The Decree of Ḥosayn ʿAlī Ḫān of Yerevan Issued in 1763 on the Rights and Privileges of the Mother See of Holy Ēǰmiacin and the Armenians

This article presents new research in the field of Persian documentary source studies, based on a 1763 Persian decree issued by Ḥosayn ʿAlī Ḫān of Yerevan in accordance with the petition of Catholicos Simeon I of Holy Ēǰmiacin. The decree confirms the rights and privileges of the Mother See of Holy Ēǰmiacin, the residence of the Catholicos of all Armenians, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and of the Armenian people in Yerevan khanate during the second half of the eighteenth century. The text of the document kept in the Matenadaran reveals many details concerning the social-economic position, rights, and privileges of the Mother See of Holy Ēǰmiacin, the catholicoi and their subjects. Content analysis of the decree particularly of the rights and privileges mentioned in the clauses of the petition and confirmed by the ḫān’s order, shows the document’s adherence with previous decrees of the rulers of Iran. Further, the text analysis of the document considers its differences from the decree issued earlier, in 1760, according to the petition of Catholicos Hakob Šamaxec‘i (1759–1763), as well as from the decree issued in 1763 by Karīm Ḫān Zand Vakīl. The document is evidence of the special and respected position of the Mother See of Holy Ēǰmiacin, strengthened due to the efforts of its catholicoi and the Armenians subject to them. The historical conditions and circumstances of the creation of the document are considered in the article after a review of the position of the catholicoi of Holy Ēǰmiacin under the rule of the šāhs of Persia from sixteenth to mid-eighteenth centuries. The historical background of the decree provides a better understanding of the realities of the time and region. The study reveals some of the main characteristics of Yerevan khanate as a separate semi-independent political unit in Transcaucasia, having close historical ties with Iran.