The Bagratid kingdom, Ani and Armenian Cilicia
Armenian kingship revives under the Bagratids, with Ani as the "city of 1,001 churches"; after Byzantine and Seljuk conquest, a new Armenian kingdom rises in Cilicia on the Mediterranean and lasts until 1375.
- The History of Armenia: From the Origins to the Present — Simon Payaslian, Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
- The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times (2 vols.) — Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.), St. Martin's Press (1997)
- The Armenians — A. E. Redgate, Blackwell (1998)
- A Concise History of the Armenian People — George A. Bournoutian, Mazda Publishers (2002)
After two centuries of Arab rule, the Bagratid prince Ashot I was recognised as king of Armenia by both the caliph and the Byzantine emperor in the 880s. His successors built their capital at Ani, on a gorge above the Akhurian river, which grew into a city of tens of thousands, famous for its churches; Armenians still call it the “city of 1,001 churches”. Its cathedral was designed by the architect Trdat, who also repaired the dome of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Other Armenian kingdoms flourished at the same time, such as Vaspurakan, whose church of the Holy Cross on Aghtamar island in Lake Van still stands.
- The History of Armenia: From the Origins to the Present — Simon Payaslian, Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
- The Armenians — A. E. Redgate, Blackwell (1998)
Byzantium annexed Ani in 1045, and the Seljuk Turks sacked it in 1064; after the Byzantine defeat at Manzikert in 1071, Turkic tribes spread across the Armenian plateau. Many Armenians moved south-west, and in Cilicia, on the Mediterranean coast of today’s Turkey, Armenian princes built a new state. It became a kingdom in 1198, when Levon I was crowned, and allied with the Crusaders and later the Mongols. Cilicia was a busy trading kingdom with close ties to Europe, and its manuscript painters, above all Toros Roslin, produced some of the finest Armenian art. Mamluk Egypt conquered it in 1375.
- The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times (2 vols.) — Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.), St. Martin's Press (1997)
- A Concise History of the Armenian People — George A. Bournoutian, Mazda Publishers (2002)
- The History of Armenia: From the Origins to the Present — Simon Payaslian, Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
Why it matters today
These were the last Armenian kingdoms for more than 500 years. The ruins of Ani, now just across the Turkish border and visible from Armenia, are a symbol of lost greatness; Cilicia gave its name to the Catholicosate based in Antelias, Lebanon, which serves much of the diaspora. Both remind Armenians how much of their history lies outside today's small republic.