Parsbit as the Queen was Barjik's wife, and ruled in the name of Barjik and her infant son Bihar as regent until he reached adulthood, due to unexpected death of Barjik.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barjik
731 deaths
Khazar generals
People of the Arab–Khazar wars
8th-century nobility
Year of birth unknown