fwo_1020518 - KINGDOM OF CYPRUS - HUGUES IV OF LUSIGNAN Gros n.d. Nicosie

KINGDOM OF CYPRUS - HUGH IV OF LUSIGNAN

(1324-1359)

Cyprus, a Byzantine possession, was quasi-autonomous until the third crusade when Richard the Lionheart seized the island in 1191. The following year, he sold Cyprus to Guy de Lusignan, the last king of Jerusalem in title, who had been driven from the Holy Land after the defeat of Hattin in 1187 against Saladin and the siege of Acre the previous year. The island was to remain in the hands of the Crusaders until 1473. The kings were crowned in Nicosia for Cyprus and in Famagusta for Jerusalem. Hugues IV, the nephew of Henri II, is since 1318 the husband of Alix d'Ibelin. His very long reign was marked by the resumption of war with the Turks. He signs treaties of alliance with the Venetians, Rhodes and the Pope. Cyprus was affected by the Great Plague of 1348. Peter I succeeded him.