CYPRUS

The Lusignan Dynasty,
300 years of Frankish rule
| complete genealogy |

Sources, see: Bibliography, Cyprus

Overview Cyprus | previous | map |

395 AD - 1191
Cyprus becomes part of the Byzantine Empire
1191 - 1192
Rule by Richard  the Lionheart of England
1192 - 1489
Rule by the Frankish Lusignan dynasty
1489 - 1570
Venetian domination of the island
1571 - 1878
Conquest of Cyprus by the Ottoman Empire
The ruling class during the Lusignan period was composed of the royal family and the nobility. This latter mainly consisted of barons who had lost their possessions in Palestine. At the end of the Lusignan period some of the noble families were replaced by Italian nobility and during the rule of the Venetians by the Venetian one. There is also a number of families from Byzantine times, though insignificant, in the list of the 126 noble families of the l6th century.

The local Cypriot population was divided into three classes: the lowest class was that of the 'parici' or 'paroikoi', which had to pay an annual poll tax. In addition, on two days of the week they had to provide compulsory labour for their master and deliver a third of their crop to him. They were subject to the direct jurisdiction of their masters, who other than mutilation or death could impose any punishment on them.

The second class were the 'perperiarii', thus named after the annual tax of fifteen hyperps (gold bezants), which they had to pay to their landlord. They originally belonged to the class of the 'parici', but had freed themselves and their children from the serfdom through particular services. However they delivered the same share of their crops to their landlords as the 'parici'.

And finally there were the 'lefteri' or 'francomati', who either through the payment of a certain amount of money or by the kind mood of their master had been freed from the obligations imposed on the two lower classes. Their land and crops were free, although the master normally claimed a fifth to a tenth for himself. When they worked for him, he was obliged to pay them wages. Children from marriages between this and one of the two lower classes were automatically degraded.

But now to return to the course of history: Richard the Lionheart had carried off rich booty from Cyprus, but he soon was to see his new possession as a burden, after he left to Palestine, because the garrison he had left behind on the island was not in a position to control the country, where riots flared up again and again.

He found a customer in the Order of the Knights Templar, who bought the island for 100.000 dinars (bezants), of which 40.000 were payable at the conclusion of the contract and 60.000 from the income of the island. But the Order, which sent some troops to the island, had nothing else in mind but to squeeze the amount paid to Richard the Lionheart out of the land as quickly as possible. A new uprising against the Order was planned for Easter 1192, and this time it was to be not in the countryside but directly in Nicosia. The preparations were however betrayed to the Templars, who on account of their small number, preferred to retreat into the badly fortified castle of Nicosia.