Negotiating Power and Identities: Latin, Greek and Syrian Elites in Fifteenth-Century Cyprus in Bloomington, MN

This study traces the development of Latin, Greek and Oriental Christian aristocratic groups and their interaction in 15th-century Cyprus. Since 1192, the island was under the rule of the Lusignan Crusader dynasty, which had introduced a nobility of Crusader families. However, due to various moments of political crisis from the end of the 14th century on, autochthonous Greeks and Oriental Christians (so-called Syrians) rose high in the state administration and challenged the power balance.