General History of Armenia.--Former Sovereigns.--Tiridates
I. receives his Crown from Nero.--Conquest of the Country by the
Persians and by the Arabs.--List of modern Kings.--Misfortunes
of Leo V.: his Death at Paris.
The general history of Armenia contains but little that is
interesting. It presents the picture of a line of sovereigns who
have seldom been able to support their own authority, and who have
constantly abdicated, embraced monastic vows, or been driven from the
throne by rebellions of their subjects, and invasions of neighboring
conquerors more talented and more powerful than themselves. Many of
the Armenian kings seem to have lived almost on the charity of other
states; the lines of their dynasties have been so often interrupted,
and the changes from kings to governors, dukes, and counts have
been so frequent, that their history is most intricate; and, from
the boundaries of the so-called kingdom of Armenia having never been
the same for many years together, it is difficult to understand from
the scattered notices which history has transmitted to us who should
be considered as the head of the state, or which of the many vassal
princes, under the great empires of the East, has the better claim
to the title of sovereign of this ancient kingdom.
At the time of our Savior, Abgarus, king of Edessa, seems to have
exercised sovereignty over great part of Armenia, on the southern
and western sides. Tiridates I. is the first person styling himself
King of Armenia after this period. He conquered the country from
Rhadamistus, by the assistance of his brother Vologeses, King of
Parthia. The Romans, however, who did not approve of the erection
of an independent kingdom in those regions, sent an army against
Tiridates, commanded by Corbulo, who forced Tiridates to abdicate,
on condition of his proceeding to Rome to receive his crown from
the hands of the Emperor Nero. He was received with the highest
honors by the Roman emperor, who advanced as far as Naples to meet
him. Tiridates won his good graces by the artful manner in which he
flattered Nero on his skill in driving a chariot. They became great
friends: the Armenian king received large sums of money from the
emperor, with which he returned to his own country, and repaired
his dismantled fortresses. He changed the name of his capital from
Artaxarte to Neronia, in compliment to his imperial protector, and
died in the year 75 A.D., after a reign of eleven years.
To him succeeded several princes who were vassals to the Roman empire,
but whose actions do not seem to offer any thing of interest. Tiridates
II. had received his education at Rome, and, assisted by the emperor,
he was placed upon the throne of Armenia, by the general consent
of the nobles of his country, in 259. He, as I have mentioned in
the ecclesiastical sketch of this history, embraced Christianity,
and died in the year 314. Other unimportant princes succeeded, among
whom John Nustaron governed Armenia, under the Emperor Maurice. The
Persians conquered the country in the reign of the Emperor Phocas,
but it was soon retaken by Heraclius. Pasagnates revolted against
the Emperor Constantine II., who defeated him, and placed Sabarius,
a Persian, on the throne, who also rebelled, and was beat in the year
658. Justinian II. concluded a treaty with the Caliph Abdolmalek,
by which the two sovereigns divided between them the revenues of
Armenia, Iberia, and Cyprus; and the same emperor, Justinian II.,
placed Sablas on the Armenian throne. This prince, being established
in this mountainous kingdom, organized an army, and, having attempted
to extricate his country from the power of the Caliph, was defeated
by him in 687, and the Arabs became masters of Armenia. The Emperor
Constantine Copronymus retook this province, and established Paulus
as viceroy. Paulus was conquered by the forces of the Caliph, but he
afterward re-established himself upon the throne.
After his reign, Armenia was governed by several dukes and counts,
some of whom ruled over a larger, and some over a smaller, portion of
the country. During this period constant battles and disturbances took
place between the adherents of the caliphs and the Christian emperors
in this distracted province. The Patriarch of Constantinople made every
endeavor to break down the religious subjection of the Armenians to
their heretical Patriarch. But the history of the numerous princes who
succeeded each other, after periods of short and doubtful power, on the
throne of parts only of Armenia, is so complicated and so doubtful,
that I shall not attempt to speak of them, and proceed to the time
of the first generally acknowledged king of modern times. The name
of this monarch was
Philaretes Branchance. After resisting the forces of the Emperor
Michael Ducas, he submitted to his successor, Nicephorus Botoniates,
by whom he was supported through the rest of his reign. He flourished
about the year 1080.
Constantine was succeeded by his brother
Taphroc, or Taphnuz. Under these two sovereigns appear numerous petty
princes, who were feudatories to the King.
Leo, who was long a prisoner under the Turks, lived in 1131.
Theodorus, or Thoros, after a stormy reign, died in 1170.
Thomas, son of the sister of Thoros.
Milo, brother of Thoros. Under this reign the power of the Knights
Templars was formidable. They had acquired large possessions in
Armenia; and their numerous preceptories were in fact fortified
castles, from which they defied the power of their suzerain. Milo
waged war with the Templars, and succeeded in banishing many of their
followers from his dominions. He died in 1180.
Rupinus was made prisoner by Bohemond, Prince of Antioch. He died
in 1189.
Leo I., or Livon, concluded a treaty, by which he freed Armenia
from the tribute which it had paid to the Prince of Antioch, instead
of which he voluntarily paid homage to the Pope Celestinus III. He
lived in perpetual war with the formidable body of Knights Templars,
with various success, and died in 1219.
Isabel, daughter of Leo. In the reign of this princess the kingdom
of Armenia became tributary to the Turkish Sultans of Iconium.
Aiton, or Otho, sent embassadors to St. Louis, King of France, in the
island of Cyprus. He made a visit to Mangou, Khan of Tartary, whom
he converted to Christianity, and in alliance with whom, assisted
by his brother, Houlagou Khan, he made war against the Mohammedans,
and, having destroyed the castles of the Assassins, penetrated into
the dominions of the Sultan of Aleppo, their further progress being
stopped by the death of Mangou Khan, which occasioned the return of
Houlagou to his own country. The Saracens or Mohammedans, on this
change of affairs, in their turn overran Armenia, where they committed
dreadful cruelties; and Aiton, having abdicated the crown in 1270,
retired into a monastery, under the name of Macarius, where he died
in the year 1272.
Leo, the son of Aiton, mounted the throne of his father in 1270, and
was in constant war with Bondochar, Sultan of Egypt, who massacred
20,000 persons in Armenia. He was excommunicated for outrages committed
upon the Patriarch of Antioch. After a reign of trouble and disaster,
he died in 1288.
Aiton, or Otho II., the son of Leo, with many of his nation, embraced
the Roman faith, and demanded the assistance of Pope Boniface
VIII. against the infidels who menaced his power. No effective
assistance having been afforded him, he abdicated the throne, took
the habit of a Capuchin friar, and, under the name of Brother John,
died in the year 1294.
Thoros, or Theodorus, despairing of success against the incursions of
the neighboring nations, also became a Capuchin friar. He died in 1296.
Sembat, or Penibald, the brother of Aiton and Thoros, usurped the
throne in the absence of his brothers; he was dethroned by another
brother, Constantine, and died in 1298.
Constantine sent his remaining brothers to Constantinople, with a
recommendation to the Emperor to take care of them. The year of his
death is uncertain.
Leo III. was murdered in the year 1307.
Chir Ossim, with the assistance of Pope John XXII., made an
advantageous truce or treaty with the Kings of Sicily and Cyprus,
with whom he was at war. This was accomplished through the mediation
of the Genoese, who at this time appear to have been the principal
traders in Constantinople, Persia, and Armenia. He died in 1320.
Leo IV. lived in continual war with the Saracens. This king sent
embassadors to Philippe de Valois, King of France, to beg assistance
against the incursions of the Saracens. He married first Constancia,
daughter of Frederick, King of Sicily, and secondly the daughter of the
Prince of Tarentum, niece to Robert, King of Naples. Having provoked
the jealousy of his countrymen by promoting numerous Frenchmen to
high offices of government, he was assassinated in the year 1344.
After his death Guy de Lusignan was elected King of Armenia. He died
in 1344.
Constans, or Constantius, apparently his son, succeeded Guy de
Lusignan, and was killed by the Saracens in 1351. He had dispatched
embassadors to implore assistance against the infidels to the courts
of the Pope, the King of England, and the King of France.
Constantine, the next king, appears to have lived in continual troubles
with his own subjects, as well as in constant alarm at the increasing
inroads of the neighboring powers on both sides. The annals of his
stormy reign are almost silent, and it is not known when he died. To
such a state of misery and confusion was the kingdom of Armenia now
reduced, that the existence of another king, who was probably his
successor, is only known by the witness of a rare coin, which bears
as legend DRAGO . REX . ARMEN . AGAPI. In the year 1368 the nobles
of Armenia elected Peter I., King of Cyprus, king; but he was at Rome
at that period, and never took possession of his precarious honor.
The records of the Armenian sovereigns are now drawing to a
close. About this period, Leo V., of the family of Lusignan,
was seated on his trembling throne. He was famous only for his
misfortunes. Menaced on every side, his provinces and castles,
one by one, fell before the victorious inroads of the Turks. The
Genoese alone, who, in pursuit of trade, had fortified many strong
places in Armenia, held out gallantly against the common foe, and
the Mohammedan invaders were unable to gain possession of the town
of Curco, or Corycus, in Cilicia, which was defended by the soldiers
of the intrepid merchants. After a constant series of disasters and
defeats, the unhappy king escaped with his life to the island of
Cyprus, from whence he passed to Italy, and afterward to Castile,
where he implored in vain for assistance from those Christian princes
to reinstate him in the kingdom of his ancestors, which had fallen into
the power of the infidel, and which, from that period to the present
day, has continued to form one of the great pashaliks, or provinces
of the Turkish empire. From Castile he took refuge in France, where
he was received with distinguished favor and hospitality by King
Charles V., who assigned for his residence the hotel of St. Ouen,
near St. Denis. About the year 1378 Leo passed over to England, in
the hopes of effecting peace between King Richard II. and the King of
France, with whom he was then at war, and inducing the two sovereigns
to embark in a crusade against the Turks for the recovery of the
Holy Land, and for his own restoration to his kingdom. His overtures,
like all his other acts, were unsuccessful; but from Richard, King of
England, he received magnificent presents, and a pension of 20,000
marcs, which munificence was imitated by the King of France in an
annual allowance of 6000 livres.
Leo, King of Armenia, was of small stature, but of intelligent
expression and well-formed features. He lived in great magnificence,
being richer from the presents of the Christian monarchs than he
had been in his own beleaguered kingdom. The last of his royal line,
he died, leaving no successor, at Paris, in the year 1393. His body
was carried to the tomb clothed in royal robes of white, according to
the custom of Armenia, with an open crown upon his head and a golden
sceptre in his hand. He lay in state upon an open bier hung with white,
and surrounded by the officers of his household, clothed all of them
in white robes. He was buried by the high altar of the church of the
Celestines, where his effigy was to be seen upon a black marble tomb
under an archway in the wall, and on the tomb was written
Cy gist le tres noble et tres excellent Prince, Lyon de Lusignan,
quint Roi Latin du Royaulme d'Armenie, qui rendit l'ame a Dieu
a Paris le xxix. Jour de Novembre, l'an de Grace mcccxciii.
THE END.
NOTES
[1] Since this was written, the coal-field of Eraglé has been opened
under the direction of English engineers, and the coals are sent
to Constantinople.
[2] Caravan tea is tea which is brought by caravans, over land, from
China, through the great deserts of Tartary: it is much superior to
the tea which comes by sea.
[3] Those who take an interest in natural history should read the
accounts of the extraordinary migrations of the lemmings, which occur
periodically in Norway, after a fixed number of years.