King of Cyprus and titular king of Jerusalem and Cilicia (1432-1458).
John was the son of King Janus of Cyprus and his second wife, Charlotte of Bourbon. War indemnities and the continuing occupation of the port of Famagusta (mod. Ammo-chostos, Cyprus) by the Genoese, combined with the imposition of Egyptian tribute after the Mamluk invasion of 1426, meant that John’s reign was overshadowed by economic problems.
John spent years arguing with Genoa over outstanding indemnities and made a failed attack on Famagusta in 1441. He ran up debts with Venice and had to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Mamluk sultanate of Egypt, to which he was obliged to pay an annual tribute. The Cypriot economy was in decline, as Turkish expansion, including the conquest of Constantinople (1451), affected international trade. Appeals for Western aid proved ineffective, although the Hospitallers of Rhodes (mod. Rodos, Greece) helped to contain the Turks of southern Anatolia, where the emir of Karamania captured the Cypriot outpost of Korykos in 1448.
At home, John’s marriage to Helena Palaiologina, daughter of the Greek ruler of Mistra, produced an heir, Charlotte, but caused tension between Latins and Greeks and provoked jealousy from John’s illegitimate son James. In 1457 James fled into exile briefly when he was accused of murdering Helena’s foster brother. He later overthrew Charlotte, who, with her husband, Louis of Savoy, succeeded John after he died on 26 July 1458.
-Kristian Molin
Bibliography
Hill, George, A History of Cyprus, 4 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940-1952).
Mas Latrie, Louis de, Histoire de l’tle de Chypre sous le regne des princes de la maison de Lusignan, 3 vols. (Paris: Imprimerie Imperiale, 1852-1861).
World History
