Origin of the Name Lampron
From the First Crusade to the Kingdom of Cilicia

 

The French - Armenian Connection Following is an excerpt from an article written by: Jean Claude Kebabdjian - 3/1/1995 ]France: The Birth of a Community

Paris — An Armenian-style church at Germigny-des-PrËs south of Pithiviers on the River Loire, lost like a lonely jewel in the depths of France, is one of the examples of early contacts between the French and Armenian people dating back to between the 10th and 12th centuries. Religious contacts were established during this period and these are documented in the country’s oldest historical records. The French were in no doubt, even back then, that Armenians would play an important role in the future. The Crusaders were a glorious turning point. Political and commercial links flourished between the French and Armenians. First of all there were blood ties, stretching right up to almost the royal palaces. The last Regent of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , Leon VI of Lusignan, of French stock, died in 1393 in Paris and was buried at the Saint Denis Basilica just to the north of the French capital.  Re: http://www.agbu.org/publications/article.asp?A_ID=87 Franco-Armenian relations have existed since the French and the Armenians established contact in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and are close to this day. 2006 was proclaimed the Year of Armenia in France.

Run mouse over communes marked in red

Germigny-des-PrËss: Germigny-des-Prés is a commune (city) in the Loiret department in north-central France. It is located between La Charité-sur-Loire and Orléans on the Loire River. Early Armenian settlers migrating from Cilicia to France between the 10th and 12th centuries, settled at Germigny-des-Prés. It's location is about sixty miles from LaCharite Loire where the earliest known ancestor of the Lampron family tree (Jehan Laspron) was born and raised during the 16th century.

 

The House of Lampron

The historical origin of the name Lampron represents a bloodline dating back before the First Crusade and the Siege of Jerusalem from 1095-1099. During the crusades, Armenia was the last Christian safe haven for the Crusaders before facing the Islamic armies of Syria and Palestine. The Hethumid Dynasty, also known as the House of Lampron , were the rulers of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from 1226 to 1373. Cilicia was a state formed in the Middle Ages by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk (Turks) invasion of Armenia. The Seljuk empire was a Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries.

Armenia falls under the Turks 

The Greek dominance in Armenia ended in 1071, after the famous Battle of Manzikert. An army of 100,000 Byzantines (Eastern Roman Empire) including the Armenian forces met with the huge army of Seljuks under Alp Aslan. The Christians led by the Emperor Romanus Diogenes were defeated, and Romanus was imprisoned by Alp Aslan. The Turks took control over all of Greater Armenia.


Migration to Cilicia

After the devastating raids of Seljuks thousands of Armenians moved to Cilicia.

Cilicia was a commonly used name of the south coastal region of Asia Minor. It existed as a political entity from ancient times into the Byzantine empire. Cilicia extends inland from the southeastern coast of modern Turkey, due north and northeast of the island of Cyprus and comprises about a third of the land area of modern Turkey.  East of Cilicia lie the rugged Taurus Mountains that separate it from the high central plateau of Turkey, which is pierced by a narrow gorge, called in Antiquity the Cilician Gates.

Cilicia was a strong ally of the European Crusaders, and saw itself as a bastion of Christendom in the East.  Major cities and castles of the kingdom included the Ports of  Lampron and Babaron, both located at the southern end of the Cilician Gates, both would eventually be controlled by the former Byzantine general Oshin of Gandzak, founder of the important Hethumid dynasty.

Oshin and The House of Lampron

Oshin of Gandzak was an Armenian  nakharar which is a hereditary title of the highest order given to houses of the ancient and medieval Armenian nobility. He was the formal lord of a fortress near Gandzak, an important city in Caucasian Albania, which at the time was part of the Great Seljuk Empire during the 11th century. According to some legends and ancient sources, Arran was the name of the legendary founder of Caucasian Albania, and was the grandson of Noah, whose ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, the highest peak of the Armenian Highland, located in present day Turkey.

A painting by the American Edward Hicks (1780–         1849), showing the animals boarding Noah's Ark two         by two.

Before the beginning of the First Crusades in the early 1070's, Prince Oshin migrated to Cilicia and founded the House of Lampron that ruled the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in the 12th century. Oshin was disappointed with the inability of the Byzantines to protect him against the advance of the Seljuk Turks, so he fled west from his fortress near Gandzak to Cilicia in 1072. With him, he brought his brother Halgamand and his wife, and other nobles. 

 Abul Gharib Artsruni, who was a relative of Oshin, and also the Byzantine governor of Cilicia under the rule of the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, gave Oshin two forts in western Cilicia: Lampron and Barbaron at Tarsus near the Cilician Gates. Oshin then took the name Lampron and established the House of Lampron, and the beginning of the Hethumid Dynasty.

During this period of unrest between Christians and Muslims, the Byzantine Emperor had no objections to seeing the Armenians becoming a buffer between him and the invading Seljuks. As an acknowledgement of their services, the emperor confirmed Oshin and two other Armenian leaders as members of the Imperial Court of Rome,

The Lampron Castle  

The Lampron castle was built deep in the Taurus Mountains, north of Tarsus on the peninsula of a spur running down from the Bulgar Dag. It could only be approached through the narrow valleys which passed through the Cilician Gates. Lampron was the key to the Cilician Gates, it was impregnable, and it represented a superb defensive position against invading forces. From this formidable point, Oshin derived all his power. It was his insurance of safety in what could be then described as a disturbed world. Much depended on it's strength.

Thus, those who held Lampron possessed a position of great strength and potential strategic importance. They were safe from the tides of conquest that swept over the Taurus mountains; their castle invited no idle siege yet at the moment of their choice they could bar the Gates or take a hand in the politics of the plain. Throughout the Armenian occupation, the lords of Lampron employed this position to great effect. Often in alliance with the powers north of the Taurus, they played the part of a counterweight to those who were trying to establish themselves in the Cilician Plain. This is a role they continued to fill despite the ties of religion or family loyalty. More than anything else Lampron invited independence.

During the year 1097, Baldwin of Boulogne broke away from the main body of the crusaders with Tancred, Prince of Galilee, to march into Cilicia.  Prince Tancred was surely seeking to capture some land and establish himself as a petty ruler in the east, and Baldwin may have had the same goal. During the march through Cilicia, Tancred, who was very distrustful of the Byzantines, captured Tarsus and other cities in Cilicia.

In September of 1097 Baldwin took Tarsus from Tancred, and installed his own garrison in the city, with help from a fleet of pirates.

After Baldwin took Tarsus from Tancred, who had recently captured the city, Oshin sent an ambassador to Tancred advising him to attack Mamistra, an ancient city of Cilicia. Oshin was thus in a position to support either Baldwin or Tancred. Once the Crusaders moved on to Antioch, Oshin provided them with provisions, eager to have them leave Cilicia.

Tancred and Baldwin's armies skirmished briefly at Mamistra, but the two never came to open warfare and Tancred marched on towards Antioch.

Armenians attempt to liberate their lands

In the 12th century and in the beginning of the 13th century, a number of Armenian nobles joined with the neighboring Georgians, in an attempt to liberate the Armenian lands. After a number of uprisings that took place in 1124, 1161 and 1174, the Seljuk rule was overthrown in different cities of Greater Armenia.

The Mongols invade Armenia

The short revival in Armenia ended with the first Mongol invasions in the early 1220's. During the next 100 years the country was subjected to new campaigns of terror and destruction. Many cities  were destroyed, plundered and set ablaze. After the census taken in 1254, the population was overtaxed. The Mongol invaders demanded the most severe taxes, more than a man could bear They harassed the people with incredible beatings and tortures… Those who hid were seized and killed.

A number of rebellions led by Armenian and Georgian lords were brutally crushed by Mongols.
From the beginning of the 14th century, the Mongol dominance in the region began to recede. During this time, numerous Turkoman nomadic tribes invade the Armenian lands. Different parts of Armenia become the theater of warfare for the various nomadic clans, such as Kara Koyunlu (Black Sheep) and Ak Koyunlu (White Sheep)
 

Armenians migrate to France

Of historic significance was the mass immigration of the Armenians into Cilicia, which had began even before the first division of Armenia. The migration from Armenia to Cilicia increased markedly in the 10th and 11th centuries, when the Seljuk invasion displaced numerous large-scale manor chiefs, heads of princely families with their retinue, and military leaders with their soldiers. Before long, the Armenians gained dominant positions in many areas of Cilician society and eventually established their own principality and, later, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia . The Catholics of the Armenian Apostolic Church moved to the Cilician capital of Sis as well, staying there until 1441. Although a great number of Armenians migrated from Cilicia to Italy , Syria , France , and elsewhere after the fall of the Armenian kingdom there in 1375, Cilicia would remain home to a significant portion of the Armenian people until late 1921.

Leo IV, the last king of the Hethumid Dynasty

The Hethumids, known as the House of Lampron, ruled Cilicia until the murder of Leon V in 1341, when his cousin Guy Lusignan was elected king. The Lusignan dynasty was of French origin, and already had a foothold in the area as the Lords of Cyprus. There had always been close relations between the Lusignans of Cyprus and the Armenians. However, when the pro-Latin Lusignans took power, they tried to impose Catholicism and the European way of life. The Armenian leadership largely accepted this, but the peasantry opposed the changes. Eventually, this led way to civil strife. The last Lusignan King of Cilicia Armenia, Levon VI, defeated by the Mameluks, was taken captive to Egypt. Ransomed by the Europeans, he went to France and died in Paris in 1393.

He was buried in the church of St. Denis, the burial place of the Kings of France. The Kingdom of Cilicia came to a close. Armenia would not have an independent government 
again until 1918.

The tie between the Lusignan and Lampron bloodlines can be traced historically to the 13th century when Anna de Lampron was Queen Keran of Armenia with her husband Leo II.

Important Note:

To my knowledge, there exist no records or documents directly connecting the present day Lamprons with the Armenian descendants of Cilicia or The House of Lampron.

However, there does exist the probability that Armenians migrating to France from Cilicia, between 1375 and 1570, may have used the name Lampron as a surname, which could have changed to Laspron. There is evidence of Armenians settling in at Germigny-des-Prés, a district in Loiret, France, about 80 miles north of Nievre, France. Lampron ancestors have roots in La Charité-sur-Loire, which is located within Nievre.

La Charité-sur-Loire is the birthplace of Jean Baptiste Laspron, the ancestor of all present day Lamprons living in Canada and the United States.
 

 

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The Lampron - Lusignan Bloodline

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