Seneqerim-Hovhannes of Vaspurakan

The kingdom of Vaspurakan had been divided in 968 on the death of Abusahl-Hamazasp among his three sons, and Ashot-Sahak, as the eldest, had retained the royal title and the suzerainty over his younger brothers.

On his death, royal power had been usurped by the second son, Gurgen-Khachik, who had reigned as King of Vaspurakan until his own death in 1003.

At that point, Hovhannes-Seneqerim, the third son, also withheld power from his nephews and crowned himself king.

His authority is weak, as the result of the successive usurpations, and his realm has been increasingly threatened by Turkmen attacks.

He therefore appeals to the protection of the emperor Basil II, and in 1021 he hands over his entire kingdom in exchange for vast domains in Sebasteia, where he and fourteen thousand of his retainers settle.

The Kingdom of Vaspurakan becomes the imperial theme of Vasprakania or Media.

Basil’s expansionist policy, having fueled the annexation of the possessions of David of Tao in 1000, finally extinguishes Armenian independence, after King Seneqerim-Hovhannes Artsruni of Vaspurakan (Van) in ceding his dominions to the emperor in 1021-22, hands over his entire kingdom in exchange for vast domains in Sebasteia, where he and fourteen thousand of his retainers settle; and …

…the Bagratid king of Ani, Hovhannes-Smbat III, is compelled to make the emperor heir to his estates.

His enthronement in 1020 had been strongly opposed by his younger brother Ashot, who one year later in 1021 rebels against him, driving his forces to Ani, the capital, surrounding and conquering the city and dethroning his brother and usurping power from him.

Following a compromise agreement between the two feuding brothers, he agrees to withdraw his rebel forces from Ani and allow the legal heir to return to power, continuing rule as Hovhannes-Smbat III of Ani over limited areas around the capital, whereas Ashot (known as Ashot IV Qadj) is enthroned as a concurrent king and ruler in further Armenian provinces closer to Persia and Georgia.

The annexation of Armenia, the homeland of many of the East Roman empire’s great emperors and soldiers, will help to solidify Empire’s eastern wall for nearly a century.

Giorgi, the future George I of Georgia, was born in 998 or, according to a later version of the Georgian chronicles, in 1002, to King Bagrat III.

Upon his father’s death on May 7, 1014, he had inherited the kingdoms of Abkhazia, Kartli and Kakheti united into a single state of Georgia.

As his predecessor, Giorgi continued to be titled as King of the Abkhazians (Ap'xaz) and Georgians (K'art'velians).

Contemporary sources, however, frequently omit one of the two components of this title when abbreviating it.

The new sovereign’s young age had been immediately exploited by the great nobles, who had been suppressed under the heavy hand of Bagrat.

Around the same year, the easternmost provinces of Kakheti and Hereti, not easily acquired by Bagrat, had staged a revolt and reinstated their own government under Kvirike III (1010/1014–1029), who had also incorporated a portion of the neighboring Arran (Ran), allowing him to claim the title of King of the Kakhetians and Ranians.

Giorgi, unable to prevent the move, had sought an alliance with this kingdom, rather than attempting to reincorporate it into the Georgian state, thus leaving a long-standing claim to Kakheti and Hereti to his successors.

The major political and military event during Giorgi’s reign, a war against Constantinople’s Empire, has its roots back in the 990s, when the Georgian prince David III Kuropalates of Tao, following his abortive rebellion against Emperor Basil II, had to agree to cede his extensive possessions in Tao and the neighboring lands to the emperor on his death.

All the efforts by David’s stepson and Giorgi’s father, Bagrat III, to prevent these territories from being annexed to the empire had been in vain.

Giorgi, young and ambitious, had launched a campaign to restore the Kuropalates’ succession to Georgia and occupied Tao in 1015–1016.

He had also entered in an alliance with the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt, Al-Hakim, putting Basil in a difficult situation by forcing him to refrain from an acute response to Giorgi’s offensive.

Beyond that, the Empire has been involved in a relentless war with the Bulgarians, limiting their actions to the west.

But as soon as Bulgaria is conquered, and Al-Hakim is no longer alive, Basil leads his army against Georgia.

An exhausting war has lasted for two years, and ends in a decisive imperial victory, forcing Giorgi to agree to a peace treaty, in which he has not only to abandon his claims to Tao, but to surrender several of his southwestern possessions to Basil, and to give his three-year-old son, Bagrat, as hostage.

Following the peace treaty, Constantinople is visited by Catholicos-Patriarch Melkisedek I of Georgia, who gains imperial financial aid for the construction of "Svetitskhoveli" (literally, the Living Pillar), a major Orthodox cathedral in the eastern Georgian town of Mtskheta.