View PDF version of this page

§ V. The Grand Dukes of Tuscany of the family of Medici attempt to acquire the island. At the time when the Grand Duke Ferdinand I turned his attention to Syria, to establish an advantageous intercourse with the celebrated Fakr-ed-din, Emir of the Druses, his mind always full of great schemes, conceived the idea of the conquest of Cyprus. This is noted in the History of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany by the well-known Secretary Abate Galluzzi. The first attack was to be made upon the fortress of Famagusta, which was to be taken by surprise under a secret understanding with 6000 Greeks, who had promised to rise, and to assist in the surrender. To this effect a fleet left Leghorn in 1607 composed of eight galleys, and nine other vessels, galleons and bertoni} and 2200 soldiers under the Marquis Francesco del Monte, who had the command of this fleet which was unluckily scattered at sea, and arrived before Famagusta in a less effective condition than the occasion required. However they made the attempt, but not finding the support promised them by the Greeks, the fleet retired, not without loss. The untoward end of this expedition was attributed to the disaster at sea, and to the perfidy of the Greeks. In the Diary of Settimanni, a MS. in the Magliabechian Library in Florence, it is asserted that the Grand Duke was badly served by his commander: an opinion from which I am not prepared to differ, because in the following year, 1608, was composed by Captain Jacques Pierre a memorandum on the attack on Famagusta, preserved in the Archives of the Old Secretariat of His Royal Highness, from various passages of which I gather that the plan failed through sundry shortcomings in the commander. The said Captain Jacques Pierre drew up this paper at the request of Ferdinand I who, great Prince that he was, would not forego this enterprise at a time when the relative xxvi] Sundry Notes on Cyprus τ 47 10—2

View PDF version of this page