The Rubenids or Roupenids were an Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

n dynasty

Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

 who dominated parts of Cilicia

Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...

, and who established the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , also known as the Cilician Armenia, Kingdom of Cilician Armenia or New Armenia, was an independent principality formed during the High Middle Ages by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia...

. The dynasty takes its name from its ancestor, the Armenian prince Ruben I

Ruben I of Armenia

Ruben I, , also Roupen I or Rupen I, was the first lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” . He declared the independence of Cilicia from the Byzantine Empire, thus formally founding the beginning of Armenian rule there...

. The Rubenids were princes, later kings, of Cilicia from around AD 1080 until they were surpassed by the Hethumids in the mid-thirteenth century.
The new Armenian state established very close relations with Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an countries and played a very important role during the Crusades

Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...

, providing the Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 armies a safe haven and provisions on their way towards Jerusalem. Intermarriage with European crusading families was common, and European religious, political, and cultural influence was strong.

Rubenid Princes of Armenia

• Roupen I (1080/1081/1082 – 1095)
• Constantine I (1095 – 1100/1102/1103)
• Thoros I (1100/1102/1103 – 1129/1130)
• Constantine II (1129/1130)
• Leo I (1129/1130 – 1137)
• Thoros II (1144/1145 – 1169)
• Roupen II (1169–1170)
• Mleh (1170–1175)
• Roupen III (1175–1187)
• Leo II (1187 – 1198/1199)

Rubenid Kings of Armenia

• Leo I (1198/1199 – 1219)
• Queen Isabella (1219–1252)