Cyprus: Historical and Descriptive

by Franz von Löher

That Frederick did accomplish a great and good work in the Holy Land there can be no doubt. It is impossible to read the letters or records handed down from those times without remarking that amidst the whirl of events where ambition, hatred, avarice, and national jealousy reigned on all sides, obscuring and crippling all efforts to do good, the honest endeavours of Frederick to ameliorate the condition of the country, were not altogether unsuccessful.

On the 1st of May, after a stay of not more than eight months in the Holy Land, the emperor took ship at Akkon, accompanied by the young King of Cyprus and the Marquis of Montserrat. As the boat which put him on board left the land, Ibelin shouted after him a parting adieu, on which the emperor called out to the assembled multitude, that his mind was quite at ease, inasmuch as he knew that he left them in good hands.

The imperial fleet crossed over to Limasol, and here Frederick celebrated the marriage of his ward, the young king, with Alice, daughter of the Marquis of Montserrat. He then put in order the affairs of the island, arranging that the regency should regularly transmit to the governors of Jerusalem or Akkon money wherewith to supply the garrisons and officials in the Holy Land.

The emperor attached great importance to the possession of the Cyprian castles and fortresses. Already in the preceding year he had made every preparation for their defence, by putting each of them under the command of some distinguished officer, and had brought with him from Akkon whatever could be spared in the way of munitions of war for their safe keeping. As he was about to leave the island for the second time, he stipulated that the regents should have no power over the castles until the transmission of the money to the Holy Land had been regularly completed.

The seaboard of Cyprus at that time had no fortresses, with the exception of the capital city Nikosia; even on the south-western coast, where a mountainous district occupies nearly one-half of the island, there was no castle of importance, the hills moreover must at that time have been covered with wild-growing forests. The life and wealth of the island consisted in the rich maritime slopes and fertile plains, which extended along the shore from Famagusta and Larnaka, as far as the mountainous tract, which extends all along the northern side of the island.

Behind the chain of mountains are narrow slips of fertile soil, producing abundance of excellent fruit, in the midst of which is the principal haven Keryneia. From this town deep dells and rocky gorges run up into the mountains, leading to the fortresses St. Hilarion, Buffavento, and Cantara. These three castles are built upon the smaller chain of mountains, which, rugged and steep, rear themselves in innumerable peaks and crags to a considerable altitude.

Before the time of Frederick the Second, Buffavento is scarcely mentioned, but it then became one of the principal defences of the island, indeed it seems to have been quite impregnable, so long as food and water could be procured on the summit of the mountain upon which it stood. Victuals were, however, much more easily obtainable on the heights of St. Hilarion, a much larger place, situated a little further westward. Even Kantara, lying to the north-east, could boast of more than one wall.

The town of Keryneia, however, where the haven was situated, was most strongly fortified, inasmuch as it was well adapted to the reception of food and military stores arriving from the coasts of Syria, Asia Minor, or even Italy, which could be immediately forwarded to the fortresses above mentioned.

Had the eagle eye of Frederick at once seen how Cyprus could best be defended by a limited body of troops, he could not have been better prepared for the events which subsequently happened. A war soon broke out which, during several years, continued to rage throughout the island, the history of which gives a most variegated picture of the doings of the knights beyond the sea, chevalerie d’outre-mer, as they were called by the Eastern warriors.