The Cilician court chronicle, drawing on Matthew of Edessa for its early part and on family memory later. For 1198 to 1200 it records Leo's coronation as king of Armenia at Tarsus on 6 January 1198 with the crown sent by Henry VI and the pope's blessing, the quarrel with the Templars over Baghras, the Antioch succession plan around the infant Raymond-Roupen, the clashes with Rukn al-Din Sulayman of Rum and with Aleppo, and the kingdom's fortresses and barons. Written seventy years later; dates in the Armenian era can be a year out, and the royal line is flattered.
About this source
- Title
- Taregirk
- Author
- Smbat Sparapet, brother of King Hetum I of Cilicia
- Author's dates
- 1208 to 1276
- Written
- about 1270 to 1276
- Language
- Armenian
- Covers
- 951 to 1274, continued by others to 1331
- Kind
- Chronicle
Bedrosian's English is free online. The attribution of the chronicle to Smbat is conventional; parts are later continuation. Dedeyan's French is in copyright.
Where to read it
Editions
- K. Shahnazarean (ed.), Smbatay Sparapeti Taregirk (Paris, 1859), Armenian (not freely online)
Translations
- R. Bedrosian, Smbat Sparapet's Chronicle (2005), English, at attalus.org
- G. Dedeyan, La Chronique attribuee au Connetable Smbat (Paris, 1980), French (not freely online)