Categories: HistoryPeople

How Guillaume de Lusignan Became King of Armenia

We present to your attention one French miniature. It is part of the famous French manuscript collection created in 1401–1405 and called “Le Roman de Mélusine.” It is now stored in Paris in the National Library of France.

The miniature depicts the founding of the Lusignan dynasty in Cilician Armenia in 1343 when Guy (Guillaume) de Lusignan acceded to the throne as King of Armenia Constantine II.

The miniature symbolically depicts the presentation of the crown of Cilician Armenia to Guy de Lusignan. It also bears the inscription “How Guillaume de Lusignan became King of Armenia.”

Constantine II (also Constantine III or IV, died April 17, 1344) was the king of Cilician Armenia in 1342-1344 from the Lusignan dynasty. He was the founder of the Armenian branch of the French noble Lusignan House which ruled the Cilician Kingdom until its fall in 1375.

Constantine was the son of the lord of Tyre Amalric from the Lusignan dynasty and the Armenian princess Isabella, daughter of the Cilician King Levon III from the Hethumid dynasty.

Ruben Shukhyan

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Tork Angegh: Storm, Stone, and the Oldest Face of the Armenian Pantheon

Long before Armenia's kings raised churches over pagan sanctuaries, before Hellenism folded Vahagn into Herakles…

2 days ago

The Goat on the Armenian Highland: A Symbol Older Than Writing

Introduction Long before Urartian kings inscribed their names in cuneiform on the cliffs of Van,…

5 days ago

“Summon Against Her the Kingdoms of Ararat”: Urartu-Armenia in the Prophecy Against Babylon

A Coalition Beneath the Mountain Among the oracles of judgment collected in the Book of…

6 days ago

The Tower That Never Left Us: From the Susi Shrine of Ancient Van to the Obelisk Above the Yerevan Cascade

If you have ever climbed the Cascade in Yerevan and looked up at the tall,…

1 week ago

Hayravank Monastery: The “Father Monastery” of Lake Sevan and the Legend of the Doves

On a rocky promontory above the southwestern shore of Lake Sevan, at an elevation of…

2 weeks ago

Scythian Ceremonial Swords and the Art of the Van Kingdom (Urartu)

Among the most arresting objects to survive from the Early Iron Age Near East are…

2 weeks ago