Azat ( hy,
ազատ; plural ազատք ''azatkʿ'', collective
ազատանի ''azatani'') was a class of
Armenian
nobility; the term came to designate the middle and lower nobility originally, in contrast to the ''
naxarar
''Nakharar'' ( hy, wikt:նախարար#Old Armenian, նախարար ''naxarar'', from Parthian language, Parthian ''naxvadār'' "holder of the primacy""նախարար" in H. Ačaṙean (1926–35), ''Hayerēn Armatakan Baṙaran'' (Yerevan: Yereva ...
k'' who were the great lords. From the
Late Middle Ages on the term and its derivatives were used to designate the entire body of the nobility.
The term is related to the Iranian ''
āzāt-ān'', "free" or "noble", who are listed as the lowest class of the free nobility in the bilingual (
Middle Persian and
Parthian Parthian may be:
Historical
* A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran
* Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
* Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language
* Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
) Hajjiabad inscription of King
Shapur I, and parallels to the ''
aznauri'' of
Georgia. See the
article in Wiktionary for further etymology.
The ''azatkʿ'' were a class of noble landowners directly subordinate to the princes and to the king, as prince of his own
demesne
A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...
, and at the same time a class of noble warriors, an equestrian order, whose vassalage to the dynasts was expressed, first of all, in the duty, which was also a privilege, of serving the feudal cavalry of their suzerains, as well as in other obligations. It seems plausible that they enjoyed certain minor governmental rights on their own lands.
The ''azatkʿ'' had their share in the major events of the country, such as at the election of the
Catholicos of Armenia according to
Faustus of Byzantium.
[M. L. Chaumont, Toumanoff, Cyril]
ĀZĀD (Iranian Nobility)
Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition. Retrieved on January 13, 2008 (broken link repaired March 3, 2019). During
Shapur II's invasion of the
Kingdom of Armenia,
Arsaces II (Arshak II), his wife
Pharantzem
Parandzem ( hy, Փառանձեմ, translit=Pʻaṛandzem; died winter 369/70) was the consort of King Arshak II of Armenia. She was a member of the noble house of Siwni. She was regent of Armenia during the absence of her spouse and son in 368 ...
and their son, the future king
Papas (Pap) were holed up with the Armenian treasure in the fortress of Artogerassa defended by a troop of ''azatkʿ''.
Their equivalence with the medieval Western knights was immediately recognized when, as during the Crusades, the two societies, Armenian and Frankish, existed side by side. Thus the Armeno-Cilician Code of the
Constable Smbat (after 1275) explains the meaning of ''azat'' by ''dziavor'', an Armenian adaptation of
chevalier.
References
{{Reflist
Armenian nobility
Armenian noble titles