Chapter II - Western Relations in the Seventeenth Century

Summary

Although the victory of Lepanto put an end to Turkish hopes of conquest in the western Mediterranean, the failure of the Christian Powers to exploit it by effective measures in the Levant equally destroyed any real possibility of their recovering Cyprus. The endeavours of Pius V to galvanize the members of the League into action were fruitless. Venice was wholly disposed to disentangle herself from the ruinous war as soon as possible, and on 7 March 1573 the treaty of peace with the Sultan was concluded. The Republic, renouncing all claim to Cyprus, agreed to pay a war indemnity of 300,000 ducats. The Cyprus tribute was of course cancelled, but that due for Zante (500 ducats) was tripled. Venetian merchants imprisoned by the Turks were released, and had their merchandise restored to them or were indemnified for its loss.

Nevertheless this settlement did not mean the cessation of scheming by those who fancied that they had rights to the Kingdom of Cyprus, or of efforts on the part of the Christian subjects of the Sultan to induce them to undertake expeditions against the island. Such efforts met with most sympathy from the Dukes of Savoy, who continued to cherish hopes of ‘recovering’ the Kingdom for something like a century after it was lost. Charles Emmanuel I seems at first to have entertained the design of submitting himself as tributary to the Porte, and holding the island as the Sultan's vassal.