L’objet de notre recherche touche à la période la plus intéressante de toute l'histoire de l'art arménien, une période où le royaume arménien, créé à la fin du XIIe siècle, était au carrefour de très importants empires. La prospérité politique s’est alors accompagnée d’une prospérité économique, fondée sur l'abondance des ressources naturelles, et par un niveau élevé pour ce qui concerne l'artisanat pour lequel les Arméniens ont toujours été réputés. Ce fut un âge de renouveau complet de l'art du livre sur le plan de la qualité. La peinture, les miniatures sont devenues un symbole indissociable du royaume arménien de Cilicie.La situation géopolitique du royaume arménien de Cilicie nous permet de mettre en évidence les différentes influences artistiques que les miniatures ont reçues. C’est pour cette raison-là qu’elles doivent être discutées d’une manière complexe, comprenant des analyses théologiques historiques et artistiques.Dans mon travail j’ai étudié la majorité des manuscrits ciliciens du XIIIe siècle. J’ai décidé d’établir un corpus de manuscrits en les regroupant sous les noms de leurs commanditaires. Mon étude a commencé par les manuscrits peints par T‘oros Ṙoslin- le plus éminent des enlumineurs arméniens du Moyen Âge classique qui travaillait au scriptorium de Hṙomkla, principalement au service du Catholicos Constantin Ier et du roi Hét‘um Ier.Les manuscrits créés dans la seconde moitié du XIIIe siècle se singularisent par leur style, avec une dramatisation des expressions, l’allongement des corps, les compositions un peu surchargées. Tout cela s’oppose à l’art tout en retenue de Ṙoslin. Les noms des peintres de ces manuscrits sont inconnus, mais nous sommes sûrs qu'il y avait au moins 4 artistes principaux par lesquels ces œuvres ont été créées. / He subject of my PHD is “The iconographic, historic andtheological analysis of the royal manuscripts of the first three kings of theHetoumid dynasty of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia” (13th century). I can saywith confidence that it’s the most interesting period in the whole Armenian arthistory, a period when Armenian Kingdom was on the crossroads of hugeempires. Political prosperity was accompanied by economic flourishing, based onthe abundance of natural resources, by high standards in handicrafts for whichthe Armenians have always been famous. This was an age of completely newquality in the book art. The miniature painting became inseparable symbol of theArmenian Kingdom of Cilicia. In flourishing of Cilician painting an important rolewas played by the commissioners, as it was usual for Middle Ages: kings andprinces, among which the most educated were especially distinguished HetumianPrinces who have commissioned the most magnificent Armenian manuscripts.King Levon II and his elder son Hetoum II were probably most educated Ciliciankings and delicate connoisseurs of art. They possessed a rich library where acollection of manuscripts, decorated with miniature paintings, existed. Three ofthem of high artistic quality now are in Mahstots Matenadaran: the MalatiaGospel of 1268, copied and adorned by Toros Roslin by the order of Kostandin I,who intended the manuscript as a gift for, at that time, four-year-old Hetoum II,the Lectionary of 1286 commissioned by future king Hetoum II, and the Bibleordered already by the king Hetoum II in 1295.One of the most elegant and dramatic illuminated manuscripts of that period isthe Gospel of Queen Keran; it was commissioned by the Queen at Sis, Cilicia, in1272 after the ascension of her husband, Levon II to the throne. The Queen isrepresented in one of the last leaves, together with her husband, King Levon IIand their three children - kneeling piously in front of a "Deisis".Cilicia had been on the crossroads of the merchant routes between the East andthe West and the artists who had worked on these manuscripts had travelledmuch and had seen the works of the Italian, Greek and even Persian artists andminiaturists. Perhaps this is the explaination of the stylistic diversity that we findin these manuscripts. We know that Hetoum II made his sister Rita marry theByzantine Emperor Michael Paleolog and may suppose that byzantinemanuscripts had been given as wedding gifts and so became known in the ciliciancourt.Being strongly influenced by Byzantine art and iconography and taking intoconsideration the style of representation of the features of the faces of characterswe may call the style of the manuscripts of this group Italo-Byzantine. AnyhowArmenian manuscripts of this period have always attracted scholars and arthistorians all over the world and the style in which these miniature paintings arerepresented has been called Armeno-Byzantine.The profound research on this subject reveals the most mysterious parts aboutthese manuscripts: I am speaking about the most unbelievable details that onecan find in their decorations. The majority of the elements integrated in thedecorations of the title pages are adopted from Romanesque, Italian, Mongol andeven Chinese art. We can see here three-headed creatures, human-headedplants, Chinese lions and dragons, phoenixes and many more fantastic elements.These manuscripts fascinate with their texts written in fine 'Bolorgir' script inblack ink with colored capitals and much more fascinating content which has asignificant meaning connected with the decorations of the pages on which theyare written. To understand the meaning of these texts we need to consult thewritings of medieval theologians, to understand the period the people creating itlived in and the believes they had.