The rise of Islam in Cyprus

With the Byzantine Empire too weak from its 7thcentury war against Persia to resist the Moslem advance in Palestine, Syria and Egypt, the Arabs were emboldened to cross over to Cyprus in 649 with a fleet of 1,500 ships. Constantia¬ Salamis was left in ruins from which it was never to recover and the raid continued across the island until news of an approaching Byzantine fleet prompted retreat.

Four years later, in a move that uncannily foreshadowed events of the 20th century, the Arabs staged a second invasion and left a garrison of 12,000 men, encouraging Moslem immigration to estab¬lish a foothold. The Byzantine and Moslem Caliphate subse¬quently agreed by treaty to neutralize Cyprus no mili¬tary bases, though ports could be used for refitting the navy ¬and share tax revenues.

Over the next 300 years, offshore battles and Moslem and Byzantine raids did occur, but Moslems and Christians lived side by side in more harmony than their own respective historical accounts may now suggest.

Though Moslem vil¬lages were concentrated most¬ly in the east, Paphos remained in Moslem hands and Greek Cypriots moved inland to a new community at Ktima and from Kourion to Episkopi. Both rulers used Cyprus as a place to park their more troublesome rebels.

Typically, emperors who had outlawed icons happily sent their image worshipping monks to a place where the independent church did not share the iconoclast doctrine. Defeat of the declining Caliphate's Egyptian fleet in 965 ended the condominium. Without its constraints, the peasants, Christian and Moslem alike, found in the new Byzantine governors much harsher taskmasters and tax collectors.

The Cyprus Crusades and car hire at Larnaca Airport

Cyprus became a key strategic post for Byzantine interests in Syria and Palestine. The gov-ernor organized protection for pilgrims to the highly danger¬ous Holy Land and supervised rebuilding of Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre and fortifications for its Christian Quarter. Many of the old monuments and original architecture of Cyprus can still be viewed today, and there is no better way to explore the island than by hire car, pre-booked from Larnaca Airport.

The invasion of Ottoman Turks in Anatolia and the Levant after 1071 threatened commu¬nications with Constantinople, but Cyprus was still able to supply food to soldiers in the First Crusade of 1097 and even provided refuge for de¬feated Moslem princes. The capital was established in the 12th century at the safer inland location of Nicosia.

New trade developed with Venice and the young Crusad¬er states on the mainland. With Salamis harbour silted up, port activities moved down the coast to Famagusta. Other main trading ports were now Limassol to the south and Kyrenia on the north coast.

Anatolia and Cyprus

The Turks' complete con¬quest of Anatolia in 1176 isolated Cyprus from the Byzantine government. Isaac Comnenius, a junior member of the imperial family, felt free to make himself 'Emperor' of Cyprus, using Sicilian merce¬naries to fight off the Byzan tine fleet. He ruled the island with brutal cruelty. Salvation seemed to come in the form of England's Richard the Lionheart, who docked at Limassol on his way to the Crusades.

He crushed the tyrant Isaac and was wel¬comed by cheering crowds in the streets of Nicosia. Isaac surrendered on condition that he would not be clamped into irons, so Richard clamped him into silver chains. Despite his English sense of humour, the Cypriots soon realized Richard was not altogether to be trusted. To pay for his expedition to the Holy Land, he stripped the island of all its money and Greek Cypriots were denied any governing role. They were ordered to shave off their beards, the supreme humiliation.

Lusignans, Genoese and Venetians After various dealings with knightly orders, Richard left the island in the hands of Guy de Lusignan, regarded by fel¬low Crusaders as simplex et minor astutus. This exking of Jerusalem from French Poitou proved at least astute enough to bring barons in from wartorn Palestine with the promise of a safer life on Cyprus's fertile (and free) farm estates. The Lusignan¬dynasty's feudal rule reduced native Cypriots to serfdom. In 1260, the Roman Catholic Church was declared supreme on the island, but Orthodox priests remained the real spiritual authority inside the GreekCypriot community.

Originally Byzantine, the Crusaders' mountain redoubts at St Hilarion, Kantara and Buffavento set the pattern for the feudal castles of western Europe. Church architecture drew on French Gothic models for Nicosia's 13thcentury St Sophia cathedral (now Selimiye mosque) and Bella¬pais Abbey near Kyrenia, and Rh1l1eland Gothic for Famagusta's St Nicholas cathedral (now Lala Mustafa Pasha mosque).

Christian Cyprus and car hire

If you are planning to visit Cyprus, make the most of cheap car hire at Larnaca Airport and explore the island at your own leisure in style and comfort.In the 14th century, Cyprus profited greatly as a Christian outpost supplying the main¬land Crusaders. Famagusta merchants were renowned for their extravagant luxury. In the mountains, the barons used leopards to hunt the island's coveted wild moufflon sheep. The island's opu¬lence attracted pirates and a heated rivalry between the merchants of Genoa and Venice which erupted in bloody riots III 1345.

The Cypriots sided with the stylish Venetians against the rapa¬cious Genoese. Avenging the murder of its merchants and looting of its shops in Famagusta, Genoa sent a fleet to ravage the whole island. In 1374, the Genoese extorted reparations of 2 million gold florins and confiscated the port of Famagusta.

The Lusignan kings had become too fat and sluggish to resist Italian demands. James II needed help from the Sultan of Egypt to oust the Genoese in 1464, but the gold it cost him emptied his treasury. After his death, the Venetians stepped into the breach through James' widow, Queen Caterina Cornaro. After years of intrigue, they sent her back to Italy with a generous pen¬sion as golden handshake and ruled Cyprus for 82 years. The Venetians' lucrative trade was threatened by Ot¬toman encroachment on three sides Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt.

In 1570, the Turks flatly demanded that they give up Cyprus. Imagining that attack would come from the east, the Venetians consolidat¬ed their defences mainly in Famagusta. But Lala Mustafa Pasha, governor of Damascus, landed on the south coast and headed inland to besiege the relatively lightly defended Nicosia, which fell after 46 days.

The capital's Venetian commander was killed and his head sent to his counterpart at Famagusta as a warning. But Captain Marcantonio Bragadi¬no led a heroic defence of the port city, 8,000 Greek Cypriot and Italian troops holding out for over 10 months against a Turkish army of 200,000. On 1 August 1571, when the defenders were reduced to just 400 men, Bragadino surren¬dered. He was promised safe conduct but then flayed alive. Cyprus became a province of the Ottoman Empire.