Leo II, King of Armenia

Infobox Monarch
name =Leo II
Լեիոն Բ
title =King


Toros Roslin, 1250]
predecessor =Hetoum I
successor =Hetoum II
dynasty =House of Lambron|

Leo II or Leon II (occasionally numbered Leo III; Lang-hy|Լեիոն Բ, "Levon II"; c. 1236 – 1289) was king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, ruling from 1269"Cambridge Medieval History", Volume IV, p. 634] /1270 to 1289. He was the son of King Hetoum I and Queen Isabella and was a member of the Hetoumid family.

Early life

Leo was born in 1236, the son of King Hetoum I and Queen Isabella. Hetoum and Isabella's marriage in 1226 had been a forced one by Hetoum's father Constantine of Baberon, who had arranged for Queen Isabella's first husband to be murdered so as to put Constantine's own son Hetoum in place as a co-ruler with Isabella. They had six children, of which Leo was the eldest. One of his sisters was Sibylla of Armenia, who was married to Bohemond VI of Antioch to bring peace between Armenia and Antioch.

In 1262 Leo married Keran (Kir Anna), the daughter of Prince Hetoum of Lampron.

In 1266, while their father king Hetoum I was away to visit the Mongol court, Leo and his younger brother Thoros fought to repel Mamluk invaders, at the Battle of Mari. Thoros was killed in combat, and Leo, along with 40,000 other Armenian soldiers was captured and imprisoned. When King Hetoum returned, he paid a large ransom to retrieve his son, including a large quantity of money, handing over several fortresses, and accepting to intercede with the Mongol ruler Abagha in order to have one of Baibars's relatives freed.

Reign

Hetoum I abdicated in 1269 in favour of his son, and entered the Franciscan order. He died a year later. The new king Leo II was known as a pious king, devoted to Christianity. He pursued active commercial relations with the West, by renewing trade agreements with the Italians and establishing new ones with the Catalans. He also endeavoured to reinforce the Mongol alliance, [Mutafian, p.60] as his father Hetoum I had submitted Armenia to Mongol authority in 1247.

In 1271, Marco Polo visited the Armenian harbour of Ayas and commented favourably about Leo's reign and the abundance of the country, although he mentions his military forces were rather demoralized:

In 1275 the Mamluk sultan Baibars invaded Cilicia for a second time. The following year, Armenia fought off an invasion by the Turkomans, but the Constable Sempad, Leo's uncle, was killed in combat.

Mongol alliance

In 1281 Leo joined the Mongols in their invasion of Syria, but they were vanquished at the Second Battle of Homs. Leo had to sue for peace, and in 1285 obtained a 10-year truce in exchange for important territorial concessions in favour of the Mamluks. [Mutafian, p.61]

Leo died in 1289, and was succeeded by his son Hetoum II.

Descendance

During twenty-one years of marriage Leo had fifteen children by his wife Keran, eight sons and seven daughters. Two sons and two daughters died at an early age. Five of his children reached the throne. The eldest, Hetoum II of Armenia, abdicated after four years in favor of his younger brother Thoros III of Armenia, but was placed back on the throne in 1294. In 1296, their brother Sempad of Armenia strangled Thoros and blinded Hetoum, in order to seize power. Sempad was then overthrown in 1298 by their younger brother Constantine III of Armenia, who was replaced by older brother Hetoum, who then abdicated in 1305 in favor of Thoros's son Leo III of Armenia.
# Hetoum II (ruled 1289 to 1293, 1294 to 1297, 1299 to 1307)
# Princess Fimi of Armenia (born c. 1266)
# Princesse Sybil of Armenia (born c. 1269)
# Thoros III (ruled 1293 to 1298)
# Prince Ruben of Armenia (born c. 1272)
# Princess Zablun of Armenia (born c. 1274)
# Isabelle (Zabel) or Sybil, Princess of Armenia (born c. 1276)
# Sempad (ruled 1297 to 1299)
# Constantine III (ruled 1299)
# Isabella of Armenia (died c. 1321), who married Amalric of Tyre
# Princess Theophane of Armenia (born c. 1278)
# Rita of Armenia, who married Michael IX Palaeologus, co-Emperor of the Byzantine Empire with his father Andronicus II Palaeologus
# Prince Nerses of Armenia (born c. 1279}
# Oshin (ruled 1308 to 1320)
# Prince Alinakh of Armenia (born c. 1283}

Five of the fifteen children, Hetoum, Thoros, Sembat, Constantine, and Oshin, later became the Armenian kings, who often fought each other to gain the throne. Finally, it was the descendants of Leo's daughter Isabella that would inherit the throne.

Notes

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