Cyprus: Historical and Descriptive

by Franz von Löher

CHAPTER XXX
EFFORTS OF THE GERMANS TO OBTAIN CYPRUS.

So much attention has lately been called to the concluding chapters of Herr von Löher’s most interesting work, that we feel compelled to present them, in an English form, even at the risk of incurring blame in some quarters, for unnecessary repetition. Throughout the whole of his travels in the island, our author, shocked at the scenes of neglect and mismanagement presented to his eyes, was constantly indulging in reflections on what a different fate might await its inhabitants could they be annexed to the mighty empire of his fatherland. Indulging in this strain of thought, he presents us with a lengthy account of what was done there by his countrymen in former days.

In a short and rapid sketch of these pages, we will endeavour to give only such details, as may be new and interesting to our readers, and suppressing as far as possible all such matter as has already appeared in the body of the work. Long after the Crusaders had been expelled from the Holy Land, says Löher, they still retained the fortresses of Jaffa, Akkon, Tyre, Sidon, Beyrut, Cæsarea, Antioch, Tripoli, and other strongholds, the governors of which ruled over, and gave commands to, a multitude of knights and people there resident. The Christian forces, then dispersed over all Syria, should have united under the imperial leadership, and opposed their serried ranks to the forces of the Crescent. This was manifestly the plan of the second Frederick, Emperor of Germany, whose idea was, to put the Christian forces under the command of Hermann von Salza, the renowned Preceptor of the German order. This was he, who, in a conference at Ferentino, at which the Pope, the Emperor, and King John of Jerusalem were present, proposed that Frederick should marry Isabella, the daughter of the last-mentioned sovereign, and thus ally her inheritance, the kingdom of Jerusalem, with his possessions, whilst her father should merely have the honour of being nominally a king. The proposal was received joyfully by all parties. The imperial marriage took place in the year 1225, at Brindisi, where the bride’s father surrendered the sceptre of Jerusalem into the hands of his new son-in-law—not, however, without compulsion. Frederick forthwith received the homage of all present, and sent a herald with three hundred knights to the Holy Land, to ratify and complete the homage paid to the emperor—who, if he intended to bring the crusade to a successful end, must necessarily be the legitimate lord of the soil.

The Cyprians, however, thought that Frederick, after a time, would be in a position to assume the feudal sovereignty of their island, for the kingdom had in former times been an appanage of the Emperor Heinrich the Sixth, his grandfather. The late King Hugo the First had been for ten years engaged in the crusade, and when he died, his only son, the heir to the throne, was but nine months old.

The Emperor Frederick the Second at length discovered, how powerless he was to remodel the affairs of the East. The knights and merchants had ordered matters according to their own pleasure. The barons with their feudal retainers occupied their castles in perfect independence; the king was only their leader, and the feudal parliament the court in which they decided everything according to their pleasure. With these uncontrolled nobles we must rank three orders of knights, forming as many well-established and wealthy brotherhoods, in which the military and monkish characteristics were united. These ecclesiastical warriors were armed in complete steel, and claimed princely prerogatives. In the towns were guilds and corporations, combinations of merchants and men of business, who watched over their own interests, and resisted the innovations of the arrogant nobility. Among all these petty powers, who were incessantly quarrelling among themselves, Frederick found it a difficult task to introduce harmony, and harder still to bring them to acquiesce in his authority.

Frederick had already proclaimed in Ferentino, that the conquest of the Holy Land should no longer be carried on in the name of the knights, but of the king only, thus intimating, that the whole of it should belong to himself. In Cyprus, matters were arranged upon a very different basis; here the supreme authority was shared among the barons, and the power of the king jealously circumscribed.

So long as the authority of the emperor was maintained in Cyprus, he held the key of all the opposite coasts of Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt, and consequently, to possess the sovereign power in this island, was from first to last the great object of Oriental policy. In 1218 the last King of Cyprus died, having on his death-bed appointed his wife, Alice, regent. The knights, unwilling to submit to the authority of a woman, compelled her to share her rule in the island with Philip of Ibelin as co-regent. Meanwhile feuds sprang up on all sides, and every occurrence seemed to increase the discord. The Franks in the East had been vitiated by Byzantine manners, and fought each other with the bitterest hatred, quite unmindful of their original mission, which was to deliver the Holy Land from the heathen. Quarrels soon arose between the Latin and Greek Churches, and Cyprus became the arena where bloody combats took place.

Frederick now entered the capital of Cyprus, and there all the princes and barons interceded for Ibelin, who declared that he and all his followers were ready to submit to the emperor, and atone for their delinquencies. The emperor did not seek revenge, but simple justice; and was extremely desirous of securing the support of Cyprus, and the wealth obtainable from that source, and thus the affair was soon arranged; the barons, under the emperor’s command, acquiesced, and a general amnesty was proclaimed upon the following terms:

The emperor was to be the sole guardian of the young king until he completed his twenty-fifth year. The government of Cyprus and its revenues should be placed in the hands of the emperor, and all the fortified places in the kingdom delivered up to him. All the Cyprian knights who had not sworn fealty to the emperor should immediately take the oath of allegiance. Ibelin, in behalf of the ruler of Beyrut, recognised the emperor as King of Jerusalem, and did homage to him under that title, and agreed that all claims, relative to the castle of Beyrut, should be settled by the court of Jerusalem, and an account of all revenues due, since the death of King Hugo, should be laid before the court of Cyprus. The hostages demanded by the emperor were set at liberty. Ibelin and all the Cyprian barons, with their followers, were to accompany Frederick to the Holy Land, and serve him there till the end of the crusade.

All these conditions were punctually carried out, the oath of allegiance administered, and the castles, as well as the revenue, given up. The emperor had achieved a complete victory. Cyprus remained for several years under his command, and its king was formally declared a prince of the German empire. The emperor next appointed revenue officers and treasurers, in all the castles and bailiwicks of the island, and made arrangements that the money thus raised should be sent after him into Syria. To these offices, as well as in garrisoning the castles, the emperor appointed his own knights by preference, and these gladly accepted such desirable appointments.