Gregory Pakourianos
Encyclopedia
Gregory Pakourianos was a politician and military commander in the Byzantine
service. He was the founder of the Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa in Bachkovo and author of its typikon
. The monks of this Orthodox monastery (today, the Bachkovo Monastery
) in Bulgaria
were Iberians.
According others, Pakourianos was born into either a Chalcedonian Armenian
or Georgian
family in the region of Tao
or Tayk
, which had been annexed
by the Byzantines as the theme of Iberia
since 1001.
In 1064, he participated in the unsuccessful defense of Ani against the Seljuk leader Alp Arslan
and his allies: the Caucasian Georgians headed by King Bagrat IV of Georgia
and Albanians headed by King Goridzhan. He served afterwards under Michael VII Doukas (1071–78) and Nikephoros III Botaneiates (1078–81) in various responsible positions on both the eastern and the western frontiers of the empire. Since 1071 he was a governor of the Theme of Iberia
.
As the Seljuk advance forced the Byzantines to evacuate the eastern Anatolia
n fortresses and the Theme of Iberia
, he ceded the control over Kars
to King George II of Georgia
in 1072-1073 but this did not prevent the invaders from capturing the city.
Later he was involved in a coup that removed Nikephoros III. The new Emperor, Alexios I Komnenos
, appointed him "megas domestikos of All the West" and gave him many more properties in the Balkans
. He possessed numerous estates in various parts of the Byzantine Empire
and was afforded a variety of privileges by the emperor, including exemption from certain taxes. In 1081, he commanded the left flank against the Normans
at the Battle of Dyrrachium
. A year later he evicted the Normans from Moglena, the present day Greece
. He died in 1086 fighting the Pechenegs at the battle of Beliatoba, charging so vigorously he crashed into a tree.
He was also known as a noted patron and promoter of Christian culture. He together with his brother Apasios made, in 1074, a significant donation to the Eastern Orthodox Holy Monastery of Iviron
on Mount Athos
.
He signed the official Greek
version of the Typikon in Armenian
. He also signed his name in Georgian
and Armenian
characters rather than Greek
. It is assumed that Pakourianos did not know Greek.
Gregory Pakourianos and his brother Abas are buried in a bone-vault house near the Bachkovo Monastery
. The portraits of the two brothers are painted on the north wall of the bone-vault house.
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
service. He was the founder of the Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa in Bachkovo and author of its typikon
Typikon
The Typikon, or Typicon; plural Typika is a liturgical book which contains instructions about the order of the various Eastern Orthodox Christian church services and ceremonies, in the form of a perpetual calendar...
. The monks of this Orthodox monastery (today, the Bachkovo Monastery
Bachkovo Monastery
The Bachkovo Monastery , archaically the Petritsoni Monastery or Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa in Bulgaria is an important monument of Christian architecture and one of the largest and oldest Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Europe...
) in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
were Iberians.
Life
According the historian Anna Comnena, who knew Pakourianos personally, he was "…descended from a noble Armenian family…”.According others, Pakourianos was born into either a Chalcedonian Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
or Georgian
Georgian people
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....
family in the region of Tao
Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars...
or Tayk
Tayk
Tayk was a historical province of the Greater Armenia, one of its 15 ashkars . Tayk consisted of 8 cantons:* Kogh* Berdats por* Partizats por* Tchakatk* Bokha* Vokaghe* Azordats por* Arsiats por....
, which had been annexed
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
by the Byzantines as the theme of Iberia
Theme of Iberia
The theme of Iberia was an administrative and military unit – theme – within the Byzantine Empire carved by the Byzantine Emperors out of several Armenian and Georgian lands in the 11th century...
since 1001.
In 1064, he participated in the unsuccessful defense of Ani against the Seljuk leader Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan was the third sultan of the Seljuq dynasty and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty...
and his allies: the Caucasian Georgians headed by King Bagrat IV of Georgia
Bagrat IV of Georgia
Bagrat IV , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the King of Georgia from 1027 to 1072. During his long and eventful reign, Bagrat sought to repress the great nobility and to secure Georgia's sovereignty from the Byzantine and Seljuqid empires...
and Albanians headed by King Goridzhan. He served afterwards under Michael VII Doukas (1071–78) and Nikephoros III Botaneiates (1078–81) in various responsible positions on both the eastern and the western frontiers of the empire. Since 1071 he was a governor of the Theme of Iberia
Theme of Iberia
The theme of Iberia was an administrative and military unit – theme – within the Byzantine Empire carved by the Byzantine Emperors out of several Armenian and Georgian lands in the 11th century...
.
As the Seljuk advance forced the Byzantines to evacuate the eastern Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
n fortresses and the Theme of Iberia
Theme of Iberia
The theme of Iberia was an administrative and military unit – theme – within the Byzantine Empire carved by the Byzantine Emperors out of several Armenian and Georgian lands in the 11th century...
, he ceded the control over Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
to King George II of Georgia
George II of Georgia
George II , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Georgia from 1072 to 1089. He was a son and successor of Bagrat IV and his wife Borena of Alania...
in 1072-1073 but this did not prevent the invaders from capturing the city.
Later he was involved in a coup that removed Nikephoros III. The new Emperor, Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
, appointed him "megas domestikos of All the West" and gave him many more properties in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
. He possessed numerous estates in various parts of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and was afforded a variety of privileges by the emperor, including exemption from certain taxes. In 1081, he commanded the left flank against the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
at the Battle of Dyrrachium
Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)
The Battle of Dyrrhachium took place on October 18, 1081 between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, and the Normans of southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria...
. A year later he evicted the Normans from Moglena, the present day Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. He died in 1086 fighting the Pechenegs at the battle of Beliatoba, charging so vigorously he crashed into a tree.
He was also known as a noted patron and promoter of Christian culture. He together with his brother Apasios made, in 1074, a significant donation to the Eastern Orthodox Holy Monastery of Iviron
Iviron monastery
Holy Monastery of Iviron is an Eastern Orthodox monastery at the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece...
on Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
.
He signed the official Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
version of the Typikon in Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
. He also signed his name in Georgian
Georgian alphabet
The Georgian alphabet is the writing system used to write the Georgian language and other Kartvelian languages , and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus such as Ossetic and Abkhaz during the 1940s...
and Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
characters rather than Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
. It is assumed that Pakourianos did not know Greek.
Gregory Pakourianos and his brother Abas are buried in a bone-vault house near the Bachkovo Monastery
Bachkovo Monastery
The Bachkovo Monastery , archaically the Petritsoni Monastery or Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa in Bulgaria is an important monument of Christian architecture and one of the largest and oldest Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Europe...
. The portraits of the two brothers are painted on the north wall of the bone-vault house.
Further reading
- Gregory_Pakourianos. "Typicon Pacuriani (Regula monasterii Petriconi)" (in Old Georgian, written in 1083)
- Chanidze, A.Akaki ShanidzeAkaki Shanidze was a Georgian linguist and philologist. He was one of the founders of the Tbilisi State University and Academician of the Georgian Academy of Sciences ; Doctor of Philological Sciences , Professor .Shanidze graduated from the St. Petersburg University in 1909...
, "Au sujet du batisseur de monastere de Petritsoni Grigol Bakourianis-dze (en Bulgarie)," BK 38 (1980), 36; idem, "Le grand domestique de l'occident, Gregorii Bakurianis-dze, et le monastere georgien fonde par lui en Bulgarie," BK 28 (1971), 134 - Comnena, Anna, “The Alexiad”, Translated by E.R.A. Sewter, Pengium Books Ltd., London, 1969, (reprinted in 2003), pp. 560.
- Petit, L., Typikon de Grégoire Pacourianos pour le monastère de Pétritzos (Bachkovo) en Bulgarie, texte original, Viz. Vrem., XI, Suppl. no 1, SPB 1904, XXXII+63 p.
- Gautier, P. Le typikon du sébaste Grégoire Pakourianos. - Revue des études byzantines, T. 42 (1984), pp. 5-145
- Garsoian, N., "The Byzantine Annexation of the Armenian Kingdoms in the Eleventh Century". In: The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, vol. 1, New York, 1977, 192 p.
- Obolensky, D., Nationalism in Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fifth Series, Vol. 22, (1972), pp. 1–16
- Ostrogorsky, G., Observations on the Aristocracy in Byzantium: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 25, (1971), pp. 1–32
- Shanidze, A.Akaki ShanidzeAkaki Shanidze was a Georgian linguist and philologist. He was one of the founders of the Tbilisi State University and Academician of the Georgian Academy of Sciences ; Doctor of Philological Sciences , Professor .Shanidze graduated from the St. Petersburg University in 1909...
, "The Georgian Monastery in Bulgaria and its Typikon: the Georgian Edition of the Typikon" (in Georgian and Russian)," Works 9 (1986), Tbilisi: Metsniereba. pp. 29-36 - (Russian) Арутюновой – Фиданян, В. А. Типик Григория Пакуриана. Введение, перевод и комментарий. Ереван, 1978, с. 249 (Arutiunova-Fidanian, V. A. The Typikon of Gregorius Pacurianus, Yerevan, 1978, p. 249. Marr, Nicholas. Н. Я. Марр. Аркаун – монгольское название христиан в связи с вопросом об армянах-халкедонитах (Византийский временник”, т. XII, С. Петербург, 1905. Отдельный оттиск). ( Arkaun, the Mongolian name of Christians in connection with the question of the Armenians-Chalcedonian. Saint-Petersburg, 1905, pp. 17–31 ).
External links
- Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents_Typikon of Gregory Pakourianos for the Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa in Backovo.
- Typikon of Gregory Pakourianos for the Monastery in Bačkovo.
- Gregory_Pakourianos. "Typicon Pacuriani (Regula monasterii Petriconi)" (in Old Georgian, written in 1083).
- Edouard Selian. The Iberian Monks of the Petritzos (Bachkovo) Monastery. October 14, 2009.