Kingdom of Armenia

[Richardhwinn]

Hello, does anyone have any information concerning this monarchy and any chance of a possible claimant to this defunct throne. I've heard that the Crown Prince Vittorio Emmanuele of Italy has a claim but I also read that the Bagration dynasty (a branch of the Royal House of Georgia and Imereti) was Kings of Armenia at one point in the history. Thank you in advance

[Warren]

The Kingdom of Armenia came to an end in 1045 when the last King of the Bagratuni dynasty, Gagik II, was forced to cede his kingdom of Ani to the Byzantine Empire. By that stage the Kingdom of Armenia had been dismembered and Ani was the last remnant. It is believed that the Bagrations of Georgia are an offshoot of the Bagratunis.

Prince Ruben, a Bagratuni and relation of Gagik II, founded the Rubenid dynasty and what became the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. As the surrounding Mongols became Muslim and the Crusader states disintegrated, Christian Cilicia was left without any regional allies. Under the Lusignan dynasty (which had married into the Rubenids) the Kingdom fell to the Mamluks in 1375.

The claim to the Kingdom of Armenia then fell to the Cypriot branch of the Lusignans who styled themselves Kings of Jerusalem and Cyprus. The last ruling monarchs were Charlotte I followed by her usurping half-brother James II. James died in 1473 but had a posthumous son, James III, who died a year later. Venetian merchants had a significant presence in Cyprus and both deaths were suspicious; soon after the death of the baby James the Venetian Republic took control and made Cyprus a Venetian colony.

The usurped Queen Charlotte, married to her cousin Louis of Savoy, outlived her half-brother and his son. Two years before she died in 1487 she resigned her claims in favour of the next legitimate heir, Charles I of Savoy, her 1st cousin once removed.

Hence the Savoy claim to the title of King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, and if they wanted to push it, to the Kingdom of Armenia.