Armenian Kingdom of Silesia and other cultural centers
Armenians have been forced to migrate into Byzantine Anatolia since the 10th century due to Seljuk Turkic invasions, including two important Armenian noble families, the Hetumids and the Rubenids. They consolidated their rule over the Roman province of Silicia and maintained close ties with their monarchs in Constantinople. At the same time, they forged close ties with the commercial city-states of Venice, Genoa and Pisa, all of which relied on the good ports of Silesia to China on the Silk Road.
As the Crusaders established several Latin states during their crusades, the Silesian nobles began to marry the ruling families of the emerging Crusader states. By 1197, the Kingdom of Cilicia had been officially recognized as an independent kingdom by the Pope of Rome and the Byzantine Empire. It was also from the 10th century that the Armenian Church built churches throughout Silesia, even across the borders of the Kingdom of Silesia and south to Montenegro and the Antioch generation. In 1151 the Patriarch moved the parish to the fortified city of Hromclay on the Euphrates River, where he remained until 1295, when it moved to Sis, the second capital of the kingdom.
The main customizers of the manuscript, the noble families of Silesia, occupied virtually all important positions in the church, so the manuscript tradition of Krumkra leaned entirely towards the Silesian aristocratic tradition rather than the tradition of Great Armenia.
The Kingdom of Silesia, between the 12th and 14th centuries, was the golden age of Armenian medieval manuscript binding, and the period when the Armenian medieval aristocratic tradition had the greatest influence on the evolution of the art style of manuscripts. Although there was a gap of more than a century between the fall of the last kingdom of Baghratid in 1064 and the accession of Leo II as emperor of the Kingdom of Cilicia in 1198, the Armenian aristocratic tradition survived during this period.
At the same time, although elements of folk art were still deliberately excluded from serious religious artistic creation, Armenian art of this period was still more diverse than before, mainly a fusion of Byzantine and Western artistic styles. The Kingdom of Cilicia was allied with the Crusader states, so Western culture was introduced to the Kingdom of Silesia in large numbers, and Western artistic styles had a great influence on Armenian manuscripts and book binding during this period. For example, in the 8th century, Merovingian Latin manuscripts began to use birds, fish, and figures twisted into letters. This technique was introduced to the Kingdom of Cilicia in the 12th century and was widely adopted by Armenian painters, and was used in the titles and opening words (icipitpages) of Armenian manuscripts during this period and for centuries to come.
Armenian art during the period of the Kingdom of Silesia fully absorbed many elements of Frankish culture. The marriage of the royal nobility and the nobility within the crusaders led to the introduction of European culture and customs to Silicia in large quantities, and the greatest influence was European art. During this period, the rulers of Silesia vigorously promoted the reconciliation of the church in the kingdom with the Roman parish (which was strongly opposed by the church of the Great Armenian Kingdom), and the entire court became increasingly Latinized.
During the 12th century, the Silesian nobility had close ties with both Byzantium and Rome, and the art and literature of the kingdom were greatly nourished by various open and frequent cultural and political exchanges. The introduction of European culture not only promoted the integration of artistic styles, but also brought about a sense of historiography. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, Silesian scholars compiled a large number of ancient and medieval Armenian literary texts and historical sources, recorded in numerous manuscripts, and painters decorated manuscripts and illustrated them with a wide variety of artistic styles. Nearly a century after the fall of the Kingdom of Cilesia in 1375, Armenian manuscript compilation and illustration continued to maintain the Cilician pluralistic style and was influenced by European academic and artistic developments.
Crimea has had Armenian settlers since the 10th century, and many Armenian churches were built in the area. It was an important trade route for the Great Armenian Kingdom and a meeting place of many cultures. The church was naturally the center of manuscript compilation and painting, and the medieval manuscripts here were clearly influenced by two different artistic schools at the same time: the more cold and traditional style of religious painting from Greater Armenia, and the colorful, secular and colorful style of binding and illustration from Silicia. Manuscript compilation and binding flourished in the 14th and 15th centuries.
An important center for the compilation of Armenian manuscripts after the period of the Kingdom of Silesia. Armenian manuscript production flourished here in the 16th and 17th centuries, largely following the Silician style, but more European elements and new elements of Islamic art began to be added. Newly incorporated artistic elements include indigo (from lapis lazuli) and gold from Europe, and architecture (especially images of spires) and portrait styles from Islamic art.
