The first habitation here was the cell of a hermit cither the St Hilarion Castle known to have been a native of Palestine or else a lesser recluse of the same name. Whoever he was, he attracted pilgrims and devotees in numbers; so that a monastic foundation was the logical outcome. It seems probable that this mountain top was first put to a secular use late in the eleventh century, at a time when it was imperative that the northern coast should be fortified against the Turks, whose practice it was to despoil the outlying provinces of Asia Minor. The new overall defensive scheme linked St Hilarion with North Cyprus Kyrenia at the foot of St Hilarion's peak, and Buffavento and Kantara to the east.
These four strong castles were the last to be reduced during the campaign of Richard Coeur de Lion in 1191. At the time when Richard was ill in Nicosia, Isaac Comnenus ordered the Castle of St Hilarion to be surrendered to Guy de Lusignan. The defences were strengthened and reorganized in 1229, and during the four ensuing years the castle was a key position in bitter struggles, first for the regency and then for total sovereignty of the island. A peaceful period of 140 years followed these troubles, and during this time improvements were carried out with the object of making the place attractive and comfortable as the summer residence of the Lusignan royal family. But violence broke out again in 1373, when the Regent, John, Prince of Antioch, held out against the attacks of the Genoese. He was able to do this by means of the assistance of Bulgarian mercenaries, but when he was falsely persuaded that these Bulgarians intended treachery he caused them to be thrown out of a window over a sheer drop, defeating his own interests because he was thereafter without a guard. Soon after the occupation of the island by the Venetians in 1489, the castle was 'slighted' - dismantled and rendered of no account as an economy measure.
 |
Price: 64900 GBP Villa in Tatlisu North Cyprus |
|
|
|
|
| |
| Keywords - How You Can Find Us |
| History of St Hilarion Castle North Cyprus Kyrenia |
