The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, also known as Cilician Armenia Lesser Armenia, or New Armenia and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia was an Armenian state formed during the High Middle Ages by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia. Located outside the Armenian Highlands and distinct from the Kingdom of Armenia of antiquity, it was centred in the Cilicia region northwest of the Gulf of Alexandretta.

The kingdom had its origins in the principality founded c. 1080 by the Rubinyan dynasty, an alleged offshoot of the larger Bagratuni family, which at various times had held the throne of Armenia. Their capital was originally at Tarsus, and later became Sis. Cilicia was a strong ally of the European Crusaders, and saw itself as a bastion of Christenity in the East. It also served as a focus for Armenian nationalism and culture, since Armenia itself was under foreign occupation at the time. Cilicia’s significance in Armenian history and statehood is also attested by the transfer of the seat of the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, spiritual leader of the Armenian people, to the region.

In 1198, with the crowning of Levon the Magnificent of the Rubinyan dynasty, Cilician Armenia became a kingdom.

In 1226, the crown was passed to rival Hethumyans through Levon’s daughter Isabella’s second husband, Hethum I. As the Mongols conquered vast regions of Central Asia and the Middle East, Hethum and succeeding Hethumyan rulers sought to create an Armenian-Mongol alliance against common Muslim foes, most notably the Mamluks. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Crusader states and the Mongol Ilkhanate disintegrated, leaving the Armenian Kingdom without any regional allies. After relentless attacks by the Mamluks in Egypt in the fourteenth century, the Cilician Armenia of the Lusinyan dynasty, mired in an internal religious conflict, finally fell in 1375.

Commercial and military interactions with Europeans brought new Western influences to the Cilician Armenian society. Many aspects of Western European life were adopted by the nobility including chivalry, fashions in clothing, and the use of French titles, names, and language. Moreover, the organization of the Cilician society shifted from its traditional system to become closer to Western feudalism.[7] The European Crusaders themselves borrowed know-how, such as elements of Armenian castle-building and church architecture.[8] Cilician Armenia thrived economically, with the port of Ayas serving as a centre for East-West trade.