My ship has ran aground, conquer this island! (Patreon)

Well the year isn‘t 1191, Amber isn’t princess Berengaria of Navarre and I’m not Richard the Lionheart.  And the ship that has ran aground isn‘t the one carrying Berengaria and Richard’s mother.

But we did certainly get inspiration from that amazing story which intertwined the history of England and Cyprus in medieval times.  

The ship that was carrying the princess and Richard’s mother was destined for the Holy Land.  She was meant to meet her husband to be there and marry him.  But destiny had another plan. Due to a violent storm, the ship ran aground off the coast of Cyprus. The islands ruler Isaac Comnenus captured the ship and its occupants and wasn’t letting them free in spite of Richard’s letter to him which he ignored.  So Richard made a detour and landed in Cyprus with his full force of crusaders, captured the island from Comnenus and freed the princess and his mother.

The couple were married at the chapel of St George in Limassol, and Berengaria became the Queen of England and Cyprus.  

What a fascimaging story!

ps the ship in the picture is the Sierra Leone flagged Edro III and was shipwrecked on the west coast of Cyprus in 2012. The images in this post were shot on 25 March 2022.