Queen of Cyprus (1474-1489) under a Venetian protectorate of the island.
Catherine Cornaro (also Corner, Correr) belonged to an old, established Venetian family that possessed large estates at Kolossi on Cyprus from the mid-fourteenth century onward. Following the treaty of 1469 that effectively placed Cyprus under Venetian protection, she married King James II in 1471. Their son, King James III, born a few weeks after the death of James II, died in August 1474, thereby bringing to a close the Lusignan dynasty of Cyprus. From this time Catherine reigned alone until 1489. The Catalan and Neapolitan officials whom her late husband had favored plotted unsuccessfully on several occasions to overthrow her, with the support of the exiled Queen Charlotte, Archbishop Louis of Nicosia, and the royal house of Naples. These plots were put down with the help of the Venetian fleet and garrisons established on Cyprus after the death of King James.
Catherine was queen in name only, for in reality the administration of the island was carried out by officials appointed from Venice, who gave Catherine occasion to complain of their parsimony and disregard toward her. In 1476 the Mamluk sultan, who was the formal suzerain of Cyprus, recognized her as queen, and she was popular among the Cypriots, especially those of Nicosia, who gave her a rapturous reception when she moved there from Famagusta in 1475. However, attempts to repopulate Cyprus by attracting settlers from Venice, Albania, and the Peloponnese (1478-1486) were unsuccessful, and in 1489 Venice, wishing to strengthen the republic’s presence on Cyprus through complete annexation, induced her to abdicate. She spent her remaining years at Asolo in Italy, dying in 1510.
-Nicholas Coureas
Bibliography
Edbury, Peter W., “ Oi TeA-euraioi Aou(;tviavoi
(1432-1489),” in Kimpov, 4, ed. Theodoros
Papadopoullos (Lefkosia: Hidryma Archiepiskopou Makariou 3, 1995), pp. 177-259.
Hill, George, A History of Cyprus, 4 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940-1952).
World History![Stalingrad: The Most Vicious Battle of the War [History of the Second World War 38]](https://www.worldhistory.biz/uploads/posts/2015-05/1432581864_1425486471_part-38.jpeg)
