| Roupen III Ռուբեն Գ | |
| Lord of Cilicia | |
| Succession: | Lord of Armenian Cilicia |
| Reign: | 1175–1187 |
| Predecessor: | Mleh I |
| Successor: | Leo II |
| Spouse: | Isabella of Toron |
| Issue: | Alix Philippa |
| House: | Roupenians |
| Father: | Stephen |
| Mother: | Rita of Barbaron |
| Birth Date: | 1145 |
| Death Place: | Drazark monastery |
| Place Of Burial: | Drazark monastery |
Ruben III (Armenian: Ռուբեն Գ), also Roupen III,[1] [2] Rupen III, or Reuben III,[3] (1145 – Monastery of Drazark,[1] May 6, 1187) was the ninth lord of Armenian Cilicia[1] (1175–1187).
Roupen remained always friendly to the Crusaders in spirit.[4] He was a just and good prince, and created many pious foundations within his domains.[4]
He was the eldest son of Stephen, the third son of Leo I, lord of Armenian Cilicia. His mother was Rita, a daughter of Sempad, Lord of Barbaron. Roupen's father, who was on his way to attend a banquet given by the Byzantine governor of Cilicia, Andronikos Euphorbenos,[1] was murdered[2] on February 7, 1165. Following his father's death, Roupen lived with his maternal uncle, Pagouran, lord of the fortress of Barbaron, protecting the Cilician Gates pass in the Taurus Mountains.[1]
Roupen took up the reins of Cilicia following the assassination of his paternal uncle, Mleh who had been murdered by members of his own inner circle of Armenian nobles[1] on May 15, 1175. He was a friend of the Franks (the Crusaders); for example, at the end of 1177, he assisted Philip, Count of Flanders and Prince Bohemond III of Antioch at the ineffectual siege of Harenc.[2]
In June 1180, Saladin, the sultan of Egypt, and Kilij Arslan II, the sultan of Iconium met on the river Sanja and there, apparently concluded an alliance.[3] The first fruits of their alliance were a short and successful campaign against Roupen III, on the pretext of harsh treatment of the Turkoman tribes in his territories.[3] Roupen made peace with Kilij Arslan II in the same year.[1] In the course of the year, many of the nobles of the Principality of Antioch who hated Sybilla, the new wife of Bohemond III fled to Roupen's court.[2]
Early in 1181, Roupen came on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and there on 4 February 1181/3 February 1182 he married Isabella of Toron, daughter of Humphrey III of Toron and Stephanie of Milly.[2]
At the end of 1182, the Byzantine governor of Cilicia and the ruler of Cyprus, Isaac Komnenos, in revolt against the Emperor Andronicus I Comnenus, sought help from Bohemond III against Roupen and admitted his troops into Tarsus.[2] Bohemond promptly changed his mind and sold Tarsus and the governor to Roupen, then repented of it.[2] Isaac Komnenos was ransomed by the Knights Templar.[2]
In 1183, Hethum III of Lampron, allied with Bohemond III, began joint hostilities against Roupen.[1] They invited Roupen to Antioch as a prelude to ending the counterproductive rivalry between the two Armenian houses, but upon his arrival Roupen was taken captive and imprisoned.[1] But Roupen's brother Leo finished off the conquest of the Hethoumians and attacked Antioch.[2]
Roupen's release required payment of a large ransom and the submission of Adana and Mamistra as vassalages to Antioch;[1] but on his return to Cilicia he soon recovered them.[2] Bohemond III made various ineffectual raids but achieved nothing more.[2]
Roupen abdicated in favor of his brother and retired to the monastery of Drazark where he died.[1]