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originating from the archives of the Latin East are frequently dam-
aged or only exist as transcriptions. Thanks to the papal archival
policy, which had developed especially fully by the time of Innocent
III at the beginning of the thirteenth century, certain church records
are available and new documents continue to come to light. These
constitute an important body of primary source material, but it is
often one-sided, meaning that while papal letters still exist and form
the bulk of this archival record, the replies to these letters are usually
lost .
7
As for modern historiography, several decisive studies have shaped
the writing of Cypriot and Cilician Armenian history and will continue
to do so for the foreseeable future . Sir George Hill’s four-volume work,
8
A History of Cyprus, and especially the second and the third volumes
specifically focused on Frankish and Venetian Cyprus, is still consid-
ered by many modern historians to be the starting point for studies on
Cyprus, despite being published between 1940 and 1952 . Peter Ed-
9
bury’s The Kingdom of Cyprus and the Crusades 1191-1374 and The
Kingdoms of the Crusaders from Jerusalem to Cyprus, shed light on
politics in the crusader states, the royal houses and the noble families
in the Latin East . On the Latin Church, Nicholas Coureas’ studies
10
hold particular importance; his The Latin Church in Cyprus 1195-1312
is a significant work, focusing on the establishment and development
of the Latin Church on the island, involving not only internal affairs
but also relations with other polities, and highlighting the contribution
of the military orders, which established themselves in Cyprus.
Coureas also began to draw a comparative picture of Cyprus and

Occident, Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris, 2020, pp. 125-133; M. Barber, The
Trial of the Templars (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012.
7 Among archival works, predominantly composed from the church registers and
invaluable for studies of ecclesiastical history, see Synodicum cit.; Cartulary cit.; Bul-
larium cit.
8 Jonathan Riley-Smith, also focusing on political history, contributed not only to
the history of Cyprus but also to that of the Latin East. For some of his works on the
Crusaders in the Latin East, see J. Riley-Smith, Crusaders and Settlers in the Latin East
cit.; Idem, Feudal Nobility and The Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1174-1277, Palgrave Macmil-
lan, London, 1974; Idem, The Knights of St. John from Jerusalem and Cyprus 1050-1310,
Palgrave Macmillan, London, 1966; Idem, The Crusades: A History, Yale University
Press, London, 2005.
9 G. Hill, A History of Cyprus, 4 vols., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1940-
1952.
10 P. Edbury, The Kingdom of Cyprus and the Crusades 1191-1374, Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, Cambridge, 1991; Idem, Kingdoms of the Crusaders from Jerusalem to
Cyprus, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1997. See also Idem, The State of Research:
Cyprus under the Lusignans and Venetians,1991–1998, «Journal of Medieval History»,
25-1 (1999), pp. 57-65.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XIX - Aprile 2022
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)