The transition period of cyprus from the kingdom of Cyprus to the Venetian domination (1473-1489)

In history, Cyprus has served as an important base that many empires and kingdoms, relying on its geopolitical and geostrategic importance, tried to seize in order to establish regional dominance in the Mediterranean. Due to its importance, the island, which is at the entrance and exit position of the commercial routes, has attracted the attention of the merchant states with strategic interests in the Eastern Mediterranean. Undoubtedly, one of these states is Venice, a merchant state. Cyprus-Venice relations started in the Byzantine Empire period and continued despite the Lusignan dynasty dominating the island in 1191. In this process, the relations that continued until the period of the Lusignan Cyprus crusader King Jacques II (1463-1473) gained a different dimension when Caterina Corner (1474-1489), the daughter of a Venetian noble family, became Queen of Cyprus after her husband Jacques II died. Thus, the Lusignan Crusader Kingdom, together with Queen Caterina Corner, faced a more effective Venetian administrative influence on the island. This study aims to discuss the transition process of Cyprus from the Lusignan Crusader Kingdom to the domination of Venice (1473-1489) and the strategies Venice tried to obtain the island through the period of the Queen of Cyprus Caterina Corner. Venice tried to establish a presence on the island indirectly by using the efforts of Jacques II to establish an alliance through marriage, first from the Papacy and then from Venice, she produced policies to protect this existence against the potential of the Queen to endanger the Venetian presence and gains on the island after the death of Jacques II. Caterina Corner, on the other hand, took various measures to consolidate her dominance on the island. However, these measures paved the way for a revolt against the Queen, and the rebellion required Venetian troops to come to the island. Thus, Venice, which naturally legitimizes its military presence on the island with a demand coming from within the island, suppressed the rebellion and protected the throne of the Queen. However, the Venetian dominance on the island became more and more felt day by day, and the measures taken by the Queen did not work. This study argues that various formations and activities such as the uncertain fate of the Queen, the fact that Cyprus will be left without an heir with the death of Jacques III, the struggle of Charlotte for the throne of Cyprus, the influence of regional rival states, have a driving effect among the factors that attract Venice to the island. According to these internal and external factors, Venice took a position and tended to dominate Cyprus under the pretext of providing administrative assistance in order to follow the island closely and keep the Queen under pressure. Eventually, Venice succeeded in removing Queen Corner from the administration and started the Venetian domination of the island, which would last for about a century.