Armenian Cilicia: the kingdom of Leo

Who rules

Name

Leo I (Levon; 'Lewon' in Smbat's chronicle; Leo II in the older numbering that counts the Roupenid lord Leo of 1129-1137)

Title

King of the Armenians. Before his anointing he was lord (paron, baron) of the Roupenid mountain lordship, the 'Lord of the Mountains'. His coins name him king of the Armenians; Western writers call him king of Armenia (Lesser Armenia).

Since

Lord from 1187, when his brother Roupen III gave up the lordship and died (Der Nersessian; German Wikipedia). Anointed king at Tarsus on the feast of the Epiphany, 6 January 1198 by the date the campaign notes, Der Nersessian and Runciman use; Smbat the Constable dates it January of the Armenian year 647, which converts to 6 January 1199 (see notes_discrepancy).

Born

1150 (English Wikipedia, not otherwise pinned): about 49 or 50 on 1 January 1200.

Family

A Roupenid. Son of Stephen (Stepane), brother of Thoros II, murdered near Hamus in 1165 (Smbat, year 614 of the Armenian era), and of Rita, daughter of Smbat (Sempad) lord of Paperon (Barbaron), who was a brother of Oshin II of Lampron: Leo is a Hethumid on his mother's side. Rita is alive and at court (in 1205 she is bringing up Leo's daughter: Smbat). Wife: Isabelle, a niece of Sibylla, third wife of Bohemond III of Antioch, married in 1188 or early 1189 (Smbat, under 1188; English Wikipedia); queen on 1 January 1200 (repudiated in 1206, dies at Vahka 1207: later). Daughter: Rita, also called Stephanie, 'born after 1195' (English and French Wikipedia); whether she is born by 1 January 1200 is not pinned. No son. Nieces, the daughters of Roupen III: Alice (Alix), widow of Hethum of Sasun (dead by about 1194) and of Raymond of Antioch (died early 1197), living at Leo's court with her son Raymond-Roupen, Leo's heir; Philippa, unmarried, brought up by Leo's mother (Smbat). Maternal uncles holding castles: Bakuran (Pagouran) of Paperon, Vasak of Askuras, Halkam of Manion, Lamos, Germanikopolis and Anamur (Smbat). Cousin: Constantine, son of Vasak, the future regent (Smbat, under 1205).

Confidence

high

Smbat the Constable's chronicle (tr. Bedrosian, pages 63-75, with the list of the kingdom's barons and prelates on pages 70-71); Der Nersessian's chapter on Cilician Armenia in Setton's History of the Crusades, vol. II; Runciman and Hardwicke as cited in English Wikipedia (Bohemond III; War of the Antiochene Succession; Raymond-Roupen); German and French Wikipedia (Leo II).

Overlord

In law, the Western emperor and the pope. Celestine III approved Leo's royal title in 1196 (Setton, History of the Crusades, vol. II, chapter on the Latin states); Leo did homage to Henry VI, sent the crown, and accepted the union of the Armenian church with Rome (Runciman; Hardwicke). Henry VI died on 28 September 1197 and the German throne has been disputed since 1198 between Philip of Swabia and Otto of Brunswick, so the imperial overlordship is empty in practice.

The Byzantine emperor Alexios III also sent Leo a crown (Smbat, Armenian year 645, that is February 1196 to January 1197) and calls him a friend, not a vassal.

What the realm holds

• The royal domain (Leo I): Sis (Kozan), Anazarbus, Vahka (Feke) and the upper plain; Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra (Misis) with the lower plain of the Cydnus, Sarus and Pyramus; the harbours of Ayas and Korykos; Seleucia (Silifke). No baron is named for these cities in Smbat's list; Mamistra was given to Hethum of Sasun in 1188 and Seleucia to his brother Shahnshah, both dead by about 1194 (Smbat): their later holders are not pinned.
• The baronies of Smbat's list: Lampron (Hethum, Hethum of Lampron), Paperon (Bakuran, Bakuran of Paperon), Askuras (Vasak, Vasak of Askuras), Manion, Lamos, Germanikopolis and Anamur (Halkam, Halkam), Gaban (Tancred, Tancred of Gaban), Sarvandikar (Smbat, Smbat of Sarvandikar), Kuklak at the Cilician Gates (Smbat, Smbat of Kuklak), Harun (Lewon, Lewon of Harun), Bardzrberd (Partzerpert, Gēorg) and some twenty more whose castles are not securely located (Lesser barons).
• Loulon at the northern mouth of the Cilician Gates, taken for Leo by Shahnshah about 1188-1190 and held until the Seljuk sultan Kaykaus I took it in 1216-1218 (Der Nersessian; English Wikipedia, Loulon): Loulon.
• Baghras (Gaston, Gastim) on the Belen pass, taken by Leo in 1191 after Saladin dismantled it, kept against the Templars' claim; Smbat's list names 'the prince of Baghras, Adam'. The castle is the Church map's record (Baghras); on 1 January 1200 Leo's man holds it.
• The Greek lords of the western coast listed among Leo's princes (Kyr Isaac of Maghva, Sik and Palaiopolis; Michael of Manavgat and Alara; Kyr Vard of Kalon Oros (Alanya) and its castles): their tie to Leo on 1 January 1200 is not pinned, and the coast west of Seleucia is drawn by the Byzantine Asia researcher (byw).
• Hromkla (Rumkale) on the Euphrates, the catholicos's own castle (Catholicos at Hromkla), an Armenian enclave outside the kingdom.
• Not his on 1 January 1200: Marash (Germanicia), Seljuk since Kılıç Arslan took it in 1148 (English Wikipedia, Kahramanmaraş), its governor not pinned (rum researcher); Elbistan (Tughrilshah); Heraclea (Ereğli) and Caesarea (Kayseri), raided about 1188-1190 and given up; Darbsak (Trapessac), Aleppo's since Saladin took it in 1188; Antioch and its Orontes plain.

How it was acquired

The Roupenid lordship grew from the Taurus castles of Vahka and Partzerpert in the late 11th century. The plain cities were taken from Byzantium by Thoros II and Mleh (Adana, Mamistra and Tarsus in December 1172 to January 1173: Der Nersessian). Leo added Prakana (Bragana) and Isauria with Seleucia about 1188-1190, Loulon at the Gates, and Baghras (1191). He captured Bohemond III at Baghras in early 1194 and was freed from homage to Antioch in the peace that Henry of Champagne arranged (1194 or 1195).

He won his crown from Henry VI and Celestine III by accepting imperial overlordship and the union of churches, and a second crown from Alexios III.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the catholicos Gregory VI Apirat; Raymond-Roupen's party in Antioch; Alexios III, with whom Leo exchanged embassies (crown 1196; embassy of Nerses and Halkam 1197); Mughith al-Din Tughrilshah, Süleymanshah's brother (lord of Elbistan; lord of Erzurum from 1201), who 'maintained friendship with King Lewon throughout his life' (Smbat). Rivals: Bohemond of Tripoli (the future Bohemond IV) and the commune of Antioch; the Templars over Baghras, with the Hospitallers on Bohemond of Tripoli's side in 1198 (Runciman); the Hethumids of Lampron, whom Leo means to curb; the Seljuk sultan Süleymanshah II and al-Zahir of Aleppo as possible enemies (they invade together in 1201: later).

The realm that morning

Leo holds all the ground drawn here in peace that morning. Antioch: Bohemond III restored and alive; the succession is open between Raymond-Roupen (Leo's candidate, backed by the oaths of 1197-1198) and Bohemond of Tripoli (backed by the commune, the Templars and in 1198 the Hospitallers). Baghras: Leo's, claimed by the Templars, with Innocent III urging its return (Runciman). Rome: in union, and Leo is appealing to the pope for Raymond-Roupen (Burgtorf, cited in English Wikipedia).

The Empire: Leo's crown came from Henry VI, but Germany has two rival kings and no emperor. Byzantium: friendly. Rum: no war recorded since Leo's treaty of about 1190; Loulon and the Gates are Leo's; Marash, Elbistan and the plateau are Seljuk. Aleppo: al-Zahir holds Darbsak (Trapessac) facing Baghras; no fighting recorded that winter. Across the borders: the Seljuks of Rum hold the plateau north of the Taurus (Ereğli, Niğde, Kayseri, Elbistan, Marash; rum researcher); the principality of Antioch holds the Orontes valley and Antioch itself south of the Belen pass (Latin East sheet); Aleppo holds Darbsak, the Kara Su valley and Aintab (Latin East sheet); the coast west of Seleucia is drawn by the byw researcher.

Wealth

The Cilician plain, watered by the Cydnus, Sarus and Pyramus, and its cities; river ports at Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra; the harbours of Ayas and Korykos, which grow with the Italian trade in the 13th century (the Genoese and Venetian privileges are of 1201: later); the transit road from the Cilician Gates to Syria and the Euphrates; timber and pasture in the Taurus; the tolls of the passes. Leo strikes a royal coinage in his own name (silver and copper); mints and issue dates within the reign are not pinned. No figures.

Military

The barons' service from their castles; the king's own castles (Sis, Anazarbus, Vahka) and the passes: the Cilician Gates (Kuklak, Loulon), the Amanus passes (Sarvandikar, Baghras), the Taurus castles (Lampron, Paperon, Gaban, Partzerpert). Leo's record: the conquest of Prakana and Isauria (1188), raids to Heraclea and Caesarea and a treaty with the sultan for which he was paid (Vahram of Edessa, cited in English Wikipedia), the capture of Bohemond III (1194), the invasion of the principality of Antioch that restored Bohemond III (early 1199). Frankish knights serve him; more come after 1201.

No numbers.

Threats

• The death of Bohemond III (April 1201: later), which will open war with Bohemond of Tripoli, the Templars and the commune.
• A Seljuk and Aleppine alliance with Bohemond of Tripoli (it invades Cilicia in 1201: later).
• The Templars' claim to Baghras, backed by the pope.
• The Hethumids of Lampron, holding the western Taurus and the road from the Cilician Gates to Tarsus.
• The disputed German throne, which leaves his crown without an emperor.

Household and officers

• Constable (gundstabl): Aplgharib, prince of Kutaf (Smbat's list). His predecessor, the constable Sir Baldwin, was killed attacking Prakana (Bragana) in 1188 (Smbat).
• Marshal (marajakht): Vasil, prince of Vaner (Smbat's list).
• John (Yovhannes), archbishop of Sis and head of the monastery of Drazark: Leo's envoy to Acre in 1197 about the crown sent by 'the king of the Germans' (Smbat); catholicos from 1203 (later).
• Halkam, Leo's maternal uncle, envoy to Constantinople in 1197 with Archbishop Nerses of Lampron (Smbat).
• Seneschal, chancellor and chamberlain: no holder pinned for 1 January 1200. Frankish knights (Olivier the chamberlain, Roger du Mont, Thomas Maslebrun, William de l'Isle and others) enter Leo's service after Bohemond III's death in 1201 (Smbat): later.

Heir

Raymond-Roupen (Raymond-Roupen), born 1197 or 1198, posthumous son of Raymond of Antioch and Leo's niece Alice; recognised by Leo as heir presumptive (Boase, cited in English Wikipedia) and sworn heir of Antioch in 1197-1198. Leo's daughter Rita (if born) is the other possible heir.

Church

The Armenian church: the catholicos Gregory VI Apirat (1194-1203) at Hromkla; archbishops in Smbat's list: John of Sis (head of Drazark), Kostandin of Anazarbus, Vardan of Lampron (head of Skevra); bishops: T'oros of Seleucia, Grigor of P'ilpposeank', Kostandin of Yohnank'. Nerses of Lampron, archbishop of Tarsus, the great theologian and translator who had put the Latin coronation rite into Armenian, died in July 1198 (Der Nersessian); his successor at Tarsus is not pinned. The Syriac (Jacobite) patriarch and the Greek metropolitan of Tarsus attended the coronation (German and French Wikipedia).

The union with Rome is a matter of the king and the catholicos; the Armenians under Georgian and Muslim rule in Greater Armenia did not accept it. Latin clergy and the Hospitallers (in Cilicia since 1149: Der Nersessian) are present; Latin sees in Cilicia are the Church map's business.

Frontiers and belts

No raiding belt is drawn for Cilicia. The Seljuk frontier on the Taurus has no recorded fighting between Leo's treaty with the sultan of about 1190 and the invasion of 1201; Süleymanshah II is busy with his brothers, and his brother Tughrilshah of Elbistan is Leo's friend (Smbat). On the Antiochene side Leo's invasion of early 1199 restored Bohemond III and was followed by no recorded raids; the quarrel over Baghras is a lawsuit at Rome, not a war, until 1201 and after.

Against Aleppo (Darbsak facing Baghras and Sarvandikar) no fighting is recorded for 1199; Leo's attacks on Darbsak come in 1205-1206 (Der Nersessian). If the campaign wants a live frontier, the likeliest is the Antiochene plain once Bohemond III dies.

Frontier castles

• Loulon (Loulon) and Kuklak (Smbat of Kuklak) on the Cilician Gates road facing Seljuk Heraclea (Ereğli) and Niğde.
• Gaban (Tancred of Gaban) and Berdus (Lesser barons) facing Seljuk Marash and Elbistan.
• Sarvandikar (Smbat of Sarvandikar) and Harun (Lewon of Harun) on the Amanus facing Aleppo's Kara Su valley.
• Baghras (Baghras, held by Leo's man Adam) facing Antioch and Aleppine Darbsak.
• Seleucia (Seleucia) and Halkam's Anamur and Ermenek (Halkam) facing the Seljuk Karaman plateau and the western coast.

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.

In 1200

1. 1200 (no dated event)Leo keeps Baghras, presses Rome for Raymond-Roupen's rights, and waits on Bohemond III's death. No war is expected in 1200.Depends on: Bohemond III staying alive and Bohemond of Tripoli staying in Tripoli. Stopped by: A new coup in Antioch, a Templar attack on Baghras, or a Seljuk move on the Gates.

Later, on the likely course

1. April 1201Bohemond III dies; Bohemond of Tripoli takes Antioch with the commune; Raymond-Roupen's barons flee to Cilicia; Leo besieges Antioch.Depends on: Bohemond III's natural death on its date; Bohemond of Tripoli acting first. Stopped by: A settlement of the succession during 1200, or Bohemond III outliving his date.
2. July 1201Süleymanshah II and al-Zahir of Aleppo, Bohemond IV's allies, invade Cilicia and force Leo to give up the siege; Leo repulses the Seljuk invasion (Der Nersessian; Hardwicke).Depends on: Leo's siege of Antioch and Bohemond IV's alliance with the Muslim princes. Stopped by: No siege, or a truce with Rum and Aleppo.
3. 1201Leo grants trading privileges to the Genoese and the Venetians (Der Nersessian, without month).Depends on: Italian merchants seeking a harbour in Cilicia. Stopped by: Nothing in sight.
4. After April 1201, before 1203Leo takes Lampron without a battle and imprisons Hethum at Vahka (Smbat's order of events).Depends on: Leo's quarrel with the Lampron house. Stopped by: A reconciliation, or a marriage tie: Leo proposed to marry his niece Philippa to Hethum's eldest son Oshin.
5. 1203The catholicos Gregory VI Apirat dies; Leo's assembly of bishops makes John of Sis catholicos (Smbat).Depends on: Gregory's death. Stopped by: Nothing in play.

Places of note

• Sis (Kozan), the capital and its castle: Leo's capital.
• Tarsus, Hagia Sophia, the coronation church: Where Leo was anointed king.
• Baghras (Gaston), held by Leo's man Adam: Templar claim; Church map record Baghras.
• Hromkla (Rumkale), seat of the catholicos: The catholicos's castle on the Euphrates.

Where the sources disagree

• Coronation date. The campaign notes (Part 6 D) say Conrad of Mainz crowned Leo in 1198. Der Nersessian (Setton II) and Runciman give 6 January 1198, which most sources follow (year 646 of the Armenian era). Smbat the Constable gives January 647 of the Armenian era; year 647 ran from 31 January 1198 to 30 January 1199 (computed: the era begins 11 July 552 with 365-day years), so his date is 6 January 1199, as German Wikipedia and the FMG introduction have it. Bedrosian's translation prints '[1198]' by simply adding 551, which is wrong for a January date. Either way Leo is a crowned king on 1 January 1200. This record keeps the campaign's 1198.
• Who crowned him. The campaign notes say Conrad crowned Leo; French Wikipedia says the catholicos Gregory VI Apirat anointed him and Conrad of Wittelsbach presented the royal insignia; German Wikipedia says Conrad crowned him in the presence of the catholicos. Both can stand: the catholicos anointed, the archbishop handed over the emperor's crown.
• Bohemond III's capture at Baghras: early 1194 (Der Nersessian; Burgtorf) against 1192 in one English Wikipedia article citing Runciman. His release: spring 1194 (Der Nersessian) or early 1195 (Hardwicke). The marriage of Raymond and Alice: 1195.
• Baghras. The Church map record Baghras is the Templars'. On 1 January 1200 the castle is held for Leo (Smbat's list: 'the prince of Baghras, Adam'); the Templars have only the claim, and do not recover it until 1216.
• Raymond-Roupen's birth: his father died in early 1197 (Runciman; Burgtorf) and he was born after it, so 1197 or 1198 (English Wikipedia's infobox gives 1198). French Wikipedia's 'Raymond IV died in 1199' is wrong.

Evidence: The king, his family, the coronation and the Antiochene quarrel are well recorded by Armenian, Latin and Arabic writers. Smbat's list gives the barons and prelates, but Der Nersessian argued that it was not drawn up at the coronation itself, so each baron's tenure on 1 January 1200 is likely rather than certain. Many castles in the list cannot be located. Officers other than the constable and the marshal are not pinned for 1200.

On the map: The polygon follows the mountain crests; the true frontier was a line of castles and passes. The western limit (Isauria, Mut, Ermenek) and the Anti-Taurus edge north of Vahka and Gaban are rough. The western Greek lords are not drawn here.

Primary sources for this realm

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
• The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online
• Calendar of the Acts of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Various, calendared by Reinhold Rohricht (documents 1097 to 1291; calendar published 1893, Additamentum 1904). A chronological calendar of every charter, letter and treaty of the Latin East then known, with date, parties, witnesses and the edition where each is printed. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III (pontifical years 1 to 3, 1198 to 1201), Innocent III (Lotario dei Conti di Segni) and the papal chancery (1198 onwards, year by year). The register for the second and third pontifical years (February 1199 to February 1201) holds the letters that set the eastern stage for 1200: the exchange with Kaloyan of Bulgaria opened in December 1199 and continued through 1200 over union with Rome and a crown, letters to Vukan of Zeta and to Stefan of Serbia, letters to Alexios III and the patriarch John Kamateros pressing for church union and help for the crusade, the preaching commissions and the legation of Peter Capuano, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond and Leo of Armenia, letters to Aimery of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and the French interdict over Ingeborg. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online

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