There
is no historical evidence that Richard Lionheart planned to conquer the
Byzantine island of Cyprus when he set out on the Third Crusade. On the
contrary, every indication suggests that he was intent upon reaching the Holy
Land as expeditiously as possible and re-capturing Jerusalem for Christendom. Dr. Schrader continues with her short history of the Conquest of Cyprus.
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| Cypriot Landscape |
Had there been no storm, he would have proceeded, as his fellow-crusader Philip
II of France had done, without interruption all the way to Tyre/Acre. Only
chance scattered his fleet, wrecked some of his ships on the shores of
Cyprus and left his fiancé and sister stranded there. Yet even that would not have resulted in a
conquest had the ruler of Cyprus, the self-styled Emperor Isaac Comnenus, acted
hospitably to Richard’s ship-wrecked men and ladies. Instead, Isaac plundered
the ships, imprisoned the survivors, threatened the royal women, and insulted
Richard himself (see The Conquest of Cyprus I: Chance and Passion). Richard’s
response was to teach the Byzantine tyrant a lesson, which he did by storming
ashore, capturing Limassol and then scattering Isaac’s army in a dawn attack. It
all would have ended there if only Isaac had been willing to come on crusade
with Richard. Instead he fled to the interior.
Richard
responded not with rage but with hard-headed rationality. It was at this point
that he appears to have conceived the plan of taking -- and holding -- Cyprus for the crusaders. He rapidly developed and executed a well-crafted strategic plan that
made effective use of his large crusader force and fleet. First, he divided his
army into three parts. He sent some troops overland to pursue and if possible capture Isaac. He sent part of his fleet
to the west, and took the bulk of the fleet eastward. Both parts of the fleet
secured ports and castles along the coast as they advanced.
The
latter continued to be easy and bloodless due to the unpopularity Isaac. Even
before he left Limassol, Richard had been receiving homage from many of the
local elite, most notably the Italian merchants. But it wasn’t only the
foreigners that evidently welcomed Richard. Many of the Byzantine nobility also
appeared to prefer Richard to Isaac — perhaps because they believed he would
not stay long and they would soon have the island to themselves again.
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| Another Cypriot Landscape |
Meanwhile,
at Famagusta Richard disembarked his troops and advanced toward the inland city of
Nicosia. Expecting an ambush, Richard personally commanded the rear-guard of
his army. Isaac obliged, attacked and the Greek despot's army was handily defeated yet again
by Richard’s superior troops and leadership. Isaac himself, however, escaped as
he had on all the previous occasions, and this time he fled to the one of the
nearly impregnable mountain fortresses, either Kantara or Buffavento.
These
castles, perched on the top of a steep, rocky mountain ridge so narrow that it was
not possible to build courtyards or wide halls, could be held with very small
garrisons. Attackers had to climb near vertical slopes to reach them,
continuously under fire from the defenders — or starve the defenders out with a
siege. While a siege was by far the more rational military solution, sieges
take time, and that was what Richard of England did not have. Isaac Comnenus
clearly expected Richard to give up, continue with his crusade, and leave him
to re-take his island at leisure.
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| Mountain Fortress of St. Hilarion |
He
might even have gotten away with it, if Richard’s fleet (the part that had
sailed west and reached the norther shore of the island) had not in combination
with the forces sent overland captured the coastal city and castle of
Kyrenia. As chance would have it, Isaac’s only child, a girl, was in
Kyrenia.
The
girl has remained nameless throughout history, referred to only as the “Maid of
Cyprus” or as her father’s daughter. Fortunately for the crusader cause, her
father, despite all his other faults, loved her. He loved her so much that
despite his comparatively secure position in an all-but-unassailable castle, he
abjectly surrendered on June 1. Isaac set only one condition: that he not be
put in irons. According to legend, Richard of England agreed, only to have
fetters made for him of silver.
If
Isaac’s hope had been that surrender would enable him to be reunited with his
daughter, it was a short-lived reunion. Isaac was handed over to the
Hospitallers, who kept him in a dungeon in Marqub (Syria) until 1193 or 1194. The
year after his release he was allegedly poisoned for trying to incite the
Sultan of Konya to attack the Byzantine Empire. He was dead by 1196. As for his
daughter, she was turned over to the care of Richard’s bride and sister and
sailed with them first to Palestine and later to Europe. She was used (just
like Richard's sister Joanna) as a diplomatic pawn by Richard, and eventually married
to an illegitimate son of the Count of Flanders. (During the Fourth Crusade the
couple tried to lay claim to Cyprus, but were rapidly sent packing without
anyone taking them seriously.)
Thus,
in less than a month and with the loss of only two men (according to the
contemporary sources), Richard the Lionheart had taken complete control of the
rich and strategically important island of Cyprus. The
port of Famagusta is only 118 miles from Tripoli, the closest of the crusader
cities, and just 165 miles from Acre. On
a clear day, it is possible to see the coast of Lebanon from Cyprus. Furthermore,
Cyprus was a fertile island capable of producing grain, sugar, olives, wine and
citrus fruits in abundance. Its location
made it an ideal staging place for future crusades and a strong base for ships to
interdict any Saracen fleets intent on preying on the coast of the Levant.
Cyprus was thus both a bread-basket and a military base for the existing
crusader states.
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| Ruins of a 13th Century Sugar Mill at Kolosi, Cyprus |
Richard
of England profited immensely from his conquest. In addition to the
plunder
he took on the battlefield (that included rich tents, gold plate and
armor
according to tradition) he had also captured Isaac Comnenus’ treasury.
Furthermore, he extracted a tax from the lords and burghers of Cyprus to
support his crusade. All this replenished his coffers and enabled him
to pursue the war for Jerusalem with sufficient resources to
pay the men and purchase the materiel he needed.
Richard was not, however, interested in retaining
control of the island indefinitely. It was too far from home (Aquitaine). Richard’s
goal in capturing Cyprus was purely strategic, not dynastic. Rather than holding it for himself, he instead sold the island (thereby further strengthening his financial
position) to the Knights Templar for 100,000 pieces of gold. What happened after that is the subject of my current work-in-progress: The Last Crusader Kingdom.
Dr Helena P. Schrader holds a PhD in History.
She is the Chief Editor of the Real Crusades History Blog.
She is the author of numerous books both fiction and non-fiction, including a three-part biography of Balian d'Ibelin.
Warrior and shrewd businessman. LOL
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