After
Rumkale was
conquered by Sultan
al-Ashraf Khalil by in 1292,[6]Sis became the Catholicos' residence. In 1266, the Egyptians looted and burnt the city following the
Battle of Mari.[7] In 1275, Sultan
Baybars invaded
Cilician Armenia, 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 decided to conquer the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia once and for all and annex it to the
Egyptian Sultanate.[8][1][2]
Siege
The Egyptian forces moved from
Cairo and met the Levantine forces in the city of
Aleppo. 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.[9][2][1] 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.[1][2][3][5]
^Stewart, A. D. (2006). Qal'at al-Rūm/Hromgla/Rumkale and the Mamluk Siege of 691ah/1292ce. In H. N. Kennedy (Ed.), Muslim Military Architecture in Greater Syria: From the Coming of Islam to the Ottoman Period (pp. 269-280). Brill.
^Mack Chahin, The Kingdom of Armenia: A History, p. 253
^Sanjian, Avedis (1969). Colophons of Armenian Manuscripts, 1301-1408: A Source for Middle Eastern History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard U.P. pp. 92, 95, 99, 111, 294.
Dadoyan, Seta B. (2013). The Armenians in the Medieval Islamic World: Armenian Realpolitik in the Islamic World and Diverging Paradigmscase of Cilicia Eleventh to Fourteenth Centuries. Vol. 2. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
ISBN978-1-4128-4782-7.