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Leo I, King of Armenia

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For the Armenian prince, see Leo I, Prince of Armenia.
Levon II
Լևոն Բ
A silver dram of Levon I
King of Armenian Cilicia
Reign1198/1199–1219
Coronation6 January 1198/1199
Church of Holy Wisdom (Tarsus)
SuccessorIsabella
Lord of Cilicia
Reign1187–1198/1199
PredecessorRoupen III
Born1150
Died2 May 1219(1219-05-02) (aged 68–69)
Burial
Sis (his body)
Convent of Akner (his heart and entrails)
SpouseIsabella
Sibylla of Cyprus
IssueStephanie of Armenia
Isabella, Queen of Armenia
HouseRoupenians
FatherStephen
MotherRita of Barbaron
ReligionOriental Orthodoxy
SignatureLevon II Լևոն Բ's signature

Leo II (Armenian: Լեւոն Ա Մեծագործ, romanized: Levon I. Metsagorts; 1150 – 2 May 1219)[a] was the tenth lord of Armenian Cilicia,[4] ruling from 1187 to 1219,[7]: [page needed]  and the first king to be crowned, in 1198/9 (sometimes known as Levon I the Magnificent[4]).[b][4][7]: [page needed]  Leo eagerly led his kingdom alongside the armies of the Third Crusade and provided the crusaders with provisions, guides, pack animals and all manner of aid.[3]

He was consecrated as king on 6 January 1198[7]: [page needed]  or 1199.[4]

Early years

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Coat of arms of Leo I, King of Armenia

He was the younger son of Stephen, the third son of Leo I, lord of Armenian Cilicia.[7]: [page needed]  His mother was Rita, a daughter of Sempad, Lord of Barbaron.[10] Leo's father, who was on his way to attend a banquet given by the Byzantine governor of Cilicia, Andronicus Euphorbenus,[4] was murdered[7]: [page needed]  on 7 February 1165.[citation needed] Following their father's death, Leo and his elder brother Roupen lived with their uncle.[4][11]

Their paternal uncle, Mleh I, lord of Armenian Cilicia had made a host of enemies by his cruelties in his country, resulting in his assassination by his own soldiers in the city of Sis in 1175.[12] The seigneurs of Cilician Armenia elected Leo's brother, Roupen III to occupy the throne of the principality. Roupen III sent Leo to surround Hethum's mountain lair.[13] But Bohemond III, rushing to the aid of Hethum, treacherously made Roupen prisoner.[14] During 1187, he became the ruler.[2]

His rule

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In 1187, he was forced to engage in a war against Aleppo and Damascus, an arduous war in which he actually forced the allied forces to retreat. This first success of Leo is of great significance from a historical perspective, for at the same time that Saladin had begun his decisive battle against the Latin state of Jerusalem, the forces of Leo drew away the attention of some part of his forces and this way easing the pressure on the crusaders.[15]

Prince of Cilicia

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The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1199–1375)

Leo was a valiant and learned prince; he enlarged his principality and became the master of many provinces. A few days only after his taking possession of the country, the descendants of Ismael, under the command of one Roustam, advanced and came against Cilicia. Leo was not frightened, but confiding in God, who destroyed Sanacherib, he vanquished with a few men the great army of the infidels. Roustam himself was killed by St. George, the whole Hagarenian army then fled and dispersed; the Armenians pursued them and enriched themselves with the treasure. The power of Leo thus increased, and being confident in his strength, he chased the Tadjiks [name used by Armenian chroniclers to designate the Saracens, particularly the Seljuks] and pursued the Turks; he conquered Isauria and came as far as Iconium; he captured Heraclea, and again gave it up for a large ransom; he blockaded Caesarea, and had nearly taken it; he made a treaty with the Sultan of Iconium, and received a large sum of money from him; he surrounded Cilicia on every side with forts and castles; he built a new church called Agner, and was exceedingly generous to all monasteries erected by his ancestors; his bounty extended itself even to the leprous; they being shunned by everybody and expelled from every place, he assigned to them a particular house, and provided them with necessaries.

— Vahram of Edessa: The Rhymed Chronicle of Armenia Minor[16]

Coronation

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Leo I portrait as king

Leo was crowned on 6 January 1198 (or 1199)[4] at Tarsus,[11]

Antiochene War of Succession

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Main article: War of the Antiochene Succession
An army of mounted soldiers, surrounded by a large crowd of people, including children who march before them
Triumphant entry of Leo the Magnificent into Antioch. Juliano Zasso, 1885

In this period the kat'oghikos, lord Yohanes, went to King Leo having heard blameworthy information about /the unfaithfulness/ of the lady of Antioch, whom the king had /as a wife/. /Yohanes/ related /these matters/ to the king in private. As the king was very emotional, he ordered that many of the woman's relatives be ruined, and he violently struck the woman with his own hands, wanting to slay her on the spot. Kostand, the son of his uncle Vasak, was barely able to escape, half-dead, with his life, and he was sent in fetters to Vahka.

— Smbat Sparapet: Chronicle[17]

In Cyprus between 28 January 1210/27 January 1211 Leo married Sibylle, the half-sister of King Hugh I of Cyprus.

Last years

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The ruins of Baghras Castle

Leo, having governed the country twelve years as Baron and twenty-two as King, felt his end approaching, and appointed in an assembly of the whole nobility of the kingdom, a certain baron named Atan to be Regent of the country and guardian of his daughter. Leo died soon after and was buried in the church of Agner; a part of his body was brought into the town of Sis, and a church was built thereupon.

— Vahram of Edessa: The Rhymed Chronicle of Armenia Minor[16]

He was a benevolent, ingenuous man without a grudge toward anyone, who took his refuge in God and guided his principality accordingly. He was a wise, brilliant man, a skilled horseman, brave-hearted in battle, with attention to human and divine charity, energetic and happy of countenance.

— Smbat Sparapet: Chronicle[17]

Marriages and children

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# (1) 3 February 1188 – 4 February 1189, divorced 1206: Isabelle (? – Vahka, 1207), a daughter of a brother of Sibylle, the wife of Bohemond III of Antioch[18][19]

# (2) 28 January 1210 – 27 January 1211: Sibylla (1199/1200 – after 1225), a daughter of King Amalric I of Cyprus and Isabella I of Jerusalem[23]

Notes

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  1. ^ also spelled Leon II,[1][2][3] Levon II[4] or Lewon II[5][6]
  2. ^ alternatively spelled as Lewon I[8][9]

References

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  1. ^ Nickerson Hardwicke, Mary. The Crusader States, 1192–1243.
  2. ^ a b Nersessian, Sirarpie Der. The Kingdom of Cilician Armenia.
  3. ^ a b Kurkjian, Vahan M (1958). A History of Armenia. Armenian General Benevolent Union of America. p. 229. Retrieved 27 November 2024.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Ghazarian, Jacob G. The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia during the Crusades: The Integration of Cilician Armenians with the Latins (1080–1393).
  5. ^ Meanings and Functions of the Ruler's Image in the Mediterranean World (11th – 15th Centuries). Brill. 31 January 2022. ISBN 978-90-04-51158-3.
  6. ^ Parsumean-Tatoyean, Seda (November 2012). The Armenians in the Medieval Islamic World: Armenian realpolitik in the Islamic world and diverging paradigms: case of Cilicia, eleventh to fourteenth centuries. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-4782-7.
  7. ^ a b c d e Runciman, Steven (1987). A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-34772-3.
  8. ^ Schwartz, Ellen C. (2021). The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-027735-2.
  9. ^ Calzolari, Valentina (2014). Armenian Philology in the Modern Era – From Manuscript to Digital Text. Brill. p. 74. ISBN 978-90-04-27096-1.
  10. ^ Guedes, Maria Helena (2015-07-28). A Cultura Da Armênia ! (in Brazilian Portuguese). Clube de Autores.
  11. ^ a b Edwards, Robert W. The Fortifications of Armenian Cilicia.
  12. ^ Kurkjian 1958, p. 226
  13. ^ Kurkjian 1958, p. 228
  14. ^ Kurkjian 1958, pp. 228-229
  15. ^ Stevenson, W. B. (1907). The Crusaders In The East. Cambridge. p. 243.
  16. ^ a b Vahram (2008-09-10). "Chronicle". Text Archive. Internet Archive. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
  17. ^ a b Smbat Sparapet (Sempad the Constable) (2005). "Chronicle". History Workshop: Armenian Historical Sources of the 5th–15th Centuries (Selected Works). Robert Bedrosian's Homepage. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
  18. ^ Muir, Diana Jean (2019-01-28). TEMPLARS Who were they? Where did they go? Vol 2 of 2. p. 424. ISBN 978-0-359-38286-6.
  19. ^ Armenia. Vol. 1. Cornell University. 1904.
  20. ^ Lock, Peter (2013-04-15). The Routledge Companion to the Crusades. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-13137-1.
  21. ^ Nicholson, Helen J.; Nicholson, Helen (2001). The Knights Hospitaller. Boydell & Brewer. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-85115-845-7.
  22. ^ Chahin, Mack (2013-11-05). The Kingdom of Armenia: New Edition. Routledge. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-136-85243-5.
  23. ^ Runciman Steven. (1954). A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press. p. 87.
  24. ^ Stopka, Krzysztof (2016-12-16). Armenia Christiana: Armenian Religious Identity and the Churches of Constantinople and Rome (4th–15th Century). Wydawnictwo UJ. ISBN 978-83-233-9555-3.

Sources

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leon II of Armenia.
Regnal titles
Preceded by Lord of Cilicia
1187–1198/1199 		Became king
New title King of Armenian Cilicia
1198/1199-1219 		Succeeded by
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