LEO. - Name of six Armenian princes of Cilicia who reigned from the 12th to the 14th century. All were promoters of alliances with the West for the purpose of saving themselves from the invasions of the Muslims. Of the L.s the most notable are:
1. L. II (prince 1187-98 and king 1198-1219), called the Magnificent, one of the most illustrious figures of Armenian history.
He succeeded not only in repelling the attacks of the Muslim tribes, of the Sultanate of Iconium and of the coalition of the sultans of Aleppo and Damascus, but also in enlarging his principality. After subjugating the lords of Cilicia, he had to resolve two political questions. On the one hand Byzantium regarded the Armenian Principality of Cilicia as a usurpation, threatening its independence, and on the other hand, in the year in which L. assumed power, Jerusalem fell into the hands of Saladin. For the resolution of the twofold question L. pursued a policy of close cooperation with the West, making himself a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire and requesting the royal crown from Frederick Barbarossa and from Pope Innocent III. The Pope sent him a crown, and L. nurtured toward him a profound filial veneration until his death. After the death of Barbarossa, his son Henry VI had L. crowned with great pomp in 1198. At the same time Alexius III Angelus also sent L. a royal crown.
L. began the organization of the new kingdom according to the systems of the West; tribunals were created according to the norms in force in Antioch; a pact of friendship was concluded especially with the knightly Orders; economic relations were established with Venice, Genoa, Sicily and with Western Europe. At the same time L. also encouraged industry; orphanages, hospitals, convents and schools were erected. L. died (in 1219) leaving a well-organized kingdom to his only heiress, the pious Isabella, seven years old, born to him from his second marriage.
2. L. VI, prince of Lusignan, king of Cilician Armenia (1374-75).
The Kingdom of Cilicia had been reduced to only two cities: Sis and Anazarba. While L. was being received with festivities, the armies of the Mamluks were besieging the cities; to resist L. had only a few thousand soldiers. He had come to the throne as a crusader and a captain, more than as an Armenian king, as was expected, wherefore he succeeded neither in winning the affection of his subjects nor the trust of a great part of the Armenian princes, among them even the patriarch.
In such conditions the struggle could not last long. After four months the capital fell and the King had to surrender. L. was led as a prisoner to Cairo (1375), where he succeeded in covering the position of power on condition of apostatizing from the Christian faith. Liberated through the efforts of John, king of Castile and Navarre, he passed into Spain, then into France and into England, everywhere regarded as the last crusader. He died in Paris (29 Nov. 1393), and was buried in the church of the Celestines. His tomb is at St-Denis (Paris).
Bibliography5 works
Giacomo Ciancian