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Kingdom of Cyprus (1192-1489)

Introduction
First flag (1192-1268)
Second flag (1268-1393)
Third flag (1393-1474/1489)
Sources

See also:

Cyprus

Introduction

The Kingdom of Cyprus was established during the Third Crusade: its creation was the final result of the island's conquest by Richard I of England in 1191 [1]. By the end of the same year, Richard I had sold Cyprus to the Knights Templar, who sold it in 1192 to Guy of Lusignan, former King of Jerusalem [1, 2]. The new ruler was styled only the Lord of Cyprus and was succeeded as such in 1194 by his brother Aimery, who assumed the title of King in 1196, having received the official recognition by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor [1, 2]. Aimery's successors would later also assume the kingship of Jerusalem in 1268 and of Armenia (i.e. Armenia Minor) in 1393, although both of those would eventually be reduced to mere titles due to the Mamluk conquests [1, 2]. The last ruler was Venetian-born Catherine Cornaro, who was made queen regnant by her compatriots after the successive deaths of her husband James II in 1473 and their infant son James III in 1474 [1]. She ruled the island under Venetian control until 1489, when she was forced to abdicate and sell her rights to the Republic of Venice, which would rule the island until the Ottoman conquest in 1571 [1].

Tomislav Todorovic, 30 August 2024

First flag (1192-1268)

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 30 August 2024

The original flag of the Kingdom of Cyprus depicted a red lion rampant over white and blue horizontal stripes. This was the banner of arms of Guy and Aimery of Lusignan, granted to them by Richard I of England [2]. The arms were derived from the original arms of the Lusignan family of France - barry of argent and azure - by adding the lion gules as an augmentation [2]. There are no currently known contemporary depictions of the flag, while those of the arms vary: the bars may have been as few as six [3], but also as many as fourteen [4] or sixteen [5, 6] and in several instances were completely omitted, leaving a plain field instead [7], while the lion was often depicted without the crown [3-7] and in a single tincture, without its changing for claws and tongue [5, 6]. Such varying depictions were the rule, rather than the exception, throughout the Middle Ages, not only for the Lusignan family and its numerous branches, but also for many other armigers as well; it seems that, as long as the main features of the blazon were shown, smaller details were not considered important to be presented consistently - or presented at all. However, by the end of the Lusignan rule on Cyprus, the heraldry was developed enough to pay attention to small details, which may have come to mean the only distinction between two blazons sometimes, and the blazon of the Cypriot Lusignans was eventually standardized as: barry of eight argent and azure a lion rampant gules armed langued and crowned Or [8]. The flag is presented here with this eventual blazon. While its design currently cannot be confirmed by contemporary depictions, as stated above, it must have existed, because the existence of later banners of arms is verified and it does not seem likely that they had no predecessor while the arms they depicted did have.

Image of described flag derived from the SVG image from Wikimedia Commons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_arms_of_Hugues_Lancelot_de_Lusignan.svg
Tomislav Todorovic, 30 August 2024

Is there any connection with the Luxembourg flag?
James Dignan, 31 August 2024

I quote here the German Wikipedia page about Luxembourg's coat of arms:

"The lion is a symbol of power and strength from the Bible. The red lion on the coat of arms of Luxembourg dates back to the Third Crusade (1189–1192), as does the red lion of the Duchy of Limburg, as well as other Dutch and German lions. After the death of Emperor Barbarossa, the father and grandfather of Count Henry V of Luxembourg, both Limburg knights, fought under the red rising lion of Richard the Lionheart. His coat of arms was the red lion of his county of Poitou. Richard the Lionheart conquered the island of Cyprus on the Third Crusade and sold it to his feudatories of the Lusignan family from the County of Poitou, from whose house the King of Jerusalem came. The new coat of arms of the Kingdom of Cyprus became the red rising lion of Richard the Lionheart on the old coat of arms of the Lusignan family, the four blue bars on a silver background.
Several knights brought this coat of arms back with them from the Third Crusade and passed it on to their descendants. Count Henry V of Luxembourg received it from his father, who himself only bore the red lion without the stripe on the Limburg coat of arms. Other knights also brought the coat of arms of Cyprus with them, which led to duplicate coats of arms. This was the case with the Knights of Horst, whose red lion on silver and blue stripes can be found in today's coat of arms of the city of Gelsenkirchen. The knighted miller's son of Ried, whose coat of arms is depicted in the coat of arms roll of Zurich, also brought with him a coat of arms with a red lion on silver and blue stripes, reminiscent of that of the Kingdom of Cyprus. The same applies to the feudal lords of Wunstorf, whose coat of arms can be found in the coat of arms book of St. Gallen Abbot Ulrich Rösch.
The crusaders since the Second Crusade (1147-1149) considered it an honour to be allowed to bear the same shield as their ancestors among the first crusaders. Count Henry V of Luxembourg took part in the Seventh Crusade in 1270 with his coat of arms, which dates back to the Third Crusade (1189–1192). There is no contemporary image of the coat of arms, only depictions painted over a hundred years later."

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wappen_Luxemburgs
Martin Karner, 31 August 2024

This text suggests that a number of early armigers have simply copied the others' arms they had observed and found appealing, which was probably happening in the early days of heraldry, when many arms were not granted, but simply created by their users.
Tomislav Todorovic, 31 August 2024

The flag is presented here with this eventual blazon. While its design currently cannot be confirmed by contemporary depictions, as stated above, it must have existed, because the existence of later banners of arms is verified and it does not seem likely that they had no predecessor while the arms they depicted did have.
Daniel Rentería, 31 August 2024

Second flag (1268-1393)

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 31 August 2024

In 1268, Hugh III of Cyprus was crowned the King of Jerusalem after that throne was vacated by the death of Conrad III (better known as Conradin of Hohenstaufen). His arms were subsequently changed to: quarterly Jerusalem and Lusignan; the arms of Jerusalem, as the older and higher-esteemed realm, were given the precedence. In this period, the variations of the Lusignan arms were also present [4, 9, 10, 11], including some new ones, such as the reversal of bars azure and argent in the Gelre Armorial [11] or differing numbers of bars in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the arms displayed on a wall in Famagusta [11]. Even the arms of Jerusalem may have varied somewhat, bearing a simple cross without the crosslets [7, 10]. This last variation was attributed to Guy of Lusignan by the designers of the Halls of Crusades, Versailles Palace [12], but is not likely to have been used by him, for he had not ruled over both realms simultaneously. These arms were also attributed to Cyprus as the territorial arms and blazoned: azure a cross argent [13]. However, that is most likely an error, for a variety of designs with a single cross, usually argent upon a field Or, were attributed to Jerusalem in various sources and some of those might have been actually used [14]; the single cross Or upon a field gules for Jerusalem [10] is most likely an error as well, although some sources do claim that it was the original field of the arms [15], but the origin of their information is currently unknown.

This flag has appeared on at least one portolan chart: the map of Guillem Soler (Guillelmus Soleri) [sgm85], which was created on Majorca c. 1385 and is now kept in the National Library of France, Paris, marks Cyprus with a quartered flag, Jerusalem bearing a large golden cross potent throughout the white field and Lusignan/Cyprus bearing blue with two white bars and a red lion over all [16]. Despite the obvious errors, this is clearly meant to represent the contemporary banner of arms of the Kingdom of Cyprus as the flag used on the island. The flag is presented here with the eventual blazon, just like its predecessor.

Image of described flag; derived from the SVG image from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_arms_of_Hugues_Lancelot_de_Lusignan.svg
Tomislav Todorovic, 31 August 2024

Third flag (1393-1474/1489)

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 1 September 2024

In 1393, after the death in exile of his kinsman Leo V, James I of Jerusalem and Cyprus assumed the claim to Armenia, which had been conquered by the Mamluk Sultanate in 1375. His arms were changed to include those of Armenia: Or a lion rampant gules armed langued and crowned azure. Those were placed in the third quarter, while the fourth one was charged with a new device which stood for the realm of Cyprus: argent a lion rampant gules armed langued and crowned Or. These arms were clearly derived from those of Lusignan, which had previously been sometimes depicted with the plain field [7]. Those depictions may have been derived from the contemporary coins, which displayed the lion of Lusignan and the cross of Jerusalem without the shields [11], but it shall also be noted that in Chronica Majora by Matthew Paris, Guy of Lusignan was depicted as carrying a shield gules charged with the lion, supposed to be Or [11], although that tincture might have actually been the misinterpreted natural color of parchment without any paint, which would actually represent argent. Whether all those depictions prove the earlier use of this blazon, or were created by error, only to inspire the new blazon later, is currently impossible to tell. These arms were sometimes attributed by contemporary sources to the Principality of Antioch [11], which was inherited by the Lusignans in 1300, but the Kings seem not to have used the title, typically granting it to other members of the family [11, 17], while the use of the arms in Antioch has not been verified. The use in the royal arms has definitely made this blazon a symbol of Cyprus and it remained as such even after the loss of independence: it was used alone to represent Cyprus in the sources such as the Little Armorial (Wappenbüchlein) by Virgil Solis in 1555 [11, 18], although the tinctures gules and argent were reversed in that one, and in the early 20th century, it was semi-officially used during the British rule, appearing not only on the tobacco cards [8], but also on the coins issued on Cyprus 1901-1921 [8, 11].

The variations of the Lusignan arms described above were also present in this period, appearing in the newly added quarters as well [11, 19, 20, 21], but the blazons were eventually standardized as they are known now. As such, they were included in the greater arms of the Republic of Venice after the annexation of Cyprus [11, 22, 23, 24] and were also included in the greater arms of the House of Savoy [11, 22, 23, 25], which has claimed the succession to the House of Lusignan since 1482, after Charlotte of Lusignan, former Queen of Cyprus (dethroned by James II in 1464), renounced her rights in favour of Duke Charles I of Savoy [1]. Still some variations of the blazons have been appearing, most notably the omission of crowns, which could also be omitted from the depictions even when blazoned [11, 22-25].

The territorial arms of Cyprus were sometimes erroneously described as those of Luxembourg [21, 22, 23]. The error seems to originate from Encyclopédie by Diderot and D'Alembert [22] and must have been created because the arms of Lusignan and Cyprus resemble those of Luxembourg and Limburg, respectively; the names Luxembourg and Lusignan also resemble each other somewhat. All these reasons have inspired discussions about possible relationships between the arms and their armigers [26]. However, the Luxembourg and Lusignan domains have different founts of honour - Kingdom of France and Holy Roman Empire, respectively. Even more importantly, the "heraldic evolutions" of the blazons were different: the arms of Luxembourg were derived from those of Limburg by replacing the previously plain field with a barry one [26], while the arms of the Lusignans of Cyprus were derived from those of the Lusignans of France by adding a lion over a barry field [2] and the territorial arms of Cyprus were further derived by replacing the barry field with a plain one. Consequently, the similarity of blazons is most likely a coincidence.

The flag is depicted in a Latin manuscript created in Germany in the early 15th century, which now makes part of the John Rylands Library, University of Manchester [27]. Its depiction is not without errors, though - only Jerusalem is blazoned correctly, while the other blazons are as follows:
- Lusignan: barry of six argent and azure a lion gules
- Armenia: gules a lion Or armed langued and crowned argent
- Cyprus: argent a lion gules armed and crowned Or and langued also gules

Regardless of this, the picture is clearly meant to represent the contemporary banner of arms of the Kingdom of Cyprus. The flag is presented here with the eventual blazon, as are its predecessors.

Image of described flag; derived from the SVG image from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_arms_of_Hugues_Lancelot_de_Lusignan.svg

The flag used during the reign of Queen Catherine is not currently known. As her personal flag, she may have used the banner of her marital arms, Lusignan/Cyprus impaling Cornaro [11]. However, it is quite possible that the quartered flag of the realm was still in use, for it was a recognized and well established symbol and its design remained to be that even after the annexation by Venice [11, 22-25].

Tomislav Todorovic, 1 September 2024

photos by Nozomi Kariyasu, 1 September 2024

Here is photographic evidences to accompany Tomislav's excellent report.

The attached photos are the coat of arms of the Lusignan family (left) and teh coat of arms of the Kingdom of Cyprus (right), which I found on the walls of the Kyrenia castle of the Kingdom of Cyprus in Northern Cyprus in January 2020.

Below the coat of arm of the second photo is the coat of arms of Louis de Maniac, the constructor of the castle. To the left of it is the coat of arms of Jean de Lastic, Knight Commander of the Order of St. John and on the right is the coat of arms of Jacques de Milly Kight Commander of the Order of St.John.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 1 September 2024

Sources

[1] Kingdom of Cyprus at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Cyprus

[2] House of Lusignan at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lusignan

[3] Wikimedia Commons - Photo of silver plate with the Lusignan arms, 14th century, Louvre, Paris: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LusignanPlateEarly14thCentury.JPG

[4] Wikimedia Commons - Photo of the arms of Lusignan/Cyprus and Jerusalem, Bellapais monastery, Cyprus: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bellapais_Kloster_-_Refektorium_Wappen_1.jpg

[5] Wikimedia Commons - Wijnbergen Armorial, penultimate page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Armorial_Wijnbergen.jpg

[6] Portulanos blog at the Internet Archive - Wijnbergen Armorial (saved on 2017-03-06): http://butronmaker.blogspot.com/2008/02/armorial-wijnbergen.html

[7] Wikimedia Commons - Photo of the arms of Lusignan/Cyprus, Kyrenia castle, Cyprus: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kyrenia_Festung_-_Inneres_Tor_2_Lusignan-Wappen.jpg

[8] Heraldry of the World Website - National Arms of Cyprus: https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/wiki/National_Arms_of_Cyprus

[9] Wikimedia Commons - Leaf nr. 6, Armorial le Breton, Museum of the National Archives, Paris, France: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Feuillet_6_de_l%27Armorial_Le_Breton.jpg

[10] Wikimedia Commons - Wernigerode Armorial, page with the depiction of the arms of Cyprus: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wernigeroder_Wappenbuch_051.jpg

[11] Hubert de Vries' website - Cyprus: https://www.hubert-herald.nl/Cyprus.htm

[12] Wikimedia Commons - Photo of the arms attributed to Guy of Lusignan, Halls of the Crusades, Versailles Palace: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1192_Guy_de_Lusignan_roi_de_Chypre_1204_Baudouin_empereur.jpg

[13] Arnaud Bunel's website at the Internet Archive - Kingdom of Cyprus (saved on 2005-04-07): www.heraldique-europeenne.org/Regions/Balkans/Chypre.htm

[14] Hubert de Vries' website - Jerusalem: https://www.hubert-herald.nl/JerusalemArms.htm

[15] Arnaud Bunel's website at the Internet Archive - Kingdom of Jerusalem (saved on 2005-11-06): www.heraldique-europeenne.org/Regions/Balkans/Jerusalem.htm

[16] Gallica digital library - Map of Guillem Soler: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b530648817?rk=21459;2

[17] Hubert de Vries' website - Crusader states: https://www.hubert-herald.nl/CrusaderStates.htm

[18] Heidelberg University Library website - Little Armorial by Virgil Solis, p. 16: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/solis1555/0016/image,info,thumbs

[19] Wikimedia Commons - Photo of the arms of Lusignan/Cyprus, Kolossi castle, Cyprus: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyprus_-_Kolossi_castle_3.JPG

[20] Wikimedia Commons - Photo of the arms of Lusignan/Cyprus, Cathedral of Saint John, Nicosia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nicosia_-_Johannes-Kathedrale_3_Lusignan-Wappen.jpg

[21] Heraldica.org website - Heraldry in Cyprus: https://heraldica.org/topics/national/cyprus.htm

[22] Wikimedia Commons - Encyclopédie – Planches – Tome II - Blason ou Art héraldique - p. 15: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Encyclopedie_volume_2-054.png

[23] Heraldica.org website - An Armory of European Nations in 1763: https://heraldica.org/topics/national/armory18/

[24] Heraldica.org website - Image of the greater arms of the Republic of Venice: https://heraldica.org/topics/national/armory18/venice.jpg

[25] Heraldica.org website - Image of the greater arms of the Kingdom of Sardinia: https://heraldica.org/topics/national/armory18/sardinia.jpg

[26] Coat of arms of Luxembourg at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Luxembourg

[27] University of Manchester website - Digital Collections - The John Rylands Library, Latin MS 28, p 123: https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/MS-LATIN-00028/123