Alliance between Cilician Armenia and Byzantium (1177)

Timeline

1. 1175–1177Cilician highlands · CiliciaAfter Mleh was assassinated by Armenian nobles in 1175, his nephew Ruben III succeeded him and completely reversed Mleh's policy of dependence on the Zengids and attacks on Byzantine garrisons. Byzantium had already recovered some cities of the Cilician plain through Crusader offensives, laying the groundwork for normalizing relations.
2. 1177Cilician plain · CiliciaAfter the defeat at Myriokephalon, Manuel I continued punitive expeditions against the Sultanate of Rum's frontier in 1177 while maintaining the Cilician garrison. Ruben III restored cooperation with Christian powers, and the two sides formed a de facto strategic alliance against Seljuk eastward expansion and Turkmen infiltration, while church union negotiations also advanced in the same period.