Tatzates 1 Andzevatsik was an Armenian aristocrat who entered Byzantine service in 760 (he served "pendant vingt-deux ans") and distinguished himself in the Bulgar wars of the emperor Constantine V (Konstantinos 7): Ghevond, pp. 150, 153, cf. Tritle, "Tatzates' Flight". For the estates of his family, the Andzevatsi, see C. Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History (Washington, D.C., 1963), p. 198. In 776 he was one of the three generals of Leo IV (Leo 4) who led a large Byzantine force through Cilicia to the neighbourhood of Samosata: Ghevond, p. 150 (his colleagues were Artavasdos Mamikonian (= Artabasdos 3) and an unnamed Greek, identified by Tritle, pp. 284-285, as Michael Lachanodrakon (Michael 5), probably rightly), and see Brooks, EHR 15 (1900), p. 734. Tritle infers that he was strategos of the Boukellarioi in 776 and that he had been appointed by Constantine V (Konstantinos 7), probably correctly, see Tritle, op. cit., pp. 284-285. In 778 he was commander of the Boukellarioi in the combined armies sent by the emperor Leo IV (Leo 4) against Syria (χιλιάδες ρ', ὧν ἡγοῦντο ... Τατζάτης τῶν Βουκελλαρίων); they besieged but failed to capture Germanikeia but they defeated an Arab army under Thoumamas 1: Theoph. AM 6270. His fellow-commanders were Michael 5 Lachanodrakon, Artabasdos 3, Karisterotzes 1 and Gregorios 10. He was strategos of the Boukellarioi. In 781 he and Michael 5 defeated the Arab general Kebir (`Abd al-Kabir, = Qebir 1) at the battle of Melon: Tabari (in Brooks, EHR 15 (1900), p. 737), and cf. Theoph. AM 6273. In 782 he was still strategos of the Boukellarioi (Τατζάτιος, ὁ τῶν Βουκελλαρίων στρατηγός); he fled to the Arabs under Harun 1, the reason being his hostility towards Staurakios 1; later, after peace terms were agreed between Harun and the Byzantines, Tatzates 1 was able to take away his wife and his wealth: Theoph. AM 6274 (ὁ Τατζάτης τὴν γυναῖκα ἑαυτοῦ καὶ πᾶσαν ὑπόστασιν). The circumstances of his flight are convincingly reconstructed by Tritle, op. cit., pp. 292-294. The Arabs under Harun 1 had fallen into a trap, probably due to Tatzates 1; Tatzates 1, like other former commanders under Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) and Leo IV (Leo 4), was out of favour with the empress Eirene 1 (she had declared herself openly hostile to him: Ghevond, p. 153) and he approached Harun 1 promising to extricate the Arabs from their predicament if he received a promise of safe-conduct back to his homeland of Armenia (Ghevond, p. 153: "il lui demanda un sauf-conduit scell par le serment, qui l'autoris t revenir dans sa patrie; il s'engageait en retour d gager les Arabes du blocus et les conduire dans leur propre pays"); he then contrived the capture of the Byzantine leaders Staurakios 1, Petros 8 and Antonios 1 by Harun 1 and the eventual withdrawal of the Arabs. He was warmly welcomed and highly honoured by the caliph al-Mahdi 1 and was appointed military overlord (sparapet) of Armenia: Ghevond, p. 154 ("le calife lui t moigna sa profonde reconnaissance, le combla de riches pr sents de son tr sor royal, et, apr s l'avoir investi de la dignit de commandant de l'Arm nie..."). In 785 he took part in a joint campaign of the Arabs and the Armenians against the Khazars in the Caucasus, but during it he died: Ghevond, p. 154. See Treadgold, Revival, p. 69, Tritle, op. cit., passim. See Rochow, Konstantin V, p. 241.

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