Hethum I of Armenia (1210-1271) was the king of Little Armenia from 1226 to 1270, succeeding Isabella of Armenia and preceding Leo II of Armenia.
Biography[]
Hethum was born in 1210 to a family of Miaphysite Christian Armenians that would become House of Hetoumi, named for him. He was the son of Constantine of Baberon, and in 1226 he became the king of New Armenia when Queen Isabella of Armenia was forced to marry him; she did not live with him for a while until she finally relented. Hethum met Guyuk Khan in 1247, and the agreement secured Armenia as an ally of the Mongol Empire. In 1258 Armenian troops helped the Mongols in the sack of Baghdad and in 1260 they helped in the capture of Aleppo and the sack of Damascus. However, in 1260 the Qutuzid Sultanate defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut and recaptured Syria, and in 1266 the Mamelukes of the Qutuzids invaded Armenia and took 40,000 Armenians (including Hethum's son, the future Leo II of Armenia) hostage. He ransomed his son by conceding territory to Egypt, and in 1268 the Principality of Antioch was conquered by the Mamelukes. In 1270 Hethum abdicated in favor of Leo, and he died in a monastery as a monk in 1271.