List of monarchs of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and the surrounding area
The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was a state formed in the Middle Ages by Armenian refugees, who were fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia.[1] It was initially founded by the Rubenian dynasty, an offshoot of the larger Bagratid family that at various times held the thrones of Armenia and Georgia. While the Rubenian rulers were initially regional princes, their close ties with the Western world after the First Crusade saw the principality recognised as a kingdom under Leo I by the Holy Roman Empire in 1198.[2] The Rubenid dynasty fell in 1252 after the death of the last Rubenid monarch Isabella, and her husband Hethum I became sole ruler, beginning the Hethumid dynasty. After the death of Leo IV in 1341 his cousin was elected to succeed him as Constantine II, the first king of the Lusignan dynasty. The kingdom fell at the beginning of Leo V's reign to the Mamluks,[3] and henceforth title holders were only claimants to the throne. Charlotte of Cyprus ceded the throne to the House of Savoy in 1485,[4] and the title fell out of use until after 1861.
Lords/Princes
Kings and Queens
Claimants
Potential claimants today
The title passed to the branch of the Lusignans in Constantinople and eventually Russia.[5] The title is contested by the House of Savoy and the House of Brienne via Hugh, Count of Brienne and John of Brienne.
References
- General
- Boase, T. S. R. (1978). The Cilician Kingdom of Armenia. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. ISBN 0-7073-0145-9.
- Mutafian, Claude (2001). Le Royaume Arménien de Cilicie. Paris: CNRS Editions. ISBN 2-271-05105-3.
- Histoire Des Princes de Lusignan, Anciens Rois de Jérusalem, de la Petite Arménie et de Chypre, St.Petersbourg, Soikine, Stremiannaya 12, 1903
- Specific
- ↑ (in Armenian) Poghosyan, S.; Katvalyan, M.; Grigoryan, G. et al. Cilician Armenia (Կիլիկյան Հայաստան). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. v. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1979, pp. 406–428
- ↑ Kurdoghlian, Mihran (1996). Badmoutioun Hayots, Volume II (in Armenian). Athens, Greece: Hradaragoutioun Azkayin Oussoumnagan Khorhourti. pp. 29–56.
- ↑ Mutafian, p.90
- ↑ Lang, Robert Hamilton (1878), Cyprus, London: Macmillan and Co., p. 179, retrieved 2008-01-15
- ↑ Cecil R. Humphery-Smith, Princes of Lusignan page 5 The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies 2004 and The colonel was probably known as Louis Christian de Lusignan. In the issue No. 180 of the Peterburgskiy Listok (Petersburg List) Newspaper July 3–15, 1884, a list of deceased in St Petersburg between 11 June and 18 June was found. There was a record for Louis Christian de Lusignan, colonel (retired). In the same newspaper issue No. 172 25 June - 7 July 1884, the following article was published: "The deceased who was buried thereby on Smolensk graveyard on 23 July, was a titled King of Cyprus and Jerusalem and Armenia, descendant of one of the protector of God's Casket, colonel of the Russian service, Louis de Lusignan."
