page_title: Artsakh (historic province)
section_title: Medieval Period
hierarchical_section_title: Artsakh (historic province) / History / Medieval Period
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Caucasus Region around 900 AD in German. Deutsch: Kaukasus-Region um 900 n. Chr. Quellen sind Putzger historischer Weltatlas Ausgabe 2005, Heinz Fähnrich: Geschichte Georgiens von den Anfängen bis zur Mongolenherrschaft. Shaker, Aachen 1993, ISBN&#160;3-86111-683-9, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Georgia_map_830-1020.gif , File:Arcax.jpg , File:Vaspurakan_kingdom_908-1021_map-fr.svg , http://www.armenica.org/cgi-bin/armenica.cgi?178711717323498=1=3==Armenia==1=3=AAA , File:Alania_10_12.png
context_page_description: Artsakh was the tenth province of the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until 387 AD and afterwards a region of the Caucasian Albanian satrapy of Sasanid Persia from 387 to the 7th century. From the 7th to 9th centuries, it fell under Arab control. In 821, it formed the Armenian principality of Khachen and around the year 1000 was proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh, one of the last medieval eastern Armenian kingdoms and principalities to maintain its autonomy following the Turkic invasions of the 11th to 14th centuries.
  Much of historical Artsakh presently overlaps with the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, and is controlled by Artsakh Republic, known as Nagorno-Karabakh Republic until early 2017.
context_section_description: However, war between the Persian and Roman archrivals continued, and in 387 AD, according to the peace treaty between the two powers, the Armenian kingdom was partitioned between them. Caucasian Albania, as an ally of the Sassanids at the time, gained all the right bank of the river Kura up to the Araxes, including Artsakh and Utik.
  Following the inconclusive Battle of Avarayr (451), in which a united Christian army consisting of Armenians, Georgians, and Caucasian Albanians clashed with the Sassanid army, many of the Armenian nobles retreated to impassable mountains and forests in several provinces, including Artsakh, which became a center for resistance against Sassanid Iran.
  From the 5th to the 7th centuries AD Artsakh was ruled by the Armenian noble family of Arranshahiks.
  Furthermore, the Armenian rulers of Artsakh began to play a considerable role in the affairs of Caucasian Albania. In 498 in the settlement named Aghuen (in present-day Mardakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh), an Albanian church assembly was held, in the presence of the nobility and princes ("azgapetk") of Artsakh and the king Vachagan the Pious, to adopt the Constitution of Aghven, which would arrange relations between the nobility (landlords), clergy and village people.
  In the 7th–9th centuries, the Southern Caucasus was dominated by the Arabian Caliphate. In the early 9th century two Armenian princes, Sahl Smbatian and Esayi Abu-Muse, revolted against Arab rule and established two independent principalities in Artsakh: Khachen and Dizak. At the time the Byzantine emperor Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos addressed letters "to prince of Khachen – to Armenia", being the residence of the Armenian prince Sahl Smbatian. In 852–855 Sahl-Smbatian and Esayi Abu-Muse fought against Arab commander Bugha. The latter 28 times unsuccessfully attempted to conquer Ktich Castle, the main stronghold of the Armenians of Artsakh. The ruins of Ktich (now Gtich) castle and the church are situated in the province of Hadrut in the modern Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The House of Khachen continued to rule Artsakh intermittently as vassals until the early 19th century, through the subsequent full domination by the Kara Koyunlu, Ak Koyunlu, Iranian Safavids, Zands, Afsharids, and Qajars, until it was ceded to Imperial Russia following the outcome of the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) and the following Treaty of Gulistan. It was then often referred to the Land of Khachen (later Karabakh).
caption: Political map of the Caucasus c. 900.
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