The Zakarids (Mkhargrdzeli): Medieval Armenia's Military Dynasty and the Question of Their Kurdish Origin
- Dala Sarkis
- 1 hour ago
- 7 min read
What Were the Zakarids (Mkhargrdzeli)?
The Zakarids — known in Georgian as the Mkhargrdzeli ('long-shouldered') and in Armenian as the Zakarians — were one of the most powerful noble dynasties of the medieval Caucasus. In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries they commanded the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia, drove the Seljuk Turks out of much of historic Armenia, and governed a vast stretch of the Armenian highlands as semi-independent princes under the Georgian crown. They are relevant to Kurdish history because of a respected scholarly thesis that the family was originally of Kurdish origin.
Key Takeaways
• They were a medieval noble dynasty who served the Kingdom of Georgia and ruled much of Armenia as vassal princes around 1200.
• Their origin is debated: a significant scholarly tradition (notably Vladimir Minorsky) holds the family was originally Kurdish, later assimilated into the Armenian and Georgian worlds.
• The brothers Zakare II and Ivane I rose to the top of the Georgian state under Queen Tamar (r. 1184–1213).
• They reconquered Ani, Dvin and much of northern Armenia from Muslim rule, ending Shaddadid control of Ani around 1199.
• Their power was broken by the Mongol invasions of the 1220s–1230s; the dynasty faded by the mid-14th century.
Quick Facts
Names: Zakarids / Zakarians (Armenian); Mkhargrdzeli (Georgian)
Origin: Debated — Armenian or Armeno-Georgian; argued by some to be originally Kurdish
Region: Northern Armenia and the southern Caucasus
Overlord: The Kingdom of Georgia (Bagrationi dynasty)
Height: c. 1190s–1230s, under Queen Tamar
Key Figures: Zakare II Mkhargrdzeli; Ivane I Mkhargrdzeli
Capital / Seat: Ani
Decline: After the Mongol conquest of the 1230s; faded by the mid-14th century
Religion: Armenian Apostolic (Zakare) and Georgian Chalcedonian Orthodoxy (Ivane)
Table of Contents
Origins and the Question of Kurdish Descent
The early history of the family is uncertain. They first appear as servants of the Armenian Bagratid and then the Georgian Bagrationi royal houses. The Georgian surname Mkhargrdzeli — 'long-shouldered' or 'long-armed' — is traditionally explained by a legend linking the family to the ancient Persian king Artaxerxes 'Longimanus' (the long-handed), a typical medieval genealogical flourish meant to lend the house antiquity and prestige.
The thesis that the Zakarids were originally Kurdish was argued most influentially by Vladimir Minorsky, who pointed to the family's earlier history in the borderlands and to onomastic and circumstantial evidence. Other historians regard them as fundamentally Armenian, or as a family whose ethnic origin cannot now be recovered with certainty. What is not in dispute is that by the time of their greatness the Zakarids were Armenian and Georgian in language, religion, and culture. Their inclusion among Kurdish dynasties rests on the Minorsky thesis of their ultimate origin, and is best understood as one scholarly position among several.
Rise under Queen Tamar of Georgia
The family's fortunes were made under Queen Tamar of Georgia (reigned 1184–1213), whose reign is remembered as the golden age of the medieval Georgian kingdom. The brothers Zakare and Ivane, sons of Sargis Mkhargrdzeli, rose to the very top of the Georgian state: Zakare was appointed amirspasalar — supreme commander of the Georgian armies — while Ivane held the high court office of atabeg.
Together the two brothers led the combined Georgian-Armenian armies that, in a series of campaigns around the turn of the thirteenth century, rolled back Muslim power across the southern Caucasus and the Armenian highlands. Their victories made Georgia the dominant power of the region and restored Christian rule over lands that had been under Muslim control for generations.
The Reconquest of Armenia
The Zakarid campaigns recovered a long list of Armenian cities and fortresses. Around 1199 they took Ani — the former capital of the Bagratid kingdom of Armenia and one of the great cities of the medieval world — which Zakare made a centre of Zakarid power. Other strongholds, including Dvin and numerous mountain fortresses, fell in the same period.
Ani had earlier been ruled by the Shaddadids, a Kurdish Muslim dynasty of the Caucasus; the Zakarid conquest ended Shaddadid rule there and brought the city back under Christian Armenian administration. The recovered territories were organised as a Zakarid principality — Zakarid Armenia — held as a vassal lordship under the Georgian crown, with the family governing largely in their own right.
Zakarid Armenia: Governance, Religion, and Culture
Under Zakarid rule the Armenian highlands enjoyed a period of relative peace and prosperity that fostered a flowering of art, architecture, and monastic life. The dynasty and the lesser noble houses who held land under them endowed and rebuilt monasteries, churches, and fortifications; the thirteenth century is regarded as a high point of medieval Armenian culture, much of it under Zakarid patronage.
Religiously, the family straddled the divide between the two great Christian traditions of the Caucasus. Zakare remained loyal to the Armenian Apostolic Church (non-Chalcedonian), while his brother Ivane converted to the Chalcedonian Orthodoxy of the Georgian court — a split that mirrored the dual Armenian-Georgian world in which the Zakarids moved.
The Mongol Catastrophe and Decline
The Zakarid ascendancy was broken by the Mongols. The first Mongol incursions reached the Caucasus in the 1220s, and the full Mongol conquest of the 1230s shattered the Georgian kingdom and its Armenian vassals alike. Rather than be destroyed, the surviving Zakarids — like much of the Caucasian nobility — submitted to the Mongols and were confirmed in their lands as vassals, now paying tribute to the Ilkhanate.
Under Mongol overlordship the family endured but never recovered its former independence. Over the following century the Zakarids gradually faded as a great power, their lands fragmenting among branches of the family and rival houses until, by around the middle of the fourteenth century, the dynasty had lost its political significance.
Timeline
1184–1213 — Reign of Queen Tamar of Georgia; the Mkhargrdzeli brothers rise to power. Late 12th c. — Zakare becomes amirspasalar (commander-in-chief); Ivane becomes atabeg. c. 1199 — Zakarid forces capture Ani, ending Shaddadid rule there. Early 13th c. — Reconquest of Dvin and much of northern Armenia; height of Zakarid power. 1220s — First Mongol incursions into the Caucasus. 1230s — Mongol conquest; the Zakarids submit and become Mongol vassals. 13th–14th c. — Gradual decline; the dynasty loses prominence by around the mid-14th century.
Principal Members of the Dynasty
The dynasty's founding generation of greatness centred on two brothers, sons of Sargis Mkhargrdzeli: Zakare II Mkhargrdzeli (Zakare Zakarian), the amirspasalar who captured Ani and gave the Armenian line its name; and Ivane I Mkhargrdzeli, atabeg of Georgia, who converted to Chalcedonian Orthodoxy. Their descendants — including Zakare's son Shahnshah and Ivane's son Avag — continued to hold high office under the Georgians and then the Mongols, but none matched the stature of the founding brothers. Precise dates for many family members are uncertain and vary between sources.
Debates, Identity, and Misconceptions
The central debate around the Zakarids is the very one that earns them a place in Kurdish history: their origin. The Kurdish-origin thesis (Minorsky) competes with the view of the family as Armenian or Armeno-Georgian, and there is no scholarly consensus. A second common confusion concerns their name — 'Zakarid' (Armenian, from Zakare) and 'Mkhargrdzeli' (Georgian) refer to the same family. Finally, the Zakarids are sometimes mistaken for an independent Armenian kingdom; in reality they were a princely dynasty governing under the suzerainty of the Georgian crown, however autonomously they ruled in practice.
Place in Kurdish and Armenian History
For Armenian history the Zakarids are remembered as liberators and patrons — the dynasty that recovered Armenian lands from Muslim rule and presided over a cultural golden age in the thirteenth century. For Kurdish history their significance is more particular: if Minorsky's thesis is correct, they represent a Kurdish noble family that rose, through service to the Georgian crown, to rule one of the most important Christian principalities of the medieval Caucasus.
Either way, the Zakarids belong to the same broad Caucasian world as the Kurdish Shaddadids whom they displaced at Ani — two dynasties, one Muslim and one Christian, contesting the same highland cities across the centuries.
Related People, Places, and Topics
Explore related history on Kurdish-History.com: the Shaddadid dynasty of the Caucasus, the Marwanids of Diyar Bakr, and the Rawadid dynasty.
Frequently Asked Questions
Were the Zakarids Kurdish?
Their origin is debated. The dynasty is most often described as Armenian or Armeno-Georgian, but a significant scholarly tradition — associated with the orientalist Vladimir Minorsky — holds that the family was originally of Kurdish descent before being assimilated into the Armenian and Georgian worlds. There is no firm consensus.
What is the difference between 'Zakarid' and 'Mkhargrdzeli'?
None — they are two names for the same family. 'Mkhargrdzeli' ('long-shouldered') is the Georgian name; 'Zakarid' or 'Zakarian' is the Armenian name, derived from the great commander Zakare.
What were the Zakarids famous for?
For commanding the armies of Queen Tamar's Georgia and reconquering much of historic Armenia from Muslim rule around 1200, then governing it as a princely dynasty during a golden age of Armenian art and architecture.
Who were the two great Zakarid brothers?
Zakare II, who became supreme commander (amirspasalar) of the Georgian army and captured Ani, and his brother Ivane I, who became atabeg of Georgia and converted to Georgian Orthodoxy.
What ended the Zakarid dynasty's power?
The Mongol invasions of the 1220s–1230s. The Zakarids survived by submitting to the Mongols as vassals, but they never regained their independence and faded as a major power by around the mid-fourteenth century.
Why are the Zakarids included among Kurdish dynasties?
Because of the scholarly thesis that the family was originally of Kurdish origin. By the height of their power they were culturally Armenian and Georgian, so their inclusion reflects a claim about their ultimate ancestry rather than their medieval identity.
References and Further Reading
Vladimir Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian History (Cambridge University Press, 1953) — for the thesis of the family's Kurdish origin.
Kirakos Gandzaketsi, History of the Armenians (13th century) — a primary source for the Zakarid period.
Modern surveys of medieval Armenia and Georgia under the Bagrationi and the Mongols.
Kurdish-History.com — related reading on the Shaddadid dynasty of the Caucasus and the Marwanids of Diyar Bakr.
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