Isabella of Armenia (Queen)

Isabella of Armenia

Isabella or Zabel (* 1219 ; † January 22, 1252 ) was Queen of Lesser Armenia from 1219 to 1252 .

She was the daughter of King Leon II of Lesser Armenia and his second wife Sibylle of Lusignan (daughter of King Amalrich I of Cyprus and Queen Isabella of Jerusalem ).

The Armenian form of their name is Զաբէլ (in Reformed spelling Զաբել; in scientific transliteration Zabel or Zabēl). The Western Armenian pronunciation is [zapʰɛl], the Eastern Armenian [zabɛl] (notated in the international phonetic alphabet ).

Life

Originally, Leon, who had no sons, but only a grandson of his eldest daughter Rita as a male descendant , on the advice of his mother Rita, had planned his great-nephew Ruben as his successor and had Prince Georg (Gorg), the illegitimate son of King Mleh, blinded . to secure the succession. Shortly before his death on May 1, 1219, he appointed his little daughter Zabel as his successor. The reign took over the Seneschal (seneskal) Adam von Gastin / Baghras (Siratan) and the Patriarch Johannes, who died in the same year. It was planned to marry Zabel to Andreas , the son of King Andrew II of Hungary , who had come to Armenia in the course of the Fifth Crusade , who would then also take over the rule. However, when the news of Leon's death was received, he never appeared.

After Adam was murdered by Gastin by the assassins , the influential Hethumide Constantine of Lambron , who had just taken Tarsus , became regent (bajulus, from French baille). In 1222 he arranged for Zabel to marry Philip of Antioch , the son of Bohemond the One-Eyed of Tripoli . Philip had sworn to respect the customs of the Armenian Church , but remained Catholic, tried to replace Armenian barons with Frankish ones and plundered the kingdom in favor of the Franks. He is even said to have sent the furnishings of the palace and the royal crown to Antioch .

After three years of reign, he was captured by the barons. According to one source, Constantine's followers disguised themselves as hunters who supposedly had a message to deliver and so broke into his bedroom at night and kidnapped him despite the protests of his wife. He was imprisoned in Sis and became a source of constant contention with Antioch until he died two years later.

Constantine then planned to marry Zabel with his son Hethum I. With the help of a few barons, the twelve-year-old queen was in a diabolical rage , as Smbat Sparapet writes, and was able to flee to her mother in Silifke (Seleucia Trachea), which at that time was under the rule of the Templars . However, Grand Master Bertran delivered the fortress and with it the Queen to Constantine von Lambron, who had pursued Zabel with his cavalry . Zabel was brought to the Taurus and married to Hethum on June 14, 1226, who thus effectively gained royal dignity.

Zabel died on January 22, 1252 at the beginning of Lent. With her the Rubenid dynasty of the Armenian rulers died out.

The historian Smbat Sparapet describes her as virtuous and benevolent.

With Hethum Zabel had three sons and five daughters.

• Lewon (Leo), who as Leon III. (1270–1289) became king after the death of his father,
• Theodoros (Thoros), who fell in the battle against the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in 1266
• Ruben
• Sibylle († 1290), who married Bohemond of Antioch
• Fimi (Euphemie von Barbaron) († 1309), who married Julian Garnier , Count of Sidon , daughter Margareta
• Rita
• Maria, who married Guido von Ibelin

Web links

• Chronicle of Smbat Sparapet's
• Vahan M. Kurkjian, A History of Armenia (1957)

predecessor	Office	successor
Leo II	Queen of Lesser Armenia with Philip 1222–1224 / 26 with Hethum I. from 1226 1219–1252	Hethum I.