Outbreaks
I shall willingly accept the fool's money, for my indifference towards the lands he wishes to keep under his own dominion should not prevent us from profiting from his stupidity. Surely, he must realize that we could never have an interest in those paltry little settlements, when we have far greater lands which we can easily lay claim to.
Charles I, First Hapsburg king of Spain, to his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, 1517
The Royal Houses of Aragon and Spain merged with Charles I's inheritance of the Spanish Throne in 1516, and since he was also a Hapsburg, he had a claim to the Austrian throne, and in turn, the title of Holy Roman Emperor, it could be a decade or more until he could capitalize on his familial connections. In the European system of the early 16th century, such a domain would prove to be very powerful, but it would also instill a sense of great fear amongst the other nations, who would seek to weaken a potential rival that appeared to be growing too large and too strong.
King Francis I of France contemplated the unthinkable: an alliance with Henry VIII, while Poland and Lithuania, as well as the Scandinavian nations, signed a mutual defense pact which was meant to be a counterbalance to the growing Hapsburg threat. Cyprus, in its far corner of the continent, could only watch the growing apprehension in Europe, and feel relief, because if the Continent was so fixated on common enemy, then it seemed more and more likely that they would be less interested in expansion in the Near East.
Another reason to dissuade Europe from trying to invade the east emerged later that year. In the summer of 1516, the cattle in Adana and Sivas began dying off, and people began to get violently ill, mainly with respiratory difficulties. The disease spread progressively throughout the region, affecting man and beast alike, especially men who were tanners and who worked with sheep or wool. Soon, it was surmised that the region was experiencing a virulent outbreak of anthrax. It was soon seen as far a field as the Nile Delta and in Georgia, and many points in between, drawn together by a single organism which was destroying the communities of the Near East. It seemed that nothing could prevent it from infecting every estate, but then, conditions turned cool and dry, and the contagion dissipated as quickly as it had arrived, and despite the heavy losses of live and livestock, things began to once again get back to normal and by the spring of 1517, the disease seemed to have disappeared.
But another so-called disease was about to wash across Europe: Protestantism. Martin Luther's rather public disagreement with the Church of course sent shockwaves throughout Europe, affecting the society at even the most basic levels. As an isolated Catholic country, Vadim feared the ideas from Germany would soon overrun his subjects, and Cyprus would fall further out of favor in the eyes of Pope Leo X. With the presence of so many former heretic in the country, the words of Luther could incite violence, or perhaps even the reversion of Cyprus to just the island itself.
To try to prevent such a rebellion, Vadim granted printing licenses to three printers: Giorgio di Argento, Silvio Papadoupoulos and Christian Rosaire; in the hope that this easing of Caterina's restriction would prevent an uprising by allowing at least the illusion of freedom. The printers were still forbidden by law to print indulgences, or the works of the dissenting voices from Germany, for it could incite the propagation of such ideas, and those very ideas could destroy the country. These three printers, in their first year of publishing, were almost wholly responsible for preventing Protestant ideas from taking hold in Cyprus in the first few years of the Reformation.
They reprinted a French-translation of the works of St. Augustine, and as many other works of religion they could get their hands on, as well as some new work, epic poetry and treatises on various scientific fields in some of the vernacular languages. However, the great number of different languages which the people of Cyprus spoke had over the last century had begun to blend together into a new dialect. Though largely based on the Romance languages, it also incorporated a lot of diction and terminology from Czech, Dutch and Greek, as well as more than a few Arabic words, though in writing, it implemented the standard Western European alphabet.
Farther west, the Spanish and Portuguese did not yet begin to seize the colonies and trading posts by which they had Papal-sanctioned authority to do so. But the threat was still there, as both nations had placed armies in their own colonial territories, forces which were far greater than what would be needed for defense against native attack.
Neocypria, with its low population, would be especially vulnerable to annexation, so additional troops were sent to defend the colonies in case of Spanish attack. They would have the advantage of knowing the terrain, but that could only help them if Spain did not bring troops in the great numbers they had used in some of their other excursions in the New World, particularly their attacks on the Southern part of North America, where they own everything south of a river which they had named the Rio Grande. Vadim, so worried about losing the territory, offered to pay Charles I a small yearly sum for its protection. It was a deal which Charles I was willing to take, for he had no interest in taking this territory.
Closer to home, the Knights had been showing great hostility towards Cyprus since the reign of Caterina, claiming that the Lusignans were not worthy of carrying out the liberation of the Holy Land, for they were rather impious. Fabrizio Di Caretto, Grandmaster of the Order, believed that the Cyprian cause was tainted by the inner politics of the country, and that their reasons for wanting ownership were more based on financial and political reasons, rather than a true devotion to the Lord. With the ascension of Vadim, this antagonism only grew worse, as Vadim was not one who would turn the other cheek in such a situation.
The final provocation was the willing submission of the subjects of Samaria to the rule of Vadim. The Christian population had overthrown their Mameluke governor, and set up their own government, but they feared for their religious freedoms, so they asked for Cyprian protection, protection which Vadim was more than willing to provide, if they would allow themselves to be annexed into the Cyprian Union. At first, the revolters were hesitant, but after seeing how Jerusalem had be rechristianized, being ruled by Cyprus seemed to be a far more tolerable solution to their problem than the rule of a Moslem overlord. An agreement was signed in September 1517 for the population of Samaria to become subjects of the Lomsky throne.
Cyprus took legal control of Samaria by law on January 1, 1518. Throughout the negotiation process, Di Caretto was also trying to get the province to come under the control of the Knights, but Vadim, and especially his Chief Administrator, Sapeleto were able to make a far more compelling case. With Samaria slipping through his fingers, he mobilized his armies to take the province by force if necessary.
Di Caretto had his troops land in Judea, in an attempt to gain Jerusalem for their own order. However, the large Cyprian army, a defensive force against the machinations of the Cult of Saladin, found the Knights soon after their landing and though they fought with much skill and without fear, the invading army was nonetheless defeated and many were captured. Even though it was such a small force, it nonetheless inflicted heavy casualties on the Chevaliers de Tasitsavle. Vadim realized that firepower would not be enough to battle the Knights, he would also need far superior numbers, troops which he would be hard-pressed to raise.
Nevertheless, Vadim reluctantly declared war on the Knights February 13, 1518, who were allied with naval supremacy of perennial foe Venice. Portugal, under the benevolent leadership of Manuel I, followed Cyprus into the war, and supplemented the Cyprian army with some of her own troops.
It would be a war which would change the balance of the region forever.
M
