John II of Cyprus

Last updated
John II
John Poitiers-Lusignan 1418-58.jpeg
King of Cyprus
Reign29 June 1432 – 28 July 1458
Predecessor Janus
Successor Charlotte
Born16 May 1418
Died28 July 1458
Spouse Amadea Palaiologina of Montferrat
Helena Palaiologina
Issue Charlotte of Cyprus
James II of Cyprus
House Poitiers-Lusignan
Father Janus of Cyprus
Mother Charlotte of Bourbon

John II or III of Cyprus (16 May 1418 28 July 1458) was the King of Cyprus and Armenia and also titular King of Jerusalem from 1432 to 1458. He was previously a titular Prince of Antioch.

King of Jerusalem

The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Crusader state founded by Christian princes in 1099 when the First Crusade took the city.

Prince of Antioch Wikimedia list article

Prince of Antioch was the title given during the Middle Ages to Norman rulers of the Principality of Antioch, a region surrounding the city of Antioch, now known as Antakya in Turkey. The Princes originally came from the County of Sicily in Southern Italy. After 1130 and until 1816 this county was known as the Kingdom of Sicily. Prince Bohemond IV of Antioch additionally came into possession of the County of Tripoli, combining these two Crusader states for the rest of their histories. Antioch had been the chief city of the region since the time of the Roman Empire. When the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt drove out the knights in 1268, they largely destroyed the city to deny access to the region in the event that the Crusaders returned.

John was the son of king Janus of Cyprus and Charlotte of Bourbon; he was born and died in Nicosia. In May, sometime between 1435 and 1440, he married Aimee or Amadea Palaiologina of Monferrato (3 August 1429 Nicosia, 13 September 1440), daughter of John Jacob Palaiologos, Marquess of Montferrat, without issue. His second wife, a distant relative of his first one, whom he married in Nicosia in 1441 or on 3 February 1442, was Helena Palaiologina (1428 11 April 1458), only child and daughter of Theodore II Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea and his wife Cleofa Malatesta. Theodore was a son of Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš and the brother of the last two Byzantine emperors, John VIII Palaiologos and Constantine XI Palaiologos. By his second marriage he had two daughters:

Janus of Cyprus King of Cyprus and Armenia

Janus of Cyprus was a King of Cyprus and titular King of Armenian Cilicia and Jerusalem from 1398 to 1432.

Charlotte of Bourbon, Queen of Cyprus Queen of Cyprus

Charlotte of Bourbon was the queen consort of Cyprus and titular queen consort of Armenia and Jerusalem through her marriage to King Janus. She was his second wife and the mother of his six legitimate children, which included King John II and Anne de Lusignan. It was Charlotte's influence which was instrumental in the revival of French culture at the royal court in Nicosia.

Nicosia City


Upon the death of John II, his only surviving legitimate child Charlotte succeeded to the throne. During his rule, Corycus, the only Cypriot stronghold in mainland Anatolia was lost to the Karamanids in 1448.


Corycus was an ancient city in Cilicia Trachaea, Anatolia, located at the mouth of the valley called Şeytan deresi; the site is now occupied by the town of Kızkalesi, Mersin Province, Turkey.

Anatolia Asian part of Turkey

Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, the Anatolian peninsula or the Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Armenian Highlands to the east and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland.

Karamanids former country

The Karamanids or Karamanid dynasty, also known as the Principality of Karaman and Beylik of Karaman, was one of the Islamic Anatolian beyliks, centered in south-central Anatolia around the present-day Karaman Province. From the 13th century until its fall in 1487, the Karamanid dynasty was one of the most powerful Turkish beyliks in Anatolia.

John had an illegitimate son by Marietta de Patras

whom he appointed Archbishop of Nicosia at the age of 16. James did not prove ideal archbishop material, and was stripped of his title after murdering the royal chamberlain. His father eventually forgave him and restored him to the Archbishopric. James and Helena were enemies, vying for influence over John. After Helena died in 1458, it appeared that John would appoint James as his successor, but John died before he could make it so.

Chamberlain (office) Person in charge of managing a household

A chamberlain is a senior royal official in charge of managing a royal household. Historically, the chamberlain superintends the arrangement of domestic affairs and was often also charged with receiving and paying out money kept in the royal chamber. The position was usually honoured upon a high-ranking member of the nobility (nobleman) or the clergy, often a royal favourite. Roman emperors appointed this officer under the title of cubicularius. The papal chamberlain of the Pope enjoys very extensive powers, having the revenues of the papal household under his charge. As a sign of their dignity, they bore a key, which in the seventeenth century was often silvered, and actually fitted the door-locks of chamber rooms, since the eighteenth century it had turned into a merely symbolic, albeit splendid, rank-insignia of gilded bronze. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign.

He was the last direct legitimate male descendant of Raymond de Poitiers of Antioch, a younger son of William IX of Aquitaine.


coat-of-arms of Lusignan of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Lesser Armenia Armoiries Armenie-Lusignan.svg
Regnal titles
Preceded by
King of Cyprus
Succeeded by
King of Jerusalem
King of Armenian Cilicia


Related Research Articles

Kingdom of Cyprus

The Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader state that existed between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan. It comprised not only the island of Cyprus, but also had a foothold on the Anatolian mainland: Antalya between 1361 and 1373, and Corycus between 1361 and 1448.

This is a list of people, places, things, and concepts related to or originating from the Byzantine Empire. Feel free to add more, and create missing pages. You can track changes to the articles included in this list from here.

Hugh III of Cyprus, born Hugues de Poitiers, later Hugues de Lusignan, called the Great, was the King of Cyprus from 1267 and King of Jerusalem from 1268. He was the son of Henry of Antioch and Isabelle de Lusignan, the daughter of king Hugh I of Cyprus. He was a grandson of Bohemund IV of Antioch and thus a descendant of Robert Guiscard.

Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus Queen Regnant of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia


James II of Cyprus King of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia

James II was the penultimate King of Cyprus, reigning from 1463 until his death.

James I of Cyprus King of Cyprus and Armenia

James I was regent of the Kingdom of Cyprus for his infant nephew King Peter II from 1369. When Peter died in 1382, James became King of Cyprus. James was also titular King of Armenian Cilicia and Jerusalem 1382–1398.

Hugh IV of Cyprus King of Cyprus


Cyprus in the Middle Ages


Demetrios Palaiologos Despot of Morea

Demetrios Palaiologos or Demetrius Palaeologus was a Byzantine prince and Despot. He ruled over Mesembria and Lemnos, before becoming Despot in the Morea in 1449. He remained co-ruler of the Morea along with his brother Thomas Palaiologos until he surrendered Mistras to the Ottomans in 1460. He was given lands in Thrace as an appanage by Sultan Mehmed II, which he ruled until his disgrace in 1467. Shortly after he was allowed to retire to Adrianople with his wife. He became a monk with the monastic name David after the death of his daughter Helena Palaiologina in 1469, and died in 1470.

Thomas Palaiologos Despot of the Morea

Thomas Palaiologos or Palaeologus was Despot in Morea from 1428 until the Ottoman conquest in 1460. After the desertion of his older brother to the Turks in 1460, Thomas Palaiologos pretended to be the legitimate claimant to the Byzantine throne, a claim he maintained during his exile in Italy.

Theodore II Palaiologos Despot of the Morea

Theodore II Palaiologos or Palaeologus was Despot in the Morea from 1407 to 1443 and in Selymbria from then until his death.

Ramnulfids noble family

The Ramnulfids, or the House of Poitiers, were a French dynasty ruling the County of Poitou and Duchy of Aquitaine in the 9th through 12th centuries. Their power base shifted from Toulouse to Poitou. In the early 10th century, they contested the dominance of northern Aquitaine and the ducal title to the whole with the House of Auvergne. In 1032, they inherited the Duchy of Gascony, thus uniting it with Aquitaine. By the end of the 11th century they were the dominant power in the southwestern third of France. The founder of the family was Ramnulf I, who became count in 835.

Helena Kantakouzene was the Empress consort of John V Palaiologos in the Byzantine Empire.

John, Prince of Antioch Prince of Antioch


Helena Palaiologina Queen Consort of Cyprus


Marietta de Patras was the Greek mistress of King John II of Cyprus and the mother of his illegitimate son King James II of Cyprus. Shortly after King John's marriage to Helena Palaiologina, the new Queen ordered that Marietta's nose be cut off. Following the death of her son, she was taken to Venice where she was kept in semi-captivity.

Helena Palaiologina was Queen consort of Cyprus (1428–1458); daughter of Theodore II Palaiologos.

Helvis of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, was the Queen consort of Cyprus and Queen consort of Armenia as the wife of King James I of Cyprus. He was also titular King of Jersusalem. She was styled Queen of Cyprus from 1382 to 1398; although at the time of his ascension to the Cypriot throne, he and Helvis were imprisoned in Genoa after they had been captured by the Genoese on the island of Rhodes. Almost all of Helvis' 12 children were born to her while she was held prisoner. In 1385, after negotiations and many ruinous concessions to the Genoese, they were released and James was crowned king. In 1393, she became Queen of Armenia.

Amadea Palaiologina of Monferrato (1418–1440), was a queen consort of Cyprus, wife of king John II of Cyprus.