page_title: History of Cyprus
section_title: Kingdom of Cyprus
hierarchical_section_title: History of Cyprus / Kingdom of Cyprus
caption_attribution_description: English: Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque (former St. Nicholas Cathedral), view from the ravelin of the city wall in Famagusta, Cyprus Русский: Мечеть Лала Мустафы-паши (быв. собор св. Николая), вид с равелина городской стены в Фамагусте, Кипр
context_page_description: Human habitation of Cyprus dates back to the Paleolithic era. Cyprus's geographic position has caused Cyprus to be influenced by differing Eastern Mediterranean civilisations over the millennia. Cyprus is a small country.
  Periods of Cyprus's history from 1050 BC have been named according to styles of pottery found as follows:
  Cypro-Geometric I: 1050-950 BC
  Cypro-Geometric II: 950-850 BC
  Cypro-Geometric III: 850-700 BC
  Cypro-Archaic I: 700-600 BC
  Cypro-Archaic II: 600-475 BC
  Cypro-Classical I: 475-400 BC
  Cypro-Classical II: 400-323 BC
context_section_description: Amalric I of Cyprus received the royal crown and title from Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. A small minority Roman Catholic population of the island was mainly confined to some coastal cities, such as Famagusta, as well as inland Nicosia, the traditional capital. Roman Catholics kept the reins of power and control, while the Greek inhabitants lived in the countryside; this was much the same as the arrangement in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The independent Eastern Orthodox Church of Cyprus, with its own archbishop and subject to no patriarch, was allowed to remain on the island, but the Latin Church largely displaced it in stature and holding property.
  After the death of Amalric of Lusignan, the Kingdom continually passed to a series of young boys who grew up as king. The Ibelin family, which had held much power in Jerusalem prior its downfall, acted as regents during these early years. In 1229 one of the Ibelin regents was forced out of power by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who brought the struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines to the island.
  Frederick's supporters were defeated in this struggle by 1233, although it lasted longer in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and in the Holy Roman Empire. Frederick's Hohenstaufen descendants continued to rule as kings of Jerusalem until 1268 when Hugh III of Cyprus claimed the title and its territory of Acre for himself upon the death of Conrad III of Jerusalem, thus uniting the two kingdoms. The territory in Palestine was finally lost while Henry II was king in 1291, but the kings of Cyprus continued to claim the title.
  Like Jerusalem, Cyprus had a Haute Cour (High Court), although it was less powerful than it had been in Jerusalem. The island was richer and more feudal than Jerusalem, so the king had more personal wealth and could afford to ignore the Haute Cour. The most important vassal family was the multi-branch House of Ibelin. However, the king was often in conflict with the Italian merchants, especially because Cyprus had become the centre of European trade with Africa and Asia after the fall of Acre in 1291.
  The kingdom eventually came to be dominated more and more in the 14th century by the Genoese merchants. Cyprus therefore sided with the Avignon Papacy in the Western Schism, in the hope that the French would be able to drive out the Italians. The Mameluks then made the kingdom a tributary state in 1426; the remaining monarchs gradually lost almost all independence, until 1489 when the last Queen, Catherine Cornaro, was forced to sell the island to Venice. Ottomans started raiding Cyprus immediately afterwards, and captured it in 1571.
  This is the historical setting to Shakespeare's Othello, the play's title character being the commander of the Venetian garrison defending Cyprus against the Ottomans.
caption: Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque in Famagusta, where the Kings of Cyprus were also crowned as Kings of Jerusalem.
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