Levon II of Armenia (King)

Leo III Լևոն Գ
Portrait of Prince Levon by Toros Roslin, 1250.
King of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
Reign	1269/1270 – 1289
Predecessor	Hetoum I
Successor	Hetoum II
Spouse	Keran of Lampron
Issue …among others	Hethum II Thoros III Sempad Isabella of Armenia, Princess of Tyre Constantine ! Rita, Byzantine Empress Oshin
House	Lambron
Father	Hetoum I
Mother	Queen Zabel of Armenia

Leo II or Leon II (occasionally numbered Leo III; Armenian: Լեւոն Բ, Levon II; c. 1236 – 1289) was king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, ruling from 1269/1270 to 1289. He was the son of King Hetoum I and Queen Isabella and was a member of the Hetoumid family.

Leo was born in 1236, the son of King Hetoum I and Queen Isabella. Hetoum and Isabella's marriage in 1226 had been a forced one by Hetoum's father Constantine of Baberon, who had arranged for Queen Isabella's first husband to be murdered so as to put Constantine's own son Hetoum in place as a co-ruler with Isabella. They had six children, of which Leo was the eldest. One of his sisters was Sibylla of Armenia, who was married to Bohemond VI of Antioch to bring peace between Armenia and Antioch.

In 1262 Leo married Keran (Kir Anna), the daughter of Prince Hetoum of Lampron.

In 1266, while their father king Hetoum I was away to visit the Mongol court, Leo and his younger brother Thoros fought to repel Mamluk invaders, at the Battle of Mari. Thoros was killed in combat, and Leo, along with 40,000 other Armenian soldiers was captured and imprisoned. When King Hetoum returned, he paid a large ransom to retrieve his son, including a large quantity of money, handing over several fortresses, and accepting to intercede with the Mongol ruler Abagha in order to have one of Baibars's relatives freed.

Hetoum I abdicated in 1269 in favour of his son, and entered the Franciscan order. He died a year later. The new king Leo II was known as a pious king, devoted to Christianity. He pursued active commercial relations with the West, by renewing trade agreements with the Italians and establishing new ones with the Catalans. He also endeavoured to reinforce the Mongol alliance, as his father Hetoum I had submitted Armenia to Mongol authority in 1247.