The Crusades and the Near East
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The Rupenid dynasty were not exclusively keen on intermarriage with the Latins, they seem to have followed a more entrepreneurial dynastic policy than some of the other ruling Armenian families in Cilicia, such as the Hethoumids. The latter entered into some Latin marriages but preferred links with other Armenian families.
Interestingly, even though the Hethoumids of Lampron retained their ties with 92
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Byzantium during this early period, they made no dynastic matches with the empire, whereas the Rupenids did.83 Of the Rupenid barons and rulers, only Mleh (Lord of the Mountains, 1170–5), who usurped power from the minor Rupen II (Lord of the Mountains, 1168–70) on the death of Thoros II, did not marry at least once into a Latin settler family. He became infamous for his Muslim alliance with Nureddin, to the extent that certain Armenian sources suggest that he turned apostate and converted to Islam.84 However, as Mutafian suggests, if that was the case, Armenian Katholikos Nerses Shnorhali would have been very unlikely to agree to a marriage between Mleh and his own niece.85 It is also significant that while there seems to be a high proportion of marriages to Latins, the Rupenid rulers often married more than once, and made other alliances with Byzantines or Armenian Christians when it was politically expedient.
The later twelfth and early thirteenth centuries were a time of turmoil for the kingdom of Jerusalem and the ‘crusader states’, as they were increasingly caught in a vice between Egypt and Syria. For a brief period in the 1160s and 1170s, important nobles in the Levant looked to Byzantium for marriage alliances to help ensure their increasingly precarious position,86 but with the Battle of Myriocephalum in 1176 and the death of Emperor Manuel in 1180, such links were no longer as efficacious as they had once been.87 At that time, Bohemond III of Antioch reputedly incurred the wrath of both king and Church by putting aside his legitimate wife to marry an Armenian, ‘a certain Sibyl . . . who, it is said, practised evil magics’. 88 Sybil was Bohemond’s third wife, but there is some disagreement as to the order in which he married his first and second wives, Theodora Comnena and Orgueilleuse of Harim. Michael the Syrian, like William of Tyre, seems to date the repudiation of Theodora to 1180–1.89 Lilie argued that Bohemond married Theodora after 1175, as Orgueilleuse appears in five documents between 1170 and 1175.90 Most versions of Lignages d’Outremer, however, assert that he married Theodora first, putting her aside at the death of Manuel, and that his second wife was Orgueilleuse, followed by Sybil and finally Isabelle, cousin of Beatrice of Diaspre.91 Rüdt-Collenberg concurs that the match with Theodora was more likely to have been entered into around the same time as Manuel married Maria of Antioch in 1160, and that Orgueilleuse, mother of princes Bohemond and Raymond, was his second marriage partner.92 This idea is further supported by evidence from the Lyon Eracles, which asserted that Bohemond had married Sybil illegally as he already had another wife whom he had put aside, because she was poor and in debt: hardly a fitting description for a relative of the Byzantine emperor.93
Rüdt-Collenberg has given considerable attention to the background of Sybil based on evidence from a recension of the Lignages d’Outremer in two parts, the first covering the years up to 1398 by Pierre de Flory.94 The Flory account is by no means definitive, but Rüdt-Collenberg argues convincingly that Sybil and a potential fourth wife, Isabelle (of Farabel), were in fact one and the same.95 Sybil was a widow before marrying Bohemond and already had a son, a constable of Antioch.96 She appears in nine documents between 1181 and 1199 as the wife or 93
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princess of Bohemond; her sister was the wife of the Lord of Burzey.97 As a result of this adulterous union, Bohemond was excommunicated. He took out his wrath on the patriarch and clergy, plundering church buildings and property, and an interdict was placed upon the whole principality. William of Tyre blamed Sibyl, his mistress, for leading the prince onto this path of greater evil, and a council at Latakia decreed that he must put aside his concubine and take back his legal wife to obtain absolution.98
Many of the Antiochene nobility were undoubtedly unhappy with Bohemond’s actions but it cannot have been the Armenian character of the match that fuelled their resentment, nor potentially even Bohemond’s treatment of the Church. It was only after matters had been nominally settled at the Council of Latakia that some of his most valued lords, including Giscard de L’Isle, Bertrand son of Count Gislebert and Garinus Gainart, were exiled because they disapproved of the prince’s conduct. Interestingly, they took their service to Mleh’s successor, the Armenian prince Rupen III (Lord of the Mountains, 1175–87), who provided generously for their support.99 Perhaps William, outraged at the indignities suffered by the Church and writing about events in the recent past, was keen to find a simple explanation (or scapegoat) in order to gloss over more complex internal issues: potentially those caused by Bohemond putting aside a legitimate wife from the local baronage, Orgueilleuse. Rupen was a natural choice for these disgruntled vassals to approach: he had demonstrated his cordial attitude to the Latins by his visit to Jerusalem and marriage to Isabelle, daughter of Humphrey III of Toron, in 1181.100 Relations with Kilij Arslan, the Turkish sultan, were very poor at this time, and Saladin had been persuaded to move into Cilicia, therefore Rupen needed the extra support. In 1183, however, Bohemond III lured Rupen to Antioch under false pretences and imprisoned him on behalf of the Byzantine emperor. Sempad asserted that Rupen had been tempted by sexual desire and had gone to Antioch to frequent with prostitutes, blaming the Armenian ruler’s sins for his capture, but also indicating his opinion of Frankish corruption under Bohemond.101
The Lyon Eracles followed William of Tyre’s lead: the fault lay with Sibyl, ‘who was an evil woman’. She later betrayed Bohemond to Leon (Lord of the Mountains, 1187–98; I of Armenian Cilicia, 1198–1219), arranging his capture in order to gain Antioch for her own son William.102 The continuator asserted that her expected reward was marriage to Leon, but Leon was already married at the time.103 Sempad records that Leon had married Sybil’s niece (Isabelle) in 1188, with the specific intention of protecting himself from any evil-doing by Bohemond.104 Eracles thought Sybil was instrumental in persuading Bohemond to enjoy Leon’s hospitality at the Springs of Baghras, where he was taken captive, allowing Leon to carry out an unsuccessful attempt to take control of Antioch.105
Muslim sources asserted that Sybil was a spy for Saladin and corresponded with him, but Bohemond himself had fostered connections between the two by using her brother as an envoy.106 Sempad took a rather more sympathetic approach, claiming that Bohemond, on his return from a visit to Saladin, had tried to enrol 94
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Sybil in a plot to capture Leon. She was unwilling to comply and advised against the plan, pointing out the loyalty her son-in-law had shown to Bohemond, and the military aid he had provided. Rather than betraying her husband outright, she informed Leon of the plot, and the king used Bohemond’s own stratagem against him, later imprisoning him at Sis.107 Whatever Sybil’s role in events, Bohemond did not put her aside after his release from capture, as she was still his wife in 1199.108
Bohemond’s captivity resulted in further Armeno-Latin marriage alliances; potentially some of the most significant yet. When the new King of Jerusalem, Henry of Champagne, intervened on Bohemond’s behalf, he established a pact of friendship with Leon, who arranged a marriage between one of his nieces, Alice (daughter of Rupen), and Raymond, the son of Bohemond III and Orgueilleuse of Harim. If the marriage produced a son, it was agreed that he would be Leon’s heir, and after the death of Raymond he would rule Antioch itself. Thus, in one ambitious move, Leon was able to establish his vision of a united Cilician and Antiochene territory. Raymond remained in Leon’s company, but as it turned out, he died not long after Alice fell pregnant, and the young Raymond-Rupen was nurtured as the heir to Leon’s patrimony. 109
Leon’s attitude to dynastic politics was
undoubtedly as aggressive as his expansionist activities elsewhere. Alice and her sister Philippa had previously been married to two brothers, Hethoum and Shahinshah, nephews of Katholikos Grigor. Both died in mysterious circumstances, and even Sempad recorded the rumours that Leon had poisoned them. Grigor had already fallen from favour, dying during a botched escape from a prison window, and the value of these marriage alliances had plummeted accordingly.110 Leon was similarly ruthless in his own marital affairs. His wife, Isabelle of Antiochia, was accused of adultery with a cousin, Konstandin, son of Vasak, on the word of Katholikos Yohannes.
Sempad suggests that Leon’s reaction showed genuine emotion: he took revenge on her whole family, and reputedly struck her personally, wishing to kill her himself.111 Kirakos de Ganjak, however, assigned a more pragmatic motive to the king: described as a man with a passion for women, Leon desired another bride and wanted a new match with the Cypriot Lusignans.112 Isabelle died soon afterwards and was buried at Vahgka, potentially poisoned.113 Leon then married Sybil, the daughter of Aimery of Lusignan, in 1210,114 cementing relationships with the remnant of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem and Cyprus in one fell swoop. At the same time he arranged a marriage between Raymond-Rupen and Sybil’s half-sister, Helvis of Ibelin.115
Leon’s ambition to establish himself as a king may have come to fruition by 1198, but his designs on Antioch were, as yet, unfulfilled. On Bohemond III’s death in 1201, the barons who had promised allegiance to Raymond-Rupen turned instead to Bohemond, son of Raymond III of Tripoli and soon to be Bohemond IV of Antioch. The ensuing civil war lasted well into the first half of the thirteenth century, fuelled by external as well as internal disputes.116 The Templars had been aggrieved by the Armenian capture of Baghras after the Third 95
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Crusade and were only too ready to support Bohemond’s claim, while the Armenians had been patronising the Hospitallers and Teutonic knights in Cilicia to garner their support, fanning the flames of conflict between the orders.117 The growing bond between Armenia and the Holy Roman Empire, evidenced by the latter’s role in Leon’s coronation of 1198, widened these political divisions.
Traditions of succession were also at the heart of the dispute. Succession in Cilician Armenia was not clearly defined and could follow Latin patterns allowing inheritance through the female line, Arab customs of brothers before sons, ancient Armenian tradition based on the code of Mekhitar, or Greek customs which discounted rights of primogeniture or co-regency. It was, more often than not, a case of survival of the fittest as potential heirs were eliminated through natural or unnatural means, and it was not clear whether the crown itself was hereditary or elective.118
Raymond-Rupen’s claim to Antioch was essentially a case of primogeniture and was supported by the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, both of which had given credence to Leon’s kingship. In contrast, Bohemond IV’s claim to Tripoli came from the maternal line (through the relationship between Alice of Antioch and Hodierna of Tripoli), and because he was the younger brother of the deceased Raymond. The Armenians attempted to take Antioch several times, and finally Raymond-Rupen established himself there with the help of his father in 1216.
Having provided thus for his grandson, Sempad asserts that Leon decided to make his daughter Zabel, who was probably not even five, his heir.119 This suggests that despite his ambitions for Antiochene overlordship, Leon did not intend to join the titles to Antioch and Armenia: they were governed separately. Raymond-Rupen’s success was short-lived, however, as the people of Antioch refused to accept him as a ruler. By 1219 he was expelled from the city, and he was assassinated in 1222. Alice, Raymond-Rupen’s mother, had contested Zabel’s inheritance of the Armenian title with her son, but after his death made a claim to the title of Toron through her mother, Isabelle, and later appeared in charters as Princess of Antioch and Dame of Toron.120
In the meantime, Leon extended his influence to the Latins in Jerusalem by arranging a match between his daughter Stephanie (Rita) and the newly widowed king-consort, John of Brienne.121 The master of the Hospitallers helped to broker the marriage, which took place at Acre in 1214, according to Rüdt-Collenberg.122
The second in a series of high-powered marriages made by John,123 it attracted some criticism from contemporaries. He was accused of deserting the Fifth Crusade in order to pursue a claim to the Armenian crown when Leon died in 1219.124 John certainly retired from Egypt to Acre around that time, but his claim foundered with the death of his wife and son shortly afterwards.125 Ernoul described how John sent a group of knights to pursue his claim without success,126
and how the ill-fated Raymond-Rupen also chanced his arm at the title,127 but in the end it was Leon’s daughter, Zabel, who inherited. Leon’s marriage to Sybil, John’s marriage to Stephanie, and earlier a proposed marriage between Leon’s daughter Zabel and the son of King Andrew II of Hungary underlined the 96
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newfound importance and heightened reputation of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia in western eyes, now that Leon’s regime had been bolstered by the support of the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire.128
Leon met Andrew as he returned home from the Fifth Crusade through Cilicia, and the marriage agreement he negotiated included an offer of the throne to Andrew’s son. On his deathbed, Leon made his barons swear to uphold Zabel as heir and her consort as king. However, the Hungarian prince did not arrive to take up his position, and Zabel was given to Philip of Antioch, a younger son of Bohemond IV of Antioch-Tripoli around 1222.129 In order to marry her, Philip had to join the Armenian Church, signifying the increased independence of the new Cilician kingdom. The match attempted to smooth over recent conflict and gave nominal acceptance to Bohemond IV’s title, but it did not provide lasting peace. The Armenian princes reputedly took offence at Philip’s high-handed ways.
Sempad accused him of tyrannical behaviour and despoiling Leon’s wealth to take to Antioch. Philip was given over to the custody of the Teutonic knights at Amudain in 1225 and then eliminated, which Sempad claims was in the interests of peace.130 Cahen, however, asserts that as a result of his murder, a state of almost constant warfare existed between the Antiochenes and Cilicia until at least 1250.131 Zabel was subsequently married to an Armenian (Hethoum I, son of Konstandin). This match heralded the important union between the Rupenids and Hethoumids and attempted to provide dynastic stability within the kingdom, but it was not universally acclaimed. Zabel apparently tried to escape, leaving against the wishes of the king to visit her mother (Sybil) who was in a Hospitaller fortress at Seleukia. Her father-in law Konstandin came after her, and rather than cause further contention the Hospitallers handed over their fortress to the Armenians, along with the queen.132 Cahen upholds the notion that this was a forced marriage, asserting that it was probably not given ecclesiastical sanction until 1240.133 After this episode, however, Zabel bore Hethoum three sons –
Leon, Thoros and Rupen – as well as five daughters.134
At this point, the royal line seemed secure, but gradually the Mongols were bringing more pressure to bear on the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia. In 1253, Hethoum made the journey to visit Mongke Khan, during which he placed the kingdom under Mongol suzerainty. Marriage alliances with the Latins continued, but as their power waned in the area to the south so the Armenians concentrated their attention in northern Syria or looked elsewhere for alliances, especially to the Lusignans of Cyprus.135 One of the more significant marriages to take place in Hethoum’s reign was that of his daughter Euphemie, who married Julian of Sidon, famous for supposedly losing his patrimony in a game of dice that resulted in its sale to the Templars.136 A further daughter, Sybil, married Bohemond VI of Antioch in 1254, probably after Louis IX had helped to mediate the dispute between the latter and his mother, Lucienne of Segni, while he was encamped at Jaffa.137 Joinville does not explicitly mention the marriage, but it was an important part of the transition to adulthood a
nd would have supported the young prince’s case in his bid for power. Even before the marriage Bohemond seems 97
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to have favoured Armenian contacts. Joinville also recorded how he brought three Armenian pilgrims with him to Louis’s court; they were also musicians and tumblers of consummate skill.138 Bohemond’s marriage to Sybil tied him into Hethoum’s Mongol alliance, but he earned excommunication for his pains when the Mongols forced him to introduce a Greek patriarch, Euthymios, to the city of Antioch. The city itself – and most of the principality – had fallen by 1268.