John II of Cyprus

John II or III of Cyprus (16 May 1418 – 28 July 1458) was the King of Cyprus and Armenia and also titular King of Jerusalem from 1432 to 1458. He was previously a titular Prince of Antioch.

John II
King of Cyprus
Reign	29 June 1432 – 28 July 1458
Predecessor	Janus
Successor	Charlotte
Born	(1418-05-16)16 May 1418
Died	28 July 1458(1458-07-28) (aged 40)
Spouse	Amadea Palaiologina of Montferrat Helena Palaiologina
Issue	King James II (illeg.) Queen Charlotte Princess Cleopha
House	Poitiers-Lusignan
Father	Janus, King of Cyprus
Mother	Charlotte of Bourbon

History

Born 16 May 1418 in Nicosia, John was the son of king Janus of Cyprus and Charlotte of Bourbon.^[1] In May, sometime between 1435 and 1440, he married Amadea Palaiologina of Monferrato, daughter of John Jacob Palaiologos, Marquess of Montferrat. They had no children. His second wife, a distant relative of his first, was Helena Palaiologina,^[2] only child and daughter of Theodore II Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea, and his wife Cleofa Malatesta

By his second marriage he had:

• Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus, married Prince John of Antioch.^[3] She died childless
• Cleopha of Lusignan, died young

John died in Nicosia on 28 July 1458 and his daughter Charlotte succeeded to the throne. During his rule, Corycus, the only Cypriot stronghold in mainland Anatolia, was lost to the Karamanids in 1448.

John had an illegitimate son by Marietta de Patras^[4]

• James II, King of Cyprus^[4]

John appointed James, Archbishop of Nicosia at the age of 16. James did not prove ideal archbishop material, and was stripped of his title after murdering the royal chamberlain. His father eventually forgave him and restored him to the Archbishopric. James and Helena were enemies, vying for influence over John. After Helena died in 1458, it appeared that John would appoint James as his successor, but John died before he could make it so.

coat-of-arms of Lusignan of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Lesser Armenia

References

1. Murray 2006, p. 687.
2. Samson & Demetriou 2015, p. 9.
3. Boustronios 2005, p. 48.
4. Letts 2017, p. 252.

Sources

• Boustronios, Georgios (2005). A Narrative of the Chronicle of Cyprus: 1456-1489. State University of New York Press.
• Letts, Malcolm, ed. (2017). The Pilgrimage of Arnold Von Harff, Knight, from Cologne: Through Italy, Syria, Egypt, Arabia, Ethiopia, Nubia, Palestine, Turkey, France and Spain, which He Accomplished in the Years 1496-1499. Taylor & Francis.
• Murray, Alan V., ed. (2006). The Crusades: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. ABC-CLIO.
• Samson, Jim; Demetriou, Nicoletta, eds. (2015). Music in Cyprus. Ashgate Publishing Limited.

Regnal titles
Preceded by Janus	King of Cyprus 1432–1458	Succeeded by Charlotte
	— TITULAR — King of Jerusalem King of Armenian Cilicia 1432–1458