Janus of Cyprus
Encyclopedia
Janus
of Cyprus (1375 – 29 June 1432) was a King of Cyprus
, King of Armenia and a Titular King of Jerusalem
from 1398 to 1432.
where his father, King James I of Cyprus
was a captive. His mother, Helvis of Brunswick-Grubenhagen
gave him the name Janus which was the name of the god who founded Genoa, according to a mythological tradition.
When his father was elected King, he made an agreement with the Genoese to release him to go to Cyprus; he negotiated with them and signed an agreement on 2 February 1383. Under that agreement, the Genoese had new privileges for commercial activities. However, under Genoese demand, his father left his son Janus in their city as hostage. James sent a noble to Genoa, John Babin, as act as stepfather of his son. As the Cypriot historian Leontios Makhairas
wrote, James ordered a special tax which required the Cypriots - both nobles and people - to buy an amount of salt in order to collect the amount of money needed to release his son from the Genoese; this was achieved on October 1392, when Janus was 18 years old.
After his father's death on 9 September 1398, Janus took over the throne of Cyprus. He was crowned in Saint Sophia Cathedral
of Nicosia on 11 November 1398.
As a king he tried to take back Famagusta
, which was under Genoese rule, in 1402. The administrator of Famagusta, the Genoese Antonio de Karko, according to writings of Amati was the Janus' godfather. Janus conspired with a priest who was the spiritual father of de Karko, in order to return the city to the Cypriot King, by which the priest was to become Bishop of Famagusta. Involved in that conspiracy was Peter Makhairas, brother of Leontios. They made secret keys for the City Gates and there were many preparations to take over Famagusta and to murder de Karko by Brother Gregory and to open the gates for Janus' soldiers. However, at the last moment the plan was betrayed, and the conspirators were arrested at Famagusta; 28 of them were executed and this resulted in the city remaining in Genoese hands.
The King continued his effort to take back Famagusta (whose territory included also Kyrenia
). In 1403, the Governor of Genoa, de Mengre, had talks with Janus' representative Giorgio Billi and the talks ended with an agreement, by which the cities remained under Genoese hands. Later, he forced the Cypriot people to pay special taxes to assemble an army and machines for siege and he besieged Famagusta. The siege lasted for three years but it proved useless since there was access from the sea to the city. In 1406, the siege ended and the Genoese tried to occupy Limassol
, but they were defeated.
Two years later, the island was affected by epidemics. Simultaneously, there were many raids of locusts on the island, which caused destruction to agriculture. A new epidemic arrived in 1419-20 and that probably caused the death of Janus' second wife Charlotte. Because the King was very distraught, the body of the dead queen was moved out of the palace where her funeral was, in order to not be seen by Janus. She died on 15 January 1422.
Meanwhile, because Cyprus was still a permanent base of campaign of pirates and adventurers, after raids around Cypriot costs, Janus had repeated discussions with the Sultan of Egypt via the Sultan's representatives. Janus was not able to stop those raids and that gave the Muslim reason to attack Cyprus. Those raids were participated by Cypriot nobles and officials of the Kingdom.
Barsbay
, the Sultan of Egypt
, sent military forces to Cyprus several times. A small force, around in 1424, hit Limassol and in 1425 the Egyptian army attacked Famagusta, and then pillaged Larnaca
together with the area beside it, Kiti, Dromolaxia
, Kellia, Aradippou
and Agrinou. After Larnaca, they moved to Limassol, which was also sacked, as well as the city's castle
.
In the summer of 1426, the Mamluk
s launched a large scale attack against the island. Their army arrived in the island with 180 ships in Avdimou. Led by Tangriver Mohamed and Inal el Kakimi, the army contained more than 3,000 men and included Mamliks, Turks
and Arabs. Limassol was occupied again. Janus mustered his army and moved from Nicosia to Limassol. He asked from help from the forces in Europe, but it did not arrive: the Genoese were his enemies, and the Venetians and others did not want to destroy commercial relations with the sultan.
Following the Battle of Chirokitia (7 July 1426) against the Mamluks, King Janus was captured by the Egypt
ian forces. After ten months of captivity in Cairo
, he was ransomed. During his captivity his brother Hugh of Lusignan
, Archbishop of Nicosia, took charge of Cyprus.
After their victory the Mamluks pillaged Larnaca again and then the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia. The royal family retreated to the fortified Kyrenia and were rescued. The invaders took a great deal of loot and captives and left the island.
That disaster, together with the previous raids, the war operations of Janus against Genoese, the epidemics and the invasion of locusts caused the Cypriot serfs who lived in conditions of utter poverty to revolt. The leader of the Cypriot revolutionaries was a person called Alexis who was declared as King in Lefkoniko. The revolution was big, and was supported by the people who elected their own leaders in many places of Cyprus.
Meanwhile, Janus was humiliated in Cairo: they took him, tied up with chains and riding a donkey, in front of the Sultan, after which he was forced to kneel and worship nine times the soil on which he stepped. The release of Janus was effected after the mediations of Europeans, who offered money for the collection of the required ransoms. Also Cyprus had to offer the Sultan annual tax based on 5,000 duchies. That tax continued to be offered, even after the end of the Frankish rule in Cyprus. Together with Janus, some of the captives managed to buy their freedom after their families collected money. Some others remained as captives and were sold as slaves.
While Janus was captive, in Cyprus, the nobles and the royal family members were trying to face the Alexis' Rebellion and concurrently began to try for the release of Janus. With help from Europe, the rebellion was repressed after 10 months. The leader of the rebels was arrested as a captive. After terrible tortures, he was executed in Nicosia on 12 May 1427, the same day that King Janus arrived in Paphos
from Cairo.
, Lord of Milan
, but the marriage was annulled and they divorced in 1408 or 1407/1409 without issue. In 1411, he married Charlotte de Bourbon (1388 – of the plague on 15 January 1422 and buried in Nicosia), daughter of John I, Count of La Marche
and Catherine of Vendôme, at Nicosia, and they had six children:
Out of wedlock, he had three more children:
Janus
-General:*Janus , the two-faced Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings*Janus , a moon of Saturn*Janus Patera, a shallow volcanic crater on Io, a moon of Jupiter...
of Cyprus (1375 – 29 June 1432) was a King of Cyprus
Kingdom of Cyprus
The Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan.-History:...
, King of Armenia and a Titular King of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
from 1398 to 1432.
Biography
He was born in GenoaGenoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
where his father, King James I of Cyprus
James I of Cyprus
James I of Cyprus was Regent of Cyprus for his infant nephew Peter from 1369. When Peter died in 1382, James became King of Cyprus that year...
was a captive. His mother, Helvis of Brunswick-Grubenhagen
Helvis of Brunswick-Grubenhagen
Helvis of Brunswick-Grubenhagen , was the Queen consort of Cyprus and Queen consort of Armenia as the wife of King James I of Cyprus. He was also titular King of Jersusalem...
gave him the name Janus which was the name of the god who founded Genoa, according to a mythological tradition.
When his father was elected King, he made an agreement with the Genoese to release him to go to Cyprus; he negotiated with them and signed an agreement on 2 February 1383. Under that agreement, the Genoese had new privileges for commercial activities. However, under Genoese demand, his father left his son Janus in their city as hostage. James sent a noble to Genoa, John Babin, as act as stepfather of his son. As the Cypriot historian Leontios Makhairas
Leontios Makhairas
Leontios Machairas or Makhairas was a medieval Cypriot historian.The main source of information on him is his chronicle, written in the medieval Cypriot dialect. The chronicle documents events from the visit of Saint Helena to Cyprus until the times of the Kingdom of Cyprus...
wrote, James ordered a special tax which required the Cypriots - both nobles and people - to buy an amount of salt in order to collect the amount of money needed to release his son from the Genoese; this was achieved on October 1392, when Janus was 18 years old.
After his father's death on 9 September 1398, Janus took over the throne of Cyprus. He was crowned in Saint Sophia Cathedral
Selimiye Mosque (Nicosia)
Selimiye Mosque or Agia Sofia Cathedral, formerly Cathédrale Sainte Sophie, is located in the Turkish controlled northern part of the walled city of Nicosia. It is the main mosque in the city. It is housed in the largest and oldest surviving gothic church in Cyprus possibly constructed on the site...
of Nicosia on 11 November 1398.
As a king he tried to take back Famagusta
Famagusta
Famagusta is a city on the east coast of Cyprus and is capital of the Famagusta District. It is located east of Nicosia, and possesses the deepest harbour of the island.-Name:...
, which was under Genoese rule, in 1402. The administrator of Famagusta, the Genoese Antonio de Karko, according to writings of Amati was the Janus' godfather. Janus conspired with a priest who was the spiritual father of de Karko, in order to return the city to the Cypriot King, by which the priest was to become Bishop of Famagusta. Involved in that conspiracy was Peter Makhairas, brother of Leontios. They made secret keys for the City Gates and there were many preparations to take over Famagusta and to murder de Karko by Brother Gregory and to open the gates for Janus' soldiers. However, at the last moment the plan was betrayed, and the conspirators were arrested at Famagusta; 28 of them were executed and this resulted in the city remaining in Genoese hands.
The King continued his effort to take back Famagusta (whose territory included also Kyrenia
Kyrenia
Kyrenia is a town on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. Internationally recognised as part of the Republic of Cyprus, Kyrenia has been under Turkish control since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974...
). In 1403, the Governor of Genoa, de Mengre, had talks with Janus' representative Giorgio Billi and the talks ended with an agreement, by which the cities remained under Genoese hands. Later, he forced the Cypriot people to pay special taxes to assemble an army and machines for siege and he besieged Famagusta. The siege lasted for three years but it proved useless since there was access from the sea to the city. In 1406, the siege ended and the Genoese tried to occupy Limassol
Limassol
Limassol is the second-largest city in Cyprus, with a population of 228,000 . It is the largest city in geographical size, and the biggest municipality on the island. The city is located on Akrotiri Bay, on the island's southern coast and it is the capital of Limassol District.Limassol is the...
, but they were defeated.
Two years later, the island was affected by epidemics. Simultaneously, there were many raids of locusts on the island, which caused destruction to agriculture. A new epidemic arrived in 1419-20 and that probably caused the death of Janus' second wife Charlotte. Because the King was very distraught, the body of the dead queen was moved out of the palace where her funeral was, in order to not be seen by Janus. She died on 15 January 1422.
Meanwhile, because Cyprus was still a permanent base of campaign of pirates and adventurers, after raids around Cypriot costs, Janus had repeated discussions with the Sultan of Egypt via the Sultan's representatives. Janus was not able to stop those raids and that gave the Muslim reason to attack Cyprus. Those raids were participated by Cypriot nobles and officials of the Kingdom.
Barsbay
Barsbay
Al-Ashraf Sayf-ad-Din Barsbay was the ninth Burji Mamluk sultan of Egypt from AD 1422 to 1438. He was Circassian by birth and a former slave of the first Burji Sultan, Barquq....
, the Sultan of Egypt
Sultan of Egypt
Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid Dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally included Sham and Hejaz, with the consequence that the...
, sent military forces to Cyprus several times. A small force, around in 1424, hit Limassol and in 1425 the Egyptian army attacked Famagusta, and then pillaged Larnaca
Larnaca
Larnaca, is the third largest city on the southern coast of Cyprus after Nicosia and Limassol. It has a population of 72,000 and is the island's second largest commercial port and an important tourist resort...
together with the area beside it, Kiti, Dromolaxia
Dromolaxia
Dromolaxia is a village just 8 km away from Larnaca in Cyprus, near Larnaca International Airport. It is one of the largest villages in the Larnaca region with a current population of about 7000 people....
, Kellia, Aradippou
Aradippou
Aradippou is a municipality in Cyprus located on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. It was established in 1986 following a referendum of local residents. It has a population of approximately 20,000.-Eyxternal Link:*http://aradippou.org.cy/...
and Agrinou. After Larnaca, they moved to Limassol, which was also sacked, as well as the city's castle
Kolossi Castle
Kolossi Castle is a crusader stronghold a few kilometers outside the city of Limassol on the island of Cyprus. It held great strategic importance and contained production of sugar, one of Cyprus' main exports in the Middle Ages...
.
In the summer of 1426, the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
s launched a large scale attack against the island. Their army arrived in the island with 180 ships in Avdimou. Led by Tangriver Mohamed and Inal el Kakimi, the army contained more than 3,000 men and included Mamliks, Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
and Arabs. Limassol was occupied again. Janus mustered his army and moved from Nicosia to Limassol. He asked from help from the forces in Europe, but it did not arrive: the Genoese were his enemies, and the Venetians and others did not want to destroy commercial relations with the sultan.
Following the Battle of Chirokitia (7 July 1426) against the Mamluks, King Janus was captured by the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian forces. After ten months of captivity in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, he was ransomed. During his captivity his brother Hugh of Lusignan
Hugh of Lusignan
-People with the name:*Hugh I *Hugh II *Hugh III*Hugh IV*Hugh V *Hugh VI *Hugh VII *Hugh VIII *Hugh IX *Hugh X *Hugh XI *Hugh XII -People with the name:*Hugh I (early 10th century)*Hugh II (died 967)*Hugh III*Hugh IV*Hugh V (died 1060)*Hugh VI (died 1110)*Hugh VII (died 1151)*Hugh VIII (died...
, Archbishop of Nicosia, took charge of Cyprus.
After their victory the Mamluks pillaged Larnaca again and then the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia. The royal family retreated to the fortified Kyrenia and were rescued. The invaders took a great deal of loot and captives and left the island.
That disaster, together with the previous raids, the war operations of Janus against Genoese, the epidemics and the invasion of locusts caused the Cypriot serfs who lived in conditions of utter poverty to revolt. The leader of the Cypriot revolutionaries was a person called Alexis who was declared as King in Lefkoniko. The revolution was big, and was supported by the people who elected their own leaders in many places of Cyprus.
Meanwhile, Janus was humiliated in Cairo: they took him, tied up with chains and riding a donkey, in front of the Sultan, after which he was forced to kneel and worship nine times the soil on which he stepped. The release of Janus was effected after the mediations of Europeans, who offered money for the collection of the required ransoms. Also Cyprus had to offer the Sultan annual tax based on 5,000 duchies. That tax continued to be offered, even after the end of the Frankish rule in Cyprus. Together with Janus, some of the captives managed to buy their freedom after their families collected money. Some others remained as captives and were sold as slaves.
While Janus was captive, in Cyprus, the nobles and the royal family members were trying to face the Alexis' Rebellion and concurrently began to try for the release of Janus. With help from Europe, the rebellion was repressed after 10 months. The leader of the rebels was arrested as a captive. After terrible tortures, he was executed in Nicosia on 12 May 1427, the same day that King Janus arrived in Paphos
Paphos
Paphos , sometimes referred to as Pafos, is a coastal city in the southwest of Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos and New Paphos. The currently inhabited city is New Paphos. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, about west of the...
from Cairo.
Family and issue
He had nine children. After January 1400, he married Anglesia Visconti (died 1439), daughter of Bernabò ViscontiBernabo Visconti
Bernabò Visconti was an Italian soldier and statesman, who was Lord of Milan.-Life:He was born in Milan, the son of Stefano Visconti and Valentina Doria. From 1346 to 1349 he lived in exile, until he was called back by his uncle Giovanni Visconti...
, Lord of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, but the marriage was annulled and they divorced in 1408 or 1407/1409 without issue. In 1411, he married Charlotte de Bourbon (1388 – of the plague on 15 January 1422 and buried in Nicosia), daughter of John I, Count of La Marche
John I, Count of La Marche
John of Bourbon-La Marche , was the second son of James I, Count of La Marche and Jeanne of Châtillon.-Life:...
and Catherine of Vendôme, at Nicosia, and they had six children:
- John II or III of LusignanJohn II of CyprusJohn II or III of Cyprus was the King of Cyprus and Armenia and also titular King of Jerusalem from 1432 to 1458. He was previously a Titular Prince of Antioch...
(1414 – 1458) - James of Lusignan (d. ca 1426)
- Anne of Lusignan, Princess of Cyprus (1418 or 1419 – 1462), married at ChambéryChambéryChambéry is a city in the department of Savoie, located in the Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France.It is the capital of the department and has been the historical capital of the Savoy region since the 13th century, when Amadeus V of Savoy made the city his seat of power.-Geography:Chambéry...
on 1 November 1433 or 12 February 1434 Louis of Savoy - Mary of Lusignan (died 1437)
- Janus of Lusignan, prince of Cyprus, founder of the House of Nolasco
- Unnamed twins (born 1415)
Out of wedlock, he had three more children:
- Aloysius of Lusignan (1408 – after 1421)
- Guy of Lusignan (died after 1433), legitimized by the PopePopeThe Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
Martin V in 1428 - a daughter de Lusignan, married 1427 Garceran Suarez de los Cernadilla, Admiral of Cyprus