Draft:Lakz

Lakz (Lekia) — an early feudal state formation of the V-XVI centuries, covering the area of settlement of the "Lezgin"-speaking peoples (or peoples of the Samur language group). in the south of modern Dagestan and northeastern Azerbaijan. The written sources about Lakz are rather fragmentary, but they allow us to get a certain idea of the political entity that existed. The capital of Lakz is Tsakhur, a settlement that al-Qazwini called “the main city of the country of Lakzan”. Lakz was located along the Samur River between Shirvan (the northern part of modern Azerbaijan) and Tabasaran. V.F. Minorsky indicates that the inhabitants of Lakz lived to the west of Maskut, in the upper reaches of the Samur River.

Location

According to the source “Essays on the History of Dagestan”, in the X century Lakz covered the territory occupied by speakers of the Lezghin group of languages (modern Aguls, Lezgins, Rutuls, Tsakhurs, Khinalugs, Krykhs, Budukhs, Archins, Udins), and, as Piotrovsky B. writes, in the basin of Samur, Kurakh-chay and Chirakh-chay.

V. F. Minorsky localizes the area inhabited by the Lakz tribes to the west of the Maskut region, in the upper reaches of the Samur River.

Minorski notes that Shabran and Muscat regions were part of the Lakz state in the early period, but were gradually annexed by Shirvanshahs. Minorski also attributed the regions of Khirsan and Vardan to Lakz, noting that Khirsan “was part of the territory of the Laks already included in Shirvan”.

The Lakz region stretched along the entire northern part of Shirvan, from which it was separated by the southeastern spur of the Caucasus Mountains. This conditioned its importance for Shirvan as a buffer protecting Shirvan from northern invaders. Al-Masudi wrote: “The kingdom of Lakz is a stronghold (mu'awal) of the kingdom of Sharvan”. By the X-XI centuries, Lakz retained only a part of its original possessions.

According to the Arab historian Balazuri, the country of the Lakz was located on the plain between Samur and the city of Shabran. According to another Arab historian, geographer and traveler Mas'udi, the Lakz people lived in the highest mountains of this area. The Muslim encyclopedist of the 13th century Yaqut al-Hamawi writes that "Lakz is the country beyond Derbent". The Kurdish historian Ibn al-Athir (1160-1234) understood the "country of Lakz" to mean either Southern Dagestan or the region between Derbent and the Alans.

The 14th- and 15th-century Egyptian Arab scholar Shihabaddin al-Kalkashandi, author of the last great encyclopedia of the Mamluk era, reported on the city of Lakz and its Lakz inhabitants, who lived in the mountains bordering Hulaguid Iran.

The “History of Shirvan and Derbent” (written in the early 12th century) mentions Western and Eastern Lakz (which existed in the early 11th century). According to Shikhsaidov, it is probably about two independent state formations. Arab authors of the IX-X centuries do not mention the capital of Lakz, but the Persian scholar Zakariya al-Qazwini calls Tsakhur “the main city” of the country of Lakzan. According to Shikhsaidov, it is possible that al-Qazwini's Lakzan refers to Western Lakz. Dagestani historian R. M. Magomedov generally believes that even before the Arab invasion of Dagestan, i.e. before the middle of VII century, Tsakhur became the center of its Tsakhur Khanate.

History

Lakz and Sasanian Empire

Researcher Mohsen Zakeri in his book “Sasanid Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: The Origins of 'Ayyārān and Futuwwa” writes with reference to Yaqut al-Hamawi that the Sasanids attracted mercenaries from Tabarsaran, Filan, Liran, Shirvan and Lakz to protect the borders of their state in Armenia, and the most significant role among them was played by numerous natives of Lakz.

Medieval

Arab conquerors first appeared within the borders of modern Dagestan in the middle of the 7th century. In 722, the Arabs again entered the territory of present-day Dagestan, defeating the Khazars. At the same time, the Arab ruler of Armenia Haris ibn Amr Tayyets “made a campaign to the country of the Laks and occupied the neighborhood of Hasmadan”.

During the campaign of another Arab commander, later Umayyad Caliph of Damascus - Marwan ibn Muhammad, the latter temporarily subordinated Sarir, Tuman, Zirihgeran and Kaitak to his authority and imposed an unaffordable tax on them. Tsar Lakza, who at that time sought to make peace with the Khazars, refused to join the Muslim army. The name of this ruler in Arab authors (Ibn al-Asama al-Kufi and Khalifa bin Hayat) slightly differs. Historians, using Arabic-language works, differently transliterated this name: some wrote Aviz, son of Ramazan; Buniyatov transmitted his name as Arbis. For refusing to pay taxes, Marwan himself went against King Aviz (Arbis) in 736 (118 A.H.). He “undertook a campaign to punish this Aviz and, moving through the valley of Semer (Samur?), killed the inhabitants, devastated the country and remained in it for a year, not being able to break the resistance of the fortress in which Aviz was locked”.

In 762 the region of Lakz passed into the hands of the Khazars. In September 953, the king of Lakz Khashram Ahmad ibn Munabbi was elected emir of Derbent, but in March 954 he was overthrown and expelled from the country. It is known that the ruler of Tabasaran Haytham, who sought independence, found refuge in Lakz. The head of Derbent rais Mufarij ibn Muzaffar was hiding among the Lakz. In addition, Shirvanshah 's brother Gujdaham b. Sallar also found refuge in Lakz. Sallar, who fled from the Seljuk sultan who entered Arran in 1067.

In the second half of the 11th century, the power and influence of the Shirvanshah in Southern Dagestan increased considerably. By 1074 “Shirvanshah occupied the lands of Eastern and Western Lakz” and, after fierce battles with the population during 1074-1075, forcibly collected Kharaj from them. In the time of Mas'ud ibn Namdar (secretary, author of a collection of correspondence; at one time was under Shirvanshah Fariburz I, the Laksa were so peaceful that Shirvanshah wanted to use them as intermediaries to convert the Humic people to Islam.

By the 13th century, Lakz was no longer a centralized state; according to Yakut al-Hamawi, “Maliks are above them”, which may indicate the political fragmentation of Lakz. At the same time, the inhabitants of the area, the Lakz, continue to be regarded as a single nationality. The epigraphy of the area indicates the presence of centers such as Tsakhur, Rutul and other. In February 1222, the Lakzans, Kurji and other Muslim nationalities of Dagestan and Shirvan rebelled against the Kipchaks who had invaded the area. “Frightened, the Kipchaks left towards Shirvan and then moved towards the Lakzans. However, the Muslims, Kurji, Lakzes and others, feeling bold against them, destroyed them, killed, plundered and captured them, so that a Kipchak slave was sold in Derbend-Shirvan at the (lowest) price".

Sources name the Lakz as part of the Georgian troops and in the unsuccessful battle of Bolnisi in early 1229, which was the most serious attempt to resist Jalaladdin. The author also points out that it is noteworthy that while before “Lakz” were often mentioned as participants in many military and political events in the Caucasus (in Tiflis, Bolnisi and other ' remote places), after the 40s of the XIII century this ethnonym appears in written sources only in connection with intra-Dagestan events.

By the fourteenth century, the Lakz were very weakened. In one of the written accounts of the actions in the Caucasus of Ilkhan Argun 's army, there is a muffled mention of the participation of the Lakzes in the daily supply of the army (in all probability, Ilkhan's) for two months. This circumstance apparently serves as one of the first evidences of the involvement of Dagestanis in the military ventures of Ilkhan troops. Another written source, the Khulaguid source, contains an indication of some links of the Laks with the Golden Horde: “the tribes of the Lakz ... had a great connection with that (Golden Horde) side”. This, in particular, is connected with the fact that in 1319 they concealed from the Khulagid garrison of Derbent the news of the approach of Uzbek's army, which led to the surrender of the fortress without resistance.

People

The Lakz peoples are 10 indigenous Caucasian peoples belonging to the Samur ("Lezgic") group of the Northeast Caucasian language family: Aguls, Archins, Budukhs, Kryts (incl. Jeks), Lezgins, Rutulians, Tabasarans, Udis, Khinalugs, Tsakhurs.

As A. R. Shikhsaidov notes, familiarization with local sources allows us to conclude that their authors first of all put in the term “Lakz” the concept of territorial, not ethnic or political. V. Bartold also wrote that “Arab authors as if designated by the name ‘Lakz’ a special people, the location of which, however, is not specified more precisely”. All "Lezgic"-speaking peoples were united under the name “inhabitants of the country of Lakz”. But at the same time the authors clearly indicate the cities of these peoples: one such example is the report about Shinaz of the XIII century by the famous geographer and cosmographer Zakariyya al-Qazvini (1203-1283). He wrote:

«Shinaz is a town in the country of Lakzan, on the edge of a very high mountain. There is no other road to it than along the top of the mountain. Whoever wants to get there takes a stick in his hand and goes down slowly, because of the strong wind, so that the wind does not knock him down. The cold is extremely strong for seven months. They grow a kind of grain called "as-sult". Some of the mountain apples. Its inhabitants are kind, peaceful, hospitable to the poor, cordial to strangers. Their craft is to make weapons, such as chain mail (dir) and armor (javashin) and other types of weapons.».

According to Balazuri, in the era of Arab conquests commander Mervan settles the Khazars “between Samur and Shabiran, on the plain in the region of Lakz”. According to Yakut al-Hamawi, “...the country of al-Laqz, they are a people of numerous ... (they have) villages well-appointed and districts numerous”. Ibn al-Asir mentions that the Mongols on their first campaign met the Lakz people north of Derbent, by which he means the inhabitants not only of South Dagestan, but all mountainous regions of Dagestan, regardless of their ethnicity. But in local usage and in Arab geographers the term “Laks” or “Lezgins” is applied only to the tribes of South Dagestan.

Society and Culture

Religion

Masudi, who included the territory of the Didoites in the “country of the Laks”, reports that "among [the Laks] there are infidels who do not obey the king of Shirvan. They are called pagans Dudaniyya (should be: Diduvaniyya, Dido) and do not obey any king". According to Ibn al-Asir, even in the first quarter of the 13th century, part of the population of Dagestan from the “Laks” had not yet accepted Islam. He reports that in 1221 the Tatars, having conquered Shirvan, moved to the north and “killed many Laks - Muslims and unbelievers”.

A number of Muslim scholars are known from among the Lakz. In particular, Yusuf al-Laqzi (d. before 1089-1090), a hadith expert and court historiographer of the Aglabid dynasty, was born in the “country of Lakz” (Bilad lakz). In the family of natives of the “country of Lakz” (Bilad lakz) was born another expert of hadith and court historiographer of the Hashemid dynasty in the Derbent emirate, one of the most influential sheikhs of Bab al-Abwab Mammus al-Lakzi (approximately 1040-1110), who is the author of the chronicle “History of Derbent and Shirvan”.

Language

Yakut al-Hamawi provides information about the class hierarchy: “in the land of Lakz (there is a layer of) free people known as al-Hamashir, and above them (i.e. they are ruled by them) - maliks, and below them al-mishak, and then plowmen (akara) and servants or craftsmen (mukhkhan)”. This news allows us to judge about the presence of class division in Lakza, where the supreme power in Lakza was concentrated in the hands of rulers (maliks). According to the conjecture of Michael de Gue, the last two (akara and mukhkhan) mean farmers and artisans. M. I. Artamonov, taking into account, if it is true, such an idea, suggests the possibility to consider al-Mishaq as warriors-nobles, and Maliks respectively as princes. Yakut al-Hamawi also tells us that the inhabitants of Lakz “have cultivated diya (diya amir) and populated areas”. Arabic texts repeatedly mention the term “diyah”, but these can be understood as either a separate type of settlement or a piece of land/land property.

The Arab traveler from Granada Abu Hamid al-Garnati, who visited Derbent in 1131, listed the languages spoken by the people, among which Lakzan language was the first. According to al-Qazwini, in the madrasah of Tsakhur village there were a teacher (mudarris) and lawyers (faqihs) who “translated into Lakzan language ‘Mukhtasar al-Muzani’ and ‘The Book of Imam al-Shafi'i’ and are engaged in both of them”. Anatoli Guenko and other historians translate the Lakzan language as “Lezghin language”.

Literature

• Bolshakov O.G. To the question about the insidiousness of Arabic script // Turkological Collection, 2006. - Moscow: “Oriental Literature” RAS, 2007. - ISBN 978-5-02-018555-5.
• Gadzhiev V. I. Gerber's work “Description of the Countries and Peoples between Astrakhan and the Kura River” as a Historical Source on the History of the Peoples of the Caucasus. - Nauka, 1979.
• Gadzhiev, V. G. Source study of the history of pre-Soviet Dagestan: collection of articles. - Makhachkala: Dagestan branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, G. Tsadasa Institute of Oriental Studies, 1987. - 131 с.
• Hajiyeva S. Sh. Dagestani Azerbaijanis XIX-beginning of XX century: historical and ethnographic study. - “Oriental Literature” RAS, 1999.
• Ramazanov H. H., Shikhsaidov A. R. Sketches of the History of Southern Dagestan. - Makhachkala: Dagestan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1964.
• Sketches of the History of Dagestan. - Makhachkala: Dagestan Book Publishing House, 1957. - Т. 1.
• Minorsky V. History of Shirvan and Derbend X-XI centuries. - Moscow: Izdvo Oriental Literature, 1963.
• Shikhsaidov A. R. Dagestan in X-XIV centuries (experience of socio-economic characterization). - Makhachkala: Dagknigoizdat, 1975.
• Mongait A. L. Travel of Abu Hamid Al-Garnati to Eastern and Central Europe: (1131-1153). - Moscow: Nauka, 1971. - С. 90. - 136 с.
• History of Dagestan. - Moscow: Nauka, 1967. - Т. 1.
• History of the peoples of the North Caucasus from the most ancient times to the end of the XVIII century / Edited by B. B. Piotrovsky. - Moscow: Nauka, 1988.
• Г. Sh. Kaimarazov. Islam and Islamic Culture in Dagestan. - Moscow: Oriental Literature, 2001. - ISBN 5-02-018134-X.
• Alikberov A.K. Epoch of classical Islam in the Caucasus: Abu Bakr al-Darbandi and his Sufi encyclopedia “Rayhan al-Haka'iq” (XI-XII) cc. - Moscow: “Oriental Literature” RAS, 2003. - ISBN 5-02-018190-0.
• Genco A.N. Arabian Language and Caucasian Studies. - Moscow, Leningrad: Proceedings of the Institute of Oriental Studies. Proceedings of the Second Session of the Association of Arabists, 1941.
• Shikhsaidov A.R., Aitberov T.M., Orazaev G. M.-R.. Tarikhi Endirei // Dagestan Historical Works. - Moscow: Nauka, 1993. - ISBN 5-02-017586-2.
• Prozorov S.M. al-Lakzi Mammus // Islam on the Territory of the Former Russian Empire. Encyclopedic dictionary. Issue 1. - Moscow: “Oriental Literature” RAS, 1998. - ISBN 5-02-018047-5.
• Shikhsaidov A. R. Arab sources of IX-X centuries and issues of socio-economic and military-political situation of early medieval Dagestan. - Makhachkala, 1989.
• Shikhsaidov A.R. Epigraphic monuments of Dagestan X-XVII centuries as a historical source. - Moscow: Nauka, 1984. - С. 358.

References

Category:Populated places in Dagestan Category:Geography of Dagestan

Category:Peoples of the Caucasus

Category:Rutulsky District Category:Muslim communities of the Caucasus