Image by james_gordon_losangeles
Bjni Fortress is a castle located in the village of Bjni in the Kotayk Province of Armenia. It sits upon the top and along the sides of a mesa that divides the village nearly in half. The larger portion of which is located west of the mesa and curves south, while a smaller portion is east. The walls of the fortress may only be seen from the western side of the village, and are easiest reached via a narrow dirt road that forks (take the left fork) and goes up the side of the hill past some residences.
History
The fortress of Bjni was built in the 9th to 10th centuries by the royal Pahlavuni family of the Bagratuni Dynasty. The commander of Bjni, lord Vasak Holum Pahlavuni (the Pahlavid) reconstructed the fortress. The 12th century Armenian historian Matteos Urhayetsi wrote in part 1 of the ‘Chronicle’ covering the late 10th c. to early 11th c., of the invasions of mercenary Turkish soldiers of the Daylamis at Bjni in 1021 who went to raid and plunder villages and towns.
‘In this period the ruler of Delumk (Daylamis) collected troops and unexpectedly came and reached the Armenian district of Nig, near the stronghold of Bjni. Vasak, the commander-in-chief of the Armenians, with his beloved son Gregory and with other illustrious noblemen, was making merry in his castle. Vasak looked at the stony road, and lo, a man was coming in haste up the road on foot. Upon seeing him, Vasak said, ‘This man is a bearer of bad news." The man arrived at the gates of the fortress of Bjni and, raising an outcry, said, "The whole district of Nig has been enslaved!’
Vasak and his men became furious and pursued the enemy forces into battle near the Kasakh River killing 300 of them and causing the rest to flee. After becoming exhausted from the fighting, Vasak left the battle to find a place to rest at a mountain called Serkevelo. One of the villagers who had fled the scene, saw the commander asleep and struck him with a heavy blow. He then threw Vasak from one of the high rocks, killing him.
During the years of 1387-1388 the Turko-Mongol conqueror Timur Lenk destroyed the village of Bjni and most likely the castle as well. In manuscripts written by Thomas of Metsoph during the late 14th c. to mid 15th c., he left an account of Timur’s invasions stating that,
‘Next [Timur] came to the Araratean country and Karbi and the Kotayk’ country. He besieged the fortress of Bjni, took it and killed the bishop of the land, lord Vanakan, who was a wise and learned man, merciful and kind to all the poor. Furthermore, they tormented the entire multitude of believers with starvation, the sword, enslavement, and with unbearable tortures and bestial behavior they made the most populous district of Armenia uninhabited. Many people were martyred and were worthy of the crown; [they] are known only to the One who receives them, Christ our God. May He crown them on the day that the flock of the righteous are rewarded. Amen.’
Site
Portions of the exterior fortification walls at Bjni have survived and follow the sides of the mesa. At the plateau, there are sections of battlements that remain in relatively poor condition. Traces of where the foundations of structures had once stood are indicated by depressions in the ground at various areas. There is also the stone foundation of a church of the 5th c., a medieval structure that is still partially standing (currently being rebuilt as of 2009), two cisterns one with the remains of intact vaulting, and a covered passage that led to the river in the event of a siege.
Question by Allie Cullen: What kind of cookies did the puritans eat?
I have this project due and its about Puritan recipes..so I’m basially making a cookbook and i cannot find any where what kind of cookies that they’ve eaten because i also plan to bake some to hand out to my classmates and for a good grade..if anybody can help me with finding some cookies they’ve eaten and other recipes besides baked beans turkey and cornbread..muffins could suffice also..please and thank you!!
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
They didn’t really eat cookies, but cookies that would have been eaten in the Middle Ages are Gingerbread.
Amy B.
December 21, 2013 at 3:31 pm
The cookies would have been called biscuits. (That is what the British call cookies and the Puritans were breakaway Brits.) Probably something like unleavened thick seaworthy crackers. They would have been sweetened with honey, cause sugar was a luxury item.
Cynthia
December 21, 2013 at 4:10 pm
If you mean the Puritans who went to New England aka the Pilgrims, then look at the following book from Jamestown VA (which was settled before Plymouth Massachusetts) – http://www.historyisfun.org/pdfbooks/life_at_jamestown.pdf and also this food timeline at http://www.foodtimeline.org/
Given that sugar was hard to get and they didn’t yet raise wheat, making cookies (or biscuits) wouldn’t have been very common yet. Honey could have been used for sweetening and they could make cheesecakes with the milk (from the cows). Or try hasty pudding made with cornmeal (link on year 1599 on food timeline).
I’ve included some facsimile 17th century English cookbooks, but they use ingredients found in English households of that century, so you need to eliminate the ones with hard to get ingredients for the folks living in Massachusetts.
Deanne K
December 21, 2013 at 4:24 pm