The government of the Van region under the Kara Koyunlu

Sinclair, Thomas Alexander (1993). The government of the Van region under the Kara Koyunlu. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

During the rule of the Kara Koyunlu over Armenia, from the late 14th century to the demise of the dynasty as a Near Eastern power in A.D. 1469, the Van region was governed essentially by a series of local Kurdish principalities whose princes derived their power from tribal allegiance. Owing to the tribal interrelationships within the respective principalities, to the transhumance patterns of the constituent tribes, and to geographical factors, the principalities formed a local political system which was by and large in equilibrium, that is to say there was little tendency for borders, tribal allegiance and summer and winter pastures to change. In so far as there was a tendency towards such change, the Kara Koyunlu provided the small counterbalance necessary. The Kara Koyunlu achieved this merely by demanding submission from the local principalities and enforcing it where necessary; otherwise they abstained from interference in the principalities’ internal affairs. The Kara Koyunlu did directly administer a group of districts in the north-east of the region, but seem to have maintained only a minimum apparatus in those districts too. The thesis emphasises the study of local political institutions and of the interaction between them. They seem to be the key, not only to building up a wider picture of government by successive rulers of the period, but also to an understanding of the lives of the subject Christian populations.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):