Cyprus: Historical and DescriptiveLöher, Franz von
History
Cyprus: Historical and Descriptive
Löher, Franz von
Cyprus -- Description and travel; Cyprus -- History
The emperor was to be the sole guardian of the young king until he
completed his twenty-fifth year. The government of Cyprus and its
revenues should be placed in the hands of the emperor, and all the
fortified places in the kingdom delivered up to him. All the Cyprian
knights who had not sworn fealty to the emperor should immediately
take the oath of allegiance. Ibelin, in behalf of the ruler of Beyrut,
recognised the emperor as King of Jerusalem, and did homage to him
under that title, and agreed that all claims, relative to the castle of
Beyrut, should be settled by the court of Jerusalem, and an account of
all revenues due, since the death of King Hugo, should be laid before
the court of Cyprus. The hostages demanded by the emperor were set at
liberty. Ibelin and all the Cyprian barons, with their followers, were
to accompany Frederick to the Holy Land, and serve him there till the
end of the crusade.
All these conditions were punctually carried out, the oath of
allegiance administered, and the castles, as well as the revenue, given
up. The emperor had achieved a complete victory. Cyprus remained for
several years under his command, and its king was formally declared
a prince of the German empire. The emperor next appointed revenue
officers and treasurers, in all the castles and bailiwicks of the
island, and made arrangements that the money thus raised should be sent
after him into Syria. To these offices, as well as in garrisoning the
castles, the emperor appointed his own knights by preference, and these
gladly accepted such desirable appointments.
After all these things were arranged, the emperor came to Famagusta,
and the next day, the 2nd of September, seven weeks after his landing
in Cyprus, embarked, taking the young king with him, and accompanied
by all the chivalry of the island. Their landing was effected at
Beyrut, Sidon, Sarepta, and Tyre, as Frederick was desirous of becoming
more intimately acquainted with the coast of Syria; he probably
likewise intended that the armies of the Crusaders, employed upon the
fortifications of Sidon and of Cæsarea, should enter Akkon while he
remained upon the coast. In the last-mentioned city, the most populous
and the most important in the Holy Land, the emperor was received with
great ceremony. The Crusaders, more especially those from Germany, were
jubilant; the clergy sang hymns of praise; the Templars and the Knights
of St. John did homage to their sovereign, by kneeling before him and
kissing his knees, according to the custom of the times. Nevertheless
Frederick was well aware that, to use the words of an old writer, he
was in a land where neither God nor man had ever yet found truth or
loyalty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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