Wrested from the rule of the Venetians, the island of Cyprus took on cultural shadings of enormous complexity as a new province of the Ottoman empire, involving the compulsory migration of hundreds of Muslim Turks to the island from the nearby Karamna province, the conversion of large numbers of native Greek Orthodox Christians to Islam, an abortive plan to settle Jews there, and the circumstances of islanders who had formerly been held by the venetians. Delving into contemporary archival records of the lte sixteenth and early seventeenth conturies, particularly judicial refisters, Professor Jennings uncovers the island society as seen through local law courts, public works, and charitable institutions. -- Publisher description.

History and evolution of Christian and Jewish communities in the Ottoman empire over 400 years.

Chiefly interested in the early modern period, 1517-1798.

Medieval and Renaissance Cyprus was a fascinating place of ethnic, cultural, and religious encounters. Following almost nine centuries of Byzantine rule, Cyprus was conquered by the Crusaders in 1191, becoming (until 1571) the most important stronghold of Latin Christianity in the Eastern Mediterranean—first under the Frankish dynasty of the Lusignans, and later under the Venetians. Modern historiographical readings of Cypriot identity in medieval and early modern times have been colored by British colonialism, Greek nationalism, and Cyprocentric revisionism. Although these perspectives have offered valuable insights into the historical experience of Latin-ruled Cypriots, they have partially failed to capture the dynamics of noncoercive resistance to domination, and of identity preservation and adaptation. Orthodox Cyprus under the Latins, 1191–1571 readdresses the question of Cypriot identity by focusing on the Greek Cypriots, the island’s largest community during the medieval and early modern period. By bringing together theories from the fields of psychology, social anthropology, and sociology, this study explores continuities and discontinuities in the Byzantine culture and religious tradition of Cyprus, proposing a new methodological framework for a more comprehensive understanding of Cypriot Orthodoxy under Crusader and Venetian rule. A discussion of fresh evidence from hitherto unpublished primary sources enriches this examination, stressing the role of medieval and Renaissance Cyprus as cultural and religious province of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine Orthodox world.

This book examines gender politics through slavery and social regulation in the Ottoman Empire during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

This book explores seven centuries of change in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean world through the rise and fall of Famagusta’s medieval Armenian Church. An examination of the complex and its art escorts the reader from the era of the Crusades in Lusignan Cyprus, through the rise and fall of the Venetian, Ottoman and British Empires, to the political stasis of the present day. The Armenian church was a home for displaced villagers during the post-independence era, became a military storage facility post-1974 and eventually fell into abandonment once again. This study represents a pioneering history of the Armenian community in Famagusta and a probing analysis of the art and architecture it left behind. It is also a permanent record of the long-term engagement and commitment of Nanyang Technological University Singapore, the World Monuments Fund, and the Famagusta Municipality to protect this precious site, under extremely challenging circumstances.