Introduction: Expanding the Discourse on Good Christian Rulership

Abstract

of Prince I š xananun Sewaday (born c. 910) can be discerned from the History of the Albanians by Movs ē s Dasxuranc ʽ i (or Ka ł ankatuac ʽ i) and the correspondence with the ecclesiastical writer Tiranun (tenth/eleventh centuries). These kings ruled over a fragmented and often changing territory. Dorfmann-Lazarev focuses on the Armenian-Albanian marchlands stretching along the right bank of the middle Kur River and discusses the implication of the geographical position of the kings ’ territory and their interactions with Muslim rulers. The biblical tradition played an important role in the understanding of rulership: Adam, as the first human being, served as an image of and model for a new Christian king. Throughout his study, Dorfmann-Lazarev demonstrates how the sources on these little-known rulers touch on concepts of good rulership found throughout the essays in this volume, including legal aspects of kingship, the justification for rule and territory based on patterns of inheritance, and the adoption and adaptation of royal titulature.