Sempad the Constable
Encyclopedia
Sparapet
Sparapet was a hereditary military rank that originated in the 2nd century BC, under the reign of King Artashes I, and was used in the Kingdom of Armenia and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , was supreme commander of the armed forces. It was the equivalent of the Parthian Spahbod Sparapet was a...
, supreme commander of the Armenian armed forces. He was also a writer and translator, especially known for providing translations of various legal codes, and the creation of an important account of Cilician history, the Chronique du Royaume de Petite Armenie (Chronicle of the Kingdom of Little Armenia). He organized and fought in multiple battles, such as the Battle of Mari
Battle of Mari
The Battle of Mari, also called the Disaster of Mari, was a battle between the Mamluks of Egypt and the Armenians of Cilician Armenia on August 24, 1266....
, and was trusted by his brother King Hetoum to be a key negotiator with the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
.
Biography
At the time of Sempad's birth there were two key dynasties in Cilicia, the Rubenids and the Hetoumids, and he was related to both. Sempad was the son of Constantine of BaberonConstantine of Baberon
Constantine of Baberon was a powerful Armenian noble of the Hetoumids family. He was the son of Vassag, the maternal uncle of king Levon I of Armenia...
, and Partzapert (third cousin of Leo II of Armenia
Leo II of Armenia
Leo II , also Leon II, Levon II or Lewon II was the tenth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” , and the first king of Armenian Cilicia .During his reign, Leo succeeded in establishing Cilician Armenia as a powerful and a unified Christian...
). Other siblings included John the Bishop of Sis, Ochine of Korykos, Stephanie (later wife of King Henry I of Cyprus
Henry I of Cyprus
Henry I of Cyprus, nicknamed the Fat, aka Henry of Lusignan or Henri I le Gros de Lusignan was King of Cyprus from 1218 to 1253. He was the son of Hugh I of Cyprus and Alice of Champagne of Jerusalem. When his father Hugh I died on January 10, 1218, the 8-month-old Henry became king...
), and Hetoum, who became co-ruler in 1226. The earlier ruler had been Queen Isabella of Armenia
Queen Isabella of Armenia
Isabella I , also Isabel I or Zabel I, was the queen regnant of Cilician Armenia ....
, who was married to Philip, son of Bohemond IV of Antioch. Constantine arranged for Philip to be murdered in 1225, and forced Isabella to then marry his son Hetoum on June 4, 1226, making him the co-ruler, and then sole ruler after Isabella's death in 1252.
Historical context
Cilicia was a Christian country, that had ties to Europe and the Crusader States, and fought against the Muslims for control of the LevantLevant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
. The Mongols were also a threat, as Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
's Empire had been steadily pushing westward in its seemingly unstoppable advance. The Mongols had a deserved reputation for ruthlessness, giving new territories one opportunity to surrender, and if there was resistance, the Mongols moved in and slaughtered the local population.
In 1243, Sempad was part of the embassy to Caesarea (Kayseri
Kayseri
Kayseri is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and...
, where he negotiated with the Mongol leader Baiju
Baiju
Baiju was a Mongol commander in Persia appointed by Ögedei Khan to succeed Chormagan, and expand Mongol power further in that area....
. In 1246 and again in 1259, Sempad was in charge of organizing the defense of Cilicia against the invasion of the Sultanate of Rum
Sultanate of Rûm
The Sultanate of Rum , also known as the Anatolian Seljuk State , was a Turkic state centered in in Anatolia, with capitals first at İznik and then at Konya. Since the court of the sultanate was highly mobile, cities like Kayseri and Sivas also functioned at times as capitals...
. In 1247, when King Hetoum I decided that his wisest course of action was to peacefully submit to the Mongols, Sempad was sent to the Mongol court in Karakorum
Karakorum
Karakorum was the capital of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, and of the Northern Yuan in the 14-15th century. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of Mongolia, near today's town of Kharkhorin, and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu monastery...
. There, Sempad met Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
's brother Mongke Khan
Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan , born Möngke, , was the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from July 1, 1251 – August 11, 1259. He was the first Great Khan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms to improve the administration of the Empire during his reign...
, and made an alliance between Cilicia and the Mongols, against their common enemy the Muslims. The nature of this relationship is described differently by various historians, some of whom refer to it as an alliance, while others describe it as a submission to Mongol overlordship, making Armenia a vassal state. Historian Angus Donal Stewart, in "Logic of Conquest", described it as, "The Armenian king saw alliance with the Mongols – or, more accurately, swift and peaceful subjection to them – as the best course of action." Armenian military leaders were required to serve in the Mongol army, and many of them perished in Mongol battles.
During his 1247-1250 visit to the Mongol court, Sempad received a relative of the Great Khan as a bride. He had a son with her, named Vasil Tatar, who would later be captured by the Mamluks at the Battle of Mari
Battle of Mari
The Battle of Mari, also called the Disaster of Mari, was a battle between the Mamluks of Egypt and the Armenians of Cilician Armenia on August 24, 1266....
in 1266.
Sempad returned to Cilicia in 1250, though he returned to Mongolia in 1254, accompanying King Hetoum on his own visit to the court of the Great Khan, Mongke
Mongke
Mongke means "eternal" in Mongolian language and may refer to:-Medieval:* Möngke Khan , Great khan of the Mongol Empire* Yesü Möngke, khan of Chagatai khanate, 1247-1252* Mengu-Timur Mongke (also Mönkh, Monkh, Munkh) means "eternal" in Mongolian language and may refer to:-Medieval:* Möngke Khan...
.
Sempad died in 1276 either in the Second Battle of Sarvandik'ar
Second Battle of Sarvandik'ar
The Second Battle of Sarvandik'ar was fought in 1276 A.D. between an army of the Mamluks of Egypt and a unit of Cilician Armenians, in a mountain pass that separates Eastern Cilicia and Northern Syria...
, fighting against the Mamluks of Egypt, or against an invasion of the Turcomans
Turkmen people
The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...
from Marash. The Armenians won the battle, but Sempad and several other barons were lost.
Judge
Sempad was a member of the Armenian supreme court, the Verin or Mec Darpas, which examined government policies and the legal codes. He created a translation of the AssizesAssizes
Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to::;in common law countries :::*assizes , an obsolete judicial inquest...
of Antioch (a legal code) from French, and also created in Middle Armenian
Middle Armenian
Middle Armenian , also called Cilician Armenian, corresponds to the second period in written Armenian with which numerous books were published between the 12th and 18th centuries...
a Datastanagirk (codex), which was based on and adapted from the earlier work of Mkhitar Gosh
Mkhitar Gosh
Mkhitar Gosh was an Armenian scholar, writer, public figure, thinker, and priest. He was born in the city of Gandzak. He got his early education from public institutions. When he reached his adolescence he decided to dedicate his life to church...
.
Writer
Sempad is best known for providing eyewitness written accounts of his era. He wrote the "Chronique du Royaume de Petite Arménie" (History of the Kingdom of Little Armenia) which begins around 951/952, and ends in 1274, two years before his death. He worked from older sources in Armenian, Syriac, Christian, and possibly Byzantine sources, as well as from his own observations. Sempad's writings are considered a valuable resource by historians, although some have criticized them as unreliable, as Sempad was often writing for reasons of propaganda rather than history.Multiple translations exist of the work, in varying levels of completeness. According to historian Angus Donal Stewart, there are both French and English translations, which cover the period up until the 1270s. In the 19th century, it was translated by Eduard Dulaurier and published in Receuil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Armeniens I, together with some other continuation excerpts by an anonymous author which cover the period after Sempad's death, up through the 1330s. This edition also includes excerpts from the work of Nerses Balients
Nerses Balients
Nerses Balients, also Nerses Balienc or Nerses Bagh'on, was a Christian Armenian monk of the early 14th century. He is mainly known for writing a history of the Kingdom of Cilician Armenia...
, who was writing in the later fourteenth century.
Sempad was enthusiastic about his travel to the Mongol realm, which lasted between 1247 to 1250. He sent letters to Western rulers of Cyprus and the Principality of Antioch
Principality of Antioch
The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade.-Foundation:...
, describing a Central Asian realm of oasis with many Christians, generally of the Nestorian rite.
On February 7, 1248, Sempad sent a letter from Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
to his brother-in-law Henry I, king of Cyprus
Henry I of Cyprus
Henry I of Cyprus, nicknamed the Fat, aka Henry of Lusignan or Henri I le Gros de Lusignan was King of Cyprus from 1218 to 1253. He was the son of Hugh I of Cyprus and Alice of Champagne of Jerusalem. When his father Hugh I died on January 10, 1218, the 8-month-old Henry became king...
(who was married to Sempad's sister Stephanie (Etienette):
One of Sempad's letters was read by Louis IX of France
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
during his 1248 stay in Cyprus, which encouraged him to send ambassadors to the Mongols, in the person of the Franciscan William of Rubruck
William of Rubruck
William of Rubruck was a Flemish Franciscan missionary and explorer. His account is one of the masterpieces of medieval geographical literature comparable to that of Marco Polo....
, who went to visit the Great Khan Möngke
Mongke
Mongke means "eternal" in Mongolian language and may refer to:-Medieval:* Möngke Khan , Great khan of the Mongol Empire* Yesü Möngke, khan of Chagatai khanate, 1247-1252* Mengu-Timur Mongke (also Mönkh, Monkh, Munkh) means "eternal" in Mongolian language and may refer to:-Medieval:* Möngke Khan...
.
Primary sources
- Sempad the Constable, Chronique du Royaume de Petite Armenie, trans. and editions by Duraulier, in Receuil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Armeniens I, French translation: p.610 et seq.
- Assises d'Antioche, French translation by Leon Alishan, of Sempad's Armenian translation of the now-lost Old French original
External links
- Smbat Sparapet's Chronicle Translated by Robert Bedrosian.
- Letter of Smbat Constable to King Henry I of Cyprus, ca. 1248