King James II Of Cyprus lived to the age of 35 when he was allegedly murdered by Venetian nobles. He was the illegitimate son of King John II of Cyprus, which is why historians refer to him as James the Bastard.

James is one of my maternal 12 x great-grandfathers.

James de Lusignan was born between 1440 and 1441 in Nicosia, Cyprus^{1 2}. He was the illegitimate son of King John II of Cyprus and his mistress Marie (or Mariette) from Patras, Greece^{3 4 5}.

Records are not clear about his year of birth because he was born out-of-wedlock.

Titles

In 1456, James II appointed his son as archbishop of Nicosia at the age of 13⁶ or 15^{7 8}. Rome didn’t consent to this appointment and it is likely James never took holy orders⁹. This did mean he was responsible for the revenues of the see and for the archiepiscopal palace¹⁰.

In 1459¹¹, or 1461, James became King James II^{12 13} of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia.

Family

James had four illegitimate children with a woman identified as de Flètre¹⁴. They are:

• Eugene Matteo.
• John, also known as Janus (b. 1469).
• Charlotte, who died in 1468.
• Charla born in April 1468¹⁵.

On 10 June¹⁶ or 30 July 1468^{17 18}, James II married the Venetian Catherine Cornaro by proxy. (The sources are unclear about this point; it is possible that James and Catherine got engaged in 1468, not married¹⁹ ). It took four years, until December 1472, for Catherine to move to Famagusta, Cyprus^{20 21 22}.

This marriage was the culmination of almost a century of Machiavellian posturing by the Cornaro family. In the late 14th century, the Cornaros hosted Cypriot King Peter in their home in Venice, on the Grand Canal²³. Peter is the brother of James’ grandfather, also called James. The Venetian family gave Peter 60 000 ducats²⁴. This translates to approximately EUR 5 371 000 in today’s money^{25 26}. The Cornaros continued influencing Cypriot royalty till they married Catherine off.

Together they had one son²⁷:

• Jacques of Cyprus, who died two days short of his 1st birthday.

James had another mistress, Eschiva de Nores. There is no record of any children with her²⁸.

Notable events

James was his father’s favourite which could be because he was the only son. Latrie describes him as being quite intelligent and handsome (“rare intelligence et d’un tres-belle figure“)²⁹. He was a skilled horseman, showed interest in fencing and had a reputation as a bully³⁰.

On 1 April 1457, James visited the Royal Chamberlain Iacopo Urri³¹. Under pretext of privacy, James asked Urri to clear the room³². He asked his Sicilian guards to stay, arguing they would not understand the Greek discussion³³. Urri accepted, only for James and the Sicilians to stab him to death³⁴. On the way out, one of Urri’s servants flung a stone at James, almost killing him³⁵.

He fled to Rhodes on the Catalan ship of Juan Tafures³⁶. In Rhodes, the Grand Master of the Knights of St John spared no expense to entertain him³⁷. His father pardoned him six months later³⁸. James returned to the archbishopric, but without the privilege of collecting revenues anymore³⁹.

In 1458, John II died. He left one legitimate heir – his only surviving daughter Charlotte⁴⁰. Charlotte’s mother had spent years trying to find a powerful husband for her, in an attempt to secure the crown for her daughter⁴¹. Charlotte was still unmarried at the time of John’s death⁴² so this was an unsuccessful tactic⁴³. Charlotte took the throne of Cyprus aided by Galceran Suárez de los Cernadilla who was her aunt’s widower⁴⁴ and the Constable of Cyprus⁴⁵.

James was jealous and wanted the crown for himself⁴⁶. As Archbishop, he also would have been the person to crown his sister⁴⁷. He blockaded her in the castle at Kyrenia for 3 years assisted by the Egyptian forces of the Mameluk Sultan of Egypt⁴⁸. (It’s interesting to note Suárez de los Cernadilla died in 1458⁴⁹. We don’t know if this is because of the blockade, an attack by James’ forces, or if he died for some other reason.)

In September 1460, James captured Famagusta and Nicosia⁵⁰.

Reign

At the beginning of 1461, it became obvious that the only control Charlotte had was over Kyrenia castle⁵¹. She fled the island later that year⁵². 

James expelled the Genoese from Famagusta^{53 54}. They were still in Cyprus following his great-grandfather’s imprisonment in Genoa^{55 56}. He also massacred the Egyptian soldiers who had helped him to power⁵⁷, and turned to Venice as a new ally⁵⁸.

He solicited the advice of Andrea Cornaro on who to take as a bride⁵⁹. Andrea, an influential Venetian who already lived in Cyprus, continued his family’s Machiavellian tradition. He cautioned James against taking a Middle-Eastern bride, arguing a closer alliance with Venice would be more fruitful⁶⁰.

Despite his need for Venetian support, James II was a source of embarrassment to the Venetians. He annoyed them with his plans to form an alliance with the Persian King against the Turks⁶¹.

Legislative changes

Records show that James also reformed certain outdated practices. In 1468, the laws in Cyprus stated that if a man and a woman married from two different villages belonging to different lords, then the husband’s lord had to give the wife’s lord a replacement woman⁶². James’ reform cancelled this, adding that the woman should return to her previous lord if her husband dies before she does⁶³.

Death

In 1474⁶⁴, or on Wednesday, 11 June 1473^{65 66} James II died after complaining of an upset stomach⁶⁷. It took till 6 July 1473 for the news to reach Nicosia⁶⁸.

I don’t know why there was this delay.

Venice’s enemies suggest that Catherine’s uncles, Andrea Cornaro and Marco Bembo⁶⁹, murdered him⁷⁰. There is no direct proof of this, but with James dead, Catherine became Queen of Cyprus⁷¹. In 1489, Venice imprisoned her and forced her to surrender control of Cyprus to La Serenissima to preserve their trade routes with the Middle East. Given the blatant need for Venice to control Cyprus, skullduggery is hardly a conspiracy theory.

They buried him in St Nicholas Church in Famagusta, Cyprus^{72 73}. In 1570, Ottoman invaders pillaged Cyprus and converted St Nicholas into a mosque. Ottoman Vizier Lala Mustafa ordered his troops to destroy James’ tomb⁷⁴.

References

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