Հենրիկ Բախչինեան2025-07-302025-07-301993Բախչինեան, Հ., «Ուշ միջնադարի հայ յուշագրութիւնը«, «Հայկազեան հայագիտական հանդէս», 1993, Պէյրութ, էջ 41-73https://haigrepository.haigazian.edu.lb/handle/123456789/686The article deals with the various Armenian authors, memoirists and diarists of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance period of the XVIII-XIX centuries. In the long run of critical analysis the author finds that their work pertains not only to history, geography, voyages and literary expression, but also to socio-political conditions of the time. Some of these authors are high ranking clericals of the Armenian Church and are contemporaries and actors in the events they talk of, others are great merchants and traders and are self-made Armenian politicians of the time, endeavouring to liberate Armenia from the Ottoman, Persian and Russian yoke, while some others are just travellers who have visited some of the major religious and political centers of their time. The majority of the memoirs and diaries, published or otherwise, are in Armenian, while some are in Armenian-script Turkish, English or Russian. The author of the article presents some twenty-three memoirists and diarists, analyzes their works not only as a witness of the times they came into being, but also as literary works. This latter is the reason why Mr. Bakhchinian dwells at length on the problems of style, language and artistic value of each work tackled and finds that some of these authors are men of letters, and their work is enhanced with beauty and elements of art, and hence can be considered as literary representatives of their time. Only a very small minority of these memoirists and diarists are just simple and plain writers, and hence are to be accepted as the witnesses of their time. Mr. Bakhchinian presents in his lengthy article the various works of Augustinus Bajetzi or Bajentz, the Armenian Patriarch Hovhannes Toutounji or Vanetzi or Areveltzi, Mahtesi Shahmourat or Khoja Mourat Baghishetzi, Yeremia Chelepi Koemurdjian, the Chorist Simeon Lehatzi, or Zamosatzi or Mikolayovich, Khachatour Tokhatetzi, Grigor Daranaghtzi, the merchant Zakaria Agouletzi, the Armenian Patriarch Minas Amdetzi, David Yevdokiatzi, Father Zwar Jierji Oghlu, the Armerian Patriarch Avedik Paghtassarian Tigranakertzi, the Mekhitarist Father Hovhannes Tovmajan or Tovmajian, the Armenian Patriarch Avedik Tokhatetzi, Yeghia Karnetzi or Asdwadzatourian-Mousheghian, the merchant Petros di Sargis Gilanentz, the Armenian Catholicos Abraham Kretazi, the Armenian Patriarch Grigor Pasmadjian, Hovsep Archbishop Arghoutian, the drummer Kuchuk Aroutin, Hovsep Emin, and Haroutioun Araratian. At the end of his study and analysis the author of the article concludes that all these memorabilia are fundamentally either diaries of voyages, or biographical ones, and are major first hand sources for the study of Armenian political, social, religious, economic and literary history of not only the Armenian people of the late Middle Ages but also that of the surrounding peoples and nations.