Chapter 7
THE POPULATION OF PERKENIK
(Armenian
Manuscript Pages 24 and 25)
[This is an Abridged Translation of the Chapter's Contents J.T. ]
We have no reliable
info on the size of the original settlement when it arrived from Greater
Armenia in 1021.[1]
The earliest
document is an inscription dating back to 1237 A.D (It was uncovered from the
foundation walls of St. Sarkis Church when the church was being rebuilt in
1837). It states that prior to
that year there were two churches in Perkenik:
1.
Church of the Mother of God
2.
Church of St. Sarkis
We can surmise that
the population had to be considerable to require the building of two churches.
An unknown part of
the populace was massacred in 1403 when the barbaric hordes from the east under
Leng Timur pillaged the entire Sebastia region .
Various sources
quote different estimates in 1700-10, 1786, 1806, 1842, 1843, 1858, 1864, 1876,
1886, 1893 ranging from 100 to 400 houses, "all Armenian Catholic"
(roughly 100 to 4000 individuals).
Bishop Nazlian says that in
1914 Perkenik had nearly 5000 people.
[1]This is the approximate year of the great Armenian migrations westward from the Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia in the period when its capital Ani was transferred to the Byzantine Empire. Ani later fell to the Seljuks. [JT]