 According to Orbelian, the wife of the Mongolian leader, Byzantine Princess Despina, proposed to send the cross and the crosier to Constantinople.In 1387, Amaras and ten other monasteries of Artsakh were attacked by Tamerlane's hordes from Central Asia.According to a local Armenian legend, Tamerlane destroyed Amaras and ordered his soldiers to make up a miles-long line from the monastery all the way to the River Arax.