Before we proceed to the next epoch in the history of Cyprus, it will be well to try and form some idea of the state of the island at the time of its passing into the hands of a French dynasty, and of the immediate effects of that change. What were the constituents of its population, in respect of nationality, religion and social status, and in what sense were these to develop in the next three centuries; which were the cities and ports, and which were the religious establishments and the places of military importance in existence at the time and destined to play a part in the coming age?

Of the racial and religious elements which went to make up the population of Cyprus at the time when it passed out of the hands of the Byzantines, by far the largest was of course Graeco-Cypriote. The Arabs, in spite of their frequent incursions, had left no trace, if they had ever settled there in any numbers.

The Syrians, who at various times had found their way thither, became, so far as language, religion and manners were concerned, entirely fused with the Greeks. Under the Lusignans they enjoyed the separate jurisdiction of a Reis appointed by the King at Nicosia, and, as late as the fifteenth, and probably even in the sixteenth, century, at Famagusta. But most of these Syrians were probably later arrivals, rather than survivors of early immigrations. They were for the most part settled in the towns, though the locality Syrianochori (in the Morphou district) may have been an agricultural settlement.