ARMENIA - Oshin - King: 1308-1320 A.D.
Copper Pogh 20mm (3.1 grams) Sis mint: 1308-1320 A.D.
Reference: Nercessian 448
Obverse: King seated on bench-like throne holding cross in right hand, a
fleur-de-lys in left.
Clockwise legend, (Oshin king of the Armenians).
Reverse: Ornate cross. Clockwise legend, (struck in the city of Sis).
Oshin - Armenian King: 1308-1320 A.D.
Oshin returned to Tarsus where he was crowned king. His call for help from the
West remained unanswered. The Mamluk sultan al-Nasir al-Din Muhammad, with
20,000 Egyptian troops and in alliance with the Turks of Iconium, invaded
Cilician Armenia and advanced as far as Sis and Ayas without opposition. In
September 1320, Oshin Baille with Constable Gosdantin, the king's brother,
attacked and surrounded the enemy in Ayas. The enemy left behind 6,000 dead and
the rest were driven out of Cilicia. When the victorious Armenian army entered
Sis, Oshin had already died on July 20, 1320.
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HETOUM I
(1226-1270)
In 1226, with the consent of catholicos (supreme patriarch)
of the Armenian Church and the nobility, Zabel was married to Hetoum, son of
Gosdantin Bailie of the House of Lampron. The reign of Hetoum was the longest of
all the rulers of Cilician Armenia. In 1233, Sultan Kaiqobad of Iconium invaded
Cilicia. Hetoum made peace with the Seljuks and struck bilingual coins to mark
the treaty.
Around this time, the Mongols started invading Transcaucasia and Asia Minor.
They swept through Armenia proper and Georgia during 1235-1242. The Mongols were
approaching the borders of Cilician Armenia. Hetoum recognized that only an
alliance with the Mongols could save his kingdom. First, he sent his brother
Constable Smpad to Karakorum. In 1253, Hetoum himself went to Asia to visit the
Great Mangou Khan. In 1257, Houlagu Khan advanced as far as center of Asia Minor
and then captured Baghdad in 1258. Nothing but ruin remained in the wake of the
Mongol conquerors. Hetoum's wisdom saved Cilician Armenia from complete
destruction.
After the Mongol power faded in Asia Minor and Syria, the Ar-menians and
Christian principalities experienced invasions from the Egyptian Mamluks. While
Hetoum was visiting the Ilkhanid court in Iran, Baybars, the Mamluk sultan of
Egypt, attacked Cilician Armenia in 1266. Hetoum's sons Levon and Toros raised
an army to meet the enemy. Toros was killed and Levon was taken prisoner. Hetoum
obtained peace from the enemy but the terms were heavy. As soon as the captive
prince returned home, Hetoum relinquished the crown in favor of his son and
withdrew to a monastery, where he died in 1270.
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