RRR: Correspondence/envoy
1492
year: 1201
initiator: King Leon I of Cilician Armenia
recipient: Pope Innocent III
institution: Templars
text: Oct. 1. Sis. King Leon I of Cilician Armenia assures Pope Innocent III of his devotion. He reports that the vexillum sancti Petri sent by the pope has arrived and will always be carried in his armies against enemies of the Cross. He is maintaining peace with the citizens of Antioch and the count of Tripoli, but he informs the pope that the count of Tripoli and the citizens of Antioch have sent messengers to Roconidinus [Rukn ad-Din Sulaiman of Konya] entering into an alliance against him. He has stationed himself on the borders of Antioch. He has committed the case of his nephew Rupinus to the papal legates, but asks for the archbishop of Mainz to be made judge in his cause. He is grateful to the pope for writing to the count of Tripoli. In July he led his army on campaign against the Muslims, who are divided among themselves, and asked the Knights Templar, whose possessions in his country are worth 20000 besants, to come to his aid. The Templars came to Antioch and Leon asked the magister to join with him and the patriarch of Antioch in sending messengers to the Holy See over the issue of Gaston, which the pope wanted him to surrender to the Knights Templar. Leon offered to hand over Gaston provided the Templars gave support to his nephew Rupinus and lodged him in that castle. He and Rupinus sought to become confratres and assist the Templars in recovering another of their castles called Trapesach, but the Templars refused. Leon assures the pope of his attachment to the Latin faith. He is sending to the pope as a representative his miles called Garnerius Teuton.
Oct. 1. Sis. King Leon I of Cilician Armenia assures Pope Innocent III of his devotion. He reports that the vexillum sancti Petri sent by the pope has arrived and will always be carried in his armies against enemies of the Cross. He is maintaining peace with the citizens of Antioch and the count of... more
sources: Innocent III, ‘Register’ 214:1003-6, no. 43 (RRH no. 785)
RRR: Correspondence/envoy
1534
year: 1204
initiator: King Leon I of Cilician Armenia
recipient: Pope Innocent III
institution: Templars
text: Sept.- Oct. Leon, per Dei et R. imperatoris gratiam rex Armeniorum, complains to Pope Innocent III about Cardinal Peter of St Marcellus. With the catholicos, his barones and many noble crusaders [peregrini], Leon had received the cardinal, who had come as papal legate to bring peace between his nephew and the count of Tripoli, the usurper of the principality of Antioch. After the catholicos had repeated his promises as a primate with respect to the Holy See, the discussion turned, in the absence of Cardinal Soffred who was in Acre, to the dispute over Antioch. Leon appealed to Cardinal Peter as legate, citing as witnesses the patriarch of Antioch, the Hospitallers of St John, the Knights Templar and the religious of Nigra Montana. But he discovered that Cardinal Peter had made a private arrangement with the count of Tripoli, the Templars and the citizens of Antioch. Leon went to Antioch to treat for peace, but the count of Tripoli failed to attend the meeting. Before the cardinal’s arrival, Leon and his forces had entered Antioch by force on the eve of the start of Advent, but the patriarch of Antioch intervened and the Templars, who were alllied to the count of Tripoli and the sultan of Aleppo, raising their vexillum Balzanum, had fortified the city towers and had attacked the Armenian forces in and outside the city. Leon had responded by confiscating all Templar possessions in his kingdom. Cardinal Peter ordered him to restore the Templar properties, but Leon demanded the Templars withdraw their opposition to his nephew. Without the agreement of Cardinal Soffred, Peter then summoned a council and imposed an interdict on Cilician Armenia. The catholicos J. and his suffragans refused to enforce this, on the grounds that the catholicos had not been involved, and appealed to the Holy See. At the demand of the cardinals, King Aimery of Jerusalem and Cyprus and all the noble crusaders [peregrini], Leon sent his relation Constantius de Camardesio to Acre in September to negotiate peace with the Templars. Leon asks Pope Innocent to order the Templars to cease their hostility. The Hospitallers and other religious are not hostile.
Sept.- Oct. Leon, per Dei et R. imperatoris gratiam rex Armeniorum, complains to Pope Innocent III about Cardinal Peter of St Marcellus. With the catholicos, his barones and many noble crusaders [peregrini], Leon had received the cardinal, who had come as papal legate to bring peace between his... more
sources: Innocent III, Die Register 8:211-17, no. 120 (RRH no. 795)
RRR: Correspondence/envoy
1609
year: 1209
initiator: King Leon I of Cilician Armenia
recipient: Pope Innocent III
institution: Templars
text: Early in the year [or autumn 1204]. King Leon of Cilician Armenia sends a gift of precious cloths to Pope Innocent III, carried by a brother of the Hospital of St Mary of the Germans. He tells the pope of presents he had sent before, carried by one of his milites called Sicardus, which had been taken by a Genoese pirate called Alamanus, as was witnessed by Galganus son of Risus, a shipmaster from Barletta, who owned the ship that was seized. Letters and presents for the pope had also been seized by the homines of the count of Tripoli. Leon begs the pope to forbid the Knights Templar to assist the count of Tripoli against him and his nephew over Antioch.
Early in the year [or autumn 1204]. King Leon of Cilician Armenia sends a gift of precious cloths to Pope Innocent III, carried by a brother of the Hospital of St Mary of the Germans. He tells the pope of presents he had sent before, carried by one of his milites called Sicardus, which had been... more
sources: Maleczek, ‘Ein unbekannter Brief’, p. 25
RRR: Correspondence/envoy
1736
year: 1216
initiator: King Leon I of Cilician Armenia
recipient: Pope Innocent III
institution: Templars
text: Before Oct. [305] After describing the refusal of the count of Tripoli to abide by the papal legates’ judgement, the miseries of warfare, and the hopes for Raymond Rupen, his nephew and the legitimate prince of Antioch, Leon, per Dei et Romani imperii gratiam rex Armeniae, recounts for Pope Innocent III how he approached Antioch with his army and entered the city without any bloodshed. Raymond Rupen was received as legitimate prince at the cathedral by the patriarch, who gave him the vexillum principale and paid liege homage [ligium homagium] to him, as did the milites and clientes belligeri at the palatium. Then the barones, milites and burgenses who had been exiled were restored to their possessions. Leon agreed to restore [to the Latins] the church of Tarsus [Tarsensis Ecclesia], for which the patriarch had consecrated as archbishop the cantor Antiochen. Ecclesiae, and the church of Mamistra [Manustana Ecclesia], which he recognized to be a suffragan see of the patriarchate and to the archbishopric of which was elected the archidiaconus Antiochiae. The fons Gustoni was restored to the abbey of St Paul. The abbots of Nigra Montana had their casalia and holdings restored and the Knights Templar were given back the castellum of Gastum, which Leon had acquired from the pagani and had detained because of the needs of warfare. Leon reports that there is now peace in the land, as the pope will learn from the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers of St John and other religious, should he enquire. Leon asks for aid and the promise of indulgences for those who come to the assistance of Cilician Armenia and Antioch.
Before Oct. [305] After describing the refusal of the count of Tripoli to abide by the papal legates’ judgement, the miseries of warfare, and the hopes for Raymond Rupen, his nephew and the legitimate prince of Antioch, Leon, per Dei et Romani imperii gratiam rex Armeniae, recounts for Pope... more
sources: Annales ecclesiastici 20:202-3 (RRH no. 817)