Stefano Lusignan

Who was Stefano Lusignan?

Stefano Lusignan was a priest and scholar and a descendant of King James I of Cyprus.

Lusignan was born in Nicosia. When he was young he joined the Dominican Order and studied under a certain Armenian bishop, called Ioulianos. By 1562 he was a vicar and he worked under Latin bishops of Limassol, Andrea Mocenigo and Serafim Fortibraccia.

By 1570 he was living in a monastery in Naples where he began writing his work Chorograffia. He also spend a lot of his time collecting ransom money used to buy the freedom of his relatives captured after the fall of Cyprus to the Ottomans.

In 1572 he moved in another monastery in Bologna. There he first published his work named Chorograffia. In 1575 he moved to Padua and there he designed his famous map to supplement his book. The map was dedicated to the last Latin Archbishop of Cyprus, Filippo Mocenigo. It was created by Giovanni Longo and was paid for by Stefano himself.

In the course of his stay in Padua he also taught Greek at the University.

During a trip to Rome he met the French ambassador and with his help moved to Paris in 1577. He lived in a monastery in Paris for ten years. Throughout his stay there he wrote and published many works. He was also involved in many literary circles which other Cypriots participated, including Enrico Caterino Davila. In 1578 Stefano was awarded the title of Titular Bishop of Limassol from Pope Sixtus V . The last years of his life he spent in Rome where he died in 1590.