1 Gros - John II

John II ruled Cyprus as a largely ceremonial figurehead while real power shifted between his wife Helena Palaiologina and the Genoese and Venetian merchant factions competing for control of the island's lucrative sugar and spice trade. His reign coincided with the final decades before the Lusignan dynasty's effective collapse into Venetian dependency, and coinage from this period reflects a kingdom spending beyond its means to maintain the appearance of royal authority it no longer fully possessed.

The gros denomination had been the backbone of Cypriot commercial exchange since the 13th century, accepted across Levantine ports as reliably as any western European silver.