In his role as leader of the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart, the king of England, captured Cyprus from Isaac Comnenus in 1191. In 1192 Guy of Lusignan, the banished king of Jerusalem, purchased the island from Richard. The rule of the Lusignan dynasty in Cyprus began in the spring of 1192 and lasted for almost 300 years.
From the earliest days of Guy of Lusignan as lord of Cyprus (1192-1194) and throughout the Lunsignan control of Cyprus, the currency of the island was specifically Cypriot. Cyprus being an independent country had its own coinage minted and controlled by the authority of the Lusignan Kings.
