In addition, Levon II did everything in his power to strengthen the military power of New Armenia. In order to achieve this he increased the number of the soldiers in the army, dedicated more resources to their military training and hired more German, English, French and Italian officers for serving in the Armenian army. He also reinforced the border posts around the country.
When he realized that the survival of the country was entirely dependent on the power of the western world, he began actively to cooperate with Europe and its representatives in the East, the crusaders, and thereforehe first married Isabeu, the daughter of the Prince of Antiochia, and later Sybille who was a member of the Lusignan family. He was constantly in contact with the west; for instance, in May 12, 1192, he when he attended the wedding of King Richard III, ruler of England, and the princess from the famous Navarra family in Cyprus. 56
When the Kaiser of Germany, Fredrik Barbarossa (Red-beard), decided after the catastrophic defeat of Jerusalem, to initiate a new crusade, the preparations and planning were done in exemplary German manner, with extreme discipline and accuracy. In order to implement the plan, he found a friend and an ally who was no less than Levon II, the ruler of New Armenia, who promised that New Armenia would assist the Kaiser in his task.
Fredrik Barbarossa planned an enormous campaign. He wanted to see the resurrection of the Roman Empire through the unification of the Holy Germanic Empire in the west and the Eastern Roman Empire in the east. Paul Rohrbach points out that Fredrik Barbarossa had a special role for Armenia in this plan and therefore promised a royal crown to Levon II.
The German historian H. Prutz, author of a book on Fredrik Barbarossa, writes the following about the relationships between the Kaiser and Armenia: "Since the New Armenia was the most important spokesman for Christianity in the Orient, they had an important role. This was something which Fredrik Barbarossa came to realize but also the Armenians understood the advantages which they could achieve by establishing relationships with this mighty ruler. The victorious war which ended with Levon II's conquest of the Isauria from Konya was one of the reasons why the Armenian prince became the ally of Fredrik Barbarossa. The relationships between these two was established even before the German army reached Cilicia. The Kaiser, who had understood the real value of New Armenia and its important role, decided to resurrect the name of the Roman Empire which had been forgotten in this part of the world and named Levon II as the representative and heir to the Empire and thereby utilising Armenia in the creation of his dominion over the Orient." 57
In his book Prutz describes how the German army, exhausted and tired, having lost most its horses and provisions in the battle against the Seljuk Turks at Konya where the Turkish army had been annihilated, reached the border of Armenia. Fredrik Barbarossa was greeted by the personal envoy of Levon II on a mountainous passage in the Taurus Mountains and received the message of the promise of the Armenian prince of his assistance.
|
