Other lordship · Kingdom of Cyprus · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Archbishop Alan

Alan, archdeacon of Lydda, a cleric of the lost kingdom, became Aimery's chancellor in 1195 and was one of the two archdeacons whom Celestine III charged with settling the new Latin church of Cyprus, its hierarchy and its endowment.

Chosen archbishop by the new chapter of Nicosia, he kept the chancellorship (Mas Latrie), and the pope later granted him and his successors the pallium on the great feasts. The new sees were each given lands and tithes for their bishops, while monks and canons received lands instead of tithes (Mas Latrie, pp. 146-147). So the archbishop is a landholder as well as a prelate, but the villages that made up his endowment in 1200 are not recorded.

He heads a church of Frankish settlers among a Greek Orthodox people whose own archbishop and bishops still hold their sees.

Who he is

Name
Alan
Title
Archbishop of Nicosia (the first Latin archbishop of Cyprus) and chancellor of the kingdom
Since
Chancellor from 1195; archbishop since the see was created about December 1196
Born
not pinned
Family
not pinned
Confidence
high

Wikipedia, Aimery of Cyprus (Edbury 1994, pp. 29, 31: Aimery's chancellor Alan became the first archbishop); La Monte p. 289 ('Alan, archdeacon of Lydda and archbishop of Nicosia, 1195-1201'); Mas Latrie vol. 1, pp. 146-147.

Overlord

King Aimery for his temporalities; the pope for his see. Mas Latrie notes the Cypriot Latin church was at times visited by the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, now at Acre.

What it holds

  • The archbishopric of Nicosia and its chapter
  • Lands and tithes assigned to the see in 1196 (villages not recorded for 1200)
  • The chancellorship of Cyprus: the king's seal and the royal chancery, kept separate from Jerusalem's
  • Ecclesiastical authority over the Latin bishops of Paphos, Limassol and Famagusta (names not pinned)

How it was acquired

Chancellor by Aimery's appointment in 1195; archbishop by election of the chapter of Nicosia after Celestine III created the see about December 1196.

Allies and rivals

Aimery's chief clerk and instrument; potential rival of the Greek archbishop (not pinned that winter: Sophronios is listed for 1191, Isaias for 1209) over property and jurisdiction, a quarrel that grows from the 1220s.

How things stand that morning

Archbishop and chancellor on 1 January 1200, at Nicosia; the cathedral of St Sophia is not yet begun (1209).

Wealth

The see's lands and tithes; amounts not recorded.

Military

None of his own recorded.

Threats

  • Greek resistance to tithes and to the loss of church property
  • The strains of a new, thinly staffed church

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1201 (later)His term as chancellor ends in 1201 by La Monte's list; his successor as archbishop is not pinned here.Depends on: Death or resignation, date not pinned. Stopped by: not pinned

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: His offices are dated by charters and papal letters; the lands of the see in 1200 are attested in general terms only.

On the map: The archbishopric's villages cannot be located for 1200; the card sits at Nicosia.

Primary sources for Cyprus

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer, Ernoul, squire of Balian of Ibelin, and later compilers (the 1187 core soon after the event; the whole in its present form 1227 to 1232). The Ibelin household's version of events in Outremer. Read online
  • The Old French Continuation of William of Tyre (Eracles), Anonymous continuators, the earliest drawing on Ernoul (about 1220 to 1277; the first continuation (1184 to 1197, the Lyon Eracles) compiled about 1230 from material of the 1190s). For the Latin East at 1200 it narrates the aftermath of the Third Crusade: the truce of 1192, the succession to Jerusalem through Queen Isabella's marriages to Henry of Champagne (died September 1197) and Aimery of Lusignan, Aimery's rule as king of Jerusalem from 1198 while king of Cyprus, the German crusade of 1197 to 1198 and the recovery of Beirut and Sidon, the truce with al-Adil of 1198, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond IV and Leo of Armenia, and the Pisan plot against Aimery. Read online
  • Calendar of the Acts of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Various, calendared by Reinhold Rohricht (documents 1097 to 1291; calendar published 1893, Additamentum 1904). A chronological calendar of every charter, letter and treaty of the Latin East then known, with date, parties, witnesses and the edition where each is printed. Read online
  • The Registers of Pope Innocent III (pontifical years 1 to 3, 1198 to 1201), Innocent III (Lotario dei Conti di Segni) and the papal chancery (1198 onwards, year by year). The register for the second and third pontifical years (February 1199 to February 1201) holds the letters that set the eastern stage for 1200: the exchange with Kaloyan of Bulgaria opened in December 1199 and continued through 1200 over union with Rome and a crown, letters to Vukan of Zeta and to Stefan of Serbia, letters to Alexios III and the patriarch John Kamateros pressing for church union and help for the crusade, the preaching commissions and the legation of Peter Capuano, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond and Leo of Armenia, letters to Aimery of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and the French interdict over Ingeborg. Read online
  • The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
  • General Cartulary of the Order of the Hospital, Various, edited by Joseph Delaville Le Roulx (documents 1100 to 1310; published in 4 vols, Paris, 1894 to 1906). Volume 1 (1100 to 1200) and volume 2 (1201 to 1260) print in full the Hospital's charters: royal and baronial grants in Jerusalem, Tripoli, Antioch and Cilicia, papal bulls, the order's European priories and its agreements with the Temple and the Italians. Read online
  • The Rule of the Templars: the Latin Rule, the French Rule and the hierarchical statutes, Anonymous (the Council of Troyes and the order's chapter) (Latin rule 1129; French translation about 1140; hierarchical statutes (retrais) about 1165; further statutes to about 1260). Not a chronicle but the constitution of the Temple as it stood in 1200: the hierarchical statutes describe the master, seneschal, marshal and the commanders of Jerusalem, Tripoli and Antioch, the drawing up of the line of battle, the convent's discipline and the horses, squires and tents allowed to each rank. Read online
  • Excerpta Cypria, Various, translated by Claude Delaval Cobham (texts from antiquity to the 19th century, translated and published 1908). Collects in English the passages on Cyprus from Greek, Latin, Arabic and other writers. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia: Aimery of Cyprus (citing Edbury 1994, Hamilton 1997, Furber 1969)
  2. J. L. La Monte, Feudal Monarchy in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1932), appendix of officers, pp. 286-289
  3. L. de Mas Latrie, Histoire de l'ile de Chypre, vol. 1 (1861)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.