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Leo I, King of Armenia

King of Armenian Cilicia from 1198/99 to 1219

Field	Value
name	Levon II
Լևոն Բ
image	File:Levon I of Cilicia silver dram.jpg
caption	A silver dram of Levon I
succession	King of Armenian Cilicia
reign	1198/1199–1219
coronation	6 January 1198/1199
Church of Holy Wisdom (Tarsus)
successor	Isabella
succession1	Lord of Cilicia
reign1	1187–1198/1199
predecessor1	Roupen III
spouse	Isabella
Sibylla of Cyprus
issue	Stephanie of Armenia
Isabella, Queen of Armenia
house	Roupenians
father	Stephen
mother	Rita of Barbaron
birth_date	1150
death_date
place of burial	Sis (his body)
Convent of Akner (his heart and entrails)
signature	Signature of Leo I of Armenia (De Morgan, History of the Armenian People).jpg
religion	Oriental Orthodoxy

Լևոն Բ Church of Holy Wisdom (Tarsus) Sibylla of Cyprus Isabella, Queen of Armenia Convent of Akner (his heart and entrails) Leo I (; 1150 – 2 May 1219) was the tenth lord of Armenian Cilicia, ruling from 1187 to 1219, and the first king to be crowned, in 1198/9 (sometimes known as Levon I the Magnificent). 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.

He was consecrated as king in January 1198 or 1199.

Early years

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. His mother was Rita, a daughter of Sempad, Lord of Barbaron. Leo's father, who was on his way to attend a banquet given by the Byzantine governor of Cilicia, Andronicus Euphorbenus, was murdered on 7 February 1165. Following their father's death, Leo and his elder brother Roupen lived with their uncle.

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. 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. But Bohemond III, rushing to the aid of Hethum, treacherously made Roupen prisoner. During 1187, he became the ruler.

His rule

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.

Prince of Cilicia

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, [[Ishmaelites

Coronation

Leo was crowned on 6 January 1198 (or 1199) at Tarsus,

Antiochene War of Succession

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.

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

Last years

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.

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.

[[Sempad the Constable

Marriages and children

# (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

Rita (Stephanie) (after 1195 – June 1220), the wife of King John I of Jerusalem # (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
Queen Isabella I of Cilicia ( 27 January 1216 – 25 January 1217 – Ked, 23 January 1252)

Notes

References

Sources

Edwards, Robert W., The Fortifications of Armenian Cilicia, Dumbarton Oaks Studies XXIII, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, 1987, Washington, D.C.; .
Ghazarian, Jacob G: The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia during the Crusades: The Integration of Cilician Armenians with the Latins (1080–1393); RoutledgeCurzon (Taylor & Francis Group), 2000, Abingdon;

References

Nickerson Hardwicke, Mary. "The Crusader States, 1192–1243".
Nersessian, Sirarpie Der. "The Kingdom of Cilician Armenia".
(1958). "A History of Armenia". Armenian General Benevolent Union of America.
Ghazarian, Jacob G.. "The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia during the Crusades: The Integration of Cilician Armenians with the Latins (1080–1393)".
(31 January 2022). "Meanings and Functions of the Ruler's Image in the Mediterranean World (11th – 15th Centuries)". Brill.
(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.
(2021). "The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Art and Architecture". Oxford University Press.
(2014). "Armenian Philology in the Modern Era – From Manuscript to Digital Text". Brill.
Guedes, Maria Helena. (2015-07-28). "A Cultura Da Armênia !". Clube de Autores.
Edwards, Robert W.. "The Fortifications of Armenian Cilicia".
Kurkjian 1958, p. 226
Kurkjian 1958, p. 228
Kurkjian 1958, pp. 228-229
Stevenson, W. B.. (1907). "The Crusaders In The East". [[Cambridge]].
Vahram. (2008-09-10). "Chronicle". Internet Archive.
Smbat Sparapet (Sempad the Constable). (2005). "Chronicle". Robert Bedrosian's Homepage.
Muir, Diana Jean. (2019-01-28). "TEMPLARS Who were they? Where did they go? Vol 2 of 2".
(1904). "Armenia". Cornell University.
Lock, Peter. (2013-04-15). "The Routledge Companion to the Crusades". Routledge.
Nicholson, Helen J.. (2001). "The Knights Hospitaller". Boydell & Brewer.
Chahin, Mack. (2013-11-05). "The Kingdom of Armenia: New Edition". Routledge.
Runciman Steven.. (1954). "A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades". Cambridge University Press.
Stopka, Krzysztof. (2016-12-16). "Armenia Christiana: Armenian Religious Identity and the Churches of Constantinople and Rome (4th–15th Century)". Wydawnictwo UJ.
Runciman, Steven. (1987). "A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades". [[Cambridge University Press]].

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