In 1432 Janus, king of Cyprus, wanted to borrow money from Władysław Jagiełło, offering his country as pledge. The proposal might sound like a joke, but the ruler of Aphrodite's Island was not kidding. Anyway, if you trust one of the chroniclers, he hasn't been smiling since July 7, 1426 ...
Probably, he often returned to that date in his mind. A few days earlier, Cyprus had been attacked by the Egyptian fleet of Sultan Barsbai. The invaders first captured Limassol, then sent an envoy to Janus to surrender. The Cypriots did not listen, and the Egyptian envoy was tortured and killed. Finally, on July 7, 1426, a memorable battle took place at Chirokitia. The followers of Islam have defeated an army of Christians. Janus was slashed in the face with a spear and would have been killed had he not called out in Arabic, "I am the king!".
He was taken alive. August 13 marked the triumphant return of the Egyptian army to Cairo. Janus was shaved, his legs shackled, and he walked barefoot, dragging an inverted royal banner. Later he was told to ride bareback on a donkey which he had to dismount every now and then to kiss the ground.
Cyprus for the money and the hand of the princess
In 1427 King Janus regained his freedom, but the conditions were severe: cosmic ransom, annual tribute and recognition of the sovereignty of the Egyptian sultan who became viceroy of Cyprus . The amounts of 200,000 and 5,000 ducats, respectively, do not impress, and it is difficult to convert into the then relations (because the ducat is unequal to the ducat), and into today's realities.
For comparison:at that time, a slave in Constantinople was paid 20-30 ducats, and according to some studies the Teutonic Order at the beginning of the 15th century requested 54,000 ducats from Poland for the purchase of the Dobrzyń Land . In any case, it was the amount that wiped out the Cypriot economy. Moreover, tribute was paid in camelots, luxurious fabrics made of camel and goat hair, produced in Cyprus. In this way, Egypt was taking over an important export commodity.
Janus Cypriot was desperate to save his country.
Janus wanted to wash away the shame of defeat and get rid of the Egyptian protectorate. He asked for help from the Genoese, the Venetians, the Pope, the Byzantine emperor - and so on and so on. Even if someone worried about the fate of the Cypriots, it was not enough to really help them. Then the idea came up to address a powerful Christian ruler - the king of Poland.
The country on the Vistula River was far away, but it was not completely exotic. The royal uncle, Peter I, once even visited Krakow and met with Casimir the Great. First of all one of Janus' advisers was the knight Piotr of Bnin, whom fate had thrown on Cyprus. It was probably he who suggested the Polish option.
The Cypriot legation met with Władysław Jagiełło in March 1432 in Wiślica. It was over 200 people, led by Baldwin of Norès, titular marshal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The proposal was as follows - in return for a loan of 200,000 florins, the Polish king receives a pledge against Cyprus, until the repayment has the decisive vote in the island's affairs and receives 2/3 of the income. As befits a medieval alliance, it had to be sealed with a marriage. Janus asked for his only son, Jan, for the hand of Jadwiga, Jagiełło's daughter.
Neither loans nor princesses
Marriage was not an option. Princess Jadwiga died in 1431, which gives us some idea of the information flow in the 15th-century Europe. Her father claimed that if she were alive, he would have agreed to such a marriage.
As for the loan and taking over the island, Jagiełło refused. He was pointing to the border of his Tatar nation, so it would be inappropriate to defend the foreign kingdom at his own expense . The Cypriots had to agree with these arguments. They probably did not manage to deliver the answer to King Janus, who died on June 28 or 29, 1432. Perhaps he was fully under the delusion that Poland would save Cyprus.
As for the loan and taking over the island, Jagiełło refused. He indicated that he had Tatars on the border of his country, so it would be inappropriate to defend the foreign kingdom at his own expense.
The above story is a curiosity, reflecting the scale of Janus' desperation, but also shows how the Polish king was received abroad, despite the Teutonic propaganda that false Christians ruled over the Vistula.
Jagiełło began his political career as the Grand Duke of Lithuania, as some historians put it - as the ruler of "the last pagan empire in Europe" . Meanwhile, fifty years later, he could be called the defender of Christianity. He baptized Lithuania and Samogitia (symbolically and politically), separated the Christian West from the Tatars, and in 1415 helped the Byzantine emperor with the delivery of grain. In this context, the mission of the Cypriots proves to be more thoughtful.