Lusignan dynasty in the context of "Château de Lusignan"

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⭐ Core Definition: Lusignan dynasty

The House of Lusignan (/ˈluːzɪn.jɒn/ LOO-zin-yon; French: [lyziɲɑ̃]) was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries during the Middle Ages. It also had great influence in England and France.

The family originated in Lusignan, in Poitou, western France, in the early 10th century. By the end of the 11th century, the family had risen to become the most prominent petty lords in the region from their castle at Lusignan. In the late 12th century, through marriages and inheritance, a cadet branch of the family came to control the kingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus. In the early 13th century, the main branch succeeded to the Counties of La Marche and Angoulême.

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⭐ Core Definition: Lusignan dynasty
Lusignan dynasty in the context of Cyprus

Lusignan dynasty in the context of Cyprus

Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, located off the coast of the Levant in West Asia. Cyprus’ capital is Nicosia, while its largest municipality is Limassol. The northeast portion of the island is governed by the self-declared, largely unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is separated from the Republic of Cyprus by the United Nations Buffer Zone. In the south of the island of Cyprus are the British sovereign military bases of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The island is the third largest and third most populous in the Mediterranean, after Sicily and Sardinia.

Cyprus was first settled by hunter-gatherers around 13,000 years ago, with farming communities emerging by 8500 BC. The late Bronze Age saw the emergence of Alashiya, an urbanised society closely connected to the wider Mediterranean world. Cyprus experienced waves of settlement by Mycenaean Greeks at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Owing to its rich natural resources (particularly copper) and strategic position at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and Asia, the island was subsequently contested and occupied by several empires, including the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Persians, from whom it was seized in 333 BC by Alexander the Great. Successive rule by Ptolemaic Egypt, the Classical and Eastern Roman Empire, Arab caliphates, the French Lusignans, and the Venetians was followed by over three centuries of Ottoman dominion (1571–1878). Cyprus was placed under British administration in 1878 pursuant to the Cyprus Convention and formally annexed by the United Kingdom in 1914.

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