IV. C'vpnus. — As long as the Templars maintained

their fuolinp: on the continent, Cyprus, it would ap- pear, formed no distinct province, but belonged either to that of Tripolis or of Antioch. At the time when Richard, King; of England, made the conquest of (his island, he sold the BOvevcii;nty of it for :ib,000 mark.s of silver to the Templars, who had already extensive po.sscBBions in it. The following year, with the con- sent of the order, who were, of course, reimbursed, he
• The Armcninof Iho cmaniles was a part of Cilicia.
SKCRET SOCIETIES.
transferred the dominion to Guy de Lusignan, Kin; of Jerusalem. On Ihe capture of Acre the chief seat of the order was fixed at Limeaai, also called Limi'sa and Nemosia, in this island, which town, having an excellent harbour, they strongly fortified. They had also a house at Nicnsia, and one at the ancient I^aphos, named Gastira, and, at the same place, the impregnable castle of Colossa.
Some idea "f the value of the possessions of the Templars in Cyprus may be formed from the circum- stnijce, that when, in 1316, after the suppression of the order, the Pope directed the Ilishop of Limissa to transfer their property there to the Hospitallers, there were found, in the house in that town, 26,000 byzants of coined money, and silver plate to the value of 1,500 marks. As the last Master, when setting out for Prance ten years before, had carried with him the treasure of the order, this property must have been accumulated duriug that lime out of the surplus revenue of the possessions of the order in the island.
The Western provinces of the order were —