Տիգրան Պետրոսեանց2026-06-102026-06-102020Պետրոսեանց, Տ., «Ամուսնութիւնը՝ Զաքարեանների պետականաշինութեան գործառոյթ», «Հայկազեան հայագիտական հանդէս», 2020, Պէյրութ, էջ 211-243https://haigrepository.haigazian.edu.lb/handle/123456789/1378Matrimony has been an important tool for state building for thousands of years. Many interstate issues have been resolved and relations between ruling families have been regulated through wedlock. The paper highlights how Sarkis Zakarian II (Sarkis the Great, son of King Zakare I, 1185-1187), one of the most renowned Armenian military and political figures of the 12th century, made good use of this ‘kings’ and princes in a loose federation that was to become the foundation of Zakarid Armenia. The author analyses the arranged marriages of Sarkis’ two daughters to the main figures of the two branches of Khachen principality, and how later he arranged the marriage of his third daughter to the heir of the clan of Dsekh rulers, Hamazaspyans-Mamikonyans. Furthermore Sarkis had a role to play in the marriage of his nephew to the son of Khachen princely house. His two sons, Zakare II and Ivan II, followed in his footsteps and married their sister Vaneni-Nana to King Abbas II Kyurikyan, while they married representatives of other Armenian princely houses, and encouraged in every possible way the marriages of their subordinate princes to representatives of other princely houses. The paper argues that this marital kinship united the territories of the Zakaryans and the Kyurikyans and combined the adjacent lands of the Artsrunis and those belonging to the rulers of Dsekh and laid the territorial foundation of the future Zakarid state. The success of this policy led the rulers of Armenia to adopt it for over one and a half centuries, during both Zakarid Armenia (1187-1236) and the semi independent existence of Armenia under Mongol rule (1236-1350). Furthermore, it gave to a number of Armenian princely families the capacity to survive during those challenging decades for some five to six generations.