The fall of Sis or the siege of Sis was the capture of Sis and the destruction of the

Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, also known as Cilician Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia, was an Armenian state formed during the High Middle Ages by Armenian ...

by the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

. It occurred on 13 April 1375.

Background

After Rumkale was

conquered Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or legal prohibitions against conquest ...

by Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil by in 1292, Sis became the Catholicos' residence. In 1266, the Egyptians looted and burnt the city following the Battle of Mari. In 1275, Sultan Baybars invaded

Cilician Armenia The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, also known as Cilician Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia, was an Armenians, Armenian state formed during the High Middle Ages b ...

, sacked its capital Sis (but not the citadel) and demolished the royal palace. A century later, in 1369 the Egyptians again conquered the city, but were forced to leave. Finally, in 1375 Sultan

Al-Ashraf Sha'ban Al-Ashraf Zayn ad-Din Abu al-Ma'ali Sha'ban ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun (, better known as al-Ashraf Sha'ban ( or Sha'ban II, was a Turk Mamluk sultan of the Bahri dynasty in 1363–1377. He was a grandson of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad (r. ...

decided to conquer the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia once and for all and annex it to the Egyptian Sultanate.

Siege

The Egyptian forces moved from

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

and met the Levantine forces in the city of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

. Then they moved from Aleppo and conquered all the Armenian cities until the capital Sis fell to them and the King of Armenia, Leo V, was captured on 13 April 1375 alongside his wife and his family. He was sent as a prisoner to Cairo and was marched in a victory parade. The Armenian king and his family remained captive here for 5 years until the King of Castile paid a large ransom to free him and his family.

References

Sources

* {{cite book , last=Dadoyan , first=Seta B. , title=The Armenians in the Medieval Islamic World: Armenian Realpolitik in the Islamic World and Diverging Paradigmscase of Cilicia Eleventh to Fourteenth Centuries , volume=2 , publisher=Transaction Publishers , location=New Brunswick, New Jersey , year=2013 , isbn=978-1-4128-4782-7 Conflicts in 1375 1375 in Asia Sieges involving the Mamluk Sultanate Battles involving the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia 14th century in the Mamluk Sultanate