Raymond-Roupen

Who he is

Name

Raymond-Roupen (baptised Roupen, Smbat; Raymond after his father)

Title

Heir presumptive of Leo; sworn heir of the principality of Antioch

Since

Recognised by Leo as heir presumptive (Boase, cited in English Wikipedia; date not pinned); sworn heir of Antioch by Bohemond III and his barons at Conrad of Mainz's demand (1197 or 1198: Runciman; Ghazarian).

Born

1197 or 1198, after his father's death in early 1197 (Burgtorf; Runciman): one or two years old.

Family

Son of Raymond, eldest son of Bohemond III of Antioch (married 1195, died early 1197), and of Alice (Alix), elder daughter of Roupen III, Leo's niece, who had been the wife of Hethum of Sasun, lord of Mamistra (dead by about 1194: Smbat). Grandson of Bohemond III; grandnephew of Leo. His mother's aunt-in-law is Queen Isabelle.

Confidence

high

Raymond-Roupen, Bohemond III of Antioch, War of the Antiochene Succession (English Wikipedia, citing Runciman, Hardwicke, Burgtorf, Boase); Smbat (tr. Bedrosian), pages 67-69.

Overlord

Leo I, his guardian.

What it holds

• No land. The claim to Antioch by the oaths of 1197-1198; heir presumptive to the Armenian crown.

How it was acquired

By birth and the oaths.

Allies and rivals

For him: Leo; Antiochene barons who swore to him (they flee to Cilicia in 1201: later); later the Hospitallers. Against him: Bohemond of Tripoli, the commune of Antioch, the Templars (Runciman).

How things stand that morning

An infant at Sis with his mother; his claim stands on the oaths, contested by Bohemond of Tripoli.

Wealth

None of his own.

Military

None of his own; Leo's host.

Threats

• Bohemond of Tripoli's seizure of Antioch when Bohemond III dies (April 1201: later).

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. April 1201On Bohemond III's death the commune proclaims Bohemond IV; the boy's partisans flee to Cilicia and Leo besieges Antioch in his name.Depends on: Bohemond III dying on his date. Stopped by: A settlement in 1200.

Where the sources disagree

• Birth 1197 or 1198 (see Cilicia).

Evidence: Latin and Armenian sources agree on his parentage and the oaths; the exact birth date is not pinned.

On the map: No land to draw; Antioch is on the Latin East sheet.

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.