Is it included in the game?
I can't imagine anything about the Crusades without Cilicia.
~~~
Asiatic Invasions & The Birth Of Cilicia
The destruction of the Bagratid Kingdom was completed by raids of new savage invaders, the Seljuk Turks from Central Asia. These 'people' virtually destroyed almost all of Armenian & Greek culture in the region. With little resistance from weakened Byzantium, the Seljuk Turks spread into the Armenian highlands as well as Eastern Europe. This invasion compelled a large number of Armenians to move south, toward the Taurus Mountains close to the Mediterranean Sea, where in 1080 they founded, under the leadership of Ruben (Rubenid/Rubinian dynasty), the Kingdom of Cilicia. Close contacts with the Crusaders and with fellow Europeans led to the creation of a new European state, absorbing feudal class structure. Cilician Armenia became a country of barons, knights and serfs. The court at Sis adopted European clothes. Latin and French were used alongside Armenian.The close relationship with Western European countries played a very important role during the Crusades. Cilicia provided the Christian armies a safe haven and provision on their way towards Jerusalem. Intermarriage with European crusading families was common, and Western European religious, political, and cultural influence was strong. Many Latin terms entered the Armenian language. Cilician Armenia also played an important role in the trade of the Venetians and Genoese with the East. The Cilician period is regarded as the Golden Age of Armenian Illumination, noted for the lavishness of its decoration and the frequent influence of contemporary Western manuscript painting. Their location on the Mediterranean coast soon involved Cilician Armenians in international trade between the interior of Eurasia and Europe. Enduring constant attacks by the Turks, Mongols and Mamelukes, Cilician Armenia survived for three centuries and fell to Egyptian Mameluks in 1375. The last Armenian king of Cilicia, Levon VI Lousinian, emigrated to France, where his grave still can be seen in the St. Denis Cathedral of Paris. The title "King of Armenia" passed to the kings of Cyprus, then to the Venetians, and was later claimed by the house of Savoy.
The Crusades & Cilicia
1096-1102 - The First Crusade: Bagrat contacts the crusading forces at Nicaea and accompanies them across Asia Minor. He forms an alliance with Baldwin of Boulogne. The Franks enter parts of Cilicia but their hold is insecure because of Byzantine invasions and the objections of the native Armenian princes who get the upper hand in the late 1130s. Byzantine takes over Cilicia followed by seven years of relative peace ruled by Byzantium. On April 8th, 1143 John Comnenus Emperor of Byzantine dies as a result of a poisoned arrow. The Second Crusades begin in 1147. Rubenid family allies and marries Franks and fights the Turks and Byzantines together. Hromkla is given to the Armenian catholicos by Beatrice Princess Of Lorraine. In 1179 a religious synod is held at Hromkla to discuss the celebration of Christmas on December 25, instead of the Armenian custom of combining it with the Epiphany on January 6; the method for choosing the date of Easter; the use of fermented bread at mass; and changes in the church services. Emperor Manuel Comneus dies in 1180. In 1189 the Third Crusades begin. Note: Armenian Kings Leon/Levon are numbered differently by various historians, it's easier to understand who is who by the dates instead of I, II etc. Leon sends Nerses of Lampron as ambassador to meet Emperor Frederick Barbarossa when he approaches Cilicia, but on June 10 Barbarossa drowns in the Saleph River near Silifke, ending negotiations for Levon's royal crown. Catholicos Grigor Tgha dies and his nephews, Hetoum and Shahnshah, are assassinated. Gregory V is elected as the new catholicos but doesn't get along with Levon and is imprisoned later killed while trying to escape. On January 6, 1198 Levon/Leon I is crowned as King of Lesser Armenia (Cilicia) by the new Armenian catholicos with a crown from the Hohenstaufen emperor. In return, he is forced to recognize the German emperor as his lord and the pope in Rome as the head of the Armenian Church. The Armenian church however stalls and does not change or adopt the Roman Catholic forms of worship. Constantinople is sacked by crusaders of the Fourth Crusade(1202-1204). Catholicos John of Sis accuses Isabelle of Austria, Levon's queen and mother of his daughter Rita, of adultery and she is imprisoned at Vahka where she died. King Levon of Cilicia marries Sybilla of Lusignan, the daughter of King Aimery of Cyprus and Queen Isabeau Plantagenet, and later mother of Levon's daughter and heir Isabelle (Zabel). Levon's wife's sister, Helvis marries to Raymond-Roupen of Antioch. Two years after the start of the Fifth Crusades, King Levon dies in 1219 reigning 32 years. Isabelle becomes queen, Adam of Baghras the regent. Phillip the son of Raymond count of Tripoly marries Isabelle in 1222. He is later imprisoned and killed in the fortress of Sis. King Levon I's daughter Isabelle is forced to marry Hetoum I (or Hetum I) which joined the Rubenid and Hetumian families. Isabelle runs away from her forced marriage to Hetoum, but eventually reconciles to it. Seljuk Turk animals invade other neighbouring Armenian kingdoms next to Cilicia. Genghis Khan later shatters the Seljuk grip on the region. King Hetoum I (or Hetum I) goes to visit the Genghis Khan for three years and comes back through Greater Armenia, the homeland no Cilician ruler had previously been able to visit. He acquires guarantees that the Mongol savages will protect the Christian Churches in their conquered lands. Bohemond VI of Tripoli marries Hetoum's daughter, Sybille and Prince Levon is knighted at Mamistra. Prince Constantine follows his father as lord of the fortress of Servandikar which dominates the main roads to Cilicia from the east and at Sis he marries King Hetoum's daughter Rita. Prince Levon of Cilicia marries Keran, daughter of Hetum of Lambron. Keran and two of their children died of the plague that struck Europe after 1272 and before Hetoum's death in 1270. Baybars, Mamluk leader, takes Syria, Caesarea, Haifa, Arsuf, Tibnin, and Safad and then turns on Europe. King Hetoum goes to the Mongols for help and while he is gone Princes Levon and Thoros are imprisoned in Cairo and the Mamluks sack Sis, Mamistra, Adana, Ayas, and Tarsus. On May 12, 1268 the Mamluks take Antioch and massacre the inhabitants. Hetum gets his son released from Egypt, abdicates in Levon's favor, and enters a monastery. King Hetum I; father of Fimi (Countess of Sidon) and Levon (crown prince); brother of Bishop Johannes dies in 1270. Marco Polo sets out for Cathay from the Armenian port of Ayas in 1271, not long after the Mamluks try again to conquer Europe through Cilicia. General Smbat, Levon's uncle, traps Mamluk troops in a mountain pass and wins a major battle. Smbat and 300 knights die in the battle. Hetum II abdicates in favor of his brother Thoros (who was strangled by their brother Smbat). Hetum retires to a Franciscan monastery and resumes the throne in 1294. Temporary allied Mongols and Armenian Knights with various other European Knights fight the Mamluks at Homs and win, regaining all their Cilician property. In 1304, The Grand Khan, nicknamed Gazan (which means savage), declares Islam the official religion in his lands and later his son orders all Christians throughout his lands to wear a black linen strip over the shoulder. Hetum II and his nephew, now King Leon, are murdered by the savage Mongols (now even more animalistic under Islam) Anavarza with all their followers. Oshin, Hetum's brother, chases the Mongol troops out. Oshin is poisoned Young Levon is forced to marry his regent's (Oshin of Corycus) daughter, Alice. King Levon in 1329, aged nineteen, takes charge of the kingdom and has his unfaithful wife and her father both killed. King Levon marries Constance Eleanor of Aragon, daughter of Frederick II of Sicily and widow of Henry II of Cyprus. Mamluks attack and take the Cilician port city of Ayas. King Leon V, stays in the citadel of Sis instead of fighting the Mamluks, waits for Western European help, the dissapointed barons murder him in 1341. The following year, barons offer the crown to John of Lusignan who offers the Cilician crown to his brother Guy. Guy agrees and comes to Cilicia. He brings Western European influence to the monarchy and encourages union with the Roman Church. Guy Lusignan sends his younger brother, Bemon, to the Pope in Avignon, France for help; but the negotiations rouse resentment in the barons. Guy, Bemon and their bodyguards are murdered. Constantine III, son of Marshall Baldwin of Neghr, is elected king. He marries Marie, daughter of Oshin (a former regent) and Jeanne of Anjou. Peter I of Cyprus gets the port castles of Korykos in Cilicia in return for helping Constantine VI against the Karamanids Constantine III dies of natural causes and Constantine IV becomes king of Cilicia and marries Marie widow of Constantine III in 1363. Peter of Cyprus is murdered by the Muslims so Constantine VI makes a treaty with the sultan of Cairo, the barons are not very happy that Constantine signed a treaty with non-Europeans. Queen Marie sends Pope Gregory XI a letter requesting military help against the Muslims. Constantine is murdered, and the Pope wants Marie to marry Othon of Brunswick. Leon, son of John of Lusignan and Soldane, is invited by the barons to become king. (Soldane, daughter of King Georgi VII of Georgia, may have been John of Lusignan's mistress and not his wife, and her sons may or may not have been legitimate. Levon's claims to his grandmother Isabella's estates were rejected on those grounds by the Pope.) Levon, delayed in Cyprus on his wife's lands, is "taxed" by the Genoese 280 livres of gold plus 300 ducats ransom for his crown, silver plate, and clothing. His wife's lands are forfeited to Catherine of Aragon. Levon is forced to sell his personal possessions to travel and hire troops. In 1374, Levon VI, a Roman Catholic, and his wife, Margaret of Soissons, are crowned at Sis on September 14 in both an Armenian and Latin ceremony. To their surprise they discover an empty treasury. Next year on January 15 the Mamluks of Egypt capture parts of Sis. February 24, the rest of Sis is evacuated and burned by Levon and his supporters. April 13, Levon VI, his wife, and their twin baby daughters surrender to the Mamluks. July, Levon is taken to Cairo as a captive where he is released from jail, constantly watched by the Arabs and given a daily pension of 60 dirhems. Levon's wife, Marguerite de Soissons, and daughters die in Cairo. In 1382, Levon is ransomed using money from the Kings of Castile and Aragon, 300 squirrel pelts, a gold and silver cup, and a gilded jar. In 1386 Levon serves as an envoy to King Richard II of England. November 29, King Levon VI (John de Lusignan) dies. He is interred with French Royalty in the Basilica of St. Denis. He was in France for help to regain Cilicia. His son Guyot becomes a military man and Philippe becomes an archdecon. The Tartar barbarians invade Asia Minor in 1402. Forty years later the seat of the Armenian Catholicos is moved from Sis to Etchmiadzin. 1453, the Ottoman savages capture Constantinople. 1605, after burning and destroying what they could in the former area of eastern Greater Armenia, the Persians require their Armenian subjects to move to New Julfa and away from the invading Turkish troops. Many Armenians escape north to the Eastern European states such as Poland. 1620, the Persian rule of Eastern Armenia begins...
I can't imagine anything about the Crusades without Cilicia.
~~~
Asiatic Invasions & The Birth Of Cilicia
The destruction of the Bagratid Kingdom was completed by raids of new savage invaders, the Seljuk Turks from Central Asia. These 'people' virtually destroyed almost all of Armenian & Greek culture in the region. With little resistance from weakened Byzantium, the Seljuk Turks spread into the Armenian highlands as well as Eastern Europe. This invasion compelled a large number of Armenians to move south, toward the Taurus Mountains close to the Mediterranean Sea, where in 1080 they founded, under the leadership of Ruben (Rubenid/Rubinian dynasty), the Kingdom of Cilicia. Close contacts with the Crusaders and with fellow Europeans led to the creation of a new European state, absorbing feudal class structure. Cilician Armenia became a country of barons, knights and serfs. The court at Sis adopted European clothes. Latin and French were used alongside Armenian.The close relationship with Western European countries played a very important role during the Crusades. Cilicia provided the Christian armies a safe haven and provision on their way towards Jerusalem. Intermarriage with European crusading families was common, and Western European religious, political, and cultural influence was strong. Many Latin terms entered the Armenian language. Cilician Armenia also played an important role in the trade of the Venetians and Genoese with the East. The Cilician period is regarded as the Golden Age of Armenian Illumination, noted for the lavishness of its decoration and the frequent influence of contemporary Western manuscript painting. Their location on the Mediterranean coast soon involved Cilician Armenians in international trade between the interior of Eurasia and Europe. Enduring constant attacks by the Turks, Mongols and Mamelukes, Cilician Armenia survived for three centuries and fell to Egyptian Mameluks in 1375. The last Armenian king of Cilicia, Levon VI Lousinian, emigrated to France, where his grave still can be seen in the St. Denis Cathedral of Paris. The title "King of Armenia" passed to the kings of Cyprus, then to the Venetians, and was later claimed by the house of Savoy.
The Crusades & Cilicia
1096-1102 - The First Crusade: Bagrat contacts the crusading forces at Nicaea and accompanies them across Asia Minor. He forms an alliance with Baldwin of Boulogne. The Franks enter parts of Cilicia but their hold is insecure because of Byzantine invasions and the objections of the native Armenian princes who get the upper hand in the late 1130s. Byzantine takes over Cilicia followed by seven years of relative peace ruled by Byzantium. On April 8th, 1143 John Comnenus Emperor of Byzantine dies as a result of a poisoned arrow. The Second Crusades begin in 1147. Rubenid family allies and marries Franks and fights the Turks and Byzantines together. Hromkla is given to the Armenian catholicos by Beatrice Princess Of Lorraine. In 1179 a religious synod is held at Hromkla to discuss the celebration of Christmas on December 25, instead of the Armenian custom of combining it with the Epiphany on January 6; the method for choosing the date of Easter; the use of fermented bread at mass; and changes in the church services. Emperor Manuel Comneus dies in 1180. In 1189 the Third Crusades begin. Note: Armenian Kings Leon/Levon are numbered differently by various historians, it's easier to understand who is who by the dates instead of I, II etc. Leon sends Nerses of Lampron as ambassador to meet Emperor Frederick Barbarossa when he approaches Cilicia, but on June 10 Barbarossa drowns in the Saleph River near Silifke, ending negotiations for Levon's royal crown. Catholicos Grigor Tgha dies and his nephews, Hetoum and Shahnshah, are assassinated. Gregory V is elected as the new catholicos but doesn't get along with Levon and is imprisoned later killed while trying to escape. On January 6, 1198 Levon/Leon I is crowned as King of Lesser Armenia (Cilicia) by the new Armenian catholicos with a crown from the Hohenstaufen emperor. In return, he is forced to recognize the German emperor as his lord and the pope in Rome as the head of the Armenian Church. The Armenian church however stalls and does not change or adopt the Roman Catholic forms of worship. Constantinople is sacked by crusaders of the Fourth Crusade(1202-1204). Catholicos John of Sis accuses Isabelle of Austria, Levon's queen and mother of his daughter Rita, of adultery and she is imprisoned at Vahka where she died. King Levon of Cilicia marries Sybilla of Lusignan, the daughter of King Aimery of Cyprus and Queen Isabeau Plantagenet, and later mother of Levon's daughter and heir Isabelle (Zabel). Levon's wife's sister, Helvis marries to Raymond-Roupen of Antioch. Two years after the start of the Fifth Crusades, King Levon dies in 1219 reigning 32 years. Isabelle becomes queen, Adam of Baghras the regent. Phillip the son of Raymond count of Tripoly marries Isabelle in 1222. He is later imprisoned and killed in the fortress of Sis. King Levon I's daughter Isabelle is forced to marry Hetoum I (or Hetum I) which joined the Rubenid and Hetumian families. Isabelle runs away from her forced marriage to Hetoum, but eventually reconciles to it. Seljuk Turk animals invade other neighbouring Armenian kingdoms next to Cilicia. Genghis Khan later shatters the Seljuk grip on the region. King Hetoum I (or Hetum I) goes to visit the Genghis Khan for three years and comes back through Greater Armenia, the homeland no Cilician ruler had previously been able to visit. He acquires guarantees that the Mongol savages will protect the Christian Churches in their conquered lands. Bohemond VI of Tripoli marries Hetoum's daughter, Sybille and Prince Levon is knighted at Mamistra. Prince Constantine follows his father as lord of the fortress of Servandikar which dominates the main roads to Cilicia from the east and at Sis he marries King Hetoum's daughter Rita. Prince Levon of Cilicia marries Keran, daughter of Hetum of Lambron. Keran and two of their children died of the plague that struck Europe after 1272 and before Hetoum's death in 1270. Baybars, Mamluk leader, takes Syria, Caesarea, Haifa, Arsuf, Tibnin, and Safad and then turns on Europe. King Hetoum goes to the Mongols for help and while he is gone Princes Levon and Thoros are imprisoned in Cairo and the Mamluks sack Sis, Mamistra, Adana, Ayas, and Tarsus. On May 12, 1268 the Mamluks take Antioch and massacre the inhabitants. Hetum gets his son released from Egypt, abdicates in Levon's favor, and enters a monastery. King Hetum I; father of Fimi (Countess of Sidon) and Levon (crown prince); brother of Bishop Johannes dies in 1270. Marco Polo sets out for Cathay from the Armenian port of Ayas in 1271, not long after the Mamluks try again to conquer Europe through Cilicia. General Smbat, Levon's uncle, traps Mamluk troops in a mountain pass and wins a major battle. Smbat and 300 knights die in the battle. Hetum II abdicates in favor of his brother Thoros (who was strangled by their brother Smbat). Hetum retires to a Franciscan monastery and resumes the throne in 1294. Temporary allied Mongols and Armenian Knights with various other European Knights fight the Mamluks at Homs and win, regaining all their Cilician property. In 1304, The Grand Khan, nicknamed Gazan (which means savage), declares Islam the official religion in his lands and later his son orders all Christians throughout his lands to wear a black linen strip over the shoulder. Hetum II and his nephew, now King Leon, are murdered by the savage Mongols (now even more animalistic under Islam) Anavarza with all their followers. Oshin, Hetum's brother, chases the Mongol troops out. Oshin is poisoned Young Levon is forced to marry his regent's (Oshin of Corycus) daughter, Alice. King Levon in 1329, aged nineteen, takes charge of the kingdom and has his unfaithful wife and her father both killed. King Levon marries Constance Eleanor of Aragon, daughter of Frederick II of Sicily and widow of Henry II of Cyprus. Mamluks attack and take the Cilician port city of Ayas. King Leon V, stays in the citadel of Sis instead of fighting the Mamluks, waits for Western European help, the dissapointed barons murder him in 1341. The following year, barons offer the crown to John of Lusignan who offers the Cilician crown to his brother Guy. Guy agrees and comes to Cilicia. He brings Western European influence to the monarchy and encourages union with the Roman Church. Guy Lusignan sends his younger brother, Bemon, to the Pope in Avignon, France for help; but the negotiations rouse resentment in the barons. Guy, Bemon and their bodyguards are murdered. Constantine III, son of Marshall Baldwin of Neghr, is elected king. He marries Marie, daughter of Oshin (a former regent) and Jeanne of Anjou. Peter I of Cyprus gets the port castles of Korykos in Cilicia in return for helping Constantine VI against the Karamanids Constantine III dies of natural causes and Constantine IV becomes king of Cilicia and marries Marie widow of Constantine III in 1363. Peter of Cyprus is murdered by the Muslims so Constantine VI makes a treaty with the sultan of Cairo, the barons are not very happy that Constantine signed a treaty with non-Europeans. Queen Marie sends Pope Gregory XI a letter requesting military help against the Muslims. Constantine is murdered, and the Pope wants Marie to marry Othon of Brunswick. Leon, son of John of Lusignan and Soldane, is invited by the barons to become king. (Soldane, daughter of King Georgi VII of Georgia, may have been John of Lusignan's mistress and not his wife, and her sons may or may not have been legitimate. Levon's claims to his grandmother Isabella's estates were rejected on those grounds by the Pope.) Levon, delayed in Cyprus on his wife's lands, is "taxed" by the Genoese 280 livres of gold plus 300 ducats ransom for his crown, silver plate, and clothing. His wife's lands are forfeited to Catherine of Aragon. Levon is forced to sell his personal possessions to travel and hire troops. In 1374, Levon VI, a Roman Catholic, and his wife, Margaret of Soissons, are crowned at Sis on September 14 in both an Armenian and Latin ceremony. To their surprise they discover an empty treasury. Next year on January 15 the Mamluks of Egypt capture parts of Sis. February 24, the rest of Sis is evacuated and burned by Levon and his supporters. April 13, Levon VI, his wife, and their twin baby daughters surrender to the Mamluks. July, Levon is taken to Cairo as a captive where he is released from jail, constantly watched by the Arabs and given a daily pension of 60 dirhems. Levon's wife, Marguerite de Soissons, and daughters die in Cairo. In 1382, Levon is ransomed using money from the Kings of Castile and Aragon, 300 squirrel pelts, a gold and silver cup, and a gilded jar. In 1386 Levon serves as an envoy to King Richard II of England. November 29, King Levon VI (John de Lusignan) dies. He is interred with French Royalty in the Basilica of St. Denis. He was in France for help to regain Cilicia. His son Guyot becomes a military man and Philippe becomes an archdecon. The Tartar barbarians invade Asia Minor in 1402. Forty years later the seat of the Armenian Catholicos is moved from Sis to Etchmiadzin. 1453, the Ottoman savages capture Constantinople. 1605, after burning and destroying what they could in the former area of eastern Greater Armenia, the Persians require their Armenian subjects to move to New Julfa and away from the invading Turkish troops. Many Armenians escape north to the Eastern European states such as Poland. 1620, the Persian rule of Eastern Armenia begins...
