ABSTRACT
The amazing resilience of the Armenian people is nowhere better illustrated than in the saga of Cilician Armenia. The Greeks found the country largely depopulated and appointed some Armenians as governors of important cities, entrusted them with command of local armies, and ceded large tracts of land to them. The ‘country of the Armenians’ extended virtually as far north as Caesarea of Cappadocia; when the Crusaders reached Comana and Coxon they were welcomed by the Armenian population of these cities. Many Armenian peasant immigrants established themselves as freeholders, but the local Cilician peasantry was reduced to serfdom. Armenian society became divided by antagonism between the pro-Western faction, who remained faithful to the Papal and Frankish alliance, and a nationalist group, who detested everything which differed from the ancient traditions associated with St Gregory the Illuminator. India with its vast and teeming centres of population presented a tremendous challenge to Armenian enterprise and ingenuity.
