Kingdom of Cyprus

An island kingdom created almost by accident, sold twice in a year, and then ruled by a French dynasty for three centuries. Richard the Lionheart seized Cyprus in 1191 on his way to the Third Crusade, provoked by its Byzantine ruler's treatment of shipwrecked crusaders; having no use for it he sold it to the Templars, who could not hold it against a revolt and gave it back, and it was then transferred to Guy de Lusignan, the recently displaced king of Jerusalem. The Lusignans ruled until 1489. After Acre fell in 1291 Cyprus became the forward base of Latin Christendom in the eastern Mediterranean, home to exiled nobles, the military orders and a large merchant population, and Famagusta grew enormously rich on the trade between Europe and Syria. Society was sharply layered: a French-speaking Catholic aristocracy over a Greek-speaking Orthodox majority whose church was subordinated to Latin bishops, a division that lasted as long as the kingdom. Genoa seized Famagusta in 1373 and Venice took the whole island in 1489 after manoeuvring its last queen into abdicating. Venetian walls still ring Nicosia and Famagusta. The Ottomans conquered the island in 1570 and 1571, and the Venetian commander at Famagusta was flayed alive after surrendering. Cyprus passed to Britain in 1878 and became independent in 1960. Its Gothic cathedrals were converted into mosques. The kingdom lasted from 1192 to 1489. Nicosia was the capital and Famagusta the main port. Cyprus covers around 9,250 square kilometres. Sugar plantations there supplied European markets before the Atlantic islands did. The island remains divided today.

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