Leo II, King of Armenia
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{{for|the Armenian prince occasionally referred to as Leo II|Leo I, King of Armenia}}
{{Infobox Monarch
| name =Leo II</br>Լեիոն Բ
| title =King
| image =[[Image:Leo_III_of_Armenia.jpeg|280px|Portrait of Prince Levon by [[Toros Roslin]], 1250]]
| predecessor =[[Hetoum I]]
| successor =[[Hethum II of Armenia|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]]<ref name=cmh>''Cambridge Medieval History'', Volume IV, p. 634</ref>/[[1270]] to [[1289]]. He was the son of [[Hetoum I of Armenia|King Hetoum I]] and [[Queen Zabel of Armenia|Queen Isabella]] and was a member of the [[Hetoumids|Hetoumid]] family.
==Early life==
[[Image:DisasterOfMari1266.JPG|thumb|left|The Mamluks kill Thoros and capture Leo at the [[Battle of Mari|disaster of Mari]], 1266: illumination from ''[[Le Livre des Merveilles]]'', 15th century]]
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 [[Queen Keran of Armenia|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,<ref>Mutafian, p.60</ref> as his father Hetoum I had submitted Armenia to Mongol authority in 1247.
[[Image:AyasMarcoPolo.JPG|thumb|A view of the busy port of [[Ayas (city)|Ayas]] when [[Marco Polo]] visited it in 1271, in "Le Livre des Merveilles".]]
In [[1271]], [[Marco Polo]] visited the Armenian harbour of [[Ayas (city)|Ayas]] and commented favourably about Leo's reign and the abundance of the country, although he mentions his military forces were rather demoralized:
{{quote|"The king [Leo II] properly maintains justice in his land, and is a vassal of the Tartars. There are many cities and villages, and everything in abundance.(...) In the past, men were courageous at war, but today they are vile and chetive, and don't have other talents than drink properly."|Marco Polo "Le Livre des Merveilles"<ref>BN Fr 2810, f.7v. Quoted in Mutafian, p.65</ref>}}
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 the Constable|Sempad]], Leo's uncle, was killed in combat.
===Mongol alliance===
[[Image:1281BattleOfHoms.JPG|thumb|The Mongols and the Armenians were defeated by the Mamluks at the [[Second Battle of Homs]] in 1281.]]
{{main|Armeno-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.<ref>Mutafian, p.61</ref>
Leo died in 1289, and was succeeded by his son [[Hetoum II of Armenia|Hetoum II]].
==Descendance==
During twenty-one years of marriage Leo had fifteen children by his wife [[Queen Keran of Armenia|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]].<ref name=cmh/>
[[Image:LeonIIQueenGueraneAndTheirFiveChildren1272.jpg|thumb|Leo II, queen [[Queen Keran of Armenia|Guerane]], and their five children, 1272.]]
# [[Hethum II 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 of Armenia|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 of Armenia|Sempad]] (ruled 1297 to 1299)
# [[Constantine III of Armenia|Constantine III]] (ruled 1299)
# [[Isabella of Armenia, Princess of Tyre|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 of Armenia|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 [[Princess Isabella of Armenia|Isabella]] that would inherit the throne.
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book|last=Boase|first=T. S. R.|title=The Cilician Kingdom of Armenia|year=1978|publisher=Scottish Academic Press|location=Edinburgh|id=ISBN 0-7073-0145-9}}
* {{cite book|chapter=Armenia and Georgia|author=Toumanoff, C.|title=Cambridge Medieval History, vol. IV|date=1966}}
* {{cite book|title=The Armenian Kingdom and the Mamluks: War and diplomacy during the reigns of Het'um II (1289-1307)|author=Stewart, Angus Donal|isbn=9004122923|publisher=[[BRILL]]|date=2001}}
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{{s-hou|[[House of Lambron]]}}
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{{succession box|before=[[Hetoum I]]|title=[[Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia|King of Armenia]]|years=1270–1289|after=[[Hethum II of Armenia|Hetoum II]]}}
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[[Category:1236 births]]
[[Category:1289 deaths]]
[[Category:Monarchs of Armenia]]
[[de:Leon III. (Armenien)]]
[[fr:Léon III d'Arménie]]
[[hy:Լևոն Գ]]
[[it:Leone III d'Armenia]]
[[nl:Leo III van Armenië]]
[[simple:Leo III of Armenia]]