76 chapter three
gain, such as it was, could not even begin to outweigh the outright losses
incurred by the persian mongols in their policy of reconciliation with
egypt, a policy which they pursued at almost any price: the muslim ilkhan
did not hesitate to sacrifice the christian kingdom of cilicia’s fundamen-
tal interests, nor in doing so to offer the ancestral enemy a vital artery
which fed his own state.
cilician armenia was thus abandoned and without hope of support
from its nominal suzerain, even if this fond and oft-disappointed hope had
previously been the constant basis of its foreign policy: between 1282 and
1284, it found itself under enormous pressure from the south. the mam-
luk army invaded in full strength in 1283 and devastated the length and
breadth of the kingdom after brief resistance, as far as ayas, the famous
silk road port city on the mediterranean72 which it despoiled mercilessly.
further raids continued in the following year.73
finding himself at the mercy of the mamluks, King leon iii bowed to
necessity and in 1285 made an act of submission to sultan Qalāwūn. the
conditions imposed on the armenians were unusually harsh, and were to
be valid for ten years: they contained a clause which explicitly recognized
the change of suzerain and acknowledged that the principle purpose of the
“protection” offered by the sultan was to defend the kingdom against
“the long arms and superior might of the tartars.” the material profits
of the kingdom were also accordingly redirected: the annual tribute was
fixed at the exorbitant sum of one million dirhems, destined no longer for
tabriz but for cairo.74 the chief secretary of the mamluk chancery was
the chronicler ibn ‛abd al-Ẓāhir, who set out egypt’s gains in having the
cilician kingdom as a vassal: the tribute which could be extracted was
much greater than any profit from conquering and annexing armenia,
72 cf. the chapter ‘spese che si fanno ordinatamente a conducere mercatantia da laiazo
[= ayas] d’erminia infino a torissi per terra’ in pegolotti/evans, pp. 28–29; polo/Benedetto,
p. 13, was also palpably impressed by the high volume of trade in the city, which he visited
in 1271. large quantities of chinese silk (seta catuya) were already being shipped through
ayas to genoa by 1257–1258, whence they were then re-exported across the West (petech,
“marchands,” pp. 550–551, Bautier, “rélations,” pp. 290–291, papacostea, “gênes,” p. 215,
otten-froux, “aïas,” passim). the commentary of heyd, History, ii, pp. 72–92, contains a
thorough overview of cilicia’s great commercial emporium, and after the publication of his
monumental monograph further documents came to light which were comprehensively
assessed by Bautier, “relations,” pp. 280–282.
73 canard, “royaume,” pp. 246–247.
74 the treaty is published in makrīzī/Quatremère, ii/1, pp. 166–171, 201–202, and canard,
“royaume,” pp. 248–258 (a new translation with commentary); the tribute paid to the
ilkhanate in any one year had amounted to 30,000 dinars (spuler, Mongolen, p. 272; cf. also
pp. 251 ff., the chapter ‘geldverhältnisse’).