Ruben (Armenia)

Ruben (also Rupen , Ռուբեն , Middle Greek Ῥουπένιος ; * 1025 ; † 1095 in Kormogolo ) was the first prince of Lesser Armenia . He ruled in Cilicia from 1080 .

Life

Ruben, the founder of the Rubenid dynasty , came from the Bagratid royal family , which ruled Armenia until 1045 . The sources do not agree on his original position: According to Matthias von Edessa , he was a member of the bodyguard of the former King Gagik II , whose murder he bloodily avenged in 1079 (or 1080) in exile in Cappadocia and then with his family to the inaccessible Taurus Mountains escaped. According to the more reliable Michael the Syrian , Ruben was a follower of Philaretos Brachamios , by whom he was appointed governor of Cilicia, possibly with the approval of Emperor Nikephorus III. It is possible that Ruben had previously served in a military-administrative function that can no longer be specified in one of the Eastern subjects .

In 1080 Ruben said himself from Emperor Nikephorus III. and took on the title of "Lord of the Mountains". In alliance with Philaretos Brachamios, who ruled Antioch and Edessa , he expanded his dominion from his castle Kosidar (in the Anti-Taurus north of Sis near Adana ) to the Cilician plain. Ruben led several successful campaigns against the Byzantines, including the strong fortress Pardzerpert in possession. When the Seljuq sultan Malik Shah I conquered large parts of northern Syria and eastern Anatolia in 1086 , Armenian immigration to Rubens' principality continued to increase.

For reasons of age, Ruben transferred the reign in 1090 to his son and successor Constantine , who took the strategically important fortress of Vahka that same year . He died at the age of 70 in Kormogolo and was buried in the monastery of Kastalon near Sis.

swell

• Vardan Arewelci 65
• Matthias von Edessa 1, 57
• Michael the Syrian 168; 170
• Smbat Sparapet 48

literature

• Jean-Claude Cheynet: Les Arméniens de L'empire en Orient de Constantin Xe à Alexis Comnene (1059-1081). In: L'Arménie et Byzance: Histoire et Culture (Byzantina Sorbonensia, 12). Publications de la Sorbonne, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-300-2 , pp. 67-78.
• 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 1. The First Crusade and the Establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Beck, Munich 1968 (reprint), ISBN 3-40-639960-6 .

Web links

• Ruben in the Prosopography of the Byzantine World
• Rulers of Lesser Armenia on Medieval Lands
• The Barony of Cilician Armenia with Vahan M. Kurkjian

Remarks

1. ↑ Cf. Runciman, Kreuzzüge , p. 73. The Armenian chronicler Smbat Sparapet attributes the punitive action against the Gagik assassin Rubens grandson Thoros .
2. ^ Rüdt-Collenberg, Rupenides , p. 47.

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Prince of Lesser Armenia 1080-1095	Constantine I.