But he had imagined freeing himself from the heavy pressure of the two powers with the establishment of a Mediterranean domination, capable of curbing the Western preponderance, without offending its prerogatives, kept intact, respected and renewed in an atmosphere of cordial collaboration. In this game of balance he unleashed the ill-dormant jealousies of the two republics, calmed to the detriment and scorn of the kingdom (1365), because the king had to yield to the Genoese arrogance, which was able to give more concrete form to his lordship on Famagusta, opening a wound on the very territorial integrity of the kingdom. This trait of audacity had been earned by the weakness of the Venetians, who after engaging the kingdom in the struggle, had abandoned it to its fate, jealous of the threatened extension of its power in the Mediterranean. A few years later the Genoese fulfilled their plan (1373) demanding the cession of Famagusta, as compensation for one of the usual unfortunate scuffles unleashed on the occasion of the coronation of Peter II, while the Venetians were passive spectators after having suffered the insult and being a party to the dispute. Famagusta was occupied, albeit as a pledge: but while remaining under the nominal sovereignty of the Lusignano, it could be considered lost by the crown. Every attempt to regain it failed, indeed worsened the situation, since Peter II, an ally of Venice in the war of Chioggia, with the lure of taking revenge, had only the bitterness of a defeat and the despondency of a new abandonment, leaving him to his heir Giacomo di Lusignano the humiliation of redeeming his ten-year imprisonment (1382) with the definitive cession of Famagusta, completed with the partial one of Cerines. This is how the Genoese seigniory on part of the island originated, all the more tyrannical as it was governed and controlled by a group of shipowners, who had anticipated the costs of the company since 1973, the Maona of Cyprus, of which Cypriot finance unfortunately remained a servant. Economic and financial subjection thus added to political subjection. After the victory, Genoa, dominated by the plutocratic element, was thrown back into a painful crisis, which, throwing it in the arms of the foreigner, did not allow it to exploit the latest conquests, except as instruments of risky and unfortunate financial operations, between the fluctuation of new elements that penetrated widely into the eastern Mediterranean, to which it was convenient to give way, the Catalans and the Saracens. Venice, while retreating, defended its positions: at the dawn of the century. XV, having eliminated the Genoese, had against him the other two fierce enemies. Cyprus was soon invaded by a strong current of Catalan immigration, while the king of the island, Janus, in order not to lose possession, negotiated a tribute with the sultan of Egypt (1397). The government of Janus (1397-1432) and that of his successor John II (1432-1460) mark the decline of a kingdom, which, tributary of the infidel, is placed at the mercy of the tyranny of Genoese speculators, intent only on recovering the fruits of the capitals employed by their ancestors, and of the bitter struggle between Venetians and Catalans. For Cyprus history, please check historyaah.com.
And we are at the end of a centuries-old cycle. On the death of John II (1460) two heirs, one legitimate, Carlotta, the other illegitimate, Giacomo, contend for the succession with arms. Behind them, however, are other stronger fighters. Carlotta di Lusignano, wife of Ludovico di Savoia, whose kinship makes the rights to the dying kingdom devolve in the House of Savoy, indulges in the protection of the Catalan element and the Aragonese king Alfonso of Naples, confident of procuring a crown for his bastard is about to be traded. Giacomo, more daring, more fortunate, throwing himself into the arms of the Venetians, who, with the offer of a bride in the person of Caterina Cornaro (v.), Place a mortgage on the future destiny of the island, moves to the conquest of this island., he wears a crown that is not his, and frees the territory from inconvenient lordships, canceling the foreign tax and uprooting the Genoese lordship from Famagusta. He prepares the Venetian lordship, destroying the mortgages of those who had placed their hands on the island previously, and dies, on August 24, 1473, even before collecting the smile of the heir, whose fleeting appearance led to claiming the right to his mother. nominal value of the crown, exercised on behalf of third parties. Around this woman, supported by the council of trusted men delegated by Venice, defended by the vigilant assistance of the Venetian team, guarded by the emissaries of the Serenissima, a fierce battle of deceptions and snares broke out., conspiracies, armed attempts, political combinations, whose protagonists, from the ousted Carlotta to the suitor Alfonso of Naples, they played with each other’s cunning to seize on their own the government of a precious domain. Venice watched without impatience: the moment of oriental equilibrium advised prudence and caution so as not to engage the republic in a continental conflict, while it was under the perennial threat of maritime pressure. But at the critical point, when even the faith in those who had to support the Venetian interest, Queen Catherine, failed, without beating around the bush the Venetian Senate did not hesitate (1488) to assume direct responsibility for the government of the island, raising the banner di S. Marco and incorporating the territory into the state administration. Cyprus was to serve as an advanced post for the defense of the surviving Venetian colonial rule in the East, point of support for the movement of traffic not yet extinguished, bulwark against the march of the Turk. With this understanding, and not wrongly, the Venetian government had decided to fulfill the fate that the irrevocability of contingencies marked. Less than a century later, the Turks, aware of the strategic importance of the island, focused their efforts on it. After the heroic defense, in August 1571, Famagusta capitulated: Cyprus, in the possession of the Turkish, did not gain: the internal resources rapidly diminished, the advantages of international traffic were progressively restricted, the political force in the hands of a power that he did not know how to exploit it, it waned for a few centuries, until once again the life-giving impulse of a more rational political equilibrium rose again from the West. In 1878 England, worried about maintaining the integrity of the Ottoman Empire on the eve of a dangerous collapse, in any case she took a pledge with the occupation of the island, for having a just deposit to safeguard her interests in a vital observation post, while acknowledging the high Turkish sovereignty and accepting the obligation of a tribute. The economic liability, which it took on with the purchase of the island, was offset by the political asset, which allowed England not to be absent from the more delicate current and future theater of major political competitions. In 1914 this tribute also ended, and the island was annexed to England.
