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Janus, King of Cyprus

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Janus I or John II of Cyprus or Janus I or Jean II de Lusignan (Genoa, 1375 – Nicosia, June 29, 1432) was a King of Cyprus and King of Armenia and a Titular King of Jerusalem from 1398 to 1432. He succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father James I. Born in Genoa, where his father was a captive, his mother gave him the name Janus which was the name of the god who founded Genoa, according to a mythological tradition.

When his father was elected King, who was captive in Genoa, made an agreement with Genoese, in order to release him to go to Cyprus to become a king, he negotiated with them and signed an agreement on 2 February 1383. Under that agreement, Genoese had new privileges for commercial activities. However, under Genoese demand, his father left his son Janus in their city as hostage. James sent a noble in Genoa, John Babin, as step father of his son. As the Cypriot historian Leontios Makhairas wrote, James ordered a special tax under in which the Cypriots - both nobles and people - to buy an amount of salt in order to collect an amount of money to release his son from Genoese and that was achieved on October 1392, when he was 18 years old.

After his father's death on September 9, 1398, Janus took over the throne of Cyprus, when he was 24 years old. He was crowned in Saint Sophia Cathedral November 11, 1398.

He had seven children. After January, 1400, he married Anglesia Visconti (d. at Reggio, October 12, 1439), daughter of Bernabò Visconti, Lord of Milan, but the marriage was annulled and they divorced in 1408 or 1407/1409 without issue. In 1411, he married Charlotte de Bourbon-La Marche (1388 – of the plague January 15, 1422 and buried in Nicosia), daughter of John I, Count of La Marche, at Nicosia, and they had four children:

Out of wedlock, he had three more children:

As Kings he tried to take back Famagusta, which was under the Genoese rule, in 1402. The administrator of Famagusta, who was the Genoese Antonio de Karko, according to writings of Amati was the godfather of Janus who was born in Genoa. The King Janus made conspiracy with a priest who was spiritual father of de Karko, in order to return the city to the Cypriot King, in order to become Bishop of Famagusta. In that conspiracy there was involvement of Peter Makhairas, brother of Leontios. The created hided keys for the City Gates and there were many preparations to take over Famagusta and to murder de Karko by the brother Gregory and to open the gates for the Janus' soldiers. However, the last moment the plan was traited, and the conspirants, who were in Famagusta, were arrested and 28 of them were executed and that resulted Famagusta to remain in Genoese hands.

The King continued his effort to takeover back Famagusta (who also had Kyrenia under their rule) and that caused conflict with them. In 1403, the Governor of Genoa, de Mengre, had talks with Janus' representative George Billi and the talks ended with an agreement. The conflicts ended but the two cities remained under Genoese hands. A while after Janus tried to take over again Famagusta. As Makhairas says, he forced the Cypriot people to pay special taxes to assemble army, machines for siege and he sieged Famagusta. The siege lasted for three years but it was proved useless since the access from the sea to the city were open. In 1406, the siege ended and the Genoese tried to occupy Limassol but they were defended.

Two years later, the island was affected by epidemics. Simultaneously, the same period, the island there were many raids of locusts who caused destructions in the agriculture. New epidemic came in 1419-20 and that caused probably the death of Janus' second wife Charlotte. Because the King was much patient, the body of the dead queen was moved out of the palace where her funeral was made, in order to not be conceived by Janus. She died on January 15, 1422.

Meanwhile, because Cyprus was still a permanent base of campaign of pirates and adventurers, after raids around Cypriot costs, Janus did repeated discussions with the Sultan of Egypt via Sultan's representatives. Janus didn't achieve to stop those raids and that gave reason to Saracens to invade Cyprus. Also in those raids, there were involves of Cypriot nobles and officials of the Kingdom who were getting richer from the loots.

Barsbay, the Sultan of Egypt, sent military forces to Cyprus several times. A small force, around in 1424, hit Limassol and in 1425 the Egyptian army hit Famagusta, which was delivered by Genoese and then they attacked and did pillage to Larnaca together with the area besides it, Kiti, Dromolaxia, Kellia, Aradippou, Agrinou. After Larnaca, they went to Limassol, where they did pillages as well and they took over without difficulty, the city's castle.

The summer of 1426, the Mamluks did their big attack to the island. Their army arrived in the island with 180 ships in Avdimou. The leaders of the army for that war, were Tangriver Mohamed and Inal el Kakimi. Their military contained more than 3,000 men and included Mamliks, Turks and Arabs. Limassol got occupied again. Janus got his own army and moved from Nicosia to Limassol. He asked from help from the forces in Europe, who didn't come - the Genoese were his enemies, and the Venetians and others didn't want to destroy the commercial relation with the sultan.

Following the Battle of Chirokitia (July 7, 1426) against the Mamluks, King Janus was captured by the Egyptian forces of Al-Ashraf Sayf-ad-Din Barsbay, Sultan of the Burji dynasty. After ten months of captivity in Cairo, he was ransomed. During his captivity his brother Hugh of Lusignan, Archbishop of Nicosia, took charge of Cyprus. After their victory Mamluks, pillaged again Larnaca and then the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia. The royal family resorted in the fortified Kyrenia and were rescued. The invaders took many loots and captives and left from the island.

That disaster, together with the previous raids, the war operations of Janus against Genoese, the epidemics and the invasion of locusts resulted for the Cypriot serfs who lived under situations of completely seediness, to revolt. Leader Cypriot revolutionaries was a person called Alexis who was declared as King in Lefkoniko. The revolution was big, and was supported by the people who elected their own leaders in many places of Cyprus.

Meanwhile, Janus was humiliated in Cairo- tied up with chain and ridden over a donkey without samarium, they took him in front of the Sultan and was forced to kneel and worship 9 times the land he stepped. The release of Janus was succeeded after the mediations of Europeans, who offered money for the collection of the required ransoms. Also Cyprus had to offer to the Sultan annual tax based on 5.000 duchies. That tax continued to be offered, even after the end of the Frankish rule in Cyprus. Together with Janus, some of the captives achieved to by their freedom after their families collected money. Some others remained as captives and were sold as slaves.

While Janus was captive, in Cyprus, the nobles and the royal family members were trying to face the Alexis' Rebellion and concurrently began to try for the release of Janus. With help from Europe, the rebellion was repressed after 10 months. The leader of the rebels, was arrested as caprive. After huge tortures, he was executed in Nicosia on May 12, 1427, the same day that King Janus arrived in Paphos from Cairo.

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