Isabella, Queen of Armenia

Isabella
Զապել
Queen Isabella with Hethum I on a coin
Queen of Armenian Cilicia
Reign1219 – 1252
Coronation14 May 1226
PredecessorLeo I
SuccessorHethum I
RegentAdam of Baghras
Constantine of Barbaron
Co-rulerPhilip (1222 – 1225)
Hethum I (1226 – 1252)
Born27 January 1216/ 25 January 1217
(unknown)
Died23 January 1252
Ked
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1222; died 1225)
(m. 1226)
Issue
among others...
HouseRoupenians
FatherLeo I, King of Armenia
MotherSybilla of Cyprus
ReligionArmenian Apostolic

Isabella (Armenian: Զապել; 27 January 1216/ 25 January 1217 – 23 January 1252), also Isabel or Zabel, was queen regnant of Armenian Cilicia from 1219 until her death in 1252.

She was proclaimed queen under the regency of Adam of Baghras.[1][2] After he was assassinated, Constantine of Baberon (of the Hethumid family) was nominated as guardian.[2] At this juncture, Raymond-Roupen, grandson of Roupen III (the elder brother of Isabella’s father, King Leo I), attempted to claim the throne of Cilicia for himself, but he was defeated, captured, and executed.[2]

Constantine of Baberon was soon convinced to seek an alliance with Prince Bohemond IV of Antioch,[3] and he arranged a marriage between the young princess and Philip,[2] a son of Bohemond IV.[3] Philip, however, offended the Armenians’ sensibilities, and even despoiled the royal palace, sending the royal crown to Antioch; therefore, he was confined in a prison in Sis (now Kozan in Turkey), where he died, presumably poisoned.[2]

The unhappy young Isabella was forced to marry Constantine of Barbaron’s son, Hethum. Although for many years she refused to live with him, in the end she relented.[1] The apparent unification in marriage of the two principal dynastic forces of Cilicia (the Roupenids and the Hethumids) ended a century of dynastic and territorial rivalry and brought the Hethumids to the forefront of political dominance in Cilician Armenia.[3]

The lawful heiress of the empire, Isabella, governed the country together with her husband, and led a pious, religious life. She was blessed for her good deeds and exemplary life by many children, the numerous offsprings of a famous race.

— Vahram of Edessa: The Rhymed Chronicle of Armenia Minor[4]
  1. ^ a b Runciman, Steven (1954). The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. A History of the Crusades. Vol. III. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521061636.
  2. ^ a b c d e Vahan M. Kurkjian (2005-04-05). "A History of Armenia". Website. Bill Thayer. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  3. ^ a b c Ghazarian, Jacob G. The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia during the Crusades: The Integration of Cilician Armenians with the Latins (1080–1393).
  4. ^ Vahram (2008-09-10). "Chronicle". Text Archive. Internet Archive. Retrieved 2009-07-26.