The Latin principality of Antioch and its relationship with the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia, 1188-1268

The Latin principality of Antioch was founded during the First Crusade (1095-1099), and survived for 170 years until its destruction by the Mamluks in 1268. This thesis offers the first full assessment of the thirteenth century principality of Antioch since the publication of Claude Cahen’s La Syrie du nord à l’époque des croisades et la principauté franque d’Antioche in 1940. It examines the Latin principality from its devastation by Saladin in 1188 until the fall of Antioch eighty years later, with a particular focus on its relationship with the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia. This thesis shows how the fate of the two states was closely intertwined for much of this period. The failure of the principality to recover from the major territorial losses it suffered in 1188 can be partly explained by the threat posed by the Cilician Armenians in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. King Leon I of Cilicia attacked the Latin polity on numerous occasions during this period, making any expansion of the principality almost impossible. In the 1250s the two states entered into a long-term alliance following the marriage of the Antiochene prince with the daughter of the Armenian king. The prince of Antioch subsequently followed his father-in-law by submitting to the Mongols in 1260. However, this had disastrous consequences as the Latin principality became a target for the Mamluks – the chief opponents of the Mongols in the Near East. Antiochene-Cilician relations were almost continuously shaped by the geopolitics of northern Syria and southern Anatolia. All the alliances and conflicts between the Latin principality and the Armenian kingdom were heavily influenced by the non-Christian powers of the region. In sum, this thesis argues that the principality of Antioch’s most important relationship during its final eight decades was undoubtedly with the kingdom of Cilicia