| On death of Cardinal
Hugues, archbishop of Cyprus, Queen
Helena nominated as his successor a member of the Orthodox church, and asked the Pope to
confirm her appointment. This the Pope, of course, refused to do, informing her that he
had already appointed Galesius Montolif to the archbishopric. The king, who was entirely
under the influence of the queen, refused to accept Galesius and confiscated the revenues
of the see. The Pope, who was unwilling to take extreme measures, had recourse to
diplomacy. By the intervention of the Grand Master of the Hospitallers, the king was
induced, during the absence of the queen, to receive the nominee of the Pope and to
restore his revenues. With the object of
counteracting the queen, the king was persuaded by his Catholic advisers to select a
Catholic prince as husband for Charlotte, his only daughter and heiress. The choice fell
of John, duke of Coimbra, grandson of the king of Portugal. John, after his marriage to
Charlotte, proved himself to be a man of considerable ability, and was created prince of
Antioch and advisor to the king. He used his influence in support of the Catholic party,
and so incurred the enmity of the queen that she persuaded King Jean II to exclude him
from any share in the government, on the grounds that he might grow too powerful and
attempt to seize the crown. John left the court with his wife and died within a year under
circumstances which led to the belief that he had been poisoned at the instigation of
Queen Helena.
Although Charlotte was the only legitimate heiress to the
throne, King Jean had an illegitimate son, named Jacques, who was a great favourite with
his father. Queen Helena naturally regarded Jacques with suspicion and dislike, as a
possible rival to her daughter. The king in 1456, appointed Jacques, then only sixteen
years old, to the vacant archbishopric of Nicosia, and asked for the consent of the Pope,
which was not given. Nevertheless, Jacques held the archbishopric, together with the
revenues of the see, and showed himself to be headstrong and ambitious. His half-sister
Charlotte complained to him of the conduct of Thomas, the royal chamberlain, who was
suspected of being implicated in the death of her husband. Jacques, who was only too ready
to take vengeance on a supporter of Queen Helena, broke into the chamberlain's house and
murdered him. For this crime he was deprived of his archbishopric and was obliged to seek
safety in Rhodes, where he was hospitably received by the knight. In 1457 Jacques left
Rhodes and returned to Cyprus. Landing at Kyrenia with a small armed force, he marched to
Nicosia, and, scaling the walls by night, broke into the house of the
vicomte, one of his
bitterest enemies, and killed him with his own hands. This second crime forced the king to
make a show of bringing him to justice. But the affection which Jean had for his son not
only saved Jacques from punishment but secured for him a full pardon and restoration of
his archbishopric.
From this time, Jacques became the most powerful person in
the kingdom. Warned by the fate of the chamberlain and the vicomte, no one dared to oppose
him. The Pope of course refused to recognise him, but Jacques, while enjoying all the
wealth and power of his position, left to his vicar the ecclesiastical duties of the see.
In 1458 queen Helena died and the king, now entirely under the influence of his son,
thought to make him his heir. But a few months later King Jean himself died and Charlotte
succeeded him as queen at the age of twenty-two.
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