Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership
Also see Armenia Ministers
B.C
12-15, 1-2/3
and
14-15
Queen Regnant Erato of Greater Armenia
378
Queen Regnant Zarmandukht of Greater Armenia
Her name is also spelled Zarmandux, she was widow of King Pap (known as
homosexual), who was killed on the orders of the Byzantine general Terent who
probably acted on the instigation of Musheg Mamikonean, after he had ordered the
death of the Catholicos, Nerses the Great, in 373. He was succeeded by his
cousin, Varazdat, who was on the throne until 378. She took power but from 378
until his death in 385, Manuel Mamikonean, was the real ruler of Armenia. He
ruled not as king, but as a "trustee" of the monarchy in the name of her son,
and kept both of them in the king's place and causing them to circulate around
in honor. He nourished her two sons Arshak and Vagharsha as his foster-children
and honoured her.
1219-52 Queen Regnant Zabel I. of Lesser Armenia (Cilicia) (Turkey/Syria)
Her father, Leo II had promished his nephew Raimond-Ruben de Antiochiaia, the
succession to the throne, but at his deathbed he named Zabel or Isabella, as his
heir. Her older sister, Stephanie, or her husband, Jean de Brienne, claimed the
title for her and their young son, but they died shortly after. And the Armenian
nobles follwed the wish of Leo II, and paid homage to her as their Queen, under
various male regents. She later ruled together with her two husbands; Phillip
1222-25 (he was poisoned) and Heton I (1226-1269). The Kingdom was established
with the Mongol invasion of mid-eleventh century Armenia, when a number of
Armenians, led by Prince Reuben, were pushed westwards. In 1080 they established
in Cilicia the kingdom of Lesser Armenia, centered on Tarsus, north of
Norman-controlled Antiochia and west of Edessa. Armenia Minor established very
close ties with the Crusader States. It was still threatened by Byzantium,
however, and appears to have come under Byzantine overlordship for short
periods. Zabel was daughter of King Leo II and Sibylla de Lusignan of
Cyprus-Jerusalem, mother of two sons and two daughters, and lived (circa 1212-52).
1219 Pretender Stephaine of Armenia
She and her husband, King Jean de Brienne of Jerusalem, claimed the throne of
Armenia instead of her younger sister, who had been proclaimed heir by their
father on his deathbed. Jean made preparations to attack Cilicia but she died
shortly after, apparently after being battered by himself after she had tried to
poison his daughter by his first wife. Their son also died shortly after. (d.
1219).
1344 Regent Dowager Queen Maria of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (Lesser
Armenia) (Syria and Turkey)
1363-73 Politically Active
After Constantine IV of Armenia, the first Latin king of the Armenian Kingdom of
Cilicia was killed in an uprising in 1344 after two years in office, she was
regent. The new king was a distant cousin, Constantine V of Armenia, who died of
natural causes in 1362. She then married Constantine VI another distant cousin,
who formed an alliance with Peter I of Cyprus, offering him the port and castle
of Corycus. On Peter's death in 1369, Constantine looked for a treaty with the
Sultan of Cairo. The barons were unhappy with this policy, fearing annexation by
the Sultan, and in 1373 Constantine was murdered. The year before she had sent a
letter to Pope Gregory XI requesting military help against the Moslems. After
her husband's death, the Pope urged her to marry Otto of Braunschweig. She was
daughter of Jeanne of Anjou, Princess of Tarent and Oshin Korikos (or Corycos),
who was regent of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from 1320-1329 during king Leo
V's minority. He was rumoured to have poisoned King Oshin and was probably
responsible for the deaths of Leo's father, Oshin's sister Isabella of Armenia
and two of her sons. He and his daughter, Alice was assassinated in 1329 at the
behest of her husband Leo V.
1974-ca.89
Vice-President Rama K. Svettova
Last update 10.07.05