THE ARMENIANS OF CYPRUS 9 Latin Era: After the purchase of Cyprus by the titular Frankish King of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan in 1192, a massive immigration of Armenian and other bourgeois, noblemen, knights and warriors from Western Europe, Cilicia and the Levant took place, to whom fiefs, manors and privileges were bounteously granted. Because of their proximity, their commercial ties and a series of marriages, the Kingdoms of Cyprus and Cilicia became inextricably linked. In the subsequent centuries, thousands of Cilician Armenians sought refuge in Cyprus fleeing the Muslim hordes and attacks. Because of the continuous decline of Lesser Armenia, its last King, Levon V, fled to Cyprus in 1375. After his death in Paris in 1393, his title and privileges were transferred to his cousin, King James I de Lusignan, in the Saint Sophia cathedral in 1396; subsequently, the royal crest also bore the lion of Armenia. During the Frankish and the Venetian Eras (1192-1489 and 1489-1570 respectively), there were Armenian churches in Nicosia, Famagusta, Spathariko, Kornokipos, Platani and elsewhere, while Armenian was one of the official languages in Cyprus. The Armenians of Nicosia had their Prelature and lived in their own quarter, called Armenia or Armenoyitonia. In Famagusta, a Bishopric was established in the 12th century and Armenians lived around the Syrian quarter; historical documents suggest the presence of an important monastic and theological centre there, at which Saint Nerses Lampronatsi (1153-1198) is said to have studied. By 1425, the renowned Magaravank - originally the Coptic monastery of Saint Makarios near Halevga - came under Armenian possession, as did sometime before 1504 the Benedictine nunnery of Notre Dame de Tyre or Tortosa in Nicosia. l Post-card showing the renowned Sourp Magar or Magavarank Monastery (1926).