After Peter I had fallen victim to an assassination by the Frankish nobility , his 18 year old son was crowned Peter II . He was at the mercy of the Genoese trading interests . In 1373 , they occupied Famagusta with 14,000 men - the financing had been carried out by a private trading company - brought the king into their power and starved him out until he left the city to them . His uncle James had to go to Genoa as a hostage . He was only able to succeed Peter II , who had died at the age of 30 , with difficulty . His son Janus , who had been born in Genoa and named after the mythical founder of that city , remained there as a hostage ; he was only able to ransom him in 1385 .

Cyprus had been brought to the edge of ruin by mismanagement . The Genoese had taken the export trade away and the royal house was heavily indebted to them and the Venetians . Now the island also lost its transshipment role for trade with Syria because in 1372 the Pope lifted his ban on trading with people of other faiths .

At about the same time , the last Christian bastion , apart from Cyprus , in the Levant , the kingdom of Armenia , was overrun by the Turks ; the danger which they threatened became ever more apparent , however not apparent enough to cause the Christians to abandon their internal disputes in favour of a common defence . The power of Byzantium had been undermined by the Seljuks for three centuries . Its decline in importance was to the benefit of the Italian mercantile republics , especially Venice and Genoa , which thus became the lords over the Levant . With the rise of the Ottomans , they lost this growth in power once again and with the shift of global trade brought about by the discovery of America , the Mediterranean area became a region of subordinate importance from a power politics point of view .

But the galleys of the North Italian merchants still dominated and when in 1381 Genoa also lost a long war against Venice , it retained Famagusta until 1464 and raked in tribute payments from Cyprus . In 1426 , the island was struck by the Egyptians - a late act of revenge for Peter I's attack on Alexandria - and also had to pay annual duties to them . In 1427 , the exorbitant burdens which had been passed on to the population led to a peasants' revolt which was put down violently . While the surfs had hardly the wherewithal to eke out their existence , regardless of what was happening , the rulers indulged in hunting with falcons , hounds and leopards which were cared for by their own servants .

In 1453 , Byzantium fell , and the kingdoms in the Balkans which could have held up the advance of the Ottomans were weakened and torn by inner conflicts . Europe was drawn into the defensive action against the Moslems . There was no time to think about the defence of the island in the remote Middle East which had become unimportant . The fall of Constantinople also brought a burgeoning dream to nought . The Cypriot King John II married as his second wife Helena , daughter of the Despot of Morea and Duke of Sparta from the Palaeologue dynasty . She ensured a better status for the orthodox church , Greek became the second official language alongside French and the natives had fresh hope of a renewed link with Byzantium , especially after the uncle of the queen , Constantine XI , ascended the throne in Constantinople in 1448 . The dream lasted scarcely five years . After the defeat of this still largest city of the Christian Middle Ages , just as in the case of the Latin Christians after the fall of Acre , the Greek element was strengthened by the many refugees . Helena made sure of an honourable reception for them until her own and John's death in 1458 ; afterwards Latin suppression dominated again .

Helena's and John's daughter Charlotte held her own on the throne for just two years . Then a 'Bastard' , the son of John II and his mistress Marietta Flatri , succeeded in usurping the throne with the help of the Mamelukes . Charlotte held Kyrenia for a further four years , but the hope for her European relatives would support the re-conquest from this port city was dashed . In 1474 , Charlotte left Rhodes where she had found shelter with the Knights of St. John . From 1478 to 1481 in Cairo , she asked unsuccessfully for help for her return to the throne . In 1485 , she abdicated officially and died in Rome in 1487 .

Her adversary and half-brother , James II , himself fell victim to a plot which the Venetians contrived with their usual cunning ; he became engaged to the Venetian merchant's daughter Catharina Cornaro whose parents owned large estates on Cyprus . The last king of Cyprus dealt with the Genoese alone whom he starved and then drove out with a carefully arranged campaign . But he needed a powerful ally against the Turks . So it was of little help to him that he was fully aware of what was at the back of the Venetians ' minds when he finally married Catharina in 1472 after hesitating for a long time ; he and his scarcely one year old son died in 1473 in unclear circumstances . In 1489 , his widow abdicated after fifteen years of sham rule . Venice , which had 'adopted' her in 1474 and had her ruled in fact since then , now officially annexed the island .

The impoverished Frankish nobility , a group of some 300 persons , lost their influence , if not also their estates . The Venetians administered their property with an ingenious system of offices . The highest officials were replaced every two years so that , despite the distance , complete control was ensured . The governors acted solely in the interest of the Lagoon City ; they took no account of local sensitivities ; each inhabitant was regarded as suspect . Unlike the Franks who shared certain of the country's interests if only on account of their link to their fiefs , the Venetians were concerned only to draw money from the island and to safeguard the military strategic use . The exploitation of the rural population , which had already been considerable under the Lusignans , now took on unscrupulous forms .