CVAR | Philippe De Navarre

When in 1232 Emperor Frederick II attacked Cyprus, claiming the right to rule as guardian of young King Henry I, his army took over the castles of Kyrenia and St. Hilarion. The Royalists, headed by John Ibelin, fought hard and it took them almost 10 months to force the Imperialist soldiers, the Longuebards, to surrender. Philippe de Navarre recorded in detail the events, conspiracies and conflicts of those years and mentions Queen Alice, wife of Henry I who sided with the Imperialists…

And during the siege of Kyrenia, Queen Alice, wife of King Henry and daughter of the Marquis de Monferat, known as ‘Longuebard’ for what the Emperor had given her,- she had put herself in the castle of Cerine with the Apulians and at the command of the Emperor- took most sick of a malady whereof she died…Then those of Cerines placed her outside the castle and those of the King’s camp received her, and she was carried to Nicosia in a great procession by the hands of knights all on foot, and was honourably interred in the Cathedral Church of Santa Sophia.

Watercolour: PNT-00333, The Castle Kyrenia, Cyprus, Arthur J. Legge, 1930

The 'What I Saw...' series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus) and the Active Citizens Fund.

Philippe De Navarre

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In 1733, Count Chancellor and Commander of the Royal Nordstjerne Order, Mr Eduard Carleson, visited Cyprus.

Archduke Louis Salvador of Austria was enchanted by Nicosia and wrote a book about his visit in 1873

The French antiquarian Edmond Duthoit was in Cyprus in 1863 and 1865 collecting antiquities. He came across an interesting acquaintance in Famagusta:

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