Editing Hethum II (section)

==Third reign==

[[Image:Mongol raids into Syria and Palestine ca 1300.svg|thumb|left|1299/1300 Mongol offensive in the Levant]]
[[Image:BattleOfHoms1299.JPG|thumb|right|The Armenians fought with the Mongols (left) and vanquished the Mamluks (right) at the 1299 [[Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar|Battle of Homs]].  (''[[Hayton of Corycus#History of the Tartars|History of the Tatars]]'')]]
[[Image:HetoumIIPartingWithGhazan1303.jpg|thumb|Hethum II (left) parting from Ghazan and his Mongols in 1303 (''[[Hayton of Corycus#History of the Tartars|History of the Tatars]]'')<ref name=mutafian-73/>]] 
In 1299, Hethum, recovered at least partially from his blindness, ousted Constantin and once again resumed the crown. Soon thereafter, he again sought assistance from [[Ghazan]]'s Mongols,<ref name=demurger-142>Demurger, pp. 142–143</ref> and fought against the Mamluks in Syria. The combined forces achieved a major victory at the December 1299 [[Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar]]<ref name=demurger-142/> (sometimes called the Battle of Homs), taking [[Damascus]], and Hethum was able to regain all of the Armenian territory which had previously been lost to the Mamluks.<ref name=kurkjian-204/>  One group of Mongols split off from Ghazan's army and was even able to launch some [[Mongol raids into Palestine]], pursuing the retreating Egyptian Mamluk troops as far south as [[Gaza City|Gaza]],<ref>Demurger, p.142 "The Mongols pursued the retreating troops towards the south, but stopped at the level of Gaza"</ref> pushing them back to Egypt.

According to modern traditions, Hethum may have visited [[Jerusalem]] in 1300 during this time.<ref name=demurger-142/> However, historians disagree as to whether or not the visit actually occurred. Angus Donal Stewart points out that the source of the tradition, a medieval account by the Armenian historian [[Nerses Balients]], does not match with any other accounts by any other historians of the time period, and was simply written as Armenian propaganda of the time.<ref>Stewart, ''Armenian Kingdom and the Mamluks'', p. 14. "At one point, 'Arab chroniclers' are cited as being in support of an absurd claim made by a later Armenian source, but on inspection of the citations, they do no such thing." Also Footnote #55, where Stewart further criticizes Schein's work: "The Armenian source cited is the ''[[RHC Arm. I]]'' version of the 'Chronicle of the Kingdom', but this passage was in fact inserted into the translation of the chronicle by its editor, Dulaurier, and originates in the (unreliable) work of Nerses Balienc... The "Arab chroniclers" cited are Mufaddal (actually a Copt; the edition of Blochet), al-Maqrizi (Quatremere's translation) and al-Nuwayrf. None of these sources confirm Nerses' story in any way; in fact, as is not made clear in the relevant [Schein] footnote, it is not the text of al-Nuwayrf that is cited, but D.P. Little's discussion of the writer in his ''Introduction to Mamluk Historiography'' (Montreal 1970; 24–27), and in that there is absolutely no mention made of any Armenian involvement at all in the events of the year. It is disappointing to find such a cavalier attitude to the Arabic source material." and "Echoes of Hayton's ''Flor des estoires'' especially can be found in many works that touch on the kingdom, while this is an extremely tendentious work, designed to be a piece of propaganda." Stewart, p. 15</ref><ref>Amitai, ''Mongol Raids into Palestine, 1987</ref> However, Claude Mutafian, in ''Le Royaume Arménien de Cilicie'', suggests that it may have been on this occasion that Hethum remitted his amber scepter to the Armenian convent of [[Cathedral of St. James, Jerusalem|Saint James of Jerusalem]].<ref name=mutafian-73>Claude Mutafian, pp. 73–75</ref>

{{quote|The king of Armenia, back from his raid against the Sultan, went to Jerusalem. He found that all the enemies had been put to flight or exterminated by the Tatars, who had arrived before him. As he entered into Jerusalem, he gathered the Christians, who had been hiding in caverns out of fright. During the 15 days he spent in Jerusalem, he held Christian ceremonies and solemn festivities in the Holy Sepulchre. He was greatly comforted by his visits to the places of the pilgrims. He was still in Jerusalem when he received a certificate from the Khan, bestowing him Jerusalem and the surrounding country. He then returned to join Ghazan in Damas, and spend the winter with him|[[Nerses Balients]], in [[Recueil des Historiens des Croisades]], Historiens Armeniens I, p.660<ref>[http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/CadresFenetre?O=NUMM-51557&M=imageseule Historiens Armeniens, p.660]</ref>}}

Speculation aside, the Mongols retreated northwards a few months later, and the Mamluks reclaimed Palestine with little resistance.

Hethum's gains against the Mamluks were short-lived, as in 1303, the Mamluks counter-attacked from Egypt. The Armenians again joined forces with a sizable number of Mongol troops, 80,000, on a Syrian offensive, but they were defeated at Homs on 30 March 1303, and at the decisive [[Battle of Marj al-Saffar (1303)|Battle of Shaqhab]] (Merj-us-Safer), south of Damas, on 21 April 1303.<ref name=demurger-158>Demurger, p. 158</ref> This campaign is considered to be the last major Mongol invasion of Syria.<ref>Nicolle, p. 80</ref> Hethum retreated to Ghazan's court in [[Mosul|Moussoul]], and then again resigned his crown.  His brother Thoros III having been killed in 1298, Hethum passed the crown to Thoros's teenaged son, [[Leo III of Armenia|Leo III]].  Hethum retired to a monastery, although as Leo was not yet an adult, Hethum retained the office of Regent of Armenia.