Doux Isaakios of Cyprus (1155-1196) was the doux of Cyprus under the Byzantine Empire. He ruled Cyprus from 1185 to 1191, when King Richard the Lionheart conquered the island for England during the Third Crusade. Isaakios was known as a kleptocratic tyrant who left even the richest Cypriots begging for food and clothing on the streets, and he would be poisoned in 1196 in the Sultanate of Rum while he was attempting to gain the support of the Seljuks against Emperor Alexius III of Byzantium.
Biography[]
Isaakios was born in 1155 to the House of Comnenus, and he was from a single mother who belonged to the royal dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. Isaakios e served as the sebastokrator under Emperor Manuel I of Byzantium, but in 1185 he decided to betray the Byzantines and arrive on the island of Cyprus with falsified papers, allowing for him to become the new ruler of the island. Emperor Andronicus I of Byzantium feared that Isaakios would usurp the throne from him due to a prophecy that his successor's name would start with "I" (Isaac Angelos would be the usurper who seized power the same year, fulfilling the prophecy). Isaac Angelos sent John Kontostephanos and Alexios Komnenos to retake the island with a fleet of 70 ships, but the pirate Margaritus of Brindisi defeated and plundered the invasion fleet.
From 1185 to 1191, Isaakios was the ruler of Cyprus, and he plundered his own island. He raped women, defiled virgins, emplaced overly cruel punishments for crimes, and stole from the people, leaving any surviving Cypriot nobles naked in the streets, begging for money and food. In 1191, Isaakios sought a treaty with Saladin to defend Cyprus from the Kingdom of England, as he mistreated shipwrecked English sailors that were en route to the Levant on the Third Crusade. Isaakios fortified Limassol, and he attempted to take Richard's fiancee Berengaria of Navarre and his sister Joan of Sicily hostage to prevent an attack. However, King Richard wanted a supply base for the Third Crusade, and he was spurred to revenge due to Isaakios' mistreatment of the shipwrecked crusaders. Isaakios was defeated by Richard in a brief skirmish at Limassol on 5 May 1191, and Richard took over the city. He was defeated a second time at Tremetousha, costing him the city of Nicosia; Kyrenia fell after a siege. Richard swore not to put Isaakios in irons, so he instead gave him chains forged of silver and imprisoned him.
In 1193, Richard was forced to free Isaakios and pay a hefty sum to Leopold V of Austria and Henry VI of Germany, who had captured him, and Isaakios headed to the Sultanate of Rum, where he asked the sultan to assist him in fighting against Emperor Alexius III of Byzantium. However, his ambitions came to nothing, as he was poisoned by his enemies in 1196.