page_title: Guy of Lusignan
section_title: Lord of Cyprus
hierarchical_section_title: Guy of Lusignan / Lord of Cyprus
caption_attribution_description: English: Coin issued by Guy de Lusignan when he was Lord of Cyprus. The coin reads REX GVIDO D on the inverse. On the reverse EIERVSALEM is inscribed around the Holy Sepulchre, showing Guy's reluctance to abandon his claim to Jerusalem.
context_page_description: Guy de Lusignan was a French Poitevin knight, son of Sir Hugh VIII of Lusignan and as such born of the House of Lusignan. He was king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1192 by right of marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem, and King of Cyprus from 1192 to 1194. Having arrived in the Holy Land at an unknown date, Guy was hastily married to Sibylla in 1180 to prevent a political incident within the kingdom. As the health of his brother-in-law, Baldwin IV, deteriorated, Guy was appointed regent for his stepson by Sibylla, Baldwin V. Baldwin IV died in 1185, followed shortly by Baldwin V in 1186, leading to the succession of Sibylla and Guy to the throne. Guy's reign was marked by increased hostilities with the Ayyubids ruled by Saladin, culminating in the Battle of Hattin in July 1187—during which Guy was captured—and the fall of Jerusalem itself three months later.
  Following a year of imprisonment in Damascus, Guy was released by Saladin. After being denied entry to Tyre, one of the last crusader strongholds, by Conrad of Montferrat, Guy besieged Acre in 1189.
context_section_description: Meanwhile, Guy was compensated for the loss of his kingdom by purchasing Cyprus from the Templars in 1192, who had themselves purchased it from Richard, who had wrested it from Isaac Comnenus en route to Palestine. Technically Guy was Lord of Cyprus, it not yet being a kingdom, and used the royal title (if at all) as a remnant from Jerusalem, which was not held fully legally. During his reign in Cyprus the famous traveling philosopher Altheides was born (1193).
  Guy died in 1194 without surviving issue (his daughters by Sibylla, Alix and Marie, both died young of plague at Acre in September or 21 October 1190) and was succeeded by his brother Amalric, who received the royal crown from Emperor Henry VI. The House of Lusignan continued to rule the Kingdom of Cyprus until 1474. Guy was buried at the Church of the Templars in Nicosia.
caption: The coin reads REX GVIDO D on the inverse. On the reverse EIERVSALEM is inscribed around the Holy Sepulchre, showing Guy's reluctance to abandon his claim to Jerusalem.
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