Nakhararq

Nakhararq 

the major princely families and hereditary rulers of wide regions of Armenia. They were vassals of the Armenian Arsacids and, after the fall of the latter in A.D. 428, of Sassanid Iran and later of the Arabian Caliphate. The nakhararq were divided into the elders, commanding 1,000 to 10,000 horsemen, and the junior nakhararq, commanding 50 to 1,000 horsemen. From the eighth century, feudal lords of secondary and even lesser importance were called nakhararq to distinguish them from ishkhan (ruling princes).