Leo V 1342 – 1393

Biography

Leo V was born on January 1, 1342, in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, a thriving medieval state that represented a center of Armenian culture and independence. He would go on to become King of Armenia, carrying the responsibilities of leadership during a challenging period in his nation’s history. His life spanned the latter half of the fourteenth century, a time of significant political transformation across Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean world.

In his final years, Leo V found himself in Paris, far from his homeland. He died there on December 3, 1393, at the age of fifty-one. Despite his distance from Cilicia at the time of his death, his legacy was honored in a manner befitting his royal station—he was laid to rest at the Basilica of Saint-Denis in France, one of Europe’s most significant religious monuments. This burial place, traditionally reserved for French royalty and persons of exceptional importance, reflects both his standing as a crowned monarch and the respect he commanded across European courts during his lifetime.