Bohemond, his dispute with Edessa settled, has turned to the north to recover Anazarbus ((a former Antiochene town which had fallen into the possession of Thoros I)) and other territories lost to the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

He marches with a small force up the river Jihan towards his objective.

Leo I, Prince of Armenia, is alarmed and appeals for help to the Danishmend emir, Ghazi Gümüshtigin.

As Bohemond II progresses carelessly up the river, meeting only light resistance from the Armenians, the Danishmend Turks fall on him and massacre the whole of his army in February 1130 near Mamistra.

Bohemond dies in the struggle, and his blond head is embalmed, placed in a silver box, and sent as a gift to the caliph.

However, it is due to Constantinople’s intervention that the Turks do not follow up their victory; and Anazarbus remains in Armenian hands—Michael the Syrian says that John II Komnenos at once started an offensive against the Turks.

Thoros I, ruler of Lesser Armenia, had died in 1129 (or in 1130), and his son Constantine II died a few months later, in the course of a palace intrigue.

Some authors suggest that Thoros I died without a male heir and was directly succeeded by Leo I. Bohemond II, Prince of Antioch, whose ambition had been to restore his principality, thought in February 1130, that the moment had come to recover Anazarbus (a former Antiochene town which had fallen into the possession of Thoros I).

He had marched with a small force up the river Jihan towards his objective.

Leo, alarmed, had appealed for help to the Danishmend emir, Ghazi.

As Bohemond II progressed carelessly up the river, meeting only light resistance from the Armenians, the Danishmend Turks had fallen on him and massacred the whole of his army.

However, it was due to Constantinople’s intervention that the Turks had not followed up their victory; and Anazarbus has remained in Armenian hands—Michael the Syrian says that John II Komnenos at once started an offensive against the Turks.

Leo, protected in his rear by an alliance with the Danishmend emir, had descended into the plain soon after the death of Bohemond II; after a brief unsuccessful siege of Seleucia, he had seized the three cities of Mamistra, Tarsus and Adana in 1131.

In 1133, Leo captures Sarventikar, on the slopes of the Amanus Mountains, from Baldwin of Marash.

But the Armenian hold over Cilicia is weak: bandits find refuge here, and pirates hang about its coasts.

The new prince of Antioch, Raymond I, decides in 1136 that his first action must be to recover Cilicia.

With the approval of King Fulk of Jerusalem, he marches with Baldwin of Marash against Leo.

But Leo, with the help of Count Joscelin II of Edessa (who is his nephew), drives back the Antiochene army.

Triumphant, Leo agrees to have a personal interview with Baldwin of Marash, who treacherously makes him prisoner and sends him off to captivity in Antioch.

Leo’s three sons had quarreled in his absence: the eldest, Constantine, had eventually been captured and blinded by his brothers.

Meanwhile, the Danishmend emir, Mohammed II ibn Ghazi, had invaded Cilicia and destroyed the harvest.

Shaken by these disasters, Leo buys his freedom by offering to give up the Cilician cities (Sarventikar, Mamistra and Adana) to Raymond I; in addition he pays sixty thousand gold pieces and gives his son as a hostage; but on his return home he forgets his promise.

A desultory war breaks out again, until, early in 1137, Joscelin II patches up a truce between the combatants.

An alliance is then formed against the Emperor John II Komnenos, who is now pressing his claims against Antioch as well as Cilicia.

Leo moves up in an attempt to check its progress by taking the imperial frontier fortress of Seleucia, but is forced to retire.

The Emperor sweeps on, past …

…Tarsus, …

…Adana and …

…Mamistra, which all yield to him at once.