Description
A summary of the two historical works of Stephen Lusignan in the “Cypriology Library” completes the historiographical trilogy of the period, which has been described as a Cypriot renaissance of letters. The other two parts of this trilogy, the Historia of Florio Bustron and the Cronaca of Francesco Amadi have been included in volumes 8 and 9 of the same series. Professor Gilles Grivaud notes in his introduction that the substantive contribution of Stephen Lusignan to Cypriot historiography lies in his two most basic works: the Chorograffia and its augmented French translation, that is, the Description, published with a view to the sensitization of the public opinion in Europe immediately after the conquest of the island by the Ottomans in 1571 and the efforts to collect the necessary sum for the redemption of Cypriots captured by the Turks. The five-year-period which separates the publication of the two texts provided Stephen Lusignan with ample time to deepen his thinking and correct his earlier errors, so much so the Description has all the characteristics of a patient work of maturity.
