Altogether there were 14 knights of the Order and 29 other knights with their mounts and 74 foot-soldiers. As they were without provision and the besieging mob refused to offer them free departure to Syria, they decided to undertake a sortie. This surprised the besiegers completely in the early hours of Easter Sunday. The knights stormed through the city on their horses and speared everything that came before their lances. After some hours of butchery they found themselves in a city without inhabitants, unwilling to remain in this place any longer.

Whether it was the Templars themselves or the King, 'without property', of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, who initiated the following transaction is of no consequence any more: Guy received from Richard the Lionheart Cyprus as a lifelong fief and paid the 40.000 bezants to the Templars. The payment of the remaining 60.000 bezants was settled in 1197 by Guy's successor Amaury through the cession of the county of Jaffa.

The Lusignans. The Grande Encyclopedia (pub. 1886-1902) says it was a celebrated feudal dynasty of Poitou (France), but little is known of its origin, and it can be followed only from about 967 (see this link: complete genealogy). Further it is complicated by the fact that most of its males carried the name Hugh. The GE gives Hugh IV, called le Brun about 1030, Hugh V, "killed traitorously in 1080", Hugh VI, the "Diable, who took part in the 1st Crusade, Hugh VII, who followed Louis VII to the East, and finally Hugh VIII, whose descendants were either the Counts of the Marche and of Angouleme, or the Kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem, some of the latter becoming rulers? of Little Armenia [obviously after the capture of Armenia by the Turks]. The first of the Kings of Jersusalem carried the name of Guy, not Hugh, in the time of Richard the Lion-Hearted.

By an assurance of impunity Guy de Lusignan proceeded with the task of persuading the local population to return to their villages and towns. At the same time he spread the word in Palestine, Syria and Armenia, that he would distribute fiefs to all those who were ready to settle on the island. Many knights had lost their fiefs in those countries through the conquests of the Saracens and were thus willing to accept the invitation. The mixture of "knight-adventurers" which followed this call, gave considerable occasion for satirical remarks by contemporary observers.

The fiefs which Guy de Lusignan gave away were personal donations and could be bequeathed by the fiefholder in direct line or also to sidelines of kinship. Thus they differed from the custom of Syria and Palestine. After he had laid the foundation for the nearly threehundred years of dominion by the Lusignans in Cyprus, he died at the age of 65 in April 1194. One must remember, that he never became King of Cyprus, although he still carried the title of the King of Jerusalem. His brother Amaury, who became his successor, was crowned three years later as King of Cyprus.

Amaury (1194-1205) initially busied himself with putting the finances in order which had been brought into disorder by the generous donations of his brother, since the lack of income made it impossible for him to keep up with his obligations for the protection and assistance of his vassals. In this regard he proved very successful. When he died, the annual income totalled 300.000 gold bezants.

But it was of equal importance to create the base for the establishment of the Latin church, since this was decisive for the stabilization of the foreign rule over the Greek-Orthodox population.