Between Hospitaller Rhodes and Lusignan Cyprus: The Case of the Zaplana Family

In this paper the activities of three members of the Catalan Zaplana family in the eastern Mediterranean will be examined and discussed. The family had humble origins but was elevated due to the favour shown to its members by successive kings of Aragon. The first two of its members, Raphael and his nephew Nicholas, joined the Hospitaller order while the third, Nicholas’ brother James, practised piracy and rose high in the service of King James II of Cyprus, only to be exiled after this king’s death, whereupon he reverted to piracy. Their kinship with the remaining recorded members of this extended Catalan family will be examined. Above all, however, their activities, whether in the service of the Hospitaller Order based in Rhodes and King James II or as pirates, will be shown to be interconnected due to the great number of Catalan merchants on Rhodes, the obtaining of high offices within the Order by Catalans and the profits derived by the Hospitallers from accepting and selling the booty that Catalan pirates, often in collusion with Catalan members of the Order brought to the port of Rhodes On Cyprus King James II who had usurped the throne from his sister and the legitimate heir to the throne, Queen Charlotte, was impelled to show favour to Catalan Hospitallers because he required Catalan mercenaries in the civil war with Charlotte’s supporters and wanted to gain recognition from the Papacy and the Grand Master of the Hospitaller Order who was also a Catalan. The three members of the Zaplana family discussed here adroitly exploited the above circumstances to advance their careers, although following the death of King James in 1473 and the Venetian take-over of Cyprus, the forced departure of James and Nicholas Zaplana from the island was as swift as their previous rise to high offices.   In this paper the activities of three members of the Catalan Zaplana family in the eastern Mediterranean will be examined and discussed. The family had humble origins but was elevated due to the favour shown to its members by successive kings of Aragon. The first two of its members, Raphael and his nephew Nicholas, joined the Hospitaller order while the third, Nicholas’ brother James, practised piracy and rose high in the service of King James II of Cyprus, only to be exiled after this king’s death, whereupon he reverted to piracy. Their kinship with the remaining recorded members of this extended Catalan family will be examined. Above all, however, their activities, whether in the service of the Hospitaller Order based in Rhodes and King James II or as pirates, will be shown to be interconnected due to the great number of Catalan merchants on Rhodes, the obtaining of high offices within the Order by Catalans and the profits derived by the Hospitallers from accepting and selling the booty that Catalan pirates, often in collusion with Catalan members of the Order brought to the port of Rhodes On Cyprus King James II who had usurped the throne from his sister and the legitimate heir to the throne, Queen Charlotte, was impelled to show favour to Catalan Hospitallers because he required Catalan mercenaries in the civil war with Charlotte’s supporters and wanted to gain recognition from the Papacy and the Grand Master of the Hospitaller Order who was also a Catalan. The three members of the Zaplana family discussed here adroitly exploited the above circumstances to advance their careers, although following the death of King James in 1473 and the Venetian take-over of Cyprus, the forced departure of James and Nicholas Zaplana from the island was as swift as their previous rise to high offices.  

Korzyści świadczone niewolnikom lub służbie domowej przez ich panów na Cyprze Lusignanów: dowody z aktów notarialnych z lat 1362–1458

This paper examines the evidence gleaned from Venetian and Genoese notarial deeds prepared on Cyprus during the period 1362-1458 to examine and discuss the relations between domestic slaves or servants, usually but not invariably female, and their masters, predominantly male. Some of these deeds were wills, containing bequests to servile women who had probably been in long term sexual relationships with their owners and to the illegitimate children who had been born from such relationships. Some of the apprenticeship contracts drawn up in Famagusta, the chief port of the island, also concern illegitimate children born to female slaves or maidservants, who were apprenticed at the owner’s expense for a number of years to a master craftsman so as to learn a trade and make a living on their completion of the apprenticeship. Some owners bequeathed houses to women other than their wives, either as a gift or else stipulating their right to reside in them. Sometimes moveable property such as furniture, bedding, silver or valuable objects were bequeathed, or even sums of money. Clearly at least some masters wished to provide for their mistresses and illegitimate children, thereby ensuring their welfare after their own deaths. By way of comparison, in Genoa masters who had sired illegitimate children with their female slaves frequently avoided paying for their upbringing, differing in this respect. Yet even on Cyprus concern on the part of masters for slaves or servants was not standard practice. Evidence from the fifteenth century Cypriot chronicle of Leontios Makhairas shows that slaves were sometimes treated cruelly, even to the point of driving them to suicide.Niniejszy artykuł analizuje dowody zebrane z weneckich i genueńskich aktów notarialnych, sporządzonych na Cyprze w latach 1362–1458, w celu zbadania i omówienia relacji między niewolnikami domowymi lub służącymi (na ogół kobietami) a ich właścicielami (zazwyczaj mężczyznami). Niektóre z tych aktów były testamentami zawierającymi zapisy na rzecz niewolnych kobiet, które prawdopodobnie pozostawały w długotrwałych związkach seksualnych ze swoimi właścicielami, oraz na rzecz nieślubnych dzieci, które urodziły się z tych związków. Niektóre umowy o naukę zawodu sporządzone w Famaguście, głównym porcie na wyspie, również dotyczą urodzonych przez niewolnice lub służące nieślubnych dzieci, które były przyuczane na koszt właściciela przez kilka lat do rzemiosła, aby po wyuczeniu mieć źródło zarobku na życie. Niektórzy właściciele zapisywali domy kobietom innym niż ich żony albo jako prezent, albo zastrzegając sobie w nich prawo do zamieszkania. Czasami zapisywano w testamencie majątek ruchomy, taki jak meble, pościel, srebro, cenne przedmioty, a nawet sumy pieniędzy. Najwyraźniej przynajmniej niektórzy panowie chcieli zapewnić swoim kochankom i nieślubnym dzieciom dobrobyt po własnej śmierci. Dla porównania: w Genui sytuacja przedstawiała się zgoła inaczej, gdyż tamtejsi panowie, którzy spłodzili nieślubne dzieci ze swoimi niewolnicami, często unikali łożenia za ich wychowanie. Jednak nawet na Cyprze troska panów o niewolników lub służących nie była standardową praktyką. Dowody z XV-wiecznej cypryjskiej kroniki Leontiosa Makhairasa pokazują, że niewolnicy byli czasem traktowani okrutnie, nawet do tego stopnia, że popełniali samobójstwa

Hunting in Lusignan and Venetian Cyprus (1192-1570)

This paper describes hunting on Lusignan and Venetian Cyprus. The sources are legal texts, chronicle accounts and even glazed pottery. The information imparted concerns chiefly the Latin nobility but also other social classes and ethnic groups. Hunting practices were directly influenced by countries and civilisations to the east and west of Cyprus, especially the Mamluk sultanate and the medieval west. Furthermore, in Venetian Cyprus hunting influenced international diplomacy. Falcons reared on Cyprus were granted to Christian and Muslim rulers whom Venice wished to favour

Przekraczanie granic kulturowych w testamentach XIV-wiecznych kupców z Cypru

The Western merchants operating in Famagusta, Cyprus—including Geno­ese, Venetians, Catalans, Pisans, Provençals, other nationalities, and Cypriot merchants based in this port city—drew up wills with Genoese and Vene­tian notaries, a number of which are extant. These wills impart information on the bequests these merchants made to family members and friends as well as to institutions, particularly churches, monasteries, and mendicant orders. Furthermore, they record the credits and debts of these merchants to various parties, decree the manumission of slaves owned by the merchants—some of whom also received bequests—and on occasion list material objects such as clothing, silverware, or sums of currency in their possession. We can glean from these types of information that merchants had commercial and personal relations with members of nationalities or Christian denominations different to their own, had slaves of various ethnic backgrounds, and had in their pos­session currencies other than that of the Lusignan kingdom of Cyprus, as well as objects originating from elsewhere. These are phenomena that testify to their geographical mobility and their willingness to cross physical, financial, as well as cultural boundaries. On occasion, they even bequeathed sums of money to individuals and churches of non-Latin rites. In this paper, I intend to examine and assess the importance and utility of such wills, explaining that through their contents one can discover how, why and the extent to which merchants crossed national, ethnic and religious boundaries in both their commercial and their personal dealings. In addition, the limitations of the information such wills offer and the reasons why these limitations exist will also be discussed.Kupcy z Europy Zachodniej działający w Famaguście na Cyprze – w tym Genueńczycy, Wenecjanie, Katalończycy, Pizańczycy, Prowansalczycy i przedstawiciele innych narodowości oraz kupcy cypryjscy mający siedzibę w tym portowym mieście – sporządzali u notariuszy genueńskich i weneckich testa­menty, z których wiele zachowało się do dzisiaj. Testamenty te stanowią cenne źródło wiedzy o darowiznach i spadkach, które kupcy przepisywali na rzecz członków rodziny i przyjaciół, a także instytucji, zwłaszcza takich jak kościoły, klasztory i zakony żebracze. Ponadto w dokumentach tych znajdziemy zapis kredytów i długów cypryjskich kupców wobec różnych wierzycieli, dekrety wyzwolenia należących do nich niewolników, którzy czasem również otrzymy­wali spadek, a sporadycznie także listy z wyszczególniem przedmiotów mate­rialnych, takich jak odzież, sztućce lub waluty znajdujące się w ich posiadaniu. Z tego rodzaju informacji możemy wywnioskować, że kupcy utrzymywali sto­sunki handlowe i osobiste z przedstawicielami innych narodowości lub wyznań chrześcijańskich, posiadali niewolników o różnym pochodzeniu etnicznym i waluty nienależące do królestwa Lusignan na Cyprze, a także przedmioty pochodzące z innych terytoriów. Te zjawiska świadczą o ich mobilności geo­graficznej i chęci przekraczania granic fizycznych, finansowych oraz kulturo­wych. Zdarzało się nawet, że kupcy cypryjscy zapisywali sumy pieniężne oso­bom i Kościołom obrządku niełacińskiego. Moją intencją w tym artykule jest zbadanie oraz ocena znaczenia i użyteczności takich testamentów. Pragnę rów­nież w nim zwrócić uwagę, że z treści cypryjskich testamentów możemy się dowiedzieć, jak, dlaczego i do jakiego stopnia kupcy przekraczali granice naro­dowe, etniczne i religijne zarówno w kontaktach handlowych, jak i osobistych. Ponadto omówione zostaną również ograniczenia zakresu informacji zawar­tych w tych testamentach oraz przyczyny istnienia tych ograniczeń

The Grant of Hospitaller Safe-Conducts in the Fifteenth Century to Recipients on Rhodes and Cyprus: Their Function and Effectiveness

In this paper the tradition the Roman Catholic Church practised of granting safe conducts to various parties so as to assist them in implementing business of the Church or their own affairs will be examined and discussed with special reference to Rhodes and Cyprus. Hospitaller safe conducts granted on fifteenth century Cyprus and Rhodes were given to laymen as well as to Hospitaller brothers and the reasons varied. Most of the Hospitaller safe conducts issued on Rhodes and Cyprus to be discussed cover the years 1413‒1459 and originate from published documents found in the Order’s Rhodian archives. As one would expect, a considerable number of them concern diplomatic missions undertaken by Hospitaller brothers. The Hospitallers also granted safe conducts to Latin clergy who were not members of the Order. Requests to afford safe passage to persons undertaking diplomatic missions for the Order were at times addressed to the captains and owners of ships, and the persons concerned were likewise not always members of the order.In this paper the tradition the Roman Catholic Church practised of granting safe conducts to various parties so as to assist them in implementing business of the Church or their own affairs will be examined and discussed with special reference to Rhodes and Cyprus. Hospitaller safe conducts granted on fifteenth century Cyprus and Rhodes were given to laymen as well as to Hospitaller brothers and the reasons varied. Most of the Hospitaller safe conducts issued on Rhodes and Cyprus to be discussed cover the years 1413‒1459 and originate from published documents found in the Order’s Rhodian archives. As one would expect, a considerable number of them concern diplomatic missions undertaken by Hospitaller brothers. The Hospitallers also granted safe conducts to Latin clergy who were not members of the Order. Requests to afford safe passage to persons undertaking diplomatic missions for the Order were at times addressed to the captains and owners of ships, and the persons concerned were likewise not always members of the order

Osadnictwo na Cyprze Lusignanów po podboju łacińskim: Analiza kronik cypryjskich i innych w szerszym kontekście

In the article “Settlement on Lusignan Cyprus after the Latin Conquest: The Accounts of Cypriot and other Chronicles and the Wider Context” the narratives of various chronicles of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries on settlement in Cyprus in the years following the Latin conquest, from the end of the twelfth to the early thirteenth century, will be examined and compared. The details provided by the chronicles, where the information given derived from, the biases present in the various accounts, the extent to which they are accurate, especially in cases where they are corroborated or refuted by documentary evidence, will all be discussed. The chronicles that will be referred to are the thirteenth century continuation of William of Tyre, that provides the fullest account of the settlement of Latin Christians and others on Cyprus after the Latin conquest, the fifteenth century chronicle of Leontios Makhairas, the anonymous chronicle of ‘Amadi’ that is probably dateable to the early sixteenth century although for the section on thirteenth century Cypriot history it draws on earlier sources and the later sixteenth century chronicle of Florio Bustron. Furthermore, the Chorogra a and the Description of Stephen de Lusignan, two chronicles postdating the conquest of Cyprus by the Ottoman Turks in 1570, will also be referred to on the subject of settlement in thirteenth century Cyprus. By way of comparison, the final part of the paper examined the extent to which the evidence of settlement in other Mediterranean lands derives chiefly from chronicles or from documentary sources. In conclusion, it can be stated that the various accounts of settlement on Cyprus following its cession to King Guy of Jerusalem in 1192 show differences in terms of the value of the fiefs, the geographical regions from which the settlers came and the types of properties which were granted to them. The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem resembles Cyprus in that the source material for early Latin settlement is narrative, not documentary. But this is not the case for the Venetian Crete and the Hospitaller Rhodes, where the source materials recording the arrival of the first Latin settlers are wholly documentary.Artykuł „Osadnictwo na Cyprze Lusignanów po podboju łacińskim: analiza kronik cypryjskich i innych w szerszym kontekście” stawia sobie za cel przebadanie i porównanie relacji z różnych kronik z XIII do XVI wieku, dotyczących osadnictwa na Cyprze po podboju łacińskim, czyli od końca XII do początku XIII wieku. Omówione zostaną również szczegółowe informacje zawarte w tych kronikach, zarówno pod kątem rozbieżności, które są wynikiem uprzedzeń i stronniczości, jak również pod względem wiarygodności, która zostanie zweryfikowana na podstawie dostępnych źródeł z epoki. Źródła narracyjne, o których mowa, to XIII-wieczna kontynuacja kroniki Wilhelma z Tyru, która dostarcza najpełniejszego opisu osadnictwa łacińskiego i innego na Cyprze po podboju łacińskim; XV-wieczna kronika Leontiosa Makhairasa; anonimowa kronika znana jako „Amadi”, którą można prawdopodobnie datować na początek XVI wieku, chociaż w części dotyczącej XIII-wiecznej historii Cypru czerpie z wcześniejszych źródeł; kronika Florio Bustrona z XVI wieku; dwie kroniki Stefana z Lusignan – „Chorografia” i „Opis Cypru”– obydwie datowane na okres po podboju Cypru przez Turków osmańskich w 1570 roku.W końcowej części artykułu zbadano, w jakim stopniu informacje o osadnictwie na innych terenach śródziemnomorskich pochodzą z kronik, a w jakim ze źródeł dokumentowych. Podsumowując, można stwierdzić, że różne relacje o osadnictwie na Cyprze po przekazaniu wyspy w 1192 roku Gwidonowi z Lusignan (Guy de Lusignan), królowi Jerozolimy, wykazują różnice pod względem wartości lenn, regionów geograficznych, z których przybyli osadnicy, oraz rodzajów posiadłości, które zostały im przyznane. Łacińskie królestwo Jerozolimy przypomina Cypr pod tym względem, że baza źródłowa dotycząca wczesnego osadnictwa łacińskiego oparta została na materiałach narracyjnych, a nie na dokumentach. Inaczej mają się sprawy w przypadku weneckiej Krety i Rodos pod władaniem Zakonu Szpitalników – tam informacje o przybyciu pierwszych osadników łacińskich zawarte są w całości w źródłach dokumentowych

A Process of Secularization? Venetian Hospitallers and Hospitaller Estates on Cyprus after 1474

In this paper the appointment of Venetian Hospitallers from 1474 onwards to manage the Hospitaller estates on the island of Cyprus will be examined. The main issue to be discussed with regard to their appointment, which coincided with the imposition of Venetian control over Cyprus, is whether this constituted secularization. Under Queen Catherine Corner (1473–1489) Venetian troops garrisoned Cypriot castles and Venetian officers were appointed to oversee the administration, marking a transition to Venetian governance. Non-Venetian Hospitallers and especially Catalans were viewed with suspicion, given the involvement of at least one Catalan Hospitaller in an unsuccessful plot to expel the Venetian in late 1473. Yet it can be argued that technically there was no secularization and that Venetian Hospitallers simply replaced non-Venetian ones. Nevertheless, given the participation of some of these Venetian Hospitallers in Venetian state diplomacy as well as in commerce involving Venice, a case can be made that in practice secularization did take place, despite the nominal assent the Order gave to the appointment of these Venetian Hospitallers.The appointment of Venetians to manage Hospitaller estates in Cyprus provoked rivalry among powerful Venetian families within Venice. The two families concerned, the Corner and the Grimani, were powerful and pro-papal, providing most of the Venetian cardinal in the period 1500–1550, so this rivalry can be placed in a wider context. Furthermore, the imposition of Venetian taxes on such estates, despite the Order’s protests, also constitutes proof of secularization. Even so, the Hospitaller Order did maintain limited influence over appointments in Cyprus and sent members of the Order to the island to examine conditions on its estates, an indication that it did not lose complete control of its Cypriot properties

The Templars on Cyprus and their Relations with the other Branches of the Latin Church, 1200–1307

In this paper the relations of the Templars with the other branches of the Latin Church of Cyprus, founded in 1196 on the island during the pontificate of Pope Celestine III will be examined and discussed. These relations can be subdivided as follows. Firstly, the Templars acted as arbitrators, along with the Hospitallers and other clergy nominated by the pope, in disputes between the crown and nobles on one hand and the secular Latin Church on the other. Secondly, the Templars had relations with the secular Latin clergy of Cyprus. Thirdly, they had relations with the regular Latin clergy, including the other Military Orders. Finally, some of the testimony submitted by witnesses at the Trial of the Templars on Cyprus in 1310 sheds light on relations between the Templars, other regular clergy and the secular Latin clergy in the years before 1307 when the Templars were arrested. The sources used in preparing this paper are mostly published papal correspondence relating to Cyprus and the published account of the Trial of the Templars on Cyprus. Secondary works have also been used for comparisons with other parts of Europe.In this paper the relations of the Templars with the other branches of the Latin Church of Cyprus, founded in 1196 on the island during the pontificate of Pope Celestine III will be examined and discussed. These relations can be subdivided as follows. Firstly, the Templars acted as arbitrators, along with the Hospitallers and other clergy nominated by the pope, in disputes between the crown and nobles on one hand and the secular Latin Church on the other. Secondly, the Templars had relations with the secular Latin clergy of Cyprus. Thirdly, they had relations with the regular Latin clergy, including the other Military Orders. Finally, some of the testimony submitted by witnesses at the Trial of the Templars on Cyprus in 1310 sheds light on relations between the Templars, other regular clergy and the secular Latin clergy in the years before 1307 when the Templars were arrested. The sources used in preparing this paper are mostly published papal correspondence relating to Cyprus and the published account of the Trial of the Templars on Cyprus. Secondary works have also been used for comparisons with other parts of Europe

The Countryside of Hospitaller Rhodes 1306–1423: Original Texts and English Summaries. Edited by Anthony Luttrell and Gregory O’Malley. Abingdon– Oxford: Routledge, 2019. 324 pp., 4 figures (2 maps and 2 parchment photographs). ISBN: 978-1-1-138-73262-9.

The Countryside of Hospitaller Rhodes 1306–1423: Original Texts and English Summaries. Edited by Anthony Luttrell and Gregory O’Malley. Abingdon–Oxford: Routledge, 2019. 324 pp., 4 figures (2 maps and 2 parchment photographs). ISBN: 978-1-1-138-73262-9.The Countryside of Hospitaller Rhodes 1306–1423: Original Texts and English Summaries. Edited by Anthony Luttrell and Gregory O’Malley. Abingdon–Oxford: Routledge, 2019. 324 pp., 4 figures (2 maps and 2 parchment photographs). ISBN: 978-1-1-138-73262-9