Editing Yazdegerd II (section)

== Religious policy ==
[[Image:Map of Persian Armenia and its surroundings.svg|thumb|300px|Map of the [[Caucasus]]]]
The policies of Yazdegerd II have been a matter of discussion. While the [[Armenian language|Armenian]] and [[Syriac language|Syriac]] portray him as a religious fanatic, [[Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]] portray him as a pious king who clashed with the aristocracy. A large portion of modern historiography has incorporated the former.{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=192}} The unsteadiness of the empire was ever-increasing under Yazdegerd II, who had an uneasy relationship with the aristocracy and was facing a great challenge by the Kidarite in the east.{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=192}} At the beginning of Yazdegerd II's reign, he suffered several defeats at the hands of the Kidarites, for which he put the blame on the Christians, due to much of his cavalry consisting of [[Georgians|Iberians]] and [[Armenians]].{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=192}} Persecutions of Christians first started in 446 with the Christian nobles of [[Karkh]] in Mesopotamia, and later the Christian aristocracy of [[Sasanian Iberia|Iberia]] and Armenia.{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=192}} He seems to have mainly targeted the non-Zoroastrian aristocracy.{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=192}}

Yazdegerd II had originally continued his father's policies of appeasing the magnates. However, after some time, he turned away from them and started a policy of his own. When the magnates told him that his new policies had offended the people, he disagreed, saying that: "it is not correct for you to presume that the ways in which my father behaved towards you, maintaining you close to him, and bestowing upon you all that bounty, are incumbent upon all the kings that come after him ... each age has its own customs".{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|p=70}} Yazdegerd II, however, was still fully aware of the longstanding conflict between the crown and the nobility and priesthood, which had culminated in the murder of several Sasanian monarchs.{{sfn|Kia|2016|pp=281-282}} 
[[Image:Vartanantz.jpg|thumb|A 15th-century [[Armenia]]n miniature depicting the [[Battle of Avarayr]]]]
Yazdegerd II needed the cooperation of the aristocracy so that he could have an organized government to combat the external and internal issues endangering the empire.{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=192}} His later dismissal of Vasak Siwni in 451 and allowance of religious freedom, according to modern historian Eberhard W. Sauer, is a "position hardly compatible with one taken by a religious zealot."{{sfn|Sauer|2017|pp=192-193}} According to another modern historian, Scott McDonough, the Zoroastrian faith was perhaps a "test of personal loyalty" for Yazdegerd II.{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=193}} He also targeted Zoroastrian aristocrats, dismantling their advantage of entry to the court and castrated men in his field armies to generate [[eunuch]]s more dutiful to him than to their own families.{{sfn|Payne|2015a|p=46}} However, Yazdegerd II's policy of integrating the Christian nobility into the bureaucracy still had problematic consequences; before the appointment of Adhur-Hormizd, Armenia had been plunged into a major rebellion.{{sfnm|Sauer|2017|1p=192|2a=Daryaee, "Yazdegerd II"}} The cause of the rebellion was the attempt of [[Mihr Narseh]] to impose the [[Zurvanism|Zurvanite]] variant of Zoroastrianism in Armenia.{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=192}} His intentions differed from those of Yazdegerd II.{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=193}} As a result, many of the Armenian nobles (but not all) rallied under [[Vardan Mamikonian]], the supreme commander (''[[sparapet]]'') of Armenia.{{sfn|Avdoyan|2018}} The Armenian rebels tried to appeal to the Romans for help, but to no avail.{{sfn|Hewsen|1987|p=32}} Meanwhile, another faction of Armenians, led by the ''marzban'' [[Vasak Siwni]] allied themselves with the Sasanians.{{sfn|Avdoyan|2018}}

On 2 June 451, the Sasanian and rebel forces [[Battle of Avarayr|clashed at Avarayr]], with the Sasanians emerging victorious.{{sfn|Hewsen|1987|p=32}} Nine generals, including Vardan Mamikonian, were killed, with a large number of the Armenian nobles and soldiers meeting the same fate.{{sfn|Hewsen|1987|p=32}} The Sasanians, however, had also suffered heavy losses due to the resolute struggle by the Armenian rebels.{{sfn|Hewsen|1987|p=32}} Although Yazdegerd II put an end to the persecutions in the country afterward, tensions continued until 510 when a kinsman of Vardan Mamikonian, [[Vard Mamikonian]], was appointed ''marzban'' by Yazdegerd II's grandson, [[Kavad I]] ({{reign|488|531}}).{{sfn|Nersessian|2018}}

[[Jews]] were also the subject of persecution under Yazdegerd II; he is said to have issued decrees prohibiting them from observing the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]] openly,{{sfn|Gaon|1988|pp=115, 117}} and ordered executions of several Jewish leaders.{{sfn|Daryaee, "Yazdegerd II"}} The Jewish community of [[Spahan]] fought back by [[flaying]] two Zoroastrian priests alive, which in turn escalated the persecution they were already facing.{{sfn|Daryaee, "Yazdegerd II"}}