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The
Byzantine Period (330-1191 AD)
The cities of Cyprus
were destroyed by two successive earthquakes in
332 and 342 AD and this marked the end of an era
and at the same time the beginning of a new one,
very much connected with modern life in
Cyprus.%26nbsp; Most of the cities were not
rebuilt, save Salamis which was rebuilt on a
smaller scale and renamed Constantia after the
Roman Emperor Constantius II, son of Constantine
the Great, residing in Constantinople.
The new city was now
the capital of the island.%26nbsp; It was
mainlyChristian and due to this some alterations
were made during the rebuilding.%26nbsp; The
palaestra was turned into a meeting place and
many architectural elements were used to erect
spacious churches decorated with murals, mosaics
and coloured marbles.
In 395 AD the Roman
Empire was divided in two, eastern and western.
Naturally Cyprus became part of the eastern part
of the Empire called Byzantium and it remained so
for almost nine centuries.
The main event in
Cyprus in comparison to older times was the
spreading of the Christian faith that created a
new attitude towards life since its morality was
different to that of paganism.
The political
history of the island is one of tranquillity
until 649 AD when we have the first Arab
invasion.%26nbsp; Until then people were engaged
very much in matters of faith, especially
fighting the effort of the Patriarch of Antioch
to put the Church of Cyprus under his
control.%26nbsp; They were finally successful in
488 AD when Archbishop Anthemius guided by a
dream discovered the tomb of St Barnabas with the
Saint's body lying in a coffin and on his chest a
copy of the Gospel by St Matthew in Barnabas' own
writing. Having the relics with him, Anthemius
dashed to Constantinople and presented them to
Emperor Zeno.%26nbsp;%26nbsp; The latter was very
much impressed and he not only confirmed the
independence of the Church of Cyprus but he also
gave to the Archbishop in perpetuity three
privileges that are as much alive today as they
were%26nbsp; then, namely to%26nbsp; carry a
sceptre instead of a pastoral staff, to sign with
red ink and to wear a purple cloak during
services.
The Byzantine Art of
Cyprus.
%26nbsp;
Arab Raids
(649-965%26nbsp; AD)
In 649 AD Arabs
sailed with a big armada under the leadership of
Muawiya against Cyprus.%26nbsp; They conquered
and sacked the capital Salamis - Constantia after
a brief siege and pillaged the rest of the
island.%26nbsp; In the course of this expedition
a relative of the Prophet, Umm-Haram fell from
her mule near the Salt Lake at Larnaca and was
killed.%26nbsp; She was buried in that spot and
much later in 1816 the Hala Sultan Tekke was
built there by the Turks.
In 654 AD the second
Arab invasion took place that devastated the
island again. This time, however, a garrison of
12,000 men was left in Cyprus, an indication of
their intentions to incorporate it into the
Moslem world.%26nbsp;
In 677 AD the Arabs
aimed straight at the heart of the Byzantine
empire, Constantinople itself.%26nbsp; They
attacked with a huge fleet but they suffered such
a defeat that they had to sign a treaty and pay
an indemnity to the Emperor. In 683 AD the Moslem
garrison was withdrawn and in 688 AD the island
of Cyprus was declared neutral, with no garrisons
stationed in it, the collected taxes being
divided among the%26nbsp; Arabs and the
Emperor.
The island was
finally liberated by Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus
Phokas in 965 AD.
%26nbsp;
Richard the
Lionheart (1191 AD)
In 1191 AD King
Richard of England was on his way to the Holy
Land participating in the Third Crusade.%26nbsp;
Some of his ships were wrecked off the coast of
Cyprus and the ship carrying his sister Joanna,
Queen of Sicily, and his betrothed Berengaria of
Navarre, anchored off Limassol.%26nbsp; When King
Richard arrived, he regarded the Cypriots'
behaviour as insulting towards the women and
captured the island, starting a new phase, and
not a happy one in Cyprus' history.
%26nbsp;
The Frankish Period
(1191-1571)
King Richard of
England was reluctant to keep Cyprus under his
control as his main aim was Palestine.%26nbsp;
For this reason he sold it to the Knights
Templar.%26nbsp; The Templars ruthlessly
exploited Cyprus so the inhabitants rose against
them in the Easter of 1192 AD.%26nbsp; Realising
that it was difficult to keep it under their
control they sold it in turn to the King of
Jerusalem (Jerusalem was now in the hands of the
Arabs), Guy de Lusignan, who took possession of
the island in May 1192 AD.%26nbsp;
From the very
beginning Guy saw the Cypriots as serfs so he
invited the French nobility to come from Syria
and Palestine and settle in Cyprus awarding them
estates and ranks in his newly founded
Kingdom.%26nbsp; He reigned for almost two
years.%26nbsp; His brother Amaury who succeeded
him reigned for eleven years (1194-1205 AD) and
he is the real founder of the Lusignan Kingdom of
Cyprus.%26nbsp; He established the offices of the
State which was organised on pure feudal
principles.
The indigenous
population consisting of Greek Cypriots was
divided mainly in three classes:%26nbsp; The
"Paroikoi" were the most numerous.%26nbsp; They
were bound to the land of their masters and they
were almost slaves.%26nbsp; Even marriage among
"'Paroikoi" from different estates was
prohibited.%26nbsp; The second group was called
"Perperiarii" (hyperperon was a Byzantine
coin).%26nbsp; All of them belonged to the
previous group but they bought off (redeemed)
their freedom by paying 15 "hyperpera" to their
masters.%26nbsp; They continued, however, to pay
taxes for their land and produce as the
"Paroikoi".%26nbsp; The "Lefteroi" were free
citizens who either purchased their freedom or
were set free by some kind of favour. The entire
Greek population was reduced to a subject race by
the French rulers.%26nbsp; The hostility between
the two was exacerbated bythe introduction of
Catholicism which people reacted to.
This climate changed
only after mid 14th century and the Greek
population was allowed relative freedom in
religious matters. This allowed the Greeks to
ascend the social ladder and even become officers
in the army.%26nbsp; The French dynasty
co-operated with the Orthodox Church and mixed
marriages were on the increase despite the
obstacles put forth by the Catholic
Church.
The last Frankish
King James reigned from 1464-1473 AD and he chose
as his consort a young Venetian girl of the
noblest families, Caterina%26nbsp; Cornaro, a
marriage that was destined to seal the chapter of
the Frankish Kingdom of Cyprus. Before her
departure from Venice, Caterina was adopted by
the Venetian State so, when James II died
unexpectedly a few months after his wedding, as
did his offspring James III a few weeks after it
was born, Caterina was persuaded in February 1489
AD to abdicate voluntarily.%26nbsp; Venice
offered her an estate at Asolo where she spent
her days until her death in 1510 AD.
The noble local
Frankish families resented the way they were
treated by the Venetians and the Greeks gained
nothing from this change, in fact they were
squeezed by heavy taxes.%26nbsp; The Orthodox
Church, however, gained full freedom for
political purposes. Rebellions did occur but were
easily crushed.
Meanwhile, as all
the countries around Cyprus fell to the Ottomans,
Cyprus could have been their prey at any moment.
The Turks sent an ultimatum with insulting terms
in March 1570 AD to the Council of Ten in Venice,
demanding the immediate cession of the
island.%26nbsp; Venice tried in vain to send
reinforcements so any resistance was doomed to
failure.
The Turks under Lala
Mustafa landed near Larnaca, proceeded unharassed
and laid siege to Nicosia on 25 July 1570
AD.%26nbsp; Having relatively easily conquered
that in about one and a half months, they
proceeded to Kyrenia which surrendered without a
shot.%26nbsp; The same happened in Paphos and
Limassol, so Lala Mustafa moved his entire army
outside Famagusta on 23 September.%26nbsp;
The defence of
Famagusta is one of the greatest epics of siege
warfare recorded in history. Against Mustafa's
200,000 men, with 145 guns, the Venetians had
some 3-4,000 regular Italian infantry, 2-300
cavalry and about 4,000 Greek militia, with 90
guns. The siege lasted from 16 September 1570 to
1 August 1571 when the Captain of Famagusta,
Marcantonio Bragadin, of a distinguished Venetian
family, offered his surrender. It was accepted by
Mustafa in flattering terms. When Bragadin and
his surviving officers came out, after receiving
the acknowledgement of surrender sealed with the
Sultan's seal, Mustafa gave the signal for the
massacre to begin. He himself cut off Bragadin's
ears and nose, then kept him waiting in this
state for two weeks before having him flayed
alive. His skin was stuffed with straw and taken
to Constantinople in triumph. A patriotic
Venetian later stole it and it now rests in an
urn in the church of SS Giovanni e Paolo in
Venice.
Cyprus was annexed
as a province of the Ottoman Empire and Lala
Mustafa Pasha became the first Governor.
Sugar Mills in the Middle
Ages
The Cartography of Cyprus Through
the Ages |
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