| Leo II Լէոն Բ | |
| Succession: | King of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia |
| Reign: | 1269/1270 – 1289 |
| Predecessor: | Hetoum I |
| Successor: | Hetoum II |
| Birth Date: | 1236 |
| House: | Lambron |
| Spouse: | Keran of Lampron |
| Issue: | Hethum II Thoros III Sempad Isabella of Armenia, Princess of Tyre Constantine I Rita, Byzantine Empress Oshin |
| Issue-Link: |
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| Issue-Pipe: | …among others |
| Father: | Hetoum I |
| Mother: | Isabella |
| Religion: | Armenian Apostolic |
Leo II or Leon II (occasionally numbered Leo III;, Levon II; c. 1236 - 1289) was king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, ruling from 1269[1] /1270 to 1289. He was the son of King Hetoum I and Queen Isabella and was a member of the House of Lampron.
Leo was born in 1236, the son of King Hetoum I and Queen Isabella. Hetoum and Isabella's marriage in 1226 had been forced on them by Hetoum's father Constantine of Baberon, who had cleared the way for Hetoum by arranging the murder of Queen Isabella's first husband. 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 Keran (Kir Anna), the daughter of Prince Hetoum of Lampron. Thus, he solidified himself as a member of the House 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 a massive army of Mamluk invaders, at the Battle of Mari. Thoros was killed in combat, and Leo was captured and imprisoned. Following the disaster, the cities of Adana, Tarsus, and Ayas were assaulted and the capital of Sis was sacked and burnt. Thousands of Armenians were massacred and 40,000 taken captive.[2] 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 Baybars's relatives freed.
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,[3] as his father Hetoum I had submitted Armenia to Mongol authority in 1247.
In 1271, Marco Polo visited the Armenian harbour of Ayas and commented favourably about Leo's reign and the abundance of the country, although he mentions his military forces were rather demoralized:
In 1275, the Mamluk sultan Baybars invaded Cilicia for a second time. The following year, Armenia fought off an invasion by the Turkoman tribes, but the Constable Sempad, Leo's uncle, was killed in combat.
See main article: 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.[4]
Leo died in 1289 from arsenic, and was succeeded by his son Hetoum II.
During twenty-one years of marriage Leo had sixteen children by his wife Keran, ten sons and six daughters. Five of his children reached the throne. The eldest, Hethum 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 blinded Hetoum and in 1298 he strangled Thoros, in order to seize power. Sempad was then overthrown in 1298 by their younger brother Constantine I of Armenia, who was replaced by older brother Hethum II, who then abdicated in 1305 in favor of Thoros III's son Leo III of Armenia,[1] who was murdered in 1307 with his uncle Hethum II at the hands of the Mongol general Bilarghu, being succeeded by one of the youngest surviving children of Leo and Keran, Oshin of Armenia. Eventually, the inheritance of the Armenian Kingdom was passed to the descendants of Leo and Keran's eldest surviving daughter Isabella of Armenia, wife of Amalric of Lusignan, Lord of Tyre.