Ancestral Trails 2016 » Leo II of ARMENIA (1150-1219)

Persönliche Daten Leo II of ARMENIA 

• Er wurde geboren im Jahr 1150 in Cilicia, Armenia.
• Titel: 5th Lord of Armenian Cilicia
• Er ist verstorben am 2. Mai 1219, er war 69 Jahre alt.
• Ein Kind von Stephen of ARMENIA und Rita of BARBERON

Familie von Leo II of ARMENIA

Er hat eine Beziehung mit Sybilla de LUSIGNAN.

Kind(er):

1. Isabella of ARMENIA   

Notizen bei Leo II of ARMENIA

Leo II, also Leon II, Levon II or Lewon II (1150 - 2 May 1219) was the tenth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” (1187-1198/1199), and the first king of Armenian Cilicia (sometimes as Levon I the Magnificent or Lewon I (1198/1199-1219).

During his reign, Leo succeeded in establishing Cilician Armenia as a powerful and a unified Christian state, and his pre-eminence in the political arena cannot be overestimated. He eagerly supplied the armies of the Third Crusade with provisions, guides, pack animals and all manner of aid, besides pledging the cooperation of his army. Under his rule, Armenian power was at its apogee: his kingdom extended from Isauria to the Amanus Mountains (now Nur Mountains in Turkey).

In 1194-1195, when he was planning to get the title of king, he instituted a union of the Armenian church with Rome. With the signing of the Act of Union, his coronation proceeded without delay. He was consecrated as king on 6 January 1198 or 1199, in the Church of Holy Wisdom at Tarsus.

His accession to the throne of Cilicia as its first Armenian monarch heralded into reality not merely an official end to Cilicia’s shadowy umbilical connection to the Byzantine Empire, but also a new era of ecclesiastical co-operation with the West. A skilled diplomat and wise politician, Leo established useful alliances with many of the contemporary rulers; he also gained the friendship and support of the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights by granting considerable territories to them.

No doubt, he envisioned annexing the Principality of Antioch to his kingdom thus reinforcing his authority along much of the northeastern Mediterranean coastline. He had first put this plan into action in 1194 by seizing the strategic fortress of Baghras after Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, had abandoned it. His greatest triumph was achieved at the beginning of 1216 when at the head of his army he occupied Antioch and installed his grandnephew, Raymond-Roupen as its head. Raymond-Roupen remained in power until Leo’s death.

Commerce was greatly developed during the reign of Leo: he granted charters regarding trade and commercial privileges to Genoa, Venice and Pisa. These charters provided their holders with special tax exemptions in exchange for their merchandising trade. They encouraged the establishment of Italian merchant communities in Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra, and became a large source of revenue for the growth and development of Cilician Armenia.

He was the younger son of Stephen, the third son of Leo I, lord of Armenian Cilicia. His mother was Rita, a daughter of Sempad, Lord of Barbaron. Leo’s father, who was on his way to attend a banquet given by the Byzantine governor of Cilicia, Andronicus Euphorbenus, was murdered on 7 February 1165. Following their father’s death, Leo and his elder brother Roupen lived with their maternal uncle, Pagouran, lord of the fortress of Barbaron, protecting the Cilician Gates pass in the Taurus Mountains.

Their paternal uncle, Mleh I, lord of Armenian Cilicia had made a host of enemies by his cruelties in his country, resulting in his assassination by his own soldiers in the city of Sis (now Kozan in Turkey) in 1175. The seigneurs of Cilician Armenia elected Leo’s brother, Roupen III to occupy the throne of the principality. In 1183, Hethum III of Lampron, allied with Prince Bohemond III of Antioch, began joint hostilities against Roupen III who sent Leo to surround Hethum’s mountain lair. But Bohemond III, rushing to the aid of Hethum, treacherously made Roupen prisoner.

His brother’s absence gave Leo the opportunity to put his sharp political skills to practice as the interim guardian of the Roupenian House. Roupen’s release required payment of a large ransom, and the submission of Adana and Mamistra as vassalages to Antioch. When Roupen returned from the captivity, he transferred the power to his brother, Leo (1187) and retired to the monastery of Trazarg.

When King Andrew II of Hungary, having fulfilled his Crusader vow, took his troops northward in January, 1218,he proceeded through Cilician Armenia. There King Andrew II arranged a marriage between his son, Andrew and Leo’s daughter, Isabelle.

Shortly afterwards, Raymond-Roupen even quarreled with Leon. In 1219, Antioch sent for its old prince while Raymond Roupen (Raymond-Roupen) first sought refuge in the citadel, only to leave it to the Hospitallers and flee to Cilicia. There he found Leo still unwilling to forgive him, although on his deathbed. Before Leo died, he had named his young daughter Isabel as his rightful heir and had released the barons from the oaths of allegiance to Raymond Roupen.

His body was buried at Sis, but his heart and entrails were buried at the convent of Agner.
SOURCE: Wikipedia

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