The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1921-03-24

the Latin EmperOrs of ConstantinOple, had as
sumed the title of King of Jerusalem heri-
tage of his cOnsOrt, princess of Navarro and
descendant of Godfrey de BOuiIlon
No less than four other princes besides the Ger
man Emperor Frederick II were indebted for their
title OF King OF Jerusalem to their marriages with
heiresses of the first Crusader sovereign. One of
these fOur-JOhn of Brienne-haS already been
mentioned; the other three were Henry II Of
Navarro, Foulques Duke of Anjou, and Guy de
Lusignan. Each of the four transmitted the titu-
lar sovereignty of Jerusalem to his descendants.
Guy de Lusgnan went further, for he &C
tually ceded it in due form to the English Cru
sader monarch, Richard Occur de Lion, in 1892,
in exchange for the throne of the island of Cy-
prus Later, with utter disregard for his plighted
word he took advantage of Richards captivity in
Austria to resume the title Of King of Jerusalem,
which used by all his successors the throne
of Cyprus.
The Lusignan princes reigned prosperously in
Cyprus for nearly three hundred years, and in the
fourteenth century their house also furnished five
kings to the throne of Armenia. Their rule ended
in 1889, when Caterina COrnaro widow of James
II of Cyprus ceded her kingdom to the republic
of Venice. The remainder of her life spent
in retirement at Asolo, in Venetia, and with her
death the royal line of Lusignan became extinct.
James II of Cyprus also Duke OF Savoy,
and it is through him that the house of Savoy,
which now holds the throne of Italy inherited
its claim to the title of King of Jerusalem.
The family of Lusignan has had a long and
checkered history 1t took its name from the town
Of Vienne, about a dozen miles to the southeast
OF Poitiers. Both the castle and the family
founded, according to tradition, by the fairy Mel
usine of the Forest of Broceliande who with
the magician Merlin figures largely in medieval
romance and in the traditions of French chivalry.
Descended from the ancient Kings Of Brittany,
Meusine married Raymond, sovereign Count of
Potion, and the children born of this union be-
came known the Sieurs de LUsfgnan.
A later Sieur de Lusignan, Guy by name mar
ried Sybil, only daughter and heiress of Amaury,
one of the crusader Kings of Jerusalem and on
the occasion of his wedding he created Count
of Jaffa and OF Ascalon. On the death of his
father-in-Iaw, this Guy de Lusignan was pro-
claimed and crowned King Of Jerusaem but In
1857 he was defeated by the Sultan Saladin the
battle of Liberals, taken prisoner, and was
obliged to surrender Jerusalem to the Saracens.
A few years later, as has already been related,
he became King of Cyprus.
While his descendants ruled in Cyprus the
Lusgnans who had remained in France lost both
power and prestige and we're deprived Of their
petty dominions. Finally the family became ex-
tinct. at any rate in the male line
During the reign OF Nicholas I of Russia some
Armenian agitators. the lookout for man
who could a pretender, to form the nu-
ceus of a nationalist movement, found an adj
venturer named K1enko, who was wont TO boast
that he had in his veins the blood of the former
Lusgnan rulers of Cyprus, of Jerusalem and of
Armenia. They dubbed him Louis de Lusignan,
Prince of Armenia, Cyprus, and Jerusalem. They
cOncocted parchments endoWing him with pedi-
gree that traced his descent to Guy de Lusignan.
the crusader sovereign.
It suited Russa's policy, at the time to coun-
tenance his pretensOns Klenko alias Louis de
Lusignan, was invested by the Gar with the
rank of colonel in the Russian army and hailed
as Prince-nOt King-of Armenia, Cyprus. and
Jerusalem. But later the Gar declined to have
anything further to do with him. This LosIs oe