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

Greek archons

Under Byzantine rule and under Isaac Komnenos the archons were the island's landowners and officials.

Richard I confiscated the property of those who fought him, laid a heavy levy on the rest and, after a rising led by a kinsman of Isaac, hanged its leader; the rising of Easter 1192 against the Templars ended in a massacre. Guy and Aimery then gave the land to Franks. The archons who stayed kept lesser holdings or, in the usual view, served the new rulers, who took over the Byzantine fiscal system and needed Greek clerks to run it; none is named in the sources for 1199-1200.

The Greek church kept its archbishop at Nicosia, its bishops in their sees and its monasteries, though a Latin hierarchy was set over the island in 1196 with lands and tithes of its own; the cutting of the Greek sees from fourteen to four, the move of the archbishop to Soli and the seizure of monastic property come from 1222 onward (later). The monk Neophytos, writing at his Enkleistra above Paphos in 1196, called the Latin conquest a calamity.

Who he is

Name
No Greek archon is named in the sources for 1199-1200; the Greek archbishop that winter is not pinned (Sophronios is listed for 1191, Isaias for 1209)
Title
The Greek notables (archontes) of Cyprus and the bishops and abbots of the autocephalous Church of Cyprus
Since
Byzantine times; under Frankish rule since 1191-1192
Born
not pinned
Family
not applicable
Confidence
low

Wikipedia, Kingdom of Cyprus; Church of Cyprus; List of archbishops of Cyprus; Neophytos the Recluse; Rizokarpaso.

Overlord

King Aimery for their lands; the Greek archbishop for the church, which is autocephalous, subject to no patriarch, and not yet placed under the Latin bishops.

What it holds

  • Lesser estates of Greek notables (not located)
  • The lands of the Greek sees and monasteries (Kykkos, Machairas, the Enkleistra, Koutsovendis and others), reduced since 1191 but not yet seized
  • Village leadership and posts in the royal fiscal administration

How it was acquired

Byzantine inheritance, diminished by confiscation in 1191-1192 and by the Frankish settlement.

Allies and rivals

The Byzantine emperor and Isaac Komnenos's line are their natural patrons in exile; the Latin clergy are rivals for tithes and property.

How things stand that morning

Subjects of Aimery, quiet that winter; no rising is recorded after 1192.

Wealth

Not recorded.

Military

None recorded.

Threats

  • Further loss of land and church property to the Franks and the Latin 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. 1222 and 1260 (later)The Greek sees are cut to four (Soli, Arsinoe, Lefkara, Karpasia) and the Greek bishops are put under the Latin ones (Bulla Cypria, 1260).Depends on: Papal legates and the Latin hierarchy pressing the matter. Stopped by: A king who protects the Greek church.

Places of note

  • Enkleistra of St Neophytos: Neophytos's cave monastery, founded 1159
  • Kykkos monastery: Greek monastery in the Troodos
  • Machairas monastery: Greek monastery in the eastern Troodos

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The Greek elite of the 1190s is almost undocumented; what is known comes from the conquest narratives, Neophytos's polemic and later church history.

On the map: Nothing is drawn: the Greek notables' and church's lands lie scattered over the whole island.

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: Kingdom of Cyprus
  2. Wikipedia: Church of Cyprus
  3. Wikipedia: List of archbishops of Cyprus
  4. Wikipedia: Neophytos the Recluse

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