LUSIGNAN DYNAST

LUSIGNAN DYNASTY (A.D. 1192-1489)) History of Cyprus

Domestic politics now took the form of the establishment of a feudal system of government, and the island was settled by the expedient of granting land to Crusaders in exchange for their military services. A strong hold was maintained over the native population. For reasons which have never been divulged, Guy de Lusignan was never crowned king. Instead he was known as Lord of Cyprus. Upon his death, two years after the transference of the island to him, he was succeeded by his brother Amaury, who was recognized by the Holy Roman Empire and in 1197 crowned king in Nicosia. During his reign the Pope sent a commission to the island with the purpose of converting the Cypriots to the Roman Communion. Thus began three hundred years of oppression for the Greek Orthodox Church of the island. After the Crusaders had in 1203 diverted their attention to Constantinople and sacked it, the Eastern empire was allocated among the European powers. This meant that Cyprus retained no political connection with the East, but became entirely dependent upon the sea power of the West. But she was useful, both strategically and commercially, and so received full measure of support. At least as far as the ruling classes were concerned, this was a period of prosperity for Cyprus. Great cathedrals were built in Nicosia and Famagusta, as well as the Augustinian (later Pre monstratensian) Abbey of Bellapais and the chateau at Kouklia. Castles within reach of the coast were refortified, with a view to resisting internal risings, and keeping sea lines of communication open in that contingency. The nobles of the period were renowned for their riches and for their luxurious way of life, which included tournaments and sports, and hunting of wild beasts in the mountains. But the people suffered greatly. Because the kings of Cyprus were warlike, and apt to absent themselves abroad where they were frequently killed in battle, the sovereignty all too often devolved upon a minor, with his mother as regent. It was natural that the widows should take counsel from their own families, and it was through Eschiva d'lbelin, mother of King Hugues I (1205-18), that the great Prankish d'lbelin family assumed a power that was to rival that of the Lusignan dynasty. During the long minority of Henri I, son of Hugues I, Jean d'lbelin fortified St Hilarion as a residence for the young king and his sisters. But the Queen Regent quarrelled with d'lbelin (also known as the Lord of Beyrouth), and enlisted the help of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, who was on his way to Palestine. Aware that Cyprus might well provide revenues to help finance his Crusade (after all, the emperor had made Amaury king), he undertook to deal with d'lbelin. Though at first it seemed that the emperor had come out best by marrying the young king to Alix de Montferrat, a princess of Norrnan lineage, by seizing the estates of d'lbelin and his supporters, and by putting the island in charge of three barons adept at extorting taxation, yet Jean d'lbelin made a come back and, after a siege of the Castle of St Hilarion which lasted a year, regained possession of the person of the young king. The fighting between the two factions continued for two years. A last stand was made by the imperialists in the Castle of Kyrenia. During the siege Alix de Montferrat died, and a truce was arranged for her ceremonial funeral procession from Kyrenia to Nicosia, where she was buried in the royal tomb. A year later the Emperor was forced to relinquish all claim to control over Cyprus. After Jerusalem had again fallen to the infidels in 1244 another distinguished visitor landed in Cyprus. On what is known as the Seventh Crusade, King Louis of France wintered with King Henri in 1248. They sailed together to Egypt. In 1246 Henri's right to the Crown of Jerusalem had been recognized by the Pope. By a Papal Bull of 1260, the activities of the Orthodox Church were seriously curtailed; all tithes had to be paid to the Latins, and in fact the Orthodox Church became subject to the Church of Rome. The most splendid period of Lusignan rule in Cyprus covered the reign of Hugues IV (1324-59). Acre had fallen in 1291 to the Egyptian Mamelukes, a body of Turkish slaves from whom the Egyptian army was drawn, who had seized power to an extent which was reminiscent of the conquests of Saladin. After the fall of Acre, Cyprus became the natural centre of trade in the eastern Mediterranean greatly favoured by Christian merchants desirous of political stability. Famagusta profited and became a fabulous city, rivalling Antioch, and the base for colonies of foreign merchants. Thus Ludolf, a Westphalian priest, who visited the island between 1336 and 1341, writes: You must know that in Cyprus all the princes, nobles, barons and knights are the noblest, best and richest in the world. They live there now with their children, but they used to live in the land of Syria, and the noble city of Aeon [Acre], but when that land and city were lost they fled to Cyprus, and there have remained until the present day. Moreover there are very rich merchants, a thing not to be wondered at, for Cyprus is the furthest of Christian lands, so that all ships and all wares, be they what they may, and come they from what part of the sea they will, must needs come first to Cyprus, and in no wise can they pass it by, and pilgrims from every country journeying to lands over the sea must touch at Cyprus. In 1372 the traditional rivalry between Genoese and Venetians flared. The occasion of the coronation of King Pierre II as king of Jerusalem at Famagusta provided the spark for the fuse. A quarrel as to precedence arose the Venetians insisted that it was their privilege to hold the right rein of the boy king's horse, leaving the left or inferior rein to the Genoese and the result was large scale fighting, fed by troops sent from Genoa. The king was captured, and his mother, Eleanor of Aragon, took refuge in North Cyprus Kyrenia Castle. Throughout a long siege the castle justified its reputation of being impregnable. Peace was concluded in 1374, but with the harsh condition that Cyprus was to cede the great city of Famagusta to the Genoese. Pierre II was succeeded by his uncle, Jacques I (1382-98), who engaged in constant conflict with the Genoese of Famagusta. The walls of Nicosia had been built by his predecessor they were to be levelled by the Venetians in 1564 and now the king fortified Kantara and Larnaca, which had replaced Famagusta as the commercial centre of the island. The reign of the next king, Janus (1398-1432), was distinguished by his wars with the Egyptian Mamelukes. In 1425 an Egyptian fleet sacked Limassol and Larnaca. Next year a still greater force landed at Limassol and marched on Nicosia. King Janus, who met the invaders at Khirokitia, was captured and his forces dispersed. The Mamelukes sacked Nicosia, breaking up the city with the utmost thoroughness, and departed to Alexandria with an immense amount of booty and prisoners whose fate was to be sold as slaves. King Janus was released after ten months on payment of a considerable ransom and the undertaking that the state would make an annual payment to Egypt in recognition of the suzerainty of the Sultan. The power of the Lusignan dynasty never recovered. Religion and politics are never for long dissociated in the history and the internal strife of Cyprus. The Lusignans had been fanatically devoted to the Latin Church. But when King Jean II (1432-58) took as his second wife Helena Palaeologos, daughter of the ruler of the Peloponnese, she determined that she would make her own Orthodox Church supreme in the island. She attempted this by seeking to appoint her own nominee as Archbishop of Cyprus, but the move was circumvented by papal diplomacy, and the king was persuaded to overrule his wife. Further, Jean II was encouraged to marry his only daughter and heiress, Charlotte, to a staunchly Catholic Portuguese nobleman, John, Duke of Coimbra, who was created Prince of Antioch. But when he began to take part in state affairs and revealed his support of the Catholics Queen Helena saw to it that he was removed from court. He died soon afterwards in circumstances which suggest foul play. Still more trouble was to arise from appointments to the archbishopric of Nicosia. The king appointed his illegitimate son, Jacques, and, though the consent of the Pope was withheld, insisted that he should enjoy all the privileges and revenues of the see. Though Jacques was directly implicated in two murders, with one short interruption he continued as archbishop, and after the death of Helena in 1458 it was thought that the king intended making him heir to the throne. But Jean II died in the same year as his wife, and his daughter Charlotte succeeded at the age of twenty-two. As the mother of Jacques had been Greek, he commanded the sympathy of the underprivileged classes in Cyprus. When he realized after his father's death that his power was in rapid decline, Jacques went to Egypt. Here he claimed that he was the rightful male heir, and appealed to the sultan in his capacity as suzerain of Cyprus. The sultan provided a fleet and Jacques landed at Larnaca in 1460. The people rose to his support, and Queen Charlotte with her second husband, Count Louis of the hated house of Savoy, took refuge in Kyrenia Castle. Though the castle was beleaguered for three years, it was never taken. In the end it was surrendered by treachery. The queen escaped to Rome, where she died in 1487 after having assigned her sovereignty to the house of Savoy. Jacques had not waited for secession. In 1460 he was crowned king of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia, though his titles went unrecognized by the Pope in Rome. In 1464 he succeeded in wresting Famagusta from the Genoese. He now contracted a most fateful marriage to Caterina Cornaro, daughter of a Venetian nobleman. The Venetian Republic, alive to the possibilities they had always coveted Cyprus as a trading centre and source of natural wealth declared her an adopted daughter of the state, gave her a splendid dowry, and escorted her to Famagusta after a marriage by proxy. But the king died the following year, in circumstances which implicated the queen's uncles. His posthumous heir, Jacques III, lived for one year before also dying in a way which was notoriously suspect. The adopted daughter of the Venetian state now sat on the throne of Cyprus, and was unshaken by a movement to replace her by a protege of the Cypriot nobles. But although the Venetians had by now managed to infiltrate into all branches of the kingdom, and had withdrawn all real power from the queen, they could not rest assured that she would continue indefinitely as their pawn. In 1489 Queen Caterina was persuaded to accept voluntary and honourable exile in Italy where, with copious funds provided by the grateful Republic, her court became a centre for the culture of the Renaissance. Venice announced that the Republic had taken possession of Cyprus with the free consent of its adopted daughter. A friendly alliance was arranged with Egypt. Peaceably, the Lusignan era had ended and the Venetian occupation begun. VENETIAN RULE (A.D. 1489-1571) The Venetian Republic's command of the sea in the Middle Ages had brought her vast profits in connection with transport and supplies for the Crusaders. Genoa had been her rival, until decisively beaten at sea in 1380. But 1486 was a more fateful year for the Venetians, because when Diaz discovered and charted a trade route to India via the Cape, this automatically eliminated the overland route from the eastern Mediterranean and Venice lost her monopolies. Nevertheless, for strategic reasons she needed a base in the East, and Cyprus, so assiduously prepared for that role, became the outpost of the Venetian Republic. The new regime set out to be moderate according to the standards of the day. The Lusignan code of government was retained. The Orthodox Church now went unmolested. Taxation was not to be increased. Yet because the occupation was primarily military, other considerations were treated with indifference. Trade declined, agriculture fell into neglect and the standard of living of the people deteriorated. Very soon a visitor to the island was writing: ... all the inhabitants of Cyprus are slaves to the Venetians, being obliged to pay to the state a third part of all their increase or income, whether the product of their ground, or corn, wine, oil or of their cattle, or any other thing. Besides every man of them is bound to work for the state two days of the week wherever they shall please to appoint him: and if any shall fail, by reason of some other business of their own, or indisposition of body, then they are made to pay a fine for as many days as they are absent from their work .. . The common people are so flayed and pillaged, that they hardly have wherewithal to keep soul and body together. The main military aim of the Venetians in Cyprus was defence. Due to the revolutionary discovery of gunpowder, the great Byzantine and Lusignan fortifications had become obsolete. The new armaments policy was destructive as well as constructive. Not only were the serviceable castles, such as Kyrenia and Famagusta, rebuilt, and strengthened by double walls filled with earth and rubble but free standing buildings which might have interrupted the field of fire were ruthlessly razed, irrespective of their merit. Nicosia was completely encircled by a great wall and bastions, and memorable buildings outside the perimeter destroyed to the point of annihilation. Such castles as did not enter into the modern scheme of defence St Hilarion, Buffavento, Kantara were dismantled and abandoned. The Ottoman Empire was the arch enemy against whom all these defensive preparations were made. The Turks had become incensed at the annexation of an island which was under the suzerainty of their sultan. Also, they considered that the safety of their pilgrim ships en route for Mecca was threatened by a Venetian base so close to the shores of Asia Minor. Both sides prepared for the inevitable war. Though Venice appealed to the European powers for assistance, more approval than concrete assistance was forthcoming. When the Turks formally demanded the cession of Cyprus, war was declared. The first invasion came on July 1st, 1570, at Larnaca. The Turks were immediately welcomed by the local population, the reason being dissatisfaction with the poor standards of life under Venetian government. It became immediately clear that there would be no resistance to the Turks in the country, and that defence was practicable only from the fortresses of Nicosia and Famagusta, and possibly from the small garrison in Kyrenia Castle. After a bloody siege which lasted six weeks, Nicosia was taken, by cutting earth from under the bastions and breaching the walls. Total resistance brought total atrocity. Twenty thousand people were massacred, shiploads of slaves were removed from the island and a great quantity of loot dispatched to the sultan in Constantinople. Kyrenia, disheartened and without support, surrendered without a fight, to be followed by the remainder of the island with the exception of Famagusta, the greatest defensive system of the great Venetian engineers. The Turkish commander, Lala Mustapha Pasha, put a strong garrison in Nicosia, and pitched camp to the south of Famagusta. But as the season was already far advanced, he decided to winter his troops and defer serious operations until the spring, by which time he would have received reinforcements by sea. This aid arrived from Syria in April 1571, and he immediately moved against the city, which was commanded by Marcantonio Bragadino, a Venetian of exceptional heroism and cool decision. The offensive tactics were similar to those which had been successful in Nicosia. Trenches and traverses were dug, leading to the undermining of the bastions. The Turks had overwhelming numbers of soldiers, and succeeded in placing batteries within close range on a line which ran from the Arsenal to the Land Gate. The Venetians refused to accept terms . . . 'Tell your pasha to continue his enterprise and we will reply with fire, muskets, cannon and swords.' The siege, a succession of vicious assaults countered by heroic defence, lasted until August 1st, when terms for surrender were agreed. The defending forces were to be spared and permitted to embark for Crete, while the civil population was to go unmolested. But four days later Bragadino complained to Mustapha that, though the soldiers had been allowed to leave, the inhabitants were suffering violence. The two leaders met, but what had been intended as a rational discussion flared into dispute. Bragadino was imprisoned and tortured for fourteen days before being humiliated in public by being forced to kiss the ground at Mustapha's feet, after which he was flayed alive. His skin was then stuffed with straw and put on exhibition in Famagusta and later in Syria and Constantinople. But Lala Mustapha Pasha was denied a triumphal return to Constantinople. Spurred by the news from Famagusta, the European powers acted at last. In October a great fleet met the Turks in a naval battle in the Gulf of Lepanto, and defeated them decisively. It is memorable as the last major engagement to have been fought from ships propelled by oars. It also marked the close of European interest in the Holy Land. And with the Crusading spirit lost, the plight of Cyprus dwindled into insignificance.

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