After the fall of Acre (1291) risen to great importance...

THE FAMOUS CITY OF FAMAGUSTA (1)

"The city of Famagusta is situated at the east end of the Mesaoria, the great and in medieval times completely forested central plain of Cyprus. It is at the head of a semi-circular bay between the Karpas peninsula and Cape Greco, which give some shelter to the roadstead, the only good anchorage in the island. It took the place of Salamis, the ruins of which are a short distance away to the north, to the south lies the suburb of Varosha which has grown in size in proportion to the progressive depopulation of Famagusta itself.

From the fourteenth century right down to the present day (quoted from Enlart, 1899!) all the evidence is unanimous in condemning Famagusta as unhealthy. (1) The surrounding countryside has a barren soil, good only for wild-fowl, the collection of salt and the manufacture of earthenware water-coolers. Nevertheless the city has long been prosperous because it has an excellent harbour, in fact the only real harbour in Cyprus. Richard the Lionheart disembarked there in 1191 when he took the offensive against Isaac Comnenos (2) and so did Henry I in 1232, when he reconquered his kingdom from Frederick II. (3) In 1373 the Genoese fleet, in 1478 the Venetian fleet and in 1570, "alas for Cyprus" (Enlart, 1899), the Turkish fleet found good anchorage there.

At the beginning of the thirteenth century Famagusta was of little importance. It could boast a fortified tower, (4) a Latin bishop's seat, a Greek place of pilgrimage in honour of St. Epiphanius, a former bishop of Salamis, (5) and, not far away, the famous tomb of St. Barnabas the Apostle. (The church of St. Barnabas is a Byzantine domed building so closely similar to St. Front at Périgueux that if it could be proved to be earlier there would be a high probability that the introduction of Byzantine art into Périgord was due to some pilgrim who had taken notes at St. Barnabas). (6)

It was after the loss of Acre in 1291 that the city of Famagusta rose to great importance because it was the obligatory entrepôt for all commercial transactions between west and east. In 1300 almost all the churches, and the fortifications as well, were still in process of construction. They show the influence of Provence and Champagne and thus corroborate the documentary evidence for close connections between Cyprus and the fairs of Champagne (7) and of southern France. (8)

The wealth of Famagusta was proverbial between 1300 and 1370. John of Verona (9) speaks of it in 1335 and describes the lavish pomp of local ceremonies, such as a funeral with mourners and a wedding procession in which the bride rode on horseback surrounded by forty candies. In 1350 Ludolf of Sudheim (10) was astonished by another bride, whose ornaments were richer than those of all the brides of France put together. Both these pilgrims comment on, and are scandalised by, the wealth and display of the courtesans of Famagusta.

But the outstanding example of riches ostentatiously flaunted was afforded by the Lachas brothers, Nestorian merchants from Syria. When they entertained King Peter I in their palace the two brothers went to ridiculous lengths to display that parvenu splendour with which the rich merchants of Famagusta used to dazzle all the travellers who came there. Precious stones were laid out on plates, the gentlemen of the royal court showing no scruples about picking up a few keepsakes, huge armfuls of aloe-wood blazed in all the fireplaces; even the kitchen stove was filled with the same aromatic firewood, which must have given a wonderful taste to the food. On another occasion one of the Lachas paid a huge sum for a carbuncle which he proceeded to grind down in a mortar; once he presented the King with 30,000 ducats. In the end they were ruined when the Genoese sacked Famagusta in 1373 and took from them everything they had, amounting to two million ducats. (11)

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NOTES
(1) Genoese notarial records of the year 1300 show a terrifying mortality rate among Europeans; in 1360 there was a dreadful plague; later Nicholas of Martoni expresses horror at having to live in so unhealthy a place; later still Don Peter Tafur, Catherine Cornaro, all the Venetian provveditori, Pierre Mésenge and several other pilgrims complain about the climate and hardly any of the accounts of pilgrimage fail to record someone who fell victim to the unhealthiness of the city. St. Peter Thomas and the infant King James III died of it and so perhaps did James II the Bastard.
(2) Amadi, p. 80.
(3) Gestes des Chiprois, p. 105; Amadi, p. 163; Bustron, p. 93.
(4) Gestes des Chiprois, p. 105.
(5) Willibrand of Oldenburg, pp. 143-4.
(6) St. Barnabas has only two central domes but the pillars, arches, pendentives, drums and domes are exactly similar to those at St. Front. The church at Yeroskipos, near Paphos, where pilgrims also landed, has fine domes on drums, just like St. Front.
(7) See F. Bourquelot, Les foires de Champagne, P. 204.
(8) Mas Latrie, Hist., II, 24, 208, 219, 233, 250, 268; III, 728.
(9) Liber peregrinationis Fr. Joannis de Verona, publ. by Reinhold Röhricht in Rev. de I'Or. lat., 1895, pp. 177-8.
(10) De itinere Terre Sancte, publ. by Dr. G.A. Naumann in Arch. de I'Or. lat., vol 11, part I I, p. 336.
(11) Machaeras, pp. 48-52; Bustron, p. 258; Strambaldi, p. 187. The inventories of property, and the legacies of Famagustans recorded in 1300 -1301 bear witness to their wealth; see Desimoni, Actes génois de Famagouste, Rev. de l'Or. lat., 1896.