Surviving Kingdom of Cyprus

The last legitimate ruler of Cyprus, Charlotte de Lusignan was married twice - first to a Portuguese infante and then to a Savoyard prince. By the second marriage she gave birth to a son in 1466 called Ugo (Hugh) or Enrico (Henri) by different sources. However, the son died within a month of his birth.

Charlotte was deposed by her illegitimate half-brother, Jacques II, who married Caterina Cornaro, a Venetian noblewoman. They had a son, Jacques III, who died in mysterious circumstances at just over a year old. Caterina later ceded Cyprus to the Venetians.

What if Charlotte's son hadn't died? Or Jacques II had lived long enough to beget more children? What if the Lusignans continued to hold Cyprus for a while longer? Could Charlotte's son have put in a claim to the defunct Byzantine throne when the direct line died out?

Discuss
 

Redhand

Banned
I think making a Byzantine claim that is serious means you would probably have to be Orthodox and have at least some connection to a former imperial family. The Ottoman grip on power is strong enough that I think that if this heir keeps Cyprus he will simply face an Ottoman invasion that he will not be able to hold of. If he somehow is able to get a longstanding ally in Aragon or France then maybe he has a shot of holding Cyprus as a vassal at best.
 
As Charlotte de Lusignan was daughter of Helena Palaiologina, who herself was a desendant of Eastern Roman Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, she and her desendants would have the best claim to the

The son in 1466 called Ugo (Hugh) or Enrico (Henri) would be to late to save the Fall of Constantinople.

Jacques II, was a nasty piece of work, killing his own Royal Chamberlain while he was the Archbishop of Nicosia.

What you really need is something earlier, what about marring Anne de Lusignan (the daughter of King Janus of Cyprus) to Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos in the 1430, this gives the couple 23 years to produce a heir and strenghen there army to hold off the fall of constantinople. The issues they produce could also marry back into the Lusignan family, creating a Eastern version of the Hasburg Dynasty.
 
Cyprus

The kingdom was extremely weak by the death of James II. The staunch Roman Cathlolicism of the Lusignans did not help either. I could see the kingdom surviving only by it's rulers converting to Orthodoxy, the religion of the overwhelming majority.
 
The main obstacle are Turks. They focused on regional then Eastern Mediterranean hegemony, and Cyprus by the XVth was in no shape to withstand them.

At the really best, if Ottomans are repetitivly unlucky, if Lusignan survives, if Italian states or Spain gain some advantage at the point of making Cyprus nothing but a puppet state, then maybe it could have the same fate than Crete under Venetians.
 
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