Malazgirt

Malazgirt (also Malâzgird; Armenian: Մանազկերտ, Manazkert; traditional English: Manzikert) is a town in Muş Province in eastern Turkey, with a population of 23,697 (year 2000).

History

Founding

Modern research places Malazgirt's founding to sometime during the reign of the Urartian king Menua (810–785 B.C.). The suffix -girt, found in many toponyms in Prehistoric Armenia, comes from the Armenian -kert which means, "built by". A popular Armenian folk tradition, tied to the writings of Armenia's early medieval historian Movses Khorenatsi, holds that Manzikert was founded by Manaz, one of the sons of Hayk, the legendary and eponymous patriarch and progenitor of the Armenians. The name of the town was originally Manavazkert (Armenian: Մանավազկերտ) but over time its name was shortened to simply Manzikert.

Medieval

The lands around Manzikert belonged to the Manavazyans, an Armenian nakharar family which claimed descent from Manaz, until 333 A.D., when King Khosrov III Arshakuni of Armenia ordered that all members of the family be put to the sword. He later awarded the lands to another family, the Aghbianosyans. Manzikert was a fortified town, and served as an important trading center located in the canton of Apahunik' in the Turuberan province of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. It also served as the capital of the Kaysite emirate from around 860 until 964. After the Armenian revolt of 771-772 the Abbasid government encouraged the migration of Arab tribes to the region and this resulted in the settling of Arab tribes in the vicinity of Malazgirt. In 968 The Byzantine general Bardas Phokas captured Manzikert, which was incorporated into the Byzantine katepanate of Basprakania (Vaspurakan). In 1054, the Seljuk Turks made an attempt to capture the city but were repulsed by the city's garrison under the command of Basil Apocapes.