[65] In the year 563 A.E. [1114] Tap'ar, sultan of the Persians, designated al-Bursuki (Brzux) as his military commander, gave his troops to him, and then [al-Bursuki] went as far as Edessa, taking the sultan's small son with him. They remained there for some days and then arose and encamped opposite Hromkla, destroying everything in its borders. Then they went against Bira. The Franks assembled on the far bank of the river and did not dare to cross over. Al-Bursuki left off and went on to Nisibis where he fought against Il-Ghazi and Balik (Xazi Palak) who defeated them and seized the sultan's son [g142]. But they freed him and returned to their own land. In the same year the ground trembled from God's wrath, on the night of the feast of the Discovery of the Cross in the month of Marer. There was a booming sound that issued from the depths of the earth. The sea also was agitated and the sea and land together presaged God's anger. Mountains and hills heaved and in places the earth was split asunder. In numerous cities the Christians were destroyed. Antioch, Mamistra, Hisn Masnsur (Harsnmsun), Aplast'ayn, R'apan, Samosata, and Marash collapsed and 40,000 people perished. At the Basilian [monastery] on Black Mountain vardapets and clerics had gathered in the church for blessing, and the church collapsed on them, killing 30 monks and two vardapets. Similarly among the Jesuits, the entire rank of clerics was killed, while the great vardapet [called] Mashkewor died at Vardku. In the same year the blessed vardapet Ge'org, who was nicknamed Meghrik, was translated to Christ in the land of Vaspurakan. He was a blessed, virtuous, and diligent ascetic who toiled for fifty years, spending every Sunday night in standing vigils, establishing the same practise among the blessed monks of Drazark [monastery] which had been rennovated by prince T'e'odoros, son of Kostandin. The blessed vardapet [g143] established canons for them in written form which are in effect to this day. After a life of goodly deeds, he was translated to Christ and was buried there.

In the year 564 A.E. [1115] a frightful omen was revealed in the city of Amida, as fire fell on their mosque, burning the stone as though it were wood. The entire city went to put it out but could not, since it was not like ordinary fire. In the same year al-Bursuki came and took Shaizar and wanted to ruin the district of Antioch. The entire nation of the Franks assembled near Roger, count of Antioch, and Baudoin, king of Jerusalem. United with them were Muslims under Il-Ghazi, Artuk's son, and Tughtigin, the lord of Damascus and the emir of Aleppo. They came and united with the Christians and then they went together and encamped opposite [their foe]. Thus al-Bursuki did not dare to fight; instead, all of them returned to their own homes. Baudoin came to Antioch with Roger. As soon as al-Bursuki observed that they had all dispersed, he turned back and wanted to devastate the land of Antioch. Baudoin heard about this, took some 8,000 horsemen from Antioch, and went against al-Bursuki at night. He came upon him unprepared. Putting sword to work, he killed 50,000 of them, putting the rest to flight and capturing 80 emirs, and an incalculable number of goods, horses and mules.

[66] In the year 565 A.E. [1116] Baudoin [g144], count of Edessa, waged war against [Gogh] Vasil's son, going against the fortress of Raban and besieging it. Vasil went to his father-in-law, Lewon, son of Kostandin. T'oros seized him and sent him to Baudoin who mercilessly tortured him, and forcibly took all his districts. From that point onward, the rule of Armenians in that land ended. Vasil again went to his father-in-law, Lewon, and thence to Constantinople where the Byzantine emperor honored him and all his troops.

In the year 567 A.E. [1117] Baudoin, count of Edessa, and Galeran, count of Saruj, massed troops and went against the Armenian prince Aplgharip, son of Vasak and brother of Likos, who was a brave and martial man. They possessed Nisibis and Bira, which they had taken from the Persian chiefs, and which had endured much harassment from Baudoin and Galeran. [Aplgharib] gave it to Baudoin and then went to T'oros in Anazarb. Thus did the Frankish counts harass the Armenian princes until they had removed them from their districts and fortresses. No one can relate the bitterness which the Franks displayed toward the Armenians.

In the year 567 A.E. [1118] Baudoin, count of Edessa, arose and went to Jerusalem to pray. Meanwhile the king of Jerusalem had gone [g145] to the land of Egypt, but was returning to Jerusalem as a fugitive. He became sick en route and died. He had given instructions that the count of Edessa be brought and established in his place [temporarily] until his own brother could arrive from France to become king. They brought his coffin and buried it in honor before Golgotha. When they saw that Baudoin had come to Jerusalem, they were delighted and reasoned that God had sent him there to hold the place of the deceased king. However [Baudoin] did not agree [to a temporary arrangement], rather he wanted the kingship outright. So they stipulated that he would be king if the [deceased] king's brother did not arrive within a year. And this was agreeable to everyone. A year later, as stipulated in the contract, they took [Baudoin] to the temple and anointed him as king of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This Baudoin was a scion of [one of] the grandee Houses of the Franks. [67] He was a valiant and martial man, having the proper Christian faith, and he was physically pure. But he was a wrecker of the land and greedy for wealth. Both of these homonymous kings of Jerusalem were from Edessa. In the same year, the sultan of Persia [g146], Malik-Shah's son, Tap'ar, died in shocking circumstances. For when he realized that he was about to die, he had his wife brought forth and killed in his presence, since he had a son from another woman. He suspected that she would marry someone else and kill his son, or that she would marry his brother, who was a sultan of the land of the Persians [ruling] in the cities of Uzgand and Ghazni, a three months' journey from Isfahan. Afterwards he placed on the throne his senior son, Mahmud, and gave him the land of the Persians. The younger son, a capable and energetic man named Melik, he placed over Gandzak, a city of the Armenians. In the same year Roger, lord of Antioch, went against the city of 'Azaz. He was accompanied by the Armenian prince Lewon, son of Kostandin, son of Ruben, with his troops. Roger battled for 30 days and but his troops were unable to penetrate [the city]. So the count told Lewon: "Tomorrow I am turning over [management of] the battle to you." [Lewon] accepted this gladly and encouraged his fighters who fought and killed [the enemy] up to the city gates. On that day Lewon acquired a reputation for bravery, and thereafter Roger was friendly toward the Armenians. Thus [Lewon] took the city and did not harm anyone. Then Emir Il-Ghazi and Roger, who had been friends, became enemies since Roger had broken an oath he had made with Il-Ghazi [g147].

In the year 568 A.E. [1119] Artuk's son, the emir Il-Ghazi, lord of Aleppo, massed an astonishing number of troops, since [many fighters] answered his summons due to his standing as leader of the Turks because of his clan. [Il-Ghazi] went with them to Edessa, enslaving and destroying the territory they passed through. They arrived at Buza'ah where they struck camp. Roger, confident of the strength of the forces with him, did not assemble [additional] cavalry nor did he seek help from anyone. Instead he took 1,000 Frankish horsemen, 500 Armenian horsemen, 400 infantry, and some 10,000 others, who were [merely assorted] rabble. The two sides engaged in battle. The Turks grew strong, trapped [their enemy] in their midst, and put all of them to the sword, killing Roger and laying waste all the Christians of the district through the sword, fire, and slave-taking. Baudoin, king of Jerusalem, assembled the remaining Christian forces and went against the Turks. The two sides clashed in battle, but both ended up fleeing. The foreigners lost some 10,000 men not only from the sword but from the suffocating heat, since it was summer. In the same year the Byzantine emperor Alexius died. His son, John [II Porphyrogenitus, 1118-1143] succeeded him. He was a good, moral man who did away with [g148] [the practise of] a second baptism [for non-Chalcedonian Christians] which his father had initiated. In the same year Baudoin, king of Jerusalem, gave Edessa and Tell Bashir to Joscelin and set him up as a champion against the infidels. Joscelin then became kindly toward Edessa. Baudoin at that time was king of Jerusalem, Antioch, and all the coastal regions.

[68] In 569 A.E. [1120] Il-Ghazi took his troops and crossed the Euphrates and enslaved [the territory] from Tell Bashir to Kesoun, mercilessly killing, enslaving and burning. At that time Joscelin was in the territory of Raban. He massed his forces and fell upon the Turks, killing 4,000 of them. Then Il-Ghazi descended on 'Azaz. The king of Jerusalem and all his troops arrived there as did Joscelin. However they did not fight. Instead, both Turks and Franks returned to their own homes.

In the year 570 A.E. [1121] Emir Il-Ghazi, who was from the land of Gandzak which bordered on Georgian territory, took his troops and entered the land of Georgia, carrying off some of the folk into captivity. David [the Builder , Aghmashenebeli, 1089-1125], king of the Georgians, secretly attacked and slew all 40,000 [g149] [of Il-Ghazi's forces], carrying off to his own land his House, son, and all their belongings. The survivors went off to the Persian sultan Melik, Tap'ar's son, and related to him the miserable things that had befallen them. [Melik] ordered troops to assemble from all the territories under his sway, [and he summoned] the ruler of the Arabs, called Sadaqah (Sagha). They gathered some 150,000 men and entered the land of the Georgians in the Tiflis area. King David, son of Deka, son of Bagarat, son of Gorge', also mustered his troops and brought in 40,000 Qipchaq cavalry, 18,000 Alans, 500 Franks, and 10,000 Armenians. They were valiant warlike fighters. Taking all of them, he went against [the enemy] and began to fight. A frightful spectacle unfolded on that day. Through God's aid the Christians triumphed, killing 400,000 men and capturing 50,000, while Sultan Melik and Il-Ghazi escaped by a hairsbreadth. The [Georgian] king returned joyfully. In the same year he took Tiflis from the Persians through warfare, causing a frighful slaughter and hanging 500 men.

In the year 571 A.E. [1122] Il-Ghazi went against the Franks, encamping in [g150] Shaizar. Then Baudoin, king of Jerusalem, arrived followed by Count Joscelin. [The two sides] encamped facing one another for many days, but did not fight. Instead, all of them returned home. Emir Balik went to his district of Handzit. Joscelin and Galeran caught up with him in the district of Edessa at [the village of] Tap't'il, with 100 horsemen. Balik had encamped in an area traversed by a river and surrounded by swamp, and remained there securely with 800 horsemen. Now the Franks attacked them, but were unable to advance through the swamp. Meanwhile Balik and his troops shot at them with arrows and were the victors. They captured the two counts, Joscelin and Galeran, and took and imprisoned them in Kharberd, causing great mourning among the believers. In these days Artuk's son, Il-Ghazi, died and the [office of] aspasalar was given to Balik. [Il-Ghazi] also entrused [to Balik] his House and sons, Sulaiman and Timurtash, whom he took to Mayafariqin.

[69] In the year 572 A.E. [1123] Baudoin, king of Jerusalem, stirred up a war with Balik because of the two counts he had imprisoned. He arrived at Raban, while Balik had arrived earlier and was ravaging the district. They did not know [g151] about each other's arrival. With few troops, the king reached the bridge at Snche'. He wanted to cross the river and encamp at a place called Shnjrik. Now it happened that Balik and his troops were hiding in ambush near [the place] where the king had pitched his tent. The king wanted to go hunting with a falcon. At that moment Balik attacked the king, captured him, and killed his troops, also seizing the king's sister's son. Balik took the king to the gates of Gargar which he took from him. Then he took them to Kharberd and put them in prison close to Joscelin and Galeran. During the same year an event occurred which was truly remarkable. Fifteen men got together in Behesni, arose and went to Kharberd where they clandestinely discovered the place where the prisoners were being held. They observed that the guards of the fortress were few and negligent, so they went to the fortress gates dressed in plain clothing, as though they were claimants. They also had some plotter working on the inside of the fortress. Putting their lives at risk, they killed the guards, closed the gates, and ran to the prison with a great clamor. They freed them and many other men who were in chains. Then the prisoners rose up and took the fortress and ruled over the House of Balik. When night had arrived Joscelin and one follower went off to Kesoun and thence to Antioch to collect troops and then come to the king's aid. At that time [g152] the praiseworthy Geoffrey was count of the Franks. Emir Balik was then at Aleppo. When he heard this news he quickly arose and reached Kharberd in fifteen days. There he erected a catapult and demolished a large tower on the wall, terrifying [the residents] who then surrendered the fortress. Balik killed some 65 of the prisoners, hurled 80 beautiful women from the wall, and put the king, Galeran, and the king's sister's son, back into jail in iron chains. Then Joscelin and Geoffrey arrived to help the king, but, learning about what had happened, they turned back sadly and full of shame. In the same year a war of the birds took place in the plain of Melitene. Storks, cranes, and bustards assembled and battled, with the cranes triumphing. In the same year the great vardapet of the Armenians, Po'ghos Taro'nets'i, reposed in Christ and was buried at the monastery of Ghazar near Sasun. In the same year the sultan of Gandzak came with a great force and, creating a [g153] bridge over the Kur River, transported 60,000 men to the country of Abkhazia. King David sent numerous troops and burned the bridge and slaughtered the men who had crossed over it, while the sultan departed in disgrace. King David was a warlike man who took many places from the Persians [including] Tiflis, T'manis, Shirvan, Shak'i, Shamk'or, and numerous other fortresses and districts. He was a blessed person and a stout-hearted warrior. The remaining forces of the Armenians gathered around him. He built a city named Gor'a for the Armenians in the land of the Georgians and established churches and many monasteries there. [David] had a son named Demetre' [Demetrius], a very tall man, who was born of an Armenian woman.

[70] In the year 573 A.E. [1124] Balik came with many troops against the city of Manbij, erected [war] machines, and harassed [the residents]. The emir who was inside the citadel sent to the Frankish counts to come to help them and promised to give the city to them. They assembled troops and quickly departed. Mahuis, count of Duluk, and Harry, count of Tell Bashir and Raban, came to them. Balik went against them in battle. The Franks were defeated and fled [g154]. Sixty horsemen were killed while the counts took refuge in Tell Bashir. With great delight Balik turned upon Manbij and put them into dire straits through warfare. While sitting in his cups, he had removed his armor. At that point an arrow struck and killed him. [Before dying] he summoned Emir Il-Ghazi's son, Timurtash, and gave his authority to him. Then his troops scattered. His destruction was a cause of joy for all Christians. At that time the king of Jerusalem and Galeran, and the king's sister's son, were in prison in Aleppo. Joscelin and the queen made an agreement with Timurtash to ransom the king. As a security they gave over the king's daughter and the son of Joscelin, as well as fifteen other hostages and 100,000 dahekans. Thus they freed the king from captivity, giving joy to all the believers. Galeran and Timurtash remained at Aleppo. [Timurtash] did not free the other [hostages]. This was the second time that Baudoin was freed from captivity due to the efforts of Joscelin. In this year the Armenian prince Michael harassed [the city of] Karkar with warfare and took it, as well as Bibol. In the same year the Georgian king, David, killed many Muslims and took the Armenian capital city of Ani, which had been in the hands of the foreigners for sixty years. He removed the son of Manuch'e' [from Ani] and took him to Tiflis. Then the great and holy cathedral church [of Ani] was consecrated a second time by bishops and priests, since it had been turned into a mosque. And there was great rejoicing [g155] among the Christians. In the same year a duke came from the Franks [the doge of Venice, Domenigo Michieli, 1117-1128] with many troops. He encamped near the city of Tyre and afflicted it with a siege. [The defenders], in desperation, sought an oath allowing them to depart unharmed; and the duke complied. They surrendered Tyre and went to Damascus unharmed. The duke gave the revenues of Tyre to [support the maintenance of] the Sepulcher of Christ, then he returned peacefully to his own land. In the same year the king of Jerusalem and Joscelin, count of Edessa, went against Aleppo with their troops. The chief of the Arabs with his troops also came to assist Joscelin, as did the grandson of Tutush, [and] the lord of Melitene, who was Kilij-Arslan's son. There was a great review at Aleppo and they harassed the city greatly. So the citizens sent word to the Persian aspasalar, al-Bursuki, to come to their assistance. He gathered his forces and reached Aleppo after six months and cleared away [the Crusaders]. Thus all of them returned to their homes and no one was injured. In the same year Ghazi came against Melitene and harassed it for six months and then captured it. The ruler of Melitene, who was the wife of Kilij- Arslan, went to the Christians in Marash.

[71] In the year 574 A.E. [1125] al-Bursuki, the aspasalar of the Persians, came with many troops and encamped against 'Azaz, scorning [g156] the Christian forces. He erected 12 catapults and, digging under the walls, caused two of them to collapse. At that point [Baudoin], the king of Jerusalem, arrived with 30,000 troops and descended to [the city of] Cyrrhus (Kuris). Then with full military preparation he went and entered 'Azaz. Meanwhile al-Bursuki turned around and came to 'Azaz with his troops. He besieged it for three days, putting it into grave danger since there was nothing to eat. Then the king mulled things over and said to the princes: "Let us arise and pretend to be going to al-Atharib (T'erep) as though we were fleeing. When those who are in ambush spring out against us, we will attack them in the name of God." He gave instructions to [his men in] 'Azaz: "When they all come out after us, send up a smoke signal." Then the king went with all of his troops [as though] going to al-Atharib. Thinking that he was fleeing, [the enemy] all went in pursuit, while the fortress [guards] sent up a smoke signal. At that point the king and his troops called on God to help them and then attacked the Turks, putting them to flight and pursuing them. They killed 35,000 men and returned to Cyrrhus with great victory. Al-Bursuki and Tughtigin departed full of shame, while the Christians rejoiced. After some days al-Bursuki took the king's daughter and Joscelin's son to Qal'at Ja'bar (Xlat' Chapar) and he himself went off to Mosul. After one year [g157] the sheikhs killed him with a dagger in his own house. His attendants killed 80 of the sheikhs. In the same year the Persian emir Ibrahim (Prehim), son of Sokman, took 80,000 troops and went to the land of Georgia where King David slaughtered them worse than before. In the same year the God-loving King David reposed in Christ and his son, Demetre' [Demetrius I, 1125-1155, 1155-1156], occupied his throne. He was a valiant and martial man and returned Manuche's son to his city of Ani. [The latter] swore many oaths that he would remain loyal and obedient and by a great oath he confirmed that the great cathedral church at Ani would always belong to the Armenians.

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