John II or III of Cyprus (16 May 1418 – 28 July 1458) was the

King of Cyprus The Kingdom of Cyprus (; ) was a medieval kingdom of the Crusader states that existed between 1192 and 1489. Initially ruled as an Independent state, independent Christian state, Christian kingdom, it was established by the French House of Lusi ...

and

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

and also titular

King of Jerusalem The king or queen of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Church, Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was Siege of Jerusalem (1099), conquered in ...

from 1432 to 1458. He was previously a titular

Prince of Antioch Prince of Antioch was the title given during the Middle Ages to Normans, Norman rulers of the Principality of Antioch, a region surrounding the city of Antioch, now known as Antakya in Turkey. The Princes originally came from the County of Sicil ...

History

Born 16 May 1418 in Nicosia, John was the son of king

Janus of Cyprus Janus (1375 – 29 June 1432) was King of Cyprus and titular King of Armenian Cilicia and King of Jerusalem, Jerusalem from 1398 to 1432. Early life Janus was born in Genoa, where his father, James I of Cyprus, was a captive. His mother, Hel ...

and Charlotte of Bourbon. 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, only child and daughter of

Theodore II Palaiologos Theodore II Palaiologos or Palaeologus (Greek: Θεόδωρος Β΄ Παλαιολόγος, ''Theodōros II Palaiologos'') (c. 1396 – 21 June 1448) was Despot (court title), Despot in the Despotate of the Morea, Morea from 1407 to 1443 and in S ...

, Despot of the Morea, and his wife Cleofa Malatesta By his second marriage he had: * Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus, married Prince John of Antioch. 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 Corycus (; also transliterated Corycos or Korykos; ; , lit. "maiden castle") was an ancient city in Cilicia Trachaea, Anatolia, located at the mouth of the valley called Şeytan deresi; the site is now occupied by the town of Kızkalesi (for ...

, the only Cypriot stronghold in mainland

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, was lost to the

Karamanids The Karamanids ( or ), also known as the Emirate of Karaman and Beylik of Karaman (), was a Turkish people, Turkish Anatolian beyliks, Anatolian beylik (principality) of Salur tribe origin, descended from Oghuz Turks, centered in South-Centra ...

in 1448. John had an illegitimate son by Marietta de Patras * James II, King of Cyprus John appointed James,

Archbishop of Nicosia The Latin Catholic archdiocese of Nicosia was created during the Crusades (1095-1487) in Cyprus; later becoming titular. According to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' 31 Latin archbishops served beginning in 1196, shortly after the conquest of Cyprus ...

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.

References

Sources

* * * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:John 02 Of Cyprus Kings of Cyprus Kings of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia 1418 births 1458 deaths 15th-century Cypriot people Claimant kings of Jerusalem House of Poitiers-Lusignan