Sempad, King of Armenia

Sempad of Armenia (also Smpad, Sambat, or Smbat, Armenian Սմբատ, * 1277, † 1308) was from 1296 to 1298 King of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. He was a son of Leo III. and Keran ( Kir Anna ), daughter of Prince Hethum of Lambron and belonged to the dynasty of the Hethumiden.

Sempad took over in 1296 with the support of his brother Constantine III. power in the Kingdom, as both brothers Hethum II and Thoros III. were on a trip to Constantinople Opel to Rita of Armenia, a sister of the four, with Michael IX. Palaiologos, married to the co-emperor Andronikos II. Hethum II and Thoros III. were captured on their return, and brought into the fortress Partzerpert where Sempad Hethum was blinded by cauterization partially.

On a trip to the court of the Il- Khan Ghazan Sempad reached the recognition of his position as king by the Mongol ruler of Persia, which was necessary in order to legitimize his usurpation. He received Ghazan a bride, possibly a relative of the Il- Khans to seal the alliance through a marriage.

On Sempads command Thoros III was. of Oschin, Marshal of Armenia, strangled on 23 July 1298 the fortress Partzerpert.

The Egyptian Mamluks invaded in 1297, plundering in Cilicia. Constantine turned against Sempad and freed Hethum. This took over in 1299 the power again after his eyesight had improved again. Hethum sent his two treacherous brothers to Constantinople Opel into exile. Sempad died in 1308 under mysterious circumstances when he tried to reconquer Armenian Cilicia. According to some sources he died aboard a Venetian ship between Cyprus and Cilicia, according to others he arrived in Cilicia, was captured and then killed.