Barons and castellans · Armenian Cilicia: the kingdom of Leo · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Bakuran of Paperon

Paperon (Barbaron), now identified with Çandır Kalesi north of Mersin, stands on a plateau controlling two roads to central Anatolia, one of them to Lampron (English Wikipedia, Çandır Castle).

Leo's widowed mother took refuge here with her children after 1165, and Bakuran, 'a good and generous man', sheltered them (Smbat). He has served the Roupenids ever since: he was the go-between when Bohemond III held Roupen III captive and released him for a ransom and hostages (1185-1186: Der Nersessian; Smbat). He appears in Smbat's list of the kingdom's princes.

Whether he is still alive and lord on 1 January 1200 is likely but not pinned; he is old.

Who he is

Name
Bakuran (Pagouran, Pakuran)
Title
Prince of Paperon
Since
After his father Smbat of Paperon was killed (Smbat, under 1165); still 'the prince of Paper'o'n, Bakuran' in Smbat's list given with the coronation.
Born
not pinned (he was lord by 1165, so probably born before about 1140)
Family
Son of Smbat (Sempad), lord of Paperon, a brother of Oshin II of Lampron: the Paperon (Barbaron) branch of the Hethumids. Brother of Rita, Leo's mother, and of Vasak (Vasak of Askuras) and Halkam (Halkam): Leo's maternal uncle. Nephew Constantine, son of Vasak, the later regent and father of King Hethum I.
Confidence
medium

Smbat (tr. Bedrosian), pages 63-65, 69-70; Der Nersessian, page 674 of the scan.

Overlord

Leo I.

What it holds

  • Paperon (Barbaron, Çandır Kalesi) and its plateau, with the roads north into the Taurus.

How it was acquired

Inherited from his father Smbat.

Allies and rivals

The king's kin and loyal supporter; cousins of the Lampron house.

How things stand that morning

Held for Leo (likely).

Wealth

Castle, villages, pasture and road tolls. No figures.

Military

Paperon castle. No numbers.

Threats

  • Age and succession.

Places of note

  • Paperon (Çandır Kalesi): The Paperon seat (English Wikipedia coordinates).

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Bakuran's lordship is in Smbat for 1165-1185 and in the list; his death date is not known to this research.

On the map: Drawn round the castle; the lordship's true bounds are not known.

Primary sources for Cilicia

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Anonymous Syriac Chronicle to 1234, Anonymous (a Syrian Orthodox writer, probably of Edessa) (about 1234 to 1240). An Edessene chronicle independent of Michael the Syrian in its later part, with a secular section reaching 1234 that gives the Jazira, Edessa, Harran, Mardin and Melitene about 1200 under al-Adil's sons and the Artuqids, the Seljuks of Rum, the Armenians of Cilicia and the Franks of Antioch, and a church section to 1207 on the Jacobite succession after Michael's death in 1199. Read online
  • The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (Michael the Great), Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199 (about 1180 to 1195). The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Read online
  • The Chronicle of Smbat Sparapet (Sempad the Constable), Smbat Sparapet, brother of King Hetum I of Cilicia (about 1270 to 1276). The Cilician court chronicle, drawing on Matthew of Edessa for its early part and on family memory later. Read online
  • The Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer, Ernoul, squire of Balian of Ibelin, and later compilers (the 1187 core soon after the event; the whole in its present form 1227 to 1232). The Ibelin household's version of events in Outremer. Read online
  • The Cream of the History of Aleppo, Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Adim (about 1240 to 1260). The annals of Aleppo. Read online
  • The Old French Continuation of William of Tyre (Eracles), Anonymous continuators, the earliest drawing on Ernoul (about 1220 to 1277; the first continuation (1184 to 1197, the Lyon Eracles) compiled about 1230 from material of the 1190s). For the Latin East at 1200 it narrates the aftermath of the Third Crusade: the truce of 1192, the succession to Jerusalem through Queen Isabella's marriages to Henry of Champagne (died September 1197) and Aimery of Lusignan, Aimery's rule as king of Jerusalem from 1198 while king of Cyprus, the German crusade of 1197 to 1198 and the recovery of Beirut and Sidon, the truce with al-Adil of 1198, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond IV and Leo of Armenia, and the Pisan plot against Aimery. Read online
  • History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
  • The Historical Compilation of Vardan Areveltsi, Vardan Areveltsi (about 1267 to 1271). A short universal history that for the 12th and 13th centuries follows Samuel of Ani, Michael the Syrian (which Vardan helped translate into Armenian in 1248) and Kirakos. Read online

6 more in the sources library for Anatolia and the Caucasus.

Sources and studies

  1. Smbat Sparapet's Chronicle, tr. R. Bedrosian (2005)
  2. Çandır Castle (English Wikipedia)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.