Hethum II

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Hethum II as a Franciscan
Victory of the Mongols (left) over the Mamluks (right) in the battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299.
In 1303 Ghazan calls on Hethum II to support Qutlughschah's attack on Damascus
1303 Hethum II (left) bids farewell to Ghazan and the Mongols

Hethum II ( Armenian Հեթում Բ, * 1266 ; † August 1307 ) was King of Lesser Armenia from 1289 to 1293, again from 1295 to 1296 and from 1299 to 1301 . From 1301 to 1305 he was ruler of the kingdom.

First reign

Hethum was a son of King Leon III. and Keran (Kir Anna), daughter of Prince Hethum of Lambron. He belonged to the Hethumid dynasty . His grandfather was King Hethum I , who had formed an alliance with the Mongolian Empire of the Ilkhan in the 1240s . Hethum II married (after 1324) Helvis von Lusignan, the daughter of King Hugos III. of Cyprus .

Hethum II took over the government in 1289. In 1292 the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Chalil , who had conquered the Kingdom of Jerusalem a year earlier , attacked the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia. After the conquest of Hromgla , Hethum was forced to give up Behesni , Marasch and Tel Hamdoun . In 1293 he thanked in favor of his brother Thoros III. and entered the Franciscan monastery of Mamistra as brother Johannes .

Second reign

In 1295 Thoros asked Hethum to take power again to renew the alliance with the Mongolian Empire of the Ilkhan . In the spring of 1295, Hetum traveled to Il-Khan Baidu , who shortly before had succeeded the late Il-Khan Gaichatu , to pay his respects to him. This initiative was successful. In 1296 Hethum and Thoros gained another ally in the Byzantine Empire . They traveled to Constantinople to meet Rita of Armenia, a sister of the two, with Michael IX. Palaiologos, the co-emperor of Andronikos II . During her absence, her brother Sempad, with the help of Constantine III, another brother, took power in the kingdom and had Hethum and Thoros captured on their return to Caesarea . They were brought to the fortress Partzerpert, where Sempad Hethum had partially blinded by cauterization . In 1298 Thoros was murdered in Partzerpert; Constantine, however, turned against Sempad and freed Hethum. He took power again in 1299 after his eyesight had improved again.

Third reign and reign for Leon IV.

In the summer of 1299, King Hethum II sent a message to Ghazan , the Mongolian Il-Khan of Persia , asking for his support. Ghazan marched with his troops towards Syria and sent messages to the King of Cyprus and the leaders of the Knights Templar , the Knights of St. John and the Teutonic Order . He asked them to join him in an attack on the Mamluks in Syria. The first letter was posted on October 21, 1299 and the second in November. There is no evidence of an answer.

The Mongols and their allies defeated the Mamluks in the battle of Wadi al-Khazandar on December 23 or 24, 1299. Armenian aid contingents played a decisive role in the victory of the Mongols. The Armenians got back some lost territories. In the decisive battle at Marj es-Suffer south of Damascus in 1303, however, the allies were defeated by the Mamluks, although the Mongols raised a huge force of around 80,000 men. Hethum had to flee from the battlefield to Mosul to the Mongolian Il-Khan Ghazan. This campaign is considered to be the last major Mongol invasion of Syria. Hethum left the crown to Thoros' 17-year-old son Leon IV. He retired to a monastery, but retained the office of regent of Lesser Armenia.

When Ghazan died on May 10, 1304, hopes of a quick reconquest of the Holy Land with the help of the Ilkhan were shattered. In 1304 the Mamluks continued their attacks on Lesser Armenia. They managed to regain all the territories that the Armenians had acquired during the Mongol invasion. In 1305, Hethum II and his nephew Leon led an Armenian army to a final victory over the Mamluk cavalrymen in the battle of Baghras .

The union of Sis with the papacy, carried out by Hethum II in 1307, was not approved by the population. In August 1307 the Mongolian emir Bilarghu invited Hethum II and Leon IV to negotiate in Anazarba , and killed both of them. He implemented a plot against Hethum, which pursued the goal of preventing his efforts to unite the Armenian Church with Rome.

literature

  • Boase, TSR: The Cilician Kingdom of Armenia. Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh 1978 ISBN 0-7073-0145-9 .
  • René Grousset: L'Empire du Levant: Histoire de la Question d'Orient. 1949 p. 401.
  • Alain Demurger: Jacques de Molay (French). Editions Payot & Rivages, 2007, ISBN 2-228-90235-7
  • Sylvia Schein: Gesta Dei per Mongolos 1300. The Genesis of a Non-Event Published in The English Historical Review . 94 (373), pp. 805-819, October 1979
  • Donal Stewart, Angus: The Armenian Kingdom and the Mamluks: War and diplomacy during the reigns of Het'um II (1289-1307) , Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden 2001, ISBN 90-04-12292-3 .
  • Wilhelm Baum :  Hethum II. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 27, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-393-2 , Sp. 647-650.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mutafian, Claude Le Royaume de Arménien Cilicie. CNRS Editions, Paris 2002, p. 74 ISBN 2-271-05105-3 .
  2. ↑ Mutafian, Claude Le Royaume de Arménien Cilicie. CNRS Editions, Paris 2002, p. 75 ISBN 2-271-05105-3 .
  3. ^ Demurger, Alain: The Last Templar: The Tragedy of Jacques de Molay, Last Grand Master of the Temple. Profile Books, London 2005, p. 143 ISBN 1-86197-529-5 .
  4. ^ Demurger, Alain: The Last Templar: The Tragedy of Jacques de Molay, Last Grand Master of the Temple. Profile Books, London 2005, p. 142 ISBN 1-86197-529-5 .
  5. ^ David Nicolle : The Crusades. Osprey, Oxford 2001, p. 80 ISBN 1-84176-179-6
  6. ↑ Mutafian, Claude Le Royaume de Arménien Cilicie. CNRS Editions, Paris 2002, p. 73 ISBN 2-271-05105-3 .
  7. ↑ Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Documents arméniens I, p. 664 http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/CadresFenetre?O=NUMM-51557&I=793&M=imageseule
predecessor Office successor
Leon III King of Lesser Armenia
1289–1293 		Thoros III.
Thoros III. King of Lesser Armenia
1295–1296 		Sempad of Armenia
Constantine III King of Lesser Armenia
1299–1305 		Leon IV
personal data
SURNAME Hethum II
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hayton II.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Lesser Armenia
DATE OF BIRTH 1266
DATE OF DEATH August 1307