artaxata:Զապել Ա Ռուբենյան
artaxata:Զապել Ա Ռուբենյան Zabel I Roupenian, Queen of Cilician ArmeniaBorn in late January in either the year 1216 or 1217, Zabel (romanticized as Isabella), was the only daughter of Levon I the Magnificent, the first king of Armenian Cilicia and Sibylle de Lusignan. As the king had no sons, he named Zabel as his heir early in her life, making her the first woman to succeed the throne of Armenian Cilicia. After her fathers death in 1219 a marriage to her cousin Philip of Antioch was arranged. However, as Philip refused to live in Armenia or join the Armenian Church, and coupled with his politics in favor of alliances with Western Europe, he was arrested and executed in 1225. She was then forced to marry the 11-year-old Hetoum, and was coerced into a double coronation with him, making him Hetoum I of Armenia. Zabel would then flee to Seleucia, but the following year, she was forced to return to her capital of Sis. Zabel and Hetoum would co-reign until her death in 1252 during which they considerably expanded Armenia and allowed the arts to flourish. Her eldest son, Levon, became king in 1269 as Levon II when his father abdicated the throne.“The queen being near the end of her life, and staying in a place called Ked, she heard a voice from heaven, crying aloud, «come my dove, come my love, thy end is near.» She felt joyful on this happy vision, imparted it to the bystanders, and died in the Lord; her body was brought to the grave by a large assembly of the priesthood and laid in consecrated earth.”— Vahram of Edessa: The Rhymed Chronicle of Armenia Minor -- source link
#history#13th century#queens