Cyprus, the Franks and Venice, 13th-16th Centuries

Variorum
Benjamin Arbel
ISBN: 0860788245
price: $111.95   hardcover

The role of Cyprus as a meeting-point of different civilisations and as a focus of international contention are key themes in this volume. The history and society of the island kingdom under Frankish, then Venetian rule are examined in a wider Mediterranean perspective, while the author's extensive use of unpublished archival sources opens up new perspectives on the history of Latin expansion in the eastern Mediterranean. These in turn lead to a re-evaluation of central issues related to Cypriot history and to the Venetian presence in the area. One set of articles deals particularly with social and demographic history, looking at the relationship between the various social and ethnic groups and at intercultural contacts between Greeks and Latins. Other studies are concerned with colonial policies, contacts with the Muslim Levant, and with ecological issues.