Leo I (Armenia)

Leo I (also Leon or Lewon , Armenian Լեիոն Ա , Middle Greek Λέων Αʹ ; † February 14, 1140 in Constantinople ) was the fifth prince of Lesser Armenia . He ruled in Cilicia from 1129/1130 to 1137 .

Life

Leo was the younger son of Prince Constantine I and a grandson of Rubens , the founder of the Rubenid dynasty . When his father died (no later than 1103), his older brother Thoros I succeeded him as "Lord of the Mountains". Around the same time Leo took a sister (or sister-in-law) of Baldwin of Edessa, unknown by name, as his wife; his own sister Beatrice later married his successor Joscelin I.

From his brother Leo received the supreme command of the armed forces of the principality. In 1111 he fended off an attack by the Seljuq sultan Malik Shah I with considerable losses. In 1118 he commanded an Armenian contingent of auxiliary troops, which was sent to the prince of Antioch , Roger of Salerno , for the siege of Azaz .

When Thoros I died, his son Constantine first came into his inheritance, but fell victim to a palace intrigue after just a few months. The sources are silent about whether Leo was involved in the murder of his nephew in order to come to power himself.

While his father and brother had maintained excellent relations with the Crusader states , tensions rose sharply during Leo's seven-year reign. As early as February 1130, Bohemond II of Antioch attacked the fortress of Anazarbos , which had been conquered by Thoros I in 1107 . Leo called on the Turkish Danischmenden , who inflicted a crushing defeat on the Franks. After Bohemond's death, Leo annexed the Cilician cities of Mamistra , Tarsus and Adana in 1131 . In 1133 he also succeeded in conquering Sarventikar Castle , located in the Nur Mountains , which played a key role in defending Lesser Armenia against attacks from the east.

In 1136 the new prince of Antioch, Raymond of Poitiers , tried to recapture Cilicia. With the consent of King Fulkos , he and Baldwin von Marasch moved against Leo, who was able to repel the attack with the support of his nephew Joscelin II von Edessa. When Leo received the defeated Baldwin for an interview, the latter took him prisoner by a ruse and transferred him to Antioch . In his absence, three sons of Leo had a brotherly argument, in the course of which the eldest, Constantine , was imprisoned and blinded . The Danischmenden invaded Cilicia from the north and destroyed the harvest.

In the face of this bad news, Leo agreed to forego his Cilician conquests in exchange for his release; In addition, he paid Raimund 60,000 gold pieces and held one of his sons hostage . After his return to Sis, however, Leo no longer felt bound by his promises. The ensuing hostilities between the principalities of Lesser Armenia and Antioch only ended when Emperor John II was preparing a campaign to recapture the former Byzantine territories.

The imperial army formed in Attaleia in the spring of 1137 and quickly advanced eastward to Cilicia, whereby the cities of Mersin , Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra fell into the hands of the Byzantines without a fight. The garrison in the heavily fortified Anazarbos resisted for 37 days, but then had to surrender to the besiegers . Leo withdrew to the Taurus Mountains , while John II led his army south towards Antioch. After his return to Cilicia, after several weeks of siege, John II also took Vahka , the family seat of the Rubenids.

Leo and his sons Ruben and Thoros were captured and taken to Constantinople , where they were allowed to remain in honorable custody at the imperial court . Leo died there on February 14, 1140. Ruben was killed in 1141, Thoros managed to escape and return to Cilicia in 1145. The other sons Stephan , Mleh and the blinded Constantine had fled from the Byzantines to their cousin Joscelin II in Edessa.

swell

Hethum II. 551 AE; 586 AU
Michael Italikos 255-256
Matthias von Edessa 2, 12
Michael the Syrian 170
Samuel von Ani , p. 451 (in RHC , Documents arméniens 1)
Smbat Sparapet 66 ; 72-74
Usama ibn Munqidh , Kitab al-I'tibar 202
Vahram von Edessa , pp. 30–33 (Edition Murray 1831)

literature

Jacob G. Ghazarian: The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia during the Crusades. The Integration of Cilician Armenians with the Latins (1080-1393). Routledge / Curzon, Abingdon 2000, ISBN 0-7007-1418-9 .
William Henry Count Rüdt-Collenberg : The Rupenides, Hetumides, and Lusignans. On the structure of the Armeno-Cilician dynasties. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon 1963.
Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades, Volume 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East 1100-1187. Beck, Munich 1968 (reprint), ISBN 3-40-639960-6 , pp. 187, 200-202.

Web links

Remarks

↑ There are different sources of information about the date of death of Leo's father Constantine. Matthias von Edessa mentions February 25, 1099 (or February 24, 1100), while King Hethum II's chronicle speaks of February 24, 1102 (or February 23, 1103).
↑ The historians Kurkjian and Ghazarian assume that Thoros died without a male heir and that Leo directly succeeded him as prince of Lesser Armenia.

predecessor	Office	successor
Constantine II	Prince of Lesser Armenia 1129 / 1130–1137	Stephan I.

personal data
SURNAME	Leo I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Leon; Lewon; Լեիոն Ա (Armenian); Λέων Α ′ (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Prince of Lesser Armenia
DATE OF BIRTH	11th century
DATE OF DEATH	February 14, 1140
Place of death	Constantinople

[1] There are different sources of information about the date of death of Leo's father Constantine. Matthias von Edessa mentions February 25, 1099 (or February 24, 1100), while King Hethum II's chronicle speaks of February 24, 1102 (or February 23, 1103).

[2] The historians Kurkjian and Ghazarian assume that Thoros died without a male heir and that Leo directly succeeded him as prince of Lesser Armenia.