Mediterranean Armenia and Palaiologan Byzantium: Political and Dynastic Contacts in the 13th–14th Centuries

Although certain episodes of Armenian-Byzantine relations in the second half of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries have attracted scholarly attention, these interactions have not yet been examined as a coherent subject of study. This paper offers the first comprehensive overview of relations between the Kingdom of Cilician (Mediterranean) Armenia - ruled by the Het‘umian branch of the Ṙubenian dynasty - and the Byzantine Empire during the early Palaiologan period. As background, it also considers aspects of Armenian-Nicaean relations following the rise of the Empire of Nicaea. The first part of the presentation explores the growing prominence of the “Greek factor” in the foreign and domestic policies of the Armenian Crown after the Battle of Köse Dağ (1243) and the establishment of the Mongol-Armenian alliance. These developments shaped the nature of Armenian-Byzantine elite relations at the beginning of the reign of Michael VIII Palaiologos (1261–1282). In this context, the so-called “Greek conspiracy” against King Lewon II (1270–1289) is reexamined through Armenian and Syriac sources alongside the account of Georgios Pachymeres. The second section focuses on the diplomatic and dynastic contacts between the Ṙubenians and the Palaiologoi, particularly during the struggle among Lewon II’s sons for the Armenian throne (1290s–ca. 1310), when Byzantine involvement became significant. The final part highlights the Byzantine career of Guy de Lusignan, later King of Armenia (1342–1344), from his arrival in Constantinople in the late 1310s to his Greek matrimonial alliances, including his marriage into the family of Syrgiannes Palaiologos Philanthropenos. By integrating these episodes of political, matrimonial, and diplomatic engagement, this study situates the interactions among the Ṙubenians, Lusignans, and Palaiologoi within the broader network of inter-dynastic and interstate relations that shaped the late medieval eastern Mediterranean.