Hethum II of Armenia (1266-17 November 1307) was King of Armenian Cilicia from 1289 to 1293 (succeeding Leo III and preceding Thoros III), from 1294 to 1296 (succeeding Thoros and preceding Smbat IV), and from 1299 to 1305 (succeeding Constantine III and preceding Leo IV).
Biography[]
Hethum was born in 1266, the son of King Leo III of Armenia. He took the throne on his father's death in 1289, and, in 1292, the Mameluke sultan al-Ashraf Khalil invaded Armenian Cilicia; Hethum was forced to abandon Marash, Behesni, and Tel Hamdoun to the Egyptians in order to stave off their invasion. In 1293, Hethum abdicated in favor of his brother Thoros III of Armenia. In 1295, Thoros asked Hethum to return to the throne to help renew the Mongol alliance, and they placed the throne under the regency of their brother Smbat while they were on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople. Smbat and their other brother Constantine III usurped the throne from 1293 to 1294 and from 1296 to 1299, partially blinding Hethum through cauterization. Hethum had partially recovered by the time he returned to the throne in 1299, and he allied with the Mongols to fight the Egyptian Mamelukes in Syria. In December 1299, the allies defeated the Mamelukes at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, took Damascus, and regained all of the Armenian territory lost to the Mamelukes. The Egyptian forces were forced to retreat to Gaza and then into Egypt proper as the Mongols raided Palestine, but the Mamelukes counterattacked in 1303 and defeated the allies at the Battle of Shaqhab. Hethum then abdicated for a third time, passing the crown to Thoros' son Leo IV of Armenia. On 17 November 1307, Hethum and Leo were murdered by the renegade Mongol general Bilarghu due to Hethum's refusal to build a mosque in Sis.