Title: Armenia-TL-art
Subject: "Medieval Armenia and Cillicia Timeline" by Keran Roslin.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, Armenia, Cilicia, timeline, history, article

Armenia-TL-art - 2/24/99

"Medieval Armenia and Cilicia Timeline" by Keran Roslin.

NOTE: See also the files: Balkans-msg, Khazars-msg, Hungary-msg, Russia-msg, fd-Turkey-msg, Byzantine-msg, cl-Byzantine-msg, Byzant-Cerem-art.

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This article was submitted to me by the author for inclusion in this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium. 

These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author or translator.

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

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Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous
stefan at florilegium.org
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MEDIEVAL ARMENIA AND CILICIA  -  TIMELINE
by Keran Roslin

WHERE  - Greater Armenia was east and south of the Black Sea.  Its
               boundaries changed during the centuries as invaders
               carved out chunks for the empires of Rome, Byzantium and 
               the Mongols. It was eventually absorbed into the Ottoman 
               Empire.

         Cilicia or Lesser Armenia  - Cilicia was an important Armenian
               kingdom from 1198 to 1375.  It was along the eastern end
               of the Mediterranean coast of Asia Minor.  Its port cities
               included Tarsus, Korykos, and Ayas.  Cilicia's western
               neighbor was Isauria. The Amanus mountains were on the
               east. In the north, the plains meet the Taurus mountains
               and these peaks separate Cilicia from Cappadocia.  In
               its mountains were the many large castles which controlled
               the mountain passes, including the famous Cilician Gates,
               through which pilgrims and Crusaders travelled to the
               Holy Land and luxury goods from the east travelled to
               Europe.

CONTEMPORARY  ARMENIAN  HISTORIANS  AND  WRITERS  -
        Agathangelos (5th century)     Moses of Khorene
        Gregory of Narek               Smbat the Constable
        Faustus of Buzanda             St.  Nerses Shnorhali
        Ananias of  Shirak
        Lazarus of  Pharpi             Vardan of  Maratha
        Thomas Ardsruni                Mkhitar Heratsi
        Amirdovlat Amasiatsi           John V of Draskhanakert (also
                                         called Yovhannes Drasxanakertci)

IMPORTANT  DATES  -

   36 B. C. - Marc Antony attacks the Parthians and loses 80,000
           troops.  He captures King Artavazd of Armenia and his
           family, who he sends to Cleopatra of Egypt in golden
           chains.

   31 B. C. - Artavazd is beheaded in Egypt without revealing the
           whereabouts of the royal Armenian treasury

   66 A. D. - King Trdat (Tiridates) is crowned by Nero in Rome
           and given 50,000,000 sesterces, reimbursed for the
           cost of his 9 month overland journey to Rome, and skilled
           artisans to rebuild his capital.

   257 - Grigor (Gregory) Partev (the Parthian) is born (approx. date)
           He is to be St. Gregory the Illuminator, who helped
           to convert Armenia to Christianity

   301 - Traditional date when Armenia becomes the first official
           Christian state (303 is the alternate date) as declared
           by King Trdat (Tiridates) III of Greater Armenia.

   305 - St. Grigor becomes head or catholicos of the new Armenian
           church

   325 - St. Grigor dies in his cave on Mt. Sepouh

   352 - Nerses becomes Catholicos, head of the Armenian church

   364 - Nerses goes to Constantinople to ask for help against Persian
           invasion

   368 - Pap becomes king of Armenia with Roman help at age 22

   371 - Battle of Bagrevand against the Persians is won by a
           combined Roman and Armenian army

   374 - King Pap is murdered at a Roman banquet

   406 - Official acceptance of the Armenian alphabet created by Saint
           Mesrop-Mashtotz and his staff.  The alphabet contained 36
           characters until the 12th century when 2 more were added.

   428-885 - the Armenian "Dark Ages", internal civil wars and wars with
           Persia, Byzantium, Baghdad and Egypt

   451 - Armenian troops commanded by Vardan Mamikonian fight the Battle
           of Avarayr against the Persians and lose Armenian churches 
           commemorate this battle and honor the Armenian dead annually

   590 - the Persian lose Armenian lands to the Byzantium

   600s-700s - the Byzantines and Arab Abbasids use Armenia for a
           battleground; Armenian nobility and commoners who could traded
           their Armenian lands for lands within the Byzantine empire
           and many abandoned Greater Armenia to the invaders

   885 - Ashot I crowned king of Armenia by his peers and acknowledged by
           Byzantium and the Caliph

   965 - Byzantium reconquers Cilicia

   1042 - Ablgharib becomes governor of Tarsus and Mamistra in Cilicia and
           makes it a refuge for displaced Armenians

   1045 - Gakik II of Ani forced to abdicate leaving no opposition to stop
            the invading Selchukid (or Seljuq) Turks

   1064 - Alp Arslan, the Seljuk, conquers Greater Armenia

   1071 - Seljuq Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Mantzikert,             
            north of Lake Van

   1091 - Gakik II is murdered at Cybistra Castle and his body hung out
            over the castle wall

   1115-1124 - sometime between these dates Gagik II's death revenged, his
            weapons and clothes found, and the sons of Pantaleon tortured
            by Thoros

   1096-1102 - The First Crusade

   1097-1098 - Bagrat contacts the crusading forces at Nicaea and accompanies               
            them across Asia Minor. He forms an alliance with Baldwin of                    
            Boulogne, but Bagrat was later tortured as a traitor

   1114 - large earthquake destroys the Hesuants vank' monastery, devastates
            the countryside and kills 40,000+  people

   1118 - another earthquake
          Baldwin I of Jerusalem dies

   1130 - The Franks conquer parts of Cilicia during the First Crusade but
            their hold is insecure because of Byzantine invasions and the
            objections of the native Armenian princes who get the upper
            hand in the late 1130s

   1137-1138 - Byzantine conquest of Cilicia followed by seven years of
             relative peace ruled by Byzantium

   1143, April 8 - John Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor, died as a result of a
            poisoned arrow

   1147-1149  -  The Second Crusade

   1151 - Rubenid family controls the Cilician plain, allies and marries
            Franks and fights the Turks and Byzantines
            Hromkla is given to the Armenian catholicos by Beatrice

   1153 - Nerses of Lampron born

   1158 - Manuel and the Byzantine army invades Cilicia, Thoros is forced to
            make peace in penitential garb and receives confirmation of his
            position in  Armenia, but Byzantine governors are left in the
            main townships

   1164 - Thoros, Bohemond, Raymond of Tripoli and the Greek commander at
            Tarsus, Constantine Coloman, attacks Nur-ad-Din and wins.  A
            large force of Nur-ad-Din's troops come and Thoros advises
            withdrawal and leaves.  The other leaders are captured and only
            released when Thoros threatens to burn his captives alive.
            Thoros' brother Stephen is lured by the Greeks into the castle
            of Hamus and boiled alive.

   1168 - Thoros dies, Thoros' brother Mleh invades with Moslem troops and
            throws out the regent and heir

   1173 - Nerses the Gracious, Catholicos dies in August, and  Grigor
            Tgha is elected catholicos

   1174 - Mleh's use of Moslem aid is very unpopular so the Armenian barons
            rise and kill him

   1179 - religious synod held at Hromkla to discuss:  the celebration of
            Christmas on December 25, instead of the Armenian custom of
            combining it with the Epiphany on January 6; the method for
            choosing the date of Easter; the use of fermented bread at
            mass; and changes in the church service

  1180 - death of Byzantine Emperor Manuel Comneus

  1188 - Saladin campaigns against Antioch and destroys Baghras which
            Leon later rebuilt

  1189-1192 - The Third Crusade

  1190 - Levon (or Leon)sends Nerses of Lampron as ambassador to meet Emperor
            Frederick Barbarossa when he approaches Cilicia, but on June 10
            Barbarossa drowns in the Saleph River near Silifke, ending
            negotiations for Levon's royal crown

  1193 or 1194 - Catholicos Grigor Tgha dies and his nephews, Hetoum and
            Shahnshah, are assassinated
            Gregory V is elected catholicos (patriarch) but doesn't get
            along with Levon and is imprisoned and dies trying to escape

  1198 - January 6 - Levon I or Leon I is crowned king of Lesser Armenia
            by the new Armenian catholicos with a crown from the
            Hohenstaufen emperor.  In return, he is forced to recognize
            the German emperor as his lord and the pope in Rome as the
            head of the Armenian Church.  The Armenian church however
            stalls and does not change or adopt the Roman Catholic
            forms of worship
            (The Cilician kings named Levon are numbered differently by
            various historians.  It is easier to understand who is who by
            the dates of their reigns than by I, II, etc.)

  1202-1204 - The Fourth Crusade

  1204 - Constantinople is sacked by crusaders of the Fourth Crusade

  1205 - Catholicos John of Sis accuses Isabelle of Austria, Levon's
           queen and mother of his daughter Rita, of adultery and she
           is imprisoned at Vahka where she died

  1210 - King Levon of Cilicia marries Sybilla of Lusignan, the
           daughter of King Aimery of Cyprus and Queen Isabeau
           Plantagenet, and later mother of Levon's daughter and
           heir Zabel (aka Zapel or Isabelle)

  1211 - Levon gives his wife's sister, Helvis, to Raymond-Roupen
           of Antioch

  1212 - The Children's Crusade

  1217-1229 - The Fifth Crusade

  1219 - King Levon I dies after reigning 32 years
         Zabel becomes queen, Adam of Baghras is regent

  1222 - Philip, either son of Raymond the One-eyed, Count of Tripoli;
           or fourth son of Bohemond IV of Antioch, marries Zabel

  1225 - Zabel's husband, Philip, is arrested, imprisoned in the
           fortress of Sis and killed

  1226 - King Levon I's daughter Zabel is forced to marry Hetoum I (or
           Hetum I) which joined the Rubenid and Het'umian families.
           Zabel runs away from her forced marriage to Hetoum, but
           eventually reconciles to it

  1233 - Kai-Khusrau I, Selchukid (Seljuk) sultan of Roum, invades
           Armenia and requires tribute, but he proves to be a
           generally peaceful neighbor and trading partner.

  1236 - Birth of Prince Levon son of King Hetum I of Cilicia

  1243 - The Mongols arrive and shatter the Turkish empire of the
           Selchukids (Seljuks) in a battle near Siwas, where
           Georgians and Armenians fight in the Mongol army
           and 2,000 Frankish mercenaries in that of Roum.

  1247 - King Hetum I of Cilicia sends his brother Smbat the Constable
           to negotiate a treaty with the Mongols

  1253 or 1254 - King Hetoum I (or Hetum I) goes to visit the Great Khan
           for three years and comes back through Greater Armenia, the
           homeland no Cilician ruler had previously been able to visit.
           He has guarantees that the Mongols will protect the Christian
           Churches in their lands.  Armenian troops fight in the Mongol
           armies, and Hetoum occupies Marash.

  1254 - Bohemond VI of Tripoli and Antioch marries Hetoum's daughter,
           Sybilla

  1256 - Prince Levon is knighted at Mamistra

  1258 - Mongol and Armenian troops defeat Baghdad and extend
           Cilician territory to Hromkla, a fortified site east of
           Cilicia on the Euphrates River

  1260, March - The Armenians and Mongols take Aleppo and Damascus
           September - The Mongol forces are destroyed by a Mamluk army
           under their new leader, Baybars

  1261 - Prince Kostandin follows his father as lord of the fortress
           of Sarvandik'ar which dominates the main roads to Cilicia
           from the east and at Sis he marries King Hetoum's daughter
           Rita

  1262 - Prince Levon of Cilicia marries Keran, daughter of Het'um of
           Lambron  (Keran and two of their children died of a plague
           after 1272 and before Hetoum's death in 1270)

  1265 - Baybars, Mamluk leader, take Syria, Caesarea, Haifa, Arsuf,
           Tibnin, and Safad and then turn on Armenia

  1266 - King Hetoum goes to the Mongols for help and while he is
           gone Princes Levon and Thoros are imprisoned in Cairo and
           the Mamluks sack Sis, Mamistra, Adana, Ayas, and Tarsus.

  1268, May 12 - The Mamluks take Antioch and massacre the inhabitants.
           Hetoum gets his son released from Egypt, abdicates in Levon's
           favor, and enters a monastery.

  1269 or 1270 - Reign of Levon II or III (1269-88) began

  1270 - death of King Hetum I; father of Fimi (Countess of Sidon) and
           Levon (crown prince); brother of Bishop Hohannes (John)

  1271 - Marco Polo sets out for Cathay from the Armenian port of Ayas

  1272 - Thoros Roslin illuminates a gospel book for Queen Keran

  1275 - another Egyptian (Mamluk) invasion of Cilicia

  1276 - General Sempad, Levon's uncle, traps Mamluk troops in a
           mountain pass and wins a major battle.  Sempad and 300
           knights die in the battle.

  1285 - Levon III buys a 10 year truce with Egypt with an annual
           tribute of one million silver dirhams to the Egyptians
           and a promise to build no more castles
           Levon III dies at age 53 (in 1285 or 1289) and on
           February 6 Hetoum II (or Hetum II) becomes king
  1292 - The Mamluks break the truce and take Hromkla (or Romgla) so
           the catholicosate moves to Sis.  Many church treasures
           are lost.

  1293 - Hetum II abdicates in favor of his brother Thoros (who was
           strangled by their brother Smbat or Sempad).  Hetum
           retires to a Franciscan monastery

  1294 - Hetum II resumes the throne

  1296 - Hetum II's brother Smbat takes the throne, partly blinds
           Het'um II, and kills Hetum's son Prince T'oros
           Their brother Kostandin takes the throne from Smbat

  1298 - Hetum II again resumes the throne with Kostandin's help
           after regaining his eyesight
           Smbat and Kostandin are sent to Hetum's brother-in-law
           in Constantinople

  1299 - Allied Mongols and Armenians fight the Mamluks at Homs
           and win, regaining all their Cilician property

  1303 - Mamluks win the battle at Merj-us-Safer against Mongol
           and Armenian troops
           Hetum chooses his nephew Levon, age 16, as heir

  1304 - The Grand Khan, Gazan, declares Islam the official
           religion in his lands and later his son ordera all
           Christians throughout his lands to wear a black linen
           strip over the shoulder.

  1307 or 1308 - Hetum II and his nephew, now King Leon IV or V,
           visit the Mongol emir Bilarghu at Anavarza and are
           murdered with all their followers.

  1308 - Oshin, Hetum's brother, chases the Mongol troops out

  1320 - Oshin is poisoned
           Young Levon is forced to marry his regent's (Oshin of
           Corycus) daughter, Alice

  1329 - King Levon IV or V, aged nineteen, takes charge of the
           kingdom and has his unfaithful wife and her father
           both killed.

  1333 - King Levon marries Constance Eleanor of Aragon,
           daughter of Frederick II of Sicily and widow of
           Henry II of Cyprus, an unpopular match.

  1337 - Cilician port city of Ayas is taken by the Mamluks

  1341 - King Leon V, staying in the citadel of Sis, waits and
           appeals for Western help, until the barons murder him.

  1342 - The barons offer the crown to John of Lusignan who
           offers the Cilician crown to his brother Guy.  Guy
           reluctantly agrees and comes to Cilicia.  He brought
           a European influence to the monarchy and encouraged
           union with the Roman Church.

  1344 - Guy Lusignan sends his younger brother, Bemon, to the Pope
           in Avignon, France for help; but the negotiations rouse
           resentment in the barons.  Guy, Bemon and their
           bodyguards are murdered.
           Constantine III, son of Marshall Baldwin of Neghr, is
           elected king.  He is married to Marie, daughter of Oshin
           (a former regent) and Jeanne of Anjou.

  1360 - Peter I of Cyprus gets the port castles of Korykos in
           Cilicia in return for helping Constantine VI against
           the Karamanids

  1363 - Constantine III dies of natural causes
           Constantine IV becomes king of Cilicia and marries Marie
           widow of Constantine III

  1369 - Peter of Cyprus is murdered so Constantine VI makes a
           treaty with the sultan of Cairo, which annoys barons

  1372 - Queen Marie sends Pope Gregory XI a letter requesting
           military help against the Moslems

  1373 - Constantine is murdered, and the Pope wants Marie to
           Othon of Brunswick.
           Leon or Levon, son of John of Lusignan and Soldane, is
           invited by the Armenians to become king.
           (Soldane, daughter of King Georgi VII of Georgia, may
           have been John of Lusignan's mistress and not his wife,
           and her sons may or may not have been legitimate.
           Levon's claims to his grandmother Isabella's estates
           were rejected on those grounds by the Pope.)
           Levon, delayed in Cyprus on his wife's lands, is "taxed"
           by the Genoese 280 livres of gold plus 300 ducats
           ransom  for his crown, silver plate, and clothing. His
           wife's lands are forfeited to Catherine of Aragon.
           Levon is forced to sell his personal possessions to
           travel and hire troops.

  1374 - Levon VI, a Roman Catholic, and his wife, Margaret of
           Soissons, are crowned at Sis on September 14 in both an
           Armenian and Latin ceremony. They discover an empty
           treasury.

  1375, January 15 - The Mamluks of Egypt capture part of Sis
          February 24 - The rest of Sis is evacuated and burned by
          Levon and his supporters
          April 13 - Levon VI, his wife, and their twin baby daughters
          surrender to the Mamluks
          July - Levon is taken to Cairo as a captive where he is
          released from jail, constantly watched and given a
          daily pension of 60 dirhems

  1376 - Levon's wife, Marguerite de Soissons, and daughters die
           in Cairo

  1382 - Levon is ransomed using money from the Kings of Castile and
           Aragon, 300 squirrel pelts, a gold and silver cup, and
           a gilded jar.

  1386 - Levon serves as an envoy to King Richard II of England

  1393, November 29 - King Levon VI (John de Lusignan) dies.
           He is interred with French Royalty in the Basilica of St.
           Denis.  He was in France for help to regain Cilicia.
           His son Guyot becomes a military man and Philippe becomes
           an archdecon.

  1402 - the Tartars take Asia Minor and Syria

  1441 - The seat of the Armenian Catholicos is moved from Sis to
           Etchmiadzin

  1453 - The Ottomans capture Constantinople and Armenians are
           required to move into the capital
           The Armenian patriarch is given civil authority over
           marriage, charity work, and education of Armenians
           under Ottoman control

  1462 - Zacharia of Aghthamar removes the right arm of St. Grigor
           Loosavorich, a relic required for church ceremony, from
           Etchmiadzin to Aghthamar

  1475 - Ottoman conquest of Crimea

  1477 - Bishop Vrtanes of Odzop returns St. Grigor's right arm
           to Etchmiadzin

  1556-1602 - Reign of the Mongol Emperor Akbar, one of whose queens
           was the Armenian lady Mariam Zamani Begum
           Mariam's sister, Juliana, marries an exiled French prince
           and serves as a physician in Akbar's seraglio.
           Akbar's Chief Justice is also Armenian

  1562 - Juliana and her husband Jean Phillippe Bourbon de Navarre
           found the first Armenian church in India at Agra
           Abgar of Tokat goes to Italy to study printing for
           patriarch Michael of Sebastia

  1605 - After burning and destroying what they could in the former
           area of eastern Greater Armenia, the Persians require
           their Armenian subjects to move to New Julfa and away
           from the invading Turkish troops.  Many Armenians escape
           north to the Eastern European states such as Poland.

  1620 - Eastern Armenia returns to Persian control

-----------
Copyright 1999, Karen Reinhart, P. O. Box 169, Windsor, NY 13865. <keran at hancock.net>. Permission is given to use these articles in any
educational publication as long as you credit me for the authorship of the article and send me a copy of the publication.

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	Armenia-TL-art	Page  of