page_title: Catherine Cornaro
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Catherine Cornaro / Life
context_page_description: Catherine Cornaro was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Cyprus. She was queen consort of Cyprus by marriage to James II of Cyprus, regent of Cyprus during the minority of her son James III of Cyprus in 1473–1474, and finally queen regnant of Cyprus. She reigned from 26 August 1474 to 26 February 1489 and was declared a "Daughter of Saint Mark" in order that the Republic of Venice could claim control of Cyprus after the death of her husband, James II.
context_section_description: Catherine was a daughter of Venetian Nobile Huomo Marco Cornaro (December 1406 – 1 August 1479), Cavaliere del Sacro Romano Impero (Knight of the Holy Roman Empire) and Patrizio Veneto (Patrician of Venice), by his wife Fiorenza Crispo. Her father was the great-grandson of Marco Cornaro, Doge of Venice from 1365 to 1368. She was the younger sister of the Nobil Huomo Giorgio Cornaro (1452 – 31 July 1527), "Padre della Patria" and Knight of the Holy Roman Empire. The Cornaro family had produced four Doges. Her family had long associations with Cyprus, especially with regard to trade and commerce. In the Episkopi area, in the Limassol District, the Cornaro family administered various sugar mills and exported Cypriot products to Venice.
  Catherine's mother, Fiorenza Crispo, was a daughter of Nicholas Crispo, Lord of Syros. Although Crispo is said to have married two women, Fiorenza's mother is most likely the daughter of Jacopo of Lesbos; according to his own correspondence, Niccolò was a son-in-law of Jacopo of Lesbos. While an account by Caterino Zeno dated to 1474 is often quoted as naming a second wife for Nicholas Crispo, Eudokia-Valenza of Trebizond, a reported daughter of John IV of Trebizond and an unnamed daughter of King Alexander I of Georgia, Michel Kuršanskis has proven that this woman never existed.
  Catherine was painted by Dürer, Titian, Bellini and Giorgione.
caption: Portrait of Catherine Cornaro by Gentile Bellini, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
exif: {}