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Cyprus (theme)

Byzantine administrative unit (theme)

Summary

Byzantine administrative unit (theme)

Field	Value
native_name	θέμα Κύπρουthéma Kýprou
conventional_long_name	Theme of Cyprus
era	Middle Ages
capital	Nicosia
status	Byzantine military-civilian province
status_text	Theme of the Byzantine Empire (965–1185)
Rump state (1185–1191)
p1	Roman Cyprus
s1	Kingdom of Cyprus
image_map	Theme-cyprus 1000ad.png
image_map_caption	Cyprus shaded within the Byzantine Empire, AD 1000
life_span	965–1191
year_start	965
event_start	Establishment as a theme
year_end	1185
event_end	Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus proclaims independence
today	Cyprus
Akrotiri and Dhekelia

NOTOC Rump state (1185–1191) Akrotiri and Dhekelia Cyprus (, Kýpros) or the Theme of Cyprus (, théma Kýprou) was a Byzantine province comprising the island of Cyprus, established in 965 after the reconquest of Cyprus by the Byzantine navy. Prior to this the island had been a condominium between the Byzantine Empire and Arab caliphate for three centuries, except occasional short periods where it was occupied by either power. Important cities on the island at this time included Nicosia, Limassol, and Famagusta.

History

Rebellions by the thematic governors, Theophilos Erotikos in 1042 and Rhapsomates in 1091, failed, being quickly subdued by imperial forces. The island was spared the destruction of the loss of Anatolia and remained peaceful and relatively prosperous during turn of the 12th century. During the Siege of Antioch, a battle of the First Crusade, the Crusader army received supplies from Byzantine-controlled Cyprus.

In the spring of 1156, the island was attacked by Raynald of Châtillon and Thoros II. The island was the governed by John Doukas Komnenos, who remained with part of the local garrison at Nicosia, while the general Michael Branas led a force to confront the invaders. Branas was driven back towards Nicosia, and John led a sally to rescue him. The Byzantines were again defeated, with both John and Branas taken prisoner. The victorious Franks and Crusaders then conducted widespread plundering of the island, not sparing churches or convents. In the words of the historian Steven Runciman, "The crops were burnt; the herds were rounded up, together with all the population, and driven down to the coast. The women were raped; children and folk too old to move had their throats cut". The plundering went on for three weeks, before Raynald and Thoros boarded their ships with their loot and prisoners, and departed. The destruction was compounded by the effects of the 1157 Hama earthquake, and by a Fatimid naval raid in 1158.

Proclaiming himself "emperor", Isaac Komnenos established control over the island in 1185. Storms plaguing the Third Crusade wrecked two ships of Richard I of England's fleet off Cyprus in 1187. A thirdcarrying his sister Joan and betrothed Berengariareached the port of Limassol but Isaac's known hostility to all "Franks" meant it sat at anchor in the harbor, Joan fearing that coming ashore would mean capture and being held for ransom. Richard's ships arrived a week later on 8 May and, outraged at the women's conditions and treatment, he invaded the island. He laid siege to Nicosia, defeated Isaac at Tremetousia, and became ruler of the island and sold it to the Knights Templar in 1191 to pay off his debts and fund further action in the Crusade.

References

Bibliography

References

"The Crusades – home page". Boisestate.edu.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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