Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

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Կիլիկիոյ Հայկական Թագաւորութիւն Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia ← 1080 – 1375 → Flag Coat of arms Capital Sis Language(s) Armenian, Latin, French Religion Armenian Apostolic Church Government Monarchy King  - 1080 Ruben I of Armenia Historical era Middle Ages  - Established 1080  - Leon II becomes the first King of Armenian Cilicia. 1198  - Disestablished 1375

The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (also known as Little Armenia; Classical Armenian: Կիլիկիոյ Հայկական Թագաւորութիւն, not to be confused with the Armenian Kingdom of Antiquity) was a state formed in the Middle Ages by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia.^[1] It was located on the Gulf of Alexandretta of the Mediterranean Sea in what is today southern Turkey. The kingdom remained independent from around 1078 to 1375.

The Kingdom of Cilicia was founded by the Rubenian dynasty, an offshoot of the larger Bagratid family that at various times held the thrones of Armenia and Georgia. Their capital was Sis. Cilicia was a strong ally of the European Crusaders, and saw itself as a bastion of Christendom in the East. It also served as a focus for Armenian nationalism and culture, since Armenia was under foreign occupation at the time.

King Levon I of Armenia helped cultivate Cilicia's economy and commerce as its interaction with European traders grew.^[2] Major cities and castles of the kingdom included the port of Korikos, Lampron, Partzerpert, Vahka (modern Feke), Hromkla, Tarsus, Anazarbe, Til Hamdoun, Mamistra (modern Misis: the classical Mopsuestia), Adana and the port of Ayas (Aias) which served as a Western terminal to the East. The Pisans, Genoese and Venetians established colonies in Ayas through treaties with Cilician Armenia in the thirteenth century.^[3] Marco Polo, for example, set out on his journey to China from Ayas in 1271.^[3]

Early Armenian links with Cilicia

Coin of Tigranes II. The Greek inscription reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΤΙΓΡΑΝΟΥ ("[coin] of King Tigranes").

For a short time in the 1st century BCE the powerful kingdom of Armenia was able to conquer a vast region in the Levant, including the area of Cilicia. In 83 BCE, after a bloody strife for the throne of Syria, governed by the Seleucids, the Hellenic Syrians decided to choose the Armenian ruler Tigranes the Great as the protector of their kingdom and offered him the crown of Syria.^[4] Tigranes then conquered Phoenicia and Cilicia, effectively putting an end to the Seleucid Empire, though a few holdout cities appear to have recognized the shadowy boy-king Seleucus VII Philometor as the legitimate king during his reign. The southern border of his domain reached as far as Ptolemais (modern Akko). Many of the inhabitants of conquered cities were sent to his new metropolis of Tigranakert (Latin name, Tigranocerta).

At its height his empire extended from the Pontic Alps (in modern north-eastern Turkey) to Mesopotamia, and from the Caspian to the Mediterranean. Tigranes apparently invaded as far as Ecbatana and took the title king of kings which, at the time, according to their coins, even the Parthian kings did not assume. From the time of his conquests, some Armenian settlements are thought to have remained in the region of Cilicia.

Mass Armenian migration to Cilicia under the Byzantines

Cilicia was reconquered from the Arabs by the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas around 965. He expelled the Muslims living there, and Christians from Syria and Armenia were encouraged to settle in the region. Emperor Basil II (976-1025) attempted to expand into Armenian Vaspurakan in the East and Arab-held Syria towards the south. As a result of the Byzantine military campaigns, the Armenians spread into Cappadocia and eastward from Cilicia into the mountainous areas of northern Syria and Mesopotamia.^[5]

The Armenian immigration increased with the formal annexation of Greater Armenia to the Byzantine Empire in 1045 and the Seljuk conquest 19 years thereafter, giving two new waves of migration.^[5] After the fall of Bagratid Armenia, and during the following centuries, the Armenian state was unable to re-establish itself and its sovereignty. It remained under the rule of Turkic tribes.

Foundation of Armenian power in Cilicia

The coat of arms of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, given to Leo II of Armenia of the Rubenid Dynasty by Pope Celestine III of Rome.

The Armenians came to serve the Byzantines as military officers and governors; they were given control of important cities on the Byzantine Empire's eastern frontier. When Imperial power in the region weakened in the chaotic years after the Battle of Manzikert, some of them seized the opportunity to set themselves up as sovereign Lords, while others remained, at least in name, loyal to the Empire. The most successful of these early Armenian warlords was Philaretos Brachamios, a former general of Romanus IV Diogenes. Between 1078 and 1085 Philaretus built a principality stretching from Malatia in the north to Antioch in the south, and from Cilicia in the west to Edessa in the east. He invited many Armenian nobles to settle in his territory, and gave them land and castles.^[5] The state that Philaretus had created had begun