Movses Dasxurantsi or Movses Kalankatuatsi: who was the author of the «History of the Country of Aluank»?

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Pylypchuk Ya. V.

Doctor of Historical Sciences

Senior Lecturer

Department of World History and Archeology

Historical and Philosophical Faculty

Ukrainian State Dragomanov University

Kyiv, Ukraine

Orcid id: 0000-0002-9809-3166

pylypchuk.yaroslav@gmail.com

Movses Dasxurantsi or Movses Kalankatuatsi: who was the author of the «History of the Country of Aluank»?

The history of Caucasian Albania is of interest to many scholars from different countries. The central text for reconstructing the history of this state is the “History of the Country of Aluank». There is no consensus among scholars as to who was the author of this chronicle – Movses Kaghankatvatsi or Movses Dasxurantsi. This study will be devoted to clarifying this issue.

The «History of the Country of Aluank» was first mentioned by Anania Mokatsi in one of his letters dedicated to the unrest in the diocese of Aluank. Mentioning the source, Anania Mokatsi does not mention the author. It should be noted that Ukhtanes, Hovhannes Drasnakhkertsi, Mkhitar Anetsi, Stepanos Orbelian knew about the source. There is a well-known manuscript of the 1289 «History of the Country of Aluank», which was rewritten by Lounikianos in 1761. It was he who entitled the manuscript «The Book of the History of the Country of Aluank, set forth by Movses, the Wise Vardapet of Kalankatuatsi». In the Armenian chronicle tradition, Movses was called Movses Kalankatuatsi, Movses Dasxurantsi, Movses Aluantsi. In the 12th century, Mkhitar Gosh called the author of the «History of the Country of Aluank» Movses Dasxurantsi. His student Hovhannes Tavushetsi also believed so. Mkhitar Ayrivanetsi called the author of the «History of the Country of Aluank» Movses Kalankatuatsi and Movses Aluantsi. It should be noted that in Armenian sources, the author of the «History of the Country of Aluank» is more often called Movses Dasxurantsi. The author himself mentions the village of Kalankatuyk in the eleventh chapter of his work. It is implied that the author of «The History of the Country of Aluank» was Movses Kalankatuatsi. A. Hacikyan, G. Basmajian, N. Ouzounian, E. Franchuk assumed that the chronicle was started by Movses Kalankatuatsi in the 7th century, and Movses Dasxurantsi finished it in the 10th century. Sh. Smbatyan indicated that the author of «The History of the Country of Aluank» was Movses Kalankatuatsi. The Old Armenian critical text of the chronicle was published in 1860 in Moscow by Mkrtich Emin. The source was first translated into Russian by K. Patkanov in 1861, who mentioned Kalankatuyk. The English translation of «The History of the Country of Aluank» was done by Ch. Dowsett, who named its author as Movses Daskhurantsi. In 1851, fragments of the «History of the Country of Aluank» were translated into French by M. Brosset. In 1897, part of the chronicle was translated into German by Ya. Manandyan. The main text of the chronicle was written before the reign of the Albanian Catholicos Michael. Two chapters of the third book were added between 998 and 1003. Catholicos Movses is mentioned. J.-P. Mahe pointed out that the original “History of the Country of Aluank» was written in grabar and did not have an Aghvan prototype. In his opinion, the Caucasian Albanians never developed their own historiography. Ya. Tchekhanovets agrees with this opinion. S. La Porta attributes «History of the Country of Aluank» to Armenian chronicles. A. Novoseltsev calls «History of the Country of Aluank» an Armenian source. K. Maksoudian said that Movses Dasxurantsi was an Armenian chronicler. G. Svazyan pointed out that Movses Kalankatuatsi used information only from Armenian chroniclers and therefore could only be an Armenian. R. Hewsen reported that the author of the «History of the Country of Aluank» was either Movses Kalankatuatsi or Movses Dasxurantsi. D. Shapira was of the same opinion. At the same time, the Israeli historian linked the origin of the author of the «History of the Country of Aluank» with the Utik district. V. Schulze said that the main part of the chronicle was written in the 7th century. At the same time, he could not decide whether the work was written by Movses Kalankatuatsi or Movses Dasxurantsi. S. La Porta definitely calls him the author is Movses Dasxurantsi and calls him an Armenian. V. Shnirelman called Movses Kalankatuatsi an Armenian and attributed it to the Armenian chronicle tradition. R. Thomson considers this chronicle to be a monument to the history of the Caucasian Albanians written in Grabar. This historian considers Movses Dasxurantsi to be a representative of the historiography of Caucasian Albania. K. Trever considered Movses Kalankatuatsi to be a chronicler from Caucasian Albania. S. Klyashtorny was of the same opinion. F. Mamedova assumed that in addition to the version in Grabar, «The History of the Country of Aluank also existed in the Aghvan language. Her opinion was supported by Z. Buniyatov. A. Shaginyan did not dare to express an opinion about the ethnic origin of Movses Kalankatuatsi. It should be noted that if Movses Kaghankatsi lived in the 7th century, he could write his chronicle based on Armenian chronicles without being an Armenian. Grabar was one of the languages of Caucasian Albania. Korun, describing the life of Mesrop Mashtots, mentions the monk Benjamin, who helped Mesrop develop writing for Caucasian Albania. The Agvan script has almost not reached us. Comparatively recently, in 2009, the «Sinai Palimpsest was found in the monastery of St. Catherine on Sinai. Modern technology made it possible to discover a manuscript in the Agvan language under the Georgian text. This was one of the significant discoveries in the field of Albanian studies. Earlier, in the 20th century, the Agvan alphabet was found in Armenian manuscripts of the 15th-16th centuries. It is reliably established that liturgical texts in Agvan existed. The question of whether Aghvan historiography existed is more complicated. No chronicle writings in the Aghvan language have been found yet. As for the «History of the Country of Aluank» it can be called a chronicle written in grabar by an Aghvan historian from Utik. The chronicle was completed by an Armenian, Movses Dasxurantsi, in the 10th century. By that time, the territories of Utik and Artsakh had already been Armenized. The same applies to the chronicle of Mkhitar Gosh, written in the 12th century, which Ch. Dowsett titled «The Albanian Chronicle». Mkhitar Gosh and Movses Dasxurantsi could not have been Caucasian Albanians, but were Armenians.

Having conducted the research, we came to the following conclusions. «The History of the Country of Aluank» was written by two people. Its main part was written by Movses Kalankatuatsi, who came from the Kalankatuyk area, in the Utik district. By origin he was an Utian living in Caucasian Albania. The chronicle was completed by the Armenian chronicler Movses Dasxurantsi who lived in the 10th century. In particular, he wrote a passage about the Rus' campaign against Berdaa (Partav). Movses Dasxurantsi was one of the Catholicoses of Caucasian Albania.

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