Armeno-Mongol Relations - Last Mongol Intervention in Cilician Armenia (1322)

Last Mongol Intervention in Cilician Armenia (1322)

In 1320, the Egyptian sultan Naser Mohammed ibn Kelaoun invaded and ravaged Cilician Armenia. Pope John XXII sent a letter, dated July 1, 1322, from Avignon to the Mongol ruler Abu Sa'id (1305–1335), reminding him of the alliance of his ancestors with Christians and asking him to intervene. Mongol troops were sent to Cilicia, but only arrived after a truce had been negotiated for 15 years between Constantin, patriarch of the Armenians, and the sultan of Egypt.

Relations with the Mongols would essentially disappear after 1320, while relations with the Franks were reinforced, with the establishment of the French Lusignan dynasty as the ruling family in Cilician Armenia, due to the policy since 1254 of inter-marriage between the royal families of Cyprus and Cilician Armenia. Following the murder of Leo IV in 1341, his cousin Guy Lusignan was elected king. However, when the pro-Latin Lusignans took power, they tried to impose Catholicism and the European way of life. The Armenian leadership largely accepted this, but the peasantry opposed the changes. Eventually, this led the way to civil strife.

After Abu Sa'id, relations between Christian princes and the Mongols were totally abandoned. Abu Sa'id died without heir and successor, and after his death the state lost its status, becoming a plethora of little kingdoms run by Mongols, Turks, and Persians.

In the late 14th century, Cilicia was invaded by the Mamluks. The fall of Sis in April 1375 finally brought an end to the kingdom; its last King, Leo V, was granted safe passage and died in exile in Paris in 1393 after calling in vain for another Crusade. The title was claimed by his cousin, James I of Cyprus, uniting it with the titles of Cyprus and Jerusalem. Thus ended the last fully independent Armenian entity of the Middle Ages after three centuries of sovereignty and bloom. The relationship with the Mongols had allowed it to significantly outlive the Crusader states, and to survive for an additional century in the face of the Muslim expansion.