Raymond II (Antioch)

The parentage of Raimund Rubens on the mother's side

Raimund II. Ruben of Antioch (* around 1195 in Antioch ; † 1222 probably in Tarsus ) was prince of Antioch from 1216 to 1219.

Life

Raimund-Ruben was the son of Raimund IV. Count of Tripoli and the Armenian princess Alix , a daughter of Ruben III. and Isabella von Toron , niece of Baron Leon II Rubenus. Shah Shah von Silifke , Alice's first husband, had just died suddenly, if not very unexpectedly. In the marriage contract with Raimund it was stipulated that a male child from this connection should be the heir of Leon and ruler of Antioch after the death of his father .

Raimund-Rubens father died in the spring of 1197, whereupon his grandfather Bohemund III. sent him and his mother Alice to Armenia , where his great-uncle Leon had just been crowned king of Armenia. The papal legate , Konrad, Archbishop of Mainz , however, insisted that Bohemond and his barons solemnly recognize Ruben as their successor. Alice married Vahram von Korykos in 1220 , who died two years later.

Bohemond of Tripoli , the second son of Bohemond III, also laid claim to Antioch and deposed his father in the autumn of 1198 with the help of the Templars , the Hospitallers , the Pisans and the Genoese . However, with the help of the Pope, Leon I managed to reinstate his father and leave the city. In 1206 Leon sent his wife Isabella of Antioch into exile for alleged infidelity after he had almost killed her. A number of her relatives also had to leave the court, which certainly strained relations with Antioch. Rita (Stefane), his daughter, was then raised by her grandmother of the same name.

After the death of Bohemond III. In 1206, Bohemond of Tripoli again established himself in Antioch, disregarding the claims of his nephew Ruben. A number of barons fled to the Armenian court in Sis , including Chamberlain Olivier, Roger du Mont, Louard, Thomas Maslebrun, Bohemond Lair and Guillaume de l'Isle. Raimund-Ruben promised the hospitallers Jabala in the territory of Antioch for their support, in 1210 also Bikisrail . However, both were in Muslim hands, only Jabala was ever conquered again. The Hospitallers had originally supported Bohemond, but in 1204 they went over to the side of his opponents and had received Seleukia and some surrounding castles from Leon II .

Leon sent a message to Antioch in which he insisted on the rights of Ruben and presented relevant documents. Bohemond was not impressed, however. Thereupon Leon made contact with the Latin Patriarch Peter of Antioch . He also campaigned for Rubens' rights and finally excommunicated Bohemond the one-eyed. He ordered that no bells should be rung in Antioch, no mass should be held, and no dead buried until Bohemond consented. After a failed uprising at the end of 1207, Bohemond had him thrown into dungeon, where he died in July 1208 because he drank lamp oil in desperation out of hunger and thirst.

Since Leo I had no male heirs, he had designated Ruben as his successor and had Georg, the illegitimate son of Prince Mleh, blinded to secure his claims. Around 1209 Ruben began an affair with Helvis of Lusignan, the daughter of Amalrich of Cyprus . Helvis had been married to his relative Odo von Dampierre by Walter von Montbéliard , Konnetable of Jerusalem and regent of Cyprus during the minority of King Hugo I and husband of her sister Burgundia, but the marriage had not been consummated, probably because the bride was still was too young. When Walter lost his position of power and was charged with embezzlement, Helvis was able to look for a husband himself. Where she met Ruben, whom the sources know as handsome and “with blonde hair that looked like gold”, remains unclear, perhaps it was at the court of Hugo I in Nicosia . Both Hugo and his close advisor Johann von Ibelin were later to marry Armenian princesses, so the relationships must have been close. The marriage with Odo was dissolved, and Helvis married in September 1210, after her brother Hugo Ruben ascended the throne, although Odo later settled with Pope Innocent III. complained, claiming that the marriage was consummated and that Helvis was living in sin with Reuben. Walter von Montbéliard, who was hostile to this new marriage, fled to Bohemond after his embezzlement as regent for Hugo I had been revealed. In 1214 or 1215 Leon married Sibylle von Lusignan , the daughter of Isabella, and Amalrich, a sister of Helvis, became Rubens' brother-in-law.

Shortly before his death on May 1, 1219, Leo unexpectedly appointed his four-year-old daughter Zabel from his second marriage to Sibylle von Lusignan as his successor.

When Leon took Antioch in 1216, with the help of the Hospitallers under their Grand Master Garin de Montaigu (1207-1228), he set Reuben as ruler, but in 1219 he lost it again to Bohemond.

Stephane (Rita), Leon's older daughter from his first marriage to a lady from the house of Antioch, whom he had rejected for infidelity, had married John of Brienne , King of Jerusalem , in 1213 . After Leon's death, Johann von Brienne made claims to the throne of Armenia, which the Pope recognized. After Stephane died in Akko in 1219, allegedly as a result of mistreatment by her husband because she should have tried to poison Jolanthe , his daughter from his first marriage, the claim to the throne passed to Ruben. He went to Damietta in 1220 to discuss this with the papal envoy Pelagius . However, during his absence, Bohemond of Tripoli recaptured Antioch. Only the citadel continued to be held by the hospitallers, who had always been faithful to Reuben. Reuben invaded Cilicia with his mother Alice and conquered Tarsus , but received no help from the Armenian barons who had spoken out in favor of Zabel.

In 1221 the Hethumide conquered Constantine, meanwhile regent for Zabel and Tarsus, and took Alice and Ruben prisoner. Ruben died in the dungeon.

In 1226 Hayton , the son of Constantine, forced Zabel to marry and founded a new Armenian ruling dynasty, the Hethumids , which replaced Leos Rubenids . In the same year the Hospitallers lost Seleukia. Helvis and her daughters fled to Cyprus. His daughter Maria of Antioch , titular mistress of Toron (* 1215, † after 1240) married Philipp von Montfort († 1270), son of Guido von Montfort and Helvis von Ibelin , Lord of Castres , La Ferté-Alais and Bréthencourt , and later Lord of Tire and Toron . Raimund's daughter Eschiva of Antioch (* 1216; † 1262) married Hethum von Lambron (* 1220; † 1250).

The Armenian chronicler Smbat Sparapet describes Ruben's demeanor as regal. He is a good rider, respectful and pure.

literature

• Peter W. Edbury: Kingdoms of the Crusaders. From Jerusalem to Cyprus (= Variorum Collected Studies Series. Vol. 653). Ashgate, Aldershot 1999, ISBN 0-86078-792-3 .
• Jacob G. Ghazarian: The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia during the crucades. The Integration of Cicilian Armenians with the Latins, 1080-1393. Curzon Press, Richmond 2000, ISBN 0-7007-1418-9 .
• Kristian Molin: Unknown crusader castles. Hambledon & London, New York NY et al. 2001, ISBN 1-85285-261-5 .
• Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades (= dtv. 4670). 3. Edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-423-30175-9 .

Web links

• Raimund Ruben at genealogie-mittelalter.de
• Chronicle of the Smbat Sparapet. (English)
• Vahan M. Kurkjian: A History of Armenia. 1957. (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Thomas C. Van Cleve: The Fifth Crusade. In: Kenneth M. Setton (Ed.): A History of the Crusades. Volume 2: Robert Lee Wolff, Harry W. Hazard (Eds.): The Later Crusades, 1189-1311. 2nd edition. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 1969, pp. 377-428, here p. 383.
2. ↑ Chronicle of Smbat Sparapet

predecessor	Office	successor
Bohemond IV.	Prince of Antioch 1216–1219	Bohemond IV.