Rubenids
The Rubenids or Rupenids were the princes, from 1199 to 1342 the kings of Lesser Armenia . The dynasty was founded by Ruben, who settled in eastern Taurus around 1080 . In an alliance with Philaretos Brachamios , Ruben was able to spread from his castle Kosidar in the southern Taurus to the Cilician plain.
History of the dynasty
The family is mentioned for the first time during the reign of Basil II , when, according to the historian Johannes Skylitzes, a Rubenide prevented the Bulgarians from penetrating into Greece through the thermophyls . Another family member married into the Dermokaites family, which was very influential in the east of the empire. At the latest since 1030 they followed the Orthodox faith. Only the choice of first names, a preference for Konstantin (Kostendin), Leo (Lewon) and Theodor (T'odor), shows the Armenian roots (Cheynier 1996, 75).
The sources do not agree on Rubens' original position. After Matthias von Edessa Ruben served in the bodyguard of the ex-king Gagik II. After his death 1079-1080 in Kybistra , which he avenged bloodily, he conquered a territory in the Taurus Mountains. After the generally more reliable Michael the Syrian, however, Ruben was a lieutenant of Philaretos Brachamios, who appointed him governor of Cilicia. Cheynier speaks of a re-Armenization after the settlement in the Anti-Taurus. After the Rubenids were in revolt against Byzantium in the 12th century, this original story was no longer opportune and they tried to legitimize themselves through a vassal or relationship to the Bagratids . According to Smbat Sparapet , Vardan Arewelcʿi (compilation, 65) and the Armenian version of Michael’s world chronicle, he was noble, after Michael he was descended from the Bagratids and Artsruni , according to Kirakos from “ Gagik von Artsruni ”.
In the 12th century, the Rubenids still held official Byzantine court titles, even if they were in open revolt against the respective emperor.
The great rivals of the Rubenids were the Hethumids , descendants of the Armenian nobleman Oshin, who had settled in Lambron .
List of the Rubenid rulers
- Ruben , Lord of the Mountains 1080-1092.
- Constantine I Lord of the Mountains 1092–1100
- Thoros I Lord of the Mountains 1100–1129
- Leon I , Lord of the Mountains 1129–1139 ⚭ Beatrice von Bourg-Rethel
- Thoros II. (1120–1169), Lord of the Mountains 1145–1169 ⚭ Isabella von Courtenay of Edessa
- Mleh , Lord of the Mountains 1170–1175
- Ruben III. (1145–1182), Lord of the Mountains 1175–1182
- Leon II. (1150–1219), Lord of the Mountains from 1189, as Leon I, King of Lesser Armenia 1199–1219
- Zabel (Isabella) ⚭ Philip of Antioch , ⚭ Hayton of Lambron , 1226–1269.
In 1226, the government fell on Small Armenia with the marriage of Zabel with Hayton I. to the hethumids .
literature
- Jean-Claude Cheynet: Les Arméniens de L'Empire en Orient de Constantin Xe à Alexis Comnene (1059-1081) . In: L'Armènie et Byzance . PUF, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-300-2 , pp. 67-78.
- Wipertus-Hugo Rudt-Collenberg: The Rupenides, Hetumides, and Lusignans. On the structure of the Armeno-Cilician dynasties . Kleinsieck, Paris 1963.
- Robert W. Thomson: The historical compilation of Vardan Arewelcʿi . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers . 43: 125-226 (1989), ISSN 0070-7546