Other lordship · Armenian Cilicia: the kingdom of Leo · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Catholicos at Hromkla

Since 1151 the head of the Armenian church has lived at Hromkla (Qal'at al-Rum), a fortified rock on the west bank of the Euphrates north of al-Bira (Birecik), outside the Cilician kingdom and surrounded by Muslim lands.

Catholicos Gregory III received it from Beatrice, wife of the captive Joscelin II of Edessa, first in trust, and the catholicate later bought it from Joscelin III, keeping the deed in Hromkla's archives so that no Courtenay could claim it (Der Nersessian). Gregory VI Apirat anointed Leo king and with him accepted the union with Rome. He is the uncle of Hethum of Lampron, Leo's most dangerous baron.

On 1 January 1200 he holds the castle, its small town and its villages; to whom he pays for peace with his Muslim neighbours, if anyone, is not pinned.

Who he is

Name
Gregory VI (Grigoris), called Apirat
Title
Catholicos (patriarch) of all the Armenians
Since
1194 ('in the same year they enthroned as patriarch lord Grigoris, called Apirat': Smbat, year 643 of the Armenian era), after the short reign of Gregory V Karavezh (1193-1194).
Born
not pinned
Family
His sister was the mother of Hethum of Lampron: in 1203 he pleads with Leo for 'his sister's son' (Smbat).
Confidence
high

Smbat (tr. Bedrosian), pages 68-72; Der Nersessian in Setton II, pages 671-672 and 686 of the scan; German and French Wikipedia on the coronation.

Overlord

None. The catholicos holds Hromkla in his own right; he stands with Leo, whom he anointed.

What it holds

  • The castle and town of Hromkla on the Euphrates, with the catholicos's residence, churches and archives; its villages (not pinned).

How it was acquired

1151, from Beatrice of Edessa, later bought from Joscelin III (Der Nersessian).

Allies and rivals

Leo, whom he anointed; the Lampron house (his nephew Hethum). His neighbours are Aleppo's governors in Aintab and Ravendan and the lords of al-Bira and the Jazira across the river (Latin East sheet).

How things stand that morning

Held by the catholicos; an Armenian enclave in Muslim country.

Wealth

Church revenues from all the Armenian dioceses that recognise him; the castle's villages. No figures.

Military

The fortress itself, which in 1292 held out 33 days against the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf (Der Nersessian): later. No garrison numbers.

Threats

  • Aleppo or the Jazira princes; disputes over the union with Rome.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1203Gregory VI dies; Leo has an assembly of bishops install John, archbishop of Sis, as catholicos (Smbat).Depends on: Gregory's death. Stopped by: Nothing in play.

Places of note

  • Hromkla (Rumkale): The catholicos's fortress on the Euphrates.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The see at Hromkla and its acquisition are well recorded; the castle's villages, garrison and relations with Aleppo in 1200 are not.

On the map: A disc for the castle and its villages; the catholicos's lands round it are not recorded.

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. S. Der Nersessian, 'The Kingdom of Cilician Armenia', in Setton (ed.), A History of the Crusades, vol. II
  2. Smbat Sparapet's Chronicle, tr. R. Bedrosian (2005), pages 68-72

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