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of the siege written by a contemporary, the Cypriot Angelo Calepio. About 1370, St Bridget, then a widow, touched at Cyprus on her way to Jerusalem. The Queen-regnant was Eleonora, daughter of the Duke of Milan and widow of King Pierre I of Lusignan, who was killed by his own brothers. The saint tried to amend the evil habits of the islanders, and published a revelation from God threatening the kingdom, unless its inhabitants returned into the ways of the Lord. At the prayer of Queen Eleonora she remained for the coronation of Pierre II, who assumed in Nicosia the crown of Cyprus, and in Famagusta that of Jerusalem. After visiting the Holy Places St Bridget returned to Famagusta, where she predicted the destruction of the city and realm, which was only too soon verified. She did not leave Famagusta before she had suffered grievous persecution, as may be seen at length in her life by Father Burlamacchi, Book II, chapters 23 and 24. So great was the wrath felt by the Turks against the Europeans in Famagusta, when they weighed all the loss caused to them by 4000 men only, that they forbad every European to enter or leave it on horseback ; even now on reaching the gate they are obliged to alight. The city has lost on the outside nothing of its original works ; the ditches are thoroughly cleared, the walls in order, except that a few towers damaged by the enemy's guns remain unrepaired. It is very different within, where in every street you meet only ruin and destruction. The number of churches destroyed is immense ; some people even say that within the narrow enclosure there were 200. This might be true, for I have seen four or five close together; most of them were high, but of no great size. Among them the Latin cathedral of St Nicholas, now the chief mosque, is worthy of remark. Its style is exactly that of St Sophia at Nicosia. It contains several sepulchral monuments. Jacques the bastard and his son Jacques III were buried here. c. Μ. τ. ς хн] and its Neighbourhood 65

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