DOPHIANS

THE DOPHIANS OF TZAR

The Dophians were a princely house in Artsakh (Karabakh), ruling over the principality of Tzar and Upper Xachen in the 12th to 16th centuries. The principality of the Dophians extended from the valleys of the Tharthar and Akori (Aghavnaget) rvers in their upper streams to the south-eastern regions of Gegharquniq (including the fortress of Sotq and the town of Shoxvag situated in the vicinity of the modern village of Yeranos). Originally the village of Tzar was the center of the principality (south of modern Qarvatchar in Nagorno-Karabakh). At the beginning of the 13th century the Dophians as a result of a peaceful unification came into the possession of the principality of Middle Xachen, which before then belonged to their relatives - the lords of Hatherq of the Aranian-Vaxthangian house. Mayraqaghaq became their family estate, and the church of Xada (also known as Geghamiji) became their burial ground.

The male line of the Dophians traced its origin to the Upper Xachen branch of the princely house of the Aranians (Aranshahiks), and thus was in relation with the Aranian-Vaxthangians of the Middle Xachen (the lords of Hatherq) and the Hasan-Jalalians of the Lower Xachen (the lords of Xoxanaberd). All three houses traced their origins to Aran the Patriarch, the descendant of Hayk the Projenitor. However, the Dophian family was named after princess Doph (in original old Armenian Dawph), a daughter of prince Sargis Artzruni of Mahkanaberd (the constable or 'amirspasalar' of Georgia) and a sister of Zaqare and Ivane Zaqarian-Mxargrdzeli. As a result of a dynastic alliance, princess Doph became the wife of prince Hasan of Tzar, the son of Vaxthang-Sakar Aranian. After the latter's death, princess Doph became the head of the princely house of Tzar, which is very rare for the Armenian patrilineal tradition and can only be explained by the high level of influence that her Zaqarian brothers enjoyed in medieval Armenia. As part of her dowry from her brothers, princess Doph received the Haghpat monastery of Lori, where she left inscriptions and where she was interred next to her son, bishop Hovhannes. The inscription on her tomb read as sister of Zaqare and Ivane, Doph. During her lifetime princess Doph strengthened the power of Upper Xachen, built many churches (it was her who started the building of the churches of Karanic (near Haghpat) and Xada), and bequeathed to the latter the illuminated Book of Gospels and other gifts.

Hasan and Doph had four sons. One of them, prince Grigor, led his troops with his son Sevada in the military campaign of Mongol chieftan Bachu to Mesopotamia. The other son of Grigor, Hasan II, his son Grigor II, and his grandson Hasan III, all were prominent military leaders. Hasan III died with his three sons in 1386, defending Artsakh from Tamerlane. In 1430's hordes of nomadic tribes, called Kara-Koyunlu, trespassed the Dophian principality. The great grandson of Hasan III, prince Aytin, managed to claim back part of the Dophian lands. In this atmosphere of constant Turkic and Muslim pressure from the end of 15th century the Dophian family was weakened and divided into three branches: Ulubekenc, Aytincoc and Jahanshecoc. Some descendants of these branches migrated to other provinces of Armenia, but the ones who stayed at the head of the local Armenian population intermingled with the Kurdish nomads, who later resided on the paternal lands of the Dophians.

References:
Kalankatvaci, Movses. History of Aghvanq. Yerevan, 1984;
Ulubabian, Bagrat. Principality of Xachen in the 10th to 16th Centuries. Yerevan, 1975;
Ter-Megertchian, K. (Bishop karapet). The Dophians and Meliq-Shahnazarians. Echmiadzin, 1914. (Of Armenian Meliqdoms, part 2).

Source:
Published with author’s permission